When there's an Angel to watch over you..............

Anyone would think it was Christmas all over again with the amount of Cherub & Angel-themed items we have on offer this week! We always tend to associate them with the Festive time of year, yet they wonderfully crop up all over the place in France-on furniture, mirrors,porcelaine etc........ on numerous occasions over the weekend we seemed to have come across divine little  faces peering at us from all sorts of different places......

Out of Vintage magazine Publications..........

 Unusually decorating a Wonderful Ormolu Photograph Frame we discovered...........

......on a Holy Water vessel which forms part of a Religious Benetier Holy Croix.......

and most unusually on the surface of an early 20th Century Tambourine....!

 and this gorgeous Antique Oval Lace panel....

....all of which can be found on our Auction site along with many more items we will tempt you with this week to adorn your home and any ongoing projects!....See you soon!

In the Pink!...................

Following on from the Pink Pavlova of our last blog, strangely enough,it seemed to cast a Pink Spell......everything we seemed to come across to list last week was Pink...................................!!

and so on and so on...........or should that be "sew on & sew on"....as there were Passementerie Trims & embroiderie panels,..........Lo and behold-we found some more pink today-Vintage Pretty Pink Scolloped Lace!....

Then of course there are the Pink Chenile Floral Motifs on Silk still available on the site ..........

.................and the Beautiful Pink Silk Scarf with Violet-filled Hatbox Motifs..........

...and some Divine Pinkish-Red Antique Toile de Jouy we found today................

................It's all very co-ordinating don't you think?!!....................

We were up bright & (very) early this-morning...but my goodness me it was COLD! (Yes-my face was PINK!!) We travelled for an hour to a little "Professional" Brocante situated in the next Department to us which, until the season gets fully underway again, is all we have to visit & satisfy our urges to hunt down treasures at,-apart from our saved stock from the late summer months of course, but most of the prices today were way over-priced as is usually the case at these events, though we did manage to pick up a few very different & pretty items to add to our site which we hope you will like. It was actually too cold to stay for very long this-morning and as the forecast is for a much colder spell than of late (we have heard there's Snow on the way) we treated ourselves at the Cafe Bar to a Chocolat Chaud (me) & a very naughty Cappucino topped with a mountain of cream (John) before we set off home to unpack our goodies....so I am off the photograph our finds and bid you farewell for the moment-A Bientot!

WHAT about my diet?!.............................

I have just returned from my visit to the UK to see my Gorgeous Grand-daughter Erin who miraculously took her first steps right infront of my eyes the first evening I was there-how precious was THAT!-and such perfect timing too! I guess it makes up for when she arrived into this world a year ago 5 weeks early and I missed it-having just returned to France at the time and feeling smug I'd got all my plans in place to be there early for the birth! Things never go quite to plan in this life do they?!

A visit to my parents was arranged whilst in the UK so my son & family all whizzed off to North Wales for the day for Sunday dinner at my mum's.I am on a serious diet after the Xmas Festivities-where,like a lot of people I suppose,I ate and drank far too much and am now paying the price.We had a lovely meal and everything was going great until she plonked the above home-made creation onto the table for Dessert.......Oh Nooooooooo!!!!-WHAT about my DIET??!!!

I asked how many Calories were in this Pink Pavlova masterpiece filled with fresh cream and topped with Fresh Strawberries & Raspberries and the reply came.."None-get it eaten"-so I did!................

Of course-not all of it-just this little morceau.........mmmmmmmmm!

I can proudly report that despite my weakness at not being able to decline a portion-I came back to France 4lbs lighter....so not bad behaviour REALLY!

The site looks a little bare from my exodus last week,and poor John has had his hands full with the demon pup to look after and one of our oldies who hasn't been too well of late to care for,so yesterday I went rummaging, and the rest of the week will reveal what I have found in our boxes of stock....so keep your eyes open-you never know what will appear for your perusal!-Happy Treasure Hunting!......see you all soon!

Exposition Internationale de Bordeaux......

We travelled two hours South to Bordeaux early Sunday morning to the Centenaire de L'Exposition Canine Internationale de Bordeaux where the demon monster pup Dita won Meilleur Puppy (Best Puppy in Breed) again! (can you spot her in the massive Ring d'Honneur later above?!)We were thrilled to say the least and came home with our first ever Trophy in France........WOW!

The Show was a Centenary Show celebrating 100 years of Canine Exposition by the Society and attracted a massive entry of a Huge Range of different breeds of Pedigree Dogs from all over Europe and Beyond.A picture of an Original Catalogue from the show in 1912 was pictured on the front of the Catalogue of the day......

Dita was totally whacked when we arrived home Sunday evening after a long tiring day for her-she is after all still only 9 months old tomorrow.She has however,  been making up for lost time thismorning by going on a rampage through the house pinching my Oven Gloves amongst many other things including running off with Boxes which John has just packed ready to take to La Poste thisafternoon with all the goodies you lovely people have bought from us, so if by chance your box arrives with a few baby teeth marks in the corner.....you'll understand why. It's her way of signing her Autograph now she's famous.......!!

Well once again after the excitement of the weekend it's back to work as normal for us.We purchased a lot of  lovely textiles and Fabric pieces a few weeks ago from our lovely French friend Marie-France which we told you about in a previous post,so we will be rooting some of those out to list this week. I return again to the UK Tomorrow to visit my beautiful Granddaughter Erin and catch up with her progress so I will have to get moving as poor John has the unenviable task of looking after the demon Dita all on his own.It's a beautiful crisp frosty morning here today but we are all cosy with both the Logburners on full steam so this is all for now-A Bientot!!

LA GRIPPE...............................

I Thought I'd beaten it this year.....John had already had his dose of Flu a few months ago but no, it managed to attack me right in the middle of the festivities, ruining my Christmas Party run and keeping me in my bed until well after the New Year.I get very frustrated when I ache so much I can hardly do the simplest of tasks like get out of bed, but when even talking becomes painful you know you're in trouble!(that is, all except for John who loves the rest & peace & quiet from me). I have even managed to start SNORING for the first time in my life (due to the fact I've hardly been able to breathe) so now apparently,I can even give my John a run for his money!Yes-"La Grippe" truly got a grip on me!.... I thought I was well enough to arrange to meet a friend of ours-Laurent,who agreed to help us start training our wayward puppy Dita in the art of Pistage....(no,I'm not swearing at you-Pistage means Tracking in French),so off we went to Poitiers to meet him and  give it a go. After standing on a windy hill in the middle of a field for 2 hours laying tracks and hanging on to the end of a long line whilst Dita pulled my arms off  finding the neatly hidden Saucisses,I got home to find I hadn't got rid of it after all and have been full of cold for yet another week-so our apoligies for no Blog  for a little while! HOWEVER!-I am pleased to say I'm BACK and went rooting amongst my boxes again yesterday to find Matisse asleep on some Vintage textiles instead of his bed-so HE got a blast from yours truly..........

and Dita decided she liked the look of one of the huge cardboard tubes that John keeps for posting certain items out in and duly ran off out into the garden with it.......trying to get her to part with things is quite difficult at the moment as she is being trained to hold on and don't let go, in another aspect of her training.....it's all fun and games here I can tell you.Anyway,we have unearthed yet more lovely items we'd forgotten we bought during the summer months and we try to keep it varied so there is something for everyone......

Gorgeous Paris Tapestry............

stunning Engravings contained within the pages of an Antique Missel..........

.........the Gilt-edged pages of which are so shiny they mirror any surface they are placed upon!......

there are lots of lovely things to come this week so for now this is all.The sun has decided to grace us with its' wonderful presence so I am off out in the garden to photograph all these delights for your perusal.Once again-wishing everyone a Happy New start to what hopefully will be a Happy New Year!A Bientot!.....

Simply having a Wonderful Christmas Time.............

We hope that all our customers have had a Simply Wonderful Christmas and that you are all still enjoying the Festive Cheer which of course will be carrying on up until the New Year......for us, it has just meant having a few odd relaxing days eating (far too much) drinking and being merry with Friends and family and curled up all cozy  infront of the Logburner watching films on the television.........

Whilst I've had a few minutes spare I have been wandering around in our "packing room" having great fun looking through boxes of items we have bought all through the summer months at the Brocantes and stowed away until now-it is almost as exciting as when we first discovered objects & purchased them as I have forgotten about half of the items I'm finding! Unfortunately the Gorgeous Framed Religious Wool Tapestry of Madonna and Child was only just found accidently the other day behind a box-it would have been more appropriate to have been found earlier & listed in say-November,-ready for someone's Festive decorations but is such an Emotive piece it will appeal to many at any time of the year-such wonderful colours!

Getting back to normality-if there is such a thing in this house of ours with our mad pup-she obviously thought the Christmas Tree baubles looked good enough to eat-lovely crunchy treats fresh off the tree......a friend of mine suggested maybe she thought they were Brussel Sprouts?!.............

Happy New Year everyone!

Festive Family Birthdays............

12 months ago....on a Snowy Night in December, 5 weeks before the due date, my little Princess Granddaughter Erin made her entrance into this world,catching her Nanny out because SHE had just returned to France after visiting the family & precisely planning her next trip which was to arrive in the UK two weeks BEFORE the due date-nothing EVER goes to plan does it?! So this time, in our eagerness to get it right on the visiting front,with first birthday party looming, my dear other half mistakenly booked me on my outward flight from Limoges TWICE on the same flight!(either that or he was VERY determined to get rid of me!)

Anyway-the reason there has been no blog is that although I have been merrily attending Xmas Playgroup & Birthday parties-I did take my laptop with me but left the charger & leads behind as my darling puppy Dita was merrily munching away on them whilst I was trying to pack my case-and as a result of removing said leads from her mouth & moving them to a safe place,-duly forgot them and left them behind in France.Oh well-I am back now and ready to catch up with my work. I have just had a delve into the first box of tricks I have come to.......... 

......and found this old Petit School Satchel...so am off to see what other delights I can uncover to tempt you with once more. Strangely enough-we have a Vintage School Uniform dress on Auction at the moment,they sort of go together don't you think?! Anyway,it is so close to that special day where we all down tools and feed ourselves silly with Turkey and all the trimmings-we would like to wish all our customers old and new a very Happy time and Best wishes for a Happy & Prosperous New Year!