And Another Bird

Lydia the Lilou Bird likes gingham. She's in the shop now.


P.S. I've been forgetting to say that if you would like to sign up for my mailing list and receive news of my shops and even discount coupons, there's now a button on the left of this blog where you can type in your e-mail address and -- voila! -- you've opted in.

Making Swans

This little thing is in the shop right now.

Weekend Playtime: the EST sales fairy

Having a baby, developing a business, and trying to write makes life very hectic these days. I have the great luck to have a husband who runs his own business and has organized his days so he can take care of our little girl in the mornings; and a mother-in-law who's more than happy to babysit in the afternoons if I need to get more work done. Still, we all know what they say about making life all about work and not playing.

Part of my plan for surviving -- maybe even fluorishing -- in this time is take an hour or two on a Sunday morning, go into my workroom, and make anything I feel like, not an order from a client, nor even necessarily anything I'll put up for sale, just something that will let the creative juices flow.

Since yesterday, when I found out about it through Mitsy, I've been excited about the idea of participating in the European Street Team's Sales Fairy game. To participate, you have to be a member of the EST, be able to catch and buy a sales fairy made by another member, then make one and put it up for sale. I waited till late afternoon to get Mitsy's fairy, but unfortunately missed it. Never someone known for her patience, for this weekend's playtime, I went ahead and made a fairy! Now to keep my fingers crossed that I can catch one so that I can pass on the love.

Here's the Apple Sales Fairy in close-up:


A full shot:


And then our fairy's little box, filled with buttons, beads, a piece of string, a paper boat, bits and bobs that caught her eye and make up her fairy dust.

Boo! (Sort of)

Today, the little spring roll is disguised as some sort of jester in knits, so we decided that a photo would be a nice way to greet you all, "Happy Halloween!"


And, because you're not getting a proper Halloween if there's no blood and gore, here's my husband, who fell off his motorcyle, while doing it had a runaway bull (there are many in these parts) steal his helmet away, so that when he hit the ground his forehead cracked on the pavement, opening the skin and a bit of flesh, and there was blood all over!

I'm kidding, of course.

Although that was a little bit like the story he told me when he came home looking like the photo above. For a full 10 minutes I was sort of believing him (he's a gifted storyteller, my guy), until he gave up on it and started laughing. A group of makeup artists who work in cinema special effects apparently came to our village, and, like a little boy, Pierre lined up to get this fake cut. I'm feeling a little foolish and a lot gullible, but I have to say those makeup artists know their business!

How about you, how are you disguising yourselves this Halloween?

This and That

An Internet connection that for a few days made like I was back in the dark ages of dial-up prevented me from posting anything new here, but I've got some news.


First, it's open! The thing my husband and I are up, that I talked about in the blog post below, is La Pomme Vintage -- a shop of the vintage goodies we've accumulated as a result of our shared love for on the weekends going to the "brocantes" or vintage markets around here in the south where we live.

What you'll find there is a mix of the useful things that my husband Pierre picks up ("manly" things, I call them), and the more fanciful things that always draw me -- and that my husband often has a hard time understanding. ("But what will you do with them?" he asks. "Something. Nothing. Uhm, I'm not sure," I vaguely answer.)

We don't have a proper banner yet, but I've been so happy with the photos we've been taking that I couldn't resist and went ahead and put a few products up. What do you think?

And because managing three shops is not something I can do, my books, zines, and artworks in La Pomme Stories are being moved to my main shop, La Pomme. If you're a fan of my stories, that's where you want to go from now on.

Oh, and remember my failure of a giveaway? I picked a winner -- Apryl Lowe from England -- and a runner-up. The runner-up was for all the girls who were sending me entries to the giveaway through e-mail, comments on my blog, and through Twitter -- everywhere except where they should have, which was my Facebook fan page! I have a fondness for people who don't follow rules, though, so I decided to send one of these rebel girls one of my plush boat ornaments. Something similar to the photo above is sailing off to Miss Chicago as I type. Congratulations, Apryl and Steph!

Uhm, what else? Well the baby's sleeping through the night, and that's wonderful. And I've given in to that urge Ira used to talk about and have developed this compulsion to buy all kinds of clothes for my little girl, dresses, stockings, jackets, bonnets, and scarves, even if I must admit that she seems just as happy in her pyjamas. My latest purchase are these sneakers, which of course has the husband exclaiming, "But she's not even walking yet!"

Sigh. Men know nothing, do they?

Look!

My husband and I are up to something.

Can you guess what it is?

Here's a last clue:


I'm excited about this! Coming very soon...

Giveaway Update

My Facebook fan page giveaway is officially a failure :D Seems nobody likes puns, so I'm changing the rules. Go to the page to see!