A moment of calm at the Louvre

A rare moment of calm in one of the most visited places in Paris

Play along with the others in Wordless Wednesday

Our brush with the Tour de France

 Yesterday afternoon, we decided to take a little walk near the Quai where we live. We didn't have an itinerary in mind, just a lazy meandering Sunday stroll.   As we walked we noticed that people were gathered at the end of the long street just after the bridge leading to the left bank.  Hmmm..curiously enough, the streets were closed and people seemed to be waiting.

Then cops on motorcycles arrived. We just had to ask what was going on. To our surprise (which now that I think about it, shouldn't have been, since it was all over the news), it was the Tour de France riders arriving for the last lap!

 You could definitely sense a palpable sense of excitement among the spectators when we sighted the group coming.. see that mass of riders behind these cops, that's them!

 They went by at such great speed that it was all I could do to capture a fleeting shot of them

 After they were through a whole platoon of cars came whizzing by with loads and loads of bikes on top of their hood.

 And after the very last cars were through, life on this rue slowly returned to normal...

Rings

You might remember this photo from my post on the Journee du Fait Main.  I had asked someone to pose with two of the newest additions to De Petites Merveilles because I wanted to see how they would look on someone. I'm glad to say they look great. What's new you ask?  We now have rings!

It started with my recent find of French pate de verre cabochons from the 1930s  during a recent buying trip.  Their colors are so pretty and so summery that I had to buy them even though I don't normally use cabochons.  Fortunately they're just right for making rings! I'd long wanted to try making them and here was the chance to start. I figure if they don't turn out well, I'd at least have tried. 

See here one of my first efforts...not bad right? I love that it looks like a flower.

Here's another angle..

 And finally, my favorite one so far is this one I made from crystals.  I don't know if you can tell from the photo but its actually two colors, a very pale yellow and white!

 I couldn't resist another photo of it!

Now I just have to add them to the store!

Lots and lots of clover

Did I tell you this already? I apologize if I have but I'm so pleased with a recent find that I just got to share it.

I lucked out when an antique dealer I know was selling a set of peach colored clover leaf charms.  It was part of an estate lot she had bought from the son of an old French designer who used to supply the House of Chanel in the early 50s. You can be sure my ears perked up at the name Chanel.  And even without such association, I would've bought them anyway because they are so pretty. Plus, four leaf clovers are supposed to bring good luck right?

So I hurried home and voila, my first complete set...

I decided to do a sautoir necklace, in honor of Chanel...

 Here are the charms up close..

 Because its long enough, you can loop it around twice...

Then I made some lovely earrings...

And finally a bracelet to match everything else!

What do you think of them?

Journee du Fait Main

Beautiful sautoir necklaces

Hello friends, hope you all had a fantastic weekend. My weekend was a busy one as I participated in France's first ever Journee du Fait Main, a celebration of all things hand made!

We set out bright and early on Saturday morning to set up our booth and in no time at all, I was busy chatting with all the other participants. One of the nicest things about craft fairs is that I always meet such interesting and talented people and this was no exception.

I always have a hard time choosing which of my little marvels I should bring to the fair, it feels a little like playing favorites. This time I decided to showcase some sautoirs I'd been working on as well as bracelets. Lately, I've been very into bracelets so I had a lot of them during the fair.

Selection of bracelets

Here is one of my demi-parures...

 And here's another. You'll notice too that I have rings! Yes, I decided to try to make some and here are the first ones... (more on that later..)

 More of my bracelets...

 Of course I couldn't resist bringing some of my earrings. Especially when they include a pair of 60s era seahorses and some clover leaf charm ones!

Like I said, there was no shortage of interesting and talented people at the fair, and my favorite had to be Les Betises de Fifi. She makes these gorgeous corsets and dresses.

 Cathart with her wonderful paintings and decorative objects

 And another stand whose name I unfortunately didn't get, but who made the cutest toys for children

 and little cloth bags for storing all manner of things..

Eh voila, my weekend!