just an old-fashioned girl

Hello and welcome. I'm glad you dropped by. If you´re looking for something a little nostalgic of bygone eras with a timeless elegance and a little modern twist – in other words, something slightly “retro” – then you should feel right at home here in my shabby chic room. Month by month, there will always be something new to see so I hope you´ll enjoy your stay and come back again soon.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Valentine Glitter

On a dull winter´s day the magpie in me begins to flutter around looking for something glittering to take back to its nest. It snowed last night but under the overcast skies it´s just lying there with not a glittering snowflake in sight. Sooo...with Valentine´s Day just around the corner I decided to cheer myself up by creating some more glittering hearts to share with you.

Hope they´ll cheer you up too. If you´d like them to brighten your day, you´ll find them HERE with love from me to you.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

More Kits In The Store.

This month´s featured kit is Simply Serene, the companion kit to Sweetness And Light.


With Valentine´s Day in mind, I´ve also added two old favourites of mine, Heart Of Gold...




...and All That Glitters.


Finally, and for no other reason than because I love both the coppery colours and the textures in this particular kit, Vintage Patina.


They can all be seen in my store and among my kit previews, each with its own freebie(s). You can also find examples of use in the store and here on the blog.
Thank you for looking!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Flying Pig Meets Sparkling Lizard

I´m a magpie by nature. Anything glittering always attracts my attention so when I saw a sparkling lizard recently in a shop window display I just had to buy it. I already have a silvery pig candle with glittering nose, toes and wings which was a good luck gift last New Year – that´s one candle that´ll never be lit! - so when I got my lizard home I introduced them to each other and now they sparkle together beautifully under my silver filigree table lamp. An ill-assorted couple maybe but at least the glitter will never wear off their relationship!

I created this page using a combination of my recently released kit, Sweetness and Light, and its companion kit, Simply Serene, which I intend to release soon along with a few of my other kits. The diamond glitter and the silvery beads are from the latter. Everything else is from Sweetness And Light though I desaturated the ornate gold frame to suit my page. The jewelled heart is a freebie which you´ll find HERE.

By the way, with Valentine´s Day approaching, I thought I´d give my room a more feminine romantic look again. Besides, the colours go so well with both the kits mentioned above, I couldn´t resist altering my room to suit them.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sweetness And Light Escapees

I´ve just remembered a couple of jewelled elements which narrowly avoided being included in Sweetness And Light. I think they´d coordinate beautifully with it and also with its companion kit, Simply Serene, which will be my next new featured kit so I tracked them down, rounded them up and decided to offer them as freebies.

LinkIf you like them, you´ll find them HERE

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

And The Winner Is...

I´m happy to announce that the winner of my kit-naming contest is Julie for suggesting I name my kit Sweetness And Light. As Julie said herself, although it has a vintage look, it also has a lightness and airiness about it which would also make it suitable for contemporary layouts and these are the reasons I chose that name.

Congratulations, Julie, and thank you, everyone, for your suggestions which I´ll bear in mind for future kits. You´ll all receive a little posting gift for your participation...which reminds me that, although I may already have your email addresses as I have an inkling of who you may be, I can´t identify the first two contestants by their user names alone. So that I don´t send your gift to the wrong person, please email me to verify your identity.

Sweetness And Light is now available for sale and you can see it complete with its new name HERE in the store and HERE along with a freebie QP created from the kit.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Happy Birthday Helen


Helen, I decided that you needed to revisit your birthday room to celebrate your birthday today.   You may recall the room was created from the perfect QP Room in Shabby Chic Rooms Part 2 where I also found some roses to place into your vase and a book where I marked the perfect place for you to read.  You have had such a busy year with designing new kits, I doubt you have gotten much read from the book!  I'm so excited about your new kits that will be available over the next few months in your new store.

I saved Deb's silver and gold cake and Diane's silver leaded hearts and alpha birthday decorations to use again in your birthday room.  If you tire of reading, just relax on the gorgeous pink pillow from Shabby Chic Rooms Part 2 and dream once again about the blue bonnets you planted from Diane's seeds that will hopefully return again in the spring.  With all the winter weather, it might be hard so I added a visual for you to gaze upon.

Happy Birthday, my friend...I hope you have a perfect day!!!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

New Store And Kit-Naming Contest!

At long last I finally have my own store and will be able to offer for sale all the new kits which I´ve created during the past year. Special thanks go to Lajuana aka Scrapladyandmore without whom this wouldn´t have been possible.

At present I´ve released only my past and present Christmas kits plus Nouveau Summer as it´s a special favourite of Lajuana´s and she´s created some quite spectacular layouts using it as a Christmas kit. From now on I´ll be adding to the collection in my store with at least one special featured kit every month which you´ll find posted here on my blog along with coordinating freebies. The first featured kit is, of course, A Christmas Carol, along with which I´m offering a freebie QP created from the kit but you´ll find many other freebies among my kit previews which coordinate both with this kit and with its companion kit, Noel Nouveau.

And now to the kit-naming contest....You may remember that in November I posted 2 layouts created from a kit I was currently working on. Well, that kit, although long since completed, is still unnamed. With 50 items, which include no recoloured duplicates, it´s quite a large kit. I hope you´ll like it when you see the previews.


I hope that you´ll help me to name it by offering suggestions below. If I choose the name you suggest, you´ll receive the kit as a prize and all contributors will receive a Christmas themed QP and a set of coordinating festive embellishments. You may suggest as many names as you like and can even come back later if another name occurs to you as this post will remain open until I announce the winner. So make sure you copy the link just in case I post over it!

NB If you´re unknown to me and wish to take part in this contest, you´re very welcome to do so. Just remember that I won´t have your email address so you´ll have to contact me in order to receive the link and password to your prize/posting gift after the contest is over. You´ll find my contact info at the bottom of THIS PAGE.

Thank you all in advance. I hope you´ll enjoy this challenge to help me to get this, as yet unnamed, kit into my new store. Good luck!