Willow House

What's a Peggle?

Cowslip or Peggle from the garden.

In North Essex a Peggle is the local name for the Cowslip, here at Willow House a Peggle is a peg doll or clothespin person.

Peggles in various stages of undress.

(April 2008 30 day 30 photograph macro challenge)

Introducing Miss Amelia Peggle

Miss Amelia Peggle is a peg or clothespin doll who loves to wear her Sunday best. She is rather prim and proper and loves nothing more than an excuse to dress in all her finery.

4th Day - X rated

A pile of naked ladies waiting for something to preserve their decency.

(April 2008 30 day 30 photograph macro challenge)

Someone else has been doing interesting things with pegs, take a look here.

A Flutter of Fairies

The first of my papier mache fairy dolls have finally fledged and I'm pleased to introduce Fairy Flora and Fairy Rosa.

Here they are like a couple of debutantes nervously waiting to meet the Queen wearing their very best clothes, ballgowns of vintage fabic.

You'll find more photographs over here where they can also be purchased if you wish.

Tree toppers

If there is one thing that is guaranteed to get me crafting it's the thought of what is going to sit on the top of the Christmas Tree.

Over the years there have been various creations like this one made from tissue and wire,

and little peg fairies like this one:

Some years things haven't exactly gone to plan

(notice you can't see this ones face properly that's because it looks like a chewed up toffee)and we've resorted to

tying Miss Piggy to the stake er I mean tree.

But this year I think I may just have excelled myself with tree topping Angels like this one

who is for sale over here if any of you are interested in owning her.

There are more photographs of her over there as well. As you can see she was in such a hurry to reach her photoshoot before the light went that she mussed up her hair. Naughty Angel, tidy yourself up!

And not only have I made Angels, but I've also come up with what I think will be darling fairies, made from little more than paper and paste.

Hopefully they will be ready to "fledge" in a couple of days. That is if I avoid going Christmas shopping!Anyway why not pop by in a day or two and take a look?

B is for Blossom

With so much beautiful blossom out

surely it can come as no surprise that

the English Peg Fairies have adorned themselves in petals.

Meet Fairy Blossom -

Fairy Cherry -

and Fairy Petal -

These three little English Peg Fairies have decided that they want to bring some magic and enchantment into someone else's life so they are for sale here at £12.00 each and I'm offering free delivery if they are purchased via the blog. Email me if you are interested, I can accept cheques or Paypal in GBP. Or if you prefer to pay in US dollars they are also for sale over at Etsy. (You can see more photographs of the fairies over at Etsy).

What's this you say, Etsy? That's right ladies I have opened a little Etsy Shop. The English Peg Fairies are the only items for sale at the moment but I will be adding things from time to time so please check it out at http://carolynelspeth.etsy.com

A is for Amaryllis

Miss Stripey Amaryllis has finally bloomed, 10 glorious flowers on 2 stems. In the summer, when she has her leaves Miss Stripey Amaryllis will go outside to enjoy some sunshine. Eventually her foliage will start to yellow and we will stop watering her. We will lay her on her side, keep her frost free and let her have a little rest. Round about November time she will come back into the house and we will start to water her again and hopefully she will bloom for us once more.

Her sister,  Miss Fairy Amaryllis Hippeastrum, won't be going into the garden for the summer as she is made from papier mache.

Actually, Miss Fairy Amaryllis Hippeastrum is a little bit concerned about her future, she spends quite a lot of time looking at blogs trying to decide her career path. She gets very excited when someone opens a new website

or starts to sell items via their blog.

Her wings positively flutter when she discovers people selling through Etsy.

Miss Fairy Amaryllis Hippeastrum longs to have adventure in her life, she wants to be in a shop and travel by Royal Mail - "Just once".

She has begged me to make her a special box to travel in, which of course I've promised to do, one day.

In the meantime please don't let her discover Ebay.

Miss Fairy Amryllis Hippeastrum is seen visiting the following: Clare, Fiona, Jen and Jenny.

Vintage Wallpaper Notebooks

My family and I find notebooks endlessly useful for jotting down all sorts of information about this and that. Covered notebooks are prettier and therefore much nicer to use. Both Lisa and Jane have some lovely fabric covered notebooks here and here. I covered mine using vintage wallpaper and Copydex glue, so simple to do and much nicer than the orginal black covers.

Open for Business - Ooh I'm scared!

Firstly I want to thankyou all for the lovely supportive comments you left on yesterdays' post. I'm feeling very apprehensive about actually offering things for sale and your comments have helped enormously. So here goes:

HOMESPUN ANGELS - only 1 left !

The Homespun Angels are approx. 9" tall and have tummies filled with lavender. They are made from vintage fabric with French Knitting legs and scarf. The faces are embroidered onto material rescued from a 1930's tray cloth and the buttons are vintage, from my Grandmothers' button tin. They have raffia wings and a halo of vintage beads.

Price : £10 each.

Please note that the vintage buttons and beads may vary from the one pictured.

ENGLISH PEG FAIRIES

The English Peg Fairies are hand painted, complete with pantaloons. They come dressed in party frocks of vintage fabric over petticoats of net, adorned with flowers and wearing "pearl" tiaras. The following 4 are currently available for sale:

ENGLISH PEG FAIRY WITH BLUE GLOVES

ENGLISH PEG FAIRY WITH PALE PINK GLOVES - sold

ENGLISH PEG FAIRY WITH BRIGHT PINK GLOVES - sold

ENGLISH PEG FAIRY WITH RED GLOVES - sold

Price: £14 each

HAPPY BLUEBIRDS

I have 3 of the papier mache Happy Bluebirds waiting to fly off to new homes.

HAPPY BLUBIRD WITH FLOWER & BLUE JEWEL NECKLACE - sold

HAPPY BLUEBIRD WITH FAIRY NECKLACE

HAPPY BLUEBIRD WITH BUTTERFLY NECKLACE - sold

They are all approx. 4" high and 6" long.

Price: £18 each

Post & packing is free of charge within the Uk, and £4.50 per order for the rest of the world. If anyone wants to order something please email me and I'll get back to you. I can accept payment by cheque or PayPal in Great British Pounds only.

If for any reason you change your mind about something you have bought from me, just send it back and I'll refund your money. Is there anything else I need to tell you? Oh yes, none of the above items are suitable for children, they are decorative items only, not toys. (I didn't really need to tell you that did I?)

So that's it Willow House is "Open for Business" - thanks ever so much for stopping by to take a look.

Beads & Birds

I have quite a collection of vintage beads, some date back to the 1970's when both my Mother and Grandmother decorated eggs to use as Christmas decorations. It would appear that they only cost 25p a box in those days, here is the proof:

I was also lucky enough to pick up a beaded waistcoat from a charity shop sometime ago which has provided me with a wonderful source of beads:

I like to use the beads on things that I make like my "Homespun Angel"

who has a halo of beads taken from the waistcoat.

Sometimes I like to practice my jewellery making skills although I will never be as talented as this young man. I just make little necklaces for my "Happy Bluebirds".

These "Happy Bluebirds" are some of my favourite things to make and give as gifts although they take forever to make. Slight exaggeration there, but they do take several days. They are made from papier mache with at least 5 coats of gesso followed by countless coats of paint and that's before I start to decorate them.

But I do like making them, I find their shape pleasing

and I like to think that they bring a little happiness to their owners.