I've just received the Versatile Blogger Award from the lovely Claudine at Carry Us Off Books. Thank you Claudine I really appreciate it. By accepting the award I agree to;
1. Thank and link to the person who nominated me.
2. Share seven random facts about myself.
3. Pass the award on to five blogger friends.
4. Contact and Congratulate the nominated blogs.
So without further ado here are seven random facts about me;
I have always loved old-fashioned buttons and spent hours looking through my gran's button tin. She had all kinds of buttons including ones made from shell, metal, glass, marcasite, and pottery. There were also military buttons and badges, buckles, marbles, odd bits of change and cotton reels.
I wrote my first love letter on purple 'Basildon Bond' notepaper when I was seven - I sprinkled it with 'Evening in Paris' perfume stolen from my mum's dressing table. The boy of my dreams (also aged seven) was not impressed!
My husband is six weeks younger than me and refers to himself as my 'toy boy'.
Earlier this year I was awarded a runner-up prize in a National Geographic photography competition. Some of my happiest memories are from when my dad and I visited second-hand bookshops looking for back issues of National Geographic, so it made this prize extra special.
I collect nursery china, especially anything decorated by Eileen Soper or Chloe Preston. One of my favourite pieces is a Paragon nursery mug with ‘a gift from The Queen, Christmas 1938’ stamped on the base. It was probably given to a member of the palace staff or an estate worker and is still in perfect condition and complete with its box.
I tried sandboarding in Dubai and drove a 4x4 through the sand dunes. I was black and blue after the sandboarding – sand is hard and scratchy!
I can’t sing, dance or play a musical instrument but I can arrange a nice bunch of flowers and ice a birthday cake (not at the same time)!
Now to pass the award along to five blogger friends;
Olga from http://bibliophilescorner.blogspot.com/ Olga reviews a variety of books in an informative and interesting way.
Donna from http://dmyates.blogspot.com/ Donna always has something inspirational to share.
Sophie from http://www.lifebetweenpages.net/Sophie describes herself as 'Just a random girl from the
Kathy from http://bookskidslike.blogspot.com/ Dedicated to sharing great children's fiction - old and new - with kids and their parents.
Janice from http://readaloudsforallchildren.wordpress.com/ Blogs about children's literature that fosters peace, justice, respect and curiosity.
I hope you all enjoy receiving this award as much as I did.
Congratulations on your award. On some level we must be kindred souls. I also love buttons. When I was little and we had company, their coats had to be locked in a room or I apparently would go in and cut off their buttons. I could also purchase animal cookies with some buttons at the corner grocery (I wished that one still worked) Now I just save them - my prize buttons are Union Jacks from the early 1960s - very mod.
ReplyDeleteYou are very brave for even trying out sand boarding. I don't think I would.
Thank you Alex. Now you’ve got me wondering where granny got her buttons from – I do hope she didn’t cut them off other people’s coats! I used to wear white boots and black and white mini dresses in the 60s, I also had a beehive hair do all held up with pins and hair spray – but I missed out on Union Jack buttons.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad I tried sand boarding but once was enough!
Barbara, I too love to collect buttons. There are so many unique ones. I cannot imagine owning a piece of china which once was a gift from the queen. Queen Elizabeth, btw, has always been a person I admire.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this honor for the versatile blogger award. What fun.
I feel very privileged to own a little piece of Royal memorabilia and would love to know more about its history – I often wonder who it was given to and why it ended up in an auction.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading your ‘seven random facts’ and getting to know you a little better.
Barbara, thank you so much for the award! It's my first one and that makes it even more special.
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome, Barbara. Glad you had fun with this. I'd love to see your collectibles (books and buttons and china) if I visit UK one day.
ReplyDelete(Also, thank you for liking CarryUsOff on FB. Please let me know, or just post on ou wall, if March House's page is ready. I see you're on Twitter. I just signed up and will be following you ... streaming through the woods and memories of good children's literature.)
Hi Claudine
ReplyDeleteSadly I no longer have the buttons - they were my grans and I don't know what happened to them after she died. I would be very happy to show you the other things. Thanks for following on Twitter I'm just going to go and follow you back. I've not set up a page on Facebook for March House Books (yet).
Hello Olga, your are most welcome. I hope you have fun with it.
ReplyDeleteHi, Barbara. Thanks so much for the blogger award. I've always loved buttons, too, and remember spending hours with my grandmom's tin of buttons.
ReplyDeleteI have a question for you. Do you know if any of the illustrations in the Disney Snow White sketch book are by the Swedish-American artist Gustaf Tenggren? I'm about to review a new collection of Grimm's fairy tales and learned there that he had a hand in the animation.
It’s surprise how many people have said the same thing about their grandma’s button tin - and there was me thinking I was the only one!
ReplyDeleteWith regards to Gustaf Tenggren - I’m pretty sure the answer is no. I understand these to be the original sketches untouched by any of the various technical animation processes. I would assume that if Gustaf Tenggren was involved it would have been at a later stage.
Thank you so much for the award, Barbara! I'm just creating my post for it now. It must have been an amazing experience to drive a 4x4 on the sand dunes - I've always wanted to do that!
ReplyDeleteHi Sophie it was brilliant fun - not sure my bones would take it now though! I shall look forward to reading your post.
ReplyDeletegood
ReplyDeleteThank you
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