Bringing gifts home is a hassel!!

So my dear Olive requested a Teddy Bear from Germany.  Germany is known for there Steffi bears and we thought this would be a good gift.  About 3 day into vacation we spoke with olive and she said "GiGi make sure it is the softest bear in all of Germany"....Pretty tall order when all the German bears feel like they are made of Muslin!! so we gave up on the Germany bear.

But in Paris we came upon a high end baby store with lots of VERY soft dolls.  after rubbing each stuffed animal, we decided the rabbit was by far the Softest (and most expensive!)

You can tell it a Parisian rabbit by the Counterpoised position!!!  We could have come home an bought a really soft doll at TJ Max and she would have never been the wiser, but she loves it and now she has something for show and tell.  Then she can take my MasterCard bill and use that as next weeks show and tell!

OK Last post about Olive for a while.  I know I think she the smartest, cutest, most well behaved, highly artistic child on the planet, but I get that not everyone else shares my views!!  I promise next post will be jewelry!!

Blessings to you all

Home from Germany and France

I returned home from 2 week in Germany and France (+1 day stuck in Canada!)  I went right back to work, so I have not had much free time.  I Should have tomorrow off so I plan to cast some new finds from Paris Flea Markets.  I did not buy much this year.  I wanted to get lots of stuff for found object jewelry, but that didn't work out!  I was with my husband so I tried to hurry thru the market.  I had planed to go to the Marché aux Puces St-Ouen de Clignancourt, the largest Puces in Paris with 7 markets!  After reading up on it I realized it would take all weekend to get through, so I chose to go the the smaller one.  I found a few interesting things (old metal stamps. old advertisement key chains and some hand tatted lace) 
We rented an amazing flat in Paris and had a wonderful time.  Brian and I will celebrate 20 years together in March and this was the first time we traveled out of the States together.  We still really enjoy spending time together and we have the same interests. So this was a great time for us.  Ill post pictures over the next few weeks.

Brian and I picked out a beautiful lock many years ago at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show.  We found a vendor from India selling old locks from the late 1700 to early 1800's. We dug for about an hour looking for the perfect locks with a working key.  We found 2 locks that we planed on using in a piece of altered art.  But once I heard about the locks of love bridge, I knew where they would end up! 

For those of you who haven’t heard of this, here's the story: A couple writes their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love.  

 Our Lock

Some say the only way to break the seal of love brought on by this love lock act is to find the key and unlock the padlock. Of course, that is nearly impossible, since the keys lie at the bottom of the river.

 We took a picture in hopes we can find it again next year

 Pont de l'Archevêché Bridge