Parlez-vous français?

Are you a francophile, a francophone or just plain curious to see creations with a French touch? Then head to
http://frenchhandmade.org/
 to discover a group of French speaking talented artists from around the world.   As you may know, I’m from Paris, France, and last year, I was invited to join the FrenchHandmade group. I did and since then, I’ve “met” so many new friends with whom I share my passion of anything handmade. We all support each other, promote each other, chit chat, and even share cooking recipes!

Here’s a small sampling of what you can see on FrenchHandmade.org:

Leather keychain, all HAND embroidered (not machine made) by Une Limousine de Luxe.
http://frenchhandmade.org/profile/cecileparsoire

Statement necklace, hand embroidered, with glass beads and svarowski crystals by Beads of Aquarius.
http://frenchhandmade.org/profile/beadsofaquarius

Bamboo hand knit fingerless gloves by Anny May.
http://frenchhandmade.org/profile/annymay

Silver cuff by Kalicat.
http://frenchhandmade.org/profile/KalicatBijoux

Recycled sweater by Hyena.
http://frenchhandmade.org/profile/CecileMoreau

Illustration “Les fromages Francais” by Geraldine Adams
http://frenchhandmade.org/profile/GeraldineAdams

Je t’aime – I love you – Ti amo … + FREE hand painted glasses :)

Crystal white wine glasses

Hand painted champagne flutes with "heart flowers"

Valentine martini stemless glasses

Hand painted cocktail glasses with lots of hearts

Happy Valentine’s Day! Treat yourself and your sweetheart to some beautiful hand painted glassware. Lots of elegant hearts grace my crystal champagne flutes and fun stemless glasses.

Do you like FREE stuff? I’m having my very 1st giveaway. You can win the set below. They are red wine stemless glasses. But you could use them for juice, water or white wine. To participate in this giveaway, click here
http://thefrugalfairy.com/2012/01/30/679/
. No purchase necessary!

To see more of my hand painted glasses, visit my online shop creationsdeflorence.etsy.com.

Valentine red wine stemless glasses

Phew, the Holiday season is almost over!

Personalized baby ornament

"Our First Christmas" personalized ornament

Have I been busy this Holiday season! Lots of returning clients and new ones came to my online Etsy shop creationsdeflorence.etsy.com to do their Holiday shopping. All these wonderful people kept me busy painting beautiful, unique, personalized and custom glass and ceramic pieces. I painted over 70 ornaments, 60 glasses, 30 Christmas, Hanukkah, birthday, wedding and family plates. And let’s not forget all the bottles, soap dispensers, pitchers and vases.

Personalized Hanukkah plate

Personalized Christmas plate

Thank you my dear clients. Another thank you to all my friends who purchased their gifts from me. Without you, I wouldn’t do two of the things I love the most, create and paint.

Personalized family plate

Hand painted wine glasses

My own gift to myself is a trip to the city of lights, my hometown and favorite city in the world. Next week, my hubby, my 3 children and I will be flying from JFK to Paris for a well deserved ten-day vacation. We’ll be staying in Montmartre, spending Christmas with our French family, going to the movies, visiting a few museums, eating out, shopping and do a lot of walking. La vie Parisienne!

Stay tuned as I’ll post some pictures when I return in 2012.

Fall is my least favorite season

Set of stemless glasses and pitcher featuring maple leaves

Hand painted champagne flutes perfect for an Autumn wedding

Glass vase painted with frosted yellow/orange and beautiful maple leaves

Dispenser for liquid soap, lotion, perfume or detergent

Fall is my least favorite season because

• It’s the end of Summer.
• The garden and potager get muddy and dying plants abound.
• Leaves fall – that’s not really pretty to me plus they need to be raked.
• The temperature is cool but not cold enough to turn on the heat so I’m cold in the house.
• And I just dislike all those orange and rust color decorations (read: fake leaf wreaths, fake scare-crows, fake pumpkins) that you see in front of houses and all over the stores.

BUT I love the foliage colors when the leaves “turn”. They really inspire me to paint as you can see here. I start with clear glass pieces and a few leaves from my garden. Some leaves are also collected by my children on our way to school and in neighbors yards.

You can see more of my hand painted glassware from my Autumn Leaves collection in my etsy store: creationsdeflorence.etsy.com.

Hand painted bowl with 5 maple leaves

New glass shape, same popular design

Hand painted red wine glasses featuring my "Village Provencal" design

I’m pleased to introduce a new glass with my popular Village Provencal design. For over a year now, I’ve painted a Provence landscape on stemless glasses. It’s now time to have the same glasses with a stem for those (like me!) who prefer to drink their vino in a stem glass. These new glasses are for red wine. Stay tuned as I will soon paint this scene on white wineglasses.

Look how I painted an entire landscape and village all around the glass. There are a lot of details here: grass blades, bricks on the houses, flowers and birds. I love how the glass base matches the roofs color. It is a gorgeous, vibrant and transparent paprika orange.

For more information and/or to purchase these glasses from my Etsy store, click here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/77644514/village-provencal-set-of-2-hand-painted

Konichiwa!

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/52089848

Konichiwa! This pretty pitcher is on its way to Japan. It was just purchased on etsy. So happy to see one of my pieces travel to the other side of the world. I wish I could go too!

Hand painted glass pitcher from my "Liane" collection

Time to plant these babies

Aaaah the sun is finally here after a week of way-too-much rain and gloomy weather. It’s now time to plant my little seedlings.

This year, I’m starting many vegetables from seeds that I collected from my garden last fall. These include some of the best tomatoes that I ever tasted: Chocolate Cherry and Purple Cherockee; Potimarron, a cousin of the pumpkin; leeks; different varieties of zucchini; Cosmos; bright orange Marigold; and much much more.

Every year, I try something new in my garden. For 2011, I’m planting Coquerets du Perou (ground tomatoes). I brought the seeds packet from France back in March. I’ll let you know in a later post (August hopefully) how they turn out.

My cute cat guarding the seedllings!

Can you spot the red? It's a raddish.

Leeks on the left and fennel bulbs

New addition to the family

My new hand painted glass mug from the “Village Provencal” collection

Escape to Provence while drinking your tea!

Detail: Home is where the heart is

Here it is, a new baby! Well not really a baby, but a large glass mug entirely free-hand painted with my popular Village Provencal design.

This would make a nice Father’s Day gift. I can personalize with Dad’s name or any saying you wish, as shown above right.

To purchase this mug or get more details about it, click here
http://www.etsy.com/listing/74357916/village-provencal-hand-painted-large
.

La Promenade des Artistes in Larchmont, NY

Friday, May 13 from 10am to 3pm
Saturday, May 14 from 11am to 6pm

Bonjour mes amis!

If you are in the Larchmont, NY area this week-end, make sure to go to La Promenade des Artistes. It’s a charming way to spend an afternoon: Strolling the quaint streets of Larchmont and entering beautiful houses to discover French artists.  Unlike other indoor shows where art is displayed under one big roof in a school setting, this one takes places in several private homes.

The Promenade des Artistes is in its 11th year.  For 2011, there will be over 30 artists selling fine art painting, sculpture, jewelry, hand painted silk scarves, ceramics, photography, hand painted glass, home decor, and more. In addition to art, three French pastry chefs will sell their yummy and dazzling desserts!

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The artists will be spread out in several houses in the Larchmont neighborhood. Start at 33 Forest Park Avenue to pick up a map (or click here:
http://www.promenadedesartistes.org/direction.html
). Make sure to stop
at 174 Larchmont Avenue to see me! I will have quite a few new items including this pitcher and this candle holder from my “Village Provencal” collection.

New pretty pitcher from my "Liane" collection

A new hand painted candle holder from my "Village Provencal" collection

This is an annual event organized by Westchester Accueil, a French association which vocation is to welcome and help French and French-speaking new comers to settle down in the Westchester County.

15% of all sales is donated to two local charities each year. The 2011 benefiting charities are Furniture Sharehouse and Entraide Francaise.

A bientôt! Hope to see you there.

Hola, it’s Cinquo de Mayo and I’m celebrating!

Homemade margarita served in "homemade" glass!

I’m celebrating with a margarita, my favorite cocktail. My favorite, if made with all natural ingredients and no pre-made mix. Here’s my recipe. Give it a try, it’s so easy.

. 3 parts fresh squeezed lime juice
. 3 parts Tequila (I use Jose Cuervo Especial)
. 1 part Triple Sec
. a little turbinado sugar (or plain sugar if you don’t use turbinado)

I like to use salt on the rim of my glass and 3 ice cubes.

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If you like this glass, it is available for purchase here
http://www.etsy.com/listing/38434809/petits-coeurs-hand-painted-cocktail