My Nests ... Work Continues Very Slowly

Hello my dear friends,

 I have been so busy these days with all sorts of things and one of them is working on my newest nest design. As usual I didn't opt to just work on one but ...

 

... just over ten of them. 

 

 The basic nest is now completed and they have also visited my 'felting machine' aka my kitchen sink already.

 

Since the theme I am trying to capture is Wynken' Blynken and Nod, three little boys that sail the night skies to catch stars, my nests would need little stars too ...

 

 

... and therefor I now have over 300 hundred of them and they are so lovely!

 

I am not quite sure yet if I am going to be using all of them though just yet but  ...

 

...  I have started sewing them to the nests already which I must say is more time consuming that I thought it would be at first.

 

In the end though ...

 

 

... I am sure ...

 

... it will look very neat!

 

Every other day I worked on them a little more and now I seem to have hit a wall. I just can't get it right when it comes to the color of the eggs and the look of the leaves. I don't want this nest to be 'loud' but somewhat subtle even though it's mainly blue, so everything has to be perfect and go beyond well together.

 

 I think placing them aside for a while will be a good thing right now. Maybe I will work on something else for a week or two and then return to these blue babies with the right solutions for me. I will keep trying to find more elements to add to this design be it a color or an embellishment and I am really hoping they will turn out as I see them in my mind. Of course as soon as they are completed I will be share my finished nests with you lovely bloggers again.

 

So when ever you have a little spare time, do pop back and visit me here at Todolwen. It is always so nice when you do!

 

I hope you are well dear friends and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Yours,

 

 

Karen B. 

 

A Cold Foggy Morning ..

Hello my dear friends,

have you ever said to yourself  "I wish I would have ..."! I have several times in the past. I wish I had stopped the car and or I wish I would have gone back and done that or I wish I had my camera with me! ...This would have been one of those times if I wouldn't have said to myself  "Do it!". And it doesn't have to be about anything crazy ... maybe a treasure you could have picked from the side of the road or a picture you could have taken.

I was driving home from grocery shopping with my daughter Ashleigh a week ago one cold and foggy early morning. We didn't drive the normal route but I decided to take the back road that went past  a golf course and some open countryside. Whilst driving down this road I caught a scene in the corner of my eye as I went past a stream that didn't want to leave my mind. On arriving home I was umming and arring if I should go back or not with my camera to capture what I saw. In the end I decided to go  back and I am so happy I did. I had to park my car on the icy edge of the road and walk down the path of a hill that was very slippery and cars that were too close to comfort at times but I wanted to take those pictures!

 

And this is what I saw ...

 

 

 

 

This last photo has a neat little story to it ...

 

... on our way home we had to stop at a set of traffic lights when I again caught something in the corner of my eye which was the scene you see in the photo above. I almost shouted at my daughter ... " Grab the camera, take a picture of the fence ~ quick before the lights change!" ... and she did! Didn't it turn out amazing?!

 

So I guess what I am saying is, that at times do go back and don't miss out because you have to go out of your normal way a little. I am sure you will be rewarded in the end for it like I was with these lovely photos I captured. 

 

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Yours,

 

 

Karen B.

Grow Your Blog..

Hello my dear friends,

in my case this post should really be called "re-grow your blog".

Welcome to my blog!

Many of you know me but for those who don't I am Karen B. and my blog is 'Todolwen'.

 

I am the wife of a now retired British soldier and for many, many years we travelled the world with the British army. In 2006 we moved back to Canada (where I am originally from) with our two daughters.

 

Creating has been a part of my life since I can remember; I started to sew when I was 5 and knitting came next and after that my thirst for more ways of being creative just kept growing. Even today I will try anything new that looks like it could be fun.

I also have a love for anything very old, tarnished and tattered and love spending time at antique fairs, shops and markets.

 

I started blogging in 2011, after meeting Dawn, Barbara Jean and Lisa on the Internet ~ all ladies with wonderful blogs ~ and they all inspired me so much. Because of these ladies and my love for creating I wanted and did create my own blog and that is how Todolwen became.

My blog name 'Todolwen' is an anagram that I created specifically for my blog from the words 'old to new'. The reason behind these words is that, that is what I try to do - take old things and give them a new life. It took me some time to come up with the right placement and rearrangement of the letters but in the end my blog name was created and I loved it.

 My blog is my baby, at times my escape and it is my little place to come to and enjoy other bloggers talents and beautiful work.

 I also love sharing my creations and many of my tutorials which most of them are free. From time to time I even share a little bit about what is happening in my life too.

These are some of my free tutorials ...

... that you can find there on Todolwen.

 

Vicki is one of my dearest friends I made in blogland.

My reason for joining her amazing event of  'Growing your Blog' this year is ...

 

http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com

... not only to make new friends and re-find old followers but also to inform you all of what can happen to your blog if you intend to make changes and are not very careful.

Until recently I had many followers until I decided to do something to my blog's URL. I wanted to make a change my name and please don't think that I just went ahead and didn't inform myself first via blogger, because I did. There were no alarm bells going off saying that if you altered/changed your URL there is no turning back and that you will lose all your followers ... so I went ahead and did it. To my horror after I changed it, that is when all of the sudden the message appeared that you can not undo what you just did and all my lovely followers were gone and there was no way I could find them again.

 

Therefor my advise to you is not to ever change anything to do with your URL as it will have a huge impact on your blog!

Work is still continuing on my blog, trying to get it back to where it was before that dreadful day last November and I am sure more is still to follow for a little while longer but please don't let this stop you from visiting me at Todolwen ~ I have so much to share!

And now ...

... if you wish take a few moments and explore Todolwen but before you do so make sure you leave a comment to enter my giveaway!

 I haven't had one in a long time and this special event seems the perfect occasion to have one.

And this is my giveaway gift!

 

 

 

 

Any one can take part and you don't have to be a follower to enter my giveaway but it would be lovely if you decided to become one! The winner will be announced on Feb. 15th 2014. 

 

 ~

 The giveaway is now closed! 

~

 

And last but not least ...

 

... I would like to say 'thank you' to my dear friend Vicki for being such amazing person and for hosting this event again.

 

I hope you are well my dear fiends and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Yours,

 

Karen B.

 

The Most Precious Gifts ..

Hello my dear friends,

sometimes the sweetest and most precious gifts you can receive are the ones that don't cost anything and are small but from the heart and made with so much love and this is what I would like to share with you today.

My daughter Caylagh walked up to me one day a few weeks ago, gave me a kiss and a big hug and handed me something she had made for me.

 

Out of the blue she had sat down and created this for me ...

  

  

 

... because she just wanted to tell me how much she loved me.

It brought tears to my eyes and so much joy to my heart.

 

Gifts like these are the ones I will treasure forever and I wish you all little gifts like this in your life.

 

When you have a moment some time again, do stop by and visit me here at Todolwen again ~ I love it when  you do!

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

yours,

 

 

Karen B.

 

My Little Piece Of Christmas Magic No.3 ..

Hello my dear friends,

today I am so happy to share the last one of my Christmas music box's that I created in 2013.

 Whilst our basement walls were being torn apart yet again just days before Christmas, I needed to do something that would take my mind off the noise and all the dust and which better way for me than being creative. I was able to complete all my gifts and sent them on their way and I so happy that most of them arrived at their destination in time.

Since I had wanted to create anther music box and everything was on hand just waiting for me to start working on it, that is exactly what I did and this one turned out so lovely again ... maybe even a tiny bit more than the others?!

 

 

 

 

 

I just love the two little chipmunks sitting there, gazing at the tiny star that shines so brightly.

You can just imagine them sighing in amazement.

 

These days I don't tend to hold on to many creations that I make but, this little Christmas music box is going to be one of them and therefor will not be for sale.

 

That said I am hoping to be able to maybe create some more music boxes for Christmas this year if I manage to find everything I will need again ... so fingers crossed!

 

And now just as with my first two music boxes, a tiny (shaky) video so you can again hear it as well as see it.

 

I hope you will enjoy it!

 

 

 Thank you for visiting me again here at Todolwen ~ it makes me so happy when you do.

 

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Yours,

 

 

Karen B. 

Beautiful Boxing Day Findings ..

Hello my dear friends,

normally after Christmas I like to venture out in search of new decorations for the next year's festive season but this year I was very happy to stay home really and avoid the very busy, hot and overflowing stores apart from once.

 I was taking a look at our local Sears department store which is closing down soon when I came across their Christmas decorations that were not only 70% off but then another 20% was taken off everything after that! I was very lucky to find 8 beautiful glass ornaments in the shape of pine cones in the most beautiful pale green color.

And how to better share their beauty but by taking photos in the cold and snow!

 

 

 

 

  

 

Aren't they so beautiful? 

 

Not only was I lucky to find those amazing ornaments but whilst grocery shopping I found the  prettiest ornament hangers I have ever seen.

 

I couldn't resist and bought all the hangers that were in the store and you will see why in the photos below!

 

 

Didn't I say they the prettiest hangers ever?!

 

And of course what do you ... I mean ... I do when you have ornaments and hangers you would like to share? You take more photos ... again outside in the snow!

 

Just stunning!

 

And this is my most favourite photo I took on that day. It is of the same rose that I have taken photos of several times in the past ...  just can't seem to not take pictures of it.

And last but not least ...

... have any of you lovelies seen the effects Google plus dose to your photos?! For the second time now I received an e-mail with edited photos with very neat effects like ...

... falling snow ...

... or glistening and twinkling.

I wonder if it would be lovely if my music boxes would twinkle like this?!

 

The falling snow just fits this picture of my back yard so well, don't you think?!

 

 And last but not least .

 

 I will be sharing my last Christmas music box tomorrow with all you lovely bloggers ... so if you have a little spare time do try to stop by here at Todolwen and visit me again. I always love it when you do so.

 

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Yours,

 

Karen B.