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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A Little Junking I Did Go ..

Hello my dear friends,

the sun is out and it is so lovely outside, how could I not head out and do a little junking?! It seems like forever that I just headed out and visited some of the places I like to search for new treasures.

It is nice when you are out looking especially with nothing particular in mind and you then find something neat which I did.


Some lovely doilies and some vintage lace ...


... two tarnished small tumblers ...


... an old book written in Dutch ...


... a vintage tarnished egg cup and ...

... also this lovely piece ... 



 ... and last but not least these pretties ...


... an old broach and a set of antique shoe clips.

Looking at all these treasures together it is quite a nice find and I really didn't expect it. Now all I have to do is think what I am going to do all of with them. I am sure there will a new pincushion or maybe even two that will be made and whatever it might be, 

And finally ...

I was so happy when I found this in our garden yesterday ...


... they first green of the year. These are some of my lilies starting to grow.

And this is what I saw when I woke up this morning just before 7 am ...


... new snow!


I know tomorrow is the first day of April and it is a little late but I still love the way it looks no matter what! I wonder how long it will stay this time?

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Monday, March 30, 2015

My Worktable Is Blooming ..

Hello my dear friends,

outside the flowers are not quite ready to bloom yet ~ we just had new snow fall again this weekend ~ but it is a different story here in my studio these days because...



... my worktable is blooming!

I had bought some lovely colored fabric and I have been making flowers bloom. Well, not really ... I have been making more singed edged roses and in lovely shades of cream, yellow and others too.

Just take a look ...


There are soft cream roses and ...


... here are my cream and yellow blooms. 


I also made yellow and pale pink mixed roses ...

... and my Grandma's favorite ...


... lovely yellow roses.
 I am sure she would have liked them very much.


 I have a little thing at the moment for making these pretty little blossoms even though it can feel almost somewhat like a little chore when you are cutting the circles out and don't forget the singing of the fingers ... that is the not nice part of this but I seem to just want to make one more and then I will be done. I tend to do this with other things to, I get hooked and just can't stop. Well, it does keep me busy and I love being creative so much too, so all is good.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to visit me here at Todolwen. I love it when you do so.
Do come again soon and see what I have been up too.

Oh ... don't forget to enter your name to my 'Christmas To Come' giveaway!
Just click on the button at the top of my right sidebar and leave a comment on the original post and on that post only, for a chance to win a little gift from me for under your Christmas tree.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

I Am So Excited ...

Hello my dear friends,

I am so excited that I can share this with all you lovely bloggers finally.


Remember this ... my hymnal page feather? Of course you do!

A few months ago I was approached by a dutch magazine called 'Ariadne at Home'. They told me that they were working on an issue of their 'Brocante Special' magazine that included creating with old paper, book pages and music sheets and that they had seen my hymnal page feather and would like to feature it in their upcoming issue and ... now they have! 

Not only that but my feather made it onto the front cover of the magazine!
 WOW ...  I am so excited about this!

Here is a little sneak peek of the cover, since the magazine itself isn't out just yet.
 That will happen next month in the Netherlands.

(photograph courtesy of Ariadne at Home)

Do you see it?! ... Right there in the bottom left corner ~ my hymnal page feather!

Did I mention that I am so excited already? (I think it's the third time already)
This is so neat and I am so buzzed about it and I can't wait to get my issue in the mail so I can share more with all of you lovely bloggers. Right now you will all have to wait with me though if you would like to know more which makes it a little nicer for me since I am not on my own doing so.

Thank you so much for everything ~ your sweet comments and support and for always visiting me. Without you Todolwen wouldn't be what it is.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

At Last Spring's First Appearance ..

Hello my dear friends,

Spring is finally making it's first appearance here in Ontario.

You all know that I have a love for snow but I also love Spring so much when everything comes back to life again in our garden after the dark and cold months of Winter and it is so exciting to watch it happening.


Every day now the snow is melting ...


... a little more.

Bit ...


... by bit ... 


... very slowly ...


... it is disappearing. 

The sun is shining more often and soon flowers will be blooming and bushes and trees will be growing their first leaves the year and it will be such a beautiful sight.


The little furry critters are happy and ...


... so are the feathered ones that are now returning home like this little mourning dove.

We also had a rare visitor to our backyard again.  



At first I couldn't make out what it was because it was quite high up in between all the twig of our willow tree ...


... but then I did ... it was a stunning hawk.

Unfortunately my photographs didn't turn out too well because of the distance I had to take them from so I wouldn't scare this beautiful bird away.

One thing that wasn't so nice was that it seems that every year at the this time, when Winter comes to an end and Spring arrives we all get ill. Most of us have been under the weather this entire March break unfortunately but thankfully we are feeling slowly better.

 I have been trying to work on a few new pieces but so far I haven't finished anything just yet but do stop by again  maybe then I will have something new to share.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

A Few More New Nest Listings In My Etsy Shop ..

Hello my dear friends,

this is just another short post to let you all know that I have just listed a few more of my sari silk and hemp nests in my Etsy shop.

And these are the nests that are now available ..


'Flowering Arches'

SOLD



'Water Lilies'

SOLD

and ...


'A Hint of Beauty and A Hue Of Pink' ...
... a set of 2 nests.

SOLD

These nests will be the last of these sari silk ribbon since it is never guarantied that you will be able to get the same colors of silk a second time. I am enjoying creating these so much that I am planing on making some more sari silk nests soon.

Thank you for stopping by here at Todolwen ~ it is always so nice when you do so.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The Number 13 ..

Hello my dear friends,

have I even told you how much I love the number 13?! 

It has been very special to me since 25 years now and that for more than one reason. Actually it is for two reasons that this number is a huge part of my life. One of the reasons is that 25 years ago I received the most beautiful gift you could ever receive ... my first daughter was born.

Last Friday, on Friday the 13th my baby girl Ashleigh celebrated her 25th birthday!
She is all grown up and married now and we are so proud of her.


I was actually able to place all 25 candles on her little cake and my, was it bright and loved so pretty too!

Ashleigh is still the cutest ...


... because she still closes her eyes and makes a wish when she blows the candles out on her birthday cake.


Even though she made clear that she didn't want any gifts ...


... we just couldn't have this day without a special little something for her to remember it by.

In three months the second reason for my love of the number 13 will celebrate her birthday as well. My lovely daughter Caylagh was also born on a 13th, now almost 15 years ago. I am so blessed and grateful for my daughters ~ they are my world.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Friday, March 13, 2015

The 'Other Half' Creation ..

Hello my dear friends,

remember last year I made a creation using a leftover half of an tin egg. I actually named it 'The Other Half''.

And this is my other half creation ...



It is a sweet little nest with tatty lace, dried grasses, a few soft feathers, little wooden eggs and vintage velvet violets.

 I looked at it again a few days ago and I thought that it could maybe look even better if I added a little stand to it ~ something neat and tarnished, so that is exactly what I did and now I like this creation even more.

Take a look ...


 A little more tatty lace, an old candle holder and a few more vintage velvet violets were added.











There are times when some of my creations just need that 'little more' than I at first thought but then they are just right ... just like in this case. I so happy I decided to work on this creation a little more because it is even neater than before.

Right now I almost ready to list a few more sari silk and hemp nests ready in my Etsy shop which will be in the next few days just in case you missed the last ones I had made.

 Thank you for stopping by and visiting me here at Todolwen and I hope you have enjoyed today's post. Whenever you a spare few minutes, do come again and see what I have been up to.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

'Christmas To Come' Giveaway 2015 .. Now Closed!

Hello my dear friends,

I know that Christmas has just been only a few months ago but I am already thinking of the Christmas to come.  Why? ... Because I have decided that I am going to have a 'Christmas To Come' Giveaway this year again and I am so excited about this!


I get such a buzz out of gifting people with a little surprise for under their Christmas tree, something they have no idea what it was going to be ~ a true little Christmas surprise!

This year all you have to do is just leave comment on this post to enter your name and again please make sure I have an e-mail address to contact you with, should you be a winner. (I am not sure just yet how many there will be.) Don't forget, you can enter between now and July when the winner will be drawn sometime that month. My gift won't be mailed out until early December of 2015, so there is a long time in between the steps of this giveaway again but I think that makes it so much more fun to do.

Now I better 'get my skates on' and start thinking of what my gift for this year's 'Christmas To Come' will be.

The winner of this giveaway will be announced on July 21st some time during the day.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Grateful For The Little Things ..


Hello my dear friends,

I think it is great when little things in life can still make you happy and they don't have to be meaningful or important just something that gives your heart a little smile.

I had one of those little smiles yesterday. Was it something earth moving? ... No, but it just made me that tiny bit happier and grateful as well.

I had slipped on some black ice on our driveway in the morning but I was able to just catch myself just before falling. Boy ... was I happy that I didn't hit the frozen ground but I did tweak my back a little with the jerking movement I must have made to not fall. I am in some pain but not as much as I would have been if I had fallen, so that is already something good and I am grateful.

My happy smile though came from something else yesterday.

I had shared my beautiful poinsettia that I had received as a gift from one of my sweet neighbors a few months ago.


 Unfortunately I don't seem to have a 'green thumb' when it comes to these bright red blooming plants by the look of it because no matter what I did, it kept loosing it's red and green leaves as you can see in the photograph above.

Yesterday though whilst watering it I noticed something that gave me my little smile.


It was a new tiny little flower that was newly growing on one of the stems. This was a first for me with this type of plant and it made me that bit happier.

These days I am so grateful for the fact that little things like this can still make me smile because this way I can enjoy life so much more.

I wish you all many little things in life that will give you that smile in your heart.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.