My Little Sweet Peas ..

Hello my dear friends,

this is a project that has become a more time consuming project than I thought it would be but in the end it will be so worth it in my eyes. Sometimes you just have to scrap something you have worked on and recreate it for it to become 'just right' and this is one of those times for me.

Do you remember my fabric sweet peas I had shared with you a while ago?

This was my very first attempt and since then I have worked very hard on the design.

 My second attempt were these lovely coral colored blossoms ...

... better but I felt the need to work on the design a little more.

My following attempt ...

... so lovely and much better!
I painted the wire a lighter color and I also used a lighter sari silk ribbon. Love their new look a lot and I think, I am slowly getting there.

I had seen this beautiful sweet pea wreath ...

(photo courtesy of Pinterest)

 ... and wanted to try and recreate it.

An old embroidery hoop which I covered in my pretty pale green sari silk ribbon became the perfect base for my wreath. Many flowers later my wreath was finally completed.

I had given you a little preview of it with this photograph a few posts ago and today I am sharing it complete with all you Lovelies.

 And this is what it looks like ...

 

I love the way it has turned out but I think I might be able to make my sweet peas blossoms even that tiny bit better.

And as always ...

... there always is a cat close by when I am taking photos but I don't really mind.

Now my new creations hangs on my old coat rack ...

... looking very pretty!

I am very happy with the way it has turned.

Remember this photo I shared with you?

(photo courtesy of Pinterest)

This is what I really want to be able to make and it is one of the projects I am working currently. I would love it to look like I had just come from my Grandma Katie's garden, where I had picked a bunch of beautiful looking and lovely smelling sweet peas for her. I guess I will just have to wait and see and so will you Lovelies too.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my today, here at Todolwen and it would be nice if you came back some time again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Such A Nice Day ..

Hello my dear friends,

I like it so much when it's little things that can still make me happy.

The last weekend my daughters and I headed out for the beach at Lake Huron for some 'girly' time together. The day started out nice right from the beginning ... the sun was shining but it wasn't too hot and it just got better as it went on. Not even 15 minutes into our little outing and our attention was caught by a garage sale at the side of the road. We had to stop and at least take a look of course and I didn't leave empty handed.

I found a few new treasures that were happy to be going home with me. As we carried on with our journey to the lake, I was already trying to think of what I was going to do with them but so far I have no real ideas.

Since some time now, I made a little thing of mine that every time I visit a beach ...

 ... I try to find one little piece of  'sea glass'. This time I picked up a few pebbles and a few small pieces of drift wood too.

 We stayed for several hours but when the beach got very busy we decided it was time to head home. As we started to get ready to leave, right there in midst of all the people and the noise, this little fellow showed up.

 He landed right in front of our blanket and just stayed there for a while. Me being me, I couldn't resist taking his photo just in time, before a little boy decided it would be fun to chase him away again.

Then while I was waiting for my daughters to return from the changing rooms, I just sat there, looking around when I saw some grass stuck in the sand at the edge of the water.

Being a little bored I picked some of it up and formed it into a little nest.
 I liked it so much that I took a smaller piece and did the same with it. I left them in the sun for a little bit to dry out and of course took them home, where they now will now find a home in my studio.

Our day ended driving home in the warm sunshine and a light breeze blowing into the open windows of the car, my daughters both sleeping in their seats and being grateful.

Like I said, I love it when little things in life make me happy ... being with my daughters, finding a little treasure or two, taking a young sea gull's picture and finding some tatty grass at the edge of the water ... it was such a nice day!

And now I wish you all such a lovely day.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

My 'Christmas To Come' 2015 Giveaway ..

Hello my dear friends,

it is now over a month since I had picked the winner for my 'Christmas To Come' Giveaway 2015.

I notified the winner but until now I haven't heard back from her. I had planned to try and get in touch with her again yesterday morning but was unsucsessful. Tat is why my dear bloggers, it is important when you take part in a giveaway that you have a e-mail address that you can be contacted at or that you make sure you check back to see if you have won. 

Today I have decided that I am going to pick a new winner for my 'Christmas To Come' 2015 giveaway. I actually still had the name lists and all the little notes with number still sitting in my studio in a box, so all I had to do was place them into a bowl and then pick a little piece of paper and that is what I did.

And the number I picked this time was ...

... No. 51.

And the no. 51 belongs to ...

... Betty Jean from 'Shabbyteaparty'.
Congratulations!

Betty Jean, please send me an e-mail with your mailing address within the next two weeks if possible.

Again thank you all that had entered their name to this little thing of mine.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

My Other 'Very Berry Gathering' ..

Hello my dear friends,

it is quite late in the the day now but I still wanted, as I had promised, to share my second 'Very Berry Gathering' pincushion with all you Lovelies today.

I made it from untouched drop cloth but unfortunately the lighting was a little too bright when I took the photographs of my newest creation, so I wasn't quite able to capture the true color of the drop cloth, which is a pale gray. 

 I am not sure which I like more now ... this one, the 'as is' gathering or the red dyed gathering that I had shared with you a few days ago.

Everything apart from the color of the drop cloth is exactly the same as my first 'Very Berry Gathering', I just changed the way the berries were hanging on the brass ring. Very alike but then again they both look is very different.

The little berry in the the photograph above is very close to the actual color of the drop cloth that I used to create it with.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest drop cloth strawberry creation. 

I am again very pleased with the way it has turned out and I am sure I will be making a few more of them soon. I have of course a lot of  'as is' drop cloth left over and I have just checked how much of the reddish drop cloth is left over. It's a little 'patchy' as in the color didn't take to the fabric the same all over but then again strawberries aren't always one solid color. I am also wanting to try to bleach some drop cloth and maybe make a few white strawberries. I wonder if that would work out?! I guess I will just have to wait and so will you Lovelies too.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit me here at Todolwen. I love when you do.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A New Treasure To Work With ..

Hello my dear friends,

I just wanted to share my newest found treasure with all you lovelies today.
It is a tarnished candle holder that is just the perfect piece for me to work with. Ever since I had created my 'Golden Afternoon' triple pincushion I had been on the lookout for another neat multiple candle holder and who knew how hard it would be to find a nice looking one?! But I was very fortunate to see this one yesterday.

It is a lovely tarnished piece and it holds three blossoms.
I have just realized that  I actually have worked with a single one of these before  ...

... and I created this piece with it.

http://www.todolwen.ca/2014/08/simply-elegant.html

My mind is now working overtime to come up with the right way on how to turn this neat candle holder into a very special pincushion. I am thinking it could go a few ways ... white linen and lace, seam binding, some sparkle maybe or gray velvet, seam binding and a little sparkle or drop cloth? Hm ... I am not quite sure just yet but it will come to me eventually but the one thing I do know ... I am already excited to work on it! So so stop by sometime again and see what I have been up too, here at Todolwen.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.