My Little Christmas Gifts ...

Hello my dear friends,

unfortunately I just wasn't able to find the time to share this as I had first though I would. I have just been quite busy with all sorts and of course with Christmas this past week. But today I took the time and put everything else aside for a little bit so I could write this post.

 Today I am sharing the little gift I had made for some of my friends.
It turned out to be a sweet little creation and I am so happy with the way they came together in the end. As so many times before I had my doubts how they would turn out and if the would look like the way I had them pictured it in my mind. At first I wasn't too happy but but once I added that last little thing, they were just right in my eyes!

I had already shared how I had started to make my little gifts with you earlier this month.

I embroidered seam binding roses ...

... onto white 'felted' wool felt.

Once my creation were finished, the were quickly all wrapped up in white tissue paper and ... 

... off they went on their merry way to their new homes.

OK, not that fast ... there is a between the last two photographs and this is it ...

... today I am finally going to share my little Christmas gifts that I had made with you. 

They became Christmas tree ornaments and I named them ...

 ' Roses At Christmas'.

A lovely white rose with little green leaves of felt,
golden thread and very neat golden jingle bells made each one the lovely creation it is.

All in all, I made seven of them ...

... and each one just as pretty as the other and each one just a little different than the other.

The one thing they all have in common though is, that they were all made with from the heart with much love too. 

I already can't wait to think of what I am going to make for next Christmas. I also think that I am going to add a few more names to my Christmas list, I just love to send little gifts out at Christmas time.

Well, that's all for today. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family and much love and laughter.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me here today at Todolwen. It is always so nice when you do.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Merry Christmas ...

Hello my dear friends,

I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

I hope that all your dreams and wishes come true.

Many hugs.

I Love Gifting ...

Hello my dear fiends,

 I love gifting others and especially at Christmas time.

This morning I received a message from some one I had sent a surprise gift to and I am happy that the name 'little stinker' and 'secret Santa' was given to me which put a huge smile on my face just after 6 am.

 I love to picture the mailman delivering an unexpected gift to someone and the little smile on their face because someone thought of them at Christmas ~ this gives me so much a joy! (I have never an expectation or thought of anything in return, I just want to give and that is the same this year.)

 My Christmas mail is all on it's way and most of it has already been received which makes me again so happy that it was just in time for Christmas.

  I am especially excited about another thing I am trying to do.
 I am on a special mission to gift one of my old army friends but I will have to tell you all about it after Christmas. I am not sure if she reads my blog or not, so just in case ... it will have to wait for now, but just in case you were wondering what is wrapped up in the tissue paper? ... That I will share with all of you tomorrow. 

Are you ready for Christmas my dear friends?
 All the gifts are wrapped, the eggnog is cooling and you are almost ready to put the turkey in the oven? I hate to admit that I am quite unorganized this Christmas. I had planned to make things that are not done and handmade gifts are not finished just yet either and I will have to really get my skates on, there is only 48 hours left before Christmas Day. I spent 6 hours in the ER with my younger daughter yesterday. She is very unwell but now home again and resting. The doctors think it might be some sort of throat infection which caused her to have a high fever and her heart beating too fast which took hours to slow down again.. A scary thing for sure. I am hoping she will be a little better for Christmas Day.

And last but not least ...

... don't forget to find a little bell and have it standing somewhere in your home, maybe near your Christmas tree and forget to ring it a few times. You see ... I do believe that when ever a little bell rings on Christmas Day an angel receives it's wings. Don't you think it would such a nice thing, for as many angels as possible to be gifted with their wings this Christmas?

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Life Can Throw You A Lemon Sometimes ...

Hello my dear friends,

life at times will throw you a lemon. 

 Some times it isn't very sour and some times the taste of  it is just awful.

 I was thrown a lemon this last Friday but thankfully it wasn't too sour.  

I had taken my younger daughter to high school and on the way home when I stopped at a stop sign the driver behind me, which was foolishly driving too close and fast behind me all the way down the icy road already, tried to stop and ... hit me. My poor car and the sound it made ... such a load bang! In a way it was a good thing that the road was icy because my car moved at it was hit and therefore the impact wasn't as bad as it could have been. I have never been in an accident in the 24 years that I have been driving. I was a little shook up but I was OK. I was upset, very angry for the first few seconds and I think a little in shock but that was all and the young girl in the other car was OK too.

My poor car took a nasty knock to the back of it though but it could have been so much worse. You could actually almost see the full licence plate number imprinted on my tailgate in the blue paint from the other car's licence plate. My biggest worry was that the frame of my car was damaged because that brings a whole new type of problem. After the weekend I took my car to a repair shop to have it inspected. It might not look like it but so far it needs a new bumper, new tailgate and new back light on the right side and the frame needs a little pulling back into place too but hopefully nothing else will show up once the start taking it apart. But ... my car is going to be fixed, so I am happy! It will unfortunately cost the other driver's insurance over $2500 to get the damage sorted but that is what happens at times when people don't adjust to the driving conditions properly, especially in the winter. I am just so happy that things weren't worse. I would have hated to have to be in the hospital over Christmas.

Life will throw us lemons but hopefully not too many that are very sour and that will in the end have a 'sweeter' outcome than we first thought. I wish you all very few nasty tasting lemons in life.

Please, be safe on the roads this winter and when out and about walking too!

Last but not least ...

 I am a broken record, I swear I am. 

I am again behind with all the Christmassy things I wanted to share with all of you but I will do me best to make sure to get it done in the next few days hopefully. So if you have a few spare moments in between all the hustle and bustle of this time of year, why not stop by and see what I have been up too.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Advent, Advent, All Four Candles Are Now Lit ...

Hello my dear friends,

it has been a busy and intense weekend and I know the day is almost done but I didn't want to miss wishing you all a peaceful fourth Advent.

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

Hugs.

My 'Christmas To Come' 2016 Giveaway Gifts ...

Hello my dear friends,

I received an email from the winner of my 'Christmas To Come' 2016 giveaway this morning. She wanted to let me know that she had received my mail and just couldn't resist opening it right away and not waiting until Christmas Day! I do understand that. I have a surprise gift under my Christmas tree from the lovely Ines, from Germany waiting for me and it is so tempting to just walk over and open it but no ... I will be strong.

It was the first giveaway that she had won and I am very happy because she liked the gift I sent her very much. Since she has opened her present, it is OK for me to share what the gift was with all of you and that is what I am doing today.

I decided to gift things to be creative with and those in a traditional theme in red, green, white and of course sparkling glitter was were a must too.

 I filled a small box with all sorts of Christmassy pretties like ...

... vintage lace, ribbon, seam binding and neat bits and pieces of pretty paper stuff.
Little tiny snowflake buttons and bright red shiny jingle bells too and
Christmas fabric with little winter fairies and some beautiful ornament hangers with shiny snowflakes. But that wasn't all ... a beautiful silk red scarf was placed into the box and an ornament that I had made specially made became a part of this giveaway gift.

The final part of the gift was the choice of one of my tutorials on Etsy.

I had almost forgotten all about this part ... silly me. Olivia, the winner still has to choose which one she would like to have and I will email it to her.

In my eyes this year's 'Christmas To Come' giveaway was a total success. A smile was put on some one's face at Christmas and that is what this is all about!

Just to let you all know ... there will be a 'Christmas To Come' Giveaway 2017 of course.

When it will start is something I am still thinking about and what the gift will be is just as much a mystery to me, as it is to all of you right now.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit me here today at Todolwen. Do come back some time, I might just 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.

On A Cold Winters Night ...

Hello my dear friends,

I love Christmas time when it is cold outside and the streets are filled with lots of  pretty lights.
 It doesn't matter if they are colorful or just plain white, everything looks a little magical and even today, I some times feel like seeing everything through the eyes of a child. This is one of the times I try to have my camera with me as much as possible so I don't miss a chance of capturing something special.

Last night it was a very cold night ... minus 21 C with the windchill factor here in SW Ontario but it was also so beautiful. I just couldn't resist grabbing my camera and taking a few more photographs of of some of the Christmas lights in our backyard.

I just love the view from our dining room window these nights!

Even a blurry picture ...

... still looks amazing!

This is my younger daughter's Christmas tree.

She has had it since it was about 4 inches tall and now it over about 5 feet tall and still happily growing. It is the second or third year now I think, that I have dressed it up with Christmas lights and just like the years before, she still is so happy when she sees it shining all colorful again.

Our Christmas lights weren't the only lights that were shining last night, there was a special 'light' shining and that in all it's glory. The moon was high up in the winter skies and looking so grand and shining so bright.

The clouds were moving fast and leaving gabs in between. That is how I was able to capture this picture of the full moon.

As so often, it was too hard for me to decide which photos to share and which not, so I am sharing them all.

Blurry or not, it does not take away from how beautiful this moment was. 

I think I saved the best one picture of that night for last! 

Take a look ...

... isn't it almost magical?!

I am always so buzzed when I am able to capture something beautiful with my lens.

Can you see all of the buds on the twigs? 

I hope you have enjoyed my little 'light show' and I am sure it won't be the last one.

If you have a few spare moments, why not stop by some time again and see what I have been up to?

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Another Ugly Duckling Tutorial ~ Paper Bag Snowflakes ...

Hello my dear friends,

today I am sharing a tutorial on how to make snowflakes from sandwich/ paper bags.

The actual idea is not mine and unfortunately I have any clue who came up with this first but who ever did ... thank you for such an amazing idea!

I loved making my paper bag snowflake so much that I wanted to you to able to make them too and so I adapted them to using paper bags you can buy locally in Canada and the US. For the snowflake I made in this tutorial, I used white crafting bags from the Dollar Store in the size 4 3/4 by 7 1/4 inches. They are also thicker than the sandwich bags I used for my first snowflake and therefore this snowflake is not as delicate as my first one. You could also use brown sandwich bags if you wish. Depending on the size of your bags, you will have to see how many of them you will need to make a snowflake/star as you are working on it. Eight bags were used for the one I made in this tutorial.

You will need the following ...

~ White paper bags (or brown looks very lovely too)

~ Glue stick

~ A piece of white card

~ Scissors and/or crafting knife and cutting mat

                                   ~ Ruler                               ❅

~ Pencil

                    ~ Eraser              ❄  

~ White seam binding

~ Hole punch

~ Stapler

❅  

  ❅

   ❄ And now you can start making yourself a beautiful snowflake ...

Take a bag ...

... and fold the corners of the bottom flap over into a triangle ...

... like this!

Using you folding line as a guide, cut the two corners off.

Take your glue stick and apply glue onto the leftover part of the bottom flap and ...

...stick it down to the bag.

Before and after cutting and gluing.

Again using your glue stick, apply glue at the edge of the bottom of the bag and to the center of the bag all the way to the top of the bag. (The squiggly line is the where you should apply the glue.)

Place one bag on top of another and press down firmly, ...

... making sure your bags are aligned as good as possible.

Do this with several bags. 

(Again it depends on the size of the bags that you are using, on how many you will need to use to make a snowflake.)

After you have glued maybe 6 bags together, open them up and see how many more you might need to form a circle. From here on glue one at a time, then open them up again and check if any more are needed to complete the full circle shape. 

Once you have all the bags that are needed glued together you can mark out where your cutting lines will be to give your bags the shape you want it to have.

Using you ruler draw your cutting lines.

For my snowflake I marked the center at 6 3/4 inches and the sides at 4 inches. You can adapt the markings it to the size of your bag. Mark the center to just under the edge and the sides 2/3 of the length or you can use your own measurements/dimensions if you wish.

Now you can start the cutting.

You can use scissors or your crafting knife. 

Only cut a few bags at a time, it could be too thick otherwise and then you will get uneven edges.

Always make sure you erase all your pencil marks but be careful when doing so.

I slipped and crinkled the top layer of my snowflake.

Now take your piece of white card and mark it ...

... for two small stripe the size of 5/8 inches by 2 inches.

Cut them out and ...

... again get rid of those pencil marks.

Apply glue to your pieces of card ...

... and place one on either side of your stack of bags.

This is will strengthen the paper for when you attach your seam binding to it and hang it up.

I used my crafting knife to tidy up a few uneven edges before I continued with the next step.

(If you want a star and not a snowflake you can skip this next step.)

Now you can can turn your star into a snowflake ...

Using small sharp scissors cut out bits and pieces in the shape of  triangles or maybe even squares,  again a few bags at a time. Tidy up any uneven edges again once this step in done.

(Can you see where I crinkled the tip of my snowflake when I was erasing my pencil lines?)

Cut the bits and pieces out of  both sides of your star but not too much. 

You still want the bags to be held together in several places or this won't work out.

Next take you hole punch and ...

... punch a hole into your snowflake where one of the strips of card is. 

This is where the ribbon will feed through and hold the snowflake together. This will also enable you to hang it up and fold it flat again when it is not needed.

Cut a length of seam binding ( I cut mine a bit over a yard long)  ...

... and place one end of it on top of the strip of card on the opposite side of the snowflake ...

... and using your stapler, secure it to the card strip and snowflake.

All there is left to do is bring the ribbon from the one side of the star to the other and feed it through the hole and carefully pull it together ~ your snowflake is now done!

There is only one last thing to do ... 

... find somewhere to hang your newest creation so you can enjoy it all of the time!

I hope this tutorial shows you how easy it is to make something beautiful from something simple and plain. Why not try it out? ... There is still plenty of time to make one or two before Christmas!

I am maybe going to try glassine bags next Christmas, if I can find out which glue is needed to glue them together.  Glassine snowflakes would look amazing in my eyes since they are shiny and a little translucent. If I do and things work out, I will share them here with you of course.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me here today at Todolwen. It is always so nice when you do.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.