My First ATC's Are Now Done ...

Hello my dear friends,

at last my artist's trading cards (ATCs) are finally done for Kim`s swap at ArtJoyStuff.

It was a little challenge at first but in the end they came together just the way I wanted them too.

I used a vintage Christmas card image with tiny pieces of lace, lots of glitter fine and coarse, cut out snowflakes and Swarovski crystals. In my eyes they are all about a vintage white Christmas time. And because I love thing with stories, I made a little story about them ...

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"It was the night of Christmas Eve. A small town was all tucked in under a blanket of white glistening snow. Everyone was sleeping and it was so peaceful, just the moon was still awake and shimmering down onto the roofs from the distance of the dark winter's sky. A few snowflakes are falling from the Heavens and dancing in the light of the moon shine, making them look like twinkling diamonds as they slowly descend to the earth and all you could hear in the distance was a very faint voice saying ...
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"And to All a Good Night ...!"
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And here are my very first ATCs. I called them ...

"And to All a Good Night"

All wrapped up nicely with a bow ...

... and a little star made from twigs ...

... they are now on their way to Kim.

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My wish is that they will put a smile on the faces of the one's that will receive one of them, so fingers crossed. You see, I think that one of the nicest things you can do for some one, is to put a tiny smile in their heart. Just doing that make my heart happy.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me here today at Todolwen. I hope you have enjoyed your little stay and my newest creations.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Advent ...

Hello my dear friends,

when I was a child and we moved from Canada to Germany, I first learnt about Advent.
Every December my German Grandma would have an Advent wreath sitting on her living room table. It was always so festive with red candles and bows and decorated with all sorts of other beautiful things. We also would have one at home, either an Advent wreath or Advent table arrangement to mark the special time of the year. As a child it was like a count down until Christmas Eve. Each Sunday another candle would be lit until all four would be burning. 

I had learnt an Advent poem for children in school and every Sunday I would recite this little poem to my grandma or parents and it went like this ...

"Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt,

erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei und vier,

dann steht das Christkind vor der Tuer."

"Advent, Advent, a little light burns,

first one, then two, then three and four,

then the Christ Child stands outside the door."

I just recently remembered all of this. How lovely it was to light a candle on each of the four Sundays before Christmas today for different reasons than all those years ago. It is something I would like to bring back into Christmas time for me and my family.

This past Sunday it was the first day of Advent and for the first time in years I lit a candle for it and I can't tell you how meaningful it was for me with so many memories.

 I made my Advent table piece very simple but lovely. 

I used an old bundt cake tin and took some small branches from our evergreens in the front garden. The vintage little candles and holders used to belong to my German Aunt's and the jingle bells are from my collection of bells. I am so very pleased with it because it is perfect for me.

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I hope you all had a peaceful first Advent.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

The Simple And Beautiful Things In Life ...

Hello my dear friends,

it is often the simple things in life that can be the most beautiful ones.

Things like a flower blooming, a child laughing, a bird singing and so very much more.

That's why when I was up early day before yesterday morning and I saw that the sun was starting to rise, I couldn't resist to grab my camera and head outside to try and capture it. I went outside several times and every time the sky looked a little different and that little more beautiful than a few moments before and that is what I am sharing with you today.

 I hope you enjoy the sun rise this morning ...

Just beautiful!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A New Finding To Work With ...

Hello my dear friends,

do you remember the butter dish I found a while ago?

I turned it into a pincushion and little sewing tray ...

 ... and called it ..."Hide Away".

I was very pleased with the way it turned out when it was finished and I have been looking of another butter dish since some time now but have not been able to find one that I like just yet. But ... I have now found something else instead. Yesterday I was very fortunate. On my way home after having my Winter tires put on my car, I stopped off at a few places I like to check for treasures. In one of them I found this very neat piece!

I am not sure what it is, maybe a sort of candy dish or something like that but what ever it is ... it is beautiful!

I can't wait to work with this new found piece!
Unfortunately it will have to wait a little bit though, until I have crossed off a few more things that are on my 'to do' list but that's OK with me. I will get to is very soon I am sure.

Thank you for stopping by today to visit me here 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.

Oh, The Weather Outside ...

Hello my dear friends,

it is crazy how fast the weather here in south-western Ontario can change.

Saturday was such a lovely warm day, 18 degrees and bright sunshine in the morning.

The birds were out bathing in my little 'watering stations' and having such a good time doing so. Especially one bright red cardinal loved sitting in the warmer water whilst other birds had to wait for their turn.

Then later that afternoon it started to slowly get colder and ...

... by the early evening we actually had our first snow fall or ...

... rather blowing snow as you can see in the light of one of our garden lights.
It wasn't much but it did finally snow and it was much colder  outside now
too. If  you think about it, the first snow was actually late this year. November 20th and the first snowfall?! I wonder what this Winter will bring ...lots of snow or not? I guess, I will just have to wait and see.

Sitting inside all toasty and warm after completing almost all of my outside chores,
except for hanging the lights ...

... I lit a wonderful Christmassy smelling candle and spent the rest of the evening just so peaceful.

When I woke up early Sunday morning and opened the blinds, the skies were still dark and ...

... everything had been covered in a blanket of freshly fallen snow.
 It kept snowing until the the sun came out later that morning.

You can actually see the sun rising in the top left corner of this photograph as the rays touch our neighbor's roof. Our willow tree is still mostly dressed in green and also has a lot of it's leaves still but I am sure that will change very soon now. Our pussy willow bushes are cover in many new buds

since it had been quite warm this past week and I am going to try and cut a few branches in the hope they will 'bloom' eventually in the house.

My little Peter Pan that lives under a flame bush, near our dining room window is once again enjoying the white beautiful fluffy stuff. 

Most of the birds that were out a yesterday are now hiding in their warm nests but a little gray squirrel was out and about looking for something to eat. 

I had thrown some peanuts onto our deck but she was worried at first to come closer. She sat in our maple tree for a good 15 minutes until she felt safe enough to finally venture down.

Bit by bit she came closer and ...

... then finally she pick up a few tasty nuts and enjoyed them whilst sitting in a bush that lives next to our deck.

Isn't she just the cutest little furry critter?!

I hope she will get through the Winter well and all the other critters too.

My next thing to do is to finally get our outdoor Christmas lights hung very soon, before Winter really gets going with more snow and colder temperatures. 

Make sure you stay warm, where ever you are!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Another First For Me ... Making ATC's ...

Hello my dear friends,

I love to try out new things.

I have never taken part in a ATC swap or even made an ATC ever. 

That was until now and after I Kim's post and about her newest swap.

Kim's 2016 Christmas ATC Swap

After a little thinking, I decided that I would really like to take part. The theme was 'Vintage White Christmas' and I since I just love everything that it is all about Christmas and Winter it was even more me. My mind went with all of the things that had to do with it like the beauty of Winter and Christmas ... white glistening snow falling from the Heavens, vintage Christmas cards and images and so much more. I could hear the sound of  "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" playing in my head and happy thoughts of when I was a child returned and made my heart warm.

Once my mind was made up with how I wanted my ATCs to look like, I started to work on them right away.

I had found some lovely vintage Christmas card images and I chose one of them that was perfect for what I wanted to do and to reflect the peace and beauty of a white Christmas night.

Snowflakes and glitter were a must for this project and I couldn't stop there. I found a few more bits and piece to add to my ATC's. That is what I am working on that right on top of getting our front and backyard ready for our first snow that might fall this weekend. Hopefully I will also get around to hanging our Christmas lights up on our trees and bushes outside as well and as taking the wood that I have been drying since a year now from our Willow tree to be treated in a kiln. I must say,  I am busy quite this weekend!

Now you know what I am working on at this moment in time. I am hoping that I will have finished this project in the next few days, not only because I need to mail them to Kim but also because I need to finally start working on my Christmas gifts I wanted to make for this Christmas.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting me here today at Todolwen. I am hoping I will have something new to share with you the next time you return.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Twenty-Four Little Stockings ~ An Advent Calendar ...

Hello my dear friends,

at last ... today I am finally sharing my newest creations!
It has taken a  long time with this one and here is the little story that goes with it ...

... I have wanted to make an Advent calendar since a long time but I just wasn't sure of how I wanted it to look like really. Sitting in my craft room one day working on a different project, I saw a piece of wool felt that I had 'felted' and that is when I knew what I wanted to do and so I put some thought into the design and started to work on it.

I hand sewed little stockings ...

... all 24 for of them ...

... and crochet ...

... many soft snowflakes and then ... nothing for a long time. 

Would you believe me if I told you that the creation I am sharing with you today took me almost 2 years from start to finish?! I was having 'Advent calendar block' as I like to call it. No matter how hard I tried, over and over again, I just couldn't make it work for myself so I set it aside and just put if out of my mind or at least tried to. Every so often I would look at the bowl that was filled with the little white felted socks and then 'forget' about it for several months again.

 But two years later it is finally finished!

 I still had to overcome a few small issues that I had with the way it was going to look still but after a little back and forth I came to what was the perfect solution in my eyes. At first I wanted to go all out with buttons and pearls, soft yarn and ribbon and maybe even more but in the end, I changed my mind and went with the 'less is more' approach once again. I also kept this creation very subtle with the colors that I used. I focused more on different fabrics, textures and a only a few embellishments instead. But I made sure it was a 'merry' mess too. It just makes it a little more fun when trying to find the right little white sock for the day with that little treasure that is hiding in it.

I am sure you will all believe me when I tell you that I am so very happy it is now done and that I am also very happy with the way it has turned out.

And this is my newest Christmas creation, my Advent calendar ...

... "Twenty-Four Little Stockings"

  

Not only is this my newest creation but it is also my newest tutorial that is now for sale in my Etsy shop! I know it is a little late since we are already half way through November but I was determent to share this today after working on it for such a long time. And talking about time, there is still enough time, to make this calendar ready for December 1st. With my tutorial you will get the complete 'how to' make this Christmas creation. You can either make it the same way I did or you can do it your way, with your colors and all the bits and pieces you would like to use.  It is entirely up to you and what you like and just in case you don't like stockings, I have even added a template for a mitten.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit me today here at Todolwen. I always love it when you 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.