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Thursday, March 30, 2017

A Walk Along Stoney Creek ...

Hello my dear friends,

even thought it is still quite chilly outside, a walk is always something nice to do.

A few days ago my daughter Caylagh and I headed to our park down the road to catch some fresh air and of course feed the ducks, as you do when on a walk. It was a gray and dull day but never the less just lovely in it's own way and we were fortunate and  found a few ducks and also a pair of Canada geese to feed.

Cattail Pond, as I named it,  was still in it's winter sleep but still looked amazing to me.


The pond is actually just across from the Stoney Creek here in Hastings Park.

It was so neat to see geese and ducks happily next to each other ... 


... as we walked the down the path.

Tucked away in midst of all the dried up cattail stalks, a male mallard duck was sitting on what I believe was its nest.


He looked so handsome ...


... and was very aware of me, so I made sure I didn't get too close to upset him.

A red-winged black bird also took an interest in the nesting duck ...


... and took a seat on a cattail stalk near by.
As much as they are loud and a nuisance to other nesting birds, ...


... they are also a pretty looking bird.


There are so many cattails leftover from last year and I am sure there will be many more new ones this year. The pond is almost completely overgrown with them already.


Further down the path we stop at one of the bridges that crosses the water where the bright green of the moss that lives at the edge of the creek stands out so much among the brown and gray colors of nature. I love the way it brightens everything up on a gray day.

This time of the year the creek is running fast but not too high right now ...


... and there is something about the sound of it to me.
I could sit here all day and just look and listen at the running stream.

We always end up at the little wooden bridge at the far end of the path and every time we come here it always looks a little different from the time before.


Either a new tree has fallen or the water has washed some of the banks of the stream away or a new bush is growing but it is always beautiful to look at.

Spring is for sure on it's way ...


... as the first dandy lions are starting to grow in the brightest shade of yellow in between last years fallen leaves.

Beautiful funghi ...


... is growing on fallen logs and ...


... also on living trees too and in many colors.
I have taken to funghi, aka mushrooms of all sorts lately and you wouldn't believe how beautiful some of them are. ( I will be writing a post about that in the future.)

We walked the entire path up and back down again and returned to the ducks ...


... and geese that we had met earlier in our walk.



We still had some of the healthy food for them leftover ...


... to give to them and my daughter enjoyed feeding them again so much. 

Our walk was a short one and it was our usual walk but it was just lovely to get out and about for that little bit again, gray and wet dull day or not.


 And because I love the sound of the running creek so much, I took a short video if it to share with all of you, so you can enjoy it too, which I hope some of you will do. I took it at the end of the path, standing on the little wooden bridge where some ducks were happily swimming.


The Stoney Creek in Hastings Park.

I hope you have enjoyed my short outing today.

I still have a few of my walks to share with all of you. One is my last walk of the last year and the other one, is a walk along the Thames River here in London, Ontario when we had a short warm spell of weather a month ago.  I am hoping to share them soon.

So if you do like to join me again on one of my walks, then do visit me some time here at Todolwen 
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.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Growing My Own Little Daffodils ~ My Newest Creation ...

Hello my dear friends,

I just had to finish my newest creation so I could to share it with all of you today and I am so excited to do so!

A few years ago I had made several tin egg creations and since I loved making them so much, I went with that idea again with my newest creation too but I did it a little bit different this time. I knew I didn't just want to just paint the actual egg part but I wasn't sure, what I wanted to do either and then all of the sudden it came to me ... plaster! I hadn't used plaster in many years, so plaster of Paris was the way to go, I just had to come up with how I wanted to use it.

My egg started out looking like this ...


... a golden tin egg.

Using an old tatting doily and plaster, I gave it that old look that I love so much. It almost looks like the eggshell has been carved with a pretty pattern. Once the plaster was dry and painted, a stand in the shape of an old tarnished shaker bottom was added and then all I had to do was 'plant' my little daffodils in their new home. It is now done and I was so happy with it.

And here it is, my newest creation!

I named it ...

... 'The First Blossoms Of Spring'.


I took a few photographs in the bright morning sunshine to show you how the little flowers  become almost life like with the beautiful yellow and green colors.


Two tiny Swarovski Element butterflies live happily with the yellow blossoms and twinkle and glisten in the sunshine.



I love the look of the 'shell' a lot and I am very happy that I chose to use plaster and an old doily. 






The stand is a little old tarnished bottom of a salt shaker. It is perfect in every way in my eyes for this creation.





The inside of the shell was also embossed with a strip of the tatty doily and cover with plaster too.




Of course a bow of seam binding was a must for this creation ...


... and gave this creation that special little touch.






I hope you have enjoyed my newest tin egg creation.
 I am very happy with the way it has turned out ... exactly the way I had pictured it in my mind. 

Like I said in my yesterday's post, I had two ideas of what I wanted to do with these sweet little crochet daffodils. My tin egg creation was the first one and I will give you a little sneak peek of what the second idea is that I had and which just might become a creation of mine some time in the future.


This just might possibly become my next nest creation! A new 'At The Forest's Edge' Nest. 

Last but not least ...

... my tin egg creation with my little crochet daffodils is now listed for sale in my Etsy shop if any of you might be interested in it.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest creation as much as I have enjoy making it and I would like to thank you for taking the time to stop by today and visiting me her at Todolwen.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

'Growing' My Own Little Daffodils ~ Part 2 ...

Hello my dear friends,

I have been busy and my little crochet blossoms are growing very nicely.

It takes me a little time to make one flower but it is so worth it and right now I have made four little yellow daffodils blossoms for the first creation I am going use them in. 


I am so loving these little Spring flowers and I am excited to make more of them.


I gave them stems ...


... from twisted wire.

And sari silk ribbon once again is exactly what I needed for this creation too.


I had a ball of it in lovely shades of green laying in a basket in my studio, that was beyond perfect to make the long slim leaves for the little daffodils.

All I had to do then, was a little bit of my magic thing and 'Ta-Da' ... my little daffodils were now fully 'grown' and I am so buzzed with them!

Just take a look!



Aren't they just so neat?!


I am happy to say that this is a sweet success for me and myself because they turned out exactly the way I hoped they would ... but I am not done yet!

 I am working on their new 'home' right now and I am even more excited about this as I am getting close to it being completed and I can't wait to share my newest creation with all of you. I think it shouts out Springtime with a capitol 'S' and even a hint of  'E' for Easter too. So do come back and see what I have made. I am hoping to post about it tomorrow or latest the next day.

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

Monday, March 27, 2017

'Growing' My Own Little Daffodils ~ Part 1 ...

Hello my dear friends,

as so many times before, I just can't seem to only work on one piece at a time.

My lovely tole daffodil candle holder just did something to me that make me want to start 'growing' my own daffodils now!  Normally I would design my own pattern but this time I was too impatient to wait to do the trail and error thing so I searched and I found! I actually found several patterns on the Internet and then after all did a very short trail and error thing to find the one that was meant for me and one pattern became my favorite one.

This is the pattern I found ...



It is by Helen who lives in the UK. Her crochet daffodil is such a lovely flower. The pattern is a little advanced for those of you that don't crochet often and it might take a little time and practice until you master it but once you have, you will love it! This daffodil blossom is made in two parts that you then sew or in my case glue together.


I changed the pattern a little to make it right for me and made my daffodil 'parts' from two strand of vintage white crochet thread and a very fine crochet hook.


These were then dyed a lovely shade of yellow and using a dot of fabric glue, then glued together and 'made one'. Tiny glass beads found their home in the center of the flowers and now live there happily.
I am planning on 'growing' my Spring blossoms on wire stems again like my other little crochet flowers in the past and I have also already found what I am going to use to make the leaves as well.

 I have two ideas already, in which I would like to use my little yellow Spring flowers. One of the two creations is going to have to possibly wait until late this year or early next year though before I can work on it properly but I will see how things go.

 I am also still working on my 'Alice in Wonderland' nests apart from the little daffodils these days which I am hoping will be done soon. We had been working on our house or rather garage and my being creative had to take a little time out these past few weeks.

 Before I close this post for today, I would like to say a big 'Thank you' to Helen in the UK for making this lovely daffodil pattern. I am so happy I found it.

And last but not least ...

... do come back soon to see how my little Spring flowers are 'growing'.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Bright Yellow Daffodils ...

Hello my dear friends,

nothings says Spring like beautiful bright yellow daffodils!

They also happen to be one of the favorite flowers of Queen Elisabeth and in the UK, you can see them growing almost everywhere once Spring arrives.The grow not only in gardens but also along roads and country lanes, at the edge of forests and fields and in the lawns of parks ~ it is such a lovely sight.

Recently I found a beautiful piece of Italian tole in a thrift store and I surprised myself a little when I actually bought it and took it home with me. (I just couldn't leave it behind.) I can honestly say that I rarely go out shopping for myself  these days but mainly to find pieces to create with and I also normally am not one for things like this but this was an exception.  I had seen pieces like this over the years in magazines and on Pinterest but didn't think that I would end up finding one as lovely as this one and owning it. It will now bring a little bit of color and Spring into my studio.

And this is my newest finding. It is a candle holder and just shouts 'Springtime'  to me.




    


I love all it's little dings and chips of paint missing. It just means that is was well loved to me.


I told you it was a lovely piece of  Italian Tole, didn't I?!  I just have to think of where I am going to place it in my studio and if I will use it as a candle holder or not. If I do change it's purpose in the end, I will share it with you here on Todolwen of course.

Spring is just a few days old now but I am hoping to see some real daffodils in our neighbor hood soon. Right now it is still a little too cold outside for flowers to bloom though. Yesterday morning the sun was shining bright but is was minus 11 C outside. The frost on our deck boards look like millions of tiny diamonds twinkling.


This only lasted for a few minutes before the warmth of the sun melted the frost again.


My camera just couldn't focus on all the twinkling at once but even though the picture is blurry, you can see all the glistening of the frost and see what I mean about glistening diamonds.

A little red cardinal stopped by to see what I was doing and stayed still for a few moments, watching me. I was very fortunate that he let me take a few photos of him before he flew away again.


See ... he is very interested in, what I am doing.



Isn't he just so handsome?!

I am busy working on a new creation that is all about Spring and Easter too. My 'Alice In Wonderland' nests are slowly getting completed too and I am hoping to list them within the next few weeks. If you are interested in one of them, make sure you check Todolwen in between. I will let you know  when I have listed them in my Etsy shop in a post.

All that is left for today is to wish you all a day filled with sunshine. (It is raining here today.)

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.