Blooming Spring Nests ...

Hello my dear friends,

I have been saying this what seems like forever but this year is finally going to be all about decluttering and 'less is more' when it comes to holding onto my creations. It is often hard for me to let some pieces I have made go but my shelves are full and it has to be done, starting today and no going back!

I am not sure if many of you remember the creations that I am sharing today.

 It is almost a year ago now that I did my "Renew, Reuse and Remake" post on a few of my felted nests. I had taken a two of my "Alice in Wonderland" themed nests apart and then turned them in to lovely blooming Spring nests. Again once I made them and like so many other creations of mine, they ended up on one of my shelves in my studio but hopefully not for much longer. They both are looking for new homes and are therefore now listed for sale in my Etsy shop. 

There is a larger nest and a smaller one. Both are embellished with little crochet and hand dyed flowers and hand felted leaves. Each nest holds painted wooden eggs but I can't make my mind up which color is the one to use and since I think both look very nice I have decided to give an option when it comes to the color of the eggs. They can be either a shade of blue or an off white color. You can see each option in my photos.

This is the larger one of the two Spring nests.

Many little bunches of flowers are growing from it.

 There are lovely white daisies, purple violets, primroses in white and pink and bright yellow buttercups. Three wooden eggs live happily in this nest.

And this is the smaller one of the two Spring nests.

Little white primroses, yellow buttercups and purple violets grow from this nest and two little wooden eggs live happily in it's midst.

I love to write little stories for some of my creations and that is what I did for these two nest too.

"This has happened many times before at Forest's Edge: On a cold Winter day a strong wind blew so harsh again that two nest that had been living in a tall tree fell to the ground. Fortunately they didn't break from the fall but became a little crooked and lopsided. From that day the two nests happily lived at the bottom of the tree from where they had fallen. Mother Nature took a liking to them being there and after Winter left and Spring arrived and after all the snow had melted, she decided to be very kind to the little nests. She turned them into blooming pretties. Flowers started to grow and bloom all over the two nature homes and even thought they were not high up in a tree, some birds like them so much that they laid their eggs in the midst of them."

I am already thinking of a new nest that I would like to try and make one day. I will give you a tiny clue, one word only ... mushrooms. Fingers crossed I will be able to create it the way I already can see it in my mind. It won't be for a while though but it is on my to-do list for sure.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have enjoyed my creations and your visit today.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Elizabeth's Favorite ...

Hello my dear friends,

it has taken almost two years for me to finished my newest creations. (Seriously!)
That is from the first idea to actually being completed. When I came up with the design of my newest nest creation, I had thoughts of Spring, blue skies, warm sunshine, green grass and ...

  ... bright yellow daffodils blooming.
I wanted to created a Spring nest that would remind me of all those lovely things.

I had a few of my felted nest leftover in lovely shades of green and I wanted to use my little daffodils. Do you remember my little crochet daffodils with sari silk leaves? I had made one creation using them some time ago but that was it, until now.

Back in 2017 I made this creation with the little yellow yarn flowers.

Pictures of Spring in England came to my mind and bunches of daffodils grow along the countryside roads in many places. Oh, how beautiful it would look and how much I miss it at times.

This was my actual design of my newest nest that I wanted to make but that is as far as it went for many months and even longer. Well, maybe a little further than that. I made some of the parts that were needed to make the daffodils. The little flowers are crochet in two parts in white cotton yarn and then dyed them in a lovely shade of yellow. Once they were dry, they for some reason ended up in a drawer and stayed for almost two years now and I can't believe it has been that long! I guess sometimes my ideas are just not meant to be completed when I have them or I just have to get my act together and get things done that I have started them, instead of getting distracted. Does this ever happen to you? It seems to happen me quite often.

These past weeks the days were very cold and the skies were grey. I so wanted to see a little color and that is when I remember my Springtime nest idea. So out my little yellow blossoms came. Now it was the time to finally pull them out of that drawer and out of hiding, to let them finally "grow and bloom". I decided to change my original design a little, mainly the way I put the flowers together. I finished the first nest after a few days and was very happy with it. I had wanted to start of the second one right away but unfortunately I injured my left wrist whilst trying to clear thick ice and heavy snow from our property. 

I am not sure what I did but it was very painful. Thankfully resting it and  having it all bandaged up it is getting much better. I was able to work on my second nest. Now both of my newest nest creations are finished and that is what I am sharing with all of you today. Like my other nests my newest nests come from my "happy place" which is "at the forest's edge". Both nests again not perfect but very lovely. Each nest has small wooden eggs living happily in it. When it came to giving my nests a name, I once had read that daffodils are one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite flowers which I thought was very neat so I named them thinking of that.

I named my newest nests ...

"Elisabeth's Favorites" ~ in my eyes it is a very fitting name.

This is the story that goes with them ...

...  'It was a beautiful Spring morning. The snow had finally melted in the small clearing that lay at the edge of the forest. Everything started to grow again after a cold Winter and the green moss was growing between the rocks on the ground once again. In midst of this bed of nature lay a little nest all crooked and neat. It had fallen from high above in a Winter storm and is now resting on the ground next to a to the large mature tree from which it fell. Little daffodils, all bright and yellow, have started growing from the earth and have taken root in the woven body of the nest and are watching over the little eggs that are waiting to hatch." 

And this is my first nest ...

And this is the second new nest ...

Don't they just shout out 'Springtime'?!

The second nest that I have shared is already spoken for/ sold but the other one in this post is still available and is now listed for sale in my Etsy shop just in case any one might be interested in it. 

As much as I love the snow, I do love Spring as well with all it beauty.

Thank you for taking the time and visiting me here today. I hope you have enjoyed your short stay.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Practically Perfect In Every Way ...

Hello my dear friends,

in today's post I am sharing my newest creation with all of you. 

It is of the little something I made that is going to find a home in the small old box I shared with you in my post yesterday.

I knew right away that I didn't want to alter my newest found treasure at all but instead I wanted to create something that would do this neat box justice and pair up with it. It had to be beautiful but not too overwhelming or intense in any way. I had thought a lot and worked hard and it is now done and I am so excited to share my newest making with all of you. I can honestly say that I think I made the perfect creation for this piece!

To keep it short and sweet ... I made a pocket watch pincushion and it is "practically perfect in every way" in my eyes. It now lives in the antique casing and I couldn't be happier with it! To me it is like a sort of ode to the small box just not in words. I so love that my newest found treasure and my newest creation harmonize with each other so so very nicely.

So short and sweet as I said ... here it is!
I named it after the jeweler that would have created something for it the first time ...

"Julius's Gem".

I chose an old golden pocket watch casing and some velvet in a different but beautiful shade of purple for the pincushion. Some vintage sparkle, golden leaves and hand dyed seam binding made this creation what I had hoped for ... perfect for this beautiful antique box.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me today and I hope you have enjoyed my newest making.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A Very Neat And Unusual Finding ...

Hello my dear friends,

I know it's been a while again but here is my newst post. I hope you enjoy it.

A few weeks ago my two lovely daughters and I visited one of our local antique stores in search of any treasures that might be there, waiting to be found. I wasn't looking for anything in particular really, just something neat, unusual or just different.

Once we walk into the store, we tend to all go our own ways inside and if anyone finds anything the others might like, they grab and share andnd that is what happened on that visit. My younger daughter Caylagh went on the lookout and came back to me with something to neat, unusual, different and very special! She had found an old box/case for a watch, pocket watch or something else precious. I was over the moon when I saw it and of course it just had to be mine! Once back  home I started to do some research and this is what I found out.

The maker of the item that had once lived in the case was a gentleman named Julius Cornelius. He was born in 1825. He lived his life and worked in Europe and Canada until he died in 1916. His business was established in 1823 and he is classed as a Canadian treasure when it comes to his art which was being an amazing jewelry designer and goldsmith. Hmm ... so that makes this little case quite an old treasure and such a beautiful one too.

 But see for yourself what a stunning piece it is!

And it even has a tiny original tag ...

... on the bottom of it too but unfortunately I can't read it though.

Didn't I tell you that it was so special and so very neat?!

These days I try not to buy just anything but instead I try more and more to find those interesting and unusual pieces. I dislike buying things just for the sake of buying. More and more often I am out and about in antique stores or thrift stores and return home empty handed with the difference that these days I don't get frustrated by it like I used to be a few years ago. I now just know that, that piece for me just wasn't out there this time. I so love this treasure and am beyond happy my daughter had found it and shown it to me.

Of course a beautiful box/case can't just be left empty. Something lovely should live in it and I know exactly what that something was going to be but that is for another post. So ... if you would like to know what ends up living in my newest treasure, you will have to visit me again here at Todolwen. 

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Happy New Year ...

Hello my dear friends,

I just wanted to wish each and every one of you a ...

... Happy New Year.

Thank you all for visiting me here at Todolwen and leaving your thoughtful and caring comments. You have all been so very kind to me and I am so grateful for that.

May all your dreams and wishes come true in 2019!