I Just Couldn't Resist

Hello my dear friends,

after my last baby dress creation I just couldn't resist making another one, but different this time. I had this antique little dress in my cupboard and unfortunately it had some stains on the front so I decided I would tea stain it hoping the stains wouldn't be to obvious anymore but it didn't work for one stain. OK, I thought - I can still work with this. I just wasn't sure how yet but I was hoping it would come to me sooner or later and after not being able to do anything at all on Friday and Saturday since I hurt my right hand, I was more than willing to try anything out. (I had spent many hours in the garden and my right hand had swollen up so bad I couldn't even bend my fingers and my palm was bruised as well).

As with my the last canvas - which I covered with book pages - this time I covered this entire one with old music sheets. As I was looking through the sheets, one of the titles jump right at me and I knew then exactly what I wanted this creation to look like. All the bits and pieces I needed like ribbon, wire, pearls, lace and everything else were on hand in my craft room ~ no need to head out at all which was great since it was very hot again.

The title that inspired me was:

"The Modest Violet"

This is my finished creation!

I just love it!!

I tried to make it quite different than the last one and I think it really worked out.

This little dress was speckled with tiny stains all over the front, but it would have been such a shame to just throw it in the trash ~ it still is so beautiful ...

... and it has so much detail!

Tiny embroidered flowers ~ so delightful!

Now you know why the title of the music just spoke to me.

I used just one of my own made little violets ...

... it was the modest one!

Right now whilst I am writing this post I am looking outside my dining room window which is a very big and I can see the fireflies playing in the dark in my garden. It is such a beautiful and also peaceful sight ~ I wish you could see it too.

I hope you are all well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.



Little Violets and Sweet Baby Dresses

Hello my dear friends,

it has been such a busy weekend for me again. Yard work, decluttering (yes, I am still at it) and treasure hunting were only a few of my tasks I had given myself over the week and ... I did get time to create, which was great.

I crochet more of my little violets and tea stained them again.

Little glass beads made the center of these pretty flowers.

Now they were complete wee flowers ~ what to do with them?

And after looking through my craft room I found what I was looking for ...

baby dresses !!

I had bought this set last year or maybe even longer ago. It is a vintage christening dress with a matching coat. These pieces are beautiful as they are but a little something was missing ~ tags!!

This is such a lovely dress with all the details.

And this is one of the tags I made for it.

The quote says:

"Wonder of wonders,

so soft, sweet and small".

I think that the tag complements the dress with the delicate colored violets.

And this is the other part of the set - the little coat.

This tags quote says:

"Babies are such a sweet beginning".

These would look so pretty as a wall decoration in a baby room.

Like with my other little baby dresses, I made the hangers myself and embellished them with ribbons that drape softly down but don't cover anything too much so you don't miss any detail on the dress or coat.

I have more violets left over after this creation and also a few new ideas of what to do with them but I am already thinking of which others flowers I could make too. We will just have to wait and see!

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

My Busy Weekend ~ Part 1

Hello my dear friends,

the weekend has been nice and busy for me. I got a lot of work done in my yard since it didn't rain which was great. I cut my lawn and fixed what needed fixing after our flood.

We did have a few visitors while I was out there. We have a bunny family that comes to stay and eat and this is one of the parents and the baby. I hope you can see the baby, since it is small and I couldn't get any closer without scaring it away. (It's behind the rocks next to a tuft of grass)

This is the view of my back yard seen through my dinning room window.

I did get a little time to work on a few new ideas I had. Remember my post on Friday about me crocheting my own little flowers? I did make quite a few of them and then I looked outside and remembered my little wild violets on my lawn, so I decided to try and make some.

These are my little violets in the beginning ...

here they are freshly tea stained ...

 and these are my wee violets after!

Aren't they just darling?!?!?! I didn't want to go out and buy purple yarn, so I decided to dye or rather tea stain my flowers. Can you believe it? I just used raspberry tea and a few drops of blue food coloring. Some of them I just dried as they came out of the dye, and some of them I rinsed out which ended up giving me more than one shade of purple. Other ones I just tea stained with regular tea for an old look. I really like these and I think I already know what I am going to use them for.

I also tea stained some of the pansies I made.

This was the first part of my weekend ... I have more to share with you later.

See you at part 2!