I Love Getting Mail!

Hello my dear friends,

I just love getting mail, don't you? I received something I have been waiting for at last. What am I talking about? ... mail from Donna Goss containing my felted crown kit!! I am so excited to start working on this beauty but I have to do my chores first before I can donate my time to this little treasure!

Donna was so sweet and made me a kit with all the bits and pieces I need to make one of her beautiful felted crowns and this is what the kit contains.

Lots and lots of bits and pieces ...

... just waiting to be turned into something special!

All sorts of lovely trims, ...

...everything from beads to pearls, from wire to rhinestones, even thread to sew with.

Samples of different colored felt ...

... of course the pattern and instructions ...

... a sweet little pincushion made from felt and ...

... a lovely tag Donna made.

Everything I need I have apart from the time right now to sit and create but please do stop by when you have a moment ...

maybe I will have been able to steal a little time for myself to relax and create.

So I hope to hear from all you lovely bloggers soon again!

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

Slowly Back On Track

Hello my dear friends,

thank you for all your well wishes ~ you are all so very kind and sweet. I am much better again and happier too.

I have already started working outside on my front yard and as of now I have only two yards of rock left over that need to be taken into the back. The weather finally cooled down at last and it even rained again. We are able to sleep with the windows open again and the air conditioning off.

On the other hand unfortunately I seem to have not been able to have one creative thought this whole past week but I have been diagnosed finally ... my daughter Caylagh lovingly calls it 'crafters block'! I tend to get a bit impatient not being able to just sit down and visualize something you would like to make but I am sure that I am not the only one that has this 'block' thing going on every once in a while.

One thing I would would like to do today is to share some of my newest treasures that I found some time ago but never got to actually posting about them for some unknown reason.

This is such a neat item ... a tin tea infuser and I am pretty sure I know what I am going to turn it into.

 

A variety of vintage parcel handles.

I love the look so much. I think they would make amazing holder for a picture frame or a fabric collage.

An old, rusty and very frail frame of a pocket watch. No idea what I am going to use it for but of course ... I just had to have it!

And last but not least ...

... a little crochet bag.

All I really need now are some new ideas and time to work on them which will hopefully happen soon, so I hope you will keep popping by and visit me here at Todolwen soon again.

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

Karen B.

Getting Better .. I Hope

Hello my dear friends,

there is nothing worse in the summer than getting sick and that is exactly what happened to me.

First it started with my younger daughter Caylagh the day after school finished. Sore throat, not feeling well, a temperature and other symptoms. Then my older daughter Ashleigh fell unwell after that as well and I thought that I was fine. Little did I know that I was the one that would get it the worst. For almost a full week I have been feeling unwell with a very sore throat, aching bones, always tired and no big appetite. I spent the first days more in bed than out just wanting to rest and sleep. On top of all that is the heat here in south-west Ontario and the humidity together along with being unwell is just too much for me right now.

I have not been able to concentrate or work on anything at all which makes me sad because my to-do list is already so long and I can't even think of time to create. I did manage to find some time to check in on all of your lovely creating spaces though and oh my they are all so very amazing!! It makes me want to work on mine once I can find the time to do so. You never know, maybe next year I will join in the fun of 'Where Bloggers Create'?!

I am hoping to be much better this week so I can resume work in my yard again and finally finish it and to also get some time to sit down and create something new to share with you.

Be sure to stop by from time to time and visit me here at Todolwen to see what I have been up to.



I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.

Neat Findings At Michaels

Hello my dear friends,

slowly but surely Michaels is getting more and more neat new items in it stores here in Canada. We always seem to be behind the ones in the US so it is nice that the store where I shop had some neat things the last time I was there a few days ago.


I found a lovely piece of scrap booking fabric which I am going cover a small a pillow from my  Mum's chair. She is now gone just over 6 months and I miss her very much!

The clock faces on the fabric are meant to represent the time we had together ... the time it will take to heal from losing her and the time it will take until we will see each other again.

My other find were some small muslin drawstring bags. These are perfect to use in some of my creations! I love sewing but when it comes to little things like that it is nice once in a while to use something ready made. I have a few ideas for these but I need to think of a few more still. I think these would be great to embellish with all sorts of bits and pieces of old lace and neat stuff!

 I am not too happy with the finish of the inside really but I am sure I will be able to sort something out that the don't only look good on the outside but also on the inside.

One other thing I would like to share with you are some lovely little note cards I bought last week. 

My daughter Ashleigh spotted them, thought of me right away and showed them to me and I am glad she did. Now if I need to drop someone a note the good old fashion way, I have lovely cards to do so!

I have some more treasures to share with you but at another time. They are the treasures I had found at church sales so far this year and I didn't get around posting about them yet.

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B. 

Where There Are Scissors ...

Hello my dear friends,

finally ... finally I got time to sit down yesterday morning, relax and create and it was about time as well. I decided to make something useful and not just decorative this time and looking around all my little treasures I came upon a tray with my collection of old scissors and that is when I knew what I wanted to make. Where there are scissors ... there shall be scissor pouches!

After gathering together all sort of bits and pieces and once I had thought of a look it didn't take long before I had not only made one but four of these in 3 different sizes.


And these my latest makings ...

 

I actually got to use some of those beautiful vintage violets I bought last week!

 

These are a pair of Victorian scissors that my two lovely daughters gifted me with a few years ago.

 

 

 

I am very happy with the way these have turned out and at the moment I am working on a case that is made from velvet and I am planning on using more of the vintage violets to embellish it, but that is for another post.

 I would love to see you here at Todolwen some time soon again so please don't hesitate to pop by again!!

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

I Am Spoiling Myself ... Again!

Hello my dear friends,

do you ever spoil yourselves with something you have wanted for some time? Well, I have decided to do exactly that. I don't tend to do this very often. Lately I very rarely buy treasures to keep but I use them to create and hopefully one day I will sell some of them too! As a matter of fact ... I have only once gifted myself with something from another blogger and that was the lovely needle book I bought from my dear friend Dawn from 'The Feathered Nest'.

http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com

I am sure most of you know Dawn's creations and if not, go and take a look!

 

My newest gift to myself will be a most beautiful nest made by Vicki from 'Two Bags Full'.

I found Vicki's blog a few years ago before I became a blogger and since then I always said to myself that one day I would be the happy owner of one of her creations and now I will. I have placed an order for one of her newest designs ... the shabby chic nest. It is made from beautiful laces and wool! I won't be able to show you my nest for some time because every nest is made to order and every nest has it's time of year when it is created but that's OK I really don't mind waiting for it. I can show you what it will look like with a photo that Vicki took of her first one.

 

http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/

Oh my ... it is so beautiful!!

If you don't know Vicki's blog and her creations ~ you should pop over there right now and take a look at all her wonderful nest creations which she makes from wool and other bits and pieces that she collects on her travels around the world.

My second gift to myself is ...

... a kit from Donna Goss to make her lovely felted crown!

Donna, from Art Studio 522 taught this creation at the Paper Cowgirl last year. I would have loved, loved, loved to have been there to take part in the making of more than one creation but I couldn't unfortunately, so this is a little way of making up for missing out on that. Donna is so sweet to make me a kit up with everything I would need to make one of her little jeweled makings and I can't wait to start!!

http://artstudio522.blogspot.com/

I am so excited to be able to create this little jewel!!

Head over to Donna's blog to see all her other lovely creations. She also makes soldered crowns which are so very pretty!

So ... I actually had to write this post twice ... you see when you don't pay attention you sometimes you hit the delete button on something you didn't want to get rid of and that is what happened with this post!

Otherwise... my mind is very busy trying to come up with a few new ideas to create ~ at the moment to my disliking the heat is having some negative effects on that but not only on that! It is also keeping me from finally finishing my outdoor project aka garden/backyard which I so want to be done now.

I am hoping that in a week I will finally be able to move the last shovel of rock and then my tools can rest and so can I for a little while.

I hope to see you here again, very soon, at Todolwen and until then ...

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

Karen B.

Happy Canada Day!

Hello my dear friends,


this is just a very short post in which I wanted to wish all of you ...

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!

I hope you are all well and life is treating you kind.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Karen B.