A Specail Memory As An Army Wife

Hello my dear friends,

today I would like to share a special memory from my days as an army wife. My husband served in the British army for 24 years since he was 16 years old, in which time he served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands and he was also called out to the first Gulf war (to which he didn't have to go in the end) where there was always the possibility of him not returning but thankfully he always did come back home!

One morning which seemed to be a normal everyday morning, close to the end of his military career, we received very special mail.

I looked at the envelope and my first thought was that somebody was playing a joke on us. Asking my neighbor Dave to take a look, he told me that the letter was real!! I was speechless, well almost because I have never called my husband so fast at work to tell him about it.

 The letter we received in the mail was none other than ...

... an invitation from the Queen to join her at Buckingham Palace with other military members and their wives for tea!!!!!!!  Can you believe it?!! It took me some time. I didn't even know that you could be invited to Buckingham Palace but I was told that every year the Queen invites military personnel and their wives and civilians to have tea in her gardens.

And this is the invitation!

I bought a new dress ~ it was black with red roses ~ and shoes, and all I was just missing a new hat but then unfortunately we decided not to go due to all the bomb threats and the recent bombing in the city of London which killed several people. It was very sad in more than one way. It was a once in a lifetime thing to receive an opportunity like this but the thought that something could happen and my children being possibly without parents was too much for me. I was broken hearted for a while, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

We are renovating our basement this year and my husband is going to have a new office built. Once finished I will have the invitation framed and I will hang it in there for us to remember the day we were being asked to have tea with the Queen of England.

I hope you are all well and happy.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

What A Great Find And Yet Sad

Hello my dear friends,

my girls and I love to go for evening walks like the one we did on last Wednesday evening. We park our car in a parking-lot and always walk the same way.  After about an hour and when heading for the way home I noticed something on the side of the road. Looking closer it turned out to be an antique Singer sewing machine in an old cupboard with 6, yes 6, drawers and the most amazing hardware! So when we arrived back at the car there was no question about me going back to take a good look and hopefully I could save this old beauty (unfortunately I have no pictures of the entire cupboard and sewing machine because it was too dark and almost 11 pm and I didn't want to make a fuss).

The closer I got to this antique the more something became obvious to me ~ the horrible smell of the wood!!!
It had this intense yucky musty smell of damp old wood that I have smelt many times before in antique furniture and there is no way that I know of to get rid of it ~ what a shame! This meant I wouldn't be taking the entire cupboard with me and since I couldn't salvage even the drawers for reuse I decided to still take them because of the wonderful hardware that was on them.

This is the beautiful hardware still attached to the drawers and doors I took alone. Isn't it just so pretty?!

So many neat drawers and all for the trash! I could have made some really nice things from them.

I did find more amazing things in one of the drawers. It is a little box full of attachments and parts for the sewing machine and the booklet that tells you what everything is for.

This is the little box!! This is how I found it still dirty and messy. It is so neat the way it is constructed but unfortunately it and the book have the same bad smell as the rest of the wood ~ so sad!! I am not sure what I am going to do with it. I am thinking about selling it maybe on EBay. I am sure somebody might have the matching sewing machine to go with all these little bits and pieces.

And these are some other little treasures that were in the drawers.

Aren't these drawer pulls just beautiful?? They are over 100 years old. I have 9 of them all together and for now I will find them a little box where they can wait until I come up with an idea of what to do or make with them.

It is true what they say, what is one person's trash is another person's treasure!!

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

I Am So Fortunate!!

Hello my dear friends,

this is what was waiting of me yesterday morning when I came downstairs. My girls got up before 7am and decorated the cake they had baked the evening before and then they set up the table with so many wonderful gifts for me.

All this was for me ~ how wonderful!!

I was so excited!! My birthday cake looks amazing!!

My girls baked me a Swiss chocolate cake (to look like soil) with mint green icing (to look like grass).

They had decorated it with chocolate hedgehogs, one of my favourite animals, and real flowers from my garden. It looked so pretty and it tasted fantastic!!

This is one of my gifts my older daughter Ashleigh made me. It is a bird feeder she made from a glass cup and saucer. The vintage bottle is filled with birdseed.

My baby girl Caylagh B. made me this little birdhouse, well fairy house complete with fairy dust and a new fairy named Chante.

Chante is an Iron Fairy and she comes from Australia. She is my fourth iron fairy that now lives in our home.

This is my new muffin recipe book. I really enjoy baking muffins these days and I can't wait to start using this book!

My older daughter Ashleigh also gave me these lovely gifts. She made me a bottle with fairy dust and  a beautiful sun catcher made from a vintage crystal and pretty glass beads. The little read book is a very special gift. It holds poems written by her about me and other things in her life. So far I have not been able to read any of it because I tend to cry at things like this and I didn't want to cry yesterday ( I am a big softy).

Another one of my great gifts is another pair of old baby shoes!!! Yay!!!

My hubby gave me a new leather wallet which I love.

And this is my last gift which is so beautiful and gorgeous.

It is a garden fairy. 

I called him Peter just like Peter Pan.

He will find a new home in my backyard under a bush just in view from my dinning room window so I can see him every time I look outside. I even went to Walmart and bought a new set of solar garden lights which I am going to drape around the bush so even in the dark I will be able to see little Peter.

Another lovely surprise was all the birthday wishes I received from my friends all the way from England, Germany, the US and Australia and of course here in Canada. The day ended with us going bowling and on returning home my daughter Ashleigh cooked dinner for all of us which was such a nice treat for me.

I am so fortunate that I have so many wonderful people in my life!!! That is the best gift of all!!

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

And The Winner Is......

Hello my dear friends,

at last it is time to announce who won my first 'wee' giveaway!  I am so thrilled about this, so I won't let you wait any longer!!!

This is what one of you lovely bloggers will be gifted with!!

All the names are in my lovely old chipped stoneware bowl ...

and the winner is...

Lori 

from
"Katie's Rose Cottage"

Dear sweet Lori, please drop me an e-mail with your mailing address so I can get this in the mail soon. 

Thank you for all for all your sweet comments and lovely words and thank you for making my day special!!

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

Please Meet Evelyn

Hello my dear friends,

I hope you don't mind,but this is just a very short post today in which I would like to share a few old photographs with you from my collection.

I would like you to meet Evelyn Casey.

I love this photo of this young girl simply because of her natural beauty and when you look at her it's like she is looking inside you, almost like she knows you.

Evelyn is 16 years old in 1900 and she is from Irish decent.

These pictures were taken of her while she was trying to get a job in a factory in the U S.

She was one of the many working children of those days.

I hope you are all well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

New And Old Treasures To Share

Hello my dear friends,

I just love to share my treasures with all you lovely bloggers out there and I  love seeing all the wonderful treasures you find!!

Today I would like to share a few older findings and a few new ones. Most of them are vintage or antique and one of them is a new store bought item.

I am so lucky to have found these little Victorian coin purses ~ there are so many possibilies which I could use them for.

Do you like the little stars?

Can you believe it, these stars are actually sweet water pearls! ~ yes, I did say "pearls".

I found them at Michaels and I fell in love with them. They are "made" by inserting a piece of star shaped plastic into a clam and nature does the rest!!

.

I love old tarnished silverware ~ especially old small spoons!

It is the detail on the handles that captures me and makes me buy them!

Believe it or not but this is the ONLY pincushion I have ever bought so far even though I get such a buzz out of making pincushions ~ I don't really collect them.

Ah yes ~ you can never have too many baby shoes. These are one of my favourite pairs. I found them at an outdoor market last year and at first I had only found the one shoe and I was happy with it with the thought of turning it into a pincushion, but then the gentlemen that was selling them told me there was another one out there. I had to look through a huge amount of stuff stacked, packed and shoved onto and into shelves but I finally found the other shoe and now they are one of my treasures that I love to look at ~ and I am not turning them into pincushions anymore.

This is a little treasure I found over the last weekend. This little saltshaker drew my attention to it because the glass is so crisp and perfect where the top is completely corroded from the salt and just makes it look very special!

My final new find were these two little old tatty vases. I found them at a church sale I visited over the weekend. I love their shape and how old, tatty and tarnished they are and I know exactly what I am going to do with them ~ yes, you all know too!

I hope you have enjoyed my treasures and I will be on the lookout for all of yours when I head into blogland the next time.

And last but not least ....

... time is running out to sign up for my giveaway.

So if you haven't put your name in the basket yet ~ off you go!

http://todolwen.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-very-first-wee-giveaway.html

I hope all you lovely bloggers out there are well and happy.

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.