A Tarnished Little Box ...

Hello my dear friends,

being creative these past months has been a very slow thing for me.

 I am not sure if the gray on gray outside is the reason for this or it's just that I might be a little drained creatively but I really need to do something about it! I am not saying that I am going to be pushing out one creation after the other or something new every other day but hopefully more than I have been doing. I have a room with boxed filled with the so many treasures that are just waiting for me to say ... "You, I am going to work with you today."

I love working with old tarnished things so when I wanted to spend a little time on being creative last week, I picked a little tarnished trinket box as my piece. I had bought some time ago at an antique store but I am not sure of it's age really. I don't think it matter that much though, how old it is because it is a neat little metal box that is embellished with a pretty rose design. It is my first trinket box that I worked on and at first my thoughts were with turning it into a pincushion (no surprise there right?!) but that only lasted a few minutes. Why fix something that isn't broken? It is a trinket box and it was going to stay one.

This is what it looked like before ...

... already such a lovely little piece.

The inside of the trinket box didn't do the outside justice. The fake red velvet insert was worn and quite tacky and it just wasn't my thing at all but that was an obvious thing from the beginning for me.

I went to work early one morning as everyone was still asleep and a few cups of tea later, my little trinket box was done and I was very happy with it.

And this is what the little tarnished box looks like now!

I didn't add or change a thing when it comes to the outside box because it was/is beautiful as it is in my eyes.

The inside though has changed, it is now much more the way it should be. Now the outside and the inside have everything in common ~ both are beautiful!

I used a thin woolen fabric to make the padded covering for the inside of the box. Of course seam binding had to be a part of this creation again. Once as an embellishment in the lid and secondly as a frill in the bottom of the little tarnished box. The final touch was added in the shape of a vintage piece of sparkle.

A transformation that made this box a delightful and pretty little piece.

I hope you have enjoyed  my newest creation as much as I have enjoyed making it.

 I have been lucky to have found two more little trinket boxes recently. These will something I am hoping to work on in the near future and of course once done, I will be sharing them here on Todolwen with all of you. 

It was so nice of you to visit me today,  here at Todolwen and maybe you will come back some time soon again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

'Christmas To Come' Giveaway 2017 ...

Hello my dear friends,

... it is that time!

Time to enter your name to my 'Christmas To Come' Giveaway 2017!

For all of you that have taken part before ~ you know what to do and for those of you that are new to Todolwen, this is what it is all about ...

Every Spring I share a post about my 'Christmas To Come' Giveaway.
All you have to do to take part, is enter your name by leaving a comment on this post and this post only. Sometime in July I pick the winner of my giveaway. I notify the lucky person that their name was picked and then nothing ...  nothing until December. That is when I mail my gift to the winner, just in time for it to be placed under their Christmas tree. What that gift will be, is kept a secret until after Christmas. This way it stays a surprise for the winner right up to Christmas Day.

My reason for doing this, is to put a smile on some one's face and in their heart and make them almost feel like a child again at Christmas time. It is about being excited whilst unwrapping a present and not knowing what is inside the box. I remember when I was little, about 5 or 6 years old and I would be so excited to open a present and see what Santa brought me. I just want to give someone that special little feeling for a short moment again, that is all. But then again I am a little selfish too. By me putting a smile on some one's face, I am putting one on my own as well because it makes me happy when I make someone else happy.

And now you know the story behind my 'Christmas To Come' giveaway.

So ... if you would like to have the chance to win a little gift from me for under your Christmas tree ... just leave a comment.

This giveaway is now closed!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Old Man Winter Has Not Left Just Yet ...

Hello my dear friends,

it seems that Old Man Winter is not quite ready to leave just yet.

I haven't gotten around to sharing my latest walk along the river on a Spring like day about two weeks ago (I took many photos) and today I am sharing pictures of snow with all of you again.

This past Friday morning I was up very early (4.30 am) and when I looked outside, this is what I saw. I knew we had 'light' snow in the forecast but it seems that Mother Nature seemed to have a different opinion of what 'light' snow was.

I checked the weather forecast and the light snow had change to lake effect snow over the night.It pretty much ended up snowing until the skies cleared up somewhat later that morning and with the the brighter skies appearing so did this beautiful creature.

A lovely mourning dove chose our maple tree to rest in for a while. I just love these birds so much. There is just something so special about them. The dove sat all fluffed up in our tree for hours, warming up in the sun when it came out for a little bit and the snow stopped.

I had to head out to do a few errands that morning and for most of the time, the weather was fine but on my way back home it changed again. I had to drive through a almost complete whiteout but thankfully I didn't have too far to go.

The snow came in 'waves' that were short but intense. It had stopped again when I arrived back at home and to my surprise the little dove was still sitting in our maple tree but now actually sleeping.

It slept until the snow again. It woke up sat there for a while ...

...and then flew away. I am hoping it found a nice dense fir tree where it would be sheltered from the blowing snow and cold winds.

As the day grew older, the big heavy clouds finally moved along and the sun came out for a short time, making everything glisten.

My Peter Pan once again was covered in a white fluffy blanket and ...

... long sparkling icicles stared growing on our bird feeder. 

Overall I thought it was a lovely day with Old Man Winter visiting. I just hope the little dove with decide to visit our tree soon again too. I will be on the lookout for it.

I wish you all something little that makes your day a happy one.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

The Reveal ~ My Newest Nest Creation ...

Hello my dear friends

the photo of the wooden pocket watch cutout just gave it away, didn't it?! ...

 You were all right when you guessed the Disney theme of my newest nest as 'Alice in Wonderland'.

Today I am so excited to share my newest creation with all of you.
It is my newest nest design and I hope you won't be disappointed. It has almost been a year now since I had the first thought of possibly creating a Disney themed nest. I ended up choosing Alice in Wonderland because it is one of my daughter Ashleigh's favorite Disney movies ever since she was a little girl.

I changed my very first design a little but did the nest 'my way' for sure. It might not be the way some people would have imagined it but nether the less, I think it is very lovely and I am beyond happy with the way it turned out.

 Everything was carefully chosen, even the shades and colors of the yarn that were used. There is some almost shiny and brighter yellowish yarn which is meant to reflect the sunshine that was shining on the garden of flowers and others that are all about the different shades of green of the flowers. The color of the eggs was picked to represent the color of Alice's dress. I chose small bright colored flowers that you would find growing wild in England, because that is where 'Alice in Wonderland' had taken place in the story. Some of the flowers are actually in the song "Golden Afternoon" and others were chosen because I couldn't use particular ones due to their size. Instead of daffodils, which are lovely and yellow but too unfortunately too tall, I instead made little yellow buttercups and instead of tall pink roses, I went with little pink primroses and finally rather than using tall daisies, I went with little daisies that are called the sweetest name in German ... 'Gaense Bluemchen' which translated means 'Goose flowers'. I love the way I made my 'at the edge of the forest' nests very much so I decided to go with that feeling with this creation. To add a special little touch, I added the wooden cutout of a pocket watch to the nest since it is a big part the movie.

Last but not least, maybe my most favorite part of this nest ...

... remember this little critter?! ...

My Little Rocking Horsefly

They are the icing on top of the cake or rather nest in my eyes.

And now ... here is my newest creation, my take on 'Alice in Wonderland'.

I named it ...

"Do You Suppose It's A Wildflower ?"

I hope you have enjoyed my newest nest creation that I have shared with you today.

 In my eyes it is the perfect representation of a nest from Wonderland. Maybe I will consider making another Disney themed nest in the future some time and if I do, it will be my favorite movie that will be the theme. Which one that is, won't be given away thought ... at least not just yet.

Right now I am busy working on making more of my newest nests. 

I will post here on Todolwen once they are done and ready for sale. Unfortunately I don't think that it will be before the end of March though. I am planning on making five more of the size seen in my photographs today and also two smaller ones. Once they are all sold there won't be anymore of this one available. If any of you are interested in reserving a nest, just drop me a line.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me today here at Todolwen. It is always so nice when you do and I hope you will return sometime soon.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.