No Time To Be Creative

Hello my dear friends,

I can't believe that is has been 7 days already since my last post and even worse I haven't been creating at all this past week and I have had almost  no time to read any of your wonderful blogs either! One of the reasons for this is that I am out and about a lot with my girls lately. The good thing about this is that I have found many new treasures. Another reason is that it is still so very hot and humid here and I just can't seem to get a clear thought at times about what to do. I have had a few new ideas and they are in my little "companion" tucked away until I get a chance to sit down and use them. Reason number 3 is that my craft room is in total chaos right now (you will see for yourself later in this post). I am reorganizing everything and as the saying goes "it will get worse before it gets better"! Well that is true in this case. I am hoping to be done in a day finally so I can get back into my room and create something new. My final reason for not being able to spend time creating is that I am planning how our backyard will be looking hopefully in the near future - we are going to be making big changes. I will post about this in the future some time when things have started.

I would like to share my newest treasures that I have gathered with you. I am already stocking up for the coming winter when there are no more garage sales or flea markets around to find anything old and neat. I am happy that I am at least able to do that at the moment.

These are my newest findings from the past week.

Vintage embroidery scissors - the ones on the right in the picture are called "button hole" scissors. They are really neat and I have never seen any like this before.

More crochet pansies!!

Lots of Monopoly pieces ...

... and these are my favourite - tiny cast shoes!!

( ... fairy shoes??)

Some beautiful tarnished pieces.

Look at this ... my friend gave this to me! A complete antique lock with door plates and heavy glass doorknobs!

I took it all apart and cleaned the pieces a little but not too much or they lose their character I find.

These doorknobs are just so wonderful!!

Many more Scrabble pieces - they can be used for so many things.

These were my last find of the week. They are old glass furniture coasters, you know the things you put under the legs of your heavy sofa or table so they don't mark your floors.

I have a few ideas for most of my new treasures already and I will share them with you lovely bloggers once they are created!

And last but not least ...

... remember my craft room? Well, see for yourself - total chaos!!

Everything is everywhere and nothing has a proper home right now.

Hopefully I will get this sorted this weekend and I can share the result with you in my next post!

I hope you are all well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

So Glad I Went

Hello my dear friends,

this past week has been so very hot outside that it was and still is unpleasant to go outside, so I don't very often. I have been working on my deck but only early in the morning and only for about 2 hours at a time and then back off inside where it is cool.

This morning my girls wanted to head out to one of the antique stores not far from where I live. At first I didn't really feel like it but in the end I gave in and off we went and in the end I am I glad we went!! I found some really neat things there today and they even had a sale on for some of the items I bought!!!

Take a look what I found...

A very pretty old brooch and some lovely vintage earrings.

Some large old brass curtain rings.

( I have something in mind for these already)

A lot of beautiful antique lace and ...

... look at these!!

Two really super neat vintage boxes by Coats!!!

I am over the moon about finding these and I know exactly what I am going to do with them!

At times when we don't feel like doing something, sometimes it ends up making us happy that we did do it in the end - like today for me - I am so glad I went! I hope this makes sense to you.

I hope you are well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

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.



More Nest Creations

Hello my dear friends,

today I would like to share some of my older creations. I made these little nests long before I started Todolwen. I had found the instructions on Cathe's blog http://www.justsomethingimade.blogspot.com/ and loved the idea right away. The thought of using what ever you had on hand was just great. From wool to twine, wire to paper, feathers, string, and thread ~ anything was perfect.

I love old stemware and combined with the little nests it became exactly the look that I wanted ~ natural yet elegant and pretty!

Again any style or size of glass was just right. My favourite style is the older stemware that has been engraved, frosted or embellished.

There are no limits to what you could do with these really!

I really  love the look of these nests. I find that the the more types of material you use to create them with, the better they look!

Isn't this just so adorable?

The smaller nest will hold one little egg ...

where the larger one is the ideal home for three eggs.

Even one of my little cupboard mice found a little place to call home in one of the nests ...

 

... and it seems to be quite happy there too!

There are really no limits to what can be created. For some creators less is more and for others the "full monty" is needed. It doesn't matter which way you like it as long as you have pleasure in creating and it makes your heart smile.

I hope you are all well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

I Received An Award!

Hello my dear friends,

a few days ago I received an award - I was so surprised!! I know my blog is meant to be award free, but this one is different - take a look.

I was awarded the "#1 Mum" award!

My baby girl Caylagh was the one that made this award for me and gave it to me the other day after a visit to Michaels.

It even came with a little envelope on the back with a little note in it.

Awww, I was so touched by her little note she wrote to me, I almost cried!

(I am a big softy) and she even made a "#1 Sister" award for my older daughter Ashleigh.

Even the bears were touched by this and hugged each other!! These are two of Caylagh's bears. The pink one is Ruthie-Bear and she has had her since the day she was born (11 years ago now!) and the other is a bear that she bought the other day from her pocket money and she named him Whisper. They are so precious!

I hope you are all well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

My Mail From Lalaland Has Arrived!

Hello my dear friends,

this morning the postman brought me something special. It was mail from Lalaland aka England. I had won Liz's giveaway and now my gifts are here!! YAY!! (at last our postal strike is over).

I can hardly wait to open this and look at everything!

Everything is so pretty and neat - some beautiful lace and rickrack and a very lovely decorated tag!

The canvas is so lovely!!!

I will have to find a special place for it in my craft room to display it.

And last but not least ...

I just wanted to share a few other things that made me smile in the last few days...

I have the neatest daisies in my front yard! I just love how the petals look like they are frayed!

Such lovely flowers!

I have shown you pictures of one of our cats before but I don't think I have ever shown you our "baby".

Iris is our second cat and she belongs to my daughter Caylagh. She is just over 2 years old now but still such a kitten.

When Iris is tired, she will lay down and cover her eyes with her paw so the light doesn't bother her and once she is fast asleep she looks like this...

... just like a baby kitten!

I hope you all are well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.