Copyright of Content and Name of Todolwen Karen Bailey 2013

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Happy Easter ..

Hello my dear friends,

I just wanted to with you all a ...
  
 
... Happy Easter!
 

Have a wonderful day filled with chocolate bunnies and lots of Easter eggs too but most of all have a wonderful day with your family.
  
many hugs
 
 
Karen B.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

A New Tutorial In My Etsy Shop ..

Hello my dear friends,

since Easter is literaly just around the corner I thought it would be nice to create a new pattern from a previous creation of mine. Unfortunately I only finished the tutorial late yesterday because it took me much longer than I thought to complete so, I couldn't tell you about it earlier just in case it wouldn't have worked out.

Remember this little critter? ...

  
... my wee velveteen rabbit?!

He is such a neat little creature and would look so cute in a nest centerpiece as an Easter decoration.
 I made him from vintage velvet but you could use any fabric you wish too to create him. He is quite easy to make and doesn't require a lot of supplies neither.

So ... if you would like to make yourself a little wee velveteen rabbit ...

 
 ... the pattern is now listed in my Etsy shop ~ why not pop over and take a look!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.
 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Bippity Boppity Boo ..

Hello my dear friends,

I have cast my little spell ... not too little and not too much but just right, all beautiful and bright. I really liked being fairy godmother for a short time and with the help of my magic wand and a little magic spell it is all done and ready for you to see.

Here are my daughter Ashleigh's wedding shoes that I was so happy to be able to use my 'magic' on for her special day.
 


 


 



 

 
 
They might not be made of glass but they sure are perfect for a bride and my daughter loves them! I hope you do too.
 
I am busy with all sorts of creations and ideas for my home right now and as soon as I have something new to share with you lovely bloggers I will and until then...
 
I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.
 
Have a peaceful and creative day,
 
 
Karen B.  
 

Monday, March 25, 2013

With My Magic Wand ..

Hello my dear friends,
 
now that I am feeling much I started to work on my daughters wedding shoes finally.
 
I made a few of my roses in oatmeal colored seam binding onto small pieces of vintage doily and my daughter picked some other pieces that she would like me to use to embellish her shoes.

 
So many beautiful bits and pieces to work with ...


... seam binding roses ...


... lovely pieces of sparkles ...


... vintage lace and more seam binding.

Ashleigh's wedding shoes are small ballet flats in ivory ...


 
... simple but pretty and now I can be a fairy godmother for a short time and with the help of my magic wand I am going to turn them into shoes made for a bride!

So ... don't miss my magic spell and visit me soon again here at Todolwen.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.  
 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Flying Around The World ..

Hello my dear friends,

some weeks ago I sent some of my flutter~bys on a long journey flying all the way to New South Wales Australia to be with lovely Suzy. Now some of them continued their journey flying all the way around the world to the UK to be with the sweet Liz.
 
And this is how they traveled to England ... 
 

... in the comfort of a most beautiful lace book made by Suzy.
 
Suzy was so sweet and e-mailed me yesterday morning sharing these photos with me of her wonderful creation.



 
There is one of my flutter~bys!
 
 
And not only did Suzy place some of my flutter~bys in her lace book but ...
 

... she also placed one in this beautiful felt book she created too.
Suzy is such an amazing artist!

Why not pop over to see her beautiful creations. Here is a link to do so ...

http://suziqusthreadworks.blogspot.com

I know she would be happy it you visited her.

And talking about visiting ... do visit me soon again here at Todolwen and see what I have been up to!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.  

Thursday, March 21, 2013

My Nest Is Ready ..

Hello my dear friends,

"Your nest is ready." ... that was the title of the e-mail I received from my dear friend Vicki, from '2 bags full' and I was so excited to read this!
 
I am sure most of you lovely bloggers have already heard about this wonderful lady that makes the most amazingly beautiful nests from wool, lace, ribbon and other bits and pieces ~ if not ... you MUST visit her blog ~ believe me you will not be disappointed! And not only that, she is such a kind person and is working so hard to help others in many, many ways to her creativeness.
 
OK ... back to where I was ... I had ordered a nest last year and now it is ready.
 It was one of Vicki's designer nests and it is the 'Shabby Chic' nest. Now it is ready to come to my home!

I will give you a tiny sneak peak of what it looks like here ...


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

This is one of Vicki's photographs of her Shabbic Chic nest that she placed on etsy and there is something special about it too. Sweet Vicki has included some of her Mama's lace in the beautiful nest and the bible in the photographs is her Mama's bible. Vicki told me she thought that her Mama would be pleased about this and I so agree. Actually I am sure Vicki's Mama would be very proud of her daughter and the wonderful person she is ~ kind, sweet, caring and talented.

My dear friend Vicki I think you are amazing!

The next time I will be sharing photos of my new nest is when it arrives here in Canada but until then I will have plenty more to share with you lovely bloggers I hope. So do stop by from time to time and visit me here at Todolwen.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.  
 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The One She Chose ..

Hello my dear friends,

today I would love to share the ring pillow my daughter Ashleigh has chosen for her wedding day. It is the only one I haven't been able to share with you before and it is made from her picked treasures and in the colors of her wedding. It is simple yet elegant with with a vintage touch and a little sparkle.

And this is the one she chose ...

 



 
 
... and the best thing of all ~ she absolutely loves it!
That makes me a happy Mama.
 
I have more work to do still ~ next are her wedding shoes so I will have more to share with you lovely bloggers very soon.
 
I hope you are well and life is treating you kind my dear friends.
 
Have a peaceful and creative day,
 
 
Karen B.
 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

A Little Mishap ..

Hello my dear friends,

firstly have you ever done this? ... clicked on the publish button when a post wasn't ready to be published? Well, that is what happened with me on Sunday. I was not paying attention and not feeling well when I started to write a post which now is this post. I only had a few lines done with some photos and hit the publish button instead of the preview button and of course some of you saw this mishap too ~ sorry!
 
But now to me sharing a few new photos that I took on sometime over the weekend.
 
Since the sun is coming out more and more every day ...
 
 
... the wild doves are returning into our neighbourhood. They are so lovely to watch when the are being so very affectionate to each other.
 
And remember our cat Iris?
 
 
She has a thing about boxes ~ no matter how small the box is she will always try and fit into it some how just like she did here ~ a small tomato box that I brought home from my grocery shopping.

I am still unwell but trying to stay busy. Tomorrow I will have more to share with you lovely bloggers.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B. 
 

Monday, March 18, 2013

Busy And Unwell ..


Hello my dear friends,

after both of my daughters being sick with a nasty cough and cold and especially my daughter Ashleigh being unwell on her birthday ~ I am the one sick now and I can tell you it isn't nice. One minute hot the next cold and always coughing and feeling unwell... something I could really do without.
 
I did do a tiny bit of creative work though ~ I made a few seam binding roses on pieces of vintage doilies to try out as embellishment for my daughters wedding shoes.
 
 
The first rose in made from oatmeal colored seam binding and a piece of an old doily that was tea stained ...
 
 
... and the second one is made from violet seam binding onto a piece of old doily.
 
I am going to work on another combination maybe tomorrow depending how I feel using oatmeal seam binding onto a piece of old doily and then we will see which one is the right one for the wedding. 
 
I also made the ring pillow from the dark red fabric my daughter chose and she has now made her choice and I will share with you very soon which one she has picked for her big day.
 
And last but not least ...
 
  
... the invites for the wedding have been mailed!
Now things are really getting into motion and I need to get busy hopefully soon.
 
It would be so nice if you would visit me soon again here at Todolwen and until then ...
 
I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.
 
Have a peaceful and creative day,
 
 
Karen B.
 

Friday, March 15, 2013

Ashleigh's Pickings ..

Hello my dear friends,

my daughter Ashleigh has picked some bits and pieces that I am going to use in my next ring pillow creation which will be in the accent colors for her wedding which are dark red, lilac and ivory ~ the color of her dress.

And this is what she has chosen so far ...
 
 
... vintage tattered doilies, lilac seam binding, a vintage broach she found at the antique store, some old lace and last but not least vintage millinery violets. She would also like me to make a few of my seam binding roses to see how they would work out in lilac.
 
 
Remember my old ballgown in that beautiful dark red?
 ... that is the fabric she has chosen for the actual ring pillow and now I can start working on my latest design and maybe my last ring pillow and I will share it once it is done.

On another note ...

I have had some of you ask me if I would make a tutorial on how I make my seam binding roses and I am putting some thought into it and I will let you know soon if I am.

And last but not least ...


I thought that we had seen the last snow two days ago when the sun came out and it all melted ...
but I was wrong!

 
This was what my garden looked like when I woke up yesterday morning.

And finally ...


... another little feathered creature came to visit ~ I never get bored with watching the wildlife in our backyard.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.
 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Yesterday Twenty Three Years Ago ..

Hello my dear friends,

today I am sharing one of the best ~ of two creations ~ of my life so far ... yesterday twenty three years ago my daughter Ashleigh was born.

 She is all grown up now and a beautiful young lady who has graduated from university last year and now is getting ready to be married.


I am so proud of her.


Happy Birthday Baby Girl!
Love you!


I just had to share this photo with you  ~  they are the little roses we gave my daughter yesterday. I love the color combination of them pink and peach ~ so beautiful.

I wish you all a little beauty in your life!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.
 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

A Vintage Feel ..

Hello my dear friends,

I truly hope I don't bore you with my latest creations that have to do with seam binding roses and weddings but that is what I need to work on this moment in time and I just love sharing my creations with all you lovely bloggers.
 
Saying that, I would love to share my latest ring pillow with you today.
 
 
I used my seam binding that I coffee stained and turned it into vintage looking roses and along with an old doily, vintage pearls and natural osnaburg fabric for the actual ring pillow ~ nothing else was needed to complete this creation.
 
 And this is it ...
 
 
 
... my latest ring pillow.
 



 
A little 'free' extra bonus for this creation was that because I had to pull the seam binding threw the thread spiderweb for the roses over and over again it started to fray on the edges a little which just enhanced the vintage feel and look. This hasn't happened with any of my other roses so I think it might have something to do with the ribbon being placed in hot coffee the day before.






 
 
I really like these seam binding roses and all because of the coffee stain which gave them the perfect vintage feel for this making.
 
I had a lot of fun creating my latest ring pillow and I hope you have enjoyed it. What am I going to make next? ... I am not sure yet but if you would like to know ... it would be so nice if you were to visit me here at Todolwen soon again.
 
 
I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.
 
Have a peaceful and creative day,
 
 
Karen B.