My Old Rosebush And Odelia

Hello my dear friends,

I have a very old rose bush at the side of my house. I had cut it right down last fall and at first I was worried I might have killed it but this spring it grew right back, even bigger than last year with so many roses.

Always being on the look-out for something  to create with, I took a closer look at the rose bush. I discovered the tiny rose buds and decided to "harvest" some of them to dry.

This is my "harvest".  I am going to wait a week or so and have another one.

These three were my first ones I dried. They are so small, just under an inch. I am planing to use some of these roses in a creation that is somewhere back in my mind and the rest I will save for a cold and grey day this coming winter.

Last but not least ...

Liz, from "Lululizinlalaland" pointed out to me that my little dress form should have a name which I thought was so sweet. No better person for the task but Liz herself to find a name that would be right and she did.

Now my dress form is called....

 Odelia!

What a very pretty name and thank you Liz!

Some of you lovely bloggers have asked me if I would share my pattern for the dress form and I think there was a misunderstanding with what I had said in a previous post. At this moment in time I will not be sharing the pattern but I will share any new dress forms I make. In the future I may either share or sell the dress form pattern and once I have decided I will let you all know! Sorry for any misunderstanding!

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

Every Grey Cloud Has A Silver Lining

Hello my dear friends,

I believe there is a reason for everything. This past weekend just proved that this saying is true. I was going to have my garage sale, since it was meant to be sunny with no rain ~ well that didn't happen. I spent all Friday pricing  everything and getting ready to wake up on Saturday morning to see what but RAIN!! I wasn't too annoyed about it because my weekend was very busy without the garage sale so without any delay I packed things away and headed back inside for a coffee (it was only 6.50 am).

I had been having a hard time getting myself to sit down and create anything these last weeks. There was just nothing there inside me and I was getting frustrated about it, so I went into my craft room and decided to pull out an old  make-do project of mine from my primitive days which I never finished and it had been lying around for almost a year now.

It is amazing when all the sudden it's back ... the urge to make something and then everything just almost falls into place.

I had designed a dress form pattern like I said almost a year ago and then just left it ...until now. I had not worked on her because I just couldn't figure out how I wanted the dress form to look like in the end. I couldn't believe how fast I finished her off and for my first piece I think she turned out nicely and it didn't really take much to make this dress form.

I used some muslin, fibrefill, a wooden oval and a larger wooden drawer knob. For the stand I just used one of my antique spools.

I tea-stained the dress form after it was sewn and then added some nails and writing to make her more authentic looking and ...

... she was done!!

 All she needed now was decorating and/or dressing.

Here I only added on old doily and brooch for a very delicate look ...

and in this photo my daughter Caylagh dressed her in one of her antique baby dresses.

I am not really sure now if I like the dress form with or without the antique spool as a stand. Either way I think she looks lovely! As my first attempt she has turned out well but I am now working on a few more of  these dress forms that I had presewn last year. The next thing I have on my to-do list is to do some fine tuning on the pattern and maybe a few changes to give the dress form a different style. I will share them with you once they are finished.

And now you know why every grey cloud has a silver lining ... no garage sale but a lovely new creation instead!!!

I hope you are all well.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

My Busy Weekend ~ Part 2 ~ A Shopping I Did Go!

Hello again my dear friends,

apart from yard work and staining my crochet flowers I did get a chance to go treasure hunting as well this past weekend. We decided to head out to the lake and on the way we always drive past a few second hand stores and antique stores where we always stop and look in.

And I am glad we did!!

I found this flag in a antique store in Parkshill. It will be a gift for my husband, who you know is British and a retired soldier from HM Forces. I am planing to frame it and it will go into his new office once it is finished. ( I hope he doesn't read my blog and see this!!)

I also found these old army buttons. There are from the Royal Canadian Air Force and are made from brass. I am not sure what I am going to do with them, but they are just something I knew I had to have and I will use at some time in the future.

My other find was this vintage dress form. It is my second dress form and to tell you the truth I haven't even finished my first one yet, but the price was so good that I just couldn't walk away from it!!

And my last find of the weekend was this spool of rusty wire. I am thinking of making birds nests when I look at this but I am not quite sure yet.

I spent the rest of my weekend in my basement sorting through boxes of things that I hadn't seen in a few years. I can't believe how much stuff  I can let go of these days without feeling a loss. If I were to do that a few years ago I think it would have been a little problematic for me.

That was my weekend in a nutshell! I am hoping to be able to do some serious creating done this coming week.

And last but not least ...

don't forget to sign up for my first wee giveaway if you haven't done so already!!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.