Thank You!

Hello my dear friends,

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have dropped me a line and left me some advice about how to give my old metal stars a new look. I am not sure just quite yet which instructions I am going to try out but when I have a result that I like I will share it with you of course.


I don't know how you lovely bloggers feel but since the weather and temperature has changed here I seem to feel so much more willing to sit and create and  ... shop too! I was so happy when my daughter found a little bag at the antique store ~ which I hadn't see yet and I am not sure if I would have seen it at all ~ and it was filled with vintage rhine stones all strung together and lots of it too!


Take a look ..

 

 

Isn't this such a neat find? And ... there is a full yard in length of it!

 I am hoping to be able to use these in so many new creations.

 

 

Also I decided that it is time to try to learn something new, well .. new to me. Many of you I am sure already have tried this ... soldering. I still had a 50% off coupon that I didn't want to lose out on so I finally, finally bought myself a soldering iron.

 

 

 

 

I was playing with the thought of doing so since Spring but always said 'another time'. Now I have one and I can't wait to start learning. I am just so glad there are some very good tutorials out there to help me. Lori from Katie's Rose Cottage has one and so does Marie from the Lost Bird Studio.

 

Right now I have so many things I would love to do but chores must come first. So that is what I am going to have to work on but I am going to make some time to create this weekend.

 

I wish you all a little time to be creative these days.

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

 

Your Input Needed ..

Hello my dear friends,

today's post is not a sharing post but a post where I am asking you for advice ~ help ~ information ~ input!

I have many metal stars hanging in my house. Some are rusty, some are painted and some are plain metal. I have decided to change my style a little and my stars are the thing I would like to start with. I would love to give them a unified look in a special way. Now if this way is possible or not I don't know and that is where all you lovely bloggers come in hand.

The look I would love to achieve is the look of mercury glass! Yes, I think it would look amazing to have all my stars look like or at least get very close to looking like mercury glass. I have seen several tutorials on how to give glass this look, the lovely Lori from Katie's Rose Cottage did a short tutorial on glass. Unfortunately so far I didn't find anything on giving metal this look.

So .... your input is so needed right now. If any of you have any idea how to give metal the mercury glass look.... please drop me a line and let me know!! I would be so very grateful for any type of information.

I hope you are all well and life is treating you kind,

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.

A Heartwarming Story ...

Hello my dear friends,

as you know from time to time I love to share photographs from the Daily Mail in the UK because of their beauty ~ if it's the beautiful countryside or a photo of a little critter ~ basically anything that I like and think you would too. Well today I am going to share a little true story and some photographs as well.


The story is about 3 little dormice who lost their mother and they were so tiny it seemed they were doomed not to survive if is wasn't for a very caring person. This person heard a noise in a hedge of his neighbours, found the helpless tiny creatures and then drove over 100 miles to take them to an animal sanctuary so they could be saved ~ which is exactly what happened!! I think this is such a fantastic thing that somebody cared so much about these mice ~ my hat off to you ~ you very sweet and caring and kind person!!

And here my dear friends are those tiny baby dormice ...

 

 

 ... in all their cuteness and tininess. The photos were take by Richard Austin and I claim no rights or credit to them ~ but they are outstanding and so worth sharing!!

 

Don't you just love that in today's world somebody stands out ~ like the person who decided to rescue these baby mice ~ and shines!!! We need more people like this ~ don't you agree?!

 

I hope to see you here at Todolwen soon again.

 

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

 

Karen B. 

 

 

You Will Not Believe This...

Hello my dear friends,

you will not believe the story I am going to share with you today! I could have titled this post ... 'The Rescue Of The Hummingbird ~ Take 2'!

Yes, you did read correctly ... it has just been a week I think and it is almost like deja vu ... I am standing at my kitchen window washing my dishes and again I hear a thud at my dining room window and right away I think ... another poor bird hit the window again! I think it is the way the sun is shining ~ it reflects the trees more than ever this time of year.

To my surprise and shock what do you think I saw laying on the hard ground? .... a tiny green hummingbird AGAIN!! I am not sure if it was the same one from the last time and this time it looked really not too good. It's tiny wings were laying spread out wide from it's little body and the little head was on it's side. I was so very sad heading outside ... thinking of where I would find somewhere in our garden so it could rest there forever.

When I finally got to it I bent down to pick it up and .... it was still alive!! I was so full of joy but I kept it quietly inside myself not to scare the little feathered being. I wasn't sure if he was going to be OK or not because he was just laying in my hands and his little eyes kept closing very slowly. I had a feeling that it might not make it this time. I stood there very carefully cradling it in my hands, talking very quietly and softly and the little bird just sat there. After ten minutes I decided to move into the bright sun light thinking it might help and it did. Five minutes later the tiny being started to show signs of getting better. His head moved around trying to see where he was and suddenly he started to move his wings and ... was gone ~ but not too far. He sat on the top of our garage taking in all the warmth of the sun. I was so happy that for the second time all was well.

And ... again we were so very fortunate  to be able to take photos of this so sweet and precious little creature that I would love to share with you again.

 

 

The first thing I did the next morning was heading out to buy something to put onto my large dining room windows that will hopefully prevent little birds flying into the glass again. I would be so very sad if one day a bird would not survive this.

 

Right now here at Todolwen, well .. I am trying to work on a few new creations when ever I will get some time to do so. I was out in a Goodwill Store yesterday and found two items that... dare I say ... make me want to make another Wynken, Blynken and Nod creation. I don't know what it is I am just drawn to this in a way. I do have a few more ideas in my head but they will all need a bit more 'mind work' before I can even think of starting them. That's me ... and what have you been up to lately?? Let me know!!

 

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

New Tutorial In My Etsy Shop ..

Hello my dear friends,

I am so excited!! I have just added a new tutorial I have completed yesterday to my etsy shop!

 

 

If you recall my post 'Where There Are Scissor..' ~ I had made scissor pouches for my vintage scissors and now I have made a tutorial for those of you that would like to made their own.

 

 

I spent the last few days working on the tutorial and it comes with photographs and all the instructions you will need to create your own scissor pouches. I have included the three sizes I made which are small, medium and large. This creation would be such a neat gift you could make for a friend or family member ~ Christmas is on it's way ~ or gift yourself with it! It is quite easy and you can make one in about an hour if you have all the bits and pieces at hand!

 

Otherwise here at Todolwen ... I am busy as ever with all sorts of things in and outside of the house. In about 3 to 4 weeks the work will start in our basement! I am hoping to be able to work on a few more creations before that because our desk top computer will have to be taken down and I am not sure if I am going to set it up until the work is finished so I won't be able to scan anything for a while but I will see. But ...

 

... please keep stopping by from time to time and check out what I have been up too!

 

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

Such A Precious Moment ...

Hello my dear friends,

there are little moments in life that are so precious and I had one of them yesterday.

My day was going to be a quiet one without any work so I was sitting close to my dining room window relaxing when I heard a thud against the glass and from the corner of my eye I saw something drop down. Tiny feathers were scattered on the windowsill and a tiny bird was laying on the ground ... it had flown into the glass. This doesn't happen often but when it does it breaks my heart because the tiny creature normally does not survive.

I headed outside to take a look and to my surprise ... the little bird was laying there ... on it's side, heavily panting but alive! I kept saying in my head "please don't be hurt too bad" and very carefully I picked the tiny being up in my hands and sat down on our bench and just held it there, talking to it very quietly and peacefully.

It was a tiny beautiful green hummingbird ... in shock and stunned, iy was looking at me with it's big eyes ...  it sat in my hands recovering from it's ordeal for at least 5 minutes ~ just enough time for my daughter Ashleigh to be able to capture it on her camera. We all were taken by it's beauty and tininess when suddenly it just jumped up, the tiny wings started to flap in such a speed and off it flew into our maple tree! We are so happy that it is well and now we are hoping to see it more often in our garden.

 

 

Such a beautiful creation ... handmade by God.

 

I wish you all little precious moments in your life that you can treasure for ever!

 

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B. 

Just A Little Update ..

Hello my dear friends,

it feels like I have been nonstop with so many different things in my life since some time now that I am worn down and unfortunately when you have too many things to do something has to come up short and suffer and in this case it was me blogging and creating over the past weeks.

These past weeks have been so very intense with my husband home from work ~ filled with projects that needed doing by him and us spending time together as a family again which was very nice.

We managed to get quite a bit done ~ from the outdoor lighting being installed to new curtains poles being put up in the house and from the time at home together to going to the Royal Ontario Museum and Canada's Wonderland at last.

Now it is just us 3 girls again for the next few months but things will not slow down by far. School is starting in just over a week and we finally have decided to take on a huge new project and have our basement built out again. We had contractors in the house several times now these past months but never one that was right for us until now and by the look of it this September the work is going to start. I am already somewhat nervous about it since there is so much involved.

On top of all that I am yet again recovering from another nasty summer cold/flu that was really pulling me down. (I am getting the feeling of repeating myself in my last posts ... sick ... busy with work in the house/garden ... not time to blog or create!)

Basically I think I am going to have to take a little step back from blogland which is something I really don't want to do but I feel the need to do so, so I can get things sorted and get better properly. I will post when ever I get time to and I will also try and read your lovely blogs as often as I can. I hope that in 4 to 6 weeks normality will return completely and I will have new ideas and creations to share with all you lovely bloggers. So, please don't stop popping by from time to time to see what I have been up to.

Before I end this post I would like to share a few photos with you from our visit to the ROM in Toronto ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

... and Canada's Wonderland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

My favourite memory of our summer time together ... hearing my husband's laughter overriding all the other noises in Canada's Wonderland!

 

 

 

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

 

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

 

Karen B.