A Three Dollar Treasure ..

Hello my dear friends,

with fall approaching fast so are the last church rummage sales of this year.

I stopped at one on a wet and rainy Saturday morning a few weeks ago and being one of only 15 people there at first, I was able to get into the hall where all the treasures were laid out neatly being one of the first.

At first I headed to the jewelry table and I was lucky to have found 4 lovely broaches that I would be able to use in some of my future creations.

These are not necessary very old but they just look so pretty!

After that I walked around humming one of my favourite songs, keeping my eyes open for anything that would catch them and then I saw something really neat.

 

By now I had to try and battle my way through the crowds. I got to the spot where my eyes had been glued to and put my hand on the piece just at the right moment in time because one of the very nice ladies working there was just about to grab it, not seeing my hand on it, to give it to someone else, but no ... I laid my claim on it and it was mine!

 

And this is the treasure I found ..

 

  

.. a glass dome on a wooden base.

 

It has a beautiful piece of white coral inside it and a very, very delicate butterfly.

  

And like I said it was only ... 

... $3! 

 

Happy with my findings,  I decided that the day was a great one so far and left for others to hopefully find their treasure of the day.

 

Now what to do with it..?

 

I think that I am going to use the coral in my shell jar.( I will share that with you in another post.)

And if I am lucky enough that the little butterfly will survive me touching it, I will have to create something with it to keep it safe.

 

And last but not least ... the dome and base... I am sure I will find something that will fit nicely under it! But all of that will be for another post that I can't wait to share with you.

 

And until the next time you stop by here at Todolwen ...

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

Karen B.

A Little In~Between Project ..

Hello my dear friends,

it seems that my list of what I would like to do and create is just getting longer and longer these days.

I must have at least 35 drafts of posts I would like to share with all of you lovely bloggers and I am sure eventually I will do so, but more and more things just pop into my head that want creating and it is so hard to resist at times.

That is exactly what happened over the Thanksgiving weekend. I saw this beautiful yarn at Michaels and then I knew I needed to buy it and turn it into a warm little something for a reason and that is what I did! Within a day I had knitted a lovely warm scarf. It will become a gift for someone special for Christmas this year ... of course I can't say who because that would take the little surprise away for when it arrives at the recipient's home.

 

But I would love to share a few photos of my finished knitted creation with you today!

 

 

I think it was the rainbow colors very delicately harmonising together that caught my eye ...

 

... and which better way to embellish this creation with other than with my little crochet butterflies.

 

 

 

 

You can almost see how soft this scarf is!

 

I love doing 'in-between' projects every so often, it's just breaks things up a little and knitting is so relaxing for me. But now I am off working on my Christmas creations again, and I will be sharing the first one soon!

 

So ... do pop by again some time soon and visit me here at Todolwen.

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

 

 

It Was A Nice Day Overall ..

Hello my dear friends,

don't you love it when things are progressing nicely when it comes to a creation you are working on and when a day turns out to be a nice one? I do so much!

A few days ago I finally got around to bleaching a large batch of bottle brush trees at last. I have been wanting to do this for some time and never got around to it. I must have done around 30 of them in all sizes. At one stage it was a little concerning though. I had done all my baby trees and moved onto the larger ones and as I placed the first one into the bleach, the bleach suddenly turned a nasty brown color! It almost looked like rust coming from it but the was no rust there. To be safe I bleached these trees twice and the second time the bleach stayed it's normal color and all was well!

 

But also something really neat that happened ... amongst all of the trees I worked with there was one little tree that decided that it didn't want to turn cream but instead it wanted to stay a very lovely pale color of green. I gave it extra time in the bleach but nope ... nothing doing ...

(sorry the picture is a little blurry)

 ... this little tree wanted to stay green.

 

 I know that people sometimes pull their little trees out early to get that pale green color but I wasn't really going for that look but as I say many times ... there is a reason for that happening. And therefore this little tree will become a special little Christmas tree in one of my newest creations. I am still working on how I am going to incorporate it but I am sure I will find the perfect way for it to shine.


The morning started very misty ...

 

but the day turned out to be so lovely outside ... bright sunshine, almost no wind and a great  temperature too so my trees were able to dry outside on the deck.

 

Of course the lovely weather also brought out little visitors to our backyard too ...

 

 

... a rabbit decided to come and taste some of my weeds that were still growing nicely under the fall sunshine.

 

And not only that but I saw something walking along the other side of the fence in my neighbours garden. Maybe it's a cat..? Then slowly but surely the critter made an appearance in our garden!

 

 

 

... nope ~ no cat but a raccoon!

(I think there is something wrong with the focus of my camera .. sorry!)

  

It crawled under the fence and stopped to look at me for a moment as I was taking it's photo and then continued it's journey through our yard to it's home. I don't think I will be seeing this critter for to much longer this year as it is slowly getting colder at night time these past few days and the time to hibernate will be here soon.

 

And talking about colder, I started to work on a little unplanned project yesterday and actually finished it already too. What was it? ... that is something I will share with you tomorrow. 

 

Thank you for stopping by here at Todolwen. I would love to see you soon again!

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.  

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Wishes ..

Hello my dear friends,

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful weekend!

 

(My thanks to Karen V. from the graphicsfairy for this image)

 

I hope you all have a wonderful time.

 

Many hugs,

 

 

Karen B.

 

 

A Bag Of Canning Jar Lids ..

Hello my dear friends,

some time ago I bought a bag full of old crown jar zinc lids ...

 

... and not knowing what to do with them at first, off they went into my studio closet and that's where they stayed for ages. Then suddenly I had an idea, you know one of those that just make you get all excited!.

Would you believe that these old canning jar lids would be able to become a beautiful Christmas creation..?  I am hoping they will?!
 

Of course it would become a challenge to myself again, trying to put my idea into reality and after a lot of trying this and then trying that and maybe this way or rather not ... I had the basic idea worked out how I could turn it into something super neat. Now the work has to start. I am having a few problems finding some of the things I need but hopefully soon I will have everything together and my creating can start.

 

 

Some of the bits and pieces have arrived in the mail already.

 

 I am just keeping my fingers crossed that everything will work out and turn out the way my idea is living in my mind. I guess, I will just have to wait and see and so will you my lovely bloggers until I can unveil my newest creation.
 I can't tell you how excited I am right now by the thought of the finished creation ... so much!!

Hmmm....? .. Maybe I could give you a little hint....

 

 ... but only a tiny one....to get you thinking a little.

OK ... this is my little hint .....

 

... sweet music! 

 

That is all I am going to say until I will share the finished creation with you.

I am busy, busy with all sort of projects ... some in the garden, some in the house and of course some for Todolwen so I am not sure when I will be sharing what next. If you like, just keep popping over and visiting me here at Todolwen from time to time 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.

 

Wedding Flowers And My Favourite Quote ..

Hello my dear friends,

my posts about the wedding are not going to be in order as things happened but just more mixed up sort of as I go thing ... if that makes any sense?!

 

Therefore today I would like to share some photos I took of the flowers that were some of my daughters centrepieces after they came home from the wedding. For almost two weeks they stood in my kitchen window and every time I did my dishes or looked out of the window I was surrounded by their beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even as the last roses slowly faded ...

 

 

... their beauty is still something that captures me.

I wanted to do something little to remember my daughters special day so I am pressing some of the flowers for a future creation for her and her husband. But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted to do something else little and I am sure you all remember my favourite quote, because I must have told you it many times already over the past years.

The quote is ...

 

' Memories is the power to grow roses in winter.'

 

I thought a nice way to remember how special my daughters wedding was and how many new memories are going to be made is by designing a new blog button and place it on Todolwen.

 

I used my favourite photo that I took of one of her roses from the wedding flowers and turned it into this!

 

Now every time I look at this ... 

 

   

... I will remember how beautiful she looked and what a lovely day it was.

 

Thank you for stopping by and visiting me here at Todolwen ~ it is always so nice when you do so.

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B. 

 

Working On Returning ..

Hello my dear friends,

my paths are not all cleared yet but at least some of the branches have moved a little.

These past weeks have been like a roller coaster ride for me with ups and downs and not knowing if I wanted to get off the ride early. I'm working on returning to blogland but I am not sure how fast I am going to be able to do so.

I would like to thank all of you for your kind words to me. Knowing you were thinking of me was so heartwarming and I really needed that so much and I am sorry I didn't answer any of your thoughtful comments or e-mails. You are all so kind ... thank you again from the deepest little corner of my heart!

 

Just to let you know, I wasn't sick or anything like that but there were and unfortunately still are a few things in my life that just took the wind out of my sails including all of my strength and focus on anything. My heart has been so heavy since some time now and I just had to take a step back and that included no Todolwen. That also was something that took me by surprize... how easy it was not to be creative and work on Todolwen, something a month ago I didn't think would happen. You see my blog and creating is a part of my life that I love so much. Right now I am working hard on getting my heart and soul to a better place.

Very slowly I am also returning to my creative part of my life. Ideas are popping up again and I am feeling the want to create again too. I have started working on a new creation for Christmas which I am hoping to tell you more about soon.

I have so much to share with you ... my daughter got married and it was so beautiful! I have tried to be busy in the house and with other things too. I am hoping that in the next few weeks I will be able to share everything will all you lovely bloggers.

But for today, again I would like to thank all of you kind souls out there that wished me well and kept me in your thoughts ... it means so much to me.

It would be so nice for you to visit me soon again, it always brightens my day.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.


Many, many heartfelt hugs,


Karen B.