I’d like to introduce you to a ‘Bodkin’ called: The Lord’s my Shepherd ~ by Cobwebs.

If you’re a sewist -a sewer – or you sew things – then the chances are that you will have heard of a Bodkin.  If you don’t sew things, you may still have heard of a bodkin.   But … if you haven’t heard of a Bodkin, then I share the definition of ‘bodkin’, as per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:-

Definition of bodkin

1a: dagger, stiletto

b: a sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth

c: an ornamental hairpin shaped like a stiletto

2: a blunt needle with a large eye for drawing tape or ribbon through a loop or hem

This is exactly how my Grandma showed me how to substitute a safety pin if you couldn’t find your bodkin!

It was that:-  “b: a sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth“ on which I focused while I was embroidering tiny little pieces of fabric, which I wanted to make brooches (or ‘pins’)

Read on dear reader, read on .  .  .  

I wanted a special name for my brooches.  One which said something about them, instead of just calling them ‘brooches’ or ‘pins‘.   I looked around my work desk for inspiration.  Needles; thimbles; threaders; embroidery threads; markers; beads; buttons…. no, nothing seemed to give me the joy I always feel, deep within my heart and within the central core of my body, when I know I’ve found the right name for something.  

When suddenly …   ‘Bodkin‘ came to mind.  

Now I know that there is a Fairy Elf, in the Land of Fae, called Bodkin.

Meet Bodkin ~ image of him according to Cobs

Bodkin is a sewer and stitcher of all things which require a needle, thread and, more importantly … his expertise.  His knowledge knows no bounds.  He has skills unknown to man, not just in a particular field of sewing, but in the whole worldy world of sewing ANYTHING!  

It all made sense!  A bodkin is a  sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth ….  and a brooch has a pin which is a sharp slender instrument, which makes holes in cloth – in clothes!  It makes the holes in your clothes to attach the brooch to your jumper, blouse, top, dress, coat or cardigan, – or even your tie!   That was it!!! My Brooches were to be called:  Bodkins!  

So, now you know this …. may I introduce you to my first Bodkin Brooch ….

~ The Lords my Shepherd ~

Measuring just 2.9cm, which is just a smidgen over an inch, this little brooch has three, tiny, hand embroidered sheep, complete with white daisies and bright yellow buttercups which they’ve found to chomp on.

The pale pink ribbon you see ‘attached’ to the brooch (in the photo above) is a piece of re-cycled silk. It’s been washed and roughly cut into a ‘flag’ shape, onto which I printed the name of the brooch/pin – ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’. The delicate ribbon isn’t a permanent fixture on the brooch, it can be taken off by simply undoing the pin on the rear of the brooch.

To pack the brooches – rather than simply put them into boxes, I wanted something a little more tactile and textile – so I chose to tissue wrap each brooch, and put them into a little drawstring top muslin bags which have the Cobwebs logo printed on them.

And that, fabulous readers, is what a Bodkin is according to Cobwebs. I think Bodkin the Fairy Elf will approve.

I’m sure I see him nodding – I think he likes the brooches/pins! RESULT!

You might now be thinking that that is the end of this post. Ohhhh no. You still have some Monday Jokes to read!

These are the Jokes Folks!

Q: Why did the yoghurt go to the art exhibition?

A: Because it was cultured.

~~ ❤ ~~

Q: What breed of dog can jump higher than buildings?

A: Any dog, because buildings can’t jump.

~~ ❤ ~~

Q: What do you call a train carrying bubblegum?

A: A chew-chew train.

~~ ❤ ~~

And that’s it! You’ve managed to get through another post from me, with all your brain cells in tact!

Thank you SO much for coming and spending a little time with me. Please… talk to me, via a comment, so that I know who I’m talking to. To make a comment you simply have to click to read this post (click the heading at the top of the page on my blog) – then scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a box, inviting you to comment. You don’t have to say a hundred words of chat – just simply hello and a few words – even inviting me to your blog to see something. It’s just so fabulous to ‘know’ who’s reading and who I’m talking to!

May you have the happiest of Mondays, and I hope your week ahead is a good one.

Don’t forget to count your blessings – you have more reasons to smile than you might imagine.

Sending heaps of squidges and lots of love ~ from me in my corner, to you in yours.

Melting Pot Pendants, and a Give-away!

I am the proud owner of …  a Ranger Melt Pot.  Ohh I love this toy so very much, but I hadn’t played with it for ages, until last week, when the urge suddenly hit me and I got all the equipment out and played around until I decided what to make.  You saw the card I made with the pretty leaf of all seasons on it, which I posted about on Monday of this week, and I promised to post about the other things I’d been busy as a bee making, and here I am, sharing as promised.

The photograph at the head of this post doesn’t show all the pendants I made, so I’ve taken a selection of photos, some grouped, and some single ones, so that you can get an idea of colours and sizes, and also how you can hang these pendants.

I really love the Ranger Melt Pot, however, I found out on Monday (From Beverly of More Ink Please blog) that Ranger no longer make the Melt Pot.  Something to do with the amount of quantity they require their customers to order – and it’s made the tool too expensive for lots of stores to carry.  So rather than relax the rules,  (and lower the price a little) Ranger, it appears, decided that they would no longer make it.  So I’m sorry if I get your creative juices flowing for a Melt Pot, when they’re no longer available.  However … you might be able to still buy one if you have a search around.

Right … now the bad news is over, let’s have a bit of fun shall we?  I realised the other day that we haven’t done a GIVE-AWAY in ages!  So how about we make this post a Give-away, and the winner can choose whichever pendant they would like to have, and I’ll package and post it out to who-ever wins.

All you have to do is ... in the comment section of this post, if you wish to be entered for the Give-Away, just say the word GIVE-AWAY at either the start or the end of your comment.  (Putting it at the start or end of the comment makes it easy for me to find when I’m searching and adding up how many people would like to be entered – so that I can enter that number into the Random Number Selector so that it can choose the winner).   You can, if you want, simply say just ‘GIVE-AWAY’.

I’ll leave the Give-away open until Sunday at 6pm UK time (if you need to work out what time that is where you live,  Mr.Google is very obliging – lol).

Right … enough of me blathering on.  Let’s get cracking with these pendants.  I made them all with the help of my trusty Melt Pot, and I haven’t given them names here, but just kind of labelled them so that you can tell me (if you’re the winner) which pendant you’d like!  (Oh .. and I should say that this is open to all followers – you don’t have to only live in the UK.  I’m happy to post these over-seas).

They’re all different shapes and sizes, and I’ve tried to put them next to each other so that you can gauge the difference in sizes. However, I have remembered to include a rule so that you can actually see the size.

slightly closer up so that you can see the deepness of the blue and some of the patterns which happen as the liquid is poured.

This heart has SO much depth to it.  I added some mica gold dust to the pot and it is this which I managed to catch as if ‘floating’ on the top.  The golden swirls which you see below the surface in this shot, come from some Pearl crystals which I very gently ‘dragged’ through the liquid.

A different shot of this same large heart, so that you can get a view of how the light can change the look of the colours.

This has the colours of Emerald, Gold, Russian diopside and … a whole load of other greens which are winding through the focal ‘gem’

Against a dark background so that you can see how they look against darker colours of clothes.

Now onto the little pendants.  They may be smaller, but they pack their own punch!

The ‘Little Golden Green Triangle’ – at the bottom right of this photo (above), has what looks like gold dust sprinkles over the top of it.  Sadly the photographs just don’t show it properly, but it’s really quite beautiful to the naked eye.

I forgot to include this little green oval (above) in the photo of all the little pendants, so here it is alone.  It looks like it has golden strands threading through it.  It hasn’t.  But it really does have a lot of depth to it.

The little ovals, have two hoops – one at the top and one at the bottom.  You can use these either as a bracelet – or as a pendant, as I’ve made.  The top hoop is for hanging the pendant.  The bottom hoop can have things hung from it, such as a bead, or a little bunch of beads;  a tassel;  a pearl; or, as I’ve done here as an idea – you can hang something else from it.  On the photo above,  I placed an Angel with her own hanging hoop in line with the hoop on the pendant, so that you can see how it might look to have something there.

You don’t even have to have a chain to hang your pendant on.  How about some baby ribbon, as in the photo above?  Soft on the neck too!  The choice is yours.  I’ll supply the chain, or the ribbon (in your choice of colour), so that when you receive your pendant, it’s ready to wear straight away!

The Little Golden Green Triangle.

A slightly lighter blue Little Triangle.

Please note that all the measurements on the rule are in CM (and MM) as that’s what we work in here in the UK (much to my disdain. I grew up with inches and I still can only visualise in inches – but then, I’m practically older than dirt so it figures.  😀 ) … but again, if you ask Google it will give you the conversion.

 

Some of the pendants (particularly the blues) look, in the photographs, as if they have an oily finish, or like they’re wet with something.  It’s just a trick of the light.  The way the flash has hit the surface and bounced back.  None of the pendants are oily, wet, greasy or have anything on them.  It’s just the lighting hitting them in the ‘wrong’ way.  (And I’m a rubbish photographer!).

We’ll end where we began, with a small selection.  But remember that not all the pendants are shown in this photo.  But if you look down the post, you’ll see photo’s of ones which aren’t included in the photo above.

Remember … don’t forget to include the words  ‘GIVE-AWAY’  either at the start or end of your comment so that I know to include you.

If you’re reading this on the main front page of my blog and can’t see where to post a comment, then please scroll all the way up to the title of this post, and next to it, just over a little way to the right of the words, you’ll see a pale grey flag.  Click on that flag and the post will re-load on its own page, where you’ll find the comments section at the bottom of the page, below where the post ends.  😀   Late date/time for entering is this Sunday -19th March 2017, at 6pm UK time.

Thank you so much for coming to share a coffee with me.  Want a fill up of that cup?  Biscuits?

Have a truly blessed rest of your day, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing.  Be good to each other.