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.

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A ‘Ewes and I’ get together.

I had so much fun making the Brush Art (‘Art Work’) (link will open in another tab)   which I made last week and couldn’t wait to make another,  and,  as luck would have it …  when looking for something else in his shed, Mr. Cobs found a pasting brush which he’d never used and asked me if I wanted it for anything.  DID I EVER!

I couldn’t wait to get to work on it.  I already had a plan, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I had some tiny wee sheep knocking about my craft room,  and an urge to play with paints.  That pasting brush didn’t have to wait long.  Within a few hours the brush handle had been sanded (thank you Mr. Cobs) and I was getting my paints out.   Although it took me a few days to actually complete (drying time/setting time/working time etc etc)  I love the end result.

I’ve taken a couple of photos so that you can get a better idea of it from each side….

The hedging at either end of the field – I made by needle felting, using wool tops from my felting stash.   I needle felted the hedging,  the tree tops  and the ‘babbling brook’ running between the bottom of the field and top of the bristles on the brush.

The ‘babbling brook’ is more loosely needle felted, in three blue colours of wool tops – so that I could get that ‘look’ of  moving water.

I’m having so much fun with the making of these brushes.  I realised, while making this one, why I was enjoying myself so much.  I LOVE miniature.  I’ve always like to make and work with miniature things.  Things with detail.  I haven’t really been able to since we moved house, as there was still so much of my ‘stuff’ packed in boxes or just not enough room to get everything out and find a place for it.  But it’s slowly coming together and that’s brilliant.

Would you believe it ... I already have a plan for making another one!  Aw .. I’ll try not to bombard you with them … but when it comes to crafty fun – a gals gotta do what a gals gotta do.   🙂

So anyway ….

It’s Monday again.  Someone stole one of my days over the weekend.  It went from Saturday to Monday.  Somewhere along the way I’ve lost Sunday.  If you find it, let me know will you, and I’ll go and pick it up and bring it back.

Did you do anything fun over the weekend?  Go anywhere?  Make anything?

Do tell,  share,  confess your sins.  YES.. CONFESS!   Aww  – now this could be good  . . .

• Step inside this wee box and confess all your sins.
  • Have you spent too much money on craft items?
  • Have you coveted your neighbours ass  nooo that really doesn’t sound good in today’s world.  Try again  ….
  • Coveted your neighbours servant?  Nah, no one has servants now. (do they?)
  • Have you coveted anything belonging to your neighbour?

Or is there perhaps something more juicy,  pressing down upon you which you wish to confess?  It will be just between you and me (and a select handful of other bloggers,  who have all be sworn to secrecy), and we will naturally all forgive you for eating those toffee sweets;  buying yourself something  clothing related and hiding it at the back of your wardrobe; (an old friend would do this very thing.   When she eventually got the item of clothing out to wear,  her husband would comment on it and ask if the thing was new, and she would always say:  “I’ve had this for ages!  See,  you never take any notice!”).

Well anyway ... while you’re plucking up the courage to confess,  I shall say… that’s me done and dusted.  I really enjoyed making this bit of artwork and so hope you like too.  Please let me know what you think.  You know how I love to chat.  🙂

It’s lovely to see you here.  Would you like another coffee?  Biscuits?  Toast?

Sending oodles of squidges from my corner to yours . . .

 

 

 

 

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The Reawakening of . . . The Little Bitty Box.

Hello!  Happy Tuesday!

I’ve done something crafty which is a bit different from my ‘normal’ and I hope you find this post an enjoyable read.

Where I live there are a small handful of local shops:  Somewhere to buy newspapers and a few groceries; a pet store; a charity shop;  and a ‘Store 21’.  (That’s what it’s called).   Now I love all of these shops.  They’re just down the road from my home and although I don’t visit them all that often, when I do visit, I always come home with something that I’m excited about.

Last time I visited Store 21 (about a month or so ago) I picked up something in their sale.  It was a little pale brown box with a hinged lid, and a clear, viewing glass window within the lid.  It was really cheap – something like 99p (about $1.45 for USA folks) – and the size was perfect for the tools I use at my craft desk, over and over and over again,  alllll the time.

Four different types of tweezers:  2 different needle nose tweezers;  a pair of flat end tweezers; and a pair of slanted (eyebrow plucking) tweezers.  A Tim Holtz pick.  A paper edge ruffer upper (I have no idea what they’re really called but I like my description. lol).  Eraser, pens, small scissors – and one or two other bits and pieces.

If I move onto another desk, I have to take all this junk  important equipment, with me,  so when I saw the little box I thought it was a great way of having everything stored in one place and easily ‘moveable’.  So I bought it.

It’s worked brilliantly.  I’ve loved it.  But it wasn’t originally designed for this purpose.  It was meant to be for spare change.  It actually had the word:  ‘COINS‘  in wood, attached to the front.

On Saturday I sat at my desk wondering what to make …  and my eye wandered over my desk.  “I wonder if I could get that ‘COINS’ off that box without damaging the box?”  I thought to myself.  No sooner was the thought,  a deed.  I took my little flat nose tweezers and gently eased the end of one side behind the ‘S’ ….  “oooo, it’s coming away!” …  . . . . . . {c.r.a.c.k.}  …  “aaah nuts.  It’s broken.  Ah well, I’ve started now so I’ve got to get the rest off”.…  and in I went with the tweezers again … pushing, easing, moving, wiggling . . .  until eventually the whole of the word had parted company with the box.

I sat back and looked at the result.  (and sighed) . . .  Well now it just looked sad.  It was a box without a purpose.  I suddenly felt really guilty about robbing it of its identity. 

“Well I’m going to have to do something about you now, aren’t I!” – I told the box.

I should say that at this point I was at a loss at what to do with the little (sad-looking) box.

• Napkin it?  No.
• Cover it with decorative tissue paper?  No.
• Turn it into something amazing with some Graphic 45 papers and some paper flowers & adornments?  No.

I knew there was only one option .. paint it.

I decided on folksy/country-style – (which has always been my favourite to be honest)  –  so, that decided – I thought I’d keep it simple because the box was too small for anything fancy.

I totally forgot to take a photograph of the box before I began this ‘change’, but I did remember just after I applied a coat of Gesso, so here I am,  offering you a sequence of photos,  with captions,  on:-

. . .  The Doing Up of the Little Bitty Box. 

The broken ‘COINS’.
I’m showing you the inside of the box so that you can see what the colour originally was before I began throwing paint around.

All that junk … {cough} I mean the important equipment you see up in that corner there … that’s all the stuff which lives in the Little Bitty Box.

The Gesso attacked the poor defenceless Little Bitty Box and made it ‘white’ (ish)

So … what are you going to paint on this box then?

Want to see a bit more of the madness on my desk? (And this is just one of four desks I have in my craft room. I love this one … It’s deep and loooong)

Oooooo errr! Cream paint on top of the Gesso.
Red paint around the tops and bottom of the box.
Green paint up the corners.
What’s next I wonder?

Well who would have guessed that this dope would have put checker board pattern on this little box?
Does she not know that she has stupid fingers and can’t draw a straight line, let alone paint one!

Ok .. done the front and one side and it doesn’t look tooooo bad …. but she’s got two other sides to go.
This is a car crash waiting to happen. Any second now she’s going to drop that paint brush and paint will go everywhere!. {snigger}

Time to do the back …

Well knock me down with a feather. She’s done it! checker board on all four sides!

But wait a minute …. what’s she up to?
What on earth is that blob all about?

What on earth is that? Is it a cloud?
A marshmallow?
Cotton wool ball?

Ohhh … it’s a folksy country-style Sheep! I wonder why she decided on a sheep?

She’s stuck bits of sticky backed felt to the bottom of the box so that it doesn’t scratch her glass mats.

Finally …. in its rightful place, with all those tools tucked snug inside it. That little bitty box has lived in that space since the day it came home. Works perfectly!

The sheep? … I painted that because there are these teeny-weeny sheep all around my craft room.  Hidden in little spots.  (There’s even one which glows in the dark).  They’re not ‘my‘ sheep.  They belonged to my daughter who collected little sheep, anywhere she found them, when she was younger,  and now, (that she’s ‘grown up’)  they’ve all gathered in my craft room and are keeping me company.  They make me smile.  Apart from the glow in the dark one.  He totally freaks me out when I turn the light off at night-time, and glance around the room to see if there are any ‘standby’ lights still on, in case I’ve forgotten to turn something off.  (normally the printer).  There he stands … glowing like a tiny green fluffy cloud with a black face and green glowing smiley eyes.  FREAKY is an understatement!

Aw .. but anyhooo ….  Thank you so much for coming and spending a bit of fun time with me and my little bitty box.  (Yes I really do call it that).  I have to admit that it’s left me feeling that I want to paint something else now!  I know that ‘painting’ is a bit of a ‘different from the normal’ type of thing for me to be posting on my blog, … but I hope you’ve had a smile at the pictures and their captions.  ‘Make room for some fun in your life’  is my motto … and there’s ALWAYS room for fun!

I love to hear from you so please feel free to tap a comment out on your keyboard.  I love to get to know everyone who’s visiting.  I don’t always comment back, because I like to think that your comment will show up over to the right here (in the last ten comments section) and give you some free advertising for your own blog.  If I comment, then it puts my comments over there →  –  and you don’t need to see my comments … you need other visitors to see yours so that they come and have a look around your blog.  But … I read every single comment without fail, and I do respond if there is a question you want to ask.  So ask away and I promise to reply to questions.

But anyway,  for now  … I wish you an excellent day!

with love ~