We're heading to the beach!

Well, it's been a while since our family has taken an "official" vacation and tomorrow we leave for Panama City, Florida . . . my husband loves it and so do the boys (me, well, where's the flea market/antique shop I can dig in!). Sand, surf and lots of sunshine . . . I love the time with my family.

We've been looking forward to this week for quite a while now and.....I won't have a computer for a week!! Can I do this? I'll miss you all so very much and will look forward to reading each and every one of your blogs when I return. I'll have plenty of "beachy" photos if you can stand it and I'm taking my paper clay ~ we'll see if I get anything made or not!

Much love to you all, Dawn

Oh, and when I get back I'm going to have a

100th POST GIVEAWAY!

Can you believe it, this is number 99!! I'll be thinking all week about the goodies that will be given . . .

New artwork!

I've had this idea for weeks now and finally finished this art project!

I love old things. I'm sure you all know that by now :). Well, I like using old components when I collage. To me, the age adds an element of character that can't be duplicated or substituted by something new.

For this project, I've used:

~ pages from a falling apart, very old dictionary as the backdrop pasted onto a stretched canvas.

~ a page from a falling apart, very old photo album, probably from the victorian era, which otherwise would not have been purchased due to its condition.

~ color copies of the most beautiful old paper.

~ a vintage metal piece, I'm not quite sure what it is but loved it nonetheless.

~ old clock hands.

~ a copy of a gorgeous old botanical from a botany book I purchased.

~ and a simple branch wrapped in twine . . .

~ It measures 12" x 16" and is about 3/4" deep.

This is the first in a series I plan on doing. I want to make several for the antique store also. They will vary in content but will all have the same "feel." I'll put it in my etsy store and see how it does ~

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

xxoo, Dawn

Look who I found!!

Corey Amaro from Tongue in Cheek in the August issue of Romantic Homes Magazine!

Our store, The Plum Tree, has a listing in the back of Romantic Homes magazine. I was so excited when we did this and soon our blog spot will be added to the listing too. Well, anyway, we receive a stack of the magazines every month to sell to our customers also. We just received the August issue (they are quite ahead on their printing schedule) and I LOVE it!! It's not available at the newstands right now but should be probably by this weekend or Monday.

The small magazine behind is a little supplement they have added with this month's issue about bedrooms and baths ~ gorgeous things are in it also!

I was thumbing through it and loving all the gorgeous photos and look who I came across . . . Corey from Tongue in Cheek!! Is she amazing or what? Her wonderful french flea market items are featured. I love, love the turn this magazine has made. I love pink, and I love wonderful chippy white furniture but now they feature other romantic styles, reminding more and more of the old Victoria magazine!




Enjoy the photos and remember to look for it in a few days....(be sure to click to enlarge and enjoy them FULLY!)

ps. Thank you all SO very much for all your sweet, kind comments about my little paperclay creations. You make me want to go grab a blob of it and start making things like crazy. You build me up and are such sweet, sweet friends :) Thank you.

Do I have to wait??

I'm so excited about my bunny swap partners!! I have two, which is great, two bunnies is always better than one, right? ~ but I'm about to bust to post pictures of these two sweeties! One is heading to the UK and one to California . . . wow, they both have quite a journey, huh? Here's a peek but I don't think I'm going to be able to wait until they arrive to their new owners . . . Jill & Doe, you'd better look away . . .

Another wonderful illustrator

I don't know if you're familiar with Ernest H. Shepard, but he illustrated the wonderful Winnie-the-Pooh books for A.A. Milne. I love the illustrations he created. They are soft, simple and just lovely.

Ernest Howard Shepard (December 10, 1879 – March 24, 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He was known especially for his human-like animals in illustrations for The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne.

Savannah, Georgia

I wanted to share with you some photos I took a while back when my family went to Savannah to visit our eldest sons, Brent and David and Brent's girlfriend, Emily. They live there and we love to go visit them. These are photos from the famous Bonaventure Cemetery.

I love statuary. Figural statuary. I even have a cement statue of St. Francis holding a bird in my living room ~ I'll share a photo of him later. Figural pieces are beautiful to me. As I walked through this cemetery I was amazed at the beauty around me ~ the moss hanging in the trees and the aged patina on the monuments. You'd think a cemetery would be creepy but it wasn't. Majestic and quite full of art and so much history. . .

Miss Potter...absolutely enchanting!

I'm no movie critic but this movie is precious! I came home from the antique store last night and was surprised to see my husband rented Miss Potter for me ~ how sweet is that? We had seen the preview when we rented another movie and I told him I'd love to see the movie when it comes out on DVD. Plus, after seeing it mentioned on so many blogs, I knew that I would love it.


It's a beautiful movie. The costumes, scenery and just seeing her become so successful at a time when women just didn't do that, was quite a treat. I don't know very much at all about Beatrix Potter which may be good as I didn't notice anything in the movie that wouldn't be true to her real life story. I've always loved her artwork though and so enjoyed watching this sweet movie ~ I hope you get a chance to watch it, too!

Hello sweet friends . . .

I've been working at the store this week and miss my blogging friends . . . you have become a source of inspiration for me and I thank you for that. I tend to not create very much or have much extra time because by the time I get home, I'm pretty much just used up.

I have to share something so special with you, though. I discovered the other night that a sweet girl, Julie, who has a blog for a New York newspaper actually blogged about ME! Me? How sweet is that? She's in charge of the blog for the online section of the newspaper and her blog is for moms and it's really neat. She has a personal blog too, Red Hen Studios. Anyway, I just had to tell you, as you are all my friends and well, isn't that what friends are for? Sharing cool stuff?

Plus, I've updated the store blog and would love for you to take a look . . . I hope you all are doing wonderfully . . . xxoo, Dawn

A little inspiration

This is a project I did for the store a while back. I found this adorable, small window, used a nice piece of cardboard cut the size of the opening, covered it with a piece of a Ralph Lauren sheet (I love this fabric, as it looks old fashioned) then, I had this beautiful antique book that I had made color copies of the pages, cut one out and placed it in the center, put the board in the glass opening and I think I taped it in but can't quite remember now, then cover the back with paper. . . a simple idea but the look is really cool!!

You could use an old photograph or maybe other special items, keys, buttons, etc. If you place a layer of batting on the cardboard first then the fabric, you could put items that are thicker than a piece of paper on top of the fabric and have a little cushion around the item when placed up against the glass. The ideas are endless ~ and what a neat frame!!

One other idea, as your children grow, there's always that special dress or outfit that you loved them in when they were a baby. (If you're like me, I've saved several and would never use certain pieces of clothing.) Cover the cardboard with batting, then use the fabric from an outfit they wore to cover the cardboard, then layer on their baby bracelet, a special photo of them, and a few other things that you have been saving.

How wonderful it is to bring these items out of boxes or closets and see them on a daily basis. It is such a special time when your children are tiny and it is so very fleeting ~ why not make something like this so you can see these sweet reminders as you walk through your home . . .

Something new...

This was just a regular, newish metal star that I found a few days ago for the store. Well, I didn't want newish and have been thinking about this idea for awhile so when I found the star I knew it was time to try it.

I've covered it completely with pages from an old falling apart dictionary and another old, old book that was losing it's pages also. I buy these lost little books regularly, hoping that their pages have an aged patina, so when I use them in my projects, they will show their age with pride!

What is it about print, type faces, and the speckled age spots that I love so much? They look old and have so much character!!

p.s. I used matte gel medium to adhere the pages to the star. And the star was pretty glossy ~ I just painted the gel medium onto the star, put a page on and then painted the gel medium right on top, overlapping as you go, kind of like when you decoupage something!

Wonderful treasures are found at . . .

The sweet Delila of Sepia Art Studio

has opened her online shop!

She has such a wonderful selection of goodies, I don't think you'll know where to start ~ wonderful supplies for your artwork, prints, lace, photographs and much, much more!


Take a stroll through and see what this talented artist has in store for you . . . Just a sampling are here in these photos ~

New store pics!

I always love to tell you all that we've updated our store's blog, just so you can have a virtual stroll around even though many of you are so many miles away. Thank you also for the kind comments about our little store, we appreciate them all so very much!

What's~for~Dinner Tag!

I've been tagged by the sweetie Lori of Faerie Window to offer up a recipe that your family will love . . . Well, it being summertime and we all are trying to eat heathier nowadays, my recipe will be Jalapeno Chicken. How do you make that ~ be over the "n"?

This recipe is in one of the Weight Watchers 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbooks ~ Summer 2005. These cookbooks are FABULOUS! They have one for sale right now and believe me, you will enjoy these recipes. They're good for you and so very easy to put together. Here it is:

Jalapeno Chicken

• 4 teaspoons 40% less sodium taco seasoning
  
  
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  
  
• Cooking spray
  
  
• 1/2 cup (2-ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno peppers (you can substitute sharp cheddar if you don't want the heat)
  
  
• 2 tablespoons sliced jalapeno peppers (I say these are optional because there are peppers in the cheese)
  
  

1. Sprinkle taco seasoning over both sides of chicken.

2. Place a large non-stick skillet over medium heat until hot. Coat chicken with cooking spray, and add to pan. Cook approx. 7 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.

3. Remove pan from heat; sprinkle chicken with cheese. Cover and let stand approx. 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Top each breast with jalapeno slices.

Yield: 4 servings, 1 chicken breast half per serving. (6 points on Weight Watchers)

OK, now I tag Wendy of Whendi's Bears, Becky of On a Wing and a Prayer, and Deena of Nestled in the Singing Woods . . . what's for dinner, girls?

Another post?

I'm sorry, I can't help myself. I've caught up with my laundry and have been crafting like crazy for my etsy shop and for the store because I go back to the store this Friday.

I'm putting this little goodie in my etsy shop and just wanted to let everyone know . . . Thank you all SO MUCH for your sweet, sweet comments on my creations, it feeds my soul and inspires me to keep on keepin' on!! xxoo, Dawn

Feeling Patriotic . . .

I worked on these two pillows today for the store using vintage linens. The one on the right is just an old muslin flour sack with a new feather pillow insert, cinched and tied with red gingham ~ The pillow on the left is stuffed with old fashioned kapok, the softest, fluffiest stuffing ever. I emptied out two vintage pillows into it and is it ever mushy!

Better photos

How unbelievable is it that natural sunlight can make such a giant difference in your photographs! I have a wonderful bay window in my dining room and today is a glorious sunny day so . . . I thought I might try taking a few more photos of these items . . . what a difference! Just wanted to post these . . . Oh, and I want to rip these dinky valances down and do the wire, rings, vintage lace or fabric thing!!