Happy Thursday!

I love showing you what I've been up to, and I have been creating, but it's been on the computer not in the artroom!

I'm so excited, too....I've actually SOLD several fairy jar tutorials already!!! It's so wonderful emailing these instructions to Denmark and Canada and not worrying about shipping charges for these customers.

Each tutorial that I'm putting together is totally visual. I've taken photographs at each important step in creating these pieces. I've included a sample from each tutorial below, just to give you an idea what they look like. Plus, I'm also listing the type of supplies that I use and tidbits of information that I've learned along the way that help things go much smoother.

I've just added the baby shoe pincushion tutorial to The Little Speckled Egg blog tonight!

What I'm hoping is that I will sell these tutorials and pass along the desire to create these items yourself. To put your personal touch on these pieces. Then, I'll be here thinking of new ideas for artwork and then eventually sharing how I made them too!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog to see what I'm up to ~

I hope that your Thursday is wonderful!

xxoo, Dawn

The Little Speckled Egg ~ a tutorial blog!

This little blog is just for selling tutorials showing you how I've made some of my artwork. I've included step-by-step photographs and instructions for the first one . . .
A fairy in a jar!

Click below to visit:

The Little Speckled Egg

Wishing you a very happy Wednesday!!!

xxoo,

Dawn

ps. If you would like for me to create a tutorial on a certain piece of artwork I've made, just email or comment and please let me know!

Fairy images for you ~

And as the seasons come and go,

here's something you might like to know ~

there are fairies everywhere

under bushes, in the air,

playing games just like you play,

singing through their busy day.

So listen, touch, and look around ~

in the air and on the ground.

And if you watch all nature's things,

you might just see a fairy's wing.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Won't these be beautiful in your artwork?? Right click to save to your computer ~

I love staying up late, creating artwork and then posting here. Many nights I find myself finally wandering to bed, with a smile on my face knowing that I've made something I like and hope that you'll like too. I usually have little pieces of glue on my hands that I've missed when washing them. It's always a nice thing to wake up the next morning, pour myself a cup of coffee and discover these little bits of creative evidence. I smile and know that I must return to my studio to look again at what I made the evening before ~

Wishing you a wonderful Tuesday!

xxoo, Dawn

My little stamp collection ~

Don't you think it's neat how you can tell what a person loves by the rubber stamps that they own? You can see clearly all of my favorite things just by looking in these few little drawers. I need to use these images more in my artwork ~ I do love them!! I have a few more that aren't photographed but they are mostly large alphabets . . .

I didn't have a very productive weekend in my artroom but hopefully today I can get back to creating art and tutorials!!

Wishing you a very happy Monday!

xxoo, Dawn

A few beautiful old things ~

Old watches and watch faces ~ perfect to use in artwork . . .

I love this statue ~ I'm not sure if it's old but it looks so fairy-like!

A sweet little butter pat with our initial. I love the hairline crack and the tiny crazing all over.

This beautiful old cameo pin (I think it's old) ~ it's so pretty to me.

Look at this amazing piece of ephemera from 1889! They must have given it out to all who attended the service that day. How in the world can this little piece of intricate paper survive all of these years? It truly is beautiful ~

Wishing you a peaceful, relaxing and blessed Sunday ~

xxoo, Dawn

For you sweet friends ~

Today's been one of those days where I'm running on empty. Why do I burn my candles at both ends?? Truth be known, I'm such a night owl. I love creating into the night, finishing what I've started and then posting all about it! But then if I have to get up early, I definitely pay the price! So tonight I'm turning in early but not without a few sweet words and a few gifts for you too ~

Today I stopped in an antique mall and found the most beautiful old sheet music with wonderful graphics on the front.....maybe you can use them in your artwork. I love the birds and border around and the typefaces used in the other!! Plus a scan of chubby baby birds all in a row ~ you know I love them!

Wishing you a wonderful, relaxing Saturday!

xxoo, Dawn

I can't get enough sweet, soft baby shoes ~

These are my favorite kind. Wonderful tiny ones with thin, soft leather. The leather warms when you start stuffing it and shapes so easily. I worked on three of these pincushions Thursday. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. One is a special order and the others will soon be in my Etsy shop. All of the items I've used are cast-offs. Old, unused things (except the ribbon) that have now been combined to form a precious keepsake. I'm working on a tutorial with photographs and step-by-step instructions on creating these too!!

Before:

After:

And this photo is a little peek at something I've started working on - please ignore my poor hands in the photo . . . they take a beating but continue to be so good to me!

Elizabeth tagged me for a MeMe post on her blog Home Musings ~ well, I've been blogging for awhile now and had a post that I'd listed a few random things about myself. Whew! Here they are if you'd like to read them:

http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/2007/07/meme-post.html

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Can you believe it's Friday again? We have one more week off and it's back to school for the boys. I keep reminding them to enjoy each and every moment!

Wishing you a very happy Friday!!

xxoo, Dawn

They're back home!

My little artwork is back home from California ~ it's all made quite a trip around the country!! I'm going to keep all but one ballet shoe pincushion. Jenny Doh even purchased one of the baby shoes, how cool is that?!

This is the little ballet shoe that will be going in my Etsy ~ 18.00 with 6.00 shipping. This is one of the ballet shoe pincushions in the current issue of Somerset Life.

The nest assemblage is back home too! I'll be adding it to my Etsy too. Can you believe this wonderful old box that it's in? The graphics are so neat to me. This one is 32.00 with 7.00 shipping . . . currently featured in Somerset Studio magazine.

And today, I worked on four of these 1 Thessalonians plaques! One is a special order but I have three for sale at 14.00 each with 5.00 shipping.

I hope that you're having a great week. I'm busy making tutorials and hope to have them for sale soon. If you're interesting in any of these pieces before I place them in my Etsy just email me at sewmanyroses@yahoo.com!!!

Thank you always for stopping by to see me and for each and every sweet comment. You inspire me!!

Happy Thursday!

xxoo, Dawn

Pure fairy goodness!

OK, by now you must know that I love fairies. I don't know what it is about them, maybe that they love nature or maybe it's their angelic quality, I'm not really sure, but I think they are magnificent.

This past weekend I found the epitomy of fairy books. I ran into Barnes & Noble while I was visiting Dawn to see if any new magazines were out that I just had to have. Not many new magazines were on the stands so I had to browse through the bargain books on my way out ~ Dawn is circling the parking lot all of this time so I'm trying my best to hurry.

Then I see this. An amazing book chock full of the most beautiful OLD fairy art EVER!!! Some that I've seen before, some I've never seen. But all are gorgeous. The price?? 14.99. That's it! I bought it and ran out the door . . . maybe I can scan some of these as they are all so very old. Here is just a tiny sampling:

Monday was a really busy day, mostly packing and mailing off artwork (and moaning and hobbling) I must have hit that ground pretty hard, I'm aching all over the place!!! Thanks for your concern, I'm really fine. I wanted to tell you my goofy story because it really was funny and I thought it would give you a Monday morning smile ~

Take care and hope your Tuesday is great!

xxoo, Dawn

What a wonderful day ~

It all started with me running around the house this morning, all ready to leave, grabbing the peach cobbler I baked the night before from the frig, my purse and bolting out the door! I didn't want to be late meeting Fifi and the photographer at the highway exit so I could lead them on to Jean's house.

I trotted down the couple of stairs on our front porch and having my hands full didn't look down, just going full steam ahead. Well, my son has one of those little scooters that he left laying on it's side right at the bottom of the stairs and well ~ after that, it was all a blur....my feet got tangled up in the scooter and the next thing I know I'm headed down, face first in the damp grass in the front yard!!!! The peach cobbler is covered in foil, I'm holding it until the very last minute but it goes sliding halfway across the yard on the wet grass and I'm wondering, "OK, who in the world just saw me do this??" I jumped up, brushed myself off, noticed my clothes were OK, a little damp but my shirt was a lime green and didn't show stains (thank goodness), I grabbed the cobbler, my purse and headed on to the car, not missing a beat!!!

What a way to start the morning! It turned out to be a lovely day though. Jean and her husband Gary were so sweet, the house was gorgeous and Fifi, Debra and her assistant Andrew were so nice, understanding and professional. I must say it is such hard work to do this though! Fifi was such a trooper too. She wasn't really feeling her best but kept on going. She truly is a professional....and what was so great is that Jean has so many collections that Fifi had her pick of objects to create vignettes and fill gaps in the photos.

Jean made homemade chicken salad served with croissants. She also had yummy Virginia ham, cheeses and a bakery breads, fresh fruit and of course my peach cobbler for dessert served with vanilla bean ice cream! They all seemed to enjoy the meal and got right back to business afterwards. It took all day long to take all of the photographs but from the looks of the samples on the laptop, it's going to be beautiful!!! Look for Jean's home in the January issue of Country Sampler magazine!

Fifi, I had such a great time with you, thank you so much for coming to Georgia!! I do hope that you get plenty of rest and are completely well soon ~

Photos from the day:

By the way, Jean was a customer of mine when I owned The Plum Tree and I also went to one of her barn sales and saw her amazing house. I emailed the photos of her home to Fifi and the rest is history ~ but that was one year ago!! This magazine stuff takes time to come to fruition.

It really was a fun experience. Tomorrow will be back to normal for me and truth be known, I love my normal ~ creating new art, packing up sold artwork to mail ~ visiting my favorite blogs and getting my house back in order . . . it's great to do new things and it's great to come home too ~ but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow :)

Wishing you a great Tuesday sweet friends!

xxoo, Dawn