Our second Thanksgiving,a few ideas & a free image for you ~

Well, Saturday we had another family feast! My goodness, the food at Thanksgiving is SO very rich, isn't it??

My mom and dad drove down from north Georgia and they brought a truckload of goodies, cornbread & biscuit dressing & gravy, sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecan topping, squash casserole, an amazing marshmallow/pineapple salad and a couple of pumpkin pies too! We roasted the turkey and made the traditional watergate salad, made tea and had soft rolls. Sounds like a true feast doesn't it? It was incredible and was so steeped in the tradition of my family.

Seems like that's one of the most wonderful things about Thanksgiving, the tradition of it all. The same foods, at the same time of year, no matter was has happened along the way, through the year, here we are, together, eating wonderful food as we do each and every year and just loving being a family.

I realize that there are so very many who don't have much family, if any....but tradition is always important to us, as human beings. To observe the holiday in our own special way, it may be ordering pizza in every year ~ no matter, just to enjoy and appreciate all that we have been given is the most important thing of all.

A few little clippings from my collection that I though you might enjoy ~ I've always loved the Victoria magazine calling cards page ~ and of course this is one of my favorites! Click to enlarge to look at the beautiful business cards that were featured. This is a clipping from an old Victoria ~

From another old magazine, look at how beautiful this box is decorated. I think it's just one of those paper mache boxes too! The box would truly be the gift, wouldn't it? Click photos to see and read the instructions ~

Lastly, I scanned in a wonderful old Christmas card that I have ~ never used either! Just print it out and fold it in half then in half again! Don't you just love the snowpeople?

Wishing you a wonderful and blessed Sunday sweet friends ~

xxoo, Dawn

So good to be with those you love ~

What a wonderful spread of goodies at DH's family's Thanksgiving dinner!! We all ate till we popped! And it was so very good to see everyone ~ we have the best time together!

A few treasures for the new baby ~ from Emily's mom, the sweater and blanket from my grandmother, little onesies from her mother and myself ~ don't you just love all that pink??!

A holiday gift for you! I scanned as much as I could of the Lover's Quarrel print I have ~ click to enlarge and right click to save to your computer!!

Just some beautiful clippings I wanted to share ~

I hope you have a wonderful weekend dear friends!

xxoo, Dawn

A thankful heart ~

With Thanksgiving upon us, my heart overflows with thankfulness. My eyes continue to fill with tears as I think of all that I'm thankful for...

The love of our Lord who created us and died for us so we could return to Him in Heaven ~

Wonderful parents who raised my brothers and I and loved us unconditionally ~

A precious husband who allows me to be who I am and has loved me now for almost 28 years ~

Five amazing sons that we've been blessed with, who I love dearly with all my heart ~

Emily ~ the daughter that I never had and soon to be mother of our first grandchild, I love you ~

Our extended family who loves and supports us always ~

My beautiful friends, near and far, here in Georgia, across the United States all the way to Denmark, France, Australia and all around the world! Thank you for your encouragement and friendship ~ where would I be without you? I'm not sure but I do know that it is your friendship that sustains, inspires and encourages me to be an artist, a better friend and to be the person that I want to be, thank you so very much.

Wishing you a Thanksgiving day filled with blessings & love ~

xxoo, Dawn

So very honored ~

Diane of Diane Knott's Musings has posted a new interview she conducted in her latest Artist to Artist feature!! The wonderful thing?? It was with me! What a true honor coming from Diane, her work is so gorgeous, licensed and loved!!

Read the interview HERE ~

Thank you so very much Diane ~ you've become such a sweet friend to me ~

Creations that will take your breath away ~

The wonderful thing about blogging is always discovering a new blog, a new friend and artwork that takes your breath away! I'm inspired by others, not so much to duplicate but just to create myself....to see beauty, makes me want to produce beauty.

A sweet new friend of mine, Marcie (who will be blogging very soon I hope) emailed me with a link to artist Diana Frey's Flickr album. I clicked over, started looking, gasped....and was just amazed at the beauty of her pieces and then I discovered that she had a blog as well!!

Just take a look at these beautiful pieces and see if you feel the way I do about them.
You can visit Diana's blog HERE ~

Another wonderful thing happened this week. Diana emailed me after my post about Willow Nest and Linda Marcov ~ and how Linda was so encouraging to me when I just began creating. Well, Diana and Linda know one another, worked together and Diana said that Linda was an inspiration to her as well!! Thank you so much dear Linda ~ you truly are an inspiration angel.

It's amazing that by just saying an encouraging word or a sweet word of praise, you can lift others up and inspire them more than you ever realize.....

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Take a look at what I found today at the thrift store ~ a cradle for the little one!!! AND it was only 14.99!!! OK, I know it doesn't have a base but our son Brent is so wonderful with making things I'm sure he can whip up a base for it so it will be elevated off the floor. Now I want to measure the inner dimensions so I can sew up some tiny bumper pads and sheet for the small mattress!! I think it's solid cedar, it sure is heavy!!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

xxoo, Dawn

A dud idea, a new idea & a mini tutorial!OH and the WINNER!!

Well, not everything turns out to be a great idea...
this raggedy garland might look OK if it were about five times more full and fluffy....
the spray glue kind of matted it up a bit too ~
I guess you can't glitter EVERYTHING!

BUT....now I've decided to try this....please tell me what you think ~

will it look like a bride if I use ivory tulle as garland??

I love the ethereal look of it and I'm thinking it will be just what I need ~

now I need a Michael's coupon!

Here's a mini-tutorial....kind of a mini version of what I sell in my Etsy shop!

A Victorian Cone Ornament

Supplies needed to complete this project:

• Embossed, paintable wallpaper (from Lowes or Home Depot)
• Fabri-Tac glue, it bonds quickly (Wal-mart carries this)
• Elmer's Spray Adhesive (Wal-mart)
• Brown acrylic paint or antiquing solution (Folk-Art brand is at Michael's or Hobby Lobby)
• Paint brush
• Scissors, hole punch
• Clear glitter, Martha Stewart Ultra Fine and Diamond Dust (Michael's, use a coupon)
• Ribbon or seam binding, a couple of buttons and a vintage earring that matches
• Print the pattern to fill up an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper. (Be sure to click it a couple of times to enlarge
   then right click it to save it to your own computer.)

Place pieces good side down in an old box
and spray back sides with spray glue.
Press together to form a bond. Now both sides are pretty!
Punch holes as on the template.

Another vanilla Christmas goodie for our tree!!!
I won't leave the lace and seam binding inside but you get the idea ~
how about a bag of candy wrapped in the tulle
and stuffed inside with a little puff coming out the top??

If you don't have some of these supplies,
use what you do have.
Scrapbooking paper, newspaper, old sheet music...
even wrapping paper, you can sandwich a piece of manilla folder
in between the layers to stabilize the paper better.
I love creating things with what I have on hand ~






A peek at the new artwork ~ not fully assembled....can you tell I'm loving this wallpaper?

And last but certainly not least,
the wonderful winner of the Food Network Magazine
and the little snowguy ~ Pea!! of Pea Picker's Primitives ~
thank you all so much for entering!

The sweet snowman ornament is NOW a tutorial you can purchase
in my Etsy shop!!!

~ JUST CLICK HERE ~


Wishing you all a great Tuesday dear friends!

xxoo, Dawn

Sweet snowguy ornament anda star transformation ~

Well, I finished him!!! He has a little dictionary collar and hat with silver trim. Plus he's so sparkly!!! I have the twine hanger coming out of the top of his hat so he can hang on the tree. I'll add him to the magazine giveaway, OK?? Just leave a comment ON THIS POST to win the premiere issue of Food Network Magazine and my sweet little snowman ornament!!! I'll pick a winner Monday after 6 pm EST!!!

Remember the rusty stars, and remember how I'm dreaming of a white (more like vanilla :) Christmas? Here's my simple transformation, a little white spray paint, then coated with more of a vanilla acrylic paint and a little tan as well then sprayed with spray adhesive and coated with two different glitters!!! Ultra fine white and diamond dust....tied with beautiful vanilla seam binding! I still want to print out something from the computer and add it too... probably a small banner that says "Peace"....we'll see!

Speaking of a vanilla Christmas, I have this idea in my head... I'm not sure if it'll work, but you know that I'm a frugal girl and I have tons of muslin scraps, right? What if I were to make several long strips of muslin that were clipped every couple of inches or so, then wash them so they will fray really nicely and then sew them all together to create my own custom vanilla garland??! It may look awful but I just have to try.....you never know!!


DH's parents gave us a truckload of firewood today and we've been enjoying this ALL DAY!! Isn't it wonderful? I love the crackling sounds that wood makes in the fireplace ~

Wishing you a wonderful Monday sweet friends!

xxoo, Dawn

Artwork in progress & a beautiful wedding ~

Can you tell what this is? A new project that I've started....and hopefully will be wonderful when I finish...well, we'll see!! This is the lid of a very old suitcase! It has seen better days and of course, you KNOW that I've saved the beautiful pocket, but have decided that the lid itself is a wonderful canvas ~ so, it being uneven and grubby I decided to give it a coat of liquid gesso ~ so we'll see if I can give it a little bit of a transformation ~

I bought this beautiful print a few years ago from a sweet friend of mine, she was having a sale and has the most wonderful taste. I've had it hanging in our master bath and decided to take it down, take the frame apart and make a few color copies of it!! I just took it to Staples and they were able to copy it being the size that it was. Now, I'm seeing it in this suitcase lid ~ with a backdrop of sheet music I think....hmm. We'll see ~

Another "little" project in the making....a paperclay snowman head! He's drying now so I can give him a little personality ~ Don't you think he would be a great gift to go along with the magazine giveaway???

A bit of inspiration for you....I love Deb's Curious Sofa blog ~ and I've always loved Elizabeth of Elizabeth House ~ well, Deb has taken pictures of Elizabeth's wedding!!! You have got to see her gorgeous dress created from what I believe is an antique table covering!

Just click HERE to see all of the photos Deb took of Elizabeth's wedding ~

Wishing you a peaceful, relaxing Sunday dear friends ~

xxoo, Dawn

Now I'm dreaming of an Etsy Christmas ~and a mini giveaway!

Do you ever just stroll on Etsy.com? OMGoodness, there is so much wonderfulness (is this a word?) there....I've been thinking how fun it would be to just have a big ol' gift certificate to the website for Christmas!! Here's a sampling of some goodies I found:

Have you ever seen such precious little shoes? I know that the book is written in Japanese but I still am in love with it! Book for sale at the Felt Cafe on Etsy~

And these beautiful hand crocheted booties are from a sweet Georgia girl ~ just look at her detailed handiwork....for sale at Lynn's Lovelies on Etsy ~

This jewelry has the. look. I. LOVE! It has such an old world feel but still so feminine ~ I had to show you several photos of her items.....Vintage Inspired Jewelry by Gingeroni1 on Etsy ~

And speaking of crocheting ~ I've discover this wonderful pattern designer for these crocheted accents. Don't they look wonderful and cozy?? Someone come sit down on my sofa with me and let's make these together!! Take a look at all of her beautiful patterns at Bella McBride on Etsy ~

I did it again....I subscribed to the new Food Network magazine for my husband who cooks like a dream and it didn't come and it didn't come SO....I bought it.

Guess what came today....the magazine!! So now that I have two, I'd love to give one copy away...just comment on THIS POST until Monday night at 6:00 pm and I'll draw a name to send my extra issue to!! I may add a few more goodies to the package as well!!

Wishing you a relaxing, cozy Saturday!!

xxoo, Dawn