Thoughts ~

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

~ Philippians 4:8 ~

Wishing you a very happy Thursday sweet friends ~
xxoo, Dawn

Somebody wants to say "hi" ~

Sweet Clara....one month and a week.....10 lbs and 8 oz!

She's just growing like a little weed ~
xxoo, Dawn

Can old, speckled linens be art?

I bought these hankies quite a while ago.
They have age spots, speckles and have turned a pretty ecru color. They've never been removed from the packaging either! The folds are still tacked down to the backing and are just as crisp as ever ~ I'm not sure if I'm going to use them in this particular piece but I am sure that they are art.....
and deserve to be displayed....
....simply for the love of old ~

A new addition to the studio ~ wonderful paper lanterns!!! I found them a Walmart in the garden section. I'm not too crazy about the dark green cord but I'm thinking I may make some of those scrunchie covers ~ how about from aged gauze?

My wall of babies ~ and I have room for more!

I'm still gathering some goodies to take with me Friday to the art class......millinery flowers,

odds and ends,

images, sheet music, pretty papers, ribbons, buttons, twine

and of course my tid-bit box.....
you can read about that HERE ~

Well, it's been a week since Noah's accident and thank goodness we've got that week under our belt!! He has improved greatly and the pain is finally starting to subside. He only had to have pain medication Tuesday morning when he woke up and late Tuesday evening when he went to bed! His school is being so amazing about it all. They were having CRCT testing this week and they've had someone come to the house to personally give it to him.

Thank you all so much for your sweet prayers and well wishes for him ~ we are so very blessed.

May is tiptoeing around the corner....this year is flying by!
Treasure your moments, these are the good ol' days ~

Wishing you a great Wednesday dear friends ~
xxoo, Dawn

A bird for you ~

I've been going through some of my beautiful vintage images to scan and print copies to take to the ladies this Friday. I've used this one before in my artwork and may have given it to you before but if not.....

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing
in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance
that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

xxoo, Dawn

Just a few images ~

I've been getting things together for the class that's coming up on Friday at Tammy's house!! I'm so excited ~ and also adjusting to taking care of sweet Noah as he can't get around hardly at all. He's feeling better each day but it's a slow process. We're just thankful that he's home and improving daily. Little Clara is doing good, growing like a little weed! Her one month doctor's visit is today so we can see how much she's grown! She's beginning to smile....talk about melting your heart!!!!

A few images for you ~

Wishing you a wonderful Tuesday sweet friends!!
xxoo, Dawn

A sweet new friend ~

I'd love to introduce you to Laura ~ of Creative Whispers
(I just LOVE her blog name!)

She purchased the fairy in a jar tutorial from Lessons from The Nest and created her own little beauty!!

Now she's started a blog and I can already tell that she's going to love blogging and we're going to love her ~
please give Laura a warm welcome!

I know that this is already at the movie theatres but once I saw THIS PREVIEW I knew that it was a movie that I'd love!! Now just to carve out a little time to go see it :) ~ Be sure to pause my music to view this trailer....

Creativity dwells within us ~

Do you hear it? Do you feel it? The constant voice....the bubbling inspiration? Giving you that craving to make something.....something beautiful and breathtaking? You can see it in your mind....it's just a matter of making it happen. I have it constantly....kind of like a little angel on your shoulder that says, "What if you put this and that together and add a little of this....." it's just like a still, small voice in the ear of an artist.

Even if you have to fold clothes, cook dinner, vacuum the house....that little angel speaks to you ~ that's your creative spirit giving you nudges. I encourage you to carve out a small amount of time, not much, just a few hours to follow this prompting. It will make your heart happy and in turn....it will emanate from you
and affect everyone around you.

Listen to your creative spirit sweet friends ~

xxoo, Dawn

And the winners are.....

Sharon of SharDon Exclusives won the handmade journal and
Betty of Sammy Girl won the fairy in a jar!!!!

You all are so wonderful to me....I wish I could send each and every one of you a gift!!!
Thank you for each comment, every encouraging word ~
I love blogging because of YOU!
You are my inspiration....

hugs and love,
Dawn

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

New friends ~

I'd love to introduce you to Linda of White Linen ~ Lavender Field.....she's new to blogging and I can already tell that I'm going to love her blog!!! Please visit and give her a warm hello.....






Have you found Cathe's blog yet? It's Just Something I Made and she had the most giving spirit....sharing art that she's created and tutorials on her blog ~ she's recently shared the instructions on making the leather key wristlet above.
Just CLICK HERE to see the tutorial ~


Happy Saturday!!! xxoo, Dawn

Remember this?

My yard sale bird bath?? Well, the basin was pretty rough looking....I mean I love shabby chic but this looked just grungy with water in it. It had been painted and all of the paint was gone from where the water had been. I hadn't planted my herbs yet so I decided to use the bird bath as a planter!! I hope that they will do OK, I'll have to wait and see ~ I may have to build the dirt up a bit higher to give them plenty of room for the roots but so far, so good!!!

PS. My son Brent drilled drainage holes through the bottom of the concrete basin to allow for drainage....he left the water inside the basin while he did it to keep the drill bit cool :)

I love having a couple of beautiful ferns hanging on the porch this time of the year ~

And a couple of pots of flowers by the front door ~ they need some ivy trailing down the sides

Have a wonderful Saturday dear friends!
xxoo, Dawn

Gettin' back in the groove ~

It is just SO GOOD to be home!!! I am a homebody I guess, I love being with my family and love being here. Plus Noah slept wonderfully last night, only needing pain medicine once! So we are trying to get back to normal and setting him up a nice "camp" filled with all things fun so he can relax and heal.

I received my Creative Impulse newsletter from Stampington and was looking at the feature about Art Quilting Studio coming out June 1st....they featured a peek a my small art quilt!!!! I had to share the photos with you ~ this piece was so much fun to make. Working with a different medium while creating a collage is really neat!
Click on the photo to enlarge ~
You can CLICK HERE to read the page on the Stampington website...

If you'd like to receive Post Script and Creative Impulse newsletters from Stampington,
just click here to subscribe and be sure to request to receive Creative Impulse too!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend sweet friends!!
Love and hugs to you all ~

xxoo, Dawn

Treasure your moments ~

I've discovered that these things that happen in our lives, things that are so beyond the norm, things that shake us, these things are there to make us stop....they happen to make us look at our lives and appreciate those we love and are so very thankful for. Life is a puzzle but I think that if we can hold fast to our love for each other, all other things will fall away and become unimportant in the scheme of things ~

We came home today (Thursday) from the hospital! Thank goodness....the hospital is a great place but the sooner we can go home the happier I am. Noah has been amazing. Using a walker to get to the wheel chair....enduring pain, all because he knew if he could accomplish those few things he could be back home with his family.

So now the healing begins. Thank you all again for your wonderful prayers and comments, each and every one has been so appreciated! You all are the most wonderful friends ever....

Treasure your moments ~ they are truly precious!

Wishing you a wonderful Friday dear friends,
xxoo, Dawn

Thank you so much dear friends!

Thank you all so very much!!!! For your prayers and good thoughts, sweet comments and kind wishes....you have been so wonderful for my spirits, Noah's and our entire family ~

The surgery went just great and now it's just a matter of healing. They placed two metal rods inside of his bone that will expand and grow with him. They even closed the opening with a type of skin glue! His pain is better because at least his bone is repaired now. We may get to come home tomorrow or Friday, the sooner the better as I believe there's no place like home to recover.

He was so precious tonight....I told him that so many people were praying for him all over the world and two big crocodile tears just ran down his face, he's so very thankful, as am I.

A photo of Noah in the hospital when he was born ~

Roasting marshmallows in the back yard ~ look at that grin!

At Panama City Beach.....

Thank you again for caring and praying sweet friends!!

Hugs and love to you all ~

xxoo, Dawn

My sweet Noah ~

I can't even believe this happened to our baby....he has broken his left femur or upper left leg bone completely in half. He was jumping off of a ramp with his bicycle in our back yard and somehow landed with all of his weight, as well as the bike's, on his left leg. Dennis brought our laptop to the hospital so we're sitting in our hospital room waiting on his surgery which will be around noon. Thank you all so, so very much for your precious prayers and kind words.....I appreciate you all so much!!!!! You are all such wonderful friends that I just have to share what's happening in my life...good or bad ~ Thank you again sweet friends...

Hugs and love, Dawn

Update on Noah

Hi Ladies,

Please read the post below about Noah's bike accident first. A quick update, Noah has a compound fracture and they are admitting him now. He will have surgery tomorrow (Wednesday). Again, please keep them in your prayers. I will update again as soon as I hear something new. Noah is resting well.

Thank you,
Dawn

Noah's Bicycle Accident

Hi Ladies,

This is not the "Feathered Nest" Dawn but the "Soap" Dawn. Dawn asked me to blog for her tonight. Noah (her 11 year old son) decided to ride his bicycle over his new ramp and fell. They are not sure if anything is broken but he has been taken to Egleston Childrens Hospital in Atlanta. Please keep them in your prayers and she will get back to blogging as soon as possible. I will keep you posted if she cannot. Needless to say Noah is in good hands. As talented as Dawn is in the art and blogging world, she is at her best as "Mom".

Good Night! (or Good Morning!)
Dawn

Sweetie pie Clara andanother gift added to the giveaway!

Thank you ALL so, so much for your sweet comments on the giveaway!!! I'm just floored at the friends that I've made here ~ you all inspire me so much....
more than you'll ever know!

I had a tiny photo shoot with Clara....she was such a sweetheart ~

But as I took more and more photos, it was clearly evident.....

that she was HUNGRY!!!

This is one of the fairies that is featured in the current issue of Somerset Life....a sweet little pouty fairy girl!!
She'll be another gift that I'll add to my giveaway!!!

Just visit my 900TH GIVEAWAY POST to comment to win ~

I'm so excited!!! Tammy of The Other Side of Me is coming to visit me Wednesday! We are going to double check the supplies for the class I'll be teaching at her home May 1st....a week from Friday!! She's gathered most of the supplies but we're going to dig through my studio for any other supplies that we may need too. Then we're going out to lunch....how neat is that?? Hopefully if I clean the house today it will stay that way for a few hours until she arrives tomorrow!!

I hope your Tuesday is wonderful dear friends!!
xxoo, Dawn

It's time for a giveaway of my own!

900 posts. Wow.....do you think I like blogging??
I guess you could certainly say I do! What I really like is sharing beautiful things with you, items that I've made, supplies that I use, tidbits of information that I think you'll love and basically meeting so many wonderful friends here!!!

To celebrate
900 posts
I'm having a giveaway!!!

First, I'm giving away the journal that I've created in the photo below.....and I have a few more things up my sleeve as well! I love choosing more than one name so I'm going to be adding a few more items ~

And what do you have to do? Just leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name next Sunday evening. The contest ends Sunday, April 26th at 6:00 pm EST.

~ If you don't have a blog, please leave an email address with your comment ~

I'll be adding more goodies to this post so keep checking!!!

Some of the beautiful images that I've used on this journal are from
The Vintage Workshop
and are available online for download!!!
Just click HERE to visit ~

One name will be chosen to receive a handmade journal ~

Another name will be chosen to receive a pouty fairy in a jar!!
(featured in the current issue of Somerset Life)

Wishing you a wonderful Monday sweet friends and thank you always for stopping by to see me!!!

love and hugs, Dawn

Sweet winnings ~

I just love giveaways!!!!! There, I said it!! But I do though....and what a wonderful way to share your artwork and spread the love, right? Well, I really love it when I win a giveaway and I did!! A wonderful package arrived Saturday with these two sweet pouches inside.

Brenda of The Vintage Polka Dot made these gorgeous gifts and I'm in love with them! Can't you just see them hanging on the knob of a cabinet or even a door?
Thank you so very much Brenda, they're just wonderful!!

Just look at her artwork ~ this bunny is precious!!!
Check out her ETSY STORE....you will love her stuff~

Happy Sunday sweet friends,
xxoo, Dawn