Now THIS....I LOVE!

Do you love toile? I always have and always will ~ it's timeless, it looks so beautiful with antiques and seems to tell a story. Mitzi of Mitzi's Collectibles Blog commented on my mirror post and had experimented with this same technique! Here's her post HERE on her altered mirrors.

She mentioned that she used oven cleaner to help remove the silver from the backs!!! I used paint stripper (outside of course) but I wanted a little more silvering removed so I tried the oven cleaner and it did remove more!! I had to use a razor blade just a little as well.

Plus Mitzi also mentioned that she used wallpaper behind as an accent to show through the clear glass. I thought about my collection of wallpaper and remembered this gorgeous ecru and cream toile that I had purchased to use on various projects.....well, I taped in a piece and I LOVE IT!!!!

Now I think this needs to hang in the new guest room, don't you??
Thank you so much Mitzi,
for inspiring me to achieve the look that I had in my mind ~

I hope you have a wonderful weekend my sweet friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

So what can you do with a $5 mirror?

I forgot to show you something else we found last weekend while in the mountains. My husband has a good eye for knowing what I love and also for finding a great deal!! Well, he found this beautiful mirror for only FIVE DOLLARS! Yes, the mirror finish is a little mottled and their were chunks of the mirror paint that were completely gone ~ it didn't matter, I loved it!!

When I saw how easily the mirrored finish was flaking off, I remembered an idea I saw somewhere, maybe you can remember where....but you use paint stripper on the back side of the mirror to remove part of the finish to expose the clear glass. I've been wanting to do this FOREVER and finally found the perfect mirror to experiment the technique!

The paper backing was already gone so I cleaned the front and back with a wet rag, a little dish soap and dry paper towel. I took the mirror outside, laid it face down and painted the stripper on the back. Not over the entire back, I wanted it to have a natural look to it so I left around the edges solid but in the center I blobbed it on pretty thickly. I used a gel stripper too. I waited 30 minutes and scraped what I could off. I had to apply the stripper three separate times to achieve the look that I ended up with. If I were to get a razor blade I could scrape a little more off but I would have to do it carefully as I wouldn't want it to "look" scraped.

So now I need to decide what to place in the new opening!! I used a couple of prints my sweet friend Marcie sent me just to give you an idea of what it will look like ~ I think I'm going to get an image that I love enlarged to place in the opening....I'll be sure to share photos when I finish it!
Maybe I'll take the photo with the mirror in front of a blank wall, not my cluttered studio :)

The mittens are coming along...they still need a little sparkly snow dust!!!

I'd like to introduce you to another new blogger friend of mine!! You have GOT to see her amazing photography....AMAZING.....her Photoshop skills are very evident in her beautiful art ~ Please visit Anji of Distractions when you get a moment and you can see more of her art HERE.

And I HAVE to share with you the gorgeous project that Lori of Faerie Window has contributed to Artist Class!!! This beautiful embellished box ~ I've got to make one!

And one last little goodie, Sandy of Quill Cottage
is having a giveaway of her beautiful Autumn banner
that she created for Artist Class!!!
There are so many wonderful projects offered ~

She's giving away the actual banner that she created while making the tutorial ~
Hurry over and enter.....the contest ends Saturday, Oct. 31st!
JUST CLICK HERE AND COMMENT TO BE ENTERED

Whew!!! I hope this post wasn't too long for you...but I had a lot to share!

Thank you so much for your sweet comments and for visiting me,
I appreciate you more than you'll ever know ~

Wishing you a very happy Friday!
hugs and love,
Dawn

Beautiful....

I believe this is the same beautiful woman
that I found earlier on Shorpy's blog...just a different pose,
I had to share her with you ~ you can find her HERE full size ~
Don't you think she would be wonderful in a piece of artwork?

A simple post for now....

Thank you so much sweet friends for always stopping by to see me ~
hugs and love,
Dawn

In the thick of it ~

I'm right in the middle of making mitten ornaments for a special order ~ I forgot how pretty they were! There's something about the creamy color of the warm and natural batting. It comes it white too, but I'm always drawn to the cream. Loving lace, buttons and ribbon...this project is always so fun. I get to play with the things I love!

I wanted to show you these beautiful French postcards that I received in the mail from Adrienne ~ I won one of her giveaways on her blog, The Flying Bee....aren't they beautiful?!
Thank you so much sweet Adrienne ~ I'll be sure to share them too!

And for some Halloween goodness....
Brad and Noah carved their pumpkins and here they are!

Funny, huh? They were the only boys home
to participate in the pumpkin carving this year
but they had a great time together, and even roasted pumpkin seeds!


You've got to go enter this giveaway at
Six in One Hand...Madness in The Other...
She's giving away a 50.00 Visa gift card!!!
JUST CLICK HERE TO COMMENT TO WIN!


Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

My submission ~

I submitted this fall photo to The Weather Channel's website ~ they are having a fall photo contest and if you have a moment, I would love for you to vote for my entry HERE!!!

There are so many entries....GORGEOUS entries, but I thought I'd give it a shot!
hugs and love,
Dawn

What a haul!

(Images just for you from my new bird book ~)

You know I have to share the goodies I found
while junkin' in the mountains....
well, I finally pulled it all out and
set it up for a few photos!

First...see that old Chinese checkers board? Too cool ~ and plus
and old Monopoly game and I think all the pieces are there!
I don't know though...
The round thing is a puzzle box! I'm not sure all the pieces are there
but for .50 I just wanted the box!

Tons of sewing notions ~ 5 bucks

A few old baby hats and a little baby boy sweater.
I don't know why I bought them, but I did...
they have a little staining but you know I don't care about that!
Sweet daisy trim....

The books and bottles, only $1 each! One of the books
(the one that's opened) is a student's dictionary from the late 1800's ~

I love the graphics on these shoe lace labels!
They remind me of Cathe over at Just Something I Made ~

And I LOVE these old black straight pins
they will look GREAT in pincushions that I make!

I know this is a simple, inexpensive candle holder
but I see it spray painted cream and holding a tuffet pin cushion ~

This little bird book is an ebay find that came in the mail today!!
I believe I have a collection of children's bird books now ~

The images above are from this new book ~ I hope you like them!
I'm sorry about the strange pattern on the backgrounds of the prints,
I tried to edit them but couldn't get it to go away ~

Wishing you a great Tuesday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

Giveaway goodness!

Anne of Fiona and Twig has a sweet giveaway goin' on.....
and you know I have to share the news!
She's giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to Anthropologie
AND a wonderful book "The Find" TOO!!
JUST CLICK HERE TO GO COMMENT TO WIN!!

AND HERE'S ANOTHER GIVEAWAY....

If you've been wanting to start creating a little jewelry
Cindy at Sweet Bead Studio is having a great giveaway too....
neat tools to start you off!!!
JUST CLICK HERE TO COMMENT TO WIN!

AND ONE MORE!!
Theresa at Garden Antiques Vintage is celebrating a blogiversary!!!!!
She's going to customize her giveaway gift to the winner....
and she wants to know what you collect!
JUST CLICK HERE TO COMMENT TO WIN!!!

I hope your Monday is going great!!
xxoo, Dawn

Breathtaking.

It truly was...absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful ~
My parents live in the north Georgia mountains
and it was so good to see them!!
We left Friday afternoon around 3:00 pm
hoping to get ahead of the awful Friday afternoon traffic.
No such luck.
What should have been a 3 hour trip
turned into a 5 hours!
But it was fine, because this is what we awoke to Saturday morn....

The view behind my parent's house standing on their deck ~

We headed out early Saturday morning
so we could squeeze in as much fun as we could!
These are some of the photos I took ~
I hope you don't feel like your at the neighbor's house
looking at vacation slides!!

Do you think Heaven will look like what you love??
If so....Heaven will look like this to me ~

We went junkin' as there were tons of yard sales all
around the town of Hiawassee ~ They were
taking advantage of all the leaf-lookers that were visiting.
I found some wonderful
goodies that I'll share later on!


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

OH!!!! and I have to share with you......
a recent artist joining Artist Class!!!
Martha of Vintage Trifles ~
She makes the MOST BEAUTIFUL things....
and THIS, my friends, is her contribution,
I can't wait to make one!!!!

What's so great about this class is there are so
many beautiful projects and you can work
at your own pace. Too busy right now?
Work on them after the first of the year even ~
The blog will be open to members
for FOUR months to give you plenty of time.

If you'd like to join Artist Class
CLICK HERE to read all about it and
if you'd like 10.00 off, just enter the code
thefeatherednest !


Wishing you a wonderful Monday my sweet friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn