Trying to thaw out....

It's finally beginning to warm up a little bit here in Georgia!!

We had an awfully cold Christmas and then coupled with

terrible winds, this old house didn't know what hit it!

I don't know how some of you deal with the cold weather ~

we are really spoiled with mild winters.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas,

ours was a quiet one but so good ~

Clara was simply amazed at everything!!

We are so truly blessed...

Thank you all so much for your sweet birthday wishes!!!

You made it very special for me ~

I'm getting ready for Noah's birthday party now,

which is Thursday evening ~

I can't believe he's going to be thirteen!!!

I've given you the images below before....

but maybe you'll like them again?

3

Have a wonderful Wednesday precious friends!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Need something for your walls?? Make your own art!

I've been gathering some wonderful treasures....

trying to decide how I want to display

these gorgeous pieces of nature ~

Well, as I was cleaning and getting ready

for our Christmas eve party with my family,

I decided to re-use this padded frame that I'd made awhile ago.

I had it hanging in my studio at the old house with ephemera pinned

and clipped to it but hadn't decided

how I wanted to use it here at the farmhouse.

When I visited Lisa in Texas, my goal was to find some wonderful things

to create a type of Cabinet of Curiosities display for our living room.

I found the beautiful turtle shell in Debbie's booth at Winnie & Tulula's....
We found the skull and horns at a yard sale!!!

The magnifying glass is a souvenir from when I owned The Plum Tree,

the little fish net is another antiquing find....

I added a bird feather, strips of tree bark from our last house.

A gorgeous acorn from the burr oak tree,

a sweet gum ball from our last home and a

wasp's nest given to me from one of the boys....

This, my dear friends, is a true assemblage!!!

A gathering of treasures you love displayed together ~

The only other element that I would love to add?
Gorgeous aged Latin name labels to each item!

OH! And how did I attach these goodies to the padded board backing?
Which is a washed canvas drop cloth fragment over polyester batting
and crudely taped to the back of the Masonite board....
I simply sewed each element on!!!
I'm in love with button and carpet thread,
it's much stronger than regular thread ~

Thank you SO VERY MUCH for your precious birthday wishes,

you inspire me so and absolutely made my day!!!!!

Wishing you a wonderful Monday dear friends ~

you truly are loved,

Dawn

The day after.....

Ugh....yeah....here I am at eighteen years old,
what in the world happened to the time??!!

Sounds quite ominous, doesn't it???

But the day after Christmas isn't for me!!!!

Today is, well....

my forty-ninth birthday!!!!!!

YIKES!

Doesn't it seem that these years

are slipping by faster and faster?????

Well sweet friends, my word for today.....

for THIS day is ~

RELISH.

Relish each moment you have!!!!

Relish the time you have with those you love.....

Don't look at the negative but

always, ALWAYS concentrate

on the goodness around you.....

Simply relish each and every moment that is given to you ~

Wishing you a beautiful "day after Christmas" my sweet friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!!!!!

I think of you always

and hope that you have

the most wonderful Christmas ever!!!!

hugs and love to you

my sweet friends,

Dawn

What I wish.....

That I could send each and every one of you
a special gift you would love....

That I could talk to each and every one of you
personally and

tell you how much you mean to me ~

And wish you the most wonderful Christmas ever.....

And that you would know
how very precious you are to so many ~

not just your family but
to all of your blog friends around the world....

I treasure your friendship and your precious encouragement ~

And I pray that you are so very blessed as much as you bless me!

This is the time of year that we gather 'round those we love....

and thank the good Lord above for what He has done for us ~

He sent His precious Son to be born....

to live and die on the cross to pay for our sins....

so that we could live in Heaven with Him!!!

Merry Christmas Eve dear friends!!!!

Please know you are so loved ~

hugs and love, Dawn

A tiny idea ~

All of the stores have so many gorgeous Christmas decorations, right?

Well, when you go shopping the day after Christmas
(or even earlier than that)

and all of those beautiful goodies are half off or even more ~

think a little outside the box!!

Look at things differently to see

if they would work for you in the studio ~

Look at these decorations as art supplies!

I found this gorgeous pearl garland at

Hobby Lobby half off this week!!!

I'm going to stash it away in the studio ~

don't you think it would be beautiful on a collage???

I love you all so much ~

I can't believe tomorrow is already Christmas eve!!!

Happy Thursday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Things are finally slowing down....

The gifts are finally all wrapped!

I always put it off but when I'm finished I'm so glad!!

My parents will be coming into town this Thursday

so I'll most likely be cleaning the house,

changing sheets and making sure everything

looks beautiful ~

I hope you're ready but if not,

don't stress....

you will finish what needs to be.

Beautiful images of the Nativity....

I've shared with you before ~

Wonderful vintage cards that I've scanned,

wouldn't they make beautiful tags for gifts?

I have a sweet friend, Sandy of Peridots Garden
and she's having a giveaway!!!

She's offering a beautiful necklace that she created ~

I just love giveaways ~ and if you'd like to stop by and enter,

just click HERE!!

I hope that all of your Christmas preparations are coming to a close as

we all anticipate our families gathering in ~

because that's what really matters,

being together.....

Have a beautiful Wednesday sweet friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Treasures from the other side of the world....

When I see an package from Denmark,

I just KNOW it's going to be something WONDERFUL!!!!

Sweet Dorthe of Den Lille Lade sent me several
precious gifts that she made!!

Her artwork is beautiful and this heart and tag just

took my breath away!!!!!!

Thank you so very much my dear friend,

You are incredibly talented and have such a generous heart ~

I just love my gifts!!!!!

And what an honor!!

Porch magazine featured some of my artwork in their

current Holiday Issue!!!

And one more tidbit ~

I have two one little snowmen ornaments that I made left!!

They won't make it to you before Christmas but you can

enjoy them next year and for many more years to come ~

Price: 12.00 plus 5.00 in the US

I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday dear friends!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Imperfection....

I have to admit something to you.

I used to be hopelessly obsessed with everything being

absolutely PERFECT!!

My home, my children and whatever was around me ~

Needed to be clean, pressed and without blemish.

But as the years passed and

the boys grew older,

I had to back away from this perfection thing.

Five children will definitely make you realize

that you can't do it all wonderfully, perfectly or

have your home be that way!

So now it seems I embrace imperfection.

I find myself saying,

"If it's not scratched, dented, chipped or stained

it doesn't belong in this house because

it's a coming!!!!"

I search out tattered treasures ~

Try to rescue them and turn them into something new ~

Embracing their flaws and addi a few touches here and there.

Wrinkles, stains....no matter ~
the beauty of surviving time is wonderful to me.

Lost, forgotten but then found and loved...

this is the beauty of imperfection ~

You'd think with so many flaws these things wouldn't be loved....

Sometimes I feel like these tattered treasures are so much like ourselves.

We are all so very imperfect.....

But we are truly loved by our Lord in Heaven above....

even with our many imperfections!

And the proof??

He sent his precious Son, Jesus Christ to this Earth

on that very first Christmas day so long ago ~

And Jesus sacrificed His life to pay for our imperfections

so we could live in Heaven forever ~

It's so good to love imperfection....

Wishing you a blessed and happy Monday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn