Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year's Eve FLASH Tutorial Sale!!!

Don't we ALL want to be more creative in 2012????
Well, I've decided to have a 24 hour FLASH SALE






If you
BUY ONE.....
you
GET ONE FREE!!!!!







Choose from FIFTEEN different tutorials....
When you go to purchase one,
please be sure to list BOTH tutorials when you go to purchase!!!!

Offer good till MIDNIGHT tomorrow night, New Year's Eve!!!!


Love you much!!!!
Dawn

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Love gifts ~


I've received a few goodies in the mail lately
and I would love to share them with you ~

Just look at this birthday bundle Marcie from The Rustic Victorian sent me!!!




Gorgeous old lace, images and a sweet antique stereoview of a little girl and her doll ~






And Donna of Brynwood Needleworks sent me these wonderful bird's nests!!!
I can't believe how amazing each one is....just sweet works of art ~






Lastly, look at this angel!!!!! Here she is Christmas Day all dolled up in her
fancy new coat and hat ~ She had such a wonderful Christmas....




I'm starting to clean things up around here...
the studio has been sadly neglected these past few weeks ~
and I'm so in the mood to get to creating!!!!

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday sweet friends ~
hugs and love,
Dawn




Monday, December 26, 2011

Five. 0.





It's finally here.
I've been thinking about it a lot this year.
Thinking of how my body has changed so over the years....
and that even my face has changed.
Under my jaws are these saggy things that have appeared
that weren't there before!!!

I had to have dental work this past year and not just your
typical stuff either! We're talking replacements!!!
But I'm so thankful, that as expensive as it is,
I was able to have it done ~

It's funny though...
that as I reach this numerical milestone,
in my mind,
I still think of myself as that nineteen year old...
soon to be married,
and so excited about the time ahead of me!!!




Time passes so quickly,
my babies have arrived and grown into men,
and here I am.
One thankful girl!!!!
No matter what age I am,
I am thankful for each and every minute
I have been given on this earth ~
to enjoy my childhood, with my mama, daddy and brothers ~
then with my precious husband and our thirty plus year marriage and
the gift of our five sweet sons.
And now to have the gift of a granddaughter?
That's the icing!!!!!!
Whatever's left from here on out is the icing......
don't you think?!!!!!



Thank you always for stopping by here,
for reading my thoughts and for leaving yours!!!
love you all so much,
Dawn



Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!




Merry Christmas precious friends!!!!!
Wishing you many blessings and so much love,
have a beautiful day.....Dawn

Saturday, December 24, 2011

My Christmas wish ~




What I wish is that I could send each and every one of you a precious gift....
or maybe even a sweet card to tell you how wonderful you are ~
Instead I simply want to tell you to have a very Merry Christmas!!!!
Wish I could hug you all!!!!
much love,
Dawn

Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas Eve, Eve!








Well, it's really here.
And I think we're pretty ready.
My mama and daddy are in town....
my living room is swallowed up in gifts because,
well,
I do have five kids and that's a lot!
Plus the farmhouse is tiny....but who cares :)

And what am I thankful for?
For being fortunate enough to have lived almost fifty years....
for each an every precious son we were blessed with,
for our dear DIL and our amazingly dear granddaughter,
for both of our parents, DH and mine both....who are all still with us!
for our siblings that we love so....

And of course....I'm so very thankful for you!!!
My friendships here are so precious to me ~
I wish I could hug each and every one of you,

Merry Christmas Eve, Eve.....
hugs and love,
Dawn






Thursday, December 22, 2011

My simple day....





Today I was Mimi...to my sweet angel Clara ~
we even went to w-mart to buy a few more goodies for Christmas!
I couldn't resist and had to buy her a few little gifts ~
One was a Curious George Match Game....
The other fun stuff?
Play Doh!
It was included in a sweet little set to create picnic food....
Such fun stuff and such precious company.
By the way ~ do you remember the yummy smell of Play Doh?

I hope your Christmas and holiday plans are coming together
as you hoped they would ~

Happy Thursday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn











Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Christmas Love ~






This sweet story from an email my niece sent me says it all.....



The "W" in Christmas

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience.

I had cut back on nonessential obligations - extensive card writing,
endless baking, decorating, and even overspending.

Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the
precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year.
It was an exciting season for a six year old.

For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant."

I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production.

Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher.
She assured me there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation.

All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then.

Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early,
found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down.
Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats.

As I waited, the students were led into the room.
Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor.
Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the
holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun,
commercial entertainment songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.

So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love,"
I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens,
red sweaters, and bright snow caps upon their heads.

Those in the front row- center stage - held up large letters,
one by one, to spell out the title of the song.

As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C.
Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion
had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her;
a small, quiet girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -
totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W".

The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake.
But she had no idea they were laughing at her,
so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".

Although many teachers tried to shush the children,
the laughter continued until the last letter was raised,
and we all saw it together.

A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.

In that instant, we understood the reason we were there,
why we celebrated the holiday in the first place,
why even in the chaos,
there was a purpose for our festivities.

For when the last letter was held high,
the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

And, I believe, He still is.

Amazed in His presence....humbled by His love.

HAVE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS SEASON!




Have a wonderful Wednesday precious friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn





Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas time at the farmhouse ~


My precious daughter-in-law Emily is quite the talented photographer!!!
I was busy wrapping so many gifts and Clara was my precious little elf...
taking the gifts to the tree and placing them ever so carefully!

Emily, Brent and DH (dear husband) have a big soap order they're working on
but during a break Emily took a few pics around the farmhouse ~
I told her I was so very thankful because I needed some great blog fodder!!!!

Here is our view at sunset this time of year ~
the leaves are gone but it's still so beautiful.




This pic is earlier in the day but so beautiful ~ across the street from the house :)
See our mailbox?



The snowbird I created for my sweet snowbird tutorial ~
She hangs in a tiny artificial boxwood topiary.



Little peeks at our Christmas tree ~
I've inserted the prettiest glittered up stems!
They have that vintage look to them....




And look what arrived today!!!!
I won the most wonderful giveaway from Becky at A Wing and a Prayer...
A handmade santa that she created!!!!
I'm so in love with him....he sits center-stage on our mantle now!



And Becky included the most precious ornament too ~
Thank you so very much sweet Becky,
I am so honored to own your wonderful creations!!!!



A vintage-feel sign that I saved from some I used to sell in the antique store ~




Our front porch light ~




Curly ivy I purchased at Lowe's that's sitting on the iron set on the front porch ~
Since my ferns are on their last leg, I thought maybe I could plant ivy
in their hanging baskets!
We'll see how that goes....I'll probably kill them :)




Our wonderful old, bare pecan trees...standing beautifully in a row.



A shy, little girl concrete statue standing in our front flower bed ~
(mind you, the bed needs a little cleaning!)



And I'm STILL wrapping gifts too!!
When you have five kids....and add on the fact that our family is growing ~
there are a LOT of gifts to wrap!

Thank you so much Emily for taking these pics today
so I can share them with my sweet friends ~

Wishing you a wonderful Tuesday!!!
hugs and love,
Dawn




Monday, December 19, 2011

Precious Christmas memories.....





As a child, Christmas was magical to me....
I remember the anticipation and excitement so vividly!
Just putting the tree up was the best thing EVER!!!





My parents would put on our Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Ray Coniff with his singers and
Johnny Mathis Christmas albums and I was transported to a whole different world.
And these were played on an old record player,
you know, the kind with the needle and turntable?





One beautiful memory I have is,
after the tree was decorated...
lights, ornaments and everything,
I would lie underneath the tree and just look up.
It was so beautiful....
At that moment, the magic of Christmas began for me ~



I found this precious photo of Clara when she was just a little baby...looking at the lights ~
She is absolutely LOVING Christmas this year!!!
Now, being two and a half, she is totally into Santa and all of the gifts ~
and she's also realizing that a little elf is watching her behavior and reporting to Santa!


We finally finished our Christmas shopping ~ a blessing and such an accomplishment!
Now to get the gifts packaged, bagged and wrapped :)
Sweet Noah had wrapped everything so far, I guess it's my turn now!

I hope you have a beautiful Monday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn





Sunday, December 18, 2011

And my sweet winner is....



Dorthe of Den Lille Lade!!!!!
I will get this little tree packaged up safely
and get it in the mail to you sweet friend ~

Thank you all so very much for stopping by and for taking the
time to comment and enter my Christmas giveaway!
Your words are precious to me and I treasure you all!!!!





You have got to see this....


Lisa of Tarnished and Tattered was asked
to have her holiday home published in the Dallas Morning News!!!

Stop by and take a stroll through her gorgeous house....
I just know you'll love it!!!




If' you've not entered my little Christmas giveaway.....CLICK HERE!

Wishing you a peaceful Sunday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn



Saturday, December 17, 2011

The gift of His birth ~


Just a few images today.....







Wishing you a wonderful Saturday precious friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn





Friday, December 16, 2011

The Christmas spirit ~


If we can get through the busy schedules and the shopping frenzy,
the Christmas spirit is such a beautiful thing.
Caring and thinking of others....being more thoughtful....
I've always wished we felt this way all the year through.

I went through all of my past scans and decided to offer these to you again,
you may have them already or maybe not ~

Print them out in the photo program on your computer and size them
the way you want them. Wrap a gift in plain kraft paper and then glue one
of the images to the top of the package...tie with twine and it's done!











These aren't really Christmas images but beautiful to me:







OH! Lisa of Tarnished and Tattered is having a sweet Christmas giveaway!!
A gorgeous cone filled with wonderful treasures...




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







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