Sweet littles ~

I was so very fortunate to get to spend the day

with our sweet grandbabies

this past Saturday!!!

Our oldest son Brent, being the fix-it-man of EVERYTHING,

worked on my van and brought my air-conditioning back to life!

Thank you so much sweet son, you are my HERO!!

While he worked, Clara and Murray played and it was such a beautiful day!

Warm and sunny, perfect for playing outside.

I took a few photos to share with you.

Look at this sweet girl, she's growing so very fast it makes my head spin!

I love this pic.

She looks like she's soaking up the sun and just loves it!

Clara loves critters, animals, bugs, lizards, caterpillars, whatever!

And just look at precious Murray!!!

He's growing like a WEED!!!!

And that smile? Can you say "mischievous"???

Catch him if you can!

Emily had to warm up the water in their little pool with a few gallons of hot water,

but they just loved it.

These truly are the "good ol' days" ~

Happy Tuesday dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Beautiful vintage roses...how can you go wrong?

Seems doing something creative lately has been just about like pulling teeth!!!

WHY and WHY???

I really love making stuff!

I don't know. I can't even explain it.

I have so many amazing ideas rushing through my mind

but actually making them happen has been,

well,

just like I said...

like pulling teeth!

Well, sound the trumpets and start the parade because

I've FINALLY finished a little something!!!

This is another fabric journal slipcover.

It fits beautifully over your standard composition notebook.

Just fold both covers completely back and slip it on!!!

Fill it up with prayers, notes, thoughts and when it's full?

Just slip the fabric cover off and slip it onto a brand new notebook!

I tried something new on this one too.

Fabric rosettes!!!

And I love them!

I watched a few YouTube videos and

figured I could wing it from there.

The only thing I changed is that I did NOT use a glue gun.

I used my favorite glue ever, Fabri-Tac

which is like a cold glue gun glue.

My offering (in my shop now)

Feels good to finally make something and it always

make me wonder,

why did it take so long????

You can find my new journal slipcover in my Etsy shop if you're interested....

Thank you so very much for visiting my blog.

I love my blog friends and treasure you so!

Happy Thursday angels,

hugs and love,

Dawn

So very proud!!!

Our little Noah...who's not so little anymore (at 6'2" and now 16 yrs old)

was one of the hosts of his youth group's annual fund raiser!!!

They have a talent show featuring all of the youth group and

of course, Noah, being the youngest of five boys, is quite the ham and

so fits the part as the HOST with his best buddy Logan!!!

The talent show was featured for two nights, Friday and Saturday ~

I was able to go Saturday and it was just WONDERFUL!!!!

Here's our sweet youngest, Noah on the left...and Logan on the right:

He also performed in a skit....of course, you had to be there but it was funny as all get out!

Noah's on the left, Logan on the right ~ they really do perform so well together!

Did I mention that Noah is a HAM??
(ps. I made his little chevron bow tie!)

And a goober????

Our sweet, sweet boy and his best bud.

This youth group has been so very wonderful for Noah.

With all his big brothers being grown and out of the house,

he just loves doing stuff with his youth group!!

Thank you so much Barnzee and Terry....(his youth group leaders)

for all that you do for our precious children.

Please remember that all that you do for our babies

truly are jewels in your crown!!!

As for me?

Not much to report right now...

but sure hope to soon!!!

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday my dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Wishing you a blessed Easter dear friends ~

The Son of God came to this earth.

He lived a perfect life....

and died for each and every one of us ~

to pay for our sins,

then He rose from the grave

just three days later so show us that

TRULY

He WAS the Son of God.

And if we will only believe that He did this for us all,

we will live in Heaven with Him for eternity!!!

I had to share this video with you as well....
This hymn is one of my very, very favorites and is so beautifully performed
by Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood:







As the mother of five sons, I can't imagine the heart-wrenching sacrifice our Lord made for each and every one of us and weep even at thought of it.....   Celebrating HIS precious love for us all, Dawn

A teeny, tiny wish of mine ~

I wish I didn't think so much about what I NEED to do.

I wish I would just do SOMETHING rather than be

overwhelmed with all that's racing through my mind

that should be done.

There is a fine line between CHORES....

and doing things you really LOVE doing.

Chores are things like cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, dishes, washing clothes,

washing bed linens, cleaning out clutter from closets, etc. an on and on and on.

I come from a long line of "do your chores first, then do what you enjoy" folks.

Well....that seems to create a lot of inner turmoil for me!

Because those "so called" chores are NEVER ENDING!!!

So if I were to always, always yield to the fact that they needed to be done,

I would NEVER get to the good stuff.

And sometimes it paralyzes me.

I have some projects that need attention around our home

that need to be taken care of so guess what???

I freeze.

So I guess I need to address this issue so I can create again.

Do you understand where I coming from?

Happy Good Friday precious friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

Life...it's all about perspective ~

Don't you think??

It's all how you look a things...

glass half empty, glass half full?

Lately, I've been guilty of looking

at the half empty side of things but then

I always, always have to stop myself!!!

Let's take a look at the half FULL glass...OK?

I am an eternal optimist and please Lord, let me remain so!

Even with mid-life hormone craziness,

life struggles,

or whatever...

I always, always want to be an optimist!!!

This baby's face says it all...how I've been feeling lately ~

I want you to know too...

you are a such a BIG part of my life ~

my dear Angel Friends.

I love my family with all that I have

but you...

YOU so GET ME!

You know why I love collecting crazy stuff,

you love my crazy stuff,

and you love what I make with it.

Thank you so much for that!!

I am so very thankful for my precious babies and grandbabies...

what a precious gift from Heaven above.

Glass = overflowing

I found this great photo of Chase, our fourth son ~ now 23 years old,

good Lord, how did that time fly by so fast???

And look at him at a mere 2 years old...

blessed I am.

And our oldest Brent holding his daughter, Clara as a newborn...

glass = OVERFLOWING

And just look at how Clara's mama is gazing at her ~

I have many more family photos I could share but with five beautiful sons,

I'm afraid my post would be WAAAAY too long ~

We can look at what we don't have...

what we think we deserve...

or what we think we need,

but truly

it's all right here.

Right in front of us.

And our glass is overflowing...

Wishing you a beautiful Thursday my precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Freshening up a bit!

I thought I would share a little peek of the house wren's nest

on our front porch!

It's looks complete to me but still no little ones yet...

I've seen the mama bird fly out of it though ~

This past winter I lost the ivy plants on our porch so I headed to Lowe's and bought

replacements. These planters flank our front door and I love the wire forms

that the ivy grows on. Hopefully they will grow fast and look wonderful soon!

I also found a pretty ivy plant to go in the terra cotta pot on our iron table too!

A beautiful treat arrived in Saturday's mail....

a gift I won from Martha of MJ Ornaments on Facebook!!!

I love bunnies and was so happy when I found out I won ~

now they hang in my studio! Thank you so much Martha!!!

And I just have to share these wonderful photos of Clara ~

She went fishing with her dad (our oldest son, Brent) Saturday and

just look at her!!!

She's old enough now to really enjoy it and is absolutely FEARLESS!

Wishing you a WONDERFUL Monday precious friends!!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Something new!!!

I've had this on my mind for awhile now...

making a re-usable journal cover.

One that can be transferred to a new notebook

and used again and again!

Well, I did it!

I love the old fashioned composition notebooks,

you know the ones,

with the black and white speckled covers, right?

I created a pattern and this is my very first one!

You can use the notebook as a journal, fill it up and

when you need to buy a new one simply slip off

the journal cover and place it onto a new notebook!

Beautiful layered antique lace...seam binding accents and of course

a rhinestone bauble.

The tie is accented by a gorgeous antique button as well ~

I just added this sweetie to my Etsy store!!!

I hope you are doing so very good and that things are finally warming up

where you live ~ we have been in the 70's here in Georgia and

EVERYTHING is so very green!!!

Happy Thursday my dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn