Tiny fragments of nature under glass ~

I've been gathering tiny bits of nature for as long as I can remember.

It may be a small dried flower, acorn caps, twigs or moss,

it doesn't matter to me.

I think that they all are so beautiful!

I just finished a few specimen tubes filled with some

of these little natural elements.

The swirl of text embedded inside is simply a torn strip

from a very old botany book!

These tubes can be displayed hanging on a cabinet knob,

hook or even the switch of a lamp.

And of course, everything is more beautiful under glass!!!

All have been listed in my Etsy store now too!

And this little piece is finished too!

The glass jar measures a mere 4" high buy about 4" wide.

Gathered inside is a precious tiny nest with speckled eggs,

bark, moss and a sprinkling of other small nature elements.

I just love small things and this little nest assemblage turned out wonderful!

Also listed in my Etsy store ~

And one last little bitty thing.

This is a sweet hummingbird's nest that

was given to me by a friend and I simply adore it!

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week dear friends and

thank you always for stopping by to see me!

Hugs and love,

Dawn

Little Christmas wishes under glass ~

After working on my fairy house for the last few weeks,

it was so nice to get back to a few smaller projects!

I invited a dear old friend over for a creative day in my studio

and we had an absolute BLAST together!!!

Tammy and I met at art school years and years ago.

With both of us being creative spirits, the ideas just FLY

when we get together to make pretty things.

Plus add in the laughter, reminiscing and love...

well, that's just the icing on the cake!

These sweet Christmas tubes are just a few of the results

of our wonderful day together ~

Sometimes you have to make a HOT MESS to make something beautiful!!!

Look at that crazy table!

These are SO much fun to make!!!

We also made a few botanical tubes that I'm finishing up ~

They are filled with little snippets and elements of nature.

Beautiful to display year round if you're a nature lover like me!

The Christmas tubes are listed in my Etsy store and

the botanicals tubes will be soon as well!

I hope you're staying cozy on this chilly December day

and thank you always, always for visiting me here!

Hugs and love,

Dawn

Creating a little magic in the studio!

I've always loved fairies.

I love the idea of them existing,

watching over nature and living

in their magical woodland homes!

So for my latest project I decided to alter a wooden

house purchased at the craft store into a whimsical fairy house ~

Here's what I purchased at Hobby Lobby!

Not too special but a perfect piece for me to embellish.

I began by base painting it with normal acrylic paints in the little bottles.

After painting I wanted to age it a bit

and created a mossy wash and also a brown wash

to give it an older look, especially around the windows

and in the crevices.

I found a great cigar box to use as a platform and painted it as well.

Next I began adding all different kinds of natural elements.

I've been gathering these goodies for years!!

Some items are store bought like some of the moss and little wood cuts

but a lot is gathered from our yard right here at home.

Three different roof styles made it so much more charming and interesting!

A thatched roof was created from unwound jute, glued in overlapping layers.

One roof is created from pieces of pine cones and mosses.

And lastly, the other roof was made from river birch bark and

other bark pieces with lichen.

The more that was added, the more I loved it!!!

It's funny when you begin working on something like this.

You sometimes have to reel yourself in and decide

when it's time to stop.

So here is my finished piece!!!

I'm so pleased with how this fairy house turned out!!!

This sweetie has been now added to my Etsy store ~

Wouldn't it be a perfect gift for a nature lover?

~ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VISIT ~

Thank you so much for always stopping by to see what I'm up to!

hugs and love,

Dawn

A whimsical fairy house ~

A few weeks ago I was commissioned by a dear friend of mine

to transform a simple night light into a woodland fairy house!

Creating these is so much fun because you can gather elements

from your yard and even buy some neat things at craft stores.

The house started off solid white with some type of sheer fabric

glued into the openings to soften the small light that inserts into the back.

I removed it all.

The sheer material was backed with acetate I imagine for safety's sake

with their being a bulb inside.

Next I spray painted a dark brown to have a more woodsy background.

Then I found an amazing image online of the inside of a fairy house

someone had made, sized it appropriately and printed it out onto vellum.

I also had acetate sheets and cut them to size for each opening as well.

After I glued all the sheets on each window it was time for embellishing!

What I started with:

After it had been spray painted and images glued inside ~

You can see my stash of supplies I had to pull from!

The first thing I worked on was the moss around the base of the roof.

Next I made a "stone" fireplace using little pebbles and moss as well.

I had this incredible thick paper with straw and fibers that I used to cover the sides.

This added such a great contrast to the dark brown!

I cut sticks to wedge onto each corner and then

continued to add feathers, moss and small woodcuts around the base.

The finished fairy house ~

I so hope my customer is pleased and

I think I may need to make more of these!!!

Thank you always for stopping by to see what I'm up to!!!

Hugs and love,

Dawn