Happy New Year dear friends!

Yes...I know. I know.

I've been gone a long, long time.

But I really do love this blog and SO pray

that I can connect with you all

much more here this new year.

The transition of moving was so easy, the move?

Not so much.

I hate to keep harping on that fact but it truly was a hard thing.

We are now settled in our sweet new home and now that Christmas is over

I feel like I can now concentrate on decorating AND

of course working on the new studio!!!

When you have the amount of STUFF that I have, because believe me

when you are an artist you really need the items, materials and supplies

to create what comes to your mind...it's a daunting task to organize it all.

So that is my goal for the new year!!

To get the new studio organized and ready to make beautiful things!

My muse is poking me and I am ready to create!!!

I pray you had a beautiful Christmas, we really did!

And now that it's the new year it's time for me to shake off the old

and begin with the new.

Our small tree with big love...

I watched our precious grandbabies while mom and dad had appointments.

Can you believe baby Tilly??? She will be a year old Jan. 25th!!!!

Nine year old big sister Clara is always willing to help! Tilly loves her like a second mama!

And brother Murray chills watching his very favorite show!

Then the princess Tilly sleeps!

We decorated for Christmas...

We celebrated our sweet grandson Owen's 2nd birthday too!!! Born on Christmas eve

and now his daddy and mama, David and Heather are expecting a baby girl in May!!!

We are all SO excited!!! Her name will be Lily...how beautiful is that??

Happy New Year precious friends,
I'm praying for a wonderful one for each and every one of us!!!

So now I will get back to getting my new studio in order because
I am so ready to get back to creating!!!
Wish me luck angels!
I'll share progress soon, promise!

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

What a wonderful ending to our year!

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Our family had a GREAT one!!!

We were fortunate to be able to have our family party

on Christmas Eve at Brad and Davey's gorgeous home

and it was absolutely beautiful!

The food was delicious and just look at our precious family!!!

We had two family members that weren't able to make

it to the party Christmas eve though...

David and Heather were at the hospital

having our third grandchild Owen!!!

We received a call from the hospital and rushed over of course!

Here are a few photos of our evening and a few of the house too ~

A beautiful gift to Emily from Chase honoring their sweet dog Lola

that passed away a few weeks ago.

Our delicious spread of food!

Brad and Davey's sweet cat Paxton!

Even he was in a festive mood!

I love this spot in their home.

It's the breezeway from the main house to the carriage house.

It's it beautiful?

One of the first Christmas gifts my husband gave me that I've passed on to Brad.

A sweet Christmas house on the silver tray...

AND SO...

we headed off to the hospital just in time for precious Owen to be born!

He had a few breathing issues and had to be hooked up

to oxygen but after a few days he was perfectly fine.

What a calm disposition he has and he was so bright eyed too!!!!

Welcome to the world sweet Owen!!!

We love you so very much ~

Heather and Owen!!!

A love like none other is a mother's love for her child.

Our son with his son.

What a blessing!!!!

Things are settling down now...

parties are over, gifts are given.

Now it's time for me to get into my studio and

TOTALLY clean it from TOP TO BOTTOM!!!

Plus I want to finish up decorating the guest bedroom.

I'll be sure to share my progress too!

I'm so very thankful for this life,

our family, friends and many blessings.

Thank you as well for stopping by to see what's

going on in my little corner of the world!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Sweet Silly Snowball Ornaments!!!

Yep! I've actually MADE SOMETHING!!! Yaaaaay!

I pulled out the Creative Paperclay and

had so much fun making these sweeties!

I simply rolled the clay out like biscuit dough and

wrapped the circle around a styrofoam ball.

A little water is involved to make things stick too.

I added a nose, some eyes and used black beads for the pupils

then gave each of them a goofy expression.

They have to dry overnight, then each is hand painted.

I made the silver lame' Santa type hat but purchased

the two teeny black hats at Hob Lob.

I had to adorn the black hats too. Each got a silver lame' hat band

and the sweetest rhinestone button that looks like a snowflake.

I'm so pleased with how they turned out!

The top two in the photo below are sold but there's one more

up for grabs in my Etsy shop ~ take a peek if you're interested!

The are approximately the size of tennis balls and very light weight.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE SHOP!

In other news, I'm still going through so, so much of my studio hoard.

I've been collecting wonderful old things for years and years but

it's just time to let some of these treasures go and make someone else happy!

This is a small fraction of what's been added lately to

my Etsy shop!!!

It kinda feels good to let things go.

Yes, I just said that.

Miracles still do happen!!!

I hope you are doing so very good and

simply had to share my burst of creativity with you!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Merry Christmas-time and a few gifts for you!

Are you ready???

Christmas is just a week away now!

We've had a relatively stress-free season this year and

I really like it!

Our boys decided to draw names as our family is growing.

With five sons then add on spouses and significant others

it's really growing quickly!

So with each of us having just one name,

it has really been so easy this year.

Of course, we're all buying for the babies, Clara and Murray.

Plus this takes so much of the emphasis off of "things" but

places it back on just enjoying each other!

I'm having a "Make it for Christmas" Sale in my Etsy Shop!!

Starting now through Sunday evening (Dec. 20th) at midnight,

everything in my Etsy store is 50% OFF!!!

Simply type MERRYCHRISTMAS in the coupon code box

when checking out from my Etsy store

to receive 50% OFF your entire purchase!

You have time to make some one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones

this weekend, why not let me help with one of my step-by-step

photographed tutorials? Materials lists are included with each one.

Here's the link to my store so you can take a peek:

MY ETSY STORE!

More gifts!!! A few beautiful images that I've collected over the years.

Click each one to enlarge to the fullest, right click to save to your own

computer...the last few should fill an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper for you

to use as Christmas tags for your gifts!

Wishing you a wonderful and very creative weekend precious friends!

hugs and love,

Dawn