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

The Fruit of the Spirit ~

I've always loved this Bible passage...

Galatians 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Such beautiful promises for us all ~

When I create multiples of one item,

I love to label each one

just to help me tell them apart

should they sell.

The fruit of the spirit verse holds

such wonderful labels for each little piece!!!

Thank you all so much for your kind comments

and words of encouragement on my health.

You all are such precious friends

and truly lift me up!!!

Here are a few photos of what I've been working on:

The best surprise arrived in the mail yesterday!!!

A beautiful copy of the newest issue of HandCrafted ~

Why?

I had no clue!

But as I looked inside...I soon discovered why :)

Stampington republished a piece of mine

they published back in 2009.

How neat is that??

It really is a wonderful issue too!

You can find my new Christmas candy cups

in my Etsy shop!!

Today,

I feel blessed and so very thankful ~

Happy Tuesday dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Counting my blessings ~

It was such a gorgeous fall weekend here in Georgia!!

Beautiful, bright blue skies and cool, crisp temperatures,

I just love fall so much ~

I certainly didn't plan on spending

one of those gorgeous weekend days

in our local emergency room.

Yes, all of Saturday and into the night.

Why?

Because I've been neglecting my health.

I've had shortness of breath for several months now,

trouble sleeping through the night and

lately awful swelling in the evenings.

I truly had reached my breaking point Saturday morning

and my DH convinced me to go.

After a scary wait, many tests, and even more waiting ~

they determined I had extremely high blood pressure

and so much fluid inside me that it was in my lungs!

They gave me much needed medication and within

a few hours I finally felt like a human being again.

I'm so, so very thankful we went and now I will be

following up with my doctor

who I've neglected to visit for a VERY long time. (OBVIOUSLY)

I've already made several lifestyle changes
the most important being
eating healthier and moving more!!!

Why am I sharing this with you?

We have just GOT to take care of ourselves!!!

Do not ignore small warning signs

and let them trouble you for months...
I am evidence that they will not go away
and only worsen with time.

So today, even more so than usual ~

I am TRULY counting my blessings!!!!

Now...

for a few photos I took while working on

a few more Christmas candy cups:

I just added these two to the shop!!

Wishing you a beautiful Monday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Don't you love finishing things?!

I finished my new mixed media collage!

I love working with these elements...but I guess you know that ~

Antique lace, beautiful old images, vintage sheet music and of course,

the old luggage pocket! These are my favs and I can't help

but enjoy creating something with these beautiful things.

Here are a few photos of my finished project to share with you:

And while I was working on my collage,

I got a wild hair and decided to finish the little peat pot too!!

It's a tiny one...

covered in old lace, then even more lace,

embellished with a teeny ruffle

around the opening and cream tulle stuffed inside.

Hung of course with beautiful seam binding to adorn

a Christmas tree and hold a few precious candies!!

It always feels so good to make a few new things ~

and what feels even better?

They both sold to a precious repeat customer of mine

the minute I listed them in my Etsy shop!!!

Wishing you a beautiful fall Thursday dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Everyday ideas...transformed into Christmas...what can you come up with?

So did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving??

I hope you did sweet friends ~

We have two....one Thursday with Dennis' family

then another Saturday with my family.

The only "great" thing is that

at Thursday's dinner someone brought an unwanted guest...

a stomach virus!!!

Over 3/4ths of the family's has had it now including myself.

I'm hoping this new week will be a healthy week!!!

It's time for us to bring out the Christmas decorations around here

and sometimes I love looking at past projects to see if

I can transform them into something for Christmas...

A tiny banner I made a few years ago...

I can see these made for Christmas,

can you tell how small it is?

Remember Martha's  pom poms?

You can find some wonderful holiday tissue paper right now,

after making these I can see a tiny misting of spray adhesive and

then sprinkling them with clear glitter to add sparkle.

Mini pom poms would make sweet light weight ornaments too....

Christmas cards displayed on a simple strip of ribbon....

I didn't make this last one but always wanted to!

I've not been very creative lately....except for my snowmen ~

I'm eager to get in the studio!!!!

Wishing you a very happy Monday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Angel gifts ~

That's truly what these are, angel gifts.
From a precious friends hands to my home and heart.....

Sandy of Quill Cottage sent me the most beautiful creation.....

The box alone is gorgeous....
I opened the lid and saw the tiniest little shoe ~
created from beautiful pieces of nature!!! My heart just jumped!

Can you believe all of the details Sandy
incorporated into this one precious shoe??

I will treasure it always dear friend, thank you SO MUCH!!!!!
~ Be sure to visit Sandy's Shoppe
HERE to see more of her gorgeous artwork ~

Also, I received a box filled with treasures from Erica of Sweet Millie's!!!
Thoughtful little things that Erica knows I love....
in shades of robin's egg blue, sepia and cream ~
I am just blown away, Erica!!!!
I love your style, your sweet creations,
the precious ornament with buttons and sparkles...
the crumpled little baby shoes....the candle with a feather!!
Just everything is beautiful, thank you so much dear friend.
I'm so undeserving but so very thankful!!

Little touches make these gifts over-the-top special!!

A couple of things from Ikea....
tiny little stash jars for the studio! All four were like 3.49!
Pretty shades of wrapping ribbon, .49!

And these wonderful stuffed animals came from Ikea....
they are ULTRA soft, have stitched eyes and
they can't wait to go live with sweet Clara...
(Brent and Emily have an English bulldog so I had to get him for only 4.99!)

And the precious elephant mommy with baby...only 9.99!!
Aren't they adorable?? I hope Clara loves them....

Clara had to go BACK to the doctor for the third time Friday.
She was not responding to the antibiotic and
had trouble breathing Thursday night through all of the congestion....
it scared us all!!! They changed her medication
to good ole' amoxicillin and they are giving
her breathing treatments now....precious babe...
we were so worried and everyone didn't get to sleep
until after 3:00 a.m. Brent and Emily are exhausted ~
I'm hoping and praying that they are sleeping well tonight....

I have a wonderful giveaway to share with you!!!
Polly at Sassafras Stuff is having her 100th Post Giveaway!!!
~ Just click HERE to comment to be entered ~

I hope you have a wonderful weekend my dear friends ~
hugs and love,
Dawn