Don't you just love it when an idea works?!

Here's an adorable image for you....isn't he/she precious??

So, I'm still working on my peat pots...
good grief, it's taking me forever to get going on these!!

Anyway, I bought a big ol' bag of Spanish moss from
Hob Lob and was planning on using it to fashion the nests
for the peat pots. But the color was just too gray for me.
I wanted brown and sepia tones ~
Then I thought, why not try coffee like I use on tags and paper!

So I grabbed a small bunch, dipped it in the coffee
then squeezed out the excess ~ the results were great!!
I even started molding the nest into shape while the moss was still damp.
The color was great, the shape was good too ~ but the
coffee scent was just too much for me.
I want you to notice the artwork, not so much the smell!

Here's a photo of the coffee moss after it dried.

Then I remembered I had a bottle of brown Rit dye!
I mixed up a couple of quarts of very hot water and
about a fourth of a cup of the dye.
I dipped the moss in,
wrung it out and placed in on several layers
of paper towels to dry.
(Oh, I did wear gloves too!)
I just LOVE the color!!!
It's so neat, you can really dye most anything you want to!!!

I've been playing with a few other things too~
It's always good for me to do that before I bring out the glue!

I found a few goodies to share with you too!!

Sachiko of Tea Rose Home shares how to make this gorgeous t-shirt HERE!!!

Marie of Spun by Me is having a 600th Post Giveaway HERE!!

Wishing you a great Tuesday dear friends ~
hugs and love,
Dawn

Did you know.....?

That at the bottom of my blog, there is a LONG list of "tags" or "labels" that I've used on my posts. If you need a vintage image that I posted a long time ago or would even like to look at what I've given away in the past, scroll down to the labels list and click on "free vintage images"! All the posts with those tags will come up....and be sure to click on older posts because if there's been a lot of posts with that label or tag, you will need to keep clicking older posts until you reach the very first one that I gave away!!

So anyway, the labels are there to help you find something that you've seen here before!

I guess I'm making up for not posting in a few days!!!
hugs and love, Dawn

A little organizing idea ~

Not that I'm the most organized person in the world BUT I do love magazines (as well as books). They give me amazing inspiration and I've loved them since I was a teenager! What do you do with all of them though? I finally had to break down and begin slicing pages of my most favorite ideas, looks, paint techniques, etc. and I slipped them into protective page covers. I placed them in notebooks and then, guess what I have? The. most. amazing. magazine. EVER!!

These notebooks are like sitting down with a magazine chock full of everything that I love. My taste, my colors ~ great ideas that I don't want to forget about. Funny thing is though, I have about twelve of them now!!! What I really need to do is take them all, remove the plastic pages and organize them by content.

Especially if you are about to redecorate or re-do a room. Start looking through magazines for ideas you love, looks you love and put them all together in a notebook. Then you can take it to the store with you when you are looking for specific items. Your idea notebook will guide you into getting the look that you love!

Don't worry though, I can't cut up some magazines. They are too treasured and will just have to go to the grave with me!! So, sit down in the evening with your exacto knife (be careful!) and slice away, slip into protective sheet covers and begin building your most favorite magazine to enjoy!

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I've just finished some wonderful projects that I am about to bust to show you but I can't. I know that just makes you want to thump me in the head but you will see them one of these days, hopefully in print!!!

Have a great Wednesday sweet friends ~ xxoo, Dawn

Don't you just love trying new things??

I love beautiful lace and doilies.
These pieces were created by loving hands so many years ago.
Well I had the idea to take apart a broken watch,
take the face out (I love using those in artwork!)
and then snipping out a treasured section of lace trim
then inserting into the little watch face.
I replaced the back and added a few charms to the bottom!!
Now to find a pretty chain,
I'll have a wonderful one-of-a-kind necklace to sell!

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Next experiment today was to take an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of

regular white printer paper and

spray it with spray adhesive.

Then I pressed a piece of very thin fabric

and then turned the sticky piece

of paper upside down onto the fabric.

Using my rotary cutter and a ruler,

and using the edges of the paper as my guide,

I trimmed the fabric on all sides

the exact same size as the paper.

As you can see below the fabric I chose first

was not such a success,

the ink did something really yucky on the right edge

and there are little filaments or something

all over the fabric . . . .

Now this is more like like it!!!

I used a very thin muslin, pressed it very flat,

sprayed a new 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of regular printer paper

with the spray glue and then turned it upside down on the fabric.

Trimmed it very cleanly with the rotary blade

and put it in my printer just like a sheet of paper.

You do have to make sure that you know

how your printer accepts paper to be printed on.

Mine happens to be face down in the tray.

Just draw an X on the front of a piece of paper

near the top and print something small on it.

This should show you how your printer prints.

I did take out all other paper.

I do have two printers and printed this on my old one

because I was terrified I would have a wadded up mess

inside but because I had coated my sheet well

with the glue it stayed put!!!

Now . . . I just need to sew

something together using this beautiful fabric!!!

Catherine just commented that if I cut a perfect 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of FREEZER PAPER and iron it to the muslin,

trim the fabric and such that I don't have to use spray glue!!!

HOW COOL IS THAT?? Thanks Catherine!

EDITED TO ADD:

I've found an even EASIER way!!

Now I buy full 8 1/2" x 11" sticker paper sheets

at the office supply store and simply

place them face down onto the pressed muslin,

trim neatly around the edges with

a rotary cutter and ruler and

VOILA!!

I'm ready to print!!

Also, I have a very basic HP Inkjet Printer/Scanner
that may have cost about 50.00....
but it does the job beautifully!!!

I just love sharing with you.

You all are my sweet friends and what are friends for??

xxoo, Dawn

A little tip about blogrolls ~

Have you taken a look at my new link page? Several other bloggers are doing this, Lidy at the French Garden House gave me the wonderful idea. I just love so many blogs that I want to share them with you!!

Do you know how I read them though? When I first started blogging, I would go down my blog roll clicking on each blog to see if they had added a new post. Well, many times they hadn't and I had to move on. Well, as you know, life happens and we can't always post daily. Then I discovered http://www.bloglines.com/ It is on this website I copy, save and paste my favorite blog locations and then I have a blogroll. When their particular name is featured in bold, I KNOW that they have posted something new!!! No more clicking to visit a blog that has not posted.

Now that's not to say you shouldn't have links posted on your blog. Posting your links shares with visitors the blogs that you love and your taste in particular. So, create a blogroll a www.bloglines.com but also post the blogs you love on your blog, or you can do as I did create a separate blog and list them, categorized!!! I'm a blog lover, OK??

I love sharing....xxoo, Dawn