Beautiful roses...wonderful finds!

The day before the yard sale weekend before last,

a sweet college friend came over for a sneak peek preview

and ended up visiting with us most of the evening...

we had the best time catching up!!!

Don't you love friends like that?

No matter how much time passes,

you always just pick right up where you left off ~

You may remember that she was so generous

and created the sweet arrangements for Emily's baby shower for me!

Tammy owns her own flower shop, One Rose Florist in Jonesboro, GA

and showed up with a gorgeous bouquet of roses for me!!!

They were fading this past weekend so I clipped them off to dry...

I love them just as much now as I did when she gave them to me!!!

Appreciating the beauty at every stage....

I made a little trip to Michael's this weekend and found several treasures!

You know I have to share with you so here's a look....

In the jewelry section I found a whole new batch of Industrial Chic products and these

gorgeous Rhinestone looking pins had to come home with me!!!

Don't you love their dollar section??

I found these sweet Mary Engelbreit cards and this pen!

The pen ended up being only .01 cent!!!!!

Of course I had a 40% off coupon and applied it to this big ol' pack of Creative Paperclay ~

I've had the hankering for a LONG time to work on an art doll...

I'm still trying to muster the courage though!

I'm such a freak and don't want it to look like a hot mess ~

And FINALLY my Michael's had this perfect flesh color of Martha Stewart paint...

 

And I found the latest issue of Somerset Life...it is BEAUTIFUL!

So it came home with me too.

And the crazy thing? They already had some of the French General line on clearance

so I scooped up this wonderful ribbon...

 

Lisa gave me some French General fabric for my birthday a while back

so I thought the ribbon would look perfect with it!

Maybe for a few lavender sachets?

And lastly a new Etsy listing!

This piece didn't make it into the yard sale

because, well...

it's too pretty!!

Click HERE if you're interested ~

I always feel like I don't thank you ENOUGH.

For taking the time out of your busy day to visit me

and to see what I'm up to ~

Thank you so, so much!!!

Wishing you a beautiful Monday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

OK, I'll admit it...I'm a gatherer ~

Like you didn't already know this!!!
If you've read my blog for any length of time
you'll find that I'm always, always hunting and gathering
goodies and supplies to stock my studio.
ESPECIALLY for a great price.
I don't think being an artist has to be expensive, do you?

Here's my recent gathering of goodies ~
The eyelash yarn was on sale at Hobby Lobby ~
I love using things like this!
The moss collection (yes, I paid for moss!)
was at Michael's, but just look at it!!!
The burlap garland was at Michael's too ~
I don't know what I'll use it for but that doesn't really matter...
The ruffled ribbon was half price at Hobby Lobby ~
and again, I don't know what I'll use it for, but it's wonderful!!

Here are few close-ups:

You can see why they call this eyelash yarn ~
I found it HERE online...

Isn't this ribbon beautiful?
You can find it HERE online too!

The wire cloche was a clearance item at Hobby Lobby and had
a very large bent cross on top ~ so I removed the damaged
piece and added my very own sparkly embellishment!
I ended up using E6000 glue for this ~

A few little guys in the process of getting finished...
(I promise I'm not going to say the "p" word again)

And on my relentless quest to easily dye this ugly gray Spanish moss...
look what I had on hand and just thought of it!!!
Walnut spray ink!
I only use it as an accent under the nests
but want the color to be pretty.

So that was my wild Monday.... today I keep little miss Clara and plan on
taking her into the studio to play in her playpen while I create!!!

OH, I almost forgot to tell you this incredible new jewelry
component line that Michaels had!!!
You can read more about it HERE and HERE....
The charms and pendants look handmade!!!!

I hope you have a great Tuesday precious friends!!!!
hugs and love,
from a die-hard gatherer...
Dawn

Keeping the spirit ~

It's always bittersweet when I see pretty lights glowing
on people's homes after Christmas.
It's like they don't want it all to be over....
they want to extend the goodness....
to make it last just a little bit longer.

I always felt that way when I was a child too.
After Christmas eve, after Christmas and then my birthday,
I just wanted the wonderfulness to keep going!!
Yes, New Year's eve and New Year's day were just around the corner
but they weren't the same for some reason.
They didn't hold the "magic" that Christmas did.

But time marches on and we must remember to be thankful
each and every day, to make each day special and
remember to show others kindness and consideration
even when Christmas is over ~
We can keep the goodness going....

Sweet Clara studying the ribbon on one of her gifts Christmas eve....
She's finally just about over that awful bronchitis

She's looking a little serious about this gift business!

Such a sweet angel....she just turned nine months old the 23rd of Dec!

Here's one of my birthday goodies that I found while shopping Saturday ~
I ended up at Michael's with a 50% off coupon
and took the plunge and bought one of these rolling organizers.
It was originally 89.00 and I got it for about 45.00!
Plus I put it together all by myself!
Now I've decided I'd like to have another one ~ we'll see though....

The drawer thingee was a Christmas gift from Dennis!
We found it at Hobby Lobby (I love how it looks old!)
and used a 40% off coupon on it ~
and the jars are Christmas gifts from Dennis as well.
I love storage, can you tell?

I found the mini iron at Hobby Lobby Saturday too (coupon)
and want to use it with the beeswax ~
we'll see if I can do this wax collage stuff....
plus some gesso and styrofoam balls on sale ~

A book I've been looking at and a bundle of sticks!

I guess it looks like some crazy things to buy with your birthday money, huh?
Now I'm in a mega creative mood and
have to get a few art pieces produced and out of here
in the next week for Pam Carriker's book!!!
I feel like I can really concentrate on them now ~

I hope that your Christmas was absolutely wonderful....
And thank you all so very much
for your precious birthday wishes, you SO made my day!!!!!



"A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature."

Ralph Waldo Emerson



Have a wonderful Monday sweet friends ~
hugs and love,
Dawn

A little trip, a little art & a new tutorialat Lessons from The Nest

I took a little trip out Wednesday afternoon to make a run to the post office. My chubby bird is on her way to North Carolina! I have to make my standard Books-A-Million and Michael's run. I did find the new MaryJane's Farm magazine ~ I still have to sit down to enjoy it! I love all of the vintage images they use inside and such wonderful ideas....

I happened to have my camera in my purse and when I saw these beautiful apothecary jars at Michael's, I had to snap a few shots of this isle. Just look at all of these beauties! Very mercury glass-ish, don't you think? I didn't purchase any today but wanted you to see how beautiful it all was ~

Being the bargain shopper that I am, I did buy these wonderful metal stars for about 40% off each. They are on sale this week ~ they measure about five inches from side to side. They look adorable in the rust finish that they have but I want to play a little and give them a makeover!

When looking through the closet in my art room, I came across a couple of small drawings that I had made for my grandmother and grandfather one Christmas. I must have been around 12 years old or so, I just loved to draw. You can so tell that I was a young teenager in the early seventies as these little characters look very similar to some that were out back then. They've both passed on now but I'm so glad that I have these to remember my sweet grandparents ~

Click any of my photos to enlarge them :)

And lastly, I finished my new tutorial for the Nest Assemblage!! I've listed it for sale at my Lessons from The Nest blog too ~ This is a wonderful start to get you to creating these fun projects. I share the products that I like using and show step-by-step photographs on how I go about making one. This will be just the beginning of making assemblages for you. You will want to make many more! The themes are endless and you can build them inside all types of objects. I love to have mine "say" something or have a message ~ just as a visual reminder....

Click HERE to visit the store ~

I have a few tutorials that I've provided for free here on my blog ~ they're way back in the archives but I'll get together their links and list them in my sidebar for you.

Do you ever have so many ideas swimming in your mind that you can't even decide what to do first?? I am just about to bust with ideas right now!! I want to make a tiny fairy shoe, crafted from paperclay and adorn it with something...I'm not sure yet what..wouldn't they be lovely as Christmas ornaments???..I'd like to make several little snowman heads from paperclay to hang on the Christmas tree, paperclay over styrofoam balls....I'd love to start making a sock monkey for my soon-to-be-here granddaughter.....and what about trying an altered book! Plus, I have these great canvas totes that I found somewhere...I want to adorn them with images that I've printed out on fabric ~ ugh! You get the idea....I'm absolutely nuts!

Thank you always for stopping by to see me ~ I love your kind comments, your uplifting words and most of all your sweet friendship!

Wishing you great Thursday ~

xxoo, Dawn