Sharing a little birthday love!

Little might just be the wrong word to use though!!!

And yes, my birthday is the day after Christmas but

my precious friend Lisa and I are known for not being

on time for our birthday gifts to one another.

I just have to share with you

all the amazingly, wonderful goodies

she gave me!!!

Some of the photos are a little repetitive but

I know you like pics and I tried to get close ups ~

She packaged everything so sweet!!!

Each parcel had a number and on the back of each tag

Lisa wrote a little note to me...

Here is a shot before I opened the packages:

And here's after....WOW!!!!

Look at all of the precious treasures!!!!

She SO knows what I love.

All types of sweet baby shoes, a few baby dresses too.

Gorgeous antique lace and a porcelain half doll!

Antique children's photographs and old photo album pages.

Vintage rhinestone pins and postcards.

See the teeny doll shoe?? LOVE!

And yes, at the bottom of the photo below are a few very small animal skulls.

I hope that doesn't creep you out but I love the beauty of nature

(and Lisa knows it)

and will create a shadow box just to showcase them all!!!

Several pieces of the new Tim Holtz fabric, isn't it beautiful???

Wonderful feathers to use in artwork.

An amazing book about old dolls ~ I just love it!!!

And lastly, a few back issues of a magazine from the UK that I love, Daphne's Diary!!!!

Absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Dear sweet Lisa,

Thank you soooo very much for my gifts...

and for your precious friendship...
you continually inspire me to be creative ~

I love you girl!!!!

Happy Monday sweet friends and

Happy March too!!!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Because I know you love what I love...

I have to share this goodness with you!!!

A dear family member of ours has been doing a little purging

and gifted me some of the MOST. GORGEOUS. LACE. EVER!!!

She's given me some lace before as her brother and his wife

used to make heirloom Christening gowns.

She inherited the lace and has now passed it on to me!!!

I feel so honored and also am totally inspired

to create beautiful things with it!

Please just take a peek at this sweet basket full...

Also, I wanted to share with you

what I do to my baby shoes

when creating little baby shoe pincushions.

You can find my tutorial in my Etsy store but

when the shoes are really scuffed and quite worn,

I like to give them a coat of matte or flat paint

to give them a fresh look!!

Believe it or not, I had purchased a Benjamin Moore color sample

a few years ago, in Manchester Tan, and have been using it!!!

It's such a pale, neutral khaki and looks so beautiful on the shoes.

Who knew?

Using house paint to refresh tiny baby shoes!!

I finally feel like I'm getting back into my groove...

and I'm also kinda glad that I've been procrastinating on making a few

more memory organizers because NOW I have a great new

supply of lace to choose from!!!!

Happy Tuesday precious friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

Working on a few little treasures ~

Talk about a flashback!

I just finished TWO baby shoe pincushions for my Etsy shop

and I really enjoyed making them again.

It truly was a flashback as it's been quite a long

time since I've made one of these.

They were the first thing I ever had published in Somerset Life

way back in 2008!

These are so sweet too...I actually painted the leather!

Baby shoes, as you know, can look pretty rough and

I just used a beautiful pale khaki/cream color and painted

all the scuffs and knicks away.

Then I added to cushion, seam binding laces, bundles of vintage buttons

and of course some vintage lace and trim.

Here are a few photos of the finished pincushions...

they're in my Etsy shop now!

I actually used some of this AMAZING trim on the shoes.

Isn't it just beautiful???

Now to finish this little nature assemblage ~

This is a very small drawer (it's only about 4 3/4" high not counting the handle)

that I believe came from a jewelry chest of some sort.

I've painted it, antiqued it then lined it with some incredible wrapping paper

I found at Marshall's or TJ Maxx? I can't remember...

Now I need to secure the nest

I embellished with teeny eggs and feathers

then add a few more finishing touches!!

My little bird friend is still building her nest furiously

but has yet to grab any of my threads or laces.

Maybe they smell too much like humans, who knows.

I'll take another photo soon to share with you!

Wishing you a wonderful Friday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

An old friend . . .

That's what this wonderful project is ~

an old friend to me.

I created my very first baby shoe pincushion

when I first started my blog

and have always loved them!

I even made a tutorial for them too!
They also were my very first published artwork ~

I had a special request to create one for a customer and did just that.....

here's the little sweetie:

I dig in my button jars to find just the right jewels to adorn these.

Simple in design but that's the point....not to be too much, you know?

Makes me love my buttons all the more ~ just to have something to choose from.

So while I'm creating this little guy, I ran across a few more lost treasures....

Lone little baby shoes I've collected just waiting to be something more than an afterthought ~

These little treasures are lost and forgotten ~

isn't it wonderful that we can transform them into something pretty?

I have such a love for cast offs ~
I just can't help myself....


Wishing you a wonderful Thursday precious friends!
hugs and love,
Dawn

Small treasures ~

Having been in the antiques business for years, I've accumulated my fair share of goodies!

You shop to sell but it seems some items just don't make it to the store or booth :)

If you buy what you love, and if that something doesn't sell, it's no biggie...
just bring it home!!

Some items are purchased with full knowledge that you have no intention of selling

them at all ~ but while you're out junkin' you never know what you'll find.

The Country Living Fair was really wonderful

but with this small farmhouse being quite full,

I tend to look for tiny treasures.

And not just any small treasures either ~

I love old,

wrinkled,

stained,

interesting

and beautiful small things.

But most of all, I love CHEAP.

I didn't buy much but here is my sweet, little bounty:

Beautiful old lace pieces ~

Hand-dyed silk ribbon ~ dyed with walnut shells!

And don't miss the sweet ironstone bowl,

crackled and stained to perfection.

A lovely old Longfellow book ~ just looking at it makes me smile...

Look at the gorgeous old compact!

I've discovered that sometimes when I shop,

everything ends up looking wonderful together!

A pair of Victorian baby shoes....

Two incredible old composition books filled with notes and sketches on Botany ~

See how pretty these things look together?

One last thing to share ~ I made Karin and I matching flea bags for the fair!

I have a few more in the works that will soon be in my Etsy shop too....

I hope your week has started off wonderfully!!

I'm enjoying every moment of our beautiful fall weather ~

Have a great Tuesday dear friends!

hugs and love,

Dawn