Gathered treasures ~

This morning after everyone had left for work and school, I noticed the sunlight pouring through our living room into a bookcase. I walked over and noticed how beautiful the sun was shining on these tattered old books.....how beautiful they were even with their rips and stains ~ I collect these BECAUSE of their rips and stains. They have character ~

Old speckled string ~

A beautiful framed print that was a gift from my son ~

Old door knobs gathered in a jar that has no lid ~ and a nest peeking out with speckled quail eggs.

All of these objects really have nothing to do with one another except that they have character and now that they are displayed on our bookcase, behind pretty glass doors, they have an importance again. Maybe not in the way of their original purpose but just to be loved for what they are now.....lost, found, and treasured.

A little shower prep update:

A peek at the corsage that I completed today!!! Plus I found the most wonderful Laura Ashley goodies for a prize to give away at the shower. The picks are finished, the candle mats are done. I'm working on more pom poms and will just quit when I get tired of making them! (which could be sooner rather than later :) I should get the flowers tomorrow evening so I can work on the tiny arrangements ~

Wishing you a very happy Thursday sweet friends!

xxoo, Dawn

Sock flowers....cupcakes....fruit tea!

I finally worked on Emily's corsage for the baby shower today! These socks are not my favorite to work with but they were so inexpensive that she will keep the corsage as a keepsake and not disassemble it. I finally shaped them into something that resembles a flower I think! I need some pretty leaves to add in and will be adding ribbons and a few charms.

The picks are slowly but surely getting finished. I decided to have pink trimmed ones too!

Remember the cool Fiskars paper punch that I showed you?

Well, I'm not sure if they are on sale at your Michael's but the ad that was just emailed to me this week for my area says that all punches are 40% OFF!!! So you can use your coupon for something else :)

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments about me posting so much about the shower. I always just share on the blog what I'm up to in my life and love doing it ~

I still have to gather all of the ingredients of what I'm making for the food. I'm making my sour cream/buttermilk poundcake batter and using it for the cupcakes! I hope that they turn out good. You can find the recipe on my blog HERE if you'd like to give it a try, it. is. DIVINE!

Homemade spinach dip with crackers, fresh strawberries with cream cheese/marshmallow creme dip, mixed nuts and a vegetable tray with ranch dip. I love buying the classic ranch packet and making the dip recipe! Oh and I'm going to make Fruit Tea which is amazing tasting but thought I might buy the Red Zinger Celestial Seasonings brand to make the sweet tea base so it would be pink!!!

To make the fruit tea you use two family sized tea bags (I'll use about 7 of the reg. size) steeped in 2 cups of water in the microwave for 4 min., add one cup of sugar and water to fill a one gallon container. Then take the one gallon of sweet tea and add 1 big can unsweetened pineapple juice, 1 can of frozen orange juice concentrate, 1 can of frozen lemonade concentrate and half of a two liter of ginger ale ~ it's delicious!!

Wishing you all a wonderful Monday sweet friends!!

xxoo, Dawn

Help ~ I can't stop myself!!

Well, I guess I'll have to stop making things eventually because the shower is only a week away now!! But I do love making things and what better reason is there than for our first grandchild's baby shower ~

I started on the cupcake picks today and I'm really pleased with the way my prototype turned out! I received an email a few days ago from Lana, a sweet reader friend of the blog and she told me that she gathers her crepe paper on the sewing machine. I remember trying that a while back and it was successful but I forgot what a time saver it is.

She mentioned that she places her finger behind the pressure foot using a long stitch and that it bunches up and gathers as you sew. I couldn't seem to make it work that way but I did gather it up in front of the pressure foot then I would sew over the gathers. Am I doing this correctly? Maybe you have a better technique that I'd love to know about ~ please comment and let me know....thank you so much Lana for guiding me in the right direction!!

I've sandwiched the gathered crepe paper between posterboard and the image of the baby plus added a small bamboo skewer in the sandwich as well. I had to trim the crepe paper as I didn't want a super huge ruffle getting all in the frosting! I'll probably pop them in the cupcakes right before serving them at the shower.

I need to work on Emily's corsage :)

OH!! And my new toy that I used on the cupcake picks is a paper punch from Fiskars that I bought last week at Michael's (with a coupon too.) You can see where you are placing your tool to cut and then just squeeze together the handles! I love it ~ (I showed it to my DH and he said, "so, all it does is cut circles...." well....he just doesn't "get" it!)

Another little idea, I found this chipboard book at Michael's for 1.00! Well, I took it apart (and of course saved the rings) but sprayed one side with spray glue, pressed tacky side down on the back of pretty paper then trimmed out with the exact-o knife. I'm hoping to use these as candle mats ~

Well, I'm sure after this week is over you will be so very tired of baby everything but please endulge me for a little longer!! After the shower I'm having my blogiversary giveaway and I'm going to be making something plus I have extra gifts from a special friend of mine so there will be more than one winner!

Wishing you a restful, peaceful Sunday sweet friends ~

xxoo, Dawn

Never underestimate the dollar store ~and sweet baby gifts from a friend!

I've been meaning to get to the dollar store to check out what they might have to help me with supplies or with decorating for the baby shower. It's coming up fast, Feb. 7th, and I need to be getting things pulled together!

I found sweet pink plates, napkins, forks, balloons (I think I'll have them filled with helium that day), toothpicks because I'm dying to make cupcake picks (we'll see if I get it done :) OH and look at the little blue and pink frames, both for a dollar and I want to put Emily's baby photo in the pink and Brent's in the blue! The baby socks are because I want to make a corsage for Emily to wear ~ I've made one before but I'm a little rusty!

I bought the tissue just because and I love those little tin containers for holding favor candy but I didn't buy them for the shower.....don't you think they would be wonderful to alter for artwork?? 3 for a dollar, you just can't beat it!

So at least I've gotten started now and tonight at Michael's I found a cupcake decorating kit and picked it up with a coupon! Now I need to get busy with all of these things that I want to make!

Today I received the sweetest gift from Charlene of My Heart's Ease......goodies for the baby shower, games and cards for writing advice for the new mother and just look at the precious baby hat!!! And also a wonderful grandmother book, I look forward to reading this....

Charlene I just love it all, thank you so much! And Clara is going to be beautiful in this sweet hat!

Such sweet friends I've found here these last two years. Each and every day I look forward to sharing things with you. Thank you for visiting me!!

hugs to you all and happy Wednesday ~

xxoo, Dawn

You just never know when you'll use that snippet of inspiration!

Seems like years ago I clipped the page below from a magazine, I can't even remember which one it came from! I looked but didn't see a name.... I loved this idea of using these precious baby planters for decorating a baby shower! Isn't it funny that then I didn't have a clue that I would be using this sweet idea for our very own grandchild's shower!!

I love lambs and being in the antiquing business, I would run across these adorable planters. I saved these as they were my favorites. I've always used them to decorate my artroom as I love to collect vintage baby items. Well, now I can actually use them for what they were originally intended.

Don't you love it when things work out like that?

A sweetie for you ~

Wishing you a very happy, warm and cozy Wednesday dear friends ~

It's getting cold down here in the south!

xxoo, Dawn

It's always fun planning a baby shower!

And planning one for our very own grandbaby, sweet Emily and Brent? WONDERFUL! I've starting thinking of ideas....Emily loves antiques and all things vintage just like I do....and I DO have a lot of vintage and antique baby items so we agreed on an vintage baby theme for the shower!!

I have a beautiful lamb planter that I love that would be adorable on the table with the cake. Plus I have several other baby planters....maybe with fresh flowers inside, all one color...so as to draw attention to the planter as well. I'll have to show you a photo of these things, I'm just thinking right now.

I'm going to make the invitations....last week Michael's had their economy blank card packs half price so I bought a package of white and a package of ivory, not knowing what would work with the images I have.

Several years ago I purchased a lot of antique baby cards from a seller on ebay with the MOST beautiful graphics ever! I'll scan a few designs in, print them out and paste onto the cards ~ Maybe even frame one just for Emily. When I scan them in, I'll be sure to share them too!

Plus I know I want to make a beautiful banner to hang in the bay window ~ something that she could save as a keepsake.....We're planning on the first weekend in February as all others are quite booked up 'till the baby's birth.....Can you tell I'm getting excited??

I want to make the cake too.....a sour cream/buttermilk pound cake with wonderful buttercream icing! Maybe have strawberries with marshmallow cream cheese dip, spinach dip with an assortment of crackers, and a few more things....Oh and Fruit Tea ~ this stuff is the BEST. It's like a gallon of sweet tea, mixed with one can of frozen concentrate orange juice, one can frozen lemonade, and I think one can of pineapple juice...it's so yummy.

I have several wonderful vintage chenille spreads, maybe I could make a sweet blanket out of several squares and use it on the dining table as a table scarf then after it's laundered ~ it will be a blanket for the babe?

For party favors, I'm thinking of making instant Russian tea mix and placing it in those squatty canning jars and covering the lids with pretty fabric circles with the edges pinked and tied with ribbon. Have you ever went to a baby shower and received a really nice party favor? What was it? I'd love to know if you have an other ideas ~ I don't want to give them something they'll want to chunk in the trash when they get home! :)

I think I'd better get busy, don't you? If you have any other ideas to decorate for the vintage baby shower, I'd love to hear them!!! Wishing you all a restful and relaxing Sunday dear friends ~

xxoo, Dawn