Spring anyone?

We have been pretty busy around here!!!

Now that Easter has passed and it really IS officially spring,

Tammy and I have been planting so many

wonderful things!

Herbs, ferns, flowers and succulents.

Yesterday the deck was freshened up by new outdoor carpet

until we can get the floor replaced.

What a difference it has made!

New cushions on the chairs make it even better.

You have to plant and pot things here in Georgia

while temperatures are mild because

in about a month it will be pretty hot and steamy!

I just wanted to share a few photos of our beautiful deck!

Dill and basil ~

A beautiful arrangement of potted flowers Tammy put together!

Mint and more flowers.

I love ferns so we have them sprinkled all over.

Rosemary, parsley, oregano and thyme.

Asparagus ferns mixed with sedum. Flower plantings and a fox tail fern!

Chives!

Another gorgeous flower arrangement potted by sweet Tammy.

She does have the touch having been in the floral business for 40 years or so!

A small bed that we planted foxgloves and other flowers.

The plant in front of St. Francis is catnip!

I've hung a handmade wreath on our front screened door,

complete with fake greenery and fake bird's nest.

WELL a little sparrow thought it looked like home

and built her nest right beside the fake one!

We have five little eggs too!!!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little tour around the deck
and that spring has arrived for you as well!

We had better enjoy it this next month before the temps rise!

Thank you so much for stopping by to see what I'm up too,

Hugs and love,

Dawn

Today marks TWELVE YEARS for this little blog!

Can you even believe it??
February 11, 2007 I posted my very first post here.
I know I don't post as often anymore,
seems folks love Facebook and Instagram right now.

Blogging has become outdated but
truth-be-known,
I've met the most precious friends here!!!

Thank you always for visiting me and following
my life, my journey and my art.
And so, to celebrate I'll will actually POST today!!!!
HAHAHA!!!




I'm in love with all the precious birds in our new neighborhood!

It's an older neighborhood so the trees are huge and so we have

tons of different birds and other visitors too!

Even chubby squirrels ~ I'm sorry, I just love them!

I had hamsters when I was young and they remind me of them!

I started off with this lame bowl full of birdseed on the back deck

but after a heavy rain it instantly became soup!!!

I can see this sweet feeder from my computer so you know I love it but
something had to change.

I found this covered feeder at Wallyworld for only about 20 bucks.

Now, that's much better!!!

After days and days of rain in Georgia, it was so great to see the blue sky again!

We finally emptied our storage unit and put our leather furniture in the living room.

I'm so loving it all and very thankful for our boys who made it happen!

And guess what???

The studio is FINALLY taking shape and is looking wonderful!

Here's a sneak peak and I promise I will share more photos later.

The new studio is already inspiring me!!!

When you see all of your beautiful supplies, you are

reminded of the cool ideas that you had while buying them!

I can't wait to get back to creating but I have a bit more to unpack.

Says every hoarding artist!!!

But what I say is you can't create without supplies...

the more you have, the more you have to draw from.

Wishing you a sweet Valentine's Day dear friends!!!

You know I love you all ~

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

To embellish ~

: to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details.

Well, after seeing my sweet lavender sachets
sit in my Etsy shop for a few weeks,
that is EXACTLY what I did!!!
I embellished them even more!

I had to add a vintage watch face with pearl
to the very center...I love them!
AND
I added the last of some gorgeous lace I had
to the edges.

Take a peek in my shop if you are interested!!

Plus, I have to share the neatest thing ~

I've been cleaning up a bit for spring and hosed down our front porch,

cleaned out the planters, bleached the railings and

swept all the winter debris away.

Monday evening it was pristine and ready for some goodness.

Well, after lunch I finally went outside and this is what I find

on one of the small shelves at the end of our porch!

(That was CLEAN the evening before)

A precious bird's nest!!!!

Well, tonight I'm leaving out a plate of cut threads and lace from

beside my sewing machine ~ do you think the bird will use them??

I'll be sure to let you know!

Spring has definitely arrived here in Georgia this week!!!
Temps have been in the high seventies and
everything is SO GREEN!!!

Wishing you a beautiful April Wednesday precious friends,
hugs and love,Dawn

Un petit journal ~

Fancy, huh?

I just love that it says a small nature journal in French ~

We have a new Good Will that opened just a few days ago so

I had stop by to have a look!

I only found a few books and this was one of them.

It's not very big and is a wonderful kraft color....

Yes, the pages are printed on, but I have an idea to slice out a few

and continue embellishing them with some of my nature finds!

I started with the outside and completely covered it...

I just slathered on my fav matte gel medium,

pressed the paper on and trim out excess

with my handy exact-o knife.

I had to add the name of this sweet journal ~

See the color of the pages? A great foundation for my project.

I started digging in my files to find images that I'd already printed ~

I've even pulled out my pressed botanicals so I can add them too!

Well, it's a start!!

Now to begin the inside pages....

My prairie girl has reached her new home and she fits in perfectly!!

Thank you so much Deb....

Wishing you an amazing Wednesday precious friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn