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Blogging has become outdated but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

Let's see if this works....

I found this wonderful bird mold on ebay. It's really designed to make ceramic pieces but I wanted it for something else as I don't make ceramics or have a kiln. I wanted to try pressing paper clay into each side, join the two pieces and have a beautiful little bird ornament....here's my first attempt! We'll see how he dries....I love his chubbiness ~

I'm still fluffing ~ now that the bathroom is completely painted and cured, I've been on the search for a beautiful shower curtain but still haven't found the right one. I know I could sew one but just don't want to really....right now, I have cream walls, chocolate colored towels and rug....

I hope your week is going great and all of your Thanksgiving preparations are coming together!!
Wishing you a great Tuesday sweet friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

There is a time for everything.....

Can you believe this sweet angel??? Laying in her crib and loving the mobile her daddy bought for her! Just click on the photo to see her long eyelashes....she's really such an angel and growing SO VERY FAST! She's going to see her other grandmother and her great-grandmother this weekend and they are in for such a treat!!!!

And what is it time for you ask? Time for our baby bird to be free ~ Brent released the sweet bird this evening ~

Mama bird was not too happy with us, yelling every moment!!!

Do you see the sweetie in the center of the photo?

And then it flapped its sweet little wings and flew off!!! Mom was still close by though.....I never realized what wonderful parents birds are ~ (see the blur in the center of the photo)

Happy Wednesday sweet friends!
xxoo, Dawn

A rescue mission ~

The other night while taking the pups out, Brent noticed a baby bird had fallen from it's nest right in the front yard. He wasn't quite ready to fly and be out of the nest either. Well, there were three cats stalking around just waiting to get their paws on the little guy. I had a vintage bird cage hanging in the studio so I added a few paper towels and some straw and we placed him inside for protection.

The next day Brent hung the cage on the porch next to the hanging ferns and we noticed that the mother bird was feeding her little baby through the cage!!!!! So he moved the cage out to the cluster of trees in our yard where the mom was living so her job would be much easier. The little bird is growing very quickly and we should be able to release him any day now....he's working out his wings and getting stronger every day!

Can you see the mom in the tree beside the cage? She's so diligent and nuturing ~

Our sweet graduate last night ~ we're so very proud of him!! The weather was perfect, a breeze blowing all the time and quite mild. The ceremony went wonderful and Chase is now a graduate!!

We used the wheelchair, for hopefully the last time, to take Noah to the graduation ceremony ~

Even little Clara attended and was a perfect angel the entire time!

Wishing you a wonderful, relaxing weekend sweet friends!
xxoo, Dawn