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

I've done nothing.

I mean it!

I haven't even been able to TOUCH my assemblage!

I've been shipping out orders from our

1925 Farmhouse Goods shop

and....

we now have full ownership of the soap business!!!!!

Yes, we were involved with the soap creation for a while

but NOW...it is totally ours!

If you were a former customer and dissatisfied,

please give us a new chance ~

I'm just so glad that it is all finally OURS!

Take a peek at our new shop if  you can!

Me and my sweet hubs will be creating each and every piece ourselves now!!!

Just think

party favor

shower favor

wedding favor!!!

Thank you always, always for visiting me here and

being so precious to me with all of my endeavors!!!

Wishing you a beautiful Friday dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

I don't know if I'm an "official farmgirl" but... we've got chickens!!!

I've always loved animals.

When I was just eleven years old I had about five rabbits

and even bred them for a short time!

The baby bunnies would just melt your heart....

Our new chicks (well, they are really a couple of weeks old) we bought

Saturday have already grown like little weeds!!

Here's some pics from Monday afternoon playing under the pecan trees.....

Ellie's being such a good sport and tolerating our new additions to the family!

We purchased two each of three different breeds...

Ameraucana,

Plymouth Rock and

Rhode Island Red ~

Here's what the little ones should grow up to look like:

SO.

Monday, my eldest son Brent and I

headed to Lowe's to buy a little bit of lumber!

You know I'm always trying to watch my pennies so we

ended up spending about 60.00 on lumber

and some metal roofing

to make a coop for them!!

In just three hours Brent finished it!!!!

Here is a photo he sent me with his phone right before finishing the roof ~
I just LOVE IT!!!

He's going to make a plank to go from the ground up to the door ~

I'll show a few more pics as soon as I can of the finished piece.

Now I just have to paint it to protect it from the elements!

Now I need to buy wire and lumber for the protective pen area outside of the coop.

Oh....and look at the eggs these sweet babies are supposed to give us:

Do you think Lowe's could color match that gorgeous shade of blue using an egg????

Thank you so very much for your wonderful anniversary wishes and

sweet words about my altered box!!!!

Wishing you a beautiful Tuesday my dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Feathered Friends ~

That is the name of my little artwork for you ~ as I feel that we are all such a network of friends....

This is where I stopped today and I should finish it with just a few more additions. I've layered papers, aged the edges with brown ink and even given the bird image a bit of a lift off of the background with a scrap piece of thick cardboard box! And you know how I'm loving cheesecloth....I had to add a bit of it as well ~

The eggs have been painted and speckled ~

I've pulled fibers from the cheesecloth to add to the nest (store bought from Hobby Lobby) with a large needle (still in the photo) ~









I'll embellish the nest using hand picked feathers from my collection!





I'll be sure to add the finished photo of my giveaway gift to my blogiversary giveaway post.....if you've not entered yet click
HERE
to enter to win this piece of artwork and other prizes as well!!




Have I ever mentioned a wonderful website that I love..... Pandora.com ~ it's an online radio station that you have NO commercials, you type in an artist you like, say Enya, and then you create your own Enya radio station! So then as you view your emails you can be relaxing to beautiful music! I also have a Thomas Newman radio station. Pandora plays music similar to that artist as well as their own songs.....just a little tidbit for you to enjoy!



Oh another thing I wanted to tell you.....you know I've been posting alot :) and have now for 2 years today! Well, I used every single bit of my memory for my photo storage on my blog....yes, it does run out but you have to post A TON of photos for it to happen. I think they give you 1 GB of photo storage (blogspot) and for 20.00 I purchased 10GB more, so now I'm good to go for a ton more posts!!!!



I hope that you're having a wonderful week ~ and I wish you great Wednesday sweet friends,

xxoo, Dawn

The little bird girl ~

I finished my altered baby dress!! I added the two pockets that I had shown earlier and a tiny pocket at the top just for found feathers! The little egg charm hangs from a rustic hanger that I made from a twig and twisted wire. A handmade tag with speckled eggs, a twig and birch bark are in one pocket and a little nest is in the other. I love the way it turned out!! It's not a dress to be worn though, just displayed....I do have a few little dresses I want to make for Clara though! You could even tuck in a few more nature finds!!

I'd love to offer it for purchase to my sweet readers first. If you're interested in purchasing this little artwork, it's 24.00 plus 6.00 priority shipping to the US ~ just email me at: sewmanyroses@yahoo.com

UPDATED: The little bird girl dress is sold!! Thank you so very much ~

Next, I've got to get busy on the invitations for the baby shower!!! Time's already flying by this year...

Wishing you a great Thursday sweet friends,

xxoo, Dawn

Encouragement ~ a true friend's gift

I love my friends here. What precious words and thoughts you always leave me....the encouragement and kindness is so amazing and uplifting in a way that I've never seen before. And, as you are given these gifts of encouragement from your friends, you want to give in return ~ because your heart is overflowing....isn't this how it's supposed to be?

A few pages from another library book The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady ~

Love to you all sweet friends ~

Wishing you a wonderful Thursday,

xxoo, Dawn

A kind word is never wasted ~

When I first started blogging and creating a few art pieces I received a wonderful email one day. The email was from Linda, the owner of Willow Nest! For those that don't know, Linda and her husband Ludmil had a beautiful place up in the northwest where they had amazing antique shows called Willow Nest Farm. They would have the shows right on their property! Her home was featured several times in magazines and her taste is just beautiful. Well, she complimented my artwork and suggested that I send some into Somerset for publication. They now live in Texas and have opened a beautiful store featuring all the things that they love.

I'll never forget her encouraging words to me. Sometimes all we need is just a sweet word to push us. A compliment to give us confidence. I appreciate her taking the time to contact me and give me that assurance I needed at the time. You just never know what kind of influence your kindness has on someone ~ Thank you so much Linda!

Please stop by her blog and watch her slide show, you. will. love it!!!

Both photographs below courtesy of Willow Nest

A gift image for you ~ speckled eggs that I printed onto sheet music!

Click to enlarge, then right click to save ~

I hope you have a great Wednesday sweet friends ~

xxoo, Dawn

Free images from my wonderful new book ~

I just couldn't wait, I had to scan in a few of these beautiful plates for you ~ feel free to save them to your computer . . .

Thank you so much, Kathy!!

I have the most wonderful surprise to show you!

OMGoodness.....I have the most wonderful friends here in this land of blog!! I received the most thoughtful gift Tuesday from Kathy at Shocking Pink Thread ~ a beautiful old book about bird homes!!! She had it wrapped so sweet, in vintage wallpaper no less ~ tied with antique lace, tulle, ribbon, flowers and bird tags....it was all so very beautiful and I saved each and every thing.

When I opened this treasure up, I could not believe my eyes!!!! Kathy!! Thank you so, so very much for this beautiful gift, I will treasure it always and I promise to scan and share some of these with all of you too! Just take a look:

This was so very sweet......Kathy, you know just what I love!!! Thank you again so very much ~

Brent and Emily arrived Tuesday afternoon! We were all so glad to see them and see Emily's sweet baby belly too! I've already been pulling out the boxes of baby things that I've saved and have given her some goodies....today I'm going to be digging for more ~ I love giving her things that were Brent's and she's appreciates them so much.

I hope that your week is going wonderful ~ I've been cleaning and visiting with family, not a whole lot of creating getting accomplished right now.....thank you always for stopping by to see what I'm up to, I appreciate it so much!!!

Have a happy Wednesday!!

xxoo, Dawn