Creating a little magic in the studio!

I've always loved fairies.

I love the idea of them existing,

watching over nature and living

in their magical woodland homes!

So for my latest project I decided to alter a wooden

house purchased at the craft store into a whimsical fairy house ~

Here's what I purchased at Hobby Lobby!

Not too special but a perfect piece for me to embellish.

I began by base painting it with normal acrylic paints in the little bottles.

After painting I wanted to age it a bit

and created a mossy wash and also a brown wash

to give it an older look, especially around the windows

and in the crevices.

I found a great cigar box to use as a platform and painted it as well.

Next I began adding all different kinds of natural elements.

I've been gathering these goodies for years!!

Some items are store bought like some of the moss and little wood cuts

but a lot is gathered from our yard right here at home.

Three different roof styles made it so much more charming and interesting!

A thatched roof was created from unwound jute, glued in overlapping layers.

One roof is created from pieces of pine cones and mosses.

And lastly, the other roof was made from river birch bark and

other bark pieces with lichen.

The more that was added, the more I loved it!!!

It's funny when you begin working on something like this.

You sometimes have to reel yourself in and decide

when it's time to stop.

So here is my finished piece!!!

I'm so pleased with how this fairy house turned out!!!

This sweetie has been now added to my Etsy store ~

Wouldn't it be a perfect gift for a nature lover?

~ PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VISIT ~

Thank you so much for always stopping by to see what I'm up to!

hugs and love,

Dawn

A precious overnight guest and a fairy house!

A few months ago I was at Hobby Lobby and ran across the most wonderful

driftwood birdhouse and it was on sale half off!

I looked at it and immediately knew it would be a great creative project for my

granddaughter Clara and I to transform into a fairy house!

So the right weekend presented itself and we planned for her to spend the night

at Mimi and Papa's and for us to have a creative time together.

Of course, I've gathered nature supplies over the years and had plenty of stash

to pull out for us to use to embellish the little house.

I had so many different types of moss, feathers, seed pods, acorn caps, sticks, straw, etc.

We pulled it ALL out!

And of course I had my favorite glue, Fabri-Tac (kind of like hot glue but cold and it dries so fast!)

Clara is now EIGHT years old and talked my head clean off during this project!

I loved it so much!!!!

She was adorable and told me, "Mimi, I think I may need to drink some milk...

my throat is hurting because I've talked so much!!"

HAHAHA!

Sweet, sweet girl. I pray we made a precious memory for her that evening.

We created the "shelves" from driftwood that were gifted to me from

my dear friend Dorthe in Denmark! How wonderful is that?

I told Clara how far away these little pieces had come that

we used on her little house.

It was Clara's idea to poke a speckled egg into the "chimney"!!! I love it!

The chimney is actually the cap from a large Burr Oak acorn!

Of course, the fairy house was hers to take home and remember our creative night together.

She was so proud of it!!!

A few close up photos of the finished fairy house!

We even had a little time for sketching too!

We had such a sweet time together!

These truly are the good ol' days for sure ~

We slept in our newly remodeled guest room too!

We said our prayers together, sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
and fell fast asleep.

As I rolled over the next morning this was my view.

What a precious angel!

These truly ARE the good ol' days.

I love you my sweet Clara!

I can't believe it's already August!

Time flies dear friends...

I'm looking forward to fall as always.

It's my very favorite!

I hope you are doing so, so good and

thank you always for stopping by

to see what I'm up to!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Dear little fairy shoes...

I've been working on a few pair of

my little fairy shoes!

These are made of leather...one pair is cut from a antique ladies glove ~

Each pair is a little different from the other but

I'm so pleased with how they look!

This is how they started off looking after I put the basic pattern pieces together ~

both pair were blank slates ready for me to embellish them!

And here the are!

They will be sold as pairs, each pair with seam binding hangers so they can be displayed

hanging on a knob or hook...

I still have to add the seam binding to the last pair

so they should end up in my Etsy store sometime today ~

I always love the feeling when I make things...

Wishing you a beautiful Wednesday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

A teeny bit disconnected ~

I don't really know why.

Or maybe I do...

Seems I can't get into my goodness zone ~

too much heaviness on my mind,

too much distraction,

too much everything.

I'm working a few needle books to sell as I've had some requests ~

and my mind is running rampant with more ideas but...

nothing's coming out.

Just feeling totally frustrated.

BUT....

The goodness I will share today??

I was so honored to give our sweet grandson Murray

his very first haircut this past Sunday evening!

Here he is, posing like a true gentleman after the fact...

our sweet, sweet boy ~ he's growing so fast!!!

Just look at that little expression...

a true heart stealer!!!

I hope you are doing so good...

feeling your muse and creating your heart out!

Wishing you a wonderful February Tuesday my precious friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

My tricky muse ~

Thank you for being so kind to me on my last post ~

I wanted to experiment to see if I could make a short video

with my simple point and shoot camera and it worked!

Yes, it was very amateurish and I definitely need to place my

camera a little higher so my forearm isn't front and center but

for only one take, it was OK.

Did you notice the stacks of needle books I've been working on?

I have been AWFUL about finishing them!!!!

Just dragging the task out, day after day,

I should be knocked in the head.

Sometimes it seems I sabotage myself....

trying to create SO MANY of one item.

It always, always, always shuts me down!

What is wrong with me?

But I thought, I need to make six, why not make 24?

And when it all becomes like an assembly line it

just doesn't feel creative at all ~

Hopefully I'll finally finish this massive batch of needle books

today and have them listed in my Etsy OR maybe they'll just trickle in,

who knows...my muse is a tricky one and doesn't like to be pressured!!!!

Wishing you the most wonderful Friday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn