Life is like a chapter book ~

Before:




After:

As I get older I'm realizing this more and more each day.

Our lives are like books, filled with so many different chapters.

Some chapters are exciting, scary and wonderful!

Others are sad, painful and you can't wait for them to be over.

When I was 19 years old, I married a sweet and wonderful man.
He was 21 and we were so excited to begin our married lives together!

Fast forward and we raised five amazing sons over the years,
and now several have married plus

we have four beautiful grandbabies too!

Each one...a different, beautiful, difficult and exhilarating

chapter of our life book.

All along the way we've moved to different homes as our family grew.

Moving was always exciting (and a stressful time) to me!

It was a great time to purge all that we didn't need anymore,
clean everything

and of course the most fun of all?

Decorating our new home to make it beautiful

and of course, to make it feel like HOME.

Almost eight years ago we moved into this wonderful, old farmhouse.

Noah, our youngest, was our only son left at home at the time.

He was flexible and didn't mind the move at all and even didn't mind

the fact that the house was old, creaky and even kind of ugly.

This was our chance to finally live in an OLD home!!!

I didn't mind either...as a matter of fact, I embraced it!

It was my goal to transform the old, ugly duckling into

a beautiful swan!

Before (was dark, cheap paneling...):

After:

Before (sorry but this was after Noah moved out....still it's a "before"):

After:

Before:

After:

Well...
 now it's time for a little change in our lives!

We are searching for a newer home now...much more energy efficient too.
It's been such a fun journey living in this wonderful old home
but now that it's just my husband and I,
we are trying to be a little wiser, more money conscious
and we're so very excited about our new chapter!!!


Please wish us luck that we find the perfect place to land!!!
Thank you always for stopping by to visit me here ~


hugs and love,
Dawn

Just a few of my very favorite things ~

My sweet friend Lisa and I send each another birthday gifts every year.

Most times they are late but you don't care...

because a gift is a gift!!!

Especially from someone that "gets" you!

My birthday is the day after Christmas (yeah, it ain't cool)

and I received a box FULL of treasures from Lisa last week.

Oh.my.land!!!!

It's all SO AMAZING!

I took a few photos to share the goodness with you.

I may have to explain a few things...

because I'm a weirdo and she knows what I love!

From left to right: Lisa went to an estate sale of a lady that loved sewing baby dresses.

So she bought homemade patterns and even some items that were in progress of being

created! Old lavender colored seam binding, a handmade tag from Lisa....

marbled book cover interiors.

Look at these gorgeous calendar pages!!!! I'm going to HAVE to frame them!

In the center...is my very favorite gift.

It's a small deer!!!

I love nature and he is so beautiful to me!

Fragments of amazing lace, fabrics, sweet books and patterns from the sewing lady.

Then there's this gorgeousness.

A beautiful altered box that Lisa made.

It's filled with even MORE lace fragments and treasures!

He really is so beautiful ~ maybe not to everyone but he is to me.

I found the perfect wooden box at TJ Maxx to house him too.

I'm going to create an assemblage with Taco as the star (of course I named him!)

Just wait, it will be wonderful! I'll be sure to share with you too!

In other news....our front porch is looking pretty good this spring!!!

I had to share a little photo ~

Clara and Murray are growing like little weeds!!!! Clara's 8 now and Murray will be 5 in September!

Baby Owen is now FIVE months old and such a happy angel!!!!

I finally bought new glasses and still am trying to adjust to the progressive lenses.

Good grief. What a labor that is!

I'm still using my readers to look at the computer screen after spending 275.00 on the glasses.

WHAAAA?

And lastly...a precious Mother's Day gift from Heather and David.

A sweet canvas filled with photos of all of my babies and grandbabies!!!!!

It's so beautiful to me.

I hope you all are doing so good. Please forgive my absence.

Life takes over sometimes and you just have to live it!

Hugs and love to you all,

Dawn

Sweet, small and pretty ~ perfect for this old farmhouse!

I finally finished painting our new dining room table!

Apparently I had forgotten how much I despise painting furniture.

I guess because I have painted way too many pieces in the past,

especially when I had my antique store.

This just reminded me what a drag it is!

But I really am pleased with the result.

And since the table itself was less that forty dollars

I guess I shouldn't complain!

I was going to paint the chairs as well but

I kind of like the look of them the way they are.

They look good with the wall color and

since my goose is cooked with painting furniture,

I think I'll just enjoy the contrast!

I've also found a few more junkin' treasures lately

so I thought it would be fun to share a few with you ~

First, this wasn't found at the thrift store but Hobby Lobby

has their glass items 50% off this week and

I had this wonderful Southern Living at Home cake stand...

(yes, I used to sell the stuff)

So I thought a beautiful glass cloche would be perfect resting on top!
I measured the diameter of the cake plate top before I left home
and it just so happened that they had the perfect sized glass dome!

Now to decide what to display inside.

That's the fun part!!!

UPDATE!
I'm sure I'll be changing this display frequently but
here is my first attempt.
I still need to add a little bit more greenery!

PLUS...here are a few treasures from the thrift store that I've found
in the last month or so:

A beautiful throw that matches our leather living room furniture...

less than three dollars!

It's been laundered and ready for getting cozy.

One gorgeous damask curtain (still less that three dollars) that is just waiting

to be transformed into something new!!

I love washing my finds as soon as I get home...

A pretty tuxedo style blouse that is wonderfully long...5 bucks and some change!

A neat little knitted pouch/purse for 4 bucks and change...

great for a flea market when you don't want to carry your big purse!

It even still had the original tag on it!!!

Two brand new, in package, full muslin cotton sheets that I washed and bleached.

Each one was just over a dollar a piece.

What will I do with them?

I don't know yet but when I think of it, I'll have them!!!

This was such a sweet find ~

A vintage child's butterfly collecting kit!!!

I just love it all...

But really.

Do they have to write the price in grease pencil right on the wood???

I need to figure out how to remove it.

But you can see what a deal it was!!!

And I recently found THIS at the thrift...
the best thing BY FAR that I've ever, ever discovered.

For a mere 5 bucks and change
an original MAGNOLIA PEARL blouse!!!
I absolutely LOVE IT!

Neat, huh???

Me at my happy place!!!

So, that's a few of my found goodies...

the hunt is always so much fun!

Now that I'm finished with the dining room

it's time to get back into my studio

and make a few pretties.

Hmmmm, what shall I make???

Thank you always for stopping by to see what I'm up to ~

Hugs and love,

Dawn