A slice of life & returning to the studio!

Soooooo.....it's been kind of a long time since my last post here.

I don't know what to tell you except that life happened!

(Warning: TONS OF PHOTOS in this one!)

With Christmas, then sickness, then watching Clara and Murray

waiting on their new little sister to be born, then Tilly's birth and 

a huge soap order during all of that....

I'm finally coming up for air!

It really has been a busy couple of months around here.

And guess what???

February 11th was my ELEVENTH blog anniversary!

YES!

I've had this ol' blog now for eleven years ~

Even though blogging has changed over the past few years

I still enjoy having it and love sharing what's going on in my life!

December and January were filled with

multiple OB visits for our daughter-in-law Emily

so I watched these precious grandbabies, Clara and Murray, pretty regularly.

They are so techie now...both loving their tablets.

But we'd watch movies, bake cookies and even have a few craft days!

And then Tilly was born January 25th!!!

These sweet kids were SO EXCITED to head to the hospital

the next day to meet their baby sister!

Daddy Brent (our oldest son) admiring his precious little daughter Tilly!

It's truly been a wonderful time in all of our lives!

She's now almost 4 weeks old and growing like a little weed!

And speaking of growing...

our second born son, David

and his wife Heather's son and our grandson,

Owen is now one year old!!!

His birthday was Christmas eve and he's so precious ~

so happy and loving too!

And now I've finally made it back into the studio!

I've been cleaning and straightening up

which always helps get me motivated to create.

I decided to finish up a book project

that I'd started months and months ago.

This is my very first handmade book/journal!

I created the signatures, embellished the pages and

even sewed them each into my handmade book cover.

It's nature inspired (my favorite) and filled the pages

with pressed flowers, ephemera and images from nature.

Here's a peek inside!!!

It's now been added to my Etsy store as well ~

SO...there you go!!!!

I've got to make more of these!!!

Maybe with different themes even.

If you'd like, I've created my own YouTube channel and you can

view 3 very short videos of my flip through the journal!

~ HERE'S THE LINK TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL ~

And lastly...

Our grandbaby Tilly this past week!

She's just beautiful and growing so very fast.

Four grandbabies now,

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

Each one is precious in their own little way too.

Sorry for the gigantic photo filled post but it's been awhile.

And thank you always for stopping by to see

what's going on in my little corner of the world!

Hugs and love,

Dawn

Sharing a little birthday love!

Little might just be the wrong word to use though!!!

And yes, my birthday is the day after Christmas but

my precious friend Lisa and I are known for not being

on time for our birthday gifts to one another.

I just have to share with you

all the amazingly, wonderful goodies

she gave me!!!

Some of the photos are a little repetitive but

I know you like pics and I tried to get close ups ~

She packaged everything so sweet!!!

Each parcel had a number and on the back of each tag

Lisa wrote a little note to me...

Here is a shot before I opened the packages:

And here's after....WOW!!!!

Look at all of the precious treasures!!!!

She SO knows what I love.

All types of sweet baby shoes, a few baby dresses too.

Gorgeous antique lace and a porcelain half doll!

Antique children's photographs and old photo album pages.

Vintage rhinestone pins and postcards.

See the teeny doll shoe?? LOVE!

And yes, at the bottom of the photo below are a few very small animal skulls.

I hope that doesn't creep you out but I love the beauty of nature

(and Lisa knows it)

and will create a shadow box just to showcase them all!!!

Several pieces of the new Tim Holtz fabric, isn't it beautiful???

Wonderful feathers to use in artwork.

An amazing book about old dolls ~ I just love it!!!

And lastly, a few back issues of a magazine from the UK that I love, Daphne's Diary!!!!

Absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Dear sweet Lisa,

Thank you soooo very much for my gifts...

and for your precious friendship...
you continually inspire me to be creative ~

I love you girl!!!!

Happy Monday sweet friends and

Happy March too!!!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Every cloud has a silver lining ~

Well, my little junkin' expedition with Cheryl of Zany Mayd was SO rained out!!! But no matter....we were really glad to meet one another!! Cheryl and her niece Jenny arrived before me (big surprise, I'm always arriving at things by the skin of my teeth) but at least they had plenty to keep them occupied. It wasn't raining at first and they poked around outside and were really amazed at all Scott's Antique Market had to offer. To me, outside. IS. THE. BEST! When I arrived it was like we already knew one another, isn't that the most wonderful thing EVER?
That's what blogging does.
We were already friends, but just need to see one another in person.....

We dug around outside in the junk, and it was sprinkling all the time. But no matter, we found a few tiny things to buy. But soon....the rain really started coming down and we just had to go inside. Well, inside the buildings at Scott's is a whole other story. Stuff is crazy expensive and not condusive to serious junkin'. To me it's geared for decorators with client's that have deep pockets and believe me, deep pockets are something I DON'T have.

But we made the best of it and still ended up finding a couple of treasures. We had lunch together and then found a few more tiny things. Cheryl and her sweet niece were just precious and truly they were the silver lining of the day!!! We parted ways and I hit a few more places for some things before heading home.
Here is my little bounty :)

A little test tube love....

I've been obsessing since I missed that wonderful

set at Queen of Hearts ~

the sad thing is I paid almost as much for this as the old set was!

a few antique linens ~ a container for my bebe topiary.....

Sweet handmade gifts from Cheryl ~ I love this nest!!!

Magazines from lovely Walmart ~

Eggs from Marshall's because I have a thing for eggs....

Feathers on clearance at Walmart because, I'm sure you know, I have a thing for feathers!

So, not many finds at all ~ but a good time with a sweet blog friend was the absolute best and a true gift!!!!

I did find a few amazing spaces inside Scott's that let me take a few photos for you ~

I'll be sure to share them with you soon....

Wishing you a great Saturday my sweet friends!

hugs and love,

Dawn