Spring is here in Georgia and I love it!!!!

Isn't it so wonderful how the spring of the year feels like a beautiful renewal???

We moved to our new home in the fall and

as it was pretty with all of the fall colors but

things changed fast with all the leaves falling

and the cold weather approaching.

I haven't shared this before but we have moved in with 40 year old friends and

are now sharing their home and ALL of the expenses!!!

They too are empty nesters and invited us to share their home with them.

They lost their youngest son (one year older than our Noah) in a tragic car accident

four years ago and the older daughters have moved away.

They have a huge home with an in-law suite that they occupy and offered

us the rest of the house as our own.

I met these precious souls, James and Tammy at my first day at art college.

Long story short, they fell in love...

Dennis and I fell in love and married a year before they married and

I was pregnant with our first son Brent at their wedding!

Dennis and I were the best man and matron of honor at their wedding.

And we've been friends for soooo many years now!

Dennis and James went to school together and were even co-workers too.

Oh, and they are both true artists!!!
And now, in our new home we have a gorgeous studio!!!!

Perfect for all creatives and of course I brought all of my supplies!!!

Anyway that is the backstory.

It has been a beautiful thing for us.

We have dinners together, laugh and reminisce then we all

retire to our separate living spaces to watch a little TV before bed.

So now to making things beautiful!!!!!

Our sweet deck is in dire need of new floor boards

so understand they'll be replaced soon.

But I couldn't help but do some spring planting today!

Mint!

Basil!

Just a random found nest that I placed a river rock inside...that kind of looks like an egg!

And one more ~

A few asparagus ferns with sedum in between!

A little rosemary ~

And chives!

The ferns have been planted and are ready for the front porch too ~

Different varieties of sedum have been planted in the old birdbath too!

Yes, it's rachet, and has been broken but glued back together.

I think that's why we love it so much!

Happy Spring precious friends!!!

Thank you always for following me and my journey through life.

Hugs and love,

Dawn

Little Christmas wishes under glass ~

After working on my fairy house for the last few weeks,

it was so nice to get back to a few smaller projects!

I invited a dear old friend over for a creative day in my studio

and we had an absolute BLAST together!!!

Tammy and I met at art school years and years ago.

With both of us being creative spirits, the ideas just FLY

when we get together to make pretty things.

Plus add in the laughter, reminiscing and love...

well, that's just the icing on the cake!

These sweet Christmas tubes are just a few of the results

of our wonderful day together ~

Sometimes you have to make a HOT MESS to make something beautiful!!!

Look at that crazy table!

These are SO much fun to make!!!

We also made a few botanical tubes that I'm finishing up ~

They are filled with little snippets and elements of nature.

Beautiful to display year round if you're a nature lover like me!

The Christmas tubes are listed in my Etsy store and

the botanicals tubes will be soon as well!

I hope you're staying cozy on this chilly December day

and thank you always, always for visiting me here!

Hugs and love,

Dawn

You know I love you, right?

I mean it.

Because of you...

because you appreciate my little creations...

buy my simple little tutorials...

I was able to purchase a NEW COMPUTER!!!

I'm so, so very grateful and thankful!

And oh.my.goodness, y'all...

IT IS FAST!!

I'd been using the same computer since 2008 and

just didn't realize how slow that baby had become.

I did have a back-up hard drive but hadn't backed it up in

years so I possibly have lost a ton of images and photos.

But I also purchased an encasement for that old hard drive

and my son is going to take it out,

put it in the new encasement and see if it will be accessible.

He's thinking it was the fan in the old one that blew.

Oh well, you don't care about all that!

But I still just wanted to thank all my friends and customers

for helping me get a new computer so I am back in business!

In other news...

We went to the North Georgia mountains last weekend

to visit my precious mama and daddy. Good grief I love it up there!

In the studio?

I'm working on a transformed treasure box!

I'm adding a beautiful antique image on the top and

embellishing with lace and trinkets.

I'll share soon!!

I hope you are doing so, so good!

Thank you always for stopping by to see me

sweet friends.

hugs and love,

Dawn

The most wonderful news!!!

My dear friend Tammy has had a wonderful day of healing today!!!

Please read the latest report from her sister Dawn:

PRAISE GOD! My sister has turned a corner, all her numbers are great

and all sedation has been cut off - we now wait for her to wake up,

the doctor says it can take a couple of days due to the amount

she was on and that it is in her blood stream and body cells

and has to work its way out gradually.

Once she wakes up and begins to talk she can come off the ventilator.

When she came into the hospital she had viral pneumonia

she now has bacterial pneumonia and that is what is spiking her fever.

The cultures have not come back that will tell us what the infection is

but the doc is administering 2 different antibiotics to cover it in the meantime.

Doc did a CT scan to make sure she does not have a blood clot in her lungs

but the results will not come back until tomorrow.

Thank you to each and every person that has prayed for my sister!

Now please pray she wakes up very soon and

all will be fine once she does and her recovery is quick!

Thank you God for your many blessings and For answering payers.

Love & Hugs to all!!!

Tuesday, December 17th
UPDATE!!!!!!

Tammy's sister just posted this wonderful update on Tammy!!!!


HALLELUJAH! Went at lunch to see my sister and the ventilator
is removed and she talked to me.
It is barely above a whisper but she knew who I was and talked to me.
She sipped water out of a straw and only has a oxygen mask on.
Asking for her husband and wants to go home.
She does not remember anything from weeks before,
only last night and today for now.
So excited to see her eyes open, still a little groggy,
in and out but alert and aware.
She will still be in there awhile and has a way to go
but praising GOD for his precious miracle!!!
I told her I had to go back to work and she started to cry
and asked me not to leave her...
broke my heart.
I told her I would be back in a couple of hours and told her I loved her
and she said love you too!
Such a blessing!!! Awesome!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for

your precious prayers for my dear friend ~

She is an amazing person and I know you all would just

love her so much!!!!

Please continue to keep her in your prayers ~

Thank you all sweet angels,

hugs and love,

Dawn

My Christmas wish...

Dear sweet friends,

Sometimes things happen in your life that make you realize

what is truly important in this life.

It's not the stuff.

It's not where you go or what you see.

It's not anything material at all...

It's the precious people in your life.

The family that you've been blessed with,

the friends that you hold dear for so many years

and your treasured relationships with them.

My sweet friend Tammy Cottrell,

who I've known since we were seventeen,

is in ICU right now suffering from double pneumonia.

She is on a ventilator and feeding tube

due to the seriousness of her condition.

And to make matters worse, she now has an infection

that she has acquired since she's been in the hospital

that they are fighting with antibiotics as well.

So, my request from you is for your prayers....

Please pray for this precious girl, mama, wife, sister, friend and artist ~

for complete healing and restoration to good health.

I love you much sweet Tammy!!!!

Wishing you a blessed Sunday dear friends,

hugs and love always,

Dawn

The beginnings of something wonderful...

We've been making some major changes around this old farmhouse!

We're going through our wonderful old antiques

and listing a few in our new

1925 Farmhouse Goods Etsy shop

We are deciding what can go

and what can stay!

It's a good thing I believe ~

just to go through things and decide what

needs to go to a new home and what you just

love so much it can stay.

I admit it. I love my beautiful old things but truly

there is a time where you know it's OK to let go and for

these lovely items to grace a new home.

I had this amazing collection of clocks, new and old

that I always displayed together. Some are so pitiful

I can't even sell them but their graphics are so gorgeous!

 Some of the better ones

are now listed in our new shop too!

This particular clock was a new clock and the case

was crafted to look very old.

It didn't work anymore though.

Well...I gutted the thing!

Now I've primed the inside to brighten it up

and it will soon be a beautiful assemblage!!

Stay tuned sweet friends....

ohmygoodness...starting this piece has so thrilled my soul!

I can't wait to work on it even more

but I just had to share the beginnings with you ~

Don't forget to enter my lavender sachet giveaway

on Tracie's blog Fishtail Cottage, OK?

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday precious friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

To my precious friends ~

A Friend's Greeting

I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me;
I'd like to be the help that you've been always glad to be;
I'd like to mean as much to you each minute of the day
As you have meant, old friend of mine, to me along the way.

I'd like to do the big things and the splendid things for you,
To brush the gray from out your skies and leave them only blue;
I'd like to say the kindly things that I so oft have heard,
And feel that I could rouse your soul the way that mine you've stirred.

I'd like to give you back the joy that you have given me,
Yet that were wishing you a need I hope will never be;
I'd like to make you feel as rich as I, who travel on
Undaunted in the darkest hours with you to lean upon.

I'm wishing at this special time that I could but repay
A portion of the gladness that you've strewn along my way;
And could I have one wish this year, this only would it be:
I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me.

EDGAR A. GUEST

I'm always so very thankful for you stopping by to visit my blog!!!

Wishing you a beautiful Tuesday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

The sweetness of friendship ~

I awake this morning with devout

thanksgiving for my friends,

the old and the new.

~ Emerson ~

God never loved me in so sweet a way before;

'Tis He alone who can such blessings send;

And when His love would new expression find

He brought thee to me and said,

"Behold a friend."

In the hours of distress and misery,

the eyes of every mortal turn to friendship:

in the hour of gladness and convivialty, what is our want?

It is friendship.

When the heart overflows with gratitude,

or with any other sweet and sacred sentiment,

what is the word to which it would give utterance?

A Friend.

~ Landor ~

Let us learn to be content with what we have.

Let us get rid of our false estimates, set up all the higher ideals ~

a quiet home;

vines of our own planting;

a few books full of the inspiration of genius;

a few friends worthy of being loved

and able to love us in turn;

a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or sorrow;

a devotion to the right that will never swerve;

a simple religion empty of all bigotry,

full of trust and hope and love;

and to such a philosophy

this world will give up all the empty joy it has.

~ David Swing ~

Oh, what is life without a friend

To dissipate our gloom?

Where flowers never bloom,

'Tis friends who make this desert world

To blossom as the rose;

Strew flowers o'er our rugged path,

Pour sunshine o'er our woes.

Simple yet beautiful things to think on today....

you are my sunshine dear friends ~

Wishing you a very happy Thursday,

hugs and love,

Dawn

ps. Don't forget to stop by my giveaway post....I'm celebrating five years of blogging!!!

Such goodness ~

A precious parcel arrived from France today!

Gifts from my dear friend Suey filled with yummy old French ephemera....

Of course you know I have to share with you, right?

Just look at the sweet gifts!!! Su so knows what I love!

We've been friends for several years now through my blog ~

she calls me regularly and it's free for her too!!!

She's originally from England and now lives in France with her family.

I've so loved corresponding with her through my blog, emails and telephone calls.

Su makes gorgeous cards and teaches classes in France too!

She sent me a fountain pen because I told her I'd love to practice my penmanship!

Plus a few nests that will look so beautiful on our Christmas tree this year!

Look at this precious ATC she made me using an image I'd posted.....

The precious kid leather gloves she sent
look a little like angel wings when placed this way...
don't you think?

Plus, here's a little peek at what I've been up to lately.

A little artwork in the making!!!

Coming soon to an Etsy shop near you :)

A cool front has just blown into Georgia and I LOVE IT!!!!

You'll find me laying in the front yard with my bikini on....

HAHA!!!! Yeah....right!!!

Like I'd even HAVE a bikini!!!!

But I'll still be soakin' up these precious fall breezes ~

Have a beautiful Friday my sweet friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn