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

Feeling so inspired lately!!! Welcome sweet September ~

I can't explain my crazy ideas but we have several HUGE magnolia trees

in our front yard and I've always thought that the seed pods were so beautiful.

So I go gather a few up and spray them with Kilz and proceed to paint them

with beautiful metallic colors, just wanting to maybe turn them into ornaments!

This was really just an experiment though...and some of the pods still burst open

doing what nature told them to do. I also saved some to dry to see if I could work

with them later on. It's all an experiment!

Next project table: I want to create a handmade nature journal/book.

I'm in the beginning stages but want to incorporate beautiful dried flowers,

insect wings, and of course ephemera and lace. We'll see...this is a work in progress!

I had these beautiful plaques/placemats hanging in my old studio 7 plus years ago.

They are illustrations from the book "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady"

I FINALLY hung them in our old farmhouse this week.

That only took 7 years.

I've also been working on this wonderful lavender soap and

have had several orders too...

It smells heavenly!

Another project in the works?

A restoration of sorts.

For my dear brother-in-law.

Normally, I wouldn't touch this wonderful, aged Santa face!!!

I love old, crusty and vintage.

But my BIL hangs him in the middle of a huge wreath on their front door

during the Christmas season. And with the sun setting on the front of their home,

he's deteriorating fast.

So he's been caulked and primed and the undercoat painting has started!

This one just came to my mind this week.

Why not buy a few fall elements and add them into our

spring wreath on the front porch???

I can pull them out at the end of the year and I'm golden for Spring again!

HAHAHA!

I just crammed the elements into the wreath to give you an idea.

I'll be sure to share it finished!

EDITED TO ADD:

My finished wreath!

I'll just pull out the fall elements again come spring ~

AND LASTLY....

An old birdcage pendant light!!!

I've had this old birdcage top for years and years now.

SO I thought I'd order a pendant/plug/switch lamp kit to see 

if I could transform it into pendant light!

Oh my...here we go!

With the encouragement of our son Brad, I totally took apart the new lamp socket thing

and had to feed it through the opening at the top of the bird cage.

Just remembering how it came apart and how to put it back together

correctly was truly the challenge.

BUT WAIT!

The hole wasn't large enough...and since my drill died a while back

it was time to go primal and I used graduating drill bits and a vice grip

to twist and turn that opening to be larger!!!!

And believe it or not, it WORKED!

And now?

I LOVE IT!!!!

I think the changing of the seasons has me working like a crazy girl!

Our weather has been a bit milder here in Georgia and it gives me energy!

Sorry for the long post but it's been awhile ~

Thank you always for stopping by to see me!!!

hugs and love,

Dawn