It'll be here before you know it!

It's like this...Fall has finally arrived and

we're all lovin' the leaves and the cooler weather....

Halloween will sneak up on us then

BOOM!!!!

Christmas will have come and gone in a flash!!!

And poor ol' Thankgiving was a little blur we passed along the way....

Now's the time to start making your Christmas pretties

and I wanted to remind you of my free tutorials ~

The links are always located in the upper left column of my blog....

Rag Ball Ornaments ~

Mitten Ornaments ~

More Rag Ball Ornaments ~

Make your own tags ~

This has nothing to do with this post but that I love this Christmas decorating book!!

And I love this one too!!

 Cover food or soap packaging to make custom gift boxes ~

A wee stocking ornament ~

Sweet paper cone ornament tutorial ~

It really will be here in the blink of an eye!!

Have a beautiful Thursday dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

When did this happen?

Our little Clara is growing so fast!!

I know the photo below is blurry but you can get the gist

of our little angel's attitude!

She's such a sweetheart and growing like a little weed ~

Remember these?

Rosanna of Ros e Roses discovered my mitten ornament tutorial

and has created these precious cuties ~

They are beautiful Rosanna!!!

Can you even believe it's time to starting thinking
about Christmas ornaments???

Have a wonderful fall weekend dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Looking beyond the obvious ~

I try to do that when I'm treasure hunting for supplies....look beyond the obvious. If an item is intended to be used in a certain way, I look at it and think, "what other way could that be used?"

I found this trim at Walmart and loved the tiny bells that were dangling from it. Their color was wonderful and the size was perfect! I think the trim was intended to be applied to jeans or purses. But I knew those little bells would serve some sort of purpose for me. And for 2 bucks too!

My little work tray that I took into the living room while watching TV with the family ~

And the mitten order is finished!!

I made a few extra that I'll be selling in The Feathered Nest Shoppe too!
SOLD!! Thank you so much ~

I wanted to share this great tutorial that is being offered at Hopemore Studio ~
CLICK HERE TO SEE!

Cheryl at Zany Mayd is having another giveaway ~
CLICK HERE TO COMMENT TO WIN!

And today....I'm so honored to have an interview
featured on sweet Jen's blog Sanctuary Art
for her Women Who Create series!!!!

YOU CAN CLICK HERE TO HAVE A LOOK!!

Whew! Another post chock full of info!

We had a wonderful Halloween here at the house this past weekend.
All the boys were here again, Emily, Clara and
even David came home from Savannah again!!
Plus his new sweetheart Jerri was here too ~
(she lives near us and they went to high school together
and have reconnected via Facebook!)
I think he'll be moving back up here REALLY soon :) ahhh, young love ~

I'm going to be working on a NEW TUTORIAL finally!!!!
Stay tuned....I hope to have it for purchase this week at
Lessons from The Nest!

I hope your week is absolutely amazing as we welcome November!!!
A month of thankfulness....for so many blessings ~
Happy Monday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

In the thick of it ~

I'm right in the middle of making mitten ornaments for a special order ~ I forgot how pretty they were! There's something about the creamy color of the warm and natural batting. It comes it white too, but I'm always drawn to the cream. Loving lace, buttons and ribbon...this project is always so fun. I get to play with the things I love!

I wanted to show you these beautiful French postcards that I received in the mail from Adrienne ~ I won one of her giveaways on her blog, The Flying Bee....aren't they beautiful?!
Thank you so much sweet Adrienne ~ I'll be sure to share them too!

And for some Halloween goodness....
Brad and Noah carved their pumpkins and here they are!

Funny, huh? They were the only boys home
to participate in the pumpkin carving this year
but they had a great time together, and even roasted pumpkin seeds!


You've got to go enter this giveaway at
Six in One Hand...Madness in The Other...
She's giving away a 50.00 Visa gift card!!!
JUST CLICK HERE TO COMMENT TO WIN!


Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday dear friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

Look what I found!

My mitten pattern to use with the mitten tutorial!!
I cleaned it up a little and scanned it in for you.
I'm working on a few of these and thought
since I finally found my pattern, you might like to have a copy!
Just click on the image to enarge and then right click
to save it to your computer.
Next I would open the image in my photo editing software
and print it from there ~
you can make it what ever size looks most pleasing to you.
The tutorial for these mitten ornaments is in my left side bar
(CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE POST)
and the seam allowance is about 1/4 " or so.....

Wonderful old children's illustrations ~ why do I love these so?
They do seem to have a true sweetness about them ~

My little sample eggs have all been mailed out.....all but two that is ~ one I don't know what color Jackie wanted and the other came in late this afternoon.

After mailing the massive pile, they are just not cost effective for me to sell them like this. I'm so sorry but I had to remove them from my shop ~ it really is a much better deal to buy them in the cartons...

Today we leave for the North Georgia mountains!!! We're going for a quick weekend visit to see my mom and dad and hopefully some beautiful fall leaves ~ but rain is heading in :( maybe it will blow on over though ~


I have a new blogger to introduce you to ~ Tammy of Yesterday's Cottage.
You can CLICK HERE if you'd like to stop by and welcome her!!

Thank you always for stopping by to see me,
I appreciate each and every one of you so much!!!
Happy Friday precious friends,
hugs and love,
Dawn

Show n' tell ~

Look who's joined the Artist Class team!!!! Lori if My Faerie Window!!!
Click here to see the beautiful project she will be teaching you how to create!!!

Just look at these adorable mitten ornaments that Nancy of Nancy's Creations made with her mom!!! She used my tutorial (it's FREE, listed in my left sidebar) to make them ~ They are so pretty Nancy....perfect to tie on a gift or hang on the Christmas tree!!!

Another great giveaway is being hosted by Cheryl at Zany Mayd!!!
Look at the vintage goodies she's offering to the lucky winner ~
JUST CLICK HERE TO COMMENT TO WIN!!

And a new-to-me blog that I've found....Sweet Millies!
I'd love for you to stop by and say hello if you have a minute ~
Just click here to visit!!

I just LOVE wonderful mail!

Do you do this? You get something great in the mail, say a package that you're not quite sure of the contents but you just KNOW it's going to be wonderful, so you set it on the dining table.

You look at it.

You walk by it.

You even finish folding that load of laundry and think of it....anticipating the wonderfulness (don't know if that's even a word!) ~

Well, I'm that nut, and finally I do indulge myself and Monday THIS was my gift, Somerset Life!! OK, I know that I have a few things featured but this magazine (it so shouldn't be called this) or beautiful publication, is AMAZING!!

The wealth of ideas are so beautiful, timeless, artistic, and creative.....it truly shows you how to make your life and your surroundings more beautiful ~

There are so many wonderful artists featured in this issue too!

On newstands October 1st . . .

Just a little peek:

My sweet friend Nancy of Fete et Fleur has an article! Plus, there are so many other bloggers and artists with their work inside ~

My little mittens and rag balls with instructions!

And a little surprise I put together a few months back ~

an advent calendar!

I've taken a few detailed photos of the actual calendar now that it's back home ~ one of the little glass ball ornaments didn't make it there (see if you can find it) and it's a miracle I packed it safely enough to travel all the way to California!! It's really big!!

Each little pocket contains an ornament created from a special momento to hang on the tree as that day passes ~

There is so much more in this issue of Somerset Life I didn't show you...

be sure you get an issue, you'll love it!!

I just want to stop, right here, right now, and thank each and everyone of you who takes the time to read my blog, to offer up a kind comment or an encouragement to create.

It truly is because of my sweet wonderful friends here in the Land of Blog that I've had any confidence at all to have something that I made in my crowded little art room published in a magazine at all.....thank you for encouraging me and for cheering me on ~ I hope I can do the same for you :)

(((((((((hugs to each and every one of you!)))))))))))

I hope you have a great Tuesday ~

xxoo, Dawn