Hello November!!!

It seems that this time of year ALWAYS gets my creative juices flowing!

The cooler temperatures and the changing of the seasons

makes my mind spin with all kinds of ideas.

Here are a few of the things that I've made lately.

It seems all of them are under glass for some reason!

Please be sure to check my Etsy store as a few things have

been listed in there and some of these items have already sold.

Does fall inspire you to create too???

Two altered apothecary jars with French labels

and other pretty embellishments!

This one is in my shop!!!

These have all sold but I just LOVED making these bird-inspired jars.

Nests, eggs and pieces of nature all captured under glass ~

And lastly, I've been making ornaments using 6" glass test tubes!

They are approximately 1" in diameter. I've added glitter snow,

a tiny bottle brush tree and other goodies to make a pretty Christmas ornament.

They can hang on a knob or on the Christmas tree!

And of course, loving natural elements, I had to try to make a few botanical test tubes.

They are my very favorites! I love drying flowers and other greenery

so I've made little gatherings for each test tube.

These have all been added to my Etsy store ~

It's so nice to be able to use the things that you've been gathering and collecting.

I have dried flowers everywhere, stems from pretty bushes,

feathers and other fragments of nature to use.

But it seems when you place them under glass

it gives them a special kind of importance!

Thank you always for stopping by to see what I'm doing and

I hope that I can inspire you to make something beautiful ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

Simple things ~

I snagged this wonderful old illustration

from sweet Donna of Brynwood Needleworks and

couldn't believe how much the puppy looks like our Ellie!!

She shared it on her FB page and I just had to show it to you ~

Here's our little Ellie...she'll be seven years old this July!

Ellie loves her family so very much.

Here are a few photos when she was just a wee one!

This was just a few years ago when we tried having chickens...(unsuccessfully)

She was so sweet to them and never bothered them at all!

And an update on the nest on our front porch...

It IS a sweet little house wren. I caught her leaving the nest and

sitting on the railing ~ it's looking quite ready, don't you think???

She never touched my threads so I scooped them all up.

I think they smelled too much like humans ~

Noah is on spring break from school this week and I have a few things to accomplish!

I want to clean out several closets and get RID of the excess stuff ~

so wish me luck!!

(coming from a hoarder who loves to keep stuff :)

Happy Monday angels,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Working on a few little treasures ~

Talk about a flashback!

I just finished TWO baby shoe pincushions for my Etsy shop

and I really enjoyed making them again.

It truly was a flashback as it's been quite a long

time since I've made one of these.

They were the first thing I ever had published in Somerset Life

way back in 2008!

These are so sweet too...I actually painted the leather!

Baby shoes, as you know, can look pretty rough and

I just used a beautiful pale khaki/cream color and painted

all the scuffs and knicks away.

Then I added to cushion, seam binding laces, bundles of vintage buttons

and of course some vintage lace and trim.

Here are a few photos of the finished pincushions...

they're in my Etsy shop now!

I actually used some of this AMAZING trim on the shoes.

Isn't it just beautiful???

Now to finish this little nature assemblage ~

This is a very small drawer (it's only about 4 3/4" high not counting the handle)

that I believe came from a jewelry chest of some sort.

I've painted it, antiqued it then lined it with some incredible wrapping paper

I found at Marshall's or TJ Maxx? I can't remember...

Now I need to secure the nest

I embellished with teeny eggs and feathers

then add a few more finishing touches!!

My little bird friend is still building her nest furiously

but has yet to grab any of my threads or laces.

Maybe they smell too much like humans, who knows.

I'll take another photo soon to share with you!

Wishing you a wonderful Friday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

To embellish ~

: to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details.

Well, after seeing my sweet lavender sachets
sit in my Etsy shop for a few weeks,
that is EXACTLY what I did!!!
I embellished them even more!

I had to add a vintage watch face with pearl
to the very center...I love them!
AND
I added the last of some gorgeous lace I had
to the edges.

Take a peek in my shop if you are interested!!

Plus, I have to share the neatest thing ~

I've been cleaning up a bit for spring and hosed down our front porch,

cleaned out the planters, bleached the railings and

swept all the winter debris away.

Monday evening it was pristine and ready for some goodness.

Well, after lunch I finally went outside and this is what I find

on one of the small shelves at the end of our porch!

(That was CLEAN the evening before)

A precious bird's nest!!!!

Well, tonight I'm leaving out a plate of cut threads and lace from

beside my sewing machine ~ do you think the bird will use them??

I'll be sure to let you know!

Spring has definitely arrived here in Georgia this week!!!
Temps have been in the high seventies and
everything is SO GREEN!!!

Wishing you a beautiful April Wednesday precious friends,
hugs and love,Dawn

Un petit journal ~

Fancy, huh?

I just love that it says a small nature journal in French ~

We have a new Good Will that opened just a few days ago so

I had stop by to have a look!

I only found a few books and this was one of them.

It's not very big and is a wonderful kraft color....

Yes, the pages are printed on, but I have an idea to slice out a few

and continue embellishing them with some of my nature finds!

I started with the outside and completely covered it...

I just slathered on my fav matte gel medium,

pressed the paper on and trim out excess

with my handy exact-o knife.

I had to add the name of this sweet journal ~

See the color of the pages? A great foundation for my project.

I started digging in my files to find images that I'd already printed ~

I've even pulled out my pressed botanicals so I can add them too!

Well, it's a start!!

Now to begin the inside pages....

My prairie girl has reached her new home and she fits in perfectly!!

Thank you so much Deb....

Wishing you an amazing Wednesday precious friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn