Special days and special gifts!!!

I had been thinking and thinking of something wonderful

that I could make for my sweet friend Lisa's birthday this month.

She has the corner on the market of incredible supplies

in her studio, so what I could give her in that respect

would pale in comparison to her already amazing collection!

So...I finally decided I would make her a pair of pillows!

I ran across the prettiest pair of hand towels at Hobby Lobby

and knew they would look gorgeous as pillow fronts.

Plus, I knew the colors would be PERFECT in her home as well.

Here are the goodies that I used in creating her pillows!

All fabrics were pre-washed so they would already be preshrunk and

when it comes time to wash the slipcovers, they will still fit the inserts.

The ticking fabric was found at Walmart of all places! I love it. I knew it would

be beautiful as a small ruffle around and also for the ties in the back.

The other fabric I used was a drop cloth that coordinated perfectly after

I lightly bleached it in the wash.

I wanted a slouchy look on these I really think I achieved it!

I made the covers slightly over-sized and just love the look of them ~

The feather inserts can easily be removed when it comes time to

toss them into the washing machine!

My next challenge?

Trying to get these big ol' pillows to Texas!

They are about the size of a Euro pillow.

I'm trying this: one of those space bags you suck all the air out of!

They are a flat as a flitter now.

I'm going to build a box around them and see how that works!

I still have a few more gifts to gather for my precious friend but

these are finished!!!

Also, I have to show you my beautiful Mother's Day gift from

all of our boys!!!

A GORGEOUS CHANDELIER!!!!

Our son Brad works for a lighting company and

all of the boys chipped into get this beautiful fixture

for our dining room

PLUS

Brad installed it on Mother's Day too!

I absolutely love it!!!

Pretty, right?

I think it suits our little dining room just perfectly.

I'm adding a few things to my Etsy shop and wanted you to see as well.

I have GOT to start de-stashing some of this stuff!!!!

Really, my studio is about to BURST!

Here's a link to my shop if you'd like to take a peek:

MY ETSY STORE

I'm going to start adding things every day to try to

get rid of some of my hoard!!!

I hope you are doing so very good

and thank you always for stopping by to see me!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Surprises are around every corner!

We have four chickens.

And they have been laying WONDERFULLY this past summer!

And have I told you that a fresh chicken egg tastes AMAZING?

I refrigerate them as soon as they lay them (washed of course)

but they really do taste delicious.

I'd been noticing that our red hen had been escaping the yard a lot!

(crawling under the delapidated fence)

Well, a few days ago Emily was strolling around the perimeter

of the fence to look for Red and just look at what she found.....

TWENTY eggs that girl had been laying outside of our backyard!!!!

I had to ditch them all....they were spoiled ~

Funny hen, she was sitting on them all when Emily found them!

More snapshots of sweet Clara being Clara ~

She's quite the ham you know!

I finally added a few fluffy pillows to the guest bed.

Do you see David's guitar still propped in the corner?

Since he left, the sweet boy hasn't been back!

I think he was SO ready to not live with his mom and dad....

but he'll return soon....

I have his grilling tools and that boy LOVES to grill out!

I found something neat this past weekend, so you know I have to share!

I went to w-mart to get the fluffy pillows I needed....queen sized and perfect to fill

the beautiful handmade pillowcases that my dear friend Ann Perry gave me!

They have long, gorgeous ruffles on the ends ~

Well, anyway, what I found was a travel pillow form that they have!
(in the bedding dept)

For only THREE BUCKS!

I had a sweet, quilted pillow sham with roses and inserted the travel pillow into one end,

then let the other half fold over the front ~

Yes, the folds are still there as I've had this sham for several years!

I found this sweet sham at Ross and just loved the fabric.

If you need an inexpensive pillow form that's about a third

of the size of a standard pillow, this is a great deal :)

More treasures in our guest room...

A sweet friend emailed me last week.

Debi told me she had a few sheets of ledger paper that she knew I'd love!

I thanked her dearly and returned her email with my address.

Look at what arrived this past weekend!!!

A sweet gift Debi knew I would love ~

Precious trims ~

Beautiful shells ~

Just look at how teeny tiny the ledger handwriting is!

Thank you so very much Debi ~ I absolutely LOVE it all!!!

On a last note...

I found one lone bloom of wisteria on our back fence ~

can you tell where it ended up?

It will be preserved for eternity!!!

This is the progress of it's pressing:

I sure hope the comment thing is fixed....

I so miss hearing from you guys!!!!!

Wishing you a wonderful fall Monday dear friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

Is it really July 4th weekend???

I still love these pillows!!

A few years back when Cindy and I still owned the antique store,

we had a neat old swing hanging on the front porch of the store ~

Well, it was the Fourth of July and we wanted to make the porch look wonderful!

My partner Cindy did her artistry by filling the porch with the perfect goodies and

I put together a couple of pillows to sit on the old porch swing!

For the one in front, I simply purchased a w-mart flag, ripped it off the stick and

stuffed into a bowl of hot coffee. Threw it in the dryer, pressed it out and sewed it

to the rectangle of muslin....added a few buttons, another rectangle of muslin,

a feather insert that I'd found at Ross

(inside of an ugly pillow in the clearance section)

and voila! Finished!

The other pillow was even easier!

I had a stack of wonderful old muslin feedsacks and

thought I'd grab one to use as a pillow cover.

It was washed and pressed....aged to perfection and I inserted

another feather pillow form (again from a Ross clearance shelf for about 7 bucks)

shook it down to the bottom then hug the excess over the front.

I cinched it up with some good ol' red check gingham and that was it!

They both sold like hotcakes and

the porch looked wonderful for our July 4th Saturday.....

I love this gorgeous old postcard.....

I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America,

and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation under God,

indivisible,

with liberty,

and justice for all.

And these pics are almost four years old now as our little Ellie was born in July!

I love how tiny she was...and how much Noah loves her in this photo ~
Ellie is such a mixed pup...part Chihuahua, part Jack Russell and part Rat Terrier.
She's about doubled in size ~ still a small little girl and OH so smart!!!!

I took her to the store with me everyday and potty trained her there!!

Wishing you a most wonderful fourth of July...

I'm giving thanks for our precious freedom and

for all those who have served and continue to serve

to keep our country FREE!

hugs and love sweet friends,

Dawn

A pin pillow ~

I made this pillow a few years ago and knew that I was making it specifically to display my pins and a bit of my jewelry. The neat thing is that when I stuffed it, I used folded pieces of bed sheets and fiberfill. This added weight and stability! You can see my grandparents on several of these pins and a ten commandment charm bracelet I had when was a child. One little charm has four of our boys pictured before Noah was born! Each and every piece means something special to me. What do I wish for you? Your very own pin pillow!!

Happy Thursday dear friends!

xxoo, Dawn