Venturing out with my sweet Dad ~

 

Our goal with our new home is to make it beautiful!

Dad wants to do it for my precious mama and also for my husband and I.

It makes us happy knowing she's looking down from Heaven smiling!

We have a very ugly concrete retaining wall behind our pool

(which is still non-operational) that needs to be covered.

We were looking for something evergreen and beautiful.

We ended up buying a couple of pots of Star Jasmine and

will attach plastic fencing to the wall for it to grow on.

We will of course need more plants but it's a start!!!

The concrete wall is the last photo...

We visited The Plant Emporium in Griffin, GA and

Collier's Greenhouse in Jackson GA.

We will see how this plant works to do the job we want!

The ugly concrete block wall:

I'm so sorry for all of the photos but it was so beautiful
BOTH nurseries were!

I enjoyed a wonderful day with my daddy

and we stopped to have dinner together
before heading home.

Treasure your moments together, always.

Hugs and love,
Dawn

A wonderful GIVEAWAY for you!!!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative from Canvas Factory!

(Canadian customers visit Canvas Factory HERE)

They offered to give me a 16" x 20" canvas with my choice of image

and then to share my gift with you right here on my blog!

And the neat thing?

They want to give one of my readers a 16" x 20" canvas as well!!!!

US and Canadian entries only please and

they will ship it to you for free too!

Here is my beautiful canvas.

Now understand that I love A LOT on my walls...

on my surfaces and pretty much everywhere in our home!

I guess I've always love that "shop" look.

Layers upon layers of wonderful things and treasures.

UPDATED:
I moved the clock above the basket and like it so much better!!!

SO....

Here's the deal:

Leave a comment right here on my blog and you'll be entered to WIN!!!!

You will get to choose your own image ~

And also if you want it portrait or landscape.
ALSO: PLEASE LEAVE ME YOUR EMAIL
SO I CAN CONTACT THE WINNER.

I will draw a name from the comments

this coming Sunday, April 15th

after 6:00 pm EST.

Thank you for stopping by to see what I'm up to!!!

Just adding one more beautiful thing to our home!

Hugs and love,

Dawn

It's the little things that make you happy!

Well....we've lived here at the farmhouse for almost five years now!!!

I've looked at the red brick fireplace day after day just knowing

that it could be so, so much more beautiful with just a teeny bit of effort!

I mentioned to my dad that I would love for him to build me a fireplace surround

completely out of gorgeous moulding.

Completely removeable but wonderful all the same.

Well, mom and dad came down last week and he was ready, willing and able!!!

At almost 75 years old, this precious man

(a total handyman by-the-way) wants to make me happy!

He measured and measured again.

We headed to Lowes and started looking at all the components we would need.

We totally designed it on the concrete floor of Lowes!

We purchased some items but after one night's sleep,

my dad dreamed all about it by-the-way...

(he is who I get my artistic goodness from!)

and decided we needed to return some things and buy a few others!

He used thin luan as the foundation for his fireplace surround creation.

He purchased small flat-head screws that he screwed in from the BACK

of the luan so they would not show from the front and need to be puttied.

He used 1 x 6 boards on the sides that he shaved down

to the proper size to apply the luan base to.

Then he began using wood glue in addition to the screws

to add the different mouldings to the front.

The wonderful thing?

The fireplace surround is only attached to the wall on each side of the fireplace!

It can easily be removed if needed.

Here are a few photos of this wonderful transformation!!!

BEFORE:

I still need to add a finish coat of white paint but

I LOVE IT SO, SO MUCH!!!!

It adds so much more character to our sweet living room!!

AFTER:

And as wonderful added bonus?

My sweet son Brad gave me an early Mother's Day gift.

A pretty ceiling fan for my studio with a great light!

My dad and son Brent installed it too...I CAN SEE NOW!

Happy Monday angels!!!

I'm wishing you a beautiful week ahead ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

Random goodness ~

We had a WONDERFUL Fourth of July weekend around here
I so hope you did as well!!!
Just a little swimming, cooking out and spending time
with our precious family.
I don't have too much to blog about but will always re-share
something I think that you may love to inspire you!

I sewed this little doll dress a few years back....and aged it as well.

Seeing this photo makes me want to make a few more!!

I wonder if they would sell in my Etsy shop?

Don't you just love beautiful old book covers?

This one was falling off of an old book I bought,

so I scanned it....click on it a couple of times to see how big it is!

 

I love, LOVE botanicals and tinted these

so they would be sepia toned ~

I still love them so...

The pic below is random but still thought it was good to share again ~

you all know I'm a freak for seam binding!
Don't forget to visit Zipperstop to buy your seam binding
and remember to tell Jeff that
The Feathered Nest sent you!!!

 Sweet old woman....

One of my favorite images....EVER!

And I'll leave you with a wonderful photo

I took of the antique store I used to own ~

this was the little bitty front porch all dolled up!

Those are gauzy curtains that are hung near each post.

See the "P" on the painted door?

It is one of those vinyl sticker things...neat idea, huh?

The shop was call The Plum Tree Antiques ~

sometimes I miss it but then again, I really don't...

it was fun while it lasted though!

Thank you always for visiting me here

and especially for your precious comments!!!

Have a wonderful Monday dear friends!

hugs and love,

Dawn