So...what makes you feel rich?

Sweet photos of the day:

Our sweet Clara loved a box that we had around the house

and wanted to play with it!

What is it about a simple box?

Well, this baby was so tired from waking early,  just look what happened.....
I had to take a few pics to share with you:

This angel slept two and a half hours in this cardboard box!

I think of this often.

Having five children and being a mom

that always wanted to be home with my babies....

and with my dear husband always supporting us all ~

there are certain tiny things that always seemed make me feel rich.

Not rich in a monetary way,

but rich in a family-loving way.

(In these tough economic times, I KNOW you can relate)

Let's see now....here's my rich list:

Cooking enough to feed many....my family plus more!

Paper towels....they are a luxury you know :)

Food to feed all of us for many meals...

even if I know it means a lot of work for me ~

it's wonderful to know you have meals planned in advance.

Food and supplies to keep my sweet animals happy and fed...

we all love our babies here and want to take care of them!

Having a clean house so my family feels loved and secure ~

I always want them to know I care enough to have

a place they are proud to come home to and

even invite their friends over.

Having a working washer and dryer so our clothes and linens

are fresh and clean....

and until your washer or dryer break down ~

you don't realize how good you have it!

Having precious friends that encouraged my endeavors
no matter how trivial they may be...
How can you stop a creative spirit?

But MOST of all.

What makes me feel rich is ~

laying my head on my pillow each and every night

knowing my babies,

my husband,

my family

and so many friends

are all safe, sound and healthy.

I pray for them all and am so very thankful for each day I can love them!!!!

So what makes you feel rich?

Wishing you a beautiful Wednesday precious friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

And one was just right!

I've added more roses to the guest room!

I finally found these precious old panels (I have fabric stashed everywhere!)

These just happened to be inside of a vintage suitcase under our bed :)

I'm not happy with the rod but had to see them hanging...

I just started working on my new tutorial

to add to my Lessons from The Nest shop!

A sweet elf shoe ornament!

I've been designing the pattern and working on several prototypes...

The one I created last year was really quite small and hard to

manipulate with your fingers. So I enlarged the pattern and, well,

it was way too big (you can see my patterns stuffed inside)

But finally I reached a size that I think you'll love!

Now that I have the pattern, it's time to begin taking photographs

while I create one from beginning to the end, step by step.

These are in no way finished in these pics but you know

I have to show you what I'm up to!!

Wait till you see the finished shoe :)

I ran across the page below I'd scanned from my inspiration files.

I've shared it with you before but I think these are so lovely
and would make beautiful gifts, don't you?

Click it twice to read it larger ~

Have a very happy Tuesday dear friends!

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