A Minute of pure Bliss

AHH I found a minute of ME time to catch a breath and fill you in on what's been happening in the life and times of Me, my Family and my Art.
My mom has been having a terrible time over the winter so off to the Dr we went. After a heap of tests and an echo of her heart the Heart Dr has informed us that both of her valves in her heart are worn out. Which means she has "moderate to severe" leakage and is causing her to be so weak and feeling yuky. So now she has to make the decision to have open heart surgery to replace both valves :( With all the running to the dr etc and just daily care and family I seem to have less time to spend creating. I got to steal a bit of time and run over to the antique store 3 blocks away so I could be out in the nice weather and feel the sun on my face! Oh how lovely is the sun???!!! I also got mom to sit outside with me for awhile while I did some watercolor work sitting in the sun! It was BLISS! I was productive and have yet to scan my watercolor pieces but will hopefully get on that in a couple days after more Dr trips. So I am excited to show you the AWESOME find from the antique store near my house! I walked in and looked to my right by the register and the glass case which holds some awesome stuff and saw a wooly toy! I walked fast over to the case and asked the lady if I could see the little Lamb. She got it out and I held it and inspected it and was in LOVE! It is completely hand needle felted and is about the size of a newborn lamb! It's amazing and wonderful and I HAD to have her! So since I didn't have alot of time I went on home happliy with my purchase of the little lamby! I took a couple views of her so you can see she has ears and a tail and is proportioned correctly and is just perfectly vintage and well loved, but in great condition! She even has a little pink wool yarn bow around her neck... well just LOOK!!!

Isn't she adorable??? She's standing on an 8x8 block of wood! Her name is Annabelle and I plan on making her a little tag and collar. Perhaps a small bell to :) I Love her!















I completed a couple of jewelry pieces for Hannah Grey and was in a vintage springy mood hence the flowers :) One is a braclett and the other a necklace. I used 1" circle collage sheet from Hannah Grey called "Flower Girls". I have so many ideas planned for this sheet and have some work already done but will have to post seperate. Go check out the great stuff at HANNAH GREY!









This is my version of a "gypsy bag". I have alot of muslin and decided to stamp the image onto a piece of fabric and quilt it onto a bag I could use when I go for walks to collect found items on the ground. Yes , I have a very embarresed hubby who rolls his eyes when his wife looks on the ground for "junk"! I havn't "aged " this yet, but plans to make a ton of these is in my head! I created this with NO pattern. I do bring it in the car when we go to the Dr or grocery store,walks etc to collect the things I find so they don't get lost again and sometimes things need to be washed a bit. This bag can be thrown into the washer and hung dry ready to use the next morning! I challenge you to create your own "gypsy bag" to collect stuff or just to have hanging in your studio to look pretty :) If you do make one of these bags please let me know so I can take a peek at yours :) I LOVE to look at other peoples work!



Here is one of the water colors I did using watercolor oil pastels and a watered down paintbrush. I have no clue if the quote has been said before, but it popped into my head and I went with it! Watercolors are my favorite , this will be given framed for my mom for Mothers Day along with a couple of "hankie ladies" I have in my head :) Well my dears I must go put clothes in the dryer so I may go to bed and get up and bring mom to the eye DR. She has cateracts and is being tested for gloucoma.... It never ends... Tomarrow is a new day and a new begining, I wonder what it will bring.......
xoxo
Dawn

Something new

I painted this for my mom's 80th Birthday present. It was painted on one of those chunky canvas's and sits on the table or shelf by itself. I think it's 3-4" thick! I had so much fun doing this as it was a labor of love. She looks at it everyday and it gives me great joy to see she loves it so much! I always make her something special for her birthday and Christmas and she loves to take what I make and show her friends at church. I've got some more things for you to see further down. I hope you enjoy looking as much as I did creating!

This is ONE of my new summer bags I created! I got the pattern out of a quilting magazine and it is so easy to make! It's lined and even has pockets on the inside for cell phone ect. One handle is shorter then the other so you slip the longer handle through the shorter one and WALA! I've been in a sewing mode for a short time now and LOVE looking for remnants at the fabric store!! I need to finish a baby quilt for a shower I was invited to on sunday and a few vintage stuffed toys and will post them when I'm done or shortly after.


Little Bunny FOO-FOO. She was both hand and machine sewn. I embroidered on her dress and her head. The flower on her pocket(which can hold small things) was made using wool and then appliqued on using a vintage button for the center of the flower. Her head and arms are linin and her legs are wool felt. The details on her face are either embroidered or wool felt sewn on.So much fun to make!!!

I really love how this turned out! I cut a heart from a cardboard box and collaged it, I made it with someone special in mind so it's a secret untill she receives it.







This is "Raz" and he's the newest needle felted bear I created! He started out as a smudge of roving and with some loving pokes he got his own personality. He is 5 way jointed so posing is fun! His head turns and he's firm but soft feeling. He's so sweet and his tuft of hair sticking up on top of his head makes him look squeezable! Needle felting is another favorite thing to do.









Here are the NEW guys (and gal)! They are hand sewn from wool felt! The book I used to create them is called "The Cute Book". After I used some of the templates in the book I went off on my own and started freehand monsters! Thats one of them on top of the jar of flowers. He was white wook felt and I used dyes after he was made and then rinsed him out and he's a wild man! The elephant was made from a differant book called softies. I LOVE to sew and small things by hand are so relaxing watching tv at night and you can make many in one night as they are about 3 inches tall and MR elephant is about 7-8". I have some made up in my purse and when people are nice to us or need cheering we give them these felties and it makes all involved feel GREAT! RAK to perfect strangers in person is a wonderful experiance! Especially small children waiting patiently in line or shopping with there parents ! I was at the fabric store a couple weeks ago and a little girl was looking through the bins I was looking in, The dollar stuff and clearance stuff. She was eyeing and trying on bracelets and I didn't see her mom anywhere. I had a dollar in my pocket and the bracelets were 50c so I gave her a dollar and told her to pick out a couple :) It made me almost jump for joy to see the happy smile she got! She quickly ran to her mother and I stood out in the isle so her mom could see I wasn't a kook, but someone who wanted to give and her mom thanked me many times as did the little girl! I LOVE doing stuff like that, it's very rewarding!
I've got more creations to take photos of and will post when I get to it (soon I hope). I've also been dying scrapes of fabric,rayon ribbon and cotton twine and I'm liking what I see! I now need more colored dyes! Art is so healing to me and to be able to share it with you makes it so much more fun! Enjoy and come back soon !
xoxo,
Dawn

Blizzard in April ?

Dixie KNOWS her ball is under there somewhere!
Jump amoung the trees in the summer :) yes thats a trampoline out there in the back yard.
It was really pretty and made me think we should christmas shop :)

Last weekend was a terrible time to drive! The photos I took of the snow falling turned out all WHITE, IMAGINE THAT! I guess this is the joys of living in Minnesota! This morning its almost 45 already and it's sposed to be nice all week and real warm THIS COMING weekend! I'm hopeful, But anything goes when you live in the northern climate! We got 12 inches on top of the over foot already on the ground! The poor trees with all that weight! Hope it's Nice where you are!!
xoxo
Dawn

The Stars are shining on me tonight!!!

I am so excited to tell you all that last night while I was reading my art books,magazines etc I came across an add for vintage findings for jewelry and OH MY! I was sooo bummed to find out they only sold wholesale so I found the link to find a store near me.... well I live in such a small town there isnt a store near me so I wasn't going to give up so I searched online stores and i looked at a couple stores that had a bit of this and that but not what I was looking for... THEN i went to Cindy's Wicked Good Beadz.
There it was in black and white- Vintaj findings and she has almost all the things they carry from the wholesalers!!! I was in AWE! I have a list a mile long and can't wait to get those awesomely vintaj jewelry findings! Very reasonable and she is the sweetest Lady! I browsed the wholesale site for inspiration and to see the wonderful things they did with the metal findings and OH MY mind is running with ideas!!! GO check out Cindy's store, I didn't want to leave! Now after all this excitement I have to try to go to bed UGH!
Hugs xoxo

Oh the JOY!

I am happy to let you all know that I've been chosen to be on the design team for HannahGrey !!
I can't tell you how honored it makes me feel to be even asked to be included in a swap let alone a design team member to such very successful and GREAT E-stores!!! I've neglected my blog and hope to keep up better! I also have to fill my space at the art/crafters market near my home and have been having great fun creating kits and packets of blank ATC's and inchies ,odd's and ends etc. I have yet to be late on a deadline and it really keeps me on my toes and feels really good to be able to create art not only for my personal self but for others to get inspiration from! I enjoy reading Somerset and all its publications and Cloth Paper Scissors. I have a growing library of art books on things from silver clay to sewing and knitting, felting etc etc. I love a challenge and find great sense of accomplishment when I complete a project. I have been recently been creating small animals out of wool felt and I keep them in my purse and give them to people who are kind to me or anyone who is with me :) I love to do RAK's and just share with others. I will try to post some photo's of the recent things I've been doing here and there when I get a chance. My mom keeps me on my toes also and I often find myself staying up all night finishing a project I started earlier that evening. I am not one who likes to start something and not finish it asap. I feel blessed that art comes easily for me and its not something i have to sit and think about for days. I get an idea or look in magazines and get inspired and off I go! come back soon and see what I've been up to!!
(btw if you havn't seen the movie "into the wild" it's so worth watching! it's based on true events and really makes you rethink what's important in life)
xoxo Dawn

And the WINNERS ARE..........

I was not feeling so well yesterday so I drew names this morning right away!!! I drew 3 names and the winners are.....
Joanne O.
Calico Daisy
and Donna Mooney!!!!
I will get your gifts to you asap!!! Thanks for signing up and playing. Thios was so much fun for me and I hope you also!
Keep on Arting!!
Hugs,
Dawn

ONE World-ONE Heart Give Away !

What IS ONE World-ONE Heart?

It is a blog-wide giveaway event. The original idea behind this was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. Last years event had nearly 100 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.

This is so EXCITING for me as I am a giver and LOVE to share my Art and send RAK's!
Leave me a comment including you name, email addy so I can find you to send your prize!!
I will be offering 3 Prizes to give away!! I made an inspiratation deck using the standard ATC size and collage images of vintage children along with an inspirational message's to lift your spirits! The other 2 prizes will be a surprise as they are in the making and one could possibly be a goodie bag with fun stuff for you to create with! If you have a blog please leave me your addy so I can check it out :)
The drawing will be Feb. 14, 2008 and I will announce the winner by the 15th of Feb , However should Life call and something beyond my control happens in my life or family, I will announce the winners asap :) Thanks for joining in the fun :)
Hugs,
Dawn