Chrismas Show…

I’m excited to do a Christmas show this weekend.

I set up my booth today {mostly} and I had so much fun doing it {believe me…I don’t think I’ve ever said that before}.  I was given ‘special’ permission to set up a day early and it made for a  fun, relaxing and quiet experience.  I’m also trying some completely different ideas for my booth and it just feels so much more like ME.  It’s comfortable and fun.

Wow…did I just say ‘fun’ three times?  this is generally where I pull out the thesaurus and come up with words like: lively, merry, pleasant, cheerful, gay, jolly, convivial {really?~convivial?}…i guess i’ll stick with FUN!

There is a list of extremely talented {and even convivial} gals who will be setting up at this show…I’m glad to be just one of them.

come by for a visit

The perfect Day!

Yesterday’s sale at The Vintage Barn in Rathdrum, Idaho was grand!

It was a beautiful, HOT sunny day with a perfect assortment of vendors.  With live music and the scent of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs wafting in the air, the senses were made complete with the sounds of excited {women’s} voices and much laughter!

The day was perfect, as usual!

I’m mostly going to show a variety of pictures.  Most of the first ones are from my booth.  Later in the afternoon I was able to walk around with Miss A and I found myself taking a few random shots of things that made me smile!

Two sillies!

This girl {Becky} always makes me smile!…and she, along with her girl, Holly, come up with the most fabulous, glittery creations.  I read this post this week about their shop that just made me smile!

This is one of the first things that I made.  It manages to go to every show with me.  I may just retire it and keep it…I really love it!

The Little Glass House

Mr T and I have been working on a fun project his week…fun and hard!   …hard, because I had to scrape paint off of the paned-glass windows.

I got this idea from a post over at Joyworks.   I just knew that I Mr T had to make one and I even had the not so perfect windows to work with…4 matching 6-paned windows (that were covered with that nice, hard layer of beige{y} yellow paint).

Lovely (I hope you can hear the drippy sarcasm)!

After completing the nice coat of red, the finished project really turned out quite charming.  We made it with hinges so we could remove the pins and completely break down each piece…now that is lovely ~ and, speaking of lovely, I covered a lamp frame with some twinkly lights and this wonderfully, ruffly slip and hung it in the tip-top of the little glass house ~

twinkly, ruffly fun!

double Lovely!

We had alllllll day to set up (9-5) our booths and business began at 5:00 pm.  There really wasn’t much business last tonight but I’m feeling hopeful for today.

the last of the Farm Chick fun…

…for this year, anyway!

I really feel blessed to have been in this great show.  I’ve always heard about how wonderful it is.  Last year I attended as a shopper and loved the few hours that I was there but after having spent 3 full days there (including set-up) I would have to agree with everyone – it truly is a great show.  Yesterday I mentioned some of the ‘greats’, but I don’t think that I mentioned neighbors.  All of the gals around me were wonderful.  I’m sure that we could become fast friends if given more time.  And, I’m quite sure that my-girl Liz, met most of the people who were in the whole show.  I was just mentioning to her that my views were really up↑ on my blog.  She wasn’t a bit surprised and said that while she was walking around she was always giving out my card and telling people about my blog.  And to think that I thought the whole time she was gone from the booth (which was most of the time), she was just flitting about in her little social way, looking cute and having her picture taken by others, but she was actually promoting my business…  WOW!…what a girl!  😉

I took a few more pictures in my booth today – I really didn’t get out much, it seemed like each time I did, I spent money so I stayed put and didn’t get many pics of other booths.

Today we took 3 of my chicks and hung them in the front of the booth in a bird cage.  They seemed to fair pretty well – I’ll make sure that they are still alive in the morning.  They were a lot of fun to have there and they drew a bit of attention.

I’m so exhausted tonight and I wish that I could say that someone else wrote this post because I fear that it may be kind of crazy but I’ll just have to say that I did it and that now I’m going to bed and will sleep sound until my normal wake-up time of 5:00 am, which undoubtedly will come way too early.

moving right along…

I am having so much fun getting ready for the Farm Chicks Show – Set up is tomorrow and usually by now I am living in a constant state of STRESS {alarm, anxiety, disquietude, flutter, intensity, nervous tension, nervousness, urgency, worry…}  Ok…well, the intensity is still there!  But I can handle a constant state of intensity…in fact, that’s exactly what my procrastination produces and I like it – the adrenalin is just-a-flowin’.

I’m working on some fun stuff…

I drug in this old Victrola to use for display.  I used decoupage to adhere sheet music to one of the shelves.

I have painted a wonderful, old dresser RED to use in my booth…

 I’m going to use it to set my cash register on – I’ll use the drawers for my stuff and the back of it will face the customer.  I painted the inset slabs with chalkboard paint so I can write something fun on it like, “Vintage Charm”.  😉

 .♥ .

misc stuff…

Today is my 26th anniversary!  I’m thankful, happy and blessed!

My daughter (21) made it safely to Germany this week where she will spend 1½ months.

My chicks are progressing nicely so are my kittens.  The sad part about the kittens is that they are still in the house because my sweet & not-so-innocent dog is way too fond of them.

My unread blog posts that I subscribe to through Google Reader, are up to 200!

I love RED!

An apron creation!

With the danger of completely overdoing it, I made this apron utterly and wholly for ME!  It’s my lucky day!

a picture of the faux awning I've made for my booth

I made it with my booth design in mind because I plan to wear it for my summer shows.

As I was working on this, I thought of how my grandmothers possibly made their aprons; taking a piece of fabric and making it work.  This linen, aqua polka dot wasn’t quite enough for two aprons (& I wanted two; 1 for submission & 1 just for me ~ although, I’m so in love with this polka dot that I’ll be keeping them both), …anyway, as I was laying another apron across the fabric to use as a pattern, I decided that I could make this work for two aprons if I pieced some of the contrasting fabric along each side.

I also added a left-over piece of one of the shears that I used in my booth to the under-side of the apron.

I love everything about this apron – it is most certainly my favorite one yet.   I did a few things out of necessity & even accidentally that I will now incorporate into others.

Moving right along and still having fun…

I added rice lights under her skirt – it’s very fun and it can be seen inside the booth too.  I don’t think that Miss Charming will be noticed by many though, because she is so high.  My sweet-16-girl is quite impressed with the whole thing and thinks that our living room has the makings of a boutique.

I also added some fun stuff around her neck, but again, it really won’t be noticed.  😉

..and close-ups of my ‘cherry’ work ~

One of the things that I’ve enjoyed about this whole project is that I have had almost everything on hand to make it- I’ve purchase very little….add’l b&w fabric, thread, rick rack, a few shears (the inside is layered with vintage shears in a variety of sizes and textures, in shades of white~ I’ve used 20 and could use at least 4 more).  Otherwise I had what I needed.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

We’ve been having a lot of fog here with freezing temps – that combo makes the trees gorgeous!

Am I working or playing??

I purchased this Adjust-O-Matic dress form at my local thrift store several month ago for $5, brand new in the box.  I was thrilled but I wasn’t very excited about the idea of putting it together.

30-45 minutes, huh?  Well, OK then.  After spending 1 1/2 hours the 1st setting – I let it sit again.  Yesterday as I was looking at my 10×10 EZ-UP tent in my living room trying to gain some inspiration, I kept looking at the 3+ foot pole that was sticking up in the middle & I knew that I would need to come up with a fun idea to camouflage that.  My mind quickly went to the dress form.  It seemed perfect, especially because it is weight-less (anything 34-24-34 would be).   One thing led to another and, so far, this is what I’ve come up with.

Miss Charming!

Too much fun!

Hours and hours of sewing….

I’m not sure what possesses me to think that I need to post everyday, but I guess I just enjoy it and I know that if I don’t my mom with harass me.  🙂 plus YOU are often in my thoughts and I wanted to update you on the workings of my booth.

So, here’s an update of what I’m up to…

as of now this top isn't actually fitting but I'll make it work

I’ve been buying up old shears for just such a time as this,… I guess. – I’m going to somehow incorporate them…

The time-consuming part of the awning is almost done.  I sewed it all with French seams and the binding on the scalloped edge is hand-sewn on the back side.  hours and hours of sewing….

I forgot to mention yesterday that I have my very own personal {design} assistant.  She is awesome and full of great ideas.  We’ve brainstormed together for years – decorating for spectacular events!  🙂  Now, we get to do it long-distance.  Thanks Trish for all of your stupendous ideas for me.

I’ll try to make my next post a bit more visually stimulating…  tata*for*now!

Booth re-design…

I’m going to begin re-designing my booth for my summer shows.  The 3 shows that I am most excited about are:  The Vintage Barn Sale, Farm Chicks(they have an awesome new blog)  & Mary Jane’s Farm Fair.  I have laid awake nights dreaming and scheming  about how to make my booth the one that could draw everyone into it.  🙂  So, today I’m going to pop up my 10×10 right in the middle of my living room.  Here is a sneak peak of my dreams…

…and another ‘board’ that I made –  custom just for my friend.  She isn’t a blogger but her daughters are (here and here) are, so, I stole some pics from their’s and mine and put this together for her for a late Christmas gift (the 1st attempt at a gift failed and she’s a patient gal).  As I make these I’m {slowly} learning that I need to keep words and faces away from the clothespins.  I should have put ‘lovin’ the country life’ on the top!