The Vintage Marketplace

Make plans to attend!

Our first day at The Vintage Marketplace  is complete, so I thought I’d give you some incentive to come see us—as if you need some encouragement.

Some pictures of our booth.  We’re here to represent Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, so we brought a cross-section of items we’ve transformed with this wonderful product.

And then, a few other vendors:

This is the Time Worn Interiors booth—it’s talented owner, Theresa Smith, seen in the picture below with her husband, Craig, who pieces together a lot of the industrial items you see, although I understand that Theresa is rather handy with the welding torch, too.

 

Lavender & Old Lace has beautiful linen recreations.  Donna Shannon uses old linens to  create beautiful clothing and home accessories.

Then you can wander over to visit with Jackie at Shambora Studios.  She has the most imaginative displays and the easiest disposition! You will enjoy visiting with her.

Then—oh my, oh my—Kim Boyd-Hughs of Bungalow has the most amazing vintage furnishings AND the fabulously feminine attire from Magnolia Pearl

Here’s Sue Whitney’s display—she gathered items from all of the participants.

And then, oh, then, you must peruse  the Recycled Recreations booth of Erika Cady.  Beautiful jewelry made from found objects.  I feel sure I won’t be able to leave without a piece.

But across from our booth, the entire event, we have been delighted with the ever changing display of Urban Farmhouse.  I have been following her blog for years.  What a delight to finally meet her!

I hope if you have some time today that you will visit us in Hendersonville, TN at The Vintage Marketplace.

Thanks for your indulgence!

The Vintage Marketplace

I am not worthy.  Let the groveling and self-deprecating behavior begin.  I have had so much  good stuff happening lately, it’s hard to believe!  God is good.
First, I have been approved to stock Annie Sloan Chalk Paints.  I am thrilled beyond belief to add such an amazing product to the inventory at Hodgepodge. 
Then, as if that’s not enough, Tawnya Norton of C’est Moi, asks if I am available to help her represent Annie Sloan Chalk Paint at The Vintage Marketplace in Hendersonville, TN on Feb 2 – 4.  WOW!  (Note the  new badge there to the left of this blog post.)
This event is BIG stuff!  I was planning to go just to have the opportunity to meet some of my heroes . . . Sue Whitney of Junk Market Style fame . . . the creator of Urban Farmhouse, Lisa Maughmer . . . and Theresa Smith of Time Worn Interiors, just to name a few!
Now, I’m an actual vendor!   Tawnya and I are working on ideas for our booth—this is going to be a quick throw together, but Tawnya’s talents will shine through and I’m sure it will be wonderful.  As the emphasis will be the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint—you can bet there will be a lot of painted stuff!
Just make sure you mark your calendars and plan to join us—you will be glad you did!
Thanks for your indulgence,

ps--for the record, the best thing to happen in recent memory was having my mother come for Christmas and stay for a full three weeks!  I was so happy to have her here every evening when I walked through my door--ad not just because she had started (and often finished) dinner.  It was wonderful having her interact with my family for an extended period of time.  She is a very easy companion and I love her.  I'll revise my earlier comment . . .God is Great!

only 18 days . . .

I know the holidays are behind us, but I finally have time to catch-up.  This was my article for the Leaf Chronicle on Dec 11th  As it is Dec 30th, I will be posting the remainder of the December articles in “rapid fire successions.”  I think I feel a New Year’s resolutions forming.

The countdown is on the chalkboard. The other day it occurred to me that we’re less than twenty days out from Christmas! YIKES! So, I wrote this on my chalkboard, “Only 18 days left to decorate, shop, bake, clean and . . .”

Just for the record, it still reads “18” days. (You do the math.) Raise your hand if you’re in denial, as well. If I don’t change it, maybe the days will magically remain. What happened to “the gift of time” I waxed on about two weeks ago? Where’d it go?

I’ll tell you where—to work. I have been so busy at the shop and with clients that I haven’t had time to do any of the necessary preparations for our household. Throw-in a backed-up sewer line, a few volunteer commitments, and a few loads of laundry and you have a really full schedule.

I’m sure each and every one of you can relate to this dilemma. Remember, misery loves company.

But wait, is that a fully decorated Christmas tree I see through your picture window? And those lights on your house, I know they haven’t been there all year. And, thank you, thank you for the lovely Christmas Greeting with the well-coordinated-in-red-attire photo of your family. When did you find the time to get all of that done? I mean, the family photo alone would be an impossible feat of scheduling for our crew.

Yet, I promised myself I wouldn’t stress out this year.

Then, the phone call that alerts me my daughter’s MRI for her wrist has to be rescheduled due to a problem with the machine. Dad was going to take her on Friday; now Mom has to take her—to Nashville—on Wednesday (a day previously set aside for some shopping and decorating). That means another week of no gymnastics—she is not going to like that. (I begged and pleaded, but I couldn’t get the MRI scheduling tech to call my daughter for me.) Another day—lost—and it hasn’t even happened yet! I’m mourning the loss of a future day.

Still not stressing.

It will all be fine. Once I submit this article, then run home to take and send the lovely photo accompanying it, I’ll then have a few hours before I return to downtown to join dear friends for a toast to the season. I can use that time to add lights to the tree we must get decorated this weekend. That’s how it will happen—in stages.

As you are running around trying to accomplish it all—think about the decorating you can do in stages. For instance, all of my trees are up. Tonight I’ll decorate the aluminum tinsel tree and return the boxes to storage. Tomorrow, I’ll aim for decorations on a different tree and in the kitchen.

You’ve got the general idea. I do make use of the teenagers in the house. They bring down and return the storage boxes as directed. I’m responsible for most of the decorating, but the youngest is anxious for it to happen, so she may start setting-up the nutcrackers or Santa Claus figures.

Her first chore however is to vacuum the floors so the fur balls will stop chasing me as I frenetically spin through the house, wondering what to do next. They just mock my futility and I will not stand for that—it stresses me out!

Thanks for your indulgence!

boo!

I promised a few more pictures of our Halloween merchandise, so I thought I better get this online before it sells out!
Here are some of our best selling shimmer lights . . .we have witches and pumpkins, too.  Beside them, you see our set of two hand/guest towels.

Mix-up your favorite poison with these skull and cross bones drink stirs.











Here are some vials inspired by the Gibson Girls of the past.
A skull under glass, a coozie for your favorite bottled beverage and a set of three candlesticks (battery operated) dripping blood red wax!

Here we are—the perfect hat stand—a glitter skull ( I would estimate it is “full size”) with a stylish witches hat—complete with veil!  You’ll be the best dressed witch on the street.
Alright—these are my favorite decorations this year—SPIDER MAGNETS!!!  Not being a fan of spiders, I was surprised to find how much I like these.  They have strong magnets, so it looks like the real thing, as their bellies don’t touch—just their legs.  (I just shivered!)  Pair them with a silver-beaded web (almost too glammy to be spooky) and it will be very convincing.

Fool your friends with these “family photos.”  Our holographic images are real vintage photos which change into spooky apparitions at different angles.

A glamorous feathered mask is practically required when drinking potions from a mercury glass  apothecary jar.



A mercury glass skull is my idea of the way to decorate for this holiday.


Black roses worthy of Mortician Addams.









One of our Plush Pumpkins  in espresso.  It is “wearing” our wicked cool spider web pendant.

Rats!

Skull & cross bones bracelets—can double as napkin rings for your spooky gatherings.

A rather convincing skull.  I feel a Shakespeare soliloquy coming on . . .

A well dressed ghoul will have plenty of bling!

Sugar mold votive holders in the perfect fall finish.

Tip the top hat to your date—the veil and enhancer guarantee your presence on the “best dressed” list.


There are a few items I haven’t captured in photos—glowing aliens in futuristic goo, a haunted nightlight, chalkboard pumpkins and oversized flies, to name a few.
I hope you feel inspired to introduce a little spectral elegance into your Halloween décor this year.
How do you decorate for this holiday?  For the kids?  For adults?  Any special tips you can offer are welcome.
Thanks for your indulgence,

a quick change at Hodgepodge

Finally getting something done!

Much to my chagrin, I finally sold a favorite cabinet at Hodgepodge.

It was made from a recycled paneled door, barn board and a screen door.

 

As well as a wonderful iron bed . . .

 

With the restrictions of  a busy Rivers & Spires festival weekend, I needed to find a creative fix for some quick replacements.

For the bed, I remembered this maple, artichoke finial full bed I had in the back room.  Not being a big fan of the orange-y tint of maple, I was determined to get it painted before I put it on the floor.

 

So, I pulled the head- and footboards out to the front porch area and started cleaning, sanding and cleaning again.  Then I reached for this beautiful shade of taupe paint.

Here’s how it looks now:

What a classic look, eh?

Then, to replace that wonderful cabinet . . .

What to do?  I love that thing—it held so much and offered such impact at the front of the shop.  Yet, it’s going to a good home and she was appropriately excited about it (I couldn’t let just anyone take it home!).  So, I took a look at the Acme boot factory racks I had just acquired and thought there it is!  They’ve been serving s my sidewalk sale carts, but this was a more important need.  They have a great urban design look.  After some quick repairs . . .

 

And here’s the boot rack, turned kitchen shelving:

Way cool, eh?

 

Well, that’s all I wanted to share today.  I just love the urban, industry look of these racks.

Any other ideas for how you would use this rack?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for your indulgence!

my stint as a “guest blogger”

I was very flattered to be contacted by Kathleen, at HawkersWife blog, for a guest blogger opportunity.   She sponsors a cleaning and organizing week on her blog and this year she asked me to weigh-in.  There are several give-away’s associated with the week of posts, I encourage you to visit and enter to win.

Here’s the link to her blog:

 

Here’s a link to my post on her blog:

 

Thanks for your indulgence!