SpringTyme Shop Pics!

Happy Tuesday!

I am heading out to re-stock my Sleepy Poet booth today, but before I left I wanted to post some shop photos that I was able to snap on Saturday between customers!

It was such a great day Saturday...nothing special, no open house or anything, just a normal Saturday and it was soooo great seeing so many of my wonderful friends and customers. The weather was nice and warm and it really felt like Spring had hit the Carolinas.

What a great feeling! It always does my heart good when I get to see you all!

So enough yip yap you say?? You want the pics already??

I get the hint! *wink*

Here ya go.....

This is just a sampling if all the great stuff that we've got out! I will be sharing more photos soon! I hope your Tuesday is SUPER!

AND....AND....AND...... I wanted to also thank everyone for their kind comments and emails on my last post. You make me smile inside and out! :0)

Just Wanted to Share.....

Sweet Sunday Afternoon Everybody!

I hope your day is going well.

I just wanted to take a few minutes to share with you some wonderful blog

experiences I have had the last few days!

It always amazes me how awesome blog land truly is. I think back when I started my business fresh out of high school in 1987 and how I had to scrounge for every bit of information and even looking for inspiration was limited to Country Living more or less. Thank goodness for Country Living! Remember back then how thick the issues used to be and they always seemed to feature a log cabin filled with lots of blue swirl granite ware? Remember?

Okay...I got side tracked.~ back to wonderful blog land.

This first one is a BIGGIE....at least for me.

Faded Prairie is one of my{ super all time favorite} blogs I follow. Let's just say that prairie girl Kristin knows a thing or two about taking a FANTASTIC photo. I have admired her work for along time and to be honest she {without knowing} inspired me to take the leap and sign up for my first photography class. One of my goals was to be able to sign up for some of these photo challenges that you see on different blogs. Kristin is currently having a photo challenge and she encouraged me to sign up. I was n.e.r.v.o.u.s! There is a BIG OLE BUNCH of talented photographers that enter those things! I am not one of them. BUT, I went ahead and entered one of my {super all time favorite} photos I recently took of my feed sacks.

And guess what?

I was one of last weeks WINNERS! I am still on Cloud 9 and can't believe it. I realize it's not an Oscar or anything but to me it means the world!
Next up was a super unexpected email I received from Kate at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating! She has a fabulous linky party on Fridays called Flaunt it Friday! In her email she stated how much she enjoyed the post on the feed sack pillows and that she was going to feature it! How sweet is that? Plus she invited me to grab her button and I was thrilled to do it! I highly suggest a visit to her blog if you have never been.

And now for this one. Jami from Freckled Laundry has one of the most adorable blogs out there! She is a stinker for sure and I just love following her. To say she is talented is an understatement and her creations always inspire me. She hosts a neat linky party every Friday that she calls Air Your Laundry that highlights textile related projects. Really unique and fun! She was sweet to feature my thrift store stool make-over this week! I felt honored and so happy to have my work associated with her blog.
I am so happy to have been featured by all these super gals. I am not in the habit of tooting my own horn but I just had to share with you all the love that was shown to me these last few days. It couldn't have come at a better time. With Mr. OTM still out of work, it gets hard to not have those "down in the dumps" kinda days. You know?

This put a spring in my step~ a smile on my face and Joy in my heart!
Thank you all SO much! :0)

Wednesdays Projects...DONE!

Happy Friday!!

You may remember from my Wednesday post I did a little squacking about having a

"boatload" of projects to get done that day?

Ringin any bells?

Welllllllllll, I am happy to report that they did...in fact.....get DONE!

I love basking in the glow of completed projects!

First up was the stack of old feed sacks that were waiting to be made into pillows.

I have had these lined up to get done before CHRISTMAS!

You know how that goes....

Plus I had all the down inserts stacked ready and waiting taking up a big corner if space in my
ultra organized , totally put together studio... slash ...um computer, craft, spare bedroom
{insert sarcasm here}


While I loved looking at these all folded up neatly in a stack....


I am loving them even more now that they are DONE, they are priced, they are at the shop and they are OUT of my room!
Next on the list were some TAGS!
I have had a lump of some kind of clay stuff hanging around the computer/craft/spare bedroom since who knows when. I don't even know what kind it is...the label is MIA. Anyway I thought I could use it up and create some tags.




Plus I had these awesome old blue/green bottles lurking in a box in the ultra organized totally put together garage { more sarcasm needed here}

so I put them together...

and I am a likin what I see!

The "mystery clay lump" is used up so now I have to go on a search mission for more!

I thought these would be perfect to hold dandelions!

Remember being a kid and picking these for your mom?

Mine would always say "thank you" and put them in a juice glass and have a place of honor on the kitchen counter.

So these are now at the shop waiting to be priced but I will get that done today.

So there ya have it!

I am linking these projects to some parties today!

Please hop on over to:

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Flaunt it Friday

Frugal Friday

Feathered Nest Friday

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

P.S. Shhhhhh......the Etsy shop opening is getting closer! *wink* stay tuned!

Chippy pieces of the past!

To say I have a boatload of stuff to get done today in an understatement!

But I had to scroll thru some photos for some advertisements projects that I'm doing~ and it was like a trip down memory lane.

I put together some photos of pieces that were at the top of my favorites list...
They have all since found homes....

Gracing the living rooms.....

or porch's {covered or not}....

or kitchens....

or bedrooms....

or dining rooms....

or offices....

or bathrooms....

Of the BEST CUSTOMERS on EARTH!

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

{this post is linked to White Wednesday!}

P.S. There's more where these came from! *wink*!

SUNDAY PICKIN!

Actually I didn't get any of this today...Sunday.

Our plans for today's junkin trip was foiled!

The cursed starter in the truck didn't want to start this morning

thus leaving me to resort to showing you LAST SUNDAYS junk picks!

You won't care one ding dang bit I'm guessing!

So let's roll um......

Any guesses on the first one???C'mon ...you know, you know what it is.....

YEP! A SUPER DUPER CHIPPY DIPPY SHABBY CRUSTY OLE MIRROR!


I am loooovin the cracklie-ness!
Now check out this little sweetie...

Not really sure exactly what it is but my first guess would be to hold flower pots! Whaddya think?

I'm thinking p*r*e*c*i*o*u*s!!

oh and my little tulip is making her grand debut for 2011!

I need more pots!

Now this is the thing I love about junkin! Someone already took the time to change out this old lantern into a great light fixture...however....they did such a bad job that I'm afraid I'd burn down the neighborhood if I plugged it in. This little darlin will be going on the to-do list before she makes it to the A list!

Little tulip looks so happy to be here!

Okay...now do ya have any ideas at all what this is??? I'll give you a few minutes to think.....

here's some thinking music..

"da do dee la la la dooo deee fiii sooo laaaa da dee dumm deee dooo"

OKAY FOLKS TIME IS UP!

If you guessed a hog waterer or cow waterer...

You are CORRECT!!!

Now the question.....Why would I want this?

I guess the first reason was because it's rusty...farm rusty!

Plus, the second reason is purely sentimental. My Uncle Frank used to have a huge dairy farm and to say I loved going over there is an understatement. I loved the barn, the smells, the milk house, the corn crib, the barn cats and the cows! Each cow used to have one of these waterers in their stalls. You see when the cow pushes on that metal "pedal" that is what opens the pipe and water comes out. When you're a kid pushing on that pedal is a blast and well... I used to have a blast!

Times sure does fly. I can close my eyes and be right back there at that place. It sat at the end of a dirt road which I thought was totally cool and anytime I threatened to run away...that's where I was gonna go. My mom knew it to. I can also remember her telling me to grab a can of spagettios to take with me in case I get hungry!

I guess I needed that trip down memory lane. Today was kind of a pain with the whole truck issue and all but I am ending it sharing all this with you...PLUS I have made from scratch vanilla cupcakes in the oven as we speak, there is an amazing Aretha Franklin tribute being sung on the Grammy awards right now and the smell in the house is ka-razy good!

Time to go make the frosting!! :0)

P.S. FYI...spellcheck didn't recognize cracklie-ness as a word! ....go figure!

AUCTION TIPS ANYONE??

The idea for this post occurred to me the other day when I was chatting it up with a customer about an item that I had in my shop that I purchased at an auction.

She was telling me that she had NEVER BEEN to an auction because she doesn't know what to do and feels intimidated!

I can understand that. It can be an intimidating place but I LOVE me a good auction and have learned a thing or two over the years.

Plus...I've bought some great stuff too.

Cheap.

My guess is that there are others out there who have missed the deal of a lifetime because they haven't gone for that very reason OR perhaps you do go but would just like some tips!

Here is your chance! If you have any questions about auctions that you'd like to ask, leave them in the comments of this post and I will put together an AUCTION TIPS post using this same photo as above so look for it soon!

Keep in mind that I am by no means an expert BUT I have done this since I was a kid so we'll say I have like 30+ years experience. Give or take a few years here and there!

So I will do my best for you and we'll see if we can't make an auction goer out of you yet!

Ask away......

Patiently Waiting.....

Both of these items.....this huge white metal basket.....

all chippy and rusty and crusty and perfect.....

and this adorable old wagon.....

all chippy and rusty and crusty and perfect....

were found on two different junkin escapades around Christmas time.

Now they sit patiently waiting until I figure out what I want to do with them.

Any ideas?

Linking this to White Wednesday over at Faded Charm today!