Project #847,049

Don't laugh! I feel like that's how many things are on my to-do lists. I have several... one in my head. Or maybe three... and a few written in the odd notebooks and on pads of paper here and there in my purse(s) and desk drawers and car. I read somewhere that one should make lists if one desires organization in one's life. So... it hasn't really seemed to help me much for some reason. Hrrmmm....

Anywho ~ I share with you the pictures I took of my gloriously and horridly vintage bathroom! I love the way the cabinets angle in at the bottom. It lets my guests - for this is our Guest Bathroom - get reeeaaaallly close to the mirror to inspect their enlarged pores or search for gray hairs in their eyebrows.

The tile is not too bad, except that the color is not quite describable. It's a goldy, greeny, odd kind of color that doesn't seem to go with anything. And, it's everywhere. On the counter, on the floor, up the walls, in the shower/tub.

BUT, lucky me, I found this lovely shower curtain with a tropical feel to it (a perfect addition to the vintage tiki god tumblers I use as decor on the counter top) with leaves that perfectly match the goldy, greeny, odd color of the tiles! I couldn't believe it! That was the start of the idea to redecorate. I'm going to paint the bright white cabinets a deep chocolate color, to bring down the visual assault a bit. They were originally a horrible off-white-turned-yellow color, so the white was definitely an improvement, but I think a dark brown will be in keeping with the more modern look I like in bathrooms I see on HGTV.

Then, as I was hanging out on Fabric.com looking at their sale fabrics, I spotted The Perfect Fabric to make curtains out of! If you take a close look here, the current ones are two halves of a pillowcase. A little too "dorm room" for a house with a mortgage and established trees. Doesn't it look AMAZING next to the shower curtain!? I'm ignoring the fact that one of my daughters and my husband, upon seeing the fabric for the first time, pointed out that the design is remeniscent of a Star of David. Not that I care, of course, I have nothing against the Israelis or the Old Testament, but it's RATTAN!!! Good grief. Non-decorators...

So, the final goody that will grace my newly redecorated bathroom will be these gorgeous little prints by soon-to-be-famous artist, Brian Biggs. He has a great little shop on Etsy where you can get prints just like these (and a few others). Oh, and he's my brother. I'm going to frame them sitting on top of the brown burlap you see behind them (also from Fabric.com) and hang them on the wall opposite the sinks. At first I thought I'd paint the walls, but I think once the rest of the stuff is done, it will be enough. The cream walls will be a nice backdrop for the dark cabinets and colorful prints. Or I could put a mural on the walls... hmmm... project #847,050!!

Yard Sale Finds

A long weekend, a visit to the in-laws, a sweet score of vintage goodies to share with my readers!

We are just north of Kansas City, MO for a week of R&R with the Hubby's family. Yesterday his sister suggested we should see what kind of yard sales we should find... of course you know I didn't argue with that!

We found one that offered up a pile of t-shirts and shorts for the boy-child, but the real finds were these vintage lovelies. A great little overnight bag that is in pristine condition, a Pepsi bottle box, a cookbook from the 1970's, an old crocheted doily, a vintage apron, an embroidered table scarf, a pile of vintage canning jar lids and some cardboard milk bottle lids. I know I'll keep a few of the jar lids, but I think most of this stuff will be listed in my vintage Etsy shop. The doily will be incorporated into a bag.

There are a couple of thrift stores and antique shops I have always wished we had time to visit when we come up here for a weekend, so I'm hoping to get to those this week as well.

No market spaces = New items in the shop!

I'm working tonight on updating my Etsy shop with the bags I had held aside to sell at the Fayetteville Farmer's Market. Why, you ask, would I do that??? Won't that create a bit of a headache for me each weekend as I have to take things out of the shop in case they sell at the market, then put them back up again if they don't... just too much work, isn't it??

Well, it seems I will not be at the market this summer as often as I had hoped. Our local market is soooo successful that they juried some new craft vendors in order to add to the selection, but it is also soooo popular that there are just too many booths crammed into the location and the Board of Directors for the market decided to reduce the booth numbers to help with congestion.

So, my thrill of being accepted lasted only two weeks or so. On the upside, the market manager is hoping to be able to rotate the newbies ("floaters", we're called) every other week. On the downside, I'll be out of town for three weekends in a row, so it will be the end of July before I'm able to get back up there. I'll survive, I'm sure.

In the meantime, my Etsy fans will enjoy a bigger selection of goodies than they had to choose from in the weeks prior! Enjoy, and spread the word!

Green, the color

I'm all about being green in terms of environmental activism... I recycle my glass and plastics. I repurpose materials in my crafts (and home decor). I reuse containers that once held strawberries to grow seeds into veggie plants.

But in addition to THAT kind of green-ness... I seem to be drawn to the color. Especially green glass. It's just such a refreshing color... so clean and lovely. Like the hostas growing like gangbusters in my garden this summer. These little bottles were treasures waiting for me at a barn sale...

And this lovely Hoosier Glass bowl was a thrift store find. It can be yours if you love it as much as I do!

Finally - this little mug isn't as sparkly as the glassware, but I have a soft spot for the color olive. Maybe because I grew up in the 70's? It and its twin are also looking for a new home... they're perfect for some hot green tea!

Carrying on the family tradition

When I was growing up my grandmother and grandfather were farmers and craftspeople, raising cattle year-round, and spending nine months out of the year making and selling handmade wood crafts. Grandpa was a self-taught carpenter who, along with his brother, owned Whillock Brothers' Construction in northwest Arkansas. I have some wonderful things he made - a cedar chest, a rocking horse, a dresser...

Grandma took some of the smaller items that Grandpa made - bread boxes, clocks, wooden plates - and with the practical nature of a woman raised during the depression and the eye and spirit of an artist, she tole painted beautiful flowers, birds, and free-hand designs on them. I also have wonderful things she made, including the bread box that was a gift to my mother one Christmas.

Grandma and Grandpa went to the War Eagle Craft Fair each year for many years to sell their handmade crafts. War Eagle has long been a mecca for craft-fair enthusiasts, bringing thousands of people from all over the country to our little corner of the world just as the temperatures are becoming cooler and the trees are starting to turn color. Their cedar chests and painted items were shipped all over the world. They sold their goods for too little, in my estimation, but they made enough to get by.

I remember one fair when I was with them in their booth for a couple of days. They were set up next to a man who made candles that were dipped in layer after layer of color, carved with a hot knife, and the carved pieces would them be twisted around to show off the layers of color and reattached to the candle again. I'm sure you've seen them in flea markets or in your grandmother's living room. Anyway, that man would cut off pieces of wax after he dipped his candles and give them to me to mold. He showed me how to make little wax mushroom candles, which thrilled me to no end. They were probably one of the first "crafts" I ever made. Those, and the little rounded stones Grandma taught me to paint faces on to keep me out of her hair as she worked.

Grandma and Grandpa also set up a table with a bright yellow vinyl umbrella on the Fayetteville Square on Saturday mornings and sold their crafts and Grandpa's sweet clover honey to local market-goers. The market in the 1980's was far different from the market that goes on today. Not as many people, for one thing, and I don't remember there being as many dogs or musicians either. Certainly, if you wanted to have a hot cup of coffee and a muffin for breakfast, you brought your thermos and a napkin full of homemade pastry from home.

This Saturday my sister and I will set up a couple of tables on the Fayetteville square as two of the newest members of the Fayetteville Farmer's Market. I'm sure to most passersby there won't be anything all that special about our tables... (aside from our fabulous crafts!)... but I'm pretty sure that we will be feeling a bit nostalgic and very proud to be a part of the market - 35 years old this year. Unfortunately, my Grandpa isn't with us anymore, but I will definitely send a snapshot of Erin and I behind our tables to my Grandma. I think she'll be pleased.

Girls' Night Beaut-ique

I mentioned on my previous entry that I'm participating in a "beaut-ique" this week... so here's some info for those of you who live close enough to attend.

I wish I could make this graphic bigger... but the details are:

What: Girls' Night Beaut-ique
When: Thursday May 28th 5:30-9:00 p.m.
Where: Balanced Body
816 B West Poplar, Rogers, AR


There will be lovely items for sale including locally designed handmade jewelry, bags, soaps, personal stationery and handspun yarns, as well as facials and massages for a very small fee. Free snacks, wine and door prizes and specials round out the evening. Bring a friend or a few and join us for a great time out!

Time flies...

and yet I don't know what I was doing all this time or whether it was fun or not. Okay, mostly I was working during the day, and then at night I was not working and not wanting to do anything LIKE work, which typing on a blog is to some extent. So, there's my excuse. Not a good one, but it's all I got. And I'm back.

I strongly encourage all of you out there to make your spouses take your kids away from the house for hours at a time on occasion. I had heard that some husbands do this - just whisk their offspring away to allow their wives to experience a little peace and quiet, time to themselves to do whatever they darn well please without interruption or distraction. It was pretty much an urban myth in my mind, but then yesterday it happened to me.

Love of motherhood aside, it was wonderful to have the house to myself! Actually, I've known for some time that I enjoy cleaning house MUCH more if I'm home alone. Logic would say that I should enjoy more the family pitching in and getting everything done quickly so that I don't have as much to do and we are done sooner. But I am not logical. I would enjoy cleaning the entire house - top to bottom - if I could just be left alone to do it. Go away and let me get my mop and rags and bottles and sprayers and have at it.

I wasn't as productive as all that, but I did get the pile of Large Things cleaned that were collecting in the left half of my kitchen sink (that's why they invented sinks with two sides, right - to use one side and hold dirty dishes in the other?), and I cleaned my son's room, and I did several loads of laundry. Lest you think I've gotten confused and started posting daily stuff on my crafting blog, it is all relevant because I also got SEVERAL hours of sewing done. I am participating in a Girls Night Beaut-ique with four other fabulous women this Thursday night, so some crafting activity was a definite necessity.

So, thanks hubby for the time alone yesterday. Even though he did it only because he'd pissed me off earlier that morning and was trying to make up. Doesn't matter WHY, really... but he did score a few Good Guy points anyway.