A Long Day

I made it to the end of ANOTHER flea market.

I must say that I applaud all the vendors who do this more than once in 5 years as I have done.  It is HARD work and I hope everyone who has ever shopped at a flea market understands all the work and the whole process that goes into preparing for a flea market.  Not only the buying or making of treasures to sell, tagging, packing, loading and trucking everything to the location, unloading and fluffing their booth.  OH and don't forget about the dismantling, repacking and reloading and taking all the unsold items back for storage, and for some of us, unloading again and storing for the next flea market. 

 I am DONE!

  I vow to only SHOP from now on!!!!!!!

Seriously though, I had FUN!  For me the best part is the FLUFFING of my booth.  Guess what?  I had so many shoppers and vendors ask me if I had a shop and if so where was it, and then the best words came from the owner and most of the other vendors and shoppers. 

 I was voted BEST BOOTH!

I had a little lot of everything. 

 China, pottery, linens, mirrors, silver, furniture, quilts.

  You name it, I had it there.

My space was a 20x20 and the tent 10x20 and I filled every inch I had available.

I was packed to the ceiling.

Thank goodness my sisters were there to help! 

My whole family pitched in from loading and hauling to babysitting and unloading.

 THANKS!

 I couldn't have done it without you for sure!

I had a good day.  I was lucky a dealer came through early and bought almost all my large furniture.  That means not having to haul it back home.  I sold some of my hand made signs, and tags.  I was surprised that more of the architectural stuff did not sell, but really I have no complaints. 

 I get to buy my new sewing machine and the RUFFLE foot. 

 I did a lot of HAPPY DANCING too!

However, this girl is retiring from flea market shows.........well maybe.........we will just have to see what kind of mood I am in next year.

Since my booth is just plastered in WHITE and I am still tired from the weekend.
 I will use this post for my favorite party of the week with Kathleen from Faded Charm for White Wednesday.

Not Your Ordinary Corn Stalks

I have been very busy!

Many of you know that I have been getting ready because;

ARBOR HOUSE LANE is going to the flea market.

 I have been fortunate that creativity has been flowing from me this past month and I am enjoying creating new projects to sell.  I also have started a new job this week, it is going great and I am very happy with my decision to go back to work. 

I am sad though, my blogging has had to take a back seat and I was not able to get a post prepared for my favorite day WHITE WEDNESDAY. 

Today I am making up for it! 

 About 4 years ago I was lucky enough to have a shop located in a cute little cottage not far from my home.  Even better, there was another shop near mine that was a WHITE haven and the owner and I became the best of friends. 

 I am proud to call her one of my dearest friends.  My friend Nancy is an amazing artist and for many years she owed a shop that many may recognize from this area and Canada.

Abigail Sutters Cottage

For all of you WHITE lovers, it was a white dream.  Nancy has such vision to take something and turn it into amazing beauty.  I was lucky to have her in my life at this time when I needed her most.  Not only could she make things of such beauty, she shared her talents.  If I asked her how she was able to create something, she would not only tell me, but she would also show me.

This is something Nancy taught me.

Take something so simple as a bundle of corn stalks and make it BEAUTIFUL.

I have make several of these in the past few years for decorating in my home.

Now I am taking some to the flea market.

A typical fall colors corn stalk.

For those who decorate with PINK all year long.

Remember you only you can put limits on yourself! 
Put on your creative glasses and just see what you can do.

  Thank you Nancy for being such an inspiration to me.

Happy Friday everyone!


I will be sharing this with Cindy from My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday. 

My First Painted Rose

At least I hope it looks like a rose. 

 I have been painting signs to sell at the flea market that I will be in THIS weekend. 
Oh my gosh it is coming so fast.

Am I ready? .........Well....... maybe, if I would stop being creative. 

I tried, but then I went to my father's home and I found some wonderful chippy wood that just called out to be made into signs.  I made some simple # signs, I saw some at a show in PA while on vacation and I thought I would give it a try. 

My favorite #.

  I have always been drawn to painting, furniture, walls, floors.  I have always wanted to try on canvas but I like working with oils and acrylics look rather than water color.
 I know I feel happy, calm and at piece when I am doing a painting project.

This is my first ROSE.

It is more of an abstract than real.  It is part of a sign that I plan on selling. 
I have finally made something that I secretly hope does NOT sell. 

 Can I recreate it? 

 Not exactly...... I am not sure how I did it in the first place.

This is the sign finished.

I think if it does sell I just might have to try another rose.  

It was fun!

 

My Favorite Painted Cabinet

I was cleaning the basement this week and I uncovered a cabinet that I have had since around 1998 and it has been in storage because it needed some TLC.

  My girlfriend is the one who found it first, but because she did not want to ship it ALL the way to California, she passed.  As soon as she said no I said.

 I WILL!  

I am not exactly sure what it started out as but the cabinet took on the job of storing our liquer, UNTIL a wine bottle leaked and expanded all of the joints. 

So, into storage until Mr. M. could fix it. 

As you can imagine, just like any household there is always a list of things for our husbands to do. 

The cabinet sits, and sits, and sits for several years. 

Until today.

 I brought it upstairs and got out the airnailer and I FIXED it. 

 Sometimes you shouldn't wait for someone else to do something when you can do it YOURSELF!

I love the hand painted flowers.

Even the inside of the door has roses painted on it.

Great chippy paint.

I just love the details. 

Depending on what light you are looking at the piece it can either look aqua or green.

  Now I have to figure out where I want to put it.

I am going to share my found treasure at Show and Tell Friday with Cindy from My Romantic Home and Furniture Feature Friday with Miss Mustard Seed Creations.

I can't believe it is Friday already, have a wonderful weekend!

Whites Displayed for the Flea Market

I was so excited when a friend said I could use some doors for displaying in my booth at the flea market.  I spent the better part of the day washing them and I thought I would give a preview of how it will sort of look in my tent.

 Please join me for WHITE WEDNESDAY at Faded Charm with Kathleen and all the other bloggers who enjoy white too!

I would have to say, it turned out to be a pretty good display even if it is only in my driveway.

I just love all the WHITE with little touches of pink, purple and green.

Aren't you getting excited too Patrice?

There is a pair of doors that still have their original glass door knobs. 

Don't you just love it!

Don't you love the little porcelain handles on these shutters. 

 I am thinking maybe a pair will stay behind.  I made some of my favorite button and wire garland.

I can't wait to get on that field and display all of this and so much more!

 I have packed up so many boxes, it is going to be like Christmas day when I get to open them up again.

  Well, I am off to do some more projects. 

Only TWO more weeks to go. 

 Thanks for stopping by and have a happy White Wednesday!

Those Who Inspire

I have been finding SO much inspiration lately. 

There are some blogs that are blowing me away with their ideas.

 I just LOVE it!  

 Vintage Trifles is a blog I found this past weekend and I sat for the better part of the morning looking through Martha's past posts.  It is hard to say which one of her ideas is my favorite because she has so many great ones.  Those who know me, know I tend to REALLY decorated for the holidays so here are two pictures, Halloween and Christmas that I just love.

A Halloween count down.  Read more about 13 days of Halloween! 

Here is her 12 Days of Christmas.

Another blog that has been inspiring me lately is Amy from Mittens.

  If you have not been following her blog yet, let me tell you she has been a creating machine.  These are only a couple of her creations.

She makes these wonderful paper wreaths and paper garlands.

How adorable are these little pillows she showed us for White Wednesday.

Amy also is hosting a Bookcover Challenge Givaway August 31. 

What ARE we going to do with all of those empty bookcovers. 

 I know it got me thinking.

Does anyone inspire you?  Or are you an inspiration to others?

One of my favorite reasons for blogging is finding new inspiration to keep me creative.  I could not think of a better way to celebrate this other than to join Debra from Common Ground.  Debra is going to be hosting a wonderful link party Vintage Inspiration Friday starting September 3.  What a wonderful way to show your appreciation for inspriation or to be inspiring yourself.

Come on, let's be CREATIVE!

Lost In Business

I feel like I do not have enough TIME! 

 I am lost in the land of business. 

 So much to do, so little time.  This flea market has consumed most of my time.  My gardens, house, life has taken a back seat.  I barely get to finish one week and we are into the next. 

I want to yell.

 STOP I AM NOT READY! 

The week moves on and slowly we are entering the last weeks of summer and it is only getting busier.  I know I am not the only one, we women tend to over schedule our time trying to get it all done. 

Today I walked through my gardens, they have not stopped, they are not waiting for me to tend to them.  They have become overgrown, producing wonderful flowers that I have not had time to enjoy.  I love gardening, I need to get back into my gardens.  I cut some of my roses to bring inside so that I will not miss their lovely pinks and their petals as they fall. 

I always think next week but slowly my next weeks are gone. 

 Soon the children will be going back to school. 

Now I have a surprise!

I have a new job, I am going back to work. 

 I am excited, nervous and I CAN"T WAIT! 

Mr. M. is a volunteer fireman in our town and this weekend is their annual field days.  It is a time to celebrate with my family.  Time to celebrate the men and women who are there for their community.

Such a busy weekend. 

 We are also celebrating Mr. M.'s 20 year high school reunion. 

 Talk about time flying. 

20

Today I will try and steal some time to work in the gardens and bring myself some peace.

If I run out of time, there is always,

 NEXT WEEK!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Playing With The New Printer

After several months, I finally bought a new printer.  I love it!  I have been printing pictures for new tags.  Making stencils for a few signs. 

Here is a collection of items I have made. 

Cottage sign, new tags and a picture on a piece of moulding.

I also threw in a few other pretties I am selling at the flea market.

Wrap a bow around them and make them special. 

 I almost choked when I saw almost the same thing in an Anthropologie catalog for $29.00.

I love my new printer!

Another cottage sign.

These beauties were free, I just had to go in the front yard and clip them. 

I just love the roses with hundreds of petals.

Mmmmmm, this is the yummie chocolate chip cookie dough I was munching on.

  Why bother cooking them.  They taste just fine like this.  Yes I know they can be bad this way.

That wrapped up my day.  I hope yours was sweet too!