Saturday, May 30, 2009

Baby High Alert


Raoul and I are on baby high alert these days. Our oldest son Carlos, and his wife Casey, are pregnant with our first grandchild. Baby Claire (a little girl) is due June 5. Every time the phone rings in this house, you never saw two future grandparents move so fast! So far, so good. Everyone is healthy. And in less than two weeks, the two of us will be taking turns soaking up the baby love in Texas.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

What ate up part of my day


Lisa and I only have a week left before we pack up our big rented truck and head to Spokane for the Farm Chicks sale. My garage is loaded with some swell stuff that we have been saving for this show. There’s more in the basement. And on the kitchen counter. And in my studio. And it all needs to be priced – a surprisingly time-eating part of our preparations. So today I started with the easy stuff – multiples and duplicates. Here’s a pile of French lotto cards from the bounty I brought back from Provence last year. It helps to mix in the warm and fuzzy memories with the not so hot chores!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Garden Art Festival Fabulousness

Our Garden Art Festival at Bountiful Home was a smashing success! We love working with Todd, the owner of Bountiful Home! We love our customers who support us! We love Mother Nature for blessing us with sunshine!

The setting was the backyard nursery area - beautifully maintained, cozy and a joy to spend the day in. Our garden art creations popped when placed against the poppies in bloom, the chives with their little purple heads, and the old fashioned white lilac tree, which customer after customer had to linger under.

We can't thank Todd enough for the opportunity to bring our two customer communities together. We are most grateful for Marilyn handling the check out area, Teeter for sharing samples from Swallow, and to Raoul for manning the holding area and helping people get their treasures to their cars.

Some of our garden art will continue to be available at Bountiful Home - inside and out. The next stop of our road show is Farm Chicks in Spokane June 6 & 7. And if you can't fit that long drive into your schedule, we'll have our garden art available at the Georgetown Garden Tour July 12. Our website will keep you up to date.

It was great fun to see so many of you yesterday!


















































Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Kreative Blogger Award

What a nice surprise to find junkermidge’s comment bestowing the Kreativ Blogger award to us. Thank you! Please check out her blog - Having Fun with Junk (and Life in General). She is a kindred junker with a fab-o sounding business.

The receiver of this award must do 4 things:

1.) List 7 things that you love
2.) Link back to the blog that awarded this to you
3.) Choose 7 blogs to pass the award on to
4.) Comment at each of those blogs to let them know you've given them an award


Here we go with our responses.

7 things we love:


Family, friends, our kitties.

A good free pile.

Lisa’s sturdy truck

Ibuprofen

Trusty Atlas gloves

Deluxe bungee cords

A tasty lunch at Dick’s


7 blogs we would like to pass the award on to:


Artgirl Island – Cindy’s humor and writing is hilarious.

Jill’s Blog – vintage findings and stories from Provence.

Lambsworld – Linda is one of our nicest and most creative customer friends.

DIY – Robj98168 is always sharing his new repurposed creations

Shabbyscraps – Tiffany has an amazing eye for what is beautiful.

Junk Camp – Ki is a rockstar in our junking world.

Barking Dogs – loves her family, pets and her junk.


Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Darn Fine Morning for Junking



Here’s a pretty site – Lisa’s truck filled up with NEW junk. Finding this loot is one of the most fun aspects in this business of ours. And one of the most addictive! You all know what I am talking about.

You’ll be seeing these two beautiful blue chairs and much more at our upcoming Garden Art Festival at Bountiful Home in Edmonds on May 23. Lisa has been busy planting up all sorts of outside containers, and crafting some tables from found objects. I’ve been creating lots of new garden art pieces. We are really looking forward to seeing it all displayed in Todd’s backyard nursery area. Hope you can join us!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Barn House Blast!

My oh my – did we have a glorious time at the Barn House season opening sale Saturday! Lisa and I hopped (well maybe not hopped at 5 a.m. in the morning!) in her car and hit the road. The early buying began at 8 a.m., and we wanted to see their barn in all its’ splendor. Joe and Jermonne live near Battle Ground, Washington. I had been following their blog for nearly a year, and then we met them in person at the Sand Point Antique Market in Seattle this last March. We loved their booth, and were smitten with them. Talk about a couple of charmers.

The setting was magical. Out in the farmlands, here was this barn styled to the high heavens. The outdoor vending area was lovely, and the refreshments looked divine. We bypassed all that to get a gander of the inside. Five other talented vendors (Sylvi, Natalie, Laurie, Debbie, Cindy, and Julie) had their vintage and handmade items incorporated into the setting. We spent over a couple of hours trying to absorb every original detail. I can’t think of another show I’ve been to that was styled with such freshness and beauty. Our hearts were aflutter because we weren’t seeing the same old stuff. Everyone was nice. We spent money. Got hugs from Jermonne! And sort of floated back to reality.



















The rest of our road trip was tiptop as well - a Goodwill Outlet store, Burgerville and two church rummage sales. Wowie zowie – we had a grand day!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Play Date!

Friday was a jewelry play date with Caroline. I had been wanting to try a project I received from Teresa McFayden's Bellarama Ezine. It was a necklace combining velvet ribbon and chains hooked together with a buckle, and added doodads.



Here is our worktable. The delicious pita and hummus was right alongside the other supplies.


Caroline is modeling her necklace.



A picture of my necklace.


It was the perfect way to hang out - we yakked, ate, laughed, and ended up with new pieces of jewelry! -- Beth


PS....watch out for a report of our adventure to Battle Ground today to attend the Barn House Event....12 hours on the road -- too and from and all around --totally worth every minute and every mile!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Brosage Creations


Here's some show and tell from our recent brosages workshop. A brosage is a combination of a brooch and a corsage. Don't look for the word in the dictionary. I made it up!

There was a plate of jewelry to select from.



Lots of hand stitching.


Veteran workshop goers like Yvonne always wear their good stuff accessories to our classes.



And here are the works of art.


Each one as gorgeous as can be.