Got Shopping Carts?

I do. Lots of them. And cute ones too. Isabel and I have been finding vintage shopping carts (or "granny carts" as my friend Mitzi likes to call them) and making pretty custom liners for them for the past several years. They are a big hit at antique shows and are always the first things to go. Here are the newest ones I made this week and will be taking to Farm Chicks.

I'm really happy with how these turned out. Of course as usual, I like to use floral fabrics, with roses to make the liners. They are fully reversable too. The carts are all a little different as we pick them up here and there. I especially like the cart on the left with the red handle. I bought that one from my good buddy, Braeda, a fellow dealer at Monticello.

Speaking of Braeda. Last week when I was at Monticello, Braeda was there tearing down her space in the garden room and she generously offered me a couple pieces that she no longer wanted. I was happy to take these cuties off her hands. Thanks again Braeda, you are too, too sweet!

The next day I decided to give the little cabinet a make-over. I loved the white paint and handpainted roses, but I had a vision of how cute this piece would be all shabby, rustic and distressed. So, I got out my stripper and went to town on it. I removed a lot of the paint, but left some and then changed out the porcelain knobs for some crystal ones I had in my stash. I'm loving how this turned out and I hope Braeda likes it too. It too will be traveling to Spokane with me next week.

Side shot

I am getting super excited about Farm Chicks. I have been pricing and packing things to go. I have shown lots of makeover projects here on my blog, but there is still a lot that you haven't see yet. Some things have to remain a surprise. But I will tell you that I'll have lots of small stuff under $10. I know times are hard for lots of people so I wanted to make sure that I had something for every budget.

Close up of cute detail.

On my next post I will be posting a special coupon for those of you who will be attending the show. Stay tuned!

Back from the Beach and Down to the Wire

We had a fabulous time at the beach. Great weather, fun family time, a little shopping, good food. What more could you ask for? I have been working on finishing up some projects, but don't have any pictures of them for you. I did, however, take lots of pictures of our Memorial Day beach trip. Here are some of my favorites.

As you can see, we had a lot of fun. Now back to business. Only 9 days until Farm Chicks. The pressure is really on now, but I'm super excited at the same time. I will be back soon with a few more sneak peaks on what I'll be taking with me. In the meantime, I hope you are all having a fun and fabulous week.

Blog Badge

Just a quick post to say hi and to wish you a very happy Memorial Day weekend. We will be spending it with family at the beach. It will be a nice break for me from projects and the weather is supposed to be fabulous. Good times!

Just wanted to show you the blog badge I asked sweet Laurie to make for me for Farm Chicks. She and Kim from Camp Whimsy came up with the idea to wear badges so that other bloggers will know who we are. What fun!

I love how it turned out. I just knew Laurie would do a great job. Can't wait to wear it! Thanks again Laurie for making this for me. It's perfect! Will be back next week with more projects. Two weeks to go til FC's!

Too Busy to Blog

Lately I seem to be finding my creative mojo. I've said it before, I work well under pressure and I am definitely feeling the pressure. Last year was the first year we sold at Farm Chicks. We were so excited, had no idea what to expect saleswise (is that even a word?), and we were thrilled with what a great show it turned out to be for us. In fact, it was the best show we had ever done. Now we are hoping that this year will be an even better show for us, so I am really pulling out all the stops and am planning on taking as much great stuff as I possibly can. I really feel much more organized than last year so that does take a little of the pressure off. If you are debating about whether to come to the show this year, let me reassure you, it will be bigger and better than ever. The quality of vendors selling there is top notch and there will be even more vendors than last year, so that means more great stuff. In other words, in my humble opinion, it is most definitely worth the trip. But, I may be a little biased. ha ha

Okay, enough rambling. Here is another project I worked on last weekend. I bought this dresser from my friend who was moving and didn't need it any more. I totally forgot to take a before picture (I seem to be doing that a lot lately) so you will just have to imagine, it was brown and not too cute.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the paint color is a minty green. I took a knob from an old desk that I sold a long time ago, to get the color matched and I think they did a pretty good job. It only took three tries to get it right. Anyway, I used some creamy oops paint for the base coat and did some distressing so it would show through. Tell me what you think.

I love the bow swag even if it isn't all there.

On another note, there were tons of garage sales last weekend and only went to a few on Friday. I found this chair at my neighbor's sale.

Whoever had it crudely slipcovered it in this floral fabric. The fabric was really pretty, but I thought I would just take it off and make another more fitted slipcover. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the pink fabric underneath was in excellent shape. This one will be going over to Monticello with me today.

Well, that's it for me today. We have had lovely, furniture painting weather for several days now, but it looks like rain is in the forecast again. Time to work on those sewing projects I keep procrastinating. Have a great week! I'll be back soon with some more show and tell.

Before and Afters

With Farm Chicks only 3 weeks away, the pressure is on. I have been trying to get all my painting done this week, but the weather has not been cooperating with my efforts so once again, my front porch has been looking a bit messy. I'm just hoping I don't get another letter from the HOA telling me to clean up my act.

Remember this picture of the great antique project furniture I found on craigslist?

Well, I finally managed to give everything a little make over. Here are the after pictures.

I love all the curves on this chair. I wanted to put some of my vintage barkcloth on the seat, but didn't find one that was just right so I settled on this repro. barkcloth piece. I think it looks pretty. I'll most likely do a little distressing on this one.

This is the bed side table. In the first picture it was all in pieces, but it wasn't too hard to put together. All the screws were there so that helped. I love the buttercream color this one is painted and a cute little glass knob is the finishing touch. Cute vanity bench, just needed a little sanding, some paint and a new seat cover. I used a pretty piece of vintage floral fabric I got recently on ebay.

And finally, the vanity, which had a very sad center piece, became two night stands. I have seen people do this before, so don't get mad at me for taking this piece apart. The finish on these was perfect to begin with. Just needed a little cleaning. Ah...chippy goodness!

I apologize for not taking more artfully arranged pictures. Everything is kind of a mess right now with completed projects tucked out of the way so I can work on other things that need attention.

Here's another makeover project I completed this week.

Before vanity

After

Unfortunately I had to remove all the veneer from the top and drawer fronts as it was in pretty bad shape and as a result, I lost some of the cute detail trim pieces. But overall, I think it turned out pretty cute. Kind of rustic looking.

I gave it the same colors as the buffet I did (and showed a few posts back), but then I added an antique glaze over the whole thing. One thing I did keep from the original piece is the cool old hardware. I think it shows up a lot better now that the vanity is painted. I love that this one had the original wood wheels intact.

That's it for me for this post. I'm still painting furniture and have been doing a little sewing too so I'm sure I'll have more to show you soon.

You Just Never Know

On Monday I went walking with my friend Kate. We usually try to walk three days a week and on this day we walked past my friend Kelli's house. As we were walking by, Kelli came out to chat with us a bit. I don't get to see Kelli very often as we are both busy with family stuff, and me with my antiques business, so it's always nice to see her. Recently I have enjoyed reading about Kelli on Facebook where she has been posting some great old cheerleading pictures including one where she is doing a herkie. I too was a cheerleader in high school and was no slouch when it came to herkies. In fact, I showed her and Kate on Monday that I could still do one. I think I surprised them, I know I surprised myself. ha ha

This is Kelli

Let me back up a bit to when I first met Kelli. Sixteen years ago actually. I was working in sales at Embassy Suites. I had just found out that I was pregnant with my first child and had made the decision that after I had the baby, I wouldn't be returning to work. So, although I didn't have to, I gave like seven months notice. The management at the hotel decided it would be a good idea to hire my replacement while I was still there so I could spend time training and make the transition smooth. That's when I met Kelli. She was hired to be my replacement.

Kelli doing a herkie

Kelli and I spent the next several months together visiting customers, laughing a lot and getting to know each other. She had moved to Oregon from Colorado to be near her boyfriend, had previously been a general manager at a Residence Inn and she was one of the most positive and happy people I had ever met. She always had the biggest smile on her face. After a few months I pretty much figured out that I was just hanging out at work. There really wasn't much for me to do which was fine with me as I was just waiting to have my baby.

After I left the hotel to have my daughter and be a stay at home Mom, I tried to stay in touch with Kelli (who ended up marrying that boyfriend), but our lives were so different, we didn't really see each other much.

I don't remember exactly how long after I moved to the town that I'm living in now until Kelli and her husband moved here too. She ended up leaving the hotel too and now is a stay at home Mom to her two most adorable children.

After my walk on Monday, I left a little note on Facebook for Kelli telling her how much I enjoyed seeing her. I was totally unprepared for the comment she left me. I'm going to share it here exactly as she wrote it, because I was so surprised and touched by it. Here's what she said,

"Hey Lisa....so fun to see you too while out walking with Kate the other morning....always wish there was more time. I LOVED the Herkie, I should have brought you ladies 'round back for a little trampoline time just to really say you'd exercised your morning away! You can jump girl! Listen....it's important that you know......while handing off your job to me at Embassy Suites all those years ago in 1993...16 now to be exact...at the same time you were giving me your greatest gift and inspiration. To know that when I too, was done with that "career" chapter, that I would find a great inner peace in following your footsteps out... in a whole new journey of "being home". As you gave me your desk you also gave me my wings to know that deep down inside being a "Domestic Engineer" (lol) would also mean career. You inspired me to get there Lisa, and you didn't even know...have a beautiful hump day and know I'm glad to call you "neighbor" and friend. Cheers to you girl!"

Wow! I couldn't believe it. I had no idea she felt this way. I totally cried and got goosebumps reading this.

So, as my post title says, you just never know what kind of affect your life and the choices you make will have on others. I know I need to do a better job at thanking the people in my life that inspire me.

I know this post was kind of long winded, but I just wanted to share this story. I hope you all have a great day and maybe tell someone who has inspired you thanks! I can guarantee you will make their day.

My next post will be back to my regular stuff. I have some before and afters to share with you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just want to wish all the blog Moms a very happy Mother's Day. Isabel, Kate and I had a fabulous day yesterday out at Barn House. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but there were cameras everywhere. You can see some of Isabels pictures of the event here.

I found a few neat things to buy, but this was my first, favorite and least expensive find of the day.

A sweet vintage medicine tin that someone lovingly painted with sweet rose buds and vines.

In other news, I just found out this morning that I've been selected "Mother of the Year!" You can see the news clip here.

And finally, I want to wish a very special happy Mother's Day to my awesome Mom, Judy!

A Quick Makeover

The other day I found this simple homemade potting stand/table on craigslist. I liked how it is a smaller size and thought it would make a nice display piece for shows.

It was cute as is, but I decided to give it a coat of creamy white paint and a couple vintage screw in hooks. Now I'm loving it and can't wait to use it to display my junk/awesome stuff at Farm Chicks.Have been having a good time visiting with friends and my BIL this week. Not getting a lot of projects done, but I still have about a month left and I'm feeling pretty good about what I've accomplished so far.

Thought I would show you a picture of the dogwood I got for Mother's Day last year. I love the salmony pink flowers on this one.

Also want to show you my clematis in bloom. This one has sweet smaller pink flowers and is called "Elizabeth" which has a special meaning to me as that is my daughter's name. I love how it's growing kind of wild over the gate.

Will be heading to Barn House this Saturday for the season opener. I hope to see you there!

Weekend Finds and Some Neat Awards

I took a tiny break from projects this weekend to hit a few flea markets. Pickins were a little slim, but I did manage to find a few things.

On Saturday I went to the Tigard Flea Market. It's open every weekend, but not every vendor is always there. There always seems to be several covered up tables. I also managed to stop by one garage sale on Saturday as well.

Here are my Saturday finds.

Neat old clock, bingo game with extra cards, two tiaras, rhinestone buckle, rhinestone butterfly belt buckle, and rhinestone pin.

On Sunday, Isabel and I went to our favorite monthly flea market located about an hour away. This is what I ended up finding there.

Crusty basket, vintage hat stand, hotelware pitcher, bag of buttons, misc. jewelry, pearl bracelet and piece of blue striped ticking fabric. Isabel found the buckle for me.

I wouldn't say this was the best thrifting weekend, but definitely some useful stuff.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge a couple awards I have received recently. My sweet friend, Sue awarded me with the "Renee Award." The Renee Award was created in honor of a special person, Renee (who is fighting stage 4 breast cancer) by her friends, Bella and Ces.

Renee is one human being who has made such
a difference in the lives of many just by being.
Her honestly, wit, intelligence, and grit are a tremendous source of inspiration. She can elicit raucous laughter and guffaws in her banter, and then turn right around and offer the most heartfelt, gentle words of wisdom and emotional support. She is a spreader of love,simple and true. And her love is infectious." This is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds its way to those who are like Renee:
the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and
sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming
tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."

Jeanne from Dream, Create, Inspire recently honored me with the Kreative Blogger award.

For this award I'm suppose to list 7 things I love and then pass the award on to 7 people. Here are just 7 of the many things I love.

1. my family

2. my friends

3. pink roses

4. furniture with old chippy paint

5. vintage rhinestone jewelry

6. vintage roses fabrics, especially barkcloth

7. rose paintings

Wow, that was hard just listing 7 things. I could go on and on with the things I love, but I won't. If you are following my blog, you probably already know about all the things I love. As much as I would love to pass this award on, there are just too many creative bloggers out there to only pick 7.

Thank you so much Sue and Jeanne so much for thinking so highly of me to bless me with these awards. I really, really appreciate being recognized in this way.

Another busy week ahead. More projects, a trip to Monticello to clean up my booth and a visit from my brother in law who lives in Boise. Never a dull moment around here.

Are you tired of the projects yet?

I hope not because I have been one motivated and busy chickie. Today it was painting, and then more painting, then some sanding and then more painting. Do you remember this buffet I got awhile back?


It had a decent finish, but quite a few scratches and I knew it would look cuter (more cute?) with a little paint and some sparkley glass knobs. Here's what it looks like now.


I also worked on a vintage coffee table, a lap desk, a tall skinny display cabinet and some other miscellaneous items today, but they are not quite picture worthy just yet.


Yesterday I went to Joy's to work on some projects for Farm Chicks. Here's a little something I made.I just love it. So simple and sweet. A little pendant made from an antique money clip and a little piece of a vintage bracelet. Joy gave me a silver chain to go with it. Now, tough decision, keep or sell? You'll have to come to Farm Chicks to see the other stuff we made. Way cool, trust me.


My good buddy and finder of cool stuff, Mitzi dropped by today with a couple cute crinolines she found at a sale for me. My friends Kate and Suzanne stopped by too to give me a little May Day bouquet of lilacs. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have the best friends.


Happy weekend everyone!

For Jessi

It has been another busy week around here. I've been walking, painting, packaging, rearranging, doing housework, grocery shopping and lots of fun stuff. I'm going to make this a really short post as I still have tons to do.

For quite awhile I have seen this cute pink jeep around town and every time I see it, I think, "I should get a picture of this for Jessi." Well, I finally did. So Jessi, this is for you!

What you can't see in this picture is the huge Barbie logo on the hood, but if you click on it you can see the little one on the side and the "Mattel" license plate. So cute!

Have a lovely weekend!