kitchen and a house tour

next stop on the house tour is my kitchen. this was the first room to be renovated in the house. it had been an explosion of fake butcher block. literally, old, old, wood cabinets (not the pretty kind), fake butcher block laminate counters, plus butcher block wallpaper back splash. it was a sight i tell you!

my favorite part of the room is the vintage school house light we bought for over the island. it has an unusual shape you don't see often in these and definitely gets noticed by everyone who enters. the back splash tile is a nice iridescent diamond shaped glass that i installed. yep, i have a love affair with tile cutting saws and love to tile! i don't have a huge budget for any renovations we do, so i cut cost by doing a lot of the work myself. this kitchen probably costs about half of what it should have because we did a lot ourselves and didn't go for the extravagant extras like decorative edging on the granite or fancy crown moulding. adding open shelving into your cabinet layout is also a big cost saver, plus it breaks up boring expanses of cabinets.

this window looks out to the backyard and is semi curved around the table. right now we all fit in this space pretty well for dinner, but once my two munchkins grow a bit, things will be getting kind tight in that area :)

this wall houses our beloved fair fish "fred". fred has been with us for three years now and is hanging in there like a champ. (slight sarcasm:)

i painted a chalkboard section on the wall and displayed a vintage metal ice cream sign above that. the chandelier peeking out in this pic is a recent addition my mom just brought down to me. it hung at my childhood kitchen table and before that, it originally hung in my great grandparents home above the grocery store they owned in the 1920. lurve it!

the BoneYard and a booth

so i have talked about it before, but this is my official post to say that i now have a booth at The BoneYard on Raymond Hill!!! technically, jenni, joy and i are sharing a booth at The BoneYard. for you local folks, it is located in newnan, ga. i am so excited about this venture - the fact that i have a permanent space, i can come and fluff as i wish and i don't have to sit in 107 degree temps to sell my lovelies is all sheer perfection! i tried to get good pics of the space, but the lighting is a bit tricky, so take these with a grain of salt. (what does that really mean anyways???)

anyway, you walk in to the store and head right and the booth is on the right hand side. i am dying over this hoop art wall. i wanted to simulate a plate wall that people hang in their home, and i think the effect is lovely. not to mention all the crystal bling displayed below!

this is half of the booth and you can see all of our goodies. seriously, between the three of us, there is something for everyone.

aside from the lamps and hoops, i have some original artwork for sale also.

this blue mirror was the first to go and i hope that it found a good home.

if you have been eyeing this bed frame for your little girls room, as of today, it is still in the booth, but i warn you, things are already moving fast :)

joy has a huge table filled with all her lovely jewelry for every price point.

this is part of jenni's corner. how amazing is that door??? if i had the space, i would snatch it up, put a mirror in the opening and lean it against a wall in my home.

like i said, lots for everyone! if you live in atlanta and stop by the store, let me know what you think.

tulips and paint

yep, i took jenni's paint something workshop AGAIN. i told her that instead of me buying paint, i would just come sit in on her class each time she has it. haha!

the subject this time was a photograph i took of a vase of tulips. i love using my own photos for her classes because it makes the piece more my own. still trying to decide if i will stamp some words in the top left sky. i am having a wrestling match with myself because lately i don't feel like something is finished until it has words on it. i really need to get over that, fast! do you feel the same? any thoughts on adding words to absolutely everything?

hope you are having a great summer filled with beautiful flowers!

daisies and trim

i got an itch to start a new canvas piece and here is the result. if you follow me on instagram (where it seems i am spending all my time :), you would have seen in progress pics.

the daisy is one of my drawings turned into fabric and vintage tatted trim is used for the banner across the top attached with yellow french knots.

i am so happy with this piece and will be a bit sad to see it go, but off to The BoneYard it goes!

paintings and firsts

i sat down and painted the other day as in paint on canvas, painting a picture - and i must say that this post is definitely a first for me!

i always say that i am not a painter. the uncertain medium, the multitude of many more art supplies to acquire, and a general dislike for paint under my nails has kept me away from painting for a very long time. but... then i took the paint something workshop and i had so much fun. i happily had an entire day to myself last friday and surprising to me, the first thing i wanted to do was paint. this is mid process, so everything is a bit rough, but i had so much fun, that the outcome wasn't really as important to me as the process.

surprise, you definitely can teach old dogs new tricks!

the boneyard and tons of products

price tags waiting for product

so after my show last weekend, i was left with more product than my house could hold. yeah, that's the downside to being an artist who likes to create in numbers. i get on a kick and produce way more than i can sell in any one festival and then follow it up with the depressing prospect of unpacking my hard work back into the house.

but, today i took a leap, a very big leap and decided to keep my work someplace other than my house. i now officially have a permanent booth at The BoneYard on Raymond Hill in Newnan, GA. actually to be precise, joy, jenni and i have a booth at The BoneYard. sharing a booth at the festival with joy went so well, that we thought it would be a great idea. we all have individual styles, but they mesh so well together that it creates just under 200 sq ft of complete loveliness!

i took these today during setup, but it is now clear to me that i need to bring in my tripod and do some lighting tricks to get better pics. we are having one more wall installed into the space (how cool is that that we say we would love another wall and poof, one is installed) which i will be painting on wednesday. this will house all my hoop art and be a backdrop for a great table filled with sparkly lamps.

after painting and final setup happens, i will post pics of the full space so you can see how we all worked our individual personalities in. if you live in atlanta, swing by, i would love to hear what you think! what i do already know is that our booth sticks out with all the color we use :)

festivals and temperatures

this past weekend, in 107 degree temps, i participated in The Revival - a Vintage Marketplace at The Goat Farm in atlanta. if you have never been to the goat farm, you must visit - it is them most amazing vintage space full of tons of architectural relics and it has a great vintage vibe. we set up on friday and sold saturday and sunday while sweating our booties off. literally.

the above vignette is my favorite! it includes everything i love - crystal lamps, furniture, fabric and a few sparkly things.

booths don't get pretty in an instant though. this is what our booth looked like about two hours after unloading. i shared a double booth with joya jewelry so we could mingle our items for more impact.

i added pillowcases made from vintage sheets this year by mixing different patterns into one pillowcase. the pillows are sitting on a vintage typewriter table painted a sunny yellow and embellished with the words "these are the days". next to that is a headboard/footboard combo that i LOVE, but sadly, no one wanted to take it home for their room.

these botanical prints all drawn by me are currently available in the shop.

another new addition this year is my scalloped bunting. i had originally planned to hang them all from the rafters in the booth, but after setting up, we decided that might be too busy. so i returned home friday night and whipped up some labels and packaged them up individually. there are times like these that i am so thankful i also work as a graphic designer and am able to do these things on the fly.

these pink alabaster lamps are so unique and will also be added to the shop shortly.

so i mentioned the 107 degree temperatures, right? well, these crazy things we are all wearing around out necks literally saved our lives. without them, i think i might have had to visit the ER. the are called frogg toggs and you stick them in ice water, wring them out and then lay them on your neck. they stay oh so cold and worked really well in keeping us from passing out.

left to right is reagan (my sweet friend who came down to help us out), jenni, me and joy. i honestly cannot imagine doing festival without these ladies. i can be a debbie downer at times when the crowds don't show or people aren't buying, but these ladies always know how to bring me out of my funk!
 

as a finale to this picture heavy post, i had to show you all my warm weather do for the weekend. LOVE!!!

love and tinsel

anyone out there need some love?

these vintage tinsel love wall hangings were another new addition to my booth last week.

i have been so delinquent in posting pics from the festival, but i promise they will show up sooner or later. really, i think i am still recovering from spending 3 days outside in 107 degree temps.

i found a TON of yummy vintage tinsel at an estate sale and couldn't resist! these are so sweet to hang on a door or on a dresser knob. for anyone out of state, don't fear - they will be in the shop soon!