Sneak Peeks- Barn Show

Hello all!  Life has a way of making you slow down when you least need to go slowly.  The bambino is sick.  And, when he is sick, he rarely let's me move more than a foot away from him.  So, I am sofa bound watching Mighty Machines.  I did manage to get a few sneak peek shots of some things that are coming with us to the Barn Show.  I can't wait!  We are going to have so much fun!  If I can just not catch this cold, everything will be just fine.  So, here are a few teasers:

Just as soon as this little one nods off, I am going to get to work painting some custom jobs and a few pieces for the show and the booths... I just hope my brush can move faster than this cold!

bye for now!

Hello Yellow!

Hello all!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  We took a short break from creating things for the Barn Show to go to my hometown to do a little shopping and a little visiting. A few weeks (or months, I am not sure) I mentioned adding a new color to my favorite greys and blues that I always lean towards in painting furniture.  And, I have since painted the inside of a buffet this wonderful color, but I hadn't found the right piece to paint the exterior this cheerful shade until now.... it was inspired by these flowers that I am currently obsessed with...

I took that inspiration and toned it down a little to remind me of some of my favorite tweed-y suitcases.... then I asked a dear friend who is a lover of this shade to help me name her...

Meet Daisy!  I think that the pop of yellow is the perfect accent to so many spaces.  And, it also goes well with another one of my favorite things....

Vintage maps!  These are from a vintage atlas that the Mr. found recently.  Daisy made her way over to Rebecca's last week.  I did a little bloggy tour of her shop last year here. Rebecca has been carrying some of my smaller handmade items for about a year now and recently she asked me to bring in some furniture as well.  I was thrilled!  I adore her shop, so I was flattered that she wanted to carry a few of my pieces.  I am working on another piece to go there later this week and hope to get a few more finished after the Barn Show for her as well.

This week we are working on more stuff for the Barn Show... maybe I will give you a sneak peek of a few of the things that will be making the trip.  And, we are also finishing getting Hazel spiffed up to make the trip as well.  Right now though, I have a date with some dishes and then with the hyena to go pick out some library books (ie play with the giant train table there.)

bye for now!

Music

Hello and Happy Friday!  I haven't completely forgotten about my Friday Etsy Favorites, but this Friday, I wanted to be a little more random and show you one of my very first pins.  This phrase speaks to me... like I feel it in my heart.  Sometimes, I will be listening to something and Mr. Hughes will say... what is this about... I don't know what he is even saying.... and I will tell him it is about love.  Not that I understand all the metaphors or even the words the artist is singing, but because I can feel it.  

I have never been musically inclined.  I can't play an instrument.  I can't sing on key.  baby hughes asks me not to sing sometimes (I sing louder!)  I am a lover of music though.  I treat playlists like I am curating a art gallery.  Way back when I was single and subscribed to In Style magazine, I always loved where they would stop the stars and ask them what they were listening to... and I would always daydream that I was famous and how I would answer that... hopefully I would have something decent in my Walkman... you know, back when we couldn't jog with our portable CD player since it would skip.  I always wanted it to be something old or really new or really off the wall like the Fern Gully soundtrack (yes, I really have the Fern Gully soundtrack, thankyouverymuch!)

Now, that I am at home all the time, I don't get my drive time as much where I can listen freely to whatever and not worry about impressionable ears.  That was one of the only good things about the drive to work... the music.  So, I feel out of the loop.  I need some new stuff to listen to.  So, all you famous people, what are YOU listening to?  I really want to know.  And, I will tell you what is in my CD player in my car so you know where my tastes lean... well, there is a mix CD by Mr. Hughes that he keeps sneaking in there and taking out the Avett Brothers.  Then I think there is a David Grey, Snow Patrol... maybe 2 Snow Patrols, and Mumford and Sons.  I also LOVE Ray Lamontagne.  I do like all kinds of stuff, so tell me what you are listening to that I should give a try!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

bye for now!

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

....don't hit me!   I don't care for seeing Christmas stuff out in July either.  So, I waited to almost September. Last year, I had a few people admire my stockings that I made for us.  And, recently someone contacted me to create some for her sweet family.  So, I thought I would offer them as a custom order in my etsy shop.

I love how her little ones' silhouettes look!  This is actually a collaboration between the Mr. and myself... I make the stockings and he cuts out the silhouettes.... he is pretty handy with those scissors.  Okay, I will try not to talk anymore about Christmas decorating until at least after October. Oh, and that wasn't me pinning Advent calender ideas about a month ago....

I will be back soon with some new furniture redos... a new color that I bought months ago and finally found the perfect piece to use it! 

bye for now~

Booths as of Late

Hello all!!!  Apparently, I have become a once a week blogger.  I have been pretty busy though (I almost just wrote busty... definitely not that!) Anyhow, last week, I left the hyena at home with Mr. Hughes and went to do a little fluffin'. Unfortunately, I only brought my little point and shoot... and what does that matter... the Mr. is the good photographer around these parts.  What I am getting at is: the photos are a little dark and grainy, but you will get the idea.

My booth at Winchester is l o n g and not deep.  And while I love it, it isn't easy to get a photo of the entire space.  I normally just take the smaller stuff and leave the heavy lifting to the Mr.  So, if you ever see someone in my booth, moving in furniture, that isn't me.  I am not a 6 foot tall man with a beard.  

I will take a break right now to show you that while I love selling vintage goodness, I love to buy it even more.  And, this little number (hahhaha!) is actually a really long surveying stick that is mineallmine!  The Mr. was out at the booths one day and came home and told me about this stick.  Well, the store couldn't open fast enough the next morning for me to call and hold it until I could come and look to make sure it was what I thought it was.  And it was!!  I haven't hung it up yet, but this was one of those things that I couldn't pass up...  I always end up kicking myself when I don't buy something when I love it.  Even if I don't have a real plan for it.  Which is why, before long, we will be on Hoarders.  

And now, my space at City Farmhouse.  I restocked the piano roll runners, which you can see on the buffet.  That was a Mr. Hughes design.  He is pretty wonderful... that frame with the rope is also his design.  Okay, I will be back soon...pinky promise.... maybe tomorrow... with some new designs for etsy and one is for the holidays...gasp!!

bye for now!

All Aboard! A 3rd Birthday Party

Hello there!  I am finally delivering on my promise to share the craziness that we call birthdays around here... at least for baby hughes.  If you haven't seen them before,  you can see his 1st birthday and 2nd birthday parties to know that we have been sick for at least 3 years now, but most likely longer.  We woke up to a rainy day which sort of put a kink in our photo booth plans... we still did it, but the photos were a little dark and foggy.  That sort of bummed me out, but I got over it pretty quickly.  We had loads of fun, baby hughes especially.  So, here are a few (I mean, A BUNCH) of photos of the decorations before everyone came.

Mr Hughes made all the signs.  This one was to let everyone know where the party was, just in case the 3 foot yellow balloon wasn't a dead giveaway.

I almost painted the front door for contrast.  Almost.  

It needs to be painted anyhow.

I originally started out with a color theme of aqua and yellow.  Then baby hughes said he wanted orange.  Then I got all the balloons in and I threw the scheme out the window and just went with it.  I got the round balloons from a car lot supplier.  I couldn't be picky with the colors for the price.

My stack of vintage suitcases was broken up and spread out... some out side with balloons tied to them and here in the entry.  Mr. Hughes (who, no matter what he says or people think, is not a hostage... he willingly participates in the parties) found this vintage post bag and I filled it with the presents from us.

Months ago, I found this old chalkboard.  The lines were painted on it already... I almost positive that it is a train board.  I added the Arrivals and Departures to it with chalk pen.  This table had the engineer caps and the treat bags amongst all the vintage train stuff.

Mr. Hughes found this old handmade engine push toy and painted it.  Then, he decided it needed a caboose and a extra car. So he made them.  And I made jumbo confetti with a circle punch.  Be honest.... the confetti is what you notice... not the train *wink*

I just happened to have a metal 3 in my stash and he was able to rig it so that it worked.

Mr. Hughes had some vintage cross sections of steam engines and railroad maps blown up and printed and I taped them up all around the schedule board.

And, of course, we needed a brass whistle.

I forgot to take photos of the treats, but I included train stickers, a engine lollipop, a wooden train whistle (you are welcome, my dear friends and family!) and some graham crackers called Chugga Chews... they came in a train shaped box.  I painted some tags in chalkboard paint and wrote Thank You on them.

You can barely see them here, but I asked everyone to fill out a birthday wish for baby hughes on tags that sort of look like the vintage luggage tags.

Usually a few days before the party I will see something or come up with something at the last minute.  These streamers were that thing.  I also printed out photos from the past year of all the train related stuff that we have done.  As you can see, we usually stop anytime we see a train museum or depot or tracks!

A few more things the Mr. found on top of a stack.

He also found these vintage images... I think they were like a learning tool... anyhow, they were of bridges and tunnels and tracks.  baby hughes loved them!

Of course we had food!  I tried to think of train related noshables, but I came up short.

Kettle corn... well, because baby hughes loves.loves.loves kettle corn.

We even had some friends who donated some train things... this was a whiskey decanter that I spray painted

One of the the only "train-y" foods I could think of... Henry's Special Coal....which was chocolate oatmeal cookies (we call them No Bakes.)

The cake table!  I love cake!  And the hyena loves his cupcakes.  This year I made cupcakes for the party and a small cake for his actual birthday which was the next day.  I didn't make the fondant this year.  I ordered it and it was lemon flavored and delicious!  A sweet friend gave the bambino a vintage train set as an early birthday present and I used it on the table to circle the cupcakes.

This was another thing found by Mr. Hughes... a teeny vintage train and station.  It is so cute... there is a guy riding a scooter and a woman pushing a baby carriage.  Oh and if you had any doubts, I am NOT a professional cake decorator and fondant isn't my strong suit.  Just to clear things up.

I made little railroad crossing signs out of the fondant.  I may or may not have had the caffeine shakes while lettering them! 

See the baby carriage?  Can you believe people used to just give this stuff tho their kids?  It was from out  of the country, but I am pretty sure there was no warning for kids under three.

So that's all!  It was a shame that it was so cloudy... the photos weren't as clear as I wanted.  We had a great time, that is all that matters.  The balloons quickly became bopping weapons and the green one was fought over quite a bit.  We also had a little train table that you could decorate your own Thomas Wooden box car or fuel car... I am not sure where those photos are.  My baby is 3!  I can't believe it!  In the words of the hyena himself it makes me very "upcited."

Until next year... the birthday madness is over.

bye for now!

Promises and Priorities

Hello strangers... oh wait, that would be me!  I know I promised birthday party photos last week, but I failed you.  I have been busy though... painting, sewing, and most importantly, taking a giant yellow balloon to a nearby caboose before it lost all its helium. Priorities, people... it is important to have them.  And taking oodles of photos with my little hyena with his balloon is a priority.  It isn't every day I rent a helium tank after all. So, I will be back this week with photos of a birthday party and maybe, just maybe some recent furniture restyles.  Until then, have a giant yellow balloon sort of week!

bye for now!

Mother Dough

Hello all!  Do you remember me?  I didn't mean to take such a break.  I got caught up in all the birthday madness last week on top of painting furniture.  You probably think I am back to share photos of the Big 3 birthday party... all in good time.  Truthfully, I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, but I promise I will post them this week.  Today, I have something non- birthday related to share.

A long, long time ago, when I had cable, I was watching a show...most likely on the cooking network.  It was about a bread company in San Francisco that made sourdough bread.  The interesting thing was that they kept using a little bit of the original dough that they started with...this is a common practice amongst sourdough bread makers, but I had never heard of it.  This little bit of yeast rich dough is called mother dough.  So, each batch of bread has a little bit of that first loaf in it.  Some may think "eeeewwww..." but I was quite inspired by it.  I tucked it away in the recesses of my brain until one day I was getting ready to paint a piece of furniture and I didn't have enough of the grey I had wanted to use. hmmm.... what to do..... I decided to mix some "end cans" and create my very own custom color.  Now, I know that many people probably create their own custom colors as well.  The next time I was out of paint and I went back to mixing some end cans, I decided to pull that same paint out and add to it, creating my very own mother dough.

Each time I try to paint a little swatch on the top of the lid, but sometimes I forget.  Here are a few pieces that I have painted with my mother dough paint:

I am still mourning the sale of this one!  This was my first mother dough piece.

This one too.... loved the simple, clean lines and the dainty legs.

You will notice a grey theme here... well, I have liked greys for some time and don't foresee me liking them any less in the future *wink*

This piece is the piece I finished last week and it is now at City Farmhouse.

It is also painted with mother dough... a medium grey custom paint, one of my favorites that that I have mixed.  This is one of those pieces that I really, truly adore... it must be all those curves.  Oh well!  You can't keep them all (or you can and the nice folks from Hoarders will come visit you... not that I have seen it... I don't have cable, remember?)

I hope to expand my mother dough pallet in the future to include more colors..... maybe some blues and other neutrals besides grey.  Okay, I have to get busy cleaning the remaining birthday remnants... loads of glue dots to clean off the trim!

bye for now!