What I Keep


Hello all!  Have you ever been by a incredible vintage shop or booth or even the flea and look around at all the Vintage Goodness and wonder... if this is what they are selling, then what in the world are they keeping? You know they are holding onto their favorite and their best.  Hey, I am guilty of it.  There are some things that I don't part with.  So, I thought I would start a little series about what we keep.  I will ask a few bloggers and maybe some non bloggers to snap a few photos and tell us what they keep and why.   I don't have any hard and fast rules for this sort of thing, but I would love to begin next week and continue as long as I have fresh posts from vintage lovers.  So, stay tuned!  I can't wait to see what everyone hoards... I mean, treasures!

I am trying to squeeze as much out of this beautiful month as I can.  I hope to be back tomorrow with a Friday Favorites!

bye for now!

Guest Posting: My Favorite Room


Hello!  Today I am over at Cottage and Vine sharing my favorite room with Rene's readers.  Can you guess which room it is? C'mon over and find out! 

bye for now!

Cupcakes~

Hello all!  Hope you had a great weekend!  I think I finally kicked the flu on Friday.  Just in time for the Mr's birthday.  In which I made these:


They were pretty yummy and I think they look pretty too.  I just learned a month or so ago that if I started in the center instead of the outside that the cakes look like roses.   The rose ones are golden cake with fudge frosting and the light swirly ones are golden cake with salted caramel frosting... sprinkled with just a bit of salt.  YUM... I love sweet and salty.


If I had all the time in the world, I would perfect my cupcaking abilities and have a little cupcake store... maybe out of Hazel!  Ah... but until I figure out how to stay up all hours and still be a good mommy and wife, I will not pursue cupcakery.  

I didn't get much painted last week due to the nasty bug, but I made up for it today... 2 pieces!  And, I hope to start on another before the bambino awakes tomorrow.  I also listed the propaganda poster

in my etsy shop today.  So if you want one, scoot right on over there and grab one!  I also bought some navy paint to start on some things for baby hughes' big boy room... I hope I can start it soon... we will see.  Have a great last week of September... sniff... I can't believe I wasted a whole week of my favorite month sick!!

bye for now!

Friday Etsy Favorites *Cocktails*

Hello there!  Hope you are all doing well!  I have been forced to enjoy a quiet week inside.... that cold/flu/whatever is still lingering.  I hope to be back to painting a few pieces next week including starting on something for the big boy room.  For now though, I am enjoying a little rainy day with a second cup of coffee.  I found something on etsy a few weeks ago that totally inspired this weeks post.  So, sit back and have a *Cocktail*


wow!  what is a cocktail party without some killer vintage heels?


Gorgeous fascinator! 


This is what inspired my cocktail collection... have you ever seen such pretty rimming sugar?
I mean, it is stunning.  


I adore silhouettes... I don't think I will ever stop loving them! And these drink coasters are so lovely! And, hello?  They are letterpressed too
found~ missive


A cocktail party calls for a fab-u-lous vintage black number.  This one fits the bill


And, of course, a party is the perfect excuse to buy a statement piece of jewelry


These stirrers are a little on the manly side to keep your soiree from getting a little too girly
found~ ideachic


Vintage smokey glass is perfect with the gold rimming sugar


Okay, yellow will never, ever replace green in my heart.  But, yellow... specifically this sunny, mustardy shade has snuck up on me a little
found~ willowship

Makes me want to get our penguin shaker out and start mixing some drinks... well, not quite this early.  Well, it seems that some little man has dumped his toys all out on the floor... seems like the perfect time to sort through them.  Have a lovely weekend!

bye for now!

Over Here!


Right here.  Heather is one of my favorite bloggers and I was so happy when she asked me to give you a little tour of a few of our rooms.  So, I am over there today doing just that.  I will be back tomorrow with some Friday Etsy Favorites.

bye for now!

Bella Rustica~ A Recap

Hello all!  Well, that cold that the Mr. and the baby had finally caught me.  At least it waited until after Bella Rustica.  I was in bed all day yesterday sleeping off whatever this is that I have.  But, you don't want to hear all that.  You want to hear about what a great time that we had!  And we did have a great time!  I thought I would share a few dozen of the photos that the Mr. took.  I wish I would have taken photos with the great vendors I met, but I didn't.  We were all quite busy.  Okay, let's start with this:


Look at our girl all spiffed up! 


 Mr. Hughes sold posters benefitting AGAPE out of her.  She also came in handy for baby hughes' naptime and a place to hold items that had been purchased from my booth.  We didn't take any interior shots, but I will get those posted soon.


Miss Linda was able to find a truck that looked just perfect with Hazel.  If only I could have taken him home with us...


Okay, booth photos!  This was our first show, so we didn't really know what to bring or expect.  We just treated it like we were setting up an antique store booth, so we brought a little of everything. The Mr. put together some great lamps including this one.  He also came up with the design for the rope frame.


I wish he would have gotten a photo of the mirrors.... I wrote little sayings on all of them... this one said "everyone looks prettier in a vintage mirror."


Another one of the Mr's brilliant ideas.... these are old dark slides and he mounted some photos on them.


We brought a lot!  Two trailers full in fact.


I had a few new pillow designs that I introduced at the show and I will list them on etsy soon.
You can also see just a peek of the sign that Mr. Hughes created for me.  I knew that I wanted to cover the walls in kraft paper but we couldn't use nails or tacks.  So, we got some really large clips and clipped the paper to the wood.  And, he drew my logo along with some other fun things in white marker all over.  I am sort of obsessed with white on kraft right now.  I also stenciled vintage junky on some kraft bags in white.



We had a drawing to "Give Away the World" for a vintage globe and had everyone put their entries in a vintage top hat that our friend Scarlett found for us the week before in Brimfield.


A naked lampshade covered in vintage photos... this was a conversation starter as there were some great random photos


Another thing the Mr. drew for me 




This was the booth on the second day when we brought in the buffet, Louise.


The garden gate was perfect for displaying the flowers... it is too bad it sold early on the first day... no complaints though!


On of the 3 chairs I got ready for the show


Organ pulls are always hard for me to part with for some reason.


Loads of bottles... all kinds... all sizes


We had to restock and rearrange on the second day.  One of the best parts of my booth location was that I was right across from the girls from The Strawberry Patch.  Christy (the cutie pictured above) and Alicia were so much fun to get to know.  


The chairs were in front of old doors.  Mr Hughes attached some brackets to them so we could hang the birdcage hanging lamps that he wired up for me.  This was one of the things in my vision for the booth that I decided I wanted early on.


The sign up dresser on the second day
Besides being a little obsessed with white on kraft, I also was a bit obsessed with the linen buntings... I attached them to just about everything that stood still.



The Louise wouldn't fit on the first day, so we took her on the second day... I love how she turned out.


Now, it just isn't me that has a hard time giving things up... I had been saving these bottles back for some time and when I pulled them out, the Mr. said... those are too awesome to sell.  I think we may keep the few that are left.


This is the booth on the first day... well, just after set up


We literally found the cabinet on the way out of the house on the second day, along with a small chest that will be getting a makeover as soon as I feel a bit better.


Did you know that shoe forms make the perfect business card holders?  You do now *wink*


This is a Empire chest I finished right before the show.  But, what I really want to point out are those great lamps.... Mr. Hughes created them out of salvaged table legs and wired them and put them on a base.  I did the painting, but he did most of the work.


The original plan was to hang these honeycomb balls all around the booth.  When we couldn't find a feasible and easy way to do that, I decided to just put them here and there.


After Mr. Hughes made one of these hands for the train party, I thought he should make some for the show as well.  He put them on stands and made the hands face all different directions.


When we got in Friday, a thin layer of barn dust covered the tables... that brought us back to reality... that we were definitely in a barn!


We were able to spill some stuff outside the booth as well... this area constantly changed.  It seems I am not the only one who brakes for vintage stuff outside.

So that's all folks!  Well, I am sure we have a few hundred more photos as well, but this seems to be a good stopping point.  We learned so much and got some great feedback on our products and designs... like what to make more of next time and for the booths as well.  I think my only regret was not going around and taking photos with some of the vendors and the other booths and people I met.  I will definitely have my point and shoot available for that next time.  I got to meet Beth from Old Tyme Marketplace... super swoony booth and Celeste from Rural Socialite and many, many more bloggers and non bloggers.  Of course, the ladies from The Roost and Three French Hens were there... they are always fun.  And, Autumn, a very talented photographer that hopefully didn't get any photos of me eating a delicious hamburger. Plus, all the people who work at Taproot Farms and AGAPE.... they were wonderful.  I couldn't have done all this with out my families and friends and all my bloggy buddies support.  So, thank you!  We had a couple of friends that stepped up and helped with baby hughes.  He did spend much of the weekend there... and what a trooper he was... I think he behaved better there than he does at home most days!

Alright, I am sure I missed a few mentions that should have made, but I have a fuzzy head and I think I will take a nap while the hyena is taking one.  I need to get better and start painting the few pieces and also some things for the big boy room.

bye for now!