In the Paper!

Hello and happy, happy Friday!  I just wanted to share a lovely little article about the shoppe that was published in The Tennessean today!  We are so excited and humbled that they wrote this nice article about Vintage Junky.

I always feel a little goofy when I have to talk about myself and what I do, so I am glad I didn't come across as a total goofball in the article.  Isn't that weird that I feel goofy and I have a blog?  And, just in case you would like to read it and can't make out my photos of photos, here is the link to the article.

And, I reworked the shoppe yesterday... I wasn't feeling the red Valentine's look, so I messed with it and I think I like it much better than before... it is more me... I added a blue table and was able to breathe... I had to balance the red!

I do like bright punchy red when mixed with aqua-y blue

I also foofed and fluffed the front... well, I mean, the whole store.  In this petite space, you can't really change one thing without changing everything.

And, if I am being completely honest  with you... it already looks different.  I guess it is good though, it keeps me from changing the house on a daily (hourly!) basis *wink*

Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!

bye for now!

An Early Birthday Present

hello and happy Tuesday!  I am starting to like Tuesdays...not as much as Thursdays, but I like them. Is it terrible that I like Tuesdays because of a TV show?  Keep in mind I truly only watch like 2 a week... most of the time the TV is on something like Mighty Machines is on.  Why do little boys find this so interesting? Anyhow, I love the New Girl and I think my little hyena has a crush on Zooey.  He goes around singing  the theme song.  That is okay... she is on the preapproved list of people allowed to be crushed on by the males in this house.

The other day I got a little early birthday present.  Most men buy their wives jewelry.  My Mr. bought me the stuff to create my own!

I have always loved necklaces. And I love vintage inspired jewelry.  Simple necklaces are probably my favorite.  

So he found these little tokens by accident and thought they would make great necklaces.  And they do!  Many of them have little initials, some have fun little bells and trolleys.  And, while I really love my necklace, I love the supplies he designed for me.

He is the intricate artist of the family.... I sketch ideas, but when it comes to drawing detail work, it is the Mr. that is the artist.  I have been after him to create me a little coat of arms for Vintage Junky for quite some time (I adore shield shapes!)  And I was so happy to get a stamp with this little coat of arms... it plays a little off of the stamps on English Ironstone...they have a unicorn and lion flanking the center design.  I have a jackrabbit and a labrador... quite fitting for me *seriously tearing up thinking about my sweet lab*

So there it is... my very own line of simple jewelry.  

So, I am looking at a half bare Christmas tree.  It needs some attention and so does the rest of the house.  I am going slowly this year... just putting up a bit at a time, but I hope to have it all finished by the end of the week.  We have a busy few days ahead of us... or as my Thomas loving boy says "we have a lot of special jobs to do!"

bye for now!

Restocked!

Hello and Happy Saturday!  We have been having a fun day at the shoppe... hazel is here and baby hughes and Mr. Hughes are enjoying the semi- not- cold weather outside with her.  I did a quick etsy restock of some of the little  toy trucks towing tiny trees... some of these have trailers!  I may die from alliteration happiness!

okay, that's all!  Back to work *wink*  Back soon with some Christmas decorating (I hope!)

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!

My Great Big Leap

Okay, let's see if I can focus on writing a coherent post.

Where to begin.... hmmm....

Well, I will just say it.

I quit my job.  I handed in my notice today.

ahhhhh!!!!

I don't think I can express how excited or nervous or anything that I am.

This is a huge leap for me. For us.  My little family.

I have had this rope tugging me for awhile now.  One end on my heart and the other firmly anchored at home... with the baby and the Mr.

I never fancied myself a SAHM.  But, when that little surprised face looked up at me nearly 3 years ago, everything changed.  I knew it.  This is where I was meant to be.

But, I went back to work.  Because we needed my income. We still do.

Everyone assured me it would get easier to leave my boy.

It hasn't. 

I have been extremely blessed to have a work at home husband (WAHH)

So, I have never had to leave baby hughes with strangers at a young age (not that there is anything wrong with that.)

And, I will be the first to admit, that while my husband is great... husband and father, I have been insanely jealous of him.  I hate missing anything.  I have always be acutely aware that I only get so much of the kid time before this  hyena grows up.  And, even though my hours at work are wonderful, I just hated knowing I was missing anything.   Like little firsts and big firsts.  I am still not convinced that I saw his first steps... just things like that.

So, after Mr. Hughes crunched and crunched some numbers, he told me that we could do it.  We just can't spend any money for the next 16 years.  I kid.  But it will be tight.  And so worth it. Have I mentioned that my hubs is self-employed?  And even though he has been for 10 years, my income just made me feel safe.  And I am scared.  I know that I can go out and get another job, but now that I have this nugget of goodness in my grasp, I just don't want to give it up.

I have prayed and prayed about this.  Mainly because I feel a little bit guilty.  My job and income have been such a blessing. I have been with this orthodontic practice for 6 years.  I work with some really great people... ones that I really hope to stay in touch with.  I don't think I could have a more flexible, wonderful boss or better hours.  And in this economy, people are losing their jobs right and left.  And here I am throwing a wonderful job away, even if my intentions are 100% noble.

But they aren't.

I would be lying if I didn't also have selfish reasons for doing this.  While I will be mainly focused on baby hughes and doing all the magical mommy things like potty training and cleaning toilets and remounting curtain rods that have been ripped out of the wall (no joke) I am aware that I will have more time for Vintage Junky.  And that I can help contribute money to our budget in doing something I adore.  I have felt so overwhelmed at times... like I just want to give up the business all together since I couldn't throw everything at it.  So, I am hoping that naptimes will allow me to work on my business a bit more.

I am also hoping that Mr. Hughes won't have to keep such crazy hours... let's face it.  I have a wild kid that makes a bit of noise.... okay.. a LOT of noise.  I am also hoping for a cleaner house.  That is a lot of hoping, isn't it?

I couldn't do all this without the amazing support from my friends and my family and coworkers.  I am like a sponge and feared telling anyone our tentative plans in case they had something negative to say... something I didn't want to hear.  I didn't want to second guess our decision or even hear a what if.  I only wanted to soak up the woohoos!  and Awesomes!  

So to sum up this very wordy post:

I Quit. Scared. Excited. Happy.

and isn't Happy the most important?

bye for now!

oh, and I purchased the sweet print here to celebrate our new path.