Thursday, December 27, 2012

around the house for Christmas...

I hope that you all had a beautiful Christmas,
ours was very special, filled with lots of family time,
laughter, love, good food, games,
mixed with
the flu.
not once,
but three different times and not just for one person in the family,
but many of us in varying degrees of flu fun, during the time when
we would have been preparing for the big day.


I thought I was on the verge of being ready early when I went
clipping greens around town with my friend Julie.
We now have a tradition started where we play what I like to refer to as
"City Workers"
and go around to abandoned buildings and clip greens from bushes and trees.
We are also not above doing a little curb clean-up and taking 
branches from the side of the road that have been thrown out by our
very generous citizens!


I got enough for all of the urns,
and little spots around the yard.

So the porches were decorated and I thought,
surely the inside will be a cinch...


did I mention
the flu?
three times?


I know that I have said how much I love all of the inspiration on Pinterest,
and the chalkboard creativity is no exception.
I love me some chalkboards!
A good friend of mine, Val, gave me this super heavy duty sandwich board
because she knew that I would find something to do with it.
I painted it with chalkboard paint and used it for the last of the shows that we did.
When I was putzing on the porches I made it up for the
side porch...
and then the rain came, and washed the message away.
lather, rinse, repeat.
It hasn't been put back outside though...
did I mention 
the flu?
three times?

Not just one of us,
but multiple people, even those that showed up from out of state 
to play with us over the holidays got 
the flu.


I did get one box upstairs days before, and that was our beloved
Nativity given to us by my parents years ago.
See the new insert in our mantle?  I had a brainstorm one day
and took it from the small mantle that is up in our bedroom, as it 
really never got used up there and brought it down for the dining room,
I love it here!


this was our advent calender last year, stapled to the chalkboard.
This year I wrapped it around a burlap bulletin board and used the chalkboard
for another Pinterest inspired message...


gotta love Pinterest!


The one bottle brush tree that I saved for us, it 
hangs on the bathroom door.


Hannah painted this St. Nick years ago,
(maybe 4?)
I love it, she did such a great job!
 It also decorates another bathroom door.
Smallest bathroom ever with 3 doorways!

On to the kitchen...


I took the same St. Nick class as Hannah and did this one,
it is on the industrial shelving in the kitchen.


The column and bird cage are sitting on the barn door counter 
and the star got a bit of a make over with the beautiful 
round picture placed in the center.


I have kept this mercury glass bird on the shelf of my work room
for a few years now, knowing that it would be used for 
something special,
it loves its new home!


I think that she is exquisite and will be gracing my kitchen long
past Christmas!

The most loved decoration is of course the people I love...


Dad giving Max a chess lesson...


and then later taking on one of his much earlier students.
The game has been out and played by different opponents everyday now.

p.s. same day, different flannel!  My man loves this ratty old shirt!


We waited for Danielle to get home to cut down a tree, so that her and her boyfriend, Justin,
could get it with us, but then they got sick too so just a couple of days before
Christmas Duane and a couple of the kids went alone to pick out a
tree that was already cut. We almost never do that but you learn to roll with the punches.
I think they did a wonderful job, finding just the right tree for the space!

The tree never got past the lights part of decorating, but we all decided that 
we were okay with that!  I was on the couch not feeling very well at all, 
and said that I could direct them to the boxes down in the basement, but
the simplicity of the lights won hands down.
At first I thought, REALLY?  but when I thought long and hard on it,
(for about 5 seconds)
I completely agreed...
simple is good.


We did make sure to have special messages on every chalkboard,
and I am so glad that we did!
I mean how can you take a good duck face, new hat and jammie picture
without a beautiful backdrop?
:)


So there you have it,
our Christmas was almost comical at a certain level
and compared to Christmas Vacation. 
I told my friends that if a backwards cousin driving
an RV pulls into my driveway, and a squirrel jumps out of our enormous tree,
  I would start looking for the hidden cameras!

Never happened,
as it turns out,
having the flu so much was all we needed to learn to roll with the punches.

I will end this with how it began...
we had a magical Christmas filled with lots of  family time,
laughter, love, good food, games 
and most of all the knowledge that we are
blessed beyond belief.

I wish the same for you.

love,
Theresa 
xoxoxooxoxoxo


last one,
I think we started a new tradition around here too.
No more fancy stockings for us,
we are going to be using the real deal from now on!

yup, you guessed it we didn't go searching for the stockings either.










Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Merry Christmas!


I hope that your Christmas day was full of the beauty
and love that you so deserve.

I also hope to be able to share stories and pics very soon.
Our life has been full of all sorts of things
that have kept me too busy to be here as much as I would like.
Thank you for understanding and for stopping by
to say hello, I really appreciate it!

Have a wonderful SEASON
full of the spirit of the love that is Christmas, shared with
those you love, and those you don't even know.
You never know when you are in the company of angels...

love,
Theresa
xoxooxoxoxoxo

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

hope...


I hope that we will get some snow like the banner shows,
when we go to get our tree this weekend!
(That is one of my favorite pictures from our Christmas tree excursion 2 years ago)


I hope that I get to talk with all of you soon, 
it has been far too long.
I wish that I could show you all that my house is decorated for Christmas,
but alas there are just a few touches here and there right now,
but I have peace in knowing that it soon will be.
I believe it will shine!
If not with lights, then with my smile, 
because I will have everyone under 
my roof in just a weeks time!

Newest ornaments in the shop right now

Tomorrow is my last show of the year!
I will be doing a home show with a couple of girls
that make the most wonderful bath and body products!

They are holding a Soap'n House at one of their homes
in Grand Rapids
(for all you local  girls...)
1320 Hall St.
from 5-9
I have heard there will be wine and treats and 
of course laughter!
I hope you can join us!
You can see the beautiful products that they make
on their FB page, just click on their name above.

Thanks so much for stopping by,
I hope that your Christmas preparations are filled fabulous memories!

love,
Theresa
xoxoxoxo

Saturday, November 24, 2012

weekend update...

A sale...
my little way of thanking everyone for all of the support we have been
shown all summer and beyond!

I have been planning a little 'weekend update' for all of you
to give you a glimpse of some of the places that we 
pitched our tent and sold our wares.


at our very first show, there were ferry boat rides and the crowd
was led onto the island by a bag pipe band,
what a great way to start off our adventures!!

our booth set ups went from this...

to this...

Part of the fun of the shows for me was the redecorating for every show!
"What can I convince Duane to put on the back of the truck 
to make our booth prettier?"
just kidding...
He agreed with every choice and was more than
happy to add anything that would make it more appealing!

Part of my update was also to say
thank you for all of your support,
for the emails from some asking about Duane and his job hunt,
to the requests for updates about our adventures.

I am happy to let you all know that he is the areas newest
Farm Bureau Insurance Agent!

I miss having him along for the ride for the last of the seasons shows,
and I know that he misses it too,
he had a ball doing the shows and meeting all of the 
fun people that visited our booth,
but YAY for him!
He has a passion for telling people of the benefits
of having life insurance to protect their families.
We have unfortunately seen first hand the lives affected
by not having it in place for those left behind,
so he takes his job very seriously.

And now here we are, at the end of the craft show season,
right at the brink of what is referred to as Black Friday,
Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday and while I can
embrace a couple of those days, mine will combine
the feelings that Thanksgiving and Christmas conjure up for me.

A thankful heart for blessings.

We are seeing the results of the fruits of our labor
with emails and messages from some of the folks that purchased our
laundry and cleaning provisions this summer.
The kind of message that says that they will never use anything else and where will
we be next so that they can get some more...
The ones that say that since they have started spraying
their pillow with our linen spray, they have been sleeping so much better.
The new nickname given to me at the farmers market...
The Lavender Lady...
and
The 2 shops that approached me to have
our products in their stores!
how exciting is that?

pretty stinking exciting!!!

this is our biggest seller at the shows...
The Laundry Bundle

I am thrilled to now be offering it in the shop!

I have made some special ones for Christmas,
the sachets are made with vintage table cloths covered in poinsettias.

I also made some for the locals...
(one of the wonderful benefits of doing the shows and markets are the other
vendors that I met, this Michigan stamp was made by local artist
Rachel McKay of Grand Rapids)
Her etsy shop is
I love Rachel's creations and know that you will too!

So between being thankful and counting my blessings,
I think the only reasonable thing to do
is to have a big holiday weekend sale!!


I have added a new line of Christmas items to the shop too!

love notes...
sweet messages of love, a sprinkling of silver mica,
soldered into a 6" vintage test tube and adorned with
a little bling,
beautiful for the Christmas tree!

Plus there's so much more!

I hope you will stop by 

and the facebook page for updates on where you can find me next,
along with the newest items being added to the shop!

Thanks again for all the love and support!

love,
Theresa
xoxoxooxoxo

p.s. we still have a couple more shows on the calender,
I'll keep you posted as to where we will be next!










Thursday, November 1, 2012

let the soldering commence...


(waiting for jump rings)

just a quick sneak peek at some of the new 
soldered pendants for this weekends show...

4th Annual Recycled Art Market
held at 
City High/Middle School
1400 Fuller Ave NE
Grand Rapids, MI.
I am so excited about this show,
at least 50% of your artwork must be recycled.
love that.

I think that the upcoming election must be having
a subconscious effect on my artistic choices...
as I picked through a bag of vintage stamps my love of 
our country and history took over and I chose
the presidents over flowers.
I also added the Statue of Liberty, and some historical landmarks 
along with crystals, old marbles, beach glass
and a truly wonderful wooden pink yardstick
that was broken, now is found...
as soldered charms.

Lots more to do,
much creative brainstorming going on over here!

My east coast babes are well,
and for that I am eternally thankful.

My babes at home are down with
the flu and on good advice
we are going to be getting some grape juice today,
Thanks Z!
So no trick or treating pics to show,
we stayed in and watched movies.

O.k... back to work 

Thanks for stopping by, 
I always enjoy your company!
love,
Theresa 
xoxoxooxo

linking to:

Thanks for the party Debra!