newest creations...

Happy Monday!

I've had the soldering iron going a lot lately,

and thought I would show how I finished the large (knocker) crazy quilt scrap pendants.

this is the same one, I left the stitching on the backside, the side that the 

quilter usually keeps hidden as the flipside because I think her work 

deserves the spotlight on both sides!

I then hung the pendants with a stack of the sweetest vintage 

cream and milkglass buttons.

The MIlove charms that I showed in the last post I have now added to rings as well.  

This was my instagram and FB page post letting

our customers know we were on the way to Detroit.  :)

When I find a stamp that I think will add a little fun to the sachets

I get a little giddy.... this one definitely did the trick!

So not only do they smell beautiful, but they are just as pretty

when you pull them out of your dryer.

Here's a group photo of the knockers and a few other pieces before I added the buttons and chains. 

See how much bigger they are than the quarter?  

I LOVE THAT!  

They have a great weight to them, and make a gorgeous necklace for layering.

I wore mind with a winter scarf at the market and I loved how it peaked out 

from the bottom of my infinity scarf.

I don't create my soldered pendants with vintage photos like I used to these days,

(unless I have a commissioned order)

but this boy has a hold on me and when I found the print on fabric that 

I made of him a couple of years ago he immediately was preserved under glass. 

 I will most likely be sporting him around my neck.

I just love his look of determination.

It's Monday and that usually puts me in a funk with less focus than usual, 

but today the iron will once again be hot with a few orders to get done.

So there you have it, a little update on what's on the worktable.

I cleared off the dining room table so that we could once again have meals together,

and have set up shop in the workroom where I belong.  

let's see how long this will last ;)

I want to add that if you ever see anything on my instagram page

the old white house

or my facebook page

the old white house

and have any questions or would like to purchase a special bauble please msg. me

and I will put up a reserve listing for you.

My etsy and website have all of our natural lavender laundry and cleaning products,

 but I haven't listed any of my jewelry in some time because by the time 

I get everything made I am packing up to go to a show or market.  

I of course would love to have my friends that do not live close by be able 

to wear a little somethin somethin that I've made also.

So please don't hesitate to contact me!

I hope you have a week full of grand adventures, love, and laughter! 

love, t.xoxo

autumn

We tend to stay pretty busy over here, just like the rest of you I'm sure.

I'm going to spare you all the detailed chit chat and share some

photos of what I've been up to with 

just a little play by play in between...

we went to the apple orchard a couple of weeks ago.

we are already out of apples and we need to get some 

this weekend at the Eastern Market.

this guy turned 12!

so him and his buddies do what they love to do best.

play a little airsoft wars in our backyard.  

They aren't just shooting at eachother like I thought it was,

nope they strategize these games and play a physical 

game of Stratego.

I just stay out of the way of oncoming pellets!

we made it to Art Prize and here is a pic

of Hannah and Max playing in the room with the winning piece.

we are still going to shows and the farmers market most every week.

If you are in the area and get the chance, 

the Detroit Eastern Market is a great 

place to shop, have some lunch and meet wonderful people!

I am now in the midst of adding lots of soldered pieces to the baubles

just in time for Christmas shopping!

As I cleaning my workroom I came across a few

soldered story bottles that needed some tweeking, 

so I added those to the work pile.  

these were a big hit last year, so I am creating more

little snow storms in the bottles for this year.

something very new to the booth are my

MIlove charms.  I will be putting them on key chains also!

I love the organic look that happens when I press into the 

molten lava hot solder.

I think setting up for the show is 1/2 the fun :)

in between all the work and fun, I also try to keep us healthy

with good meals... thank goodness for pinterest!

This is my new favorite salad...

kale, (this time I mixed in romaine because I used all the kale in our smoothies)

roasted butternut squash, apples, craisins,  and sunflower seeds with a 

maple vinaigrette dressing... yum!

actually you can find it in my pin board titled just that - YUM

I also continue to 'play' on my phone with

Rhonna Designs and Photofy

to create marketing pics and thank you notes-

even Max's bday party invites.

(and I really DO start each day with a grateful heart)

xoxo

well there you have it... my life in a nutshell!

I am supposed to be sewing sachets so I better get to it,

soon they will also get a touch of Christmas spirit with

some Christmas stamps on them.

I hope that you are having a fabulous day and

enjoying every bit of your autumn!

love, 

t. xoxo

where you can find me...

If I'm not at one of these places in the next couple of weeks, 

than I am shopping for supplies, or 

making product with those supplies, or

sitting behind a sewing machine, or

at the table creating new baubles, or

making dinner for the family, or

hanging out with the family, or

on a bike ride with Duane, or

at yoga.

seriously, this wraps up the story of my life these days.

I'll let you in on a secret...

I am loving this chapter!

I hope that you are having a fabulous day!

love,

t.xoxo

we went on vacation...

where myself and these two...

drove to see these two!

we had a great visit, but as usual it was much too short.

We did manage to pack quite a bit into a week!

This pic was taken at the Charleston Farmers Market.  

There were booths and booths of specialty foods

and many talented artists as well as the local farmers, I loved it!

It was 110* this day, so what's a kid to do, but take advantage of the local fountain?

We ate at some fabulous places!

Danielle and Justin took us to a few of their favorite spots,

and I can attest to the fact that the Charleston area has some delicious food!

We went into the Art Museum, where it was cool, for a stroll through some

unusual art displays.  They were in between exhibits so there really

wasn't much to see, but as you can tell Hannah and Max

found it pretty fascinating! ;)

Justin drove us to a great spot on Folly Beach to see some

truly amazing art... 

The artist 

Douglas Panzone

has been commissioned by the city to paint

murals in different places.  I kept looking for more,

but never found them.  I hope we see more next time!

seriously, his work is so incredible!

(Do yourself a favor and click on his name to see more)

I can't even imagine how he does all of this detail with spray paint!

The vacation was wonderful, and much needed!

We have had a crazy, busy, and fabulous summer

here at the Detroit Eastern Market,

and here, at the Capitol Lawn Farmers Market

(last one of the season is coming up on 9/25)

and here, at the Grand Rapids Fulton St. Artisans Market

(last Sunday of the season is 9/28)

a vast array of artists every week, with something for everyone!

and here, at the Everlasting Blooms Vintage Flea Market

(next one is on 10/10 & 10/11)

it's show full of treasures galore, grab your girls and come shopping!

and here, at the South Haven All Crafts Fair for our third year!

There have been more shows in between, 

and with all of those shows comes the wonderful

people who visit us and shop our booth!

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!!!

As you can see, we have been incredibly busy this summer,

so that vacation was the perfect way to close out the summer before school started!

In between going to all of our markets and shows, are long days making lots and lots of 

our lavender goodness to take to said shows...

...and in between making lavender goodness,

I make as many new pieces of jewelry as I can!

I grabbed most of these photos from my facebook and instagram pages,

where it is much quicker and easier for me to share all of the fabulous

places we set up our booth and for some of the stories of the

wonderful people that we meet.

Also, that's where I post photos of the new jewelry pieces that I'm working on,

so if you hop over to either of those sites you won't miss a thing!

On a side note about my jewelry...

I don't list them on etsy these days.  As I tell my customers at the markets,

by the time I get them finished I am packing them up to go in the booth.

If you ever see anything that you would like, please contact me and if I still

have it I will make a listing of it just for you!

I have sold many pieces straight from the instagram or FB page.

Well, that wraps up my summer, I hope you didn't feel bombarded by photos,

but I've missed sharing with you all!  

I hope I see you on FB or instagram very soon :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

t.xoxo

summer is in full swing...

and I'm singing the blues.  Not really, I'm just drawn to the blue hues

of aquamarine, amazonite, and turquoise semi-precious stones.  I love to 

create with them and mix them with vintage treasures.  I've been

restocking my jewelry for upcoming markets and shows, and I always 

seem to reach for these!

Of course the neutrals always have my heart also!

These aquamarine rondelles are some of my favorite, add a little

rhinestone bling and well, perfection!

I've also been making lots of resin pendants to hang

on a simple chain, as they are a favorite in the booth.

This is where we spend our Saturdays.  The Detroit Eastern Market.  

We love coming here, the atmosphere is really amazing with so many

wonderful people from every walk of life mingling with each other, shopping for

produce and specialty products created by Michigan small business owners.  

On a rare occasion Duane and I get away from it all, usually to celebrate us.

This year for our 28th anniversary we made it to one of our favorite places in MI.

Traverse City

he had to be up there for work, and I tagged along!

(the sunset made it look like we were glowing, and well glowing is good)

We only had one day up there, but I will take what I can get :)

I used Rhonna Designs photo app to really capture the gorgeous sunset 

that we watched as we sat on a blanket on the beach on the  Leelanau Peninsula.

The kids and I spend most days at home 

either making product or just hanging out, but we have been

taking a few days here and there for adventures too.

The zoo has been a favorite and as a family we have been 

to a smallish lake close to home for a little R&R for all.

I hope that you are having a lovely summer full

of adventures of your own!

love,

t.xoxo

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!

May your day be filled with love, laughter, sparklers, good food, surrounded by those you love.  

love,

t. xoxo

featured on Saturday Spotlight!

I am honored to have been asked by Kris from

Junk Chic Cottage

to be featured as her Saturday Spotlight!

Kris and Susan from

Must Love Junk

feature a blogger every week so that 

we can find out a little bit more about them and

what makes them "tick".

Thank you so much Kris for inviting me to 

tell a little bit about myself, my family and our business!

Thanks for stopping by!

t.xoxo

p.s. If you haven't entered the
Honor the Earth
giveaway yet, please go down a couple of posts and head to the
GoNaturals!Giveaway
 site right away and
throw your name in the hat!
xoxo

playing with my phone...

I am not someone who can play games on my

gadgets, ie. phone, computer, FORGET about xbox, 

I'm happy that I have figured out how to watch the show I want on Netflix.

So no games for me...

but put a design app in front of me and I'm all in!

I enter that blissful space of creating

that gives me a challenge and sense of accomplishment.

(kind of what playing games does for my kids!)

My favorite go-to app is 

Rhonna Designs

it's my "candy crush" if you will.

I have no idea what that game even entails,

except something to do with crushing candy

and unless I'm eating it, well, I just don't see the point!

I use it for the beautifully designed graphics that I can make my own to

share a recently created necklace...

or the newest accomplishment for me.

I have been wanting to learn to make my own soldered bezels

for a while now, and with the help of you tube I finally gave it a try.

I have a long way to go but, as with lots of things, the 

fun is in the process!

Sometimes I use it to put my name on my creations...

lucky me, she has my favorite font and I can 

use the transparency tool to fade it out.

I use it to let our customers know where to find us. 

The collage elements let me feel like I'm playing with paper again.

Of course, saying thank you to those customers is just as important!

Sometimes, I just use it to make helpful reminders pretty...

we got more snow last night so I really hope this one

happens pretty soon!

I have also experimented with a few other apps that I like...

diptic is great for making a collage of your photos,

easy to use with lots of layout choices.

So, these are my 'games' of choice.

I use them for my business, 

so they are actually work, 

but my kind of work...

creative, fun, and relaxing all at the same time.

crushed.

Do you have any apps that you use

that I should know about?  

I'm always looking for a new way to play

I mean work!

Thanks for stopping by!

If you haven't thrown your name in the hat for the give away

that ends on the 22nd, 

check out my last post to go to the link!

love, 

t. xoxo

p.s. I have not been reimbursed to share these great tools

with you, they are just my way of getting you to play 

in the sandbox with me!