thank you...

pinterest...

for the inspiration for my new TaDa list in the kitchen!

http://theinspiredroom.net/2013/08/11/message-center-ideas-kitchen/

isabella sparrow actually shared it on fb and I 

fell for it immediately and well,

TaDa!

I'm not finding a blog for her, but her FB page is swoon worthy!

and thank you craigslist...

for the matching sofas in my living room

seriously both for 150.?

my family says thank you for the cozy and beautiful new seating!

Captain approves as well!

thank you ice resin...

especially Susan Lenart Kazmer

for another creative outlet for me to play with!

I have had these ring blanks for quite awhile now

and you gave me the inspiration and tutorials on how to 

use your fabulous product! 

thank you picmonkey...

for helping me design my monthly calendar...

most of all thank you to you,

for indulging me in this silliness!

I hope that September treats you well.

We are having some really beautiful weather here in MI.

Nice cool temps at night, perfect for sleeping.

Speaking of which, I better say good night,

I have a 5:00 am wake up call in my future.

Have a fabulous weekend,

Thank you for stopping by!

love,

t.xoxo

show time...

Hello everyone!

I thought I'd give you a little snippet

of what I've been up to, and that revolves 

mainly around shows and markets.

 Show time is fun time for me,

I love "playing house" in the booth!

'shopping' my house and barn for display pieces,

and then finding awesome fill in pieces at fleas and yard sales.

like this urn...

I've had the table for awhile and painted it last year for the house, 

but it just made it's way out of the barn to do shows this summer.

Because I am thinking right now about long I have had some of these

pieces, I even shocked myself when I remembered that I

found this table about 23 years ago!

I just painted it for the first time this year.

the beauty of taking it to shows, is that it is two pieces.

I love those legs!!!

The china cabinet I have had for almost as long.

I traded my brother and his wife for it

when I stenciled on the walls of their dining room in their first home!

best decoration in the whole booth...

My 15 year old daughter Hannah telling our shoppers about the benefits

of using our natural products!

I just sit back and beam when I listen to her talk to everyone.

I am fortunate to be able to say that this

is a family affair.  When our 10 year old Max is with us,

he gets right out in front and does the same thing!

When Danielle and John are home for a visit they pitch in and 

Cameron has been helping at markets and

Duane does the weekend shows with us after making

phone calls all morning!

love. love. love.

The displays do take a beating though and this girl was looking pretty rough,

let's say more rough than the shabby look I love.

What's a girl to do?

why, paint her with chalkboard paint of course!

She came in quite handy for displaying earrings.

I grabbed the old door at the last minute hoping for

a better way to display the repurposed necklaces...

it's going to be a permanent fixture from now on. 

I am constantly on the hunt for pieces to display my jewelry.

I could keep adding things from around here to bring

with us, but then where in the car and truck would I put them?

I do have to make room for the staff!

:)

Like I said,

I love "playing house" when we set up our booth.

Fluffing and then fluffing some more.

Next time I might think about adding

a chair to take a break in once in a while,

so that my back wasn't hurting today.

(back to the chiropractor I go.)

Thank goodness that Duane and Cameron 

really do all of the heavy lifting these days,

I couldn't bring any of these pieces without them!

love. love. love.

I hope that you are having a lovely summer.

Take in an art show if you have any near by...

the inspiration out there is endless!

Thank you everyone for your visits. I know that 

there are so many blogs to follow and that I am not here

nearly as often as I used to be, so I really

appreciate your stopping by for a visit and your comments!

love,

t.xoxoxoox

next post I will share more of what I've been creating to take to the shows.

here's a peek...

do you tumble?

OH no, you won't catch me doing

somersaults and cartwheels, like you might have 

when I was a kid...

these days, it's what I do as I'm falling asleep...

I can't read blogs from my phone,

the print is too small when my eyes are so tired.

So, I look at pictures.

pictures that inspire me...

pictures that make me smile,

pictures that make me want to 

freshen up my home.

(like I got time for that)

pictures of dreamy places to visit...

then I close my eyes and go to sleep.

All of these photos are on my tumblr page

The Old White House

via other beautiful, inspirational tumblr blogs.

I think of it as a virtual magazine...

eye candy so to speak.

Flipping through the pages at the end of a long day.

Back to work for today,

Danielle and her boyfriend Justin  are on their way home for a visit!

I am one happy mom!

Take care,

love, 

t.xoxoxoxo

let's play catch-up...

I have really missed blogging, reading blogs, and all of the warm fuzzies that go along with it.

These days I am consumed with making soap, making more soap,

and then making some more.

Along with sewing dryer sachets, mixing up batches of linen & room spray and

our kitchen & bath cleanser.

and then bringing it here.

The Fulton St. Farmers Market in Grand Rapids through the week,

where you can find some of the best people selling

their honey, maple syrup and home grown,

non-sprayed, organic fruits and veggies.  

It's early in the season here but in a few weeks the place will be overflowing 

with everything the farmers work so hard to grow for us!

On Sundays this wonderful place becomes

The Fulton St. Artisans Market.

where you can find incredible pieces of work and have an amazing artist henna your hand.

(Hannah's favorite thing a couple of Sunday's ago when she came to help man the booth)

On our opening day we had 104 artists selling 

their work and it was fabulous!

Every Sunday through September... how amazing is that?

So you see, I don't have a great deal of new things to share on a regular basis,

I kinda figured 'how many times can I show a bag of soap, or the market booth'?

If you want the answer to that, just check my facebook page...

apparently, A LOT!

I have been so busy that I have gone to posting mostly on FB.  

It's quick, easy, and right now about all I have time for.

I do miss you though.

truly.

I haven't been able to read my favorite blogs in such a long time, that

 I probably need to put my picture on the side of a blogging milk carton.

Here are a few shots of some of the other things that have kept me busy...

Max started baseball in May, with Duane as his coach.

That's Max as #2!

As a side note, I hope to keep all parents from going through what we went through

as a result of Max playing ball...

One wrong bounce of the ball and Max lost a good portion of his front teeth!

He came running to me crying, "my permanent teeth, my permanent teeth!"

Oh my gosh, my heart sank!

He is now all back to new, thanks to our awesome dentist, 

... and he now wears a mouth guard when he plays ball.

Something that my other boys never did, and very few, if any

other boys in the league wear. 

mouth guards... they are a good thing.

I missed showing you these beauties...

and how they filled out the front of the house so beautifully.

Unfortunately, as you well know, they don't last long after a hard rain.

Even after staking and tying them up all of the buds you see here

took a beating and down they came.

I was happy to get this photo as the first of them bloomed!

I expanded our front garden with the help of Max...

this is the view from our bedroom window right after we finished.

...and here it is this morning!  

(just for you, I went out in my jammies to take these pics!)

The iris's are mostly gone, the peonies as you can see are all gone,

but some of the other plants that I dug up from around the house are doing really well,

thanks to all of the rain we've been getting!

This cost of this garden was a lot of hard work and the mulch.

I took all of the plants from other areas where they were overgrown.

It felt so good to be digging in the dirt with my sidekick, Max!

He was my dirt clod shaker-outer!

One last thing before I go.

I have finally hit the 'PUBLISH' button on my new website!

You can see all kinds of the goings on over at 

www.theoldwhitehouse.com

this has been the biggest project yet!

I have wanted to do this for a while now,

I will still have the blog, it is linked on the website,

and hopefully be able to tend to it more often, as well as visit all of you.

I also wanted to have a .com where you can purchase our products,

and not search through etsy.

For now, I will still have etsy too, and that is where the pendants and jewelry

are listed until I have time to list those on the site.

This was a huge undertaking, and quite taxing on my noggin!

I hope you will visit me there and I would love to hear your feedback!

Also, if you don't follow me on facebook,

please do!  I am there everyday, updating my whereabouts 

and adding photos of my happenings!

Like my new business cards and labels that I designed!

new pieces as I finish them...

this was taken at the Garden Gallery show last month.

and some family shots...

front yard frisbee for Fathers Day,

Cam still in his umpire pants and Max showing his skills,

throwing back to Dad!

... and this one

where you can find us at the end of a long day.

My brother had this fireplace stored under

a deck for a few years, and when we mentioned that we 

would like a little firepit back here he offered us this beauty!

How lucky am I?

pretty lucky!

(I really need to clean the siding though)

adding it to my ever growing tada list.

It was wonderful chatting with you all!

I will be taking my new little chrome book

(thanks to the generosity of my kids - my moms day present!) along with me to 

markets and when it's a bit slow, I will be playing catch-up at your place!

I hope all is fabulous in your little world

and that the sun is shining down on you today!

love,

t.xoxoxoxo