A Successful Market Day

Kate had her first show and what a success it was.  

  Her new business, Rustic Market, is off and running with many customers  inquiring if she had a shop.  

  This magnificent headboard did not sell, but I think most people couldn't  see it's potential as anything other than a headboard. I would use it as a piece of art on a wall, set it on a mantel, or put vintage  hooks on it and use it in an entry way for hanging coats.  

  Check out this unique vintage bike that she turned into a table/shelf.  It was a little hard to display to it's best since it needs to be attached to a wall to make it stable.  But regardless, it was noticed by many for it's uniqueness and found a loving home.  

  Her rusty letters practically flew out the door.  

  This piece of furniture came home with us.  Although it looks like it has many drawers, it actually is a dresser with only 4 drawers.  I think it would look great in a boy's bedroom, an entry way or fantastic in an office with a black printer on top of it.  Plus, it would allow great space for storage.  

  This altar table we found on The Longest Yard Sale.  It is such a beautiful piece.  It was missing a drawer (which we didn't notice until we got it home), so we added a piece of decorative wood carving where the drawer should be to hide the hole.  

  All in all, it was a very positive and fun day.  Exhausting, but fun.

Going to Market

Well ~ it's time to go to market.  The big day is just around the corner  and we're putting on the last minute touches. These photos are from a staging that Kate did in our garage.  We have  lots and lots of rusty, chippy items.  

  Dried gourds mix beautifully with vintage dishes.  

 

  A quatrefoil mirror and baby Alpaca wool from Peru in a rusty, chippy wire basket.  

  Only time can create this beautiful rusty/chippy look.  

  We found these gorgeous rusty metal orbs at a trade show.   Love, love, love these.  I want to keep one of these, but she won't let me.  

  Here's a vignette she made with an old suitcase that she filled with travel items.  

  I am amazed at her creativity and the ideas she comes up with.  

  A huge thank you to Sherry from The Charm of Home for featuring Kate's beautiful dresser.  She was so ecstatic. ~ Linking with   The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home ~ French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

A Chip Off the Old Block

My daughter decided when she was in Peru that when she came home, she wanted to pursue refinishing furniture.  I did what I could to discourage her knowing that it is so much work and very little money ~ not an ideal way to make an income.  And then there was the fact that she is living with me in our little house with no basement, so that meant that whatever piece she was working on would sit in the middle of my living room.  Having done furniture myself for a couple years, I was not ready to relive that experience through her. But . . . she insisted and drug home her first piece of furniture from a weekend road trip to St. Louis . . . a lovely chest of drawers that has real character.  

  She bought it at an antique store and paid way too much for it considering she was flipping it.  But after painting and distressing it, it came out absolutely stunning.  

  She used Caramel Color's Reclaim black paint on it and then  distressed it to perfection.

 

   It is a perfect piece for a bedroom or any place in the home.  It just seems to have a stately presence about it.

After all those years of watching me paint and showing no interest in it, who would have thought that she would end up being a "chip off the old block"?  

  To say I am proud of her would be an understatement.  The  surprising part is that she has sucked me back in to doing furniture with her.  I'm not doing as much as she is because I'm trying to slow down the "extras" in my life.  But I am helping her accessorize and trying to pick up small things that don't need a major makeover. If you're in the Columbus, Ohio area, we will be doing a show together on Saturday, August 23rd at the Columbus Arts and Vintage Market Place.  It will be held at the Aladdin Shrine Temple from 10am to 5 pm.  We would enjoy seeing any of you who are nearby by and I will of course be so proud to show off my daughter, Kate. You can see more of her items on her Facebook page Rustic Market. ~ Linking with    French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday ~ The Carm of Home for Home Sweet Home ~ Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday  

My Least Favorite Summer Chore

  Every summer I can tomatoes, and every summer I wonder  why I can tomatoes.  

  It's not like I really enjoy doing it.  Dread is the word that most describes how I feel about canning. And yet ~ I do it every year. It is such a process - cleaning the jars and lids.  

  Putting the tomatoes through a hot water bath and then a cold water bath to loosen the skins.  Then packing the jars and finally putting them in the canner to boil for 55 minutes.  

  I have always found it never fails that canning needs to be done on the hottest days of summer.  Summer heat, plus all that boiling water leads to one hot kitchen.  

  I think I do it because I can't not do it.  Because my Mother did it and it is part of my growing up years.  Because it is providing for my family at the most basic level of living, taking nature's gifts from the ground to the table. But at the end of the day, after all the work and all the sweating, there is the satisfaction of looking at the beautiful jars all lined up.  

  I usually leave the jars set on the kitchen counter top for a few days so I can enjoy their beauty before storing them away. I do love looking at them and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.  

 

  And there is nothing like going to the pantry on a cold winter day and pulling out a jar of home-canned tomatoes to make a pot of chile or tortellini soup.  

   

 

OHIO Proud

I haven't been blogging much lately because I've been busy making and painting items for my daughter's vintage show later this month.  I've mostly been working on accessories to go with the furniture she's painting, but now and then I pick up my brush and give it a go. Trying to keep my work load lighter since I'm also trying to keep up with my gardens and get some of the outside of the house painted before winter. Here is my latest creation made from a piece of plywood and an old map of Ohio.  

  I wish I had remembered to take pictures during the process, but I always get so excited when starting a new project, that I forget.   I started with a map of Ohio and although it was already old, I rubbed it down with brown shoe polish to give it an aged look. This is a close up of where I live in Columbus.  

   Then I traced the shape of Ohio onto tissue paper and used that for my pattern for when I would cut out the shape on plywood.  After that, I cut out my map and added at least an inch around the edges of the state so I could wrap it around the edges of the plywood.  

  The hardest part, I won't lie, was cutting it out of the plywood.  I used a jigsaw for this and it was a slow process and a little tiresome on my hand.  But with patience, I ended up with a great piece for mounting the map on.  I sanded the rough edges of the board and then mounted the map with Mod Podge.  

     I applied a light coating of Mod Podge to sections of the plywood, working from one side of the state to the other, slowly pressing it down and smoothing out wrinkles as I went.    After that came the slower process of clipping the sides and sticking them down with the Mod Podge.  I filled any gaps with small cut leftover pieces of the map.   The back of the board was covered with a blank sheet of brown paper that was cut from tracing around the map.  A final thin coat of Mod Podge was applied over the front and back of the map for protection and hardware was attached to the back for hanging.  I may hang it in my house so I can enjoy it for a few weeks before it goes to the show along with this vintage OHIO brick I purchased at an auction.  I was able to get two of these bricks and may just have to keep one for myself.  

  I don't know about where you live, but here in Ohio, there seems to be a lot of decorating with the shape of the state.  A new fad I guess, but it's nice to see people being "OHIO" proud. ~ Linking with   Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphasis Monday ~ Mod Vintage Life for Mod Mix Monday ~ StoneGable for The Scoop