Hello, Hello...

Testing, testing (tap, tap, tap) 1, 2, 3... is this thing working? Can you here me now? Hello, hello, are you there? 

Geez, it's been a crazy busy few weeks and I've been missing from blog land. A little continuation of the Keeping it Real post from last time - My phone has been giving me grief lately. The battery will say I have 30% left and shut off, then one time it said I had 1% and kept on going. Today it went from 70% to 17 in a matter of minutes, so I think the battery indicator has a malfunction and I must charge it multiple times a day. (Edited to add - I just googled this and I'm not alone. Lots of issues with the batteries.)  It did an overdue update and now my blogger app crashes every time I attempt a blog post, so I'm trying something different for this post. Many of my pictures are on my phone (or shall I say 12,000+) and I find it easiest to upload my pictures from my phone, then I can finish the blog post from my computer. Blame it on slow home wifi for not wanting to upload my pictures on my computer and shall we talk about data?  Uggghhhh, why can't we all just have unlimited data? My iPad is out of data for the month and just as soon as I find some interesting and inspiring pod cast to listen to while working, my phone tells me I should slow down my usage... 

But enough of that - the daffodils have been blooming and the sun has been glorious this week! 

I love the 70-85° weather we have had in February! If only it would forever stay like this.

The sunshine inspires me! 

 I'm happy to report I got the sealer on my church boards (see last post) and I'm working on a new spring line of decor. As soon as I can squeeze in a photo shoot, there will be some new things online!

To me the golden daffodils are the flower that brings hope that spring is coming soon and better days are ahead after a gloomy and dreary winter

We are working on weddings, had a few local events,  plus getting ready for the spring Backwood's Marketplace and can't wait to show you some of the stuff we have in the works. I got a new power tool and found some fresh and springy fabric this week, so stay tuned!

Save the date! April 8-9 is the Backwood's Marketplace! 

Keeping it Real

So this is a keeping it real post for those that think creativity is always easy and fun. Most of the time, yes, but not always. 

I've been struggling with ideas for something new and different for our etsy shop, store booth, and upcoming Backwood's Marketplace and history gathering. If you follow along on Facebook or Instagram, you might have seen some of my church pictures or paintings. The church pictures were taken from my work and life on the Back Roads of Upshur County. I was inspired by old church paintings I have seen, but didn't want to paint, just a random or made up church, so I decided to paint some based on the local churches, that I had photographed. 

I'm trying to figure out how to best display them and unique ways to share the old churches. I painted them on canvasses, that were too big to fit in my scanner at home. One of my trips to Longview (45 minutes away), I found a place to scan them to my flash drive. Home later that night, I got them on my computer, but extracting the PDFs and saving as a picture (so I can resize and print) was no easy task. Figuring out the settings on my new printer, so I can mirror the image made me want to pull my hair out or throw a not so minor temper tantrum. 

Finally, pictures printed, but let me back track to finding, cutting, sanding boards for the photos to be transferred to. I found one scrap board, brought it inside and prepped it (sanded and gel medium applied) and placed picture on the board to let dry 8 hours+. Back outdoors to cut more boards, because I really need to be productive and assembly line these babies, to be most efficient with my time. Jeff comes to assist and 20 boards were  cut to size. 

Back inside, I get 8 more churches on boards to dry, before leaving for afternoon obligations. Home later in the evening, I started removing the paper with a wet rag. To my dismay, my church wasn't very visible. I wanted to cry. I had 8 more churches that were probably wasted on a failed new-to-me technique. 

I might have got a couple of "you should have just done one board to experiment, first, before you did 9..." I laid on my bed, upset, near tears again, staring at the ceiling fan and realizing I need to dust...

Anyways, I leave the others. Their 8 hours to overnight drying time was not complete and I was depressed about my ugly board and went to bed. 

I was gone almost all day to market, meetings, picking up supplies, etc.

After supper, I decided to start peeling the paper off the remaining 8 pieces. Wet it down, scrape, scrape, and scrape some more and pull up my stool to the kitchen sink, because this is no short process and my feet are tired. 

Much to my excitement and relief at 10:30 at night, the other churches were much more visible on the other 8 boards. That's when I realized that the first one was made on a different board. Remember, I said I found a scrap board for the first one. 

Here's the thing, if I hadn't had anxiety, been impatient, and felt pushed to get some production done, I would have just done the one board as a test (as others suggested I should've done), been dissatisfied with the results and never made another one, BUT that's not what I did! Now I've got 8 churches (2 of each different church), transferred to pecan wood, waiting to be sealed. 

I want to include a bit of the history on the back side of each piece and I'll probably print some to frame, or try a few other techniques, when I get a chance. I'm also wanting to photograph and paint a few more of the old churches in the area. Right now, I've got wedding orders that I've got to get busy on, so this will be continued at a later date... But first, I need tea... 

Love is...

Love is... 

Old turquoise trucks and a free Valentine's card for you - save and print out for your love! 

When he picks you little tiny flowers in the cow pasture... 

And sweet baby calves...

And dogs and kitties snuggled up together - on the heat vent, I might add!

The first daffodils of the year...

And coming home with truck loads of junk...

Yes, Junk is Love!

We love our Uniques and Antiques booth (with Angea) and our "business meetings" to restock our booth.

And I Love helping create bouquets for your weddings and being a part of your special days! 

For me, it really is the simple things in life, that I love.

P.S. Local peeps, don't forget our Valentine's Day show at Sweet Bean Coffeehouse on Tuesday. Show your love with flowers and sweet treats! 

New Brooch Bouquets for Your Rustic, Vintage Glam Wedding

 I've been working on some new bridal bouquets, that are ready made and ready to ship. I love collecting vintage lace, brooches, buttons, and assorted jewels to create these bouquets.

This first bouquet has lace from two different vintage wedding dresses. I recently found a beautiful, David's Bridal satin bridesmaid dress in the Portobello color. I immediately knew that it would be fantastic for cutting up to make roses and it gave this bouquet an elegant touch!

Ivory satin roses , burlap roses, lace, and doilies also comprise this keepsake bouquet. Rhinestones and pearl buttons and brooches accents the crochet lace flowers.

 As I'm out junkin', I'm always looking for potential brooches that would be pretty for bouquets. Over time, my collection had accumulated several pink toned pieces, so that inspired me to create a new brooch bouquet with the pink and gold color scheme.

 Tan and white burlap roses along with assorted lace is used in the bouquet. Gold rhinestone mesh ribbon adds some glitzy glam to the bouquet!

 This bouquet is a timeless, neutral color; with tan and white burlap roses, white and ivory lace, along with gold toned and pearl jewelry pieces. It will match almost any color scheme for your rustic, vintage themed wedding.

 I've been bringing in my plants during the cold spells and the house feels like a jungle some days, but it sure is nice to be able to see some green, in the middle of winter! Overall, its been a mild winter, so the ferns have stayed in the gazebo, most of the time. I hung my chandelier in the gazebo as well.

All of these bridal bouquets are unique and one-of-a-kind, due to the vintage nature of the brooches and brooches. These are all currently available in my etsy shop and ready to ship now! If you need coordinating bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres, or corsages - please send me a custom request and we can discuss your wedding!