The Hutch Makeover

If you follow along on Facebook or Instagram, you know I've been painting this week - along with my clothes, hands, knees, and feet, this hutch got a fresh makeover! 

I found this "adobe" coral colored hutch at a second hand shop a few weeks ago. It had belonged to one of the volunteer's mother and she said it was in their house when she was growing up. They had done some minor repairs to it and painted it adobe, but decided they just didn't have room for it anymore. I debated about getting it and always say "where am I going to store more furniture?" But as a contemplated it, I got visions of turquoise and brown being layered over the coral and I quickly paid them and loaded it in my truck!  

Fast forward a couple weeks and I brought that vision to life! This week has been relatively mild for June in Texas (mostly in the 80's without the extreme humidity) so I decided it was time to get outside and paint. 

Like I said. I painted more than the hutch and judging by my inquiry on Instagram, I'm not the only messy painter among my friends! 

I truly don't have room in my house for this hutch, but how I wish I did! So today we loaded her up and took her to our booth at Uniques and Antiques in Mineola, Texas, but first a few pictures in the pasture!

Isn't she pretty with the dishes and vintage farmhouse items?

I bought the Mikasa Sunny Side dishes several years ago, although I don't think we ever used them. I thought they were so pretty, but we have our ever day dishes that we use and don't entertain at our home, so I decided they would also go to our booth. There's a 4 piece place setting along with several serving dishes. I believe a total of 26 pieces (when you count a couple lids).

According to the former owners of the hutch - it is solid maple. It is a two piece hutch with the top shelves coming off and is easy to handle (I can move the top by myself, while its best for two people to carry the bottom portion.) It is about 5 foot tall, so its not a real large cabinet.

Angea and I delivered the new pieces to our booth today and rearranged several things. We also have a sale on all the patriotic things in our booth, if you stop by in the next week or so.  Thanks to all of you have stopped by this month and shown our new booth space some love and compliments! We appreciate you and have fun bringing new items in for you.

Now, Even Easier to Order Custom Bouquets!

I wanted to share with you a couple of updates, that now make it easier than ever to order custom burlap and lace wedding bouquets! 

First off, the most popular bouquets in my shop have new "variations" meaning from a drop down menu, you can choose different size bouquets. For example, if you need one bridal bouquet and 4 small matching bridesmaid bouquets, you can do that all from one listing. Or maybe you need matching boutonnieres, you can add them as well, or maybe you need a toss bouquet, as well. If you like the bouquets as pictured, there's no need to message me first for a custom listing to get the additional items. From a separate drop down menu, choose if you want white or ivory lace and add to your cart. The bouquets are still made to order and I send pictures for your approval, before shipping. 

Custom orders are always welcome and if you want to make color changes, that's no problem and you can message me for those options. I will note, sometimes the shipping calculator over estimates shipping (it thinks each item ships in a separate box, instead of combined shipping). If this appears to be the case, you can either message me for a better shipping price or I will refund the overages. This is a new feature I have been rolling out this month, so I'm still tweaking a few details. So far everyone seems to love this option though! 

Second, Etsy now offers Guest Checkout, so you don't have to sign up for an etsy account. 

I will admit, having the account is much easier for us to communicate and you get shipping notifications, but its not a requirement. Recently, I had a bride message me about a custom order, but her aunt was going to pay for her wedding flowers. The listing was in the bride's name, but the aunt was able to purchase as a guest without having to sign up with etsy. 

The following pictures are examples of the popular bouquets that have the new variations available-

 This set shows the small, medium, and bridal bouquets for size comparison.

 Bridal bouquet with pearls (and vintage jewelry provided by bride's family).

This is the toss or flower girl size bouquets with 6 burlap roses. 

 Lavender bridal bouquet and 3 small bridesmaid bouquets

 Extremely popular, Navy bridal bouquet with small bridesmaid bouquets.

Burlap boutonnieres

 Camo and Orange burlap bridal bokay.

 Here's a couple of options with feathers -

The all white bouquet -

 Here's the "jade" aka light turquoise / aqua bouquets and again this shows the bridal, medium, and small size bouquets.

More bouquets have the option to choose different sizes. (There's also some new, ready to ship bouquets added recently and I'll be previewing them here soon.) I hope this added convenience helps you out. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want something different! I am here to help you out and take the stress out of your wedding planning! 

Super Summer SALE!

Happy Summer Y'all! 

Let's celebrate by having a Super Summer SALE! I've marked down many of the items (almost 1/2 my shop) anywhere from $3 to over $25 off original price. Items in the sale section include pillows, flannel shirts, denim and lace shirts, jackets, and skirts, floral wreaths and arrangements, tote bags, and more.

When you go to my shop, click on the Summer SALE! section to see all the discounted merchandise. 

Oh, and did you know, you can now check out on Etsy as a guest and not have to have an account? No hassle there! 

Here's a sampling of what you will find in the sale section - 

Distressed flannel shirts with "Gone Junkin'" patches. - perfect for fall flea market shopping

 Distressed denim shirts

Several white shirts with pink floral crosses and heart doilies.

 This patriotic wreath with an American flag and red, white, and blue flowers.

 Denim and lace jackets.

 There's a couple of these denim and lace skirts... so fun!

All items are one of a kind and once they are gone, there's not another one, just like it, so grab them up now!

Oh, and did you notice my new blog header? Been working with some fun graphics this week and created some new logos. Whatcha think?!?

Martina and Matteo's Italian Wedding!

Martina shared a few snap shots from her recent wedding with me! She ordered the burlap bouquet and boutonniere in February and her wedding was this past weekend. 

She wrote to me today and said:

Dear Janice,

Saturday I finally opened the box with the bouquets you created. They were the most beautiful bouquets I have ever seen. My wedding has been special thanks also to the these perfect items. Thanks a lot, it meant really a lot.

You'll be forever in my heart!

Martina

Martina and Matteo met while they were in high school together in Torino, Italy and 11 years later, they decided to get married at the Antico Borgo Monchiero! 

It's always exciting to get pictures from customers and be able to be a part of their special days, a little more so, when its from another country! Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of your wedding and sharing your pictures with me. Congratulations and best wishes for many years of love and happiness together! 

Martina carried a medium size bridal bouquet with navy, wine, white, and grey burlap roses and white lace.
Matteo had a wine burlap rose boutonniere.

*All pictures were provided by Martina and used with her permission.

All Because Two People Fell in Love

All Because Two People Fell in Love - you know, that's what this little handmade business of mine is all about! Celebrating the two people who fell in love, whether it's weddings, new babies, big life events, or honoring the lives of those people as their families say farewell. 

Last week, I did a rush order for a lady who is celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary, this week. She wanted a sunflower bridal bouquet and coordinating boutonniere for her husband. They were decorating with mason jars, lights, and sunflowers and she ask if I could make one of the mason jar tin signs with the saying "All Because Two People Fell in Love". 

1. A fiftieth anniversary is a big deal and should be celebrated! 

2. I love when customers ask / suggest new things, because that lets me know what you want and I can help bring that to life for you. 

3. I don't mind rush orders and always try to be accommodating. In fact, deadlines are quite motivating! (I will add, that for all orders, I don't ship till payment is cleared, so echecks or Paypal funds that come from your bank account are not recommended on a tight time frame, as they take 3-5 business days to process.) 

Jenny said  "you epitomize all I hold near and dear..." as she looked around my shop and decided to add the heart with wings tin, if I could add a quote to it. Well, y'all all know that I love the quote "What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?" -e.h. and I was happy to paint it on there for her. As soon as the paint dried, everything was packed up and California bound! 

I was able to cut out some additional signs this week and added more Welcome Y'all signs in a mini and regular size, plus I left one mason jar blank, that way it can be personalized with your name, favorite quote or short saying. 

And since I loved what Jenny suggested, there's another one of these signs ready to go and it's appropriate for so many occasions - wedding shower gift / wedding decorations, anniversary party, celebrating a new birth, or just because... two people fell in love.

P.S. I'm working on lots of new wedding bouquets in different styles and fabrics and a couple sneaked in these pictures! Big reveals coming soon! 

Happy Mail from The Soap Chic

I've been gone almost all day, with unexpected business and got home to the sweetest smelling happy fan mail! (Really, fan mail?!?) 

Last year, Ms. Linda (from Iowa) came to one of our shows in East Texas (her daughter lives in the area) after finding my blog, through Pinterest. She wrote a two page letter, telling me that I was a real inspiration to her and that she has been making soap and lotion and started doing some craft shows. She uses one of my zipper bags to keep her money and cards at the shows. 

She said I inspired her to make a honeysuckle soap in my honor, called the "Texas Gypsy Chic"! I'm humbled and have tears in my eyes, to realize that my life and little business can be such an inspiration to others. 

Thank you Linda, "The Soap Chic" - I absolutely LOVE the soap! Of course it's turquoise and the smell of honeysuckle reminds me of growing up and riding horses in the spring time! I will enjoy the soaps and wish you all the best as you follow your heart and do what you love!

P.S. Ms. Linda - if you have online pages, I would be happy to link your business, so we can all find more of your soaps and lotions! 

Our New Booth at Uniques and Antiques!

Yesterday, Angea and I moved into our new, larger booth space at Uniques and Antiques! We have had a little funky, triangle shaped booth in the corner, but had the opportunity to move into a bigger booth. It's just two spaces down from where we were at  previously. When we realized the new space would have the "rafters", we were very excited, because we knew we had stuff that could hang from them and there was already hooks in the ceiling for us to hang lights or chandeliers! 

But, first things first, we knew we had to paint the space! Here's what it looked like when we got there Thursday morning. The back wall had two colors and the paneling was just ehhh. So one gallon of paint, two coats over the paneling, one on the back wall, then we went to lunch and let the paint dry. Ice tea and Mexican food was so refreshing! But we still had a big job ahead of us.

We went back to work and started setting up the new space. We had to move some furniture from our old space down the aisle and we had both brought a lot of new items to stock our booth. We used Angea's ladder for shelves and lost the grid wall that we previously used in our other space.

We took the mantle as a focal piece for the back wall, but we didn't know exactly what theme we would use to decorate it - but this excites me now, especially with Fourth of July coming. We had stopped at one of favorite little places and found the four tea stained buntings on our way to change booths and it was a perfect fit on the mantle, so it all came together with an American theme.

I debated on keeping one of the buntings for myself, but we left them all there (3 more are folded in a basket.)

The left wall has lots of farmhouse style pictures and decor. chickens, cows, a pig, garden signs, etc.

The ceiling hook was perfect for hanging this vintage macrame I found a few weeks ago! Angea added some quilts that are estimated to be about a 100 years old.

There's some shabby French Country items...

(we literally finished up at 5:00 / closing time.)

and birds...

vintage kitchen gadgets, and quilted angels...

doily banners, old suitcases, floral arrangements, Farmhouse signs, the desk, some large frames, and even a burlap wedding bouquet. There's lots of old enamel pans, kitchen scales, a vintage gumball machine, and a 3 tiered rolling cart with a removable serving tray. I know a lot of the glampers like them to set outside their campers as an outdoor bar / serving table! 

We are pretty excited about how it all turned out! We hope you'll stop by Uniques and Antiques, if you get a chance sometime soon - Its one of the largest antiques stores in East Texas! They are located two blocks off Highway 80 and US 69 in downtown Mineola. Open Tuesday - Saturday 10:00-5:00 at 124 S. Line St Mineola, Texas. We didn't have a chance to  get our fried pies on the way home, so you can bet next time, we will be getting them! (If you missed the convo last month - our husbands decided we can't work on our booth, without bringing home fried pies from a nearby shop and I think we will sample all the different flavors this summer!)