Rustic Burlap Wedding Flowers

Recently, we've had some custom request for new burlap color combinations.  The Etsy Trend Report predicts that Burnt Orange will be one of the 2019 top color trends and this was  a recent order requesting burnt orange, tan, and white burlap roses with ivory lace.

 This wedding had bouquets in every size, so I thought this would be a good time to label and show the different sizes, side by side. The bridal and medium size bouquets both have the lace collar around the edges, while the small bridesmaid bouquet and toss bouquets only have the tufts of burlap or "leaves" around the edges. Often, the medium size bouquet is used for the maid or matron of honor to carry, while the smaller option is carried by the remaining bridesmaids in the wedding party.

We also made boutonnieres to match for the groom and groomsmen. 

Another new color combination featured mint green, blush pink, pink, and tan burlap roses, ivory lace, hunter green leaves and just a touch of chocolate brown used for the stems of the bouquets and boutonnieres. 

 The bridal bouquet had mint green roses added to it, while the bridesmaid bouquets only had the shades of pink and tan roses.

 The groom and father of the bride had a mint green bout, while the groomsmen had pink roses.

 This mint green pin on corsage was made for the mother of the bride.

Both of the above color combinations have now been added to my shop. Of course, if you want custom colors or other variations, you can always message me for a custom order and changes can be made. 

The following color combinations are long time favorites! 

For the turquoise  - the bride chose to carry a medium size bouquet, while the bridesmaids were actually carrying the toss bouquets. For budget conscience bride's, this is one way to scale back and save a little bit. 

We also did this very simple corsage for the mother of the bride and groom. A rose with just a little bit of lace and pearls. 

Navy has long been a favorite of bride's! 

"Live Life in the Fast Lane!" *advise from 89 year old vintage market shoppers

The stories from the market are the best! Getting to meet and visit with all of you, makes it fun and so worth it!

Friday morning of the last Mineola Antique Fair, two ladies enter our booth, looking all sweet and nice. They look at a chenille bedspread and one tells me she got one of those as a wedding gift, 72 years ago!

Wow!!! I’m doing math in my head, thinking I hope I get around that good in my late 80’s or 90’s, as this conversation continues.

She moves down and starts reading the wash clothes. “Made of sugar and spice. Who says I have to be nice.” She bust out laughing and here I thought this sweet little lady might be turned off by that one...

She reads another: “Live life in full bloom...

...Nope, that’s not us, our motto is live life in the fast lane!”

“Oh yeah?!? I need to make a graphic and or tee shirt with that!”

“Oh yes, with a car or a black motorcycle on it... We’re the 80’s ladies. Well, till July anyways, then we’ll be the ladies of the 90’s!”

I show them a pink convertible graphic on my phone. “Oh yeah, that’d be cool!”

So take it from the fun 89 year old best friends: Live life in the fast lane - don't let it pass you by! 

Loved getting to visit with them! But dang y’all, I wish I’d got a picture with them or at least their names. I sure hope they come back again!

So the night after the show, I created this graphic, then I had to follow up and make shirts! 

Angea said the two girls in the car remind her of the two of us. (we share the booth and often go junkin' together.) She's the short haired driver with reddish pink hair, while I'm the one with a cowgirl hat on and turquoise! I didn't design it that way on purpose - I just took two of my digital graphic darlin's that were facing the same direction and looked like they belonged in the convertible together! 

The shirts are now available in my etsy shop or we will have them at the next Mineola Antique Fair in May! Don't see your size or want it on a different style shirt -  please send me a message and I can make more! 

Live Life in the Fast Lane - 

Don't let it pass you by! 

Swinging from the Rafters!

"Ummm, we gotta lotta junk."

"Meee too friend!!!"

Text messages between Angea and I this week, as we prepared for the Mineola Antique Fair. 

Where we gonna put it all.??? It's not all gonna all fit...

Yes, it will. It always does... (but,) we gotta go UP! 

 Today was our workday to get our booth ready for the show this weekend. Angea and I have been doing lots of huntin' and pickin' lately and have lots of new (old) inventory for our booth. So we needed to get more creative with our display. The building has these awesome rafters, so we added more overhead display space.

We used a lariat rope to hang this baby bed spring, then we made S hooks (with baling wire) to hang the buckets, pans, butterflies, a cotton scale and a chandelier. The building is 112 years old and was originally a cotton warehouse, so I'm sure there have been plenty of the old cotton scales used in there. The building has a dock and the railroad tracks are nearby, so that cotton was loaded on the rails, back in the day. (The long metal piece with a hook on it and the two weights are the cotton scale.)

 We also hung a grapevine wreath, but it was parallel to the floor, so it became another pot holder.

 We've got so many items that would make great garden planters! You know, all of us junkers and vintage souls are helping save the Earth by rescuing, repurposing, upcycling, and reusing all kinds of things. Used lariat ropes, hay baling wire, chains, rebar, a piece of a wire fence panel, the bed spring, wreath, and twine were all used to at no additional cost to us! No trips to the store for hardware or supplies!

 We are excited about how our booth looks this month! We are open from 9-5, Friday and Saturday. (the show is held the 2nd weekend of the month.) For more info about the show, check out Mineola Antique Fair website or their facebook page.

We've got several chandeliers hanging around as well and have had our tin signs and a few things hanging from the very beginning of our space, so we just added a few more layers. 

I also wanted to hang this chalkboard somewhere, with our social media links, so visitors could connect with us. Thank goodness, our husbands went with us today and helped with hanging ans attaching things up high! Angea and I couldn't do everything we do, without our guys helping out behind the scenes! 

Spring in the Gazebo!

Grab a cup of coffee or ice tea, if you please and pull up a chair - It's time for the spring gazebo tour! You know we are all about the rust and repurposing vintage items. If you are new here, our gazebo was literally pulled from a trash ditch a few years back and we have had fun with the makeover project and decorating it each season. The first spring we had the gazebo, I decided that I would no longer have visible plastic or store bought containers in my yard, so everything is rescued and given a new purpose!

We have lots of galvanized goodness in our yard! 

You can catch the video and my tips and tricks for planting in vintage washtubs here.

As I said, we rescue and repurpose buckets, even if they don't have a bottom. This bucket has a rusted out bottom, but I still turn it into a hanging basket! (You can find the original post on planting in bottomless buckets here.) 

I had this piece of grapevine laying around after we changed our booth up last month, so I decided to drape it over the doorway and I like how it looks. If it's laying around, its apt to find a place decorating the gazebo. 

When we first planted the 3 bushes around the gazebo, they were small and the bicycle really stood out. Now it's hiding in the bushes! I have lights on the bike and at night you can see the outline better. A gym locker basket has been wired to the handles of the bike and holds an assortment of clay pots. 

In the back of the gazebo, a metal pig feeder is a pedestal for a vintage chicken feeder with flowers. 

It's pretty and it's pink! I fell in love with this ceramic dish at the thrift store and immediately knew succulents belonged in it. 

 A fern sits in an old crock.

 Sweet potato vines and dianthus are nestled in this old water cooler.

 Evenings in the springtime are my favorite and the light is almost magical!

The birdcage with herbs and the itty, bittiest little fern you ever saw hangs on the left side of the entrance. I use trampoline springs to adjust the height of the planters. We were cleaning out an old barn one time and came home with a wooden tool box of oddities - included was the trampoline springs. (I shared my birdcage planting video here.)

 Fresh herbs from the yard are the best!

Some have commented in the past about why was the door in the back of the gazebo? Well, it has a few purposes. 

1. Block the view of the storage building behind it. 

2. The door serves as a backdrop for me to photograph items like wreaths and shirts for my shop. 

 3. I get to hang funky, junky wreaths or hang plants on the door. 

I was digging through some of my junk the other day and decided to make a new wreath. I found a grapevine wreath in the greenhouse, then tied on a license plate, made a star with a folding ruler, a very rusty handle from a shovel, a chicken feeder, and a piece from a roll of barbed wire. 

To me, the four loops from the barbed wire spool looked like a flower outline. The chicken waterer thingamajig  (a mason jar can screw into it) formed the center of the flower.  

 That little blue piece was a tag on the barbed wire spool and added just a touch of color to the wreath. A scrap of burlap ribbon made a bow, along with raffia and jute twine used to tie everything to the wreath. 

You might be wondering about the rectangle frame - Angea ask me about it recently and wondered where I found it. Well, way back when I first started gardening, we had a wheelbarrow planted with flowers. Over several years time, it finally rusted out and broke apart. The frame above is actually the old rim of the broken down wheelbarrow! I hung the wreath and frame together on the door with a wreath hanger. Now see, that's a good reason to have a door there, right?!?

The undercarriage of the wheelbarrow found a home in a flower bed, protecting a few plants from the dogs making a home on top of them. Nothing goes to waste! 

So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed the tour. 

As I stated in one of the videos, the gazebo and plantings are ever changing and evolving, so stay tuned to see how things progress through the seasons. 

Flossie the Donkey Takes Over and Made T Shirts

Flossie the Donkey had some silly shenanigans on social media totoday! She was feeling sad she hadn't been able to say Heehaw to y'all, recently, but she made up for it!

So here's how the day started:

Heeehaaaaw! Flossie here saying good morning y’all! 

It’s been a while since mom shared my picture and let me say hi, so I’m hijacking her post today. 😉Don’t ya think she should put my picture on a t shirt?!? She figured out how to remove the background from a picture she took of me and then framed me up with these cute graphics. 🌻

Love, 
Your friend, Flossie

P.S. There still isn’t a donkey emoji. 🙄 What the heck is that all about???

While I was working on weddings,  a few of you played along with dear ol' sweet Flossie and said make the shirts, which led to printing and pressing a few new tees. Then we had to have a photo shoot for them, which also involved a Live Facebook Video 

We got the new donkey tees listed on etsy One is already in route to Florida and another custom request to be put on a raglan baseball style tee. 

Heehaw, It’s me again! Told ya I was taking over and guest posting today! 😃 My donkey heart ❤️is so happy! Y’all made my dreams come true and Mom put me on a shirt!!! Can you believe it?!? Lil ol’ me, is on a t shirt and now you can find me in the shop and she said if you didn’t see your size, she would make more.

The days are warming up, so I might’ve went over to the Etsy shop and marked all the flannels and long sleeve shirts on sale.

🤫 Shhhh, don’t tell mom I did it!
But ya know, a portion of all sales contribute to the donkey treat stash! So a girls gotta do, what a girls gotta do! 🍏🥕😋  

Funny story about them: Mom was somewhere the other day and was digging in her purse, looking for her keys. Well, she found a couple of donkey treats instead. Some city girl was there and thought she was joking when she said she found donkey treats instead of her keys. 😂 We sure love Mom and her treats! ❤️

Now, let’s go see what other shenanigans we can get into today!

That silly donkey! Oh how we love her! If you don't see your size, just send us a message and we would be happy to make more donkey shirts for you!