Sunday, September 30, 2012

Fall is Upon Us!!

We headed north this week to fill our space at Then and Now in Petoskey. When we got on the freeway north of Grand Rapids we realized that Fall is truely upon us. I love the early color mixed with the green that is still on many trees.
Fall is by far our most favorite time of the year. The cooler air is very welcome after our very hot summer.
 We got to Petoskey and found our space at Then and Now nearly empty. Fortunately, we had loaded the truck as well as the trailer so we were able to fill our space up with lots of new product.
 However, we realized that we will need to make a return trip with in the next week and ahalf with more items. So we are now back home getting more ready for our next load.
 Today we took another drive in the country to see a little more color. We also made a number of stops to do a little shopping for additional vintage items for our spaces. We came back with a number of really great items that will make their way into our inventory soon.
Hopefully, we will be back on the road again in the next week and ahalf with more product for our north country markets. We will get a little more opportunity to see some Michigan Fall color.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Country Living - final report

 We packed up on Sunday night when the Country Living show ended. We meant to write a report after we got back to our hotel room. But, we were so tired and sore we put off  making our final report until we got home.
 First we just wanted to say that we are so grateful for all of you that showed up and supported us. We saw lots of familiar faces and made many new friends. Stella shows and Country Living deserve credit for putting on an outstanding show. The show meet all of our expectations.
 Sunday morning when we got to the show and tidied up our booth we went for a walk and took pictures of some of the spaces around us that had wonderful and interesting displays.
 So, for our final report from the 2012 Country Living show we hope you enjoy seeing pictures of some dealers that did the show with us.


Saturday, September 15, 2012

Country Living Day Two Report

 We had a great second day at the Country Living show. This show always manages to come thru for us. It is amazing to see the turn out of people for this show. This morning before things got in full swing I walked down to want of my favorite spots in the show.
 The entire show happens around a historic village of old buildings that have been moved to create a town with a village green. So this morning I snapped a few pictures so you can all get an idea of how special this place is.
 This vintage panel truck was in the parking lot last year. This year I found it parked in the village green.




Enjoy the pictures. We are tired so that will be all for tonight. By the way the bank in the last picture actually has a working atm in it. We love this show!!!

Friday, September 14, 2012

First day of the Country Living Show

 We had a great day for our first day of the country living show. This show never seems to disappoint. We had huge numbers of people turn out inspite of some very mixed weather. We sold most everything across the board and got to meet some old friends from last year and make some new friends.
 Gathered Comforts is set up across from us. They do a great job and are very experienced at doing Country Living shows. They do this show, next month do Atlanta, and next spring do the CL show in Texas. When I asked them how that managed to put away so much product in such a short time they simple told me they put away stuff just like squirrels all year long.
 Front and center in their space was this wonderful drawer cabinet that in spite of one missing drawer cabinet had me wondering how I could come up with the money to buy it. I so love these things. It sold in the first hour of the show so my time coveting this piece was short lived.
 Up the row from our space was a dealer selling this wonderful German educational posters. CJ flipped when she saw the cat poster. I don't think that any of these posters lasted the day.
I did get a chance to walk to one of my favorite dealers that always has alot of architectural. This place is so filled with so many interesting and exciting dealers and product.
If you get a chance to get to the show this weekend please stop by and say hi. Tomorrow we regroup and add more product.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Country Living 2012- First Report

 We arrived in Columbus, Ohio for the Country Living show yesterday. We set up our tent and started putting our space together but not before I snapped a picture of the famous pumpkin mountain located in the village green.

This morning we were up early and spent all day putting trying to create and an enchanting space.
 This are some really amazing dealers here who have a wonderful talent for putting together some very beautiful spaces. So the pressure in on to do a beautiful job with our display.
 
Tomorrow we will be up early. Rain is predicted but we are hoping for the best. If we make it thru tomorrow we have been promised clear, cool beautiful weather the rest of the weekend.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Country Living Fair 2012 Columbus Ohio


 We are so excited to be a part of Country Living Magazine, Country Living Fair again this year. Last year we wrote about being the "hopeful gospel duet" and that still applies. We have an amazing positive creative energy right now. Dan & I feel so fortunate to make a living from our creativity. We both have had our moments of "you mean I have to make ONE MORE of these" but in our soul we are loving it and know that we are so lucky. Not only do we get to do this for a living we get to do our business together.
So only 3 more days to finish up our projects & then we see you at the fair!
Here are a few photos of what we have working on :-)

Cuff  bracelets
in progress
This years CJ bag. Made from old grain sacks with vintage ticking.

Look for us under our new sign, in the antiques section T4.
   


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Country Living Show 2012- in just one week

 We have been very busy getting ready for our Country Living Show in Columbus, Ohio. One week from tomorrow we will be leaving for the show. We had such an amazing time last year that I had to share a few of our pictures from last year with you.
 The front of our booth. We still love the stack of pumpkins in the urn and hope to make a stop at our favorite pumpkin patch before we head out of town again this year.
 This is a side view of our booth. Do you see CJ's bags?

We will be having our own 10 foot by 20 feet tent this year. Display is so important at these shows so we are going all out building interior vintage style structures for the inside of the tent.
We hope to see you all there. We are always very busy at this show but we love to see friendly faces. Now I have to get back to work!!