A Really Big Show!

Dan & I are getting ready for our first show of 2010. For those of us 50 something when we were just kids that sounded like a year where Will Robinson was lost in space. Funny some days I do feel lost in space.......... anyhoo The Grand Rapids Antique Market is this weekend Jan 2 & 3, downtown Grand Rapids at DeVos Place. A weekend pass is $8, free for minors or college students with student ID. Contact us or visit Eastown Antiques for a coupon on the back of the advertising flyer for $2 off. This is a truly wonderful show. Saturday 9-7, Sunday 10-4. Free fishing tackle appraisals, free furniture delivery within 10 mile, crystal & china repair while you wait a doll hospital and a children's scavenger hunt with prizes. Visit the website for special events and free parking locations. www.grandrapidsantiquemarket.com
We have been creating and re purposing getting ready for this Really Big Show. Please come and see us to start off the new year. A show in our home town is treat and we look forward to seeing all of you!
Happy New Year!

Girlfriends Annual Christmas Lunch

We had our annual girlfriends Christmas lunch today at our new "mansion" as the girls refer to it as ( only because the house size comparison from the pink house is staggering). We have been doing this for several years and it is one of the highlights of the Christmas season for us. Sometimes a girl needs a kick in the pants to get her house together and entertaining was my 'kick"! Dan and I got rid of the last boxes, hung curtains and artwork, moved furniture out of storage and decorated for Christmas. It feels so good to have the house mostly together. Here are some pics.
Our luncheon was yummy too. We all contribute. This years menu was:
Egg, spinach, feta fritata
Traditional Stolen coffee cake
Warm winter fruit compote
Mimosas
Good Coffee and Gingerbread with lemon sauce.

So I am relaxing tonight with my love, Dan and planning our next party!
Spending the holidays with those you love and dear friends - perfect!

Grays Lake

We are taking a break from doing Grays Lake this weekend. It is nice to be home and get projects done around here.

Kane County

Kane County this weekend. We will be set up on Saturday and Sunday. Come and visit us in St. Charles, Il. if you are in the area.

This week was also CJ's birthday. Thursday was the big day and we celebrated by get a cup cake from Nantucket bakery.

Shop Hop

This coming Thursday is the Uptown Shop Hop. It takes place in four of the city's hottest shopping districts (East Hills, East Fulton, Eastown, and Wealthy Street). Many businesses offer special promotions and shoppers can hitch a free ride on the uptown trolley. Both our booths at Eastown Antiques and Bluedoor participate in this event. Come see us and sample some great food. The trolley runs between 4-9pm. This is a very Christmas event!

Sunday night

We just got back from our show a few hours ago. I took a few pictures I can post yet tonight of our space. We feel good about our set up these days. The shows we have done in Chicago have been a wonderful inspiration for us in that regard. So enjoy the pictures.

Kalamazoo Antiques & Collectables Show

This weekend we will be at The Kalamazoo Antique and Collectables Show. The show is Saturday Nov.21 from 9am to 5pm and Sunday Nov. 22 from 10am to 4 pm. It is located at the Kalamazoo Co. fairgrounds, 2900 Lake St. If you are in the area stop by to see us.

Don't Miss Us at Grayslake this Weekend!

There's a chill in the air and we have been gathering all kinds of COOL STUFF for this weekends Grayslake Antique Show, so don't miss stopping by our booth. We will have industrial, furniture, vintage Christmas and temptations for gift items( even OK if it's for yourself! ).
We look forward to meeting more new friends and seeing all of our other new friends again.

THE CHANCE TO BRING IT TO LIFE

We are celebrating today because my design concept for the Grand Rapids Symphony Designer Showhouse was selected to "come to life". The Showhouse will happen this spring. So watch for upcoming details. In the mean time don't miss the Holland Designer Showhouse that we have done a room for. that will open this coming week on the 13th. Look for a news story about it on Monday night(the 9th) 6:00 news 8. I am doing an interview for it in my space. The bedroom and bathroom space that we did is fun and colorful so it will appear well on film :> so I am told!

We Enjoyed Another Kane Co

We enjoyed another Kane Co. last weekend. We love being in the "neighborhood" there of other wonderful dealer. Each time we go we meet and get to now more and more people and we are learning SO MUCH! We came home with our heads spinning :> Industrial was a good seller as well as gift items and the first twinkles of Christmas. I embellished these matelase stockings with vintage yo yos and made flower pins from great wool plaid and tweed with old buttons. They brought smiles to many faces. Stools that twirled were popular as were old typewriters and oil paintings.
I found pumpkin ale in this awesome grocery store, so that was our "treat" on Halloween.
See you all this coming weekend at Grayslake for more FUN!

Pillows

I have developed a real love for vintage fabric which is should come as no surprise for anyone that knows my wife. This past summer I started collecting old feed sacks that had great graphics. Many of the graphics and the type of fabrics remind me of of some of the wonderful vintage French fabric that we both love. So today we decided to cut upsome of the sacks and turn them into pillows. We are taking these along to Kane this weekend. So here is one picture before they all disappear this weekend.

Kane County This Weekend!

This is such a fun time of year to do show! We are loaded with vintage Christmas and gift items for Kane County this weekend as well as some realy great furniture, cool industrial and archectural. Can't wait to see all of you!

A LITTLE TEASE

Just a little tease to make you want to go see the Designer Showhouse in Holland. The Boys and Girls Club of Holland "Home for the Holidays" Fundraiser. Opening in Nov. Thank you to everyone for coming through for me with their creativity. Dan who made the most perfect night stands EVER!, for Connie who spun her Christmas majic just as I had hoped, to Kim who recovered my chair - it looks so great!, for Doug who spend hours painting, repairing and removing the most stubern wallcovering, for Susan & Barry for hand painting curtain rods that oh so special finish and for Mark who loaned us the dresser mate that is getting all the attention for it's PINK nobs and Elizabeth for loaning us the PCH bedding. Thank you all of you - you are amazing!
I hope that all of you get to come and see the house, all of the designers have knocked themselves out - it is a MUST SEE! and such a good cause.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FIND?

In response to Rubarb Reins' blog titled "What's Your Favorite Find?" I would like to show you some of my favorite FINDS! I adore vintage trims, ribbons, rick rack, laces, bias tape, twill tape, you name it I love it! So I am giving you a peak here at my trims stash. You saw some of them used in the previous post on the pillow cases and here I am using some on the curtain tie backs. So I do hord them and USE them! :> Please share some of your favorite FINDS. Do tell :>

Transformation Thursday

I LOVE TRANSFORAMTION THURSDAYS!
I have been sewing like a busy bee in my new studio for the HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS DESIGNER SHOWHOUSE IN HOLLAND. We are getting ready to head over there with our trearue trailor the set up our rooms. Here are a few things that I have been sewing. I made these yummy crossed dyed linen pillow case pillow shams for the bed using vintage rick rack and seam binding as well as a couple of pillows using vintage linens and buttons. The Dutch Dancers embroidery is so sweet and a cute nod to the Holland Dutch heritage - place of my birth. My Mom had told numerous stories of the Tulip Time parade and learning to do the Dutch Dance when she was a girl, such fun stories to hear when you are a kid! So this little embroidery piece just tickled me.
I'll publish more photos as our room gets set up. Rain rain go away!

Weekend

No show this weekend. We just stayed home and tried to survive this cold both of us have come down with. Will post more when we are feeling better. I am trying to decide if we got this last weekend at Grayslake or if we got it because we loaned our car to my daughter last weekend who had a bad cold.

I did try an old trick my mom used on me when I was little and had colds. I put some Vicks on my chest last night, than put a towel over that and a heating pad on top of that. It felt so good.

TRANSFORMATION THURSDAY

This is my contribution to TRANSFORMATION THURSDAY - OK it's Saturday now. Both Dan & I have the flue, I guess it is a side effect of handling money at the shows with out using hand sanitizer...... ya it's flue season. Anyway I spent Thursday doing my proposal for a space in the Grand Rapids Symphony Designer Show house for this spring. My inspiration for the space was French General, Where Women Create and Out of Africa. I love the idea of a studio creative space. So that was my transformation, turning a bedroom into a creative studio space - even if it was only in my head and of course on paper. The deadline for the entry proposal was Thursday, so I turned it in and now just have to keep my fingers crossed that I get the chance to bring it to life. Stay tuned!

Joan Babb

Joan Babb was one of the many dealers at the Grayslake show that we got to know a little better this past weekend. We both loved her sense of display and many artistic ways she showed off her product and creations. You can follow her on her blog at thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspot.com.

NEW DIGS!

Just a couple of quick (carefully edited- notice you don't see any boxes) photographs of our new digs. Everyday I get a little more unpacked and the stack to be sold grows! So keep an eye on the malls and the shows for "the good stuff".

Grayslake

Here is a few pictures from our weekend at Grayslake. It was our first time doing this show and as always with any new show it was filled with great new experiences, sights, and sounds. We love the people we meet at these shows. We will take a little time this week to highlight some of the dealers we meet that we found very inspirational. So stay tuned for more later this week as we get time. For now we are still tired from the strange hours we keep when we do these shows so it is early to bed tonight. Beside, we have an estate sale to get to early in the morning that hopefully will provide us with many new treasures.

Grayslake Antique Market this Weekend Oct 11 & 12

I sometimes feel like there is song track to my life that is forever changing. Today it is "On The Road Again". When we sold the house it was "I'm spinning Round Round Baby Right Round, Live a Record Baby..". So in the morning we are "on the road again" to do the antique market at Grayslake, IL. north of Chicago. It will be our first time there and we are excited to meet all kinds of new people and experience all of the goodies that the other dealers show up with. Here are a few things that I have been creating this week for the show from vintage jewelry pieces that I have been collecting along the way. Dan has also been creating this week some really wonderful things.
While we are there we will also be celebrating our first anniversary. Wow seems like yesterday I was posting the photos of our wedding in the garden. It's been a blissful year! It is so amazing to have met the mate of my heart at 50.
So come see us at the show and help us celebrate firsts.

Designer Showhouse

We am closing in on the deadline for the opening of the Designer Show house that we are involved in. The Showhouse is to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Holland, called "Home for the Holidays" it will open Nov. 13 and run the 28th and be open for private parties Nov 27- Dec 12. The address is 720 Goldenrod, Holland, Michigan. (for those of you who use GPS!)
Behind the scenes right now Doug Taylor had been painting our space, the upstairs north guest bedroom and bath. Kim Beckman from the Homestead Shop is reupholstering an antique chair, Shari Burmeister of Workroom II is crafting delightful lamps shades, Connie Maitland is creating Christmas majic, Elizabeth Austin of Elizabeth Austin Fine Lines formerly Devries and Doornbos of Holland has loaned us the greatest Pine Cone Hill bedding that I will combine with some other really great antique quilts from the 30's and 40's along with vintage 1960's sheets & vintage draperies. Dan is creating and painting furniture. Susan & Barry from The Shade Shop are donating curtain rods. So it's all coming together and I can't wait for you ALL to see it! Most everything in our space will be for sale so it can be a shopping extravaganza too. It's going to be fun!!! Hope to see you all there!

Kane County

This weekend at Kane County Flea Market was a real adventure. We headed out early on Saturday morning with our trusty mapquest and somehow missed our turn and almost ended up in Wisconsin. So we were forced to pick up a map and find our way back to St Charles and the flea market using the tried and true method of traveling. We still got there in time to set up for the opening hour. We set up near friends- Rhubarb Reign and Diane Passi. We meet alot of great dealers from Chicago who shop the market, we got to meet Iowa Junk Gypsies and Tapestries of Nature. All in all a very fun weekend and the beginning of hopefully a long relationship with Kane County Flea Market.

KANE CO. FLEA MARKET THIS WEEKEND!

We are so excited! We are on our way to set up for our very first Kane Co. Flea Market. In St. Charles, Il., this saturday and sunday, Oct 3 & 4. We will be in the main building space 47. If you know Joe and Sandy from Rhubarb Rein we are just one space away from them.So come see us, we have been getting all kinds of great product ready for it this week as well as Fall/ Halloween decoratives.
Next weekend Greyslake!

OLD AS NEW

You may remember an earlier post about my new boots, a gift from my dear freind Sue, well I wore them for the first time last Sunday at Allegan. The grass is always wet early in the morning when we are setting up even in the warm weather, so I need something waterproof and with a good sole for walking up and down the ramp of the treausre trailor to unload the goodies. Ok besides that they look COOL! I'm realy trying to sound procticle - why? I think is was that whole lecture I gave last to my class on Louise Sullivans FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION concept. ANyway I love them and many of you complemented me on them too. Thanks SUE!!!

Follow up thoughts about Allegan Antique Fair

Last sunday was the last Allegan Antique show for the year. We did every show this year and got to know some of our neighbors well. Many of the same people show up every month to recreate our little neighborhood. Here are just a few people who's booth I love walking through every time we do Allegan.

LESLIE CAMPBELL from Ludington, Michigan always sets up across from us. She always brings lots of flowers that fit the seasonal mood of the month.

THE PAINTED CHAIR by James and Jackie Frelitz always has an interesting mix of product.

Our good friends Joe and Sandy of RUBARB REIGNare a must stop.

DIANE PASSI is also a creative person who's booth is always a feast for the eyes.

Yesterday at Allegan

Allegan yesterday was a real treat to do. The day was beautiful and had a late summer early fall feel. Sitting outside in the sunshine made me feel lucky to just be alive. There were lots of dealers that brought pumpkins and bittersweet to give everyone at the show a real visual Fall experience.