From Grand Rapids to Allegan to Chicago and Back

We had a wonderful time @ Allegan, the weather was great and the shoppers were out enjoying the show. Our sales were across the board, from painted to garden, small furniture, screen doors and CJ's created items - jewelry, flowers, signs and vintage wallpapered bottles.

We had such a fun visit Saturday night with Joe and Sandi from Rhubarb Reign, always an inspiration for us!

And then we were off to Chicago to the gift and Accessory Show at the Merchandise Mart.

We saw lots there to inspire us. Felted items were still hot, I loved the felted floral garland! Halloween was everywhere! From spooky to way cool. I loved this pumpkin creature creation. I always try to spot trends and at this show it was a little difficult, however we were both drawn to all things that glittered for Christmas especially the rather tarnished items. I find what we see made up from our fellow antique dealers to be way more unique and interesting than anything we saw at the mart. A fascinating trend to come out of this difficult economy. I am proud of all of YOU!

When the going gets tough we get Creative!! Even more so :>

Allegan Antique Market this Sunday July 25th

Dan & I have been getting ready for the Allegan Antique Market this Sunday. We will be bringing lots of exciting items. I have been concentrating on making jewelry from vintage finds.

More bottles covered in vintage wallcovering, vintage labels and bejeweled!

Dan also found these fab hand made tomato cages that we will be bringing along - however a few found homes already in OUR garden - just in time too I might add!

And I am not sure how these things happen but we will be bringing lots of jars. We also have lots of GARDEN a wonderful harvest table and some fun small pieces of furniture.

Also check out our ESTY site for tons of new vintage finds.

www.etsy.com/shop/hattiemae

SUMMER!

It's been a fun week here in Michigan. Dan & I have worked hard at getting our spaces at both malls full of all kinds of "great stuff". I have been into vintage wallpaper, old prints, old bottles and jewelry findings.

Dan built this amazing sideboard from old doors etc

It is now at Bluedoor along with some other pretty sweet pieces,

along with some other summer inspired accessories and recent estate sale finds.

I finished teaching 12-17 year olds interior design and have started a new session of more 12 -17 year olds and adults wishing to indulge themselves in the arts.I love their curiosity and quest for knowledge.

You have to indulge me here, I am sure there is LOTS more to come from our garden but the first edibles that appear are the most exciting! They are loving the heat way more than I am!

I also wanted to share this photo of Hanna Bell exploring her new home that Olivia Passi made, complete with blue curtain with green ball fringe! It doesn't get much better than that! Olivia is Diane Passi's daughter who many of you know from attending the antique shows. Diane is amazingly creative and so is her daughter as you can see.

THANK YOU OLIVIA!

A Week In Review - Meeting Amy Barickman

OK I should let you know right away this is going to be a "read", so grab yourself a drink and a snack!

Last weekend at the antique show in Petoskey I met the most fascinating woman, Amy Barickman. Amy is the founder and owner of Indygo Junction and the sister company Vintage Workshop. She is an author, fabric designer, trend setter and represents 25 designers and leading artists in the quilt and clothing pattern craft industry. Amy was selected as one of nine Women Entrepreneurs Honorees by Country Living magazine and featured in their March 2007 issue. Her book and patterns are frequently reviewed in magazines such as Threads and Cloth Paper Scissors. Her book Button Ware features 33 projects. I was privileged to preview her newest latest book Vintage Notions. We had such a fun chat back and forth. I was wearing my Amy Butler skirt, she of course recognised the fabric and knows Amy Butler personally. She was so gracious to mention me on her blog & I of course has preordered a copy of her newest book. Take a look!

amybarickman.com

There is a link on her site to her blog and on the left here of our blog.

On our way back and forth from Petoskey to Boyne City, my home town where my parents still live we passed a lavender farm is full bloom. Dan could not turn the truck around fast enough for me to get a better look at the purple fields!

It is such a pretty farm. A beautiful farm is cause for either of us to slow or pull over.

We had a fun time on the 4th celebrating with my family. We are so lucky to still have all of them and we embrace that.

Our raised bed gardens have been a community effort here @ 45 College and we got a few things planted this week. We already have tomatoes for our salad tonight. Dan has informed me that in my enthusiasm I have way too many squash, cucumber & pumpkin plants & that they will soon be in the driveway! Oh my :>

I have been teaching a Cottage Design Class @ Kendall College of Art & Design this week. I wrote the curriculum for this class and we had a blast! We have class time to design our dream cottage, learn the history of cottages in the US, identify styles, design outdoor living areas etc. A dear friend of mine from college and his wife allowed us access to their cottage in the city gardens to tour. They keep chickens, have the most darling chicken coop, the sweetest chickens - I got to hold one!! , the most beautiful flowers and vegetable gardens with a coy fish pond.

During the class we took several field trips and the last day we went to Holland to a couple of my favorite "cottage style" shops.

The first one we stopped at was FOUND & VAGABOND. I loved this patio set with different vintage fabric on each chair seat, this dresser with vintage wallpaper on the drawer fronts - I have always loved that idea so now I  have to try it - stay tuned for that one!, and you know I love patch work and this set of chairs was so charming with all of the seats different. This shop is worth a stop as is Cottage Corner on River Ave.

Cottage Corner is packed with awesome cottage furniture in wonderful colors. Remember you don't have to have a cottage to love and live with this great "stuff"!

One of my dear friends has a cottage in Holland and we toured her cottage that is to die for! Afterwards we did a walking tour of other cottages in her area and here are a few that we fell in love with and I wanted to share them with you too.

Thanks for sharing my week with me. I'd love to hear about what all of you have been up to too.

Both of the malls that we are in here in Grand Rapids are loaded with great things - it's summer and we are loving it!

Post Petosky

We have much news about our weekend in Petosky. The Antique show proved to be our most successful show to date. We more than meet out target goals for the weekend and broke all records for most merchandise sold in the first two hours, first day and total for the weekend. So we are grateful to all friends and customers that favored us with their presence and purchases.

We will elaborate a bit more later this week about our weekend when we get time. But, the first day of the show was a sunny beautiful day over looking Lake Michigan with lots of people. The second day was abit slower with the heat soaring and most likely driving people to the beaches but we still managed to find a few customers. We sold all items large and small so there was a good mix of sales. So, thank-you to all of you that came out. More later!