Deck the halls...?...

Hi Everyone!  I know it's the middle of June, but it's beginning to look A LOT like Christmas around the workroom.  I know it's early, but I've already started working on my Christmas line.  I'm trying really hard to get and be a head of schedule for my fall craft fairs.

It's not that I put it off, I work on getting things ready for them all year long in between projects for clients and life, but then I always run out of time.  I vowed last year, that I would make a realistic schedule and stick to it.  My word of the year is DO. So I'm doing!

I always enlist the help of my mother on the Christmas line.  She is the queen of spray paint, among other things!  And she does such a wonderful job.  I don't think I could get it all done without her help.  We divide up the work load.  I get everything ready and deliver all the wooden cut outs and anything else that I want her to work on and she tackles it like a pro.  Her "shop" is called Donna's Do-It Shop.

 I took over several large boxes of things for her to work on less than two weeks ago.  I told her how I wanted things painted and which twine to use as hangers for each and when I needed certain pieces back (July for one box, August for another and early September for the last one).  Two days later she called me and said "This is Donna's Do-It Shop, I have the first part of your order ready for pick-up."  Two days later I picked up that box.  A couple days later she was done with the second.  I haven't picked that up yet.  So now the pressure is on me to finish up all of the pieces that she has started for me.  She's trying to get a large hunk of it done before Dad's surgery and then the rest she can do while he is recuperating or once he's fully recovered.

I started working on my portions of the projects, the detailed painting and I had to put a Christmas movie in the DVD to be inspired to paint snowflakes and snowmen.  It's just hard to be thinking Christmas when it's 90 degrees out.  But at least it gives me something to work on inside when it's too hot or windy to be out in the shop.  I'm hoping for some good shop time this weekend.  And to spend some quality time with Dad on Sunday for Father's Day.  Thanks for stopping by!

Jenny Lind headboard bench...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  I am spending today with my nephew Ridge but I thought I'd share with you one of the benches that I made for my last craft fair that did not sell.  This is what it started out looking like.  It is a Jenny Lind headboard.

I made this one armless since I did not have a footboard to go with it.  I took the feet from another headboard (one that I didn't like and used the back to make a sign out of it) to make the front legs of this bench.  Then built the frame work.  I had originally wanted to make storage in the seat of this one, but I ran out of time.  But if you look at this, it only needs the bottom of the storage part.  Maybe I will rework this one and add storage to it.

I painted it with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Graphite with a little black paint added to it to darken it a bit.  I upholstered the seat with my usual fabric choice (it's just been so popular).  And I added the saying to the bottom, Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often.  But since it didn't sell, I think I'll finish off the storage in the seat and then it will be ready to go for next year.  Well I'm off now to spend quality time with Ridge before he heads off to Marine Basic training!  I hope you have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by. 

Live, Laugh, Love sign...

Happy Saturday Everyone!  I hope you all survived the shopping yesterday.  I had to work, so no shopping for me.  I wanted to share one of the signs I made for my last craft fair that did not sell.  It's one of my favorite sayings.  I made one of these in large scale for the Red Oak Craft Fair and decided to make one smaller for this fair. 

I will be adding this to my Etsy shop, so if you're looking for something like this to give as a gift to someone, look for it here .  Thanks for stopping by!

Small tree stool...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Wednesday!  Can you believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving?  And then the Christmas season will be upon us.  Are you ready for it?  I wanted to show you one of the things I took to my last craft fair. 

It's a little decorative stool with a tree back.  I've sold one other one a couple years ago and decided to take this one to the fair this year.

I added the rusty sign that I painted Happy Holidays on.

Here it is at the Craft fair.  It actually sold the night before when I was setting up my booth.  But my customer left it there until the next day so others could see it.  Sorry about the plastic in the background of that picture.  That's the table where I store items I'll need that day like bags and plastic bags to cover the trees with.  Thanks for stopping by.

Storage bench...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  I will be spending the day in the shop trying to get orders filled.  But I wanted to show you the bench with storage that I built for this last craft fair.  I showed you the in progress pictures of it a couple of weeks ago.  Here's what the headboard looked like.

And here it is built and painted with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Old Ochre.

I then waxed it with clear wax. 

And I upholstered the seat.  I left the plastic on it at the craft fair as little kids with sticky hands love to climb all over them if their parents aren't watching.

This bench sold fairly early to a nice young couple with a couple of kids.  I think the storage in it was the kicker.  I love to watch people when their making that decision to buy.  And I get almost as excited as they do when they say they are buying something.  But let's face it, it's a big purchase, literally!  They left it at the fair until almost the end of they day when they came back to pick it up, so a lot of people were able to see it.  Must get busy now on those orders.  Well, thanks for stopping by!

Small bench...

Hi Everyone!   Happy Monday.  I wanted to show you one of the benches I took to my last craft fair.  Do you remember me showing you this as I started it?

It's a twin headboard that I decided to make armless and with storage.  I also didn't make the seat as deep as I normally do as I've heard several times people say they want a bench but just don't have the space for it.  So this one is not deep but just the right size to put your shoes on.  Plus it has built in storage for an entry way to store you gloves.

This is how it turned out.

I can't tell you the color of the bench because it's a color I mixed myself.  I actually painted it first with Annie Sloan's Chalk paint in Coco, but it was too dark to go with the fabric for the cushion.  It just made it look dark and flat.  So I mixed a color with some paint I had on hand and that was the wrong color.  It had a slight green color to it which was not the direction I wanted to go.  So I mixed a country tan and antique white with a drop of black and came up with this color.  Which I think worked better with the fabric.

And here it is at the craft fair last Saturday.  Unfortunately it did not sell.  My mom made the cushion for this bench for me.  I'll be storing this for a while.  I'm trying to find a fair to go to in the spring.  All of the ones I attend are in the fall.  So if I can find one, then I'll be a bench up on my build list.  Thanks for stopping by!

The end of fair season...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Saturday!  I know I've been missing this week.  Last Saturday was my last fair of the season.  It went pretty well.  The parking lot at the facility was all torn up so there was limited parking which I think hurt as there weren't nearly as many customers as there normally were.  I still managed to sell quite a few things including a bench, lots of tress, and some one of a kind items.  I'll show more in the next few days.  One of the things that sold right away was Hank, the snowman post.

The gal that bought him was so excited when she saw him and picked him up right away and said she just had to have him.  It always makes me smile to see people get excited about their purchases.  So I know he went to someone who will appreciate him.

I ended the day last Saturday with several orders so I had a total of 10 things I needed to make.  I managed to cut that to 4 on Tuesday and then picked up another order on Wednesday.  Tuesday I started getting a cold and by Wednesday morning it was a full blown cold.  So needless to say, I haven't gotten anything else done this week besides going to work.  I'm feeling a bit better today, so I will be hitting the shop this afternoon to get going on these five orders.  I need to get them done soon! 

I got some exciting news on Sunday.  My nephew Ridge, who is joining the Marines and is leaving in December, will be coming here for a few days!  I am so excited.  I was afraid I wasn't going to get to see him before he left. 

I bought him a train ticket and my parents and I are picking him up a week from tomorrow.  He'll be here for a few days and then my parents will take him to meet his Dad where he will stay for a few more days before heading back home and then leaving for boot camp.  I'm so proud of him and can't wait to see him!  So I must get things done despite my cold!  I hope you all have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sheet music wreaths and ornaments...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday!  I've been busy getting ready for the craft fair this weekend and one of the things I've been making are sheet music wreaths and ornaments.  I first made these last year and they were a big hit and I've made them for every craft fair since and they go over very well.  So I thought I'd show some of the ones I'm taking to this fair.  Sorry about the pictures.  I always hang them in my dining room until I'm ready to box them up and unfortunately the walls are all antique white, so the wreaths don't show up as well in the pics. 

I make large, medium, and small wreaths and ornaments.

And I love how they all turn out looking different, yet similar.

I like the double row wreaths and the single row. 

I've even made tree toppers.

I know that sheet music wreaths are all over blogland and I'm not showing you anything you haven't seen before, but I enjoy making them and it seems that my customers enjoy them too.  They are great "filler" pieces in my booth at craft fairs since most of booth is filled with furniture pieces.  The sheet music I've been using is all from 1891-1893.  It has great color and the pages are in really great shape.  A few folded edges and a couple of small tares on a few pages, but nothing terrible.  And one of the things I love are the hand written notes on the sheets.  With instructions on how to play it or to learn this piece.  It was obviously used by a piano teacher.  I just wish I had taken some pictures of the notes.  But I've used the last sheet of music, which makes me a bit sad, but the really great news, is my Aunt Barb has already found some more for me and is sending it to me.  So thank you very much Aunt Barb!  I can't wait to get it!  Well, thanks for stopping by. 

Christmas trees......

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are having a great weekend!  I'm busy getting ready for another craft fair.  I wanted to share with you the trees that I made and decorated for the last two craft fairs.  My uncle Bill gave me a stack of spindles that the local lumber yard had thrown out because they had gotten wet and their customer wouldn't accept them but worked just great for this project.  When my nephew was here this summer he helped me cut the spindles in half and make a base for them.  And then we drilled a hole in the top for the tree.  My mom helped me by painting the bases of them.

And here they are with their lights and decorations.  I left some of them plain.  And decorated the rest.

 I took 12 of them to the craft fair in September and came home with three of them.  And I took 21 of them to this last craft fair and came home with 6.  So I think I did very well.  I sold all of the plain ones at both fairs, so I think I'll have to take some more plain trees to the next craft fair in a couple of weeks.

Not all of the trees have spindle bases.  Some of them have a wooden base that I wrapped in fabric or burlap depending on what was on the tree.  I decorated them with the wooden ornaments, some rusty bells, snow flakes, cloth angels and pip berry garlands.  I've already had Mom working on painting more bases for me so I'll be taking them to the next craft fair on November 12th.  This will be last craft fair of the year.  Speaking of which, I need to get back to work and finish some project for this next fair or else there won't be much in my booth.  Have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by.

Armless headboard bench....

Hi Everyone!  Do you remember when I showed you this headboard and said I was going to make my first ever armless bench?  Well, I made one and took it to the Clarinda Craft Carnival.

I took apart another headboard that I wasn't crazy about the posts on it and used the back of it to make that Welcome sign with the pegs and I used the bottom of the posts as the front legs of this bench.

I painted it black since it seems to be the most popular color of the benches I've made.  I upholstered the seat and there it is.  And boy did everyone love it.  I put extra foam in the seat to make it comfortable.  To me it looks less like a bed and more like something you would see at a furniture store.  I had a lot of interest in this but some of them want to see it with storage in it.  So I'll try that next.  I was really happy with the way this turned out and I think I'm going to get some orders for this style of bench, which makes me very happy.  And the fact that it sold at the Clarinda Craft Carnival makes me giddy!  It was a good day!  Now I have to get to working on things for the next fair.  Thanks for stopping by!

Linking to:
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2012/03/sat-nite-special-link-party-125-benches.html