Showing posts with label hand painted pillows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hand painted pillows. Show all posts

Sunday, April 28, 2013

The fair....

Hi Everyone!  It's been a long and fun weekend!  The Arbor Day Fair was this weekend.  I didn't take as much as I normally do since I'm having the Open House for my Studio in a month, but I did take a variety of items.  It was a good weekend, but not a great one. Just a warning, this post is picture heavy but I thought I'd show you what my booth looked like.
 Set up started Friday at 4pm.  Mom, Dad and I were there a little before 4 pm ready to set up and get out of there as early as we could.  This little bench was the first thing we unloaded.  Just as soon as it was set down, it was sold.  It had a twin that I brought last year to this same fair and the gal that runs the fair bought it and bought this one too.
 My little headboard turned shelf with pegs sold as soon as we set it down too....also to the same gal that bought the bench.  The two items really went well together and were the very first thing you saw as you entered the room.  I could have sold them both to at least 4 or 5 other customers.  They stayed in their spot the whole weekend and brought me several orders and a wonderful new business contact (I'll share more on that later).
 I took a couple of mirrored windows (none of them sold).
 These bead board frames were new this year and two of them sold.
 The black chicken wire frame came home with me.....
 ....as did this green backless bench with storage in it and a stained top...
...and so did my bird bench...

 ...I sold a few sheet music rosette magnets...
 ...and one white and one grey crate, several of the plain pillows, several chicken wire frames, and the numbered peg sign...
 ...the foot stool was liked by a lot of customers, but came home with me as did the large window mirror...
 ...as did this bench with storage that was painted with dark walnut paint (I've already decided to repaint it in Old White)....
 ...I sold a set of wooden love birds in white...but the rest came home with me...
 ...these burlap rosettes on clothes pins were also attached to the message boards, but the packaged ones didn't sell...
 ...and neither did the tree slice numbered tags...
 ...or the blank note cards...
...and neither did these hand painted totes...so it seemed like I didn't sell much, but I did okay and I'm alright with the amount of items I brought home...they will all be for sale at my Open House next month.  So now I have to replenish some of the items that sold and finish working on my studio to get it ready for the big sale.  If you happen to be in Southwest Iowa over Memorial Weekend, please feel free to stop by and say hello...email me for directions. 

I want to say a great big thank you to my parents for all of their help and support this weekend.  I couldn't have done it without you!  And now, I'm going to sit back with my feet up and rest for one evening before I start getting ready for the Open House.  Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Painted panels...

Hi Everyone!  I've been waiting a long time to share this with you.  Back in January I started working on a project that was finally completed today when a package arrived on my front porch.  And I'm so excited to share this with you!
So most of you know that I make a lot of headboard benches each year to sale at fairs that I attend.  And I've always thought about making some pillows to go along with them.
I decided that the pillows needed to be really special.  So I painted them.
I hand painted 8 panels to coordinate with fabric that I use for the seat of the benches that I make.
 I wanted each pillow to be 16x16" when finished, so I cut the panels I painted on roughly 18x18" to allow plenty of fabric for the seams.
 The painted panels are either drop cloth material or cream duck fabric.  I washed all the material so there wouldn't be shrinking later on.  Then I ironed it all and got to work painting the panels.
 I tried to make sure that what I painted on each panel went with the fabric that was going on the back of the pillow and the pipping.
 When I finished painted on each panel, I set the paint by ironing it.    Then I asked the very sweet and talented Amy from While Wearing Heels if she was interested in making some pillows for me.  If you haven't seen Amy's blog, you really need to stop by and say hi.  She also has an Etsy shop that has some amazing things in it.  I knew by what I had seen on her blog and in her shop that she was the gal to turn my panels into pillows.  And I was right.
 I haven't had a chance to have a photo session with them as pillows yet because I just couldn't wait to share them with you.
 Each pillow has an envelope back so they can be carefully washed if need be.
 When I bought the welting for the piping I got a really thick welting so there would be plenty of the back material on the front to frame out the painted panel.  And I'm really happy with the way they turned out!  I can't wait to put the pillow inserts in them and then have a photo session with them.
I also asked Amy to make some pillows out of just the fabric, no painted panel to go along with some of the other benches.  Amy does amazing work and I'm just thrilled that she was willing to turn my vision into a reality.  Thank you so much Amy!  So that's just a little of what I've been up to.  Thanks for stopping by!

Linking to:
http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/2013/02/catch-as-catch-can-112.html
http://www.504main.com/2013/02/tickled-pink-135.html 
http://madeinaday.com/2013/02/28/made-u-look-linky-62/ 
http://www.oneartsymama.com/2013/02/shine-on-fridays-69.html 
http://www.lizmarieblog.com/2013/02/link-up-with-me-liz-marie-38/ 
http://www.redouxinteriors.com/2013/02/link-party-93-and-les-features 
http://theshadyporch.blogspot.com/2013/02/rock-n-share-30.html 
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/2013/03/simply-creations-link-party-features-90.html 
http://farmhouseporch.blogspot.com/2013/03/welcome-week-56-of-scoop-link-party.html