"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" you asked......

It's more about what I've been doing............. Mary and I celebrated our first year anniversary of forming a business partnership at the shop located at Cedar & 2ND Ave in St. Charles, Il. We had a sale going all day long and served refreshments. Mary was the chef, cooking sish-ka-bobs on a tiny little grill. (Look at that smile! I think she enjoyed herself!) This was Mary's invite to one and all! An effective promise of good things inside.

And on the inside.........A new jewelry idea! Tiny buttons representing a bouquet in a "vase" thimble. The miniature mannequin was found in Kentucky.

Leather chokers with vintage and orphaned jewelry adornments.

Another leather coin purse necklace. ( I cannot keep these in stock!) This one has a cowboy theme.

Madelaine the mannequin, covered in coffee dyed fabric pins. (Thanks, Mindy Sue!)

An old, rusty, flue damper with an old clock face. Battery operated and keeps excellent time!

French garden tote.

Altered hankie drawers.

Embellished old books.

Screen printed old suitcase.

Embellished baskets. Check out the old, rusty rake head fitted with a vintage floor lamp handle! (see also vertical yardstick blinds)

Ripped muslin and lace hanging lamp. (I have plans for this but it MUST be a big secret for now!)

If ya can't beat em, let them be crooked!

A face lift for an old bar stool. A good place to park your bum!

Our ever changing chalkboard wall behind our check out counter.

Mary's popular message bottles and hand lettered lamp shade.

I really would LOVE to hand deliver this valise!

LINE EM UP

Those are the words that are heard on Saturday mornings when vendors line up to be part of the monthly Kane Co. flea market in St. Charles, Il. One sees all manner of vehicles lined up and ready to go! This vendor, however, caused quite a stir yesterday, when he arrived. He knew exactly how he wanted his booth to look and what it would take to achieve that effect. Not being able to make two trips with his wares, he, quite literally, went over the top! This is Mark, an upcoming and amazing designer who is also a friend. Sadly, I was not able to see the finished result as I had to set up my own space. However, I am sure that he will be posting his own photos on his blog, Room 363.blogspot.com.

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS!!!!!!! He confessed that when he ran out of rope, he "borrowed" some gros grain ribbon to tie up this package! It was hilarious! One can only speculate as to the reaction of other drivers who were on the road at that time of the morning! ( Kind of reminds me of "Sanford & Son", only these wares were better.)

And this is Denise's idea of 'line em up" at the end of a hard day of selling at Kane! A group of us sometimes get together and have dinner on that Sat. evening. We "de-stress" and enjoy the lively banter that takes place. (We missed you Mindy!) AND YES, THESE REALLY WERE ALL DENISE'S!

THE POSH PICKERS

That's what we decided to call ourselves on this trip cause we were pickin' for the posh stuff. Well, if you happen to agree with chippy, rusty, metal and posh junk, then you know where we're at! This is me, Wed. A. M., all packed and ready to roll in these comfy shoes.Our very first stop. Isn't Janice a doll!

Now that's concentration!

Crossing into Kentucky. The whole trip, I rode shotgun and did what I was told!

Yea-Haaa!

Beautiful! Notice how much greener it is than in Il.

This is three days worth of snuffling out antique shops! While fun, It' very time consuming. Also, most of the shops we found had wares from 30 years ago, but we did manage to buy most of the wire, metal and white stuff that they had to offer.

On Sunday, we set up to sell at the first antique show in Burlington, Kentucky. Thankfully the sun was out and the day was pleasant, but windy. Janice and I were pretty possessive about the treasures we worked so hard to find, hence we were stubborn about our prices. We really didn't want to sell much here, instead we wanted to save most of it for our people in Il. We took turns shopping and JUST managed to squeeze more into her van! More great stuff for home!

Home, Sunday evening!

In another post, there will be pictures and tales of our favorite town in Indiana and the sweet dealers we met there.

P.S. Mindy, we were like Thelma and Louise! We tore up the miles, screeched into every mall we saw, intimidated every and all, (especially Janice) power shopped, (especially Janice, she was always waiting for me), and we did all this with no weapons! HA!

Rosemary, we looked and looked for that french carved cupboard you wanted. We would have taken a picture of it for you, but we didn't see even one! So sorry!

P.S.S. There were some really hilarious moments on this trip! You would really have had to be there to appreciate the levity. So if you 're interested in hearing the stories, just mention the words "fire station"and "flying money" the next time you see us!

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Greys Lake was wonderful, great time with friends and the weather was warm and sunny. The GRRRRRR! part is because this was the only photo I was able to download. I really think I'm going to have to break down and get a new computer! My good pal, Janice K. and I are leaving this morning for a road trip. We're headed for Kentucky, and for the next five days we will go where ever our little hearts desire! YEH-HAH! We're leaving town with an empty van and hopefully coming home with a full one! We might also stop and shop, perhaps even sell, at the Burlington,Kentucky antique and flea, the first one of the season, on Sunday. So, will see ya'll later, and hopefully by than, I can download more pictures. Now I just have to hope that Janice K. behaves!

GRAYS LAKE

Now that my computer is up and running again, I'm back in the blogging world. I'm going to be sharing a space at Grays lake Flea Market this week-end with two great buddies of mine, Janice K. and Paper Pattie. I've been making some bird cages lately out of wire, orphan parts from lamps and such, and old silver plate or baking pans for the base. They created a lot of interest at Kane Flea Market so I made more. So we hope you stop by and say "HI". And if my computer continues to behave, I will be back soon.

BUG STUFF

I've been carrying these pictures around in my camera for a week or so and this is the first opportunity I've had to post them. As you will see, my photography skills have still not improved, but what the hay! Right now it's not my priority! This is a butt's eye view of my first bumble bee. ( the front view will appear in the next couple of frames because i messed up on the sequence) It kinda looks like he's loosing his underpants! LOL! This is the chalk wall behind the purchase counter at the shop.

Meet Mr. Fly. he is not showing his butt!

Front view of the bumble bee.

I love this clock! I made it out of an old, rusty, wagon(?) wheel and shabby clock face. It works!

Embellished book covers.

A white spider resting under some alluring mushrooms.Next week-end is Kane Flea Market and I can't wait to show you what I've been working on for it. So till next time, blogger buddies, stay safe and keep well.

SPRING CLEANING

Just a quick post before I delete most of the pictures from my camera. The storage is full and I need to "clean house" before I can take any more pictures. Spring cleaning has arrived, starting with my camera! (BTW, THE ROBINS HAVE RETURNED! A SURE SIGN OF SPRING, AT LAST!) This dress form was a commissioned piece. I took it to Kane for the customer but it turned out that it had to be picked up at the Greyslake Show. Not a problem as I acquired two more commissions which I need to start working on. The body of the form was a wicker bust which I covered with paper mache and embellished with white burlap. The "skirt" is an old,tall tomato cage.

Sold lots of fabric mushrooms.

Skirted stool sold.

This is a primitive wood box to which I added lengths of wire to make a fun place to store books. Note the box was a favorite place for my fabric spiders!

If you squint really hard, you can see the last two of the paper feathers that were recently featured on a blog tutorial. Sorry all, I really need to work on the quality of my photos. I promise to do that soon. (See Janice! I hear ya!)

AND ALONG CAME A SPIDER......

Well, several spiders actually! They are great lamp shade and bulletin board buddies. Hand stitched from old wools ,linens, and Victorian beads in some cases. Their legs are made out of old millinery wire, which are wrapped in silk threads. I saw some spiders on the web somewhere, that were very much like these, so I am not taking credit for this particular design. They are my take on my memories of what I saw.

Stay tuned as I can't wait to post about the insects that I am presently working on!