Main stream and new introductions

Hi Everyone,

We have finally had a teeny tiny dusting of snow here in the South suburbs of Chicago and I am hoping that we don't receive anything else til we get back from Michigan in about 8 days. One can always hope . . . 

While out running errands early today, I stumbled on something kinda' cool. For a couple of years we have been proud to say we were part of the new revolution of the standard antique market industry. When referring to antiques these days, one also needs to include words like vintage, shabby chic, mid century, industrial and retro as they are integral parts of the industry today, 2012.

This has made it into mainstream as evidenced today at the new Whole Foods store near us. Take a look at the cool checkout lane lights.

Yep, vintage soda bottles! How cool is that? Then down the aisle they had these for sale . . . 

Yes, boys and girls, canning jars and wildflowers, the exact items we have been showing for our  shabby chic/ rustic farm/barn weddings for the past couple of years. This store also has beautiful tin ceiling accents and tons of worn wood, patina finished pieces, a real shabby feel. Guess we have arrived, if the building industry is shabby-ing upscale stores!

I have a sneak peak for you on our newest line to be shown at Grand Rapids next week. After serious contemplation, I decided to design a line of totes, not purses for practicality reasons. Seems there are a slew of bags out there, all about the same size, so I have a new line of really use-able tote bags, shabbied up with gorgeous laces, fabrics, beadwork, doilies, vintage jewelry and handmade flowers.

Here is a corner of the first tote . . .

And the second one . . .

That gauze rose is to die for in real life. These totes are very generous, 13" W X 14"H  X 7"D with additional handles, ready a million different uses. If work continues at the current rate, there will be 4 new designs of these gorgeous new totes and if they make it through the MI show I will put what ever I have left on Etsy. You know you are on the right road when you take your new project out in public and several people stop you and ask about it! (Just another reason to move into the Trader Joe's, but I digress . . . ) So it is a serious push to get all of the it done, new runners, new journals and new totes. 
Back to the mill, more later,

Suz 
the Muze

Introducing . . .

Hi Everyone,

Well, as promised, more new items are finding their way here and without further adieu our newest tassel in the family, Scrapper

This tassel was literally a culmination of all the scraps I found during my big workroom redo. A piece of lace here, scrap of shredded muslin there, leftover piece of ribbon found, each time I added a scrap, it added a dimension to this tassel. Pretty soon I was in awe to how gorgeous these guys turned out. Kinda' shabby, kinda vintage and a whole lot of fun, that pretty much sums up Scrapper, coming to a show near you in the near future.

Back to the desk,

Suz 

the Muze 

All in the Details

Hi Everyone,

I forgot to post this cool picture of our booth from Louisville on the last post. Rarely do we show at night and there are always challenges when you do. Mr. Wonderful has really gotten that lighting issue under control and we have great light to show our handmade products by.

I thought it looked pretty good at 7:30 PM in Kentucky Friday evening.

The tent to our right had halogen lighting and was super bright. They showed jewelry and it was very well lit.

It dawned on me as I was going over inventory needs this morning that I have neglected to show the heart and soul of our line, our wire frames.

We offer literally hundreds of different sizes, shapes and profiles and they have been used for every room in the house, many a jewelry display in stores and professional booths, tons of weddings and a few corporate meetings as well. If these frames could talk . . .  the places they have been and the things they have experienced.

We discovered that many have tried to duplicate these frames and many have failed because of the structuring protocol we use. The simple way would be to slap the wire on the back side of the frame and throw a few staples in. The problem with that is they will not support much weight and we have jewelry designers that work in chain maille and it is incredibly heavy. So, our inside installation and reinforced application makes for a very durable and long lasting frame you can use for years. Mr. Wonderful does a really good job if I must say so myself.

There have been square frames as well as octagonal, rectangle, hexagonal and yes, a couple of ovals and rounds along the way. Then this year we started a new addition called jewelry boards, where the boards come with additional hooks at the bottom our wire frames for necklaces and bracelets. I loved them for next to the backdoor for keys as well.

Who knows where these guys will end up at. According to my numbers, we should hit 1.000 wire frames in February. WOW ! That's a lot of frames. Everyone was an antique or vintage piece that was hand finished and meticulously assembled and finished for a clean backside as well. Double picture hangers mean you can hang regular wire frames in either direction, giving you even more choices.

The best part is the fun we have with the phrase 'chicken wire'. Everyone we hear say that in our booth we start a conversation with them that this material is no longer known as chicken wire but now a days is called 'poultry netting'. Guess the duck, roosters, swans and other foul life on the farm demanded equally billing so now a days we use poultry netting.

Yep, that chicken wire has been pretty good to us, just saying. At any given show, we have between forty and sixty frames in stock to choose from and custom requests are never a problem as we probably have close to 2,00 frames in stock.

In the next couple of posts, I will try to show our mixed medium boards. It is difficult to get pictures of the as they sell way too fast when they debut at a show. Earlier this year, we put two boards out that had just been finished and about the second or third customer that wandered in hesitated to actually buy one and said she would be back. I told her we only had the two and they wouldn't last long. Low and behold, the next two customers that came in bought the two boards back to back. We started laughing and saying how that would never have happened normally and if the original customer came back, she would think we were pulling her leg. Sure enough she came back and when I explained that the boards sold right after she had been there, she was none too happy. What's that old expression, you snooze, you lose? 

I will try to get them shot and up on here soon.

I need to go and be creative today.

Suz 
the muze

Where in the world is AMM?

That is a great question . . . and I haven't the slightest idea as to where to begin.

Hi Everyone,

I so apologize for my very lengthy absence but I truly have some really good reasons.

Let's start with since our last visit, we have done . . .

28 shows
driven over 7,000 miles
sold over 1,800 individual items
visited with, laughed with and enjoyed over 1,270 customers
visited 9 new markets or shows
eaten entirely too much fast food
heard back from 9 very happy brides and Mother of brides

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Been just a tiny bit busy and something had to give. The blog got the short straw. So let's see how I can make it up.

Back in July, we had the misfortune of doing a show in Ohio during the height of the really hot weather. How hot you ask ? Well, for three straight days they closed the show early because the heat became hazardous, 126 degrees on the asphalt, the county health department asking people not to go out, it was crazy. We were almost 400 miles from home and couldn't sell anything because people stopped coming out to what was a normally really busy show. So we packed up and left almost empty handed, no business. The following weekend we thought we would try something new and go as far north as we could, maybe cooler weather.

Midland Michigan ended up becoming really important. It was a good show for us, met a lot of cool people including the owner of the show, Lori Oberlin. In a conversation with her, it came up that she is a lover of all things shabby and really wanted to do a special shabby area at her next show in September.

I volunteered to help produce this event. What was I thinking? The heat must have fried my brain the weekend before and I said something to the effect of, 'Sure I can get a dozen vendors to come up and do this new show'. After all I had 8 weeks to work on it and only 12 shows to do in between, piece of cake.

Shoot me now.

But it was fantastic.

Here's a picture of the entrance to 'The Shabby Experience' at the Michigan Antiques and Collectibles Festival from last weekend.
More pictures are available at their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/antiquefestival

I created this wonderful shabby bed with our stained muslin and a layer of beautiful fresh roses, carnations and other exotic florals. The little nightstand and accents were from our dear friends at Re-Imagined Just for You.

A close up of the pillow. It was gorgeous to see and the fragrance was wonderful.

I also sweet talked some of my favorite industrial vendors to come up and play in the other half of our area called 'Industrial Way'. Cool sign, huh? I am pretty pleased how it turned out and a special thank you to Steve at MAF who sat for hours attaching all those nuts, bolts and tools to it. Then mounted it to our pavilion tent so that that gale force winds wouldn't tear it down. Nice job Mr Yoder !

Cool sign, huh? I am pretty pleased how it turned out and a special thank you to Steve at MAF who sat for hours attaching all those nuts, bolts and tools to it. Then mounted it to our pavilion tent so that that gale force winds wouldn't tear it down. Nice job Mr Yoder !

The industrial dealers brought their best to show, like these fantastic pumpkins from Mike at Amsterdam Antiques, Saugatuck MI that literally flew out of his booth.

The whole experience was very exhilarating, very tiring and I can't wait until next June to do it again. 

I have to download more pictures, including wedding photos of some of our very happy brides and grooms.

It has been a whirlwind of a summer and fall doesn't look any slower !

Here's the details;

September  30 Allegan Antique Market, Allegan, MI

October  13 Indie Vintage Market, Indianapolis, IN

October 19 & 20, NA DA Farm Event, Esmond IL

Back to creating,

Suz

the muze

our Etsy address  All My Musings 

our Facebook address  All My Musings

  

New additions

Hi Everyone,


Well it had to happen. Monday afternoon the proverbial elephant that sits on your chest with a near bout of pneumonia arrived, weighing in at about 450 or so and stayed thru Wednesday. Now that I can breathe again and am only coughing up one lung at a time, I am much, much better. I did learn a very valuable lesson though. Always pack an additional winter coat in case you need to walk a half mile to the ladies room in a snow storm . . .  Never a dull moment around here I tell ya.


Feeling way under the weather is not conducive to creativity at all, so despite my best intentions, we only have a couple of new goodies for the booth this weekend. Speaking of which, we will be at the Grayslake Antique Show with the wonderful Zurko family in a very warm, well lit building. I have a new and profound appreciation for them after last weekend. 


My newest creation is an antique/shabby chic/vintage bobbin complete with lace. These are handmade from all paper but very sturdy, able to hold any type of trim.

Just love all the shabby details, aged sheet music, a shabby gauze and eyelet  flower. These will be a perfect addition to the booth.

Also making an appearance is more of our naked books series, these have wonderful lace and aged botanicals on them. Sorry no pictures yet, I am just beat and still need to pack. maybe next post and then again, maybe not. It has been like that the last couple of days.

Our schedule:

March 10 & 11   Grayslake Antique Show, Lake County Fairgrounds, Libertyville, IL

March 15, 16 & 17   The Barrington Antique & Garden Show, Ice House Mall, 200 Applebee Street, Barrington, IL

March 31 & April 1  Kane County Fleas Market, St. Charles, IL (let's all pray for warm weather as the buildings are NOT heated)

April 7 & 8    Grayslake Antique Show, Lake County Fairgrounds, Libertyville, IL

April 13, 14 & 15   Gordyville Flea Market, Gifford, IL

Please stop by and say hi this weekend, I'm the chick with the tissues in her pocket ! ! ! 

Off to rest up,

Suz

the muze

We are going to NA DA again ! ! ! !

Hi Everyone,


Last year I waxed on and on about the small but incredibly, breathtakingly beautiful event we did call NA DA Farm Event, a very prairie holiday. I have talked about it to everyone at every show we did and I am back at it again, because . . .


I just received a confirmation email from Anne Marie and Jason at NA DA Farm that we are confirmed for the May NA DA Farm Event on May 18 & 19, 2012. Yippee ! ! !  We couldn't be more thrilled and you will be too ! It truly is the best vintage, shabby flea in the area.


You remember NA DA don't you? The beautiful setting . . . 

The charming visitors, feathered  . . .

and non feathered

the sun, the wind, the fun of it all. It truly is a spectacular event like no other. Anne Marie and Jason are promising more of everything, more vintage, more antiques, more primitives and of course, more cupcakes!


This year is kinda special in that NA DA just received a special honor being named one of the BEST flea markets in the country from the reader at Flea Market Style magazine. Quite an honor indeed! Last year it was the Midwest Living magazine article and now this. Way to go guys !

If you haven't gotten your copy yet, run to your favorite magazine store and get a copy now. It has way too many cool new things to list here including the flea market listing.


So mark your calendars for May 18th and 19th for NA DA Farm Event, 2423 South Woodlawn Road, Esmond, IL 60129. It is only 45 minutes West of Geneva IL. So very easy to get to and so worth the drive. Not all the details are available just yet so stay tuned in for more information.


I have sooo much work to do . . . 


Suz 
the muze
our Etsy address  All My Musings

The Little Things That Really Count

Hi Everyone,


Well, here I am, apologizing for being MIA . . . again! This seems to be a recurring theme in our lifestyle of late. Hmmm, put that on the list to work on as well in the near future.


It really has been nice to be home, in my work area, creating and plotting a I call it, and not being gone at least 3 or more days every single week that we experienced every single week from spring to winter last year. Please don't misunderstand, we love doing our shows but the road is very tough sometimes. The upside is we have missed our regular customers and booth neighbors as well. The off time also has given us time to attend to some pressing personal matters at hand.


The 'Mother Unit' as we have been referring to her as of late, Fran, has had yet another surgery and this time was better than most of them have been lately but still very taxing and tiring on all of us. She had been so helpful all season with keeping us supplied with our handmade shopping bags for our customers, that this seemed like divine inspiration, we didn't need as many bags with fewer shows for a couple of months and she needed recuperation time. Funny how things work out like that. She is improving every day and will be back to her ornery self in no time, I am sure of it.


But since I have spent countless hours in waiting rooms lately, I have had time to finalize all the changes we will be bring to our lines for this year's season. It also gave us plenty of time to discuss were we will actual be showing this season as well.


A lot of what I have been reading about on different artist websites and blogs is about how many fewer venues there seems to be to choose from. I should correct that that and say how many fewer really good venues there are. It seems right the opposite for us right now, thank heavens. We were so incredibly blessed to have been chosen by so many great promoters to do shows this year. In fact, we have a HUGE debate going on about a certain weekend in June, where we must choose one show from five possibles. It is quite emotional to decide against a promoter, really tough. Little bit by little bit we are trying to set the schedule. In today;s mail arrived an invitation to do a show for September, jeez Louise, I can't even figure out March yet!


A couple of weekends ago, we went south to Gifford, IL, population 975 salute, don't worry we didn't know where it was at first either. But it ended up being a good weekend. It was a beautiful venue, Gordyville, that deals mainly in horse shows,

and once a month they host a flea market / antique show. Mostly flea. We had never done a venue where so many customers stopped at our booth to acknowledge that we were new blood and how appreciative they were that we did the show. It was a very unique feeling to say the least.


We traveled to the show with our friend Rick who does primitive, rustic and industrial antiques and set up back to back with our booths. (We are used to being side to side) So this is what we started out looking like at this show,

He had placed that red kiddie car on top of one of his cabinets but every 3 year old in the place tried to climb my display to get to it. After it sold, we went back to being a bit more shabby looking. All the farmers were so disappointed when they found out that our burlap bags were only coffee bean bags and not corn and soybean bags, something I explained at least three dozen times.


In the next couple of weekends, we will be doing the last St. Charles show at the Dupage Expo Center on February 4th and 5th and then back to Grayslake IL to the Lake County Fairgrounds for the Antique and Collectibles Show. I can not say enough about much we love showing here. The building is wonderful and large and the show is so well run by our beloved Zurko crew. We have developed a nice following, thank you very much and have the coolest booth neighbors that are enjoyable to be around. We have learned so much about the industry, new venues and the art of doing road shows, we will be eternally grateful for all the kindnesses they have shown us. We laugh, we eat, we commiserate, it truly is about the little moments in our everyday life that matters most.


A little bit of creating is starting to appear as well. The new displays I designed for the January shows for our brown paper packages line made a huge impact and I am in the process of adding more new 'Elements' to the board. I have added about 12 so far and the very latest are these wonderful little goodies, 1 1/4" metal rimmed tags covered with beautiful shabby chic cotton prints, just a fun little tie on accent for any package or brown paper bag.

Aren't they adorable? They will be available this weekend, 3 pieces to a package, assorted patterns so that you will have variety in your trims.


There will also be be new paper hearts, new slip-covered journals, (the last ones sold out so fast, it was scary! ), and if I could only figure out how to hang a wreath without a tent wall, I could show my new burlap wreath designs. Always a new challenge it seems.


In the meantime, I need to get back to creating and being appreciative for all the wonderful moments this crazy adventure has taken us on so far. As soon as we make the travel decisions, we will post a schedule here on the site as well as the new schedule for the Spring Brown Paper Packages classes coming up. So much to do and so little time to get it all finished . . . 


Til then,


Suz
the muze
All My Musings
630.917.8777

still getting ready

Hi Everyone,

Our trip to Waukesha was wonderful this past weekend. We showed at the Waukesha Expo Market and we were amazed at the quality and the type of vendors we encountered. The best of collectible vendors were there with very good quality finds. So many types and cool things to look at, a very fun market to see.

This show is run by Jeff Herbert, who I have to admit is the most proactive, in your corner, go get-em' show organizer we have ever dealt with. Nice doesn't even come close to describing Jeff, he is just magnificent. He is careful about choosing vendors and as a result has the friendly, warmest and neatest vendors all in one space, a round space to be exact.

He hired a new caterer this year for his events and boy can they cook! The real homemade chicken noodle soup was delicious and the pulled pork sandwiches to die for. Such a welcome change from normal venue fast food vendors. We all know it's about the food during really long days.

So, we are back home and still creating for the big Holiday show in Morris on the 18th and 19th of November.

This involves making tags, boxes, wine bags and cards just to name a few of the many items we are going to offer this year.

We are also going to bring along a lot of our frames, only much smaller ones.

A lot of these are on easels for desk use.

They make great gifts, just in case you were wondering.

More pictures to follow, off to bed for now,

Suz
the muse
All My Musings
630.917.8777

the NA DA Farm Barn Event

Hi Everyone

Thank you for being so patient about the farm event post. Busy week with catch up and filling custom orders on top of life !

As I hinted before, the setting for this event is just spectacular to view. The prairie setting is so calm and tranquil . . .

the gardens spectacular

so we had to get ready for what we all hoped for, a huge crowd of shoppers that would enjoy this wonderful setting.

It was so helpful having lots of help setting this event up. Ana Koval from Lock 16 in LaSalle and her son Peter handled the huge load of vintage furniture and rustic primitives. Here's Peter. George and I setting up the tents. Candy was so kind to be snapping all these wonderful pictures as we had our hands full.

After 2 hours, we were ready and boy, did we need to be ready for this . . .

We had a steady stream of folks from start to finish. We jokingly told everyone that our 2 tents were part of the pre-show as they had to pass by us to get to the barn part of the barn event. Here's where the line continued past our place, we are all the way to the left of this picture but you can see the line trying to get into the barn.

We had several new things we showed here.

Some of our new boxes

our new word sticks

part of our brown paper package line with new holiday tags

and our new paper trees

The tree on the left is handcrafted from antique hymnal pages. They both stand about 12" tall.

A big thank you to everyone who drove out, stopped and chatted, took home goodies and made us felt welcome. We had such a great time and can't wait until next year.

Thanks for stopping by today but I must get back to creating. Til next time . . .

Suz

the muse

630.917.8777