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

A star is born

Hi Everyone,


Wow, two blog post in two days, the world may now officially come to an end, LOL! 


Back home again after two very good days in St Charles and we met a whole lot of new friends as well. Another wonderful outing! I am still saying silent thank you's as the weather is holding and it was beautiful here in Illinois, 48 degrees and sunshine instead of the typical horrific snow storms we always have had this week in past years.


After every show we finish, I always do a recap, what we sold, how I perceived people reacting to our merchandise and what conversations took place, so as to prepare for the next show. It has always been a standing rule in all my businesses that you really need to listen to what is and isn't being said in your store to get a feeling for what the customer is truly looking for. So, to that end, I try to talk to everyone that stumbles into our little world. Today, I heard the best line ever I think.


I approach a nicely dressed woman who was looking at our brown paper packages line and she asked if I made all the flowers and butterflies that were displayed on our primitive wooden ironing board. I told her yes they were mine and that I tried to introduce at least one new flower every show and a new butterfly every other show so as to keep my little garden fresh with nice package trims. Operative word here, try . . . .


She was very complementary and told me how much she liked all the different pieces. And then she said, very sincerely I might add, " You are truly talented, all these things are really so pretty but boy, it must be so very noisy in your brain, with all those ideas trying to get out."


I started laughing and she did too, and I told her she couldn't have been closer to the truth if I had written it out for her. It's true, some days, there is a real traffic jam up there trying to format all the ideas into reality and other days  . . . there is NOTHING, nadda, zilch, buptkus, zero. It is so maddening at times. You never really know who is going to show up and whether or not is is really going to work. An honest to goodness crap shoot from the get go.


But then, there are times when it really does work, like today with our old rusted bed springs. We sell quite a few of them, mostly to people who have absolutely no idea what they are going to do with them but just love the idea of having one. True, that's what most of them say! It is so funny to hear that sometimes as I am packaging them up.


So to help everyone get a clue, I came up with this idea and boy, was it ever a hit today.

A simple bud vase made with a test tube with our rusted bed spring. A big thank you to our next door show neighbor, Jeanine ( I need a French cruller now ) from Chippy Shabby. She always has fresh flowers in her booth and she graciously shared a beautiful Shasta daisy with me for this. It was so simple but so spot on for one of those perfect touches. A design star was born. If you need one of these, drop me an email, we still have a couple left ( you are on your own for the Shasta Daisy part tho).


We will be up at Grayslake IL next weekend for the Antique Show so if you are in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello. I will be the chatty one there . . . .


Til then I need to create a few more new goodies for the booth,


Suz the muze
All My Musings
630.917.8777

Welcome Surprizes

Hi Everyone,


Just walking in the door from a very busy day at the Antiques and Collectibles show in St. Charles at the Dupage Expo Center. Lots of great folks showed up at 11 AM and we stayed busy thoughout most the day.


I took some new things to this show that I was able to finish up in the nick of time.


First, is a new item for our Brown Paper Packages line called Prairie Hearts, a neat 4" heart cut from our wrapping paper and embellished with old Sherlock book pages, buttons, muslin and gauze. These are so sweet in real life and we sold some of them today.

Next is one of the many new designs in altered tin cans I am doing. This one is covered in paper with old antique foreign stamps and shipping tags attached to the outside. It will be perfect for a pencil or tool holder on a desk.

I have done these little covered books before but they sell so quickly I have never been able to get a picture posted. Gotcha this time !

The biggest surprize today came from one of our customers, Annette. When I saw her, I recognized that she had been a customer in the booth before but not remembering what she had bought until I looked at the bag she was carrying.


We are always encouraging everyone who stops in and visits to be creative and wrap a package, create something from paper of our elements and use some of those wonderful coffee bean bags into something.


Well, Annette did just that. She made this great tote bag from one of our coffee bags, one from El Salvador to be exact and it was just outstanding ! ! ! !  Talk about a full circle moment, it was really humbling.


Look at this adorable bag . . . 

I have plans on offering totes in our booth by this Spring, but was just tickled pink when Annette showed hers today. I am so thrilled to see our coffee bean bags finding new life and oh so fashionable to boot! Congrats Annette and can't wait to see the new ones you will create ( she took a armful of new burlap home today!). Thank you so much for being so generous in sharing your work. It truly was a pleasure seeing you and your bag today.

We are at St Charles tomorrow for the last time until Fall of 2012 and then on to Grayslake Antique Show next weekend. No rest for the wicked they say . . . 

Til then,

Suz the muze

All My Musings

630.917.8777