Shop Girl Heaven

Ok...you may have already heard about this from my fellow shop girl Sandi , (aka A Cottage Muse)

But I just HAVE to shout this from the rooftops...

Do you see on the cover ...

right there where it says "Readers 80 Favorite Antique Malls"?

Well...the store that I rent space in was selected as one of those 80!!!

Yep... 80 shops out of the whole country...and ours was one of them!!

And the best part is...it was customer generated.  Customer's actually had to submit entries.

There were only two winners for Massachusetts...,  and we made the cut!!

Can you tell I'm happy? Also, a big congrats to Mary Ellen, owner of the shop.  It's her vision for the store that has caused us to flourish as we have!

 If you're ever in the area and haven't shopped with us, stop by the WCS and tell us you found us in Flea Market Style Magazine.  

Where the Heart is

Sending a shout out (in my feminine inside voice of course) to Jo-Anne Coletti in honor of her second magazine ~ The Feminine Home...Where the Heart is.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Jo-Anne on several occasions and she's as lovely as you'd imagine her to be. Her style is beyond imagination...so dreamy and romantic.

You can purchase a copy of her magazine on her site vintagerosecollection.com

You'll be thrilled that you did!

To Display or not to Display, That is the Question....

I found this shabby old beauty at the shop a couple months ago, and couldn't wait to make it mine!

She can stand up vertical, strong and proud...

Or she can rest horizontally, like pictured below.  Which way do you like best?

I think I favor the horizontal myself.  Here's the big question of the day: 

Should I use this cubby in my home for decor, or in the shop for display of small things, like beautifully wrapped handmade soaps?  I guess at home it could also nicely hold crafts or mail...etc.  What would YOU do with it?

To keep or not to keep....  hmmmm

Here's another sweet white piece.  This I definitely purchased to sell at the shop, but won't it be fun to use it for display there for a bit?  Look at that woodwork...so feminine.

A little peek below

I'm sorry this pic is so dark, but I wanted you to see how tall and slender she is.

The little cabinet door at the bottom slides open.  I think this piece would be beautiful anywhere in the home, don't you?

Can't wait to hear your ideas for the "cubby".  For now, I'm linking up with Kathleen over at Faded Charm for another fabulous White Wednesday.  Hope to see you there!

What Hurricane Irene taught me...

Oh, the things I take for granted in my civilized comfy existence. 

All it takes is a hurricane with winds strong enough to knock power out for a mere eight hours and I wonder...

How does anyone live without the convenience of electricity??  Ah...the mere flick of a switch at our fingertips...

Or without Coffee at the ready??

Or heaven forbid...without this?? Our little window into the world??

Although it was a HUGE sacrifice, I found myself enjoying a lot of this

a little of this...

and a bit of this (penning some inspirational crafting ideas)

All in all, I'm so thankful we're safe and with no damage to our home..

But after eight hours of living without my "spoiled" conveniences

I

     have

              a 

                 whole

                            new

                                   respect 

                                                for 

                                                     these 

                                                             folks:

I hope this post finds you well and enjoying all that we take for granted! xoxo

My Quaint Little Living Room

I haven't done a White Wednesday post in awhile, so I thought I'd show you my living room.  

This room has been the greatest decorating challenge of all, since I'm really limited by the Wood Pellet stove (although I LOVE it) and the boxy shape of the room.

I also have three large windows and two over-sized doorways to contend with.

Very little wall space...so I MUST utilize every square inch.   :)

My sofa and love-seat were a pale blue which I didn't like, so I covered them in white slipcovers from Pottery Barn.  I then added those luscious bed quilts with the ruffles that Diane from Passionate for White tempted me with on her blog.

Ok... so I'm keeping it real here.  We all have a television and there's no need to pretend we don't or to hide it away (well...I would if I had something awesome to keep it in.) Here's my little 32" flat screen tv in all her glory.

I've tried to surround it with a little beauty....but there's still a huge elephant in the room. LOL

Hope you've enjoyed a little peek into my living area.  I'm linking up with Kathleen over at Faded Charm for White Wednesday.  Hope to see you there.

~ At Last

Well...after a whole lot of procrastination

Here are the finished signs/plaques I promised to show you!

I thought posting pics of the empty signs last month would somehow hold me accountable to get them done quickly...  Silly me!

Never the less...here they are.  The photo above shows them in a grouping so I'll try to do a few close ups....

I also came across these sweet scalloped wooden boxes that I just HAD to stencil.  I think I'll add a couple rhinestones to these.

The other white box was already mine, but I thought it would look scrumptious stenciled in Fleurs.

Here's a close-up of My Secret Garden planters.  Ready to go in the shop after I embellish them with the rhinestones.

The Garden Room sign I already posted, but I decided to stencil this old shabby header.  What do you think?

This is a vintage chalkboard that I stenciled with Ivory paint

Isn't this scrumptious pink sign perfectly shabby?  Thought the Shabby Villa stencil would be perfect for this.

Not to mention this old green chippy panel....just perfect for a garden room.

Embellished this panel with an old door plate and skeleton key.

Close up of the Header

 Blessings...don't we all take them for granted?

 Still time for garden thyme...at least in my neck of the woods in New England.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing the finished product......at long last!!  As soon as I attach the backings this week, they'll be headed to my rented space at the shop.  Would love to hear your thoughts on these.

I'll try not to be away so long next time....I've missed you ALL!  xoxo

One done!

While trying to find something quickly for a White Wednesday post...I thought I'd show you this:

If you remember in my previous post, I showed all the empty panels waiting to be painted or embellished.

Don't you love that old, chippy, crackled white paint?  It seemed to be calling out for a "Garden Room" touch.

Well...here's ONE down...and many to go. It'll be going in the shop  soon (once it has some friends to go with it and I add the hangers to the back)  All the signs will be different and unique of course.

Sorry my post is so short, but I didn't want to be left out of the "White Wednesday" fun. Thanks Kathleen, for hosting such a beautiful event each week!!!!