Giving the Acorn Show Another Go + Doug!!

Its hard to believe that Bruce and I have apparently made the short list for the Acorn Show!!  We have been doing the Walter Larsen show in Salt Lake for three years (Bruce much longer than that) and were thrilled to have been allowed to fill a short term vacancy in the February show.

We have now completed our second Acorn Show, as Heidi, the organizer has happily  added a third show to her repertoire.  We are now on board for the show in November and are very happy about that.

Here I am on set up day with my brother Doug.  He lives in Kaysville, 80 miles from my home in Payson, and I rarely get to see him.  Happily he wanted to borrow something, for which I had made arrangements with his cute wife on Facebook, and luckily for me Doug did the leg work.  It was fun to show him around the show (he's not an antiquer) and was able to introduce him to a few friends.  I think my smile in this pic tells how I was feeling about the diversion!! (I need to mention that Doug is just older than I, and was ever the object of my sibling worship when I was growing up!! You could not possibly meet a nicer man!)

So its back to the set up grind.  I took a few shots, including this one of an old English side table that did not make the trip home with me.  I also had a lot of white on white linens, many of them with monograms, several of which sold, including an amazingly embroidered and 8 inch fringed bath towel from the 1800's.

This wonderful quote by Emerson was found to be the perfect dispute resolver for a young husband.

This sweet 30's hat stand, was not marked far enough below her book price of $120 to find a new home, but that's OK, I find her endearingly charming and may end up housing her at home for a bit.

These sweet 30's lithos will also be making another trip to another show on another day.

Of course next to the decorating involved in a show, the browsing is definitely my favorite part.  These dolls are cared for by Mormon Trader Antiques, aka Joan and Les.  http://utah.citysearch.com/profile/649964940/midvale_ut/mormon_trader_antiques.html

They have a wonderful selection of antique toys, dolls and children's size antique furniture.  You can also find their goodies just inside the door at the Walter Larsen Antique Show in October if you can't wait for the next Acorn Show in November.

Of course Cathie's booth is always a treat as well, and dragging Cathie along, with Fred's permission of course, always makes antiqueing more enjoyable.

Of course our first stop is just across the aisle to see the adorable retro booth of our friends from Eden.  Cathie mugs with a 50's styled mannequin.

I really missed an opportunity here.  When we were setting up they had this mannequin sitting primly and properly in the passenger seat of their car.  I know I should have run for my camera, it made me smile!!

Of course Cathie would look stunning in this outfit herself, and it IS her period of choice.  Of course this is a working show, so the next day she showed up in a 50's style house dress with an amazing grandma apron.  Just seeing Cathie dressed like that made me think of cookies .... mmmmm

Of course once Cathie and I were out and about, we had to stop and see Stacy's adorable booth.  Her very masculine husband Wade was manning the space while Stacy did a bit of browsing of her own.  For some reason he did not fancy having photos of himself in her booth of pinkness.  What a good and supportive husband she has. (As do most lady antique dealers with non antiquer hubbies!!)

I loved the lacy lattice that formed the two sides of her booth.  Stacy is an amazing decorator, as followers of this  blog already know, so though this was her first show, no one would have ever guessed that.  kudos to Stacy!!

A bit mnore browsing led to meeting friends new and old and is always a high light of any show.  On the left we see Cathie with  a mother and daughter team from Idaho. I bought from them at the last show, but did not meet them until this show.  Cathie had made their acquaintance, as Cathie is so good at doing and introduced us.  They have wonderful stuff, a lot of old painted furniture and girly smalls.  Their prices are as friendly as their smiles, so if you find yourself at an Acorn Show in the future, be sure to look for these lovely ladies, you won't regret it!

On the right is a picture of me with Joane who always does the Walter Larsen show too, so I have known her for years.  Joane hails from Nebraska and has invited Cathie and me to come and see the antique wonders of the mid-west.  We are still in the planning stages, but what a dear, don't miss her affordable antique booth either!!

And last but certainly not least is a picture of me with my booth babysitter.  I love sharing a booth with Bruce, because he is so generous in letting me wander the show, besides the fact that he is a big muscly man who helps me move the stuff I can't manage alone.   He is a knowledgeable dealer and has great stuff along with a large network of antique dealer friends to whom he kindly introduces me.   You may notice peeking over my shoulder in this picture the sweet young cub reporter's portrait that was left behind at flea.o.logy (if you follow that blog).  Bruce is actually going to spiff her up and find a good home for her. 

Thanks for coming along and enjoying the virtual Acorn Show.  Be sure to come and see us again in November.  I will keep you posted.

Celebrating my 17th (for the 40th time) with My Fairy Friends

So you know that poem about when you get old and wear purple with red when you know better?  Well, that is sort of how this party began.  When you are 50 something your respect for convention is not what it was ... so that is how I excused my personal breach of etiquette in throwing myself a birthday party.

I really wanted to have an outdoor party in my fairyland garden, along with tiny fairy statuary, fairy lanterns, a frog prince and a fairy door on my wishing well.  A month of working on the garden getting it ready for the fairies to arrive unfortunately came to naught, as Maleficent, that evil fairy worked her magic on the weather.

But we frustrated the plans of the evil fairy and gathered indoors, which, with our wings and 19 of us, made for a rather tight fit, but since we are all such polite fairies, we were able to make do!!  Here we see my fairy friend RaeLene.  She is a rather talented fairy, and I just wish you could see in detail the amazing crown she made for herself, in a lovely woodland style.  It included a frame work of twigs and branches complete with a bird and a nest ... oh I have amazingly talented friends!!

Here we see Wendy, Carolyn, Suzanne, Debbie, RaeLene and Terri.

 In this picture fairy friends include Stacy (in her tiny rhinestone tiara), Cathie is wearing an amazing crown designed by our artistic mutual friend Jennifer, who sits next to her wearing another of her own amazing celebration crowns.

I luckily received a crown as a Christmas gift from Jennifer as well, and I loved having the opportunity to actually wear it. (It normally resides in my room on a life size bust.)

Here are more friends in 'Fairy Queen' Regalia.  RaeLee wears wings, that are not visible in this picture (though she is the model for my 'guess your fairy game' later, if you were curious about her wings), while Sandy and LaVern wear both a crown and wings ...

A Crown and/or wings were required for admittance, you know, sort of like those signs that say 'shirt and shoes required'?

 Barb and Jenn lived in my neighborhood in Orem, before we moved to Payson.  I now realize that no-one lives in Orem anymore, they have all moved north or south, all four of my 'Orem' friends, who attended, now live in Highland or American Fork.

Robin and Kim are the other two Orem expatriots, it was a fun reunion for the five of us and could only have been nicer if Ann had not been out of town doing Cub Scout Stuff ... Really, Ann, where are your priorities? I bet you didn't even get to wear a crown at your scout water safety training, did you?!

 Wendy and Carolyn get a chance to get better acquainted.  They met last summer when I convinced Wendy to come along with our Book Club to the Shakespearean Festival.

Please note the name tag that Wendy wears, everyone got to decipher their very own fairy name, using their own initials as a guide! I was Pixliam, in case you were wondering. Other names that my fairy friends discovered were Ariliumneum, Silvaria and Bellea.

These two cute fairies with their fairy children are my daughter Becca with Titan and my daughter-in-law Nell with Eleanor.  What sweet fairies my grandbabies made!!  I also thought it was fun when Nell said that she never thought she would ever get to wear the crown she won as Prom Queen again.

 

 In this picture of RaeLee, we see a fairy name on her back.  We played the game where you ask others yes and no questions and try to deduce from their answers the famous fairy whose name you are wearing.

In this picture we see the charming rose clad cup cakes that my dear friend LaVern made for decoration and dessert.  They were just as delicious as they were beautiful.  Thank you LaVern!!

LaVern also brought along bouquets made from the branches of flowering almonds for our center pieces and Wendy wrapped the jars in coordinating ribbons.

And this is me playing make believe, I had declared myself to be the 'Queen of the Fairies' for the day for my birthday celebration, and I was so tickled to see how my friends got into the spirit of the day!!

One thing that happened that could have been mortifying, if I did not have such amazing friends, was that I unintentionally wrote an ambiguous instruction on my invitations.  Because I didn't want people to feel obligated to bring gifts, I thought to ask them to bring the prefect gift for a fairy, a button. I did want the buttons to be gift wrapped, to make the party festive, but evidently chose the wrong words:

"Please bring a gift wrapped and lovely button."

Which was read by more than half of my guests as "Please bring a Gift, wrapped, and a lovely button."

Most of my dear guests thought I was commanding them to bring a gift AND a button.  When one friend who knows me oh, so well, called to ask for clarification I figured I might just be in trouble.

But thankfully, my sweet friends softened my embarrassment, as the realization hit me ... you can see that in the picture to the left, I am blushing and laughing with tears in my eyes.  My funny, funny, friend Jenn W. said that it was the most entertaining moment of the entire event ... I guess I was glad to know that it served

 a purpose.  After the prize drawing was done, and the fairies were captured (see a previous post on captured fairies),

 the party wound down, and several fairies had to fly off to other commitments while still others made short work of the fairy generated maheim.  I found myself marveling at the gracious kindness and artistic talents of so many of my friends.  Their fairy attire, sweet notes, lovely gift presentations and generosity of spirit all filled me with amazement as to the quality of women (fairies) that I have the opportunity to rub shoulders with from day to day.  I am grateful to them all for the many things they do to make me a better person.

The only thing that could have made the day more perfect would have been the presence of those dear friends and daughters who were unable to attend, as several of them were out of town, or had other commitments. I know they were there in spirit.

And just a note, all of the fun charms, buttons and fairy jewels I received that day will be gathered together on a necklace that will be a reminder to me of just how blessed I am to have such wonderful and talented friends to enrich my life.  Thanks Girls with or without wings.

Chalkboard/Magnetboard in an Antique Frame!!

 Recycle Old Items into Something Useful

Well, here I am halfway through the project, with no actual before pictures, but perhaps you can imagine these three antique frames, two of them from old dressers and one an old mirror frame in the original shabby condition they were in prior to these pictures. 
You Can Do It Yourself, Just:
1. Remove mirror.
2. Strengthen and repair frame if needed.

3. Use mirror as a template to cut Masonite board.
4. Paint frame (3 coats of white spray enamel)
5. Install board in frame (Next time I would paint them first)
6. Paint interior with 3 coats of magnetic primer. (spendy but very cool!)
7. Paint interior with enough coats of black board paint  to cover.
8. Put hanging wire on back, if there is not one.
9. Prime chalk board by rubbing all over with side of a stick of chalk and erase.
10. Add cute magnets and write the message of your choice on the board.
Here we see the completed magnet/chalk board at the Acorn Antique Show in Ogden, Utah this past weekend where it got a lot of positive attention, though I suspect that it mostly inspired folks to go home, with plans for a board of their own ... :-)  I mean, what junker doesn't have an amazing old mirror or large picture frame tucked away somewhere.

Two Days of Birthday Fun with Friends and Family!

Yep that's right, when you turn 57 there are not enough hours in one day to cram in all the fun and celebration!!  It all started the day before, when I was only 56 and I joined with excellent friends

Michelle and Wendy.  Actually it was a shared celebration, as Wendy who is infinitely older than me (having lived on earth for a month longer) was finally able to squeeze her own birthday/friend celebration in for this year!! I know its crazy but the only way this trio can celebrate is on Fridays, or should I say on Estate Sale day?!  Here we see Vanna-Wendy showing off her packing skills, as she managed to tuck in half a dozen side chairs!! (Mid 1800's and French too!!) We had a great lunch at 5 guys!! And exchanged gifts! Thanks Girls.

Later that day My sweet husband took me to dinner at Crown Burger (yes, a two burger day ...) and then to our Favorite Bed and Breakfast, http://www.armstrongmansion.com/.  He choose a couple of movies from their DVD library, and one 'haunted' movie turned out to have been filmed there at the Armstrong, how fun is that?

The other crammed car picture is of our garaging through the Avenues Saturday morning, where Scott was able to fit a full size 1930's book case into his back seat.  I had called my daughter Darby(4) for help, but he was sure he could do it. As my mother used to say about him, Man what a man!!

 After a morning of garaging we were off to one of our favorite events of the year, and one which we often meld into my birthday celebration, the http://www.utahheritagefoundation.com/ sponsored Historic Home tour.  This year the homes were all built from 1910 through the 1920's and were for the most part heavily Craftsman style.  I am not a fan of the bungalow in general, but some of these houses leaned toward the Prairie style, and were stunning.  And I do LOVE Arts and Crafts decor, like this amazing, and original, tile work bathroom.  Above the tub to the left is a mosaic of black swans, I thought this bath was seriously delightful.

In this picture we see Scott and myself in one of the

 fabulous back yard gardens to be seen accompanying the wonderful homes on the tour.  One garden was filled with tulips as the owner hosts a tulip festival every spring. 

Many of the homes showcased original stone fireplaces, built in book cases and benchs as well as stained glass interior doors. There were also stunning collections of Arts and Crafts furniture, pottery, stained glass  and paintings.  The houses were amazing and one of them even looked like people lived there, which did not detract, I promise!!

In this picture we see the line at one of the homes.  This one was a bit unusual as it was one of the latest homes and is, as you see, a Tudor style home.  The guides at the homes are all volunteers, who have been given a script sheet and are seldom very knowledgeable about antiques or period styles, but they are all sweet, and enthusiastic. 

After the home tour and a little more garage saling and a trip to my fav store Di's Place (as my friend Marci terms it), we headed back down town for a birthday lunch at Cafe Rio planned by my darling daughter Darby (4).  Being a busy Saturday

not everyone was able to make it, but I greatly appreciated the sacrifice of those who did.  Above you can see me with my daughter Emily (8)and my granddaughter Eva, whose parents, Trevor (5) and Nell are shown to the left.

It was also a wonderful surprise to see my sister Joyce.  Darby(4) had called and left a message, and I just guess my lucky stars aligned and Joyce was able to come.  In the next picture we see her getting acquainted with her grand niece Eleanor.  When El was born both Trevor(5) and I both thought she looked a bit like her Aunt Joyce, so how fun is this!!

 Below We see the founder of the feast, Darby (4) with all three of Trevor and Nell's cute children.  Thanks Darby!

 After lunch and a trip to another Di's Place, we had a couple of hours to kill before meeting our good friends for dinner, also in Salt Lake, so we went to the dollar movies and saw 'The Adjustment Bureau'.  Probably not one I would have normally seen, but it had some interesting perspectives about just who is in charge of this world, and how they 'help' us in our lives .... pretty thought provoking. (provoking being the operative word here :-))

Next we met our friends of twenty years, the Heuers and Moes.  In this picture we see Scott, one of the actors for the dinner theater we were attending and adorable Robin.

The http://www.huntmysteries.com/index.php
provided the entertainment while we enjoyed dinner at Spaghetti Mamas, a first for us.  We had all been introduced to Hunt Mysteries when they provided entertainment at a Celebrity dinner several years ago, but this was our first time to see them in their own 'digs' so to speak.

This is the entire group, except Scott who is unseen behind the camera.  I am first on the left,then Robin, her husband Jeff, Barb with her husband Randy, and Kelsy with her husband Zach and baby Kennady.  It hard to believe that Kelsy was 3 when we three couples started finding fun things to do together back in 1991.

Well, a special thanks to everyone who made my birthday unforgettable.  I love you all!!

Capturing a Fairy and Keeping it as a Magical Friend!!

A Sweet Fairy Friend to Keep and Love!

I made some fun fairy party favors this week.  I loved how they turned out and received lots of oohs and awes.  I thought I would share this fun and funquie craft with all of you! But first I need to give credit where credit is due and tell you a sweet, story.  My friend Jennifer is BIG into fairies and events.  So she has often had fairy parties for her 3 dotters, and they have 'captured fairies' for jars that they have kept.

On Valentines she was doing this craft with friends, and had sheets of the fairies ready to cut out along with the other supplies.  Her four year old daughter saw the sheets of fairies and recognized her own captured fairy among them, and said, in a disappointed voice, "Mom, those fairies are just paper!" Jenn had not realized that her little girl had thought the fairies in the jars were' real'!

Step 1:  Find a fairy graphic that you love ... this one came to me by way Jennifer who buys them by the page from some  altered artist on etsy.  I cut this one out for my own fairy jar at her Valentine's party.

Step 2: Find jars to collect your specimen.  Jennifer likes jars without raised words on them, but I actually like the 'ball mason' type letters on the jars, first because they further distort the 'fairy' making it seem more possible that it is real.  Second mason jars is what I always used as a kid to collect bugs and butterflies. 
Step 3: Find a graphic for the lid of the jar.  I printed off these fairies on card stock.  I found them and other fairies I used later,  at http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/p/search.html
Use the mason jar lid to trace the insert, then cut it out to fit inside the ring (which I spray painted).  Be sure to punch holes in the card stock fairy circle so your little fairy friend can breath.
Step 4: Loosly fill your jar with shredded gift bag filler, leave the top part of the jar empty.  I like the cellophane, iridescent stuff because it seems ethereal to me.
Step 5: Place your fairy into the shredded material, somewhat towards the middle, with some of the material covering the bottom part of her/his body, so that it appears to be emerging.  (The example below was put together by one of my guests and the fairy was put against the front of the jar, which shows off the fairy better, but seems less dimensional to me.)

Step 6: Put together items to help insure the survival of your little captured friend in a 'fairy survival kit'.  I bought wedding bubbles (Thanks Michelle for this suggestion) and made labels (graphicsfairy) that said "Magic Fairy Orb Potion". I also bought tiny craft glitter bottles (Thanks Nell for this suggestion) at the dollar store (5 on a card for a dollar) and labeled them "All Purpose Fairy Dust".  Tiny wax 'sodas' were labeled with a fairy picture.  I used another fairy picture to make fridge magnets, then added Disney Fairy notebooks I got 6 for a dollar in the party favor section of the dollar store, and small treats, a plastic 'jewel' ring, etc.
Step 7: I arranged the goods in a small decorated zip lock bags, and made a header listing items in the "survival kit", mine had silver stars.

 This is a gathering of the 'survival kits' ready to be placed with the completed 'captured' fairies.

These fun favors were really a hit.  I still have the one that I made at Jennifer's Valentines Party, and I smile whenever I look at it. I hope I have made you smile as well!!  :-) I would like to thank all of my friends who brainstormed with me and inspired me and shared their ideas for my fairy favors.  Thanks girls!