Bernard Storm & Fritzie 1908 {Matt's handsome Great-Grandfather}
Two days ago we decided to set up in the FOLK/BARN presented by FOLK magazine. Crazy as it seems to be doing this at the very last minute. Indeed we are in the Goat Barn, haha makes me chuckle. The main thing that pops in my head is Maria in The Sound of Music singing "The lonely Goatherd". Who knows maybe McMaster & Storm will find a very cute vintage puppet theater for our space. {one week before, sure thing!} It is a very cute goat barn and the side windows pop open.
All I know is I won't be yodeling in the goat barn.....more like guzzling sipping coffee. Maybe I'll buy a Maria style whistle to boot!{ hmmm} Here is one of my favorite Design * Sponge's living in: the sound of music inspiration for fans!
Thanks to my friend Anne, who called me out of the blue 2 weeks ago and mentioned this event within an event. She will be close to me and if we are really nice our spaces might be right next to each other. Hoping for the latter......
Anyway, there is some vendors coming from the East Coast & the West Coast.
Check it all out here & here
The Vintage Marketplace & Junkmarket will be going on as well.
See you soon!
Tomorrow the French Hen Farm sale starts! Lots of fun things going on!
email us for directions: mcmasterandstorm@embarqmail.com
We've been cleaning every nook & cranny to get ready for this sale. We've been sorting everything from kids clothes {2 weeks ago} to household goods. Kara thoughts on this: kids = Rubbermaid tubs. Don't worry there will not be any kids clothes for sale! We put our foot down on pricing clothes, no way, absolutely not. Plus, wouldn't fit in with the whole look this weekend!
Mainly odd & ends from our brick & mortar shop, props, bric-a- brac, bolts of ribbon, a little of this & that. Well, we are putting out the new goodies & after our studio sale they'll go up on our website. Really thought that would happen shortly after Country Living Fair, but all we wanted to do for a couple of weeks was stare at the wall. Shortly we'll see some changes in more ways than one! yippee!
You're wondering what to do in our neck of the woods this weekend........here's a list
1. Bear's Mill-{6 miles} Neat place to see this time of year. The drive on Bear's Mill Rd is just idyllic, woodsy and not typical Darke County flat fields! They still grind their own flour, cornmeal, etc. & it's for sale in their shop in the mill. Julie Clark does a great job at making the shop very artsy. No John Deer pot holders available at this establishment. Sorry.
2. Smith Coffeehouse {they serve lunch & we do believe breakfast on Saturday} in an old store front that used to be a Grocery, department store {swoon}, & a manufacturing place of some sort. We heard shoes. {3 miles}
3. Baltimore shop & Little Shop Antiques, mom & daughter team. They have been at their location for 20 years {daughter} & {mom} 40 years. They have it at their outbuildings; great place to go as it's tucked in a little burg and well, it's worth your time.
4. Once you pop into Baltimore Shop & Little Shop Antiques they have a cute map of all sorts of antique shops to visit that we just can't remember all their names.
We will have directions to the mentioned places above.
If any of you have questions or need anything on the drive here just give us a ring: 937-692-0120. See you soon!
Wear you coats and colorful scarves, it's in our shed! We'll stay warm with laughter........
Tidbits of our theatre theme, this "auricula" theatre to showcase prized flower specimens {the history of these date back to the 1700's} was made for our booth. {We used the theatre to set the stage for our puppets by Wendy Addison} Special thanks to a cousin who had these finished the week of the show. Made of cedar along with the towering obelisk planter 2 pics below, these are made for the outdoors. Thank goodness this year we had an entrance and an exit, as last year you went out the same way you came in = traffic jam. Every year you fix things to make it better for you & your customers. One thing about being so busy is you are not on the selling floor helping the customers, no room first of all in a tent space & you feel like you're not getting to know the customer. Also, there is little time to do our wrapping the way we like it! 1st day of the show, bright & early. We thought the early bird buyers were allowed to be in by 8:00 am & we hoofed it to Lowes to buy Oak trees and boxwood. Out- of- breath we undid our tents to find out early bird pass was for 9:oo am. Oh, well at least we were able to finish things up that extra hour! Evening before opening day........7pm & setting up "our pop-up-shop" since 12:30 that day. Thank goodness for Chipotle for giving us nourishment for dinner! Sun was shining in our tent and the paper bags of ribbon was yummy. A little of this & that, merchandised from floor to ceiling in our "petite department store style"!
Wow, our 10x20 tent was packed so full we didn't even get all of it put out! Haberdashery area........{didn't take as many photos as we would've like, that's what happens when your tired!} The burlap pennants added a festive touch, perfect at a tent event......... Our tent was more neutral this year and we loved it. There was a few subtle bursts of color here & there. Wendy Addison's hand done goodies! Vintage costume......... We were able to locate a 30 meter roll of grain sack fabric. Thank goodness for a dear gal who searched through her warehouse and had it to us 3 days before. Oh, the red stripes!
Thanks for all the help, Grandma Karen, McKell, & Barbara......even though it was hard to work in our cramped sales clerk stations we had a ball!
Fun people got to meet in person: Jeni Bowlin, Tara Wilson {Texas gal}, & other lovely bloggers!
Here is our petite token for our 10 years in retail our favorite paper, over sized and can be put on foam core. Your local framer can do this for you around $11.00,we like to put grommets at top to put ribbon. The border around paper is a lovely robin egg blue, all the colors are very antique looking. Enjoy Gretchen, please e-mail me to get your address!
{Recent article of Willow Nest, Country Home March 2007}
Our new friends: a husband & wife team, Ludmil & Linda Marcov of Willow Nest.......we had read about them in the late 90's in a magazine. They set up their lovely booth at this year's Country Living fair. She has so much experience and loved hearing her wisdom. Kara's mother purchased 2 lovely French sheets from them. Oh, we do hope to run into them again someday! They set up at Marburgerin Texas. Thanks, Linda for all your understanding, you're a dear!
Goal this week is to have all new products on our website by Friday......time to get this task accomplished! Thanks for your kind emails this past week.
Did you know the Spangler Candy Company {since 1906} is located in Ohio? We offered the well-know DumDum lollipops as a treat for our customers. Oddly a family came in and told us Mary Spangler goes to their church. She is 90 years old and still runs the church's annual rummage sale and brings candy from the factory for events. We plan to take the kiddos to tour the factory. We grew up with these. Did you? The stories we gather at events across the country. Learning things from other people is a treat in itself............. Karla, left and Beth next. Judith is missing in this photo, these adorable gals run Bloomsbury Loft in Powell, Ohio. They did an amazing job on their tent space. They have an amazing story of the hard work behind this business. We are keeping our fingers crossed they get to tell you their story in a national magazine. We met them at the first Country Living Women Entrepreneurs Event in Chicago. Since then we both have set up for 3 years at the Country Living Fair. We appreciate them a lot. Findings---jewelry by Joanna and she is talented! Her work was just featured in Family Circle and will be in Country Living early next year along with home and shop. Her mother, Kathe is involved in gathering goodies for the shop. Bracelets in a funky, vintage drawer thing-y. Number bracelet, this is what McKell picked out to buy...........{Darcy's daughter} Lovely display in Findings booth space........... Oh, the fun paper goods. Joanna's mom, Kathe brought lots of Ephemera, vintage goodies and a lot of delightful, petite treasures. They have a shop Summer House in New Jersey. Their style is very edited and museum like. Which we love as our booth is crammed..........so fun to enjoy every one's individuality! Joanna's bracelets.........just yummy. We sold her bracelets in our shop last year. Darcy admiring the bracelet that her daughter picked out to wear.......... Kasey from Lola B's Boutique, she has set up the last two years and this year headed to just shop at the Country Living fair. She posted on it here and her most recent post is celebrating her 300th post and is giving away great prizes. Anthro is involved so head over there to celebrate. Cheers to Kasey!
She is kind enough to give us support and called us right before the fair to cheer us on. She knows first-hand the hard work that is involved.
What: A medley of this & that from props, things we thought we were going to do stuff with and never did, household goodies, lighting, and really, really fun things. Lots of ribbon too! Treasures for all! Calling all bargain hunters!
When: Oct 16 & 17, Friday & Saturday 8:00am-3:00pm
Where: Kara's shed {please email me for directions}
Special note *no public restrooms & no house tours as we are starting construction.
Yes, gals we will post stories on the CL fair & tell who won our giveaway. We are still staring at the wall from the fair. I told someone we could sleep until Christmas. Yes, you will need to excuse my yard {since end of July planning & working on CL fair} Concrete work not finished.......all in due time getting old stone to finish sides of steps and picking out brick for joint seams and end of arched walk. Flurrying around figuring out flooring for back room/mudroom/laundry and kitchen.
We have old wood floors in the rest of house and want different texture in these places. Any ideas? Help! Yes, our boxwoods need trimmed!
View from upstairs......reflecting on the past weeks......
it has been lovely taking a break. We are waiting on the "changes" to happen and is not happening as fast as we would like it to. Everything takes time and we need just to sit tight...............
Here's what has been happening from the inside view & the outside view of our life........
Carriage rides at the park...........
Our inspiration for these flower baskets.....these petite c. 1930's crepe paper flowers.......
Darcy made larger crepe paper flowers using inspiration from the petite 1930's bouquet & mixed crepe flowers from Martha Stewart's kit.............
Sweet "prize" brooches........
Packing lots of orders this past week...........
Oh, this fabric! Can 7.5 yards really make a dress for Darcy & Kara? We'll need to phone before we go on an outing together, as wearing the same fabric would be un-cool!
Includes a pack of petite brass staples. This is a must for the creative studio. We use it for giftwrapping, packaging & everything under the sun! Includes a drawstring bag.
