Petite Ramblings.........

Waking up on a Saturday to my husband's crepes. {I added the fresh raspberries in Nutella on top, that's my job!} Napkin idea found here via Jolly Goode Gal!

Somehow one Saturday I managed to bake fresh scones with raspberries of course! I can't believe I managed to do that?!

When the local grocery runs a special on these beauties I stock up and freeze to have on hand.

My boys breaking apart their "plastic bugs in ice". A favorite thing for them to do! I read about this in Amy's blog "Inspire Co." Thanks Amy, Luke has loved doing this for 2 or is it 3 years now!? Zach happily joined in on the fun, perfect for ages 2 & up! {Head to Dollar Tree and purchase plastic bugs, snakes, etc and freeze in containers. Give them hammers to break apart ice to get the bugs out. Perfect activity for summer!

The last 2 weekends our local school held their auctions at the high school and elementary school.
I picked up 2 boxes of beakers, funnels, graduated cylinders and petite bottles with stoppers.

The black thing with the face is my oddest purchase. The auction started on this vintage piece and I barely noticed it, all I could see from where I was standing was the cute face with numbers. I started bidding and won it at a mere $12.  It holds glass shapes and there is a slot on the side to shine a light through.

It is pretty neat o, as I love the industrial look and it's so heavy duty. Luke is curious about it too!

Glass shapes that go with the gadget I bought above. Pretty moths that Luke found, with help from his dad he is starting an insect collection. We often need to remind him that fly's are really not that unique of a specimen to mount!!!

Pretty jars from the science lab......

Antique funnel that was in one of the boxes I won........

Hydrangeas complete my display........

1 of 2 industrial chairs that Jill, my friend gave to me.......I didn't realize at the time they raised up to different levels! They are so comfortable too! Made in Toledo, Ohio to boot!

I grabbed a whole wheat flour tortilla yesterday and brushed it with oil and topped it with: arugula, goat cheese, tomatoes, assorted fresh herbs, salt & pepper--baked it for a good 18 minutes. Finished it off with fresh avocados. Yum! Easy peasy and was treat for a busy mom! Amen!

Vintage hardware! I was so brave, I bought it off these gruff looking scrappers at the school sale! They let me have it for a reasonable $ and I was a happy girl! The larger mechanism is for a swing door so it lets the door shut slowly. I think it would be swell in our someday house on a pantry door!  Once the paint is all off, it will look better & it is solid brass and quite old! Even the screws are cute! {I know, I know--but I'm a sucker for neat hardware!}

The chair again at our desk.........it swivels too and our entire family loves that!

So, there you have it a few of the going-ons in our household.......I hope to finish up laundry room--almost there! I keep getting interrupted & sidetracked you gals know what I mean!

Below, our Vivian Miette is 10 months today. I would say birthday party inspiration is happening.......

Studio Sale {this friday & saturday}

Studio Sale this Friday & Saturday: 8-3

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........

k&d

Our {"pop-up-shop"} Country Living Fair 2009

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!

Thank you to all of the support............

W is for Winner & Willow Nest

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 Marburger in 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.

k&d

Country Living Fair 2009 {Story no. 1}

Did you know the Spangler Candy Company {since 1906} is located in Ohio? We offered the well-know Dum Dum 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.

Tomorrow: Willow Nest

k&d

Hooray!

Tent is rented, a flurry behind the scenes~pricing, organizing, piles of catalogs, brainstorming, layouts, business cards printed, what worked last year & what didn't, calling, e-mailing, strong coffee, lists, sketching, cleaning, stacking, replying, stapling, cutting and so many more verbs to bring you a blue ribbon tent at this year's 2009

Country Living Fair.............

Please come and take a peek,

Kara + Darcy

A Grey Kitchen

A grey kitchen, let's peek inside! Homeowner went from an out-dated kitchen with white metal cabinets to a kitchen of English design in which she was inspired by English Home magazine. She collaborated with a very talented kitchen cabinet maker that "understood" & got it when she told him she wasn't into a kitchen that looked too "new". The house is early 1900's and the kitchen needs to fit with the architecture. Many people shuddered at the idea of her grey cabinets, but after it was all said and done, the color is a winner. {homeowner wanted grey cabinets for a very long time}The kitchen was completely gutted and the cabinet maker was talented enough to be the contractor for the entire kitchen. From start to finish, he was there to the end!

The homeowner is always cooking & baking, as they eat out very little and cooking good food for her family part is of her life. Take notice, on one of the days we were there she was baking a batch of Pioneer Woman's cookies. She needed a hardworking kitchen.............

Antique marble slab, check salvage warehouses. A white Bella Cucina bowl. Marble slab is on a vintage mercantile cabinet, used as an island. Heavy duty fitted with 4 drawers on one side. The design was made with a unique locking system so drawer will not sag when pulling out. Believe it was from Knollenberg Department Store in Richmond, Indiana from the fabric area. A steal at $800.00, see also picture on down of cabinet.

Vent over stove top. Notice the detailing at top, this matches the windows on the outside of the house, which have this exact detailing over the windows.
Upper cabinets soar to the 9 ft ceiling......
There are 3 cabinets to give the look of "furniture" in the kitchen. This is one of a pair, they sit left and right across the kitchen facing each other. They are installed with glass front and the glass is "bubbl-y" and wavy to look old. They are fitted with stationary keys for the knobs.
The 3rd cabinet is underneath the sink. It is "bumped" out from the surrounding cabinets to appear like furniture. This cabinet again is fitted with false keys for knobs. {When we say false keys we mean keys that don't work, they are used for knobs only} All keys & keyholes by Gerber Hinge Company.
Reclaimed wood flooring, again keeping with the details of an older home. See that lovely pull on the dishwasher front? The pull was found antiquing and had layers of white paint on it. The homeowner removed the paint to reveal a beautiful brass patina.
The homeowner wanted top quality appliances and chose the induction Wolf cook top with 5 burners. No, she didn't choose the large industrial stove by Wolf, as she was more comfortable with the simple cook top. This cook top fitted her needs for the technology and the "look" she was going for. Cookware by Le Creuset.
Stove area....
Our favorite design idea for a functional kitchen is to have very little cupboards below. The homeowner was tired of digging for her things and requested many lower drawers. At first the contractor was a little concerned about this, but in the end he realized that this is a must for any kitchen. Even if you are tall or short lower drawers make it easy on you, saving time and keeping things organized. There are two cupboards below which were needed to fit the design as drawers were not able to be placed everywhere. One of the cupboards does have a light in it which lights up upon opening, this is for the deep corner cupboard.
Detailing of corbel, simple & timeless.
This unit house the oven and check out what's behind the doors above the stove..........
Her microwave! This is straight from a British kitchen. The "doors" are actually a panel that pulls out and slides in above the microwave. Right below the microwave slides out a flat drawer-like panel for hot dishes out of the microwave. The dishes can cool while she does other things......
Favorite things hanging from hooks that came from an old church. {In bake center}
What's behind the two sets of doors in the middle?
Those panels are waiting for these darling vintage "push" plagues. {Handy man needed here}

We held them up for you to have a "looky"! Ok, let's see what's behind those doors........
The most darling baking area!
The lovely pull again. {our favorite}
Petite pull chain light in the baking center..........
Now, this we love Rohl faucet.......beautiful, hardworking, heavy duty and oh, that finish!
View of island......
Another view..........

Notice the wood knobs, the homeowner told us that she would've never thought to pick those, even though many of the British kitchens featured have these. This was recommended by her cabinet maker, he told her that with so many drawers this would keep everything from not looking too "busy". The knobs are painted the same color as the cabinets. The homeowner said they are very easy to clean, no grooves and nothing to polish. Sometimes simple is good.

The cabinets are slightly sanded to show wood color beneath. The cabinets have an aged look with just the right amount of dents in them.

The colors of her kitchen are by Sherwin-Williams

Cabinets: Mindful, the perfect grey, not too dark really we think it is a warmer grey. The color is not shocking and in some ways is a neutral.

Walls: Sea Oats, a lovely cream
Countertop: {vintage marble on island} Caesar Stone

Next week: We'll show you a wide angle shot of kitchen. Homeowner wants to finish the curtains, and it's a cute idea!

What's your top pick that you would like to add to your kitchen? Do you have certain stove, brand of cabinets, or favorite color that is on your wish list for your kitchen?

Thanks for peeking!