A Very Happy Day, Indeed

I have been in a bit of a funk lately.  Depending on who you ask, a big funk.  Today, I feel like the sun rose brighter.  Seems that with the passing of hurricane Irene over my Massachusetts home and her departure during the night with a glorious day dawning this morning, my mood, too has passed and a sunnier disposition has risen in its place.  I hope the shift is here to stay.

I came downstairs this morning to the intoxicating scent of ripening peaches that I'd laid out on the dining room table on Saturday evening.  Near the end of every summer, I bring in a bushel or two of locally grown peaches to can for winter eating.  I call them jars of gold.  It is so satisfying to pull a jar or two out of the pantry on a snowy winter evening as an accompaniment to a dinner or on a Saturday morning as a key ingredient in homemade baked french toast.  This morning my dining room smelled so delicious, like candy coated sunshine.  I'm sure this heavenly scent and thoughts of jars of fresh canned peaches served to turn my mood to one of happy thoughts.

Today was also dairy day, the day I venture up to Temple Mountain in New Hampshire to the raw milk dairy to buy my week's supply of milk.  That is an errand I always enjoy.  Today, though as I approached the driveway to the farm, the road was closed and blocked off by fallen trees, knocked down in the storm yesterday.  I made the decision to continue on down the road to enjoy a little time in Peterborough in hopes the dairy road would soon reopen. 

I found my way to Rosaly's Organic Farm Stand, where they not only grow wonderful produce, but fields of flowers that you can cut yourself  to make beautiful bouquets.  I happened to have a jar in the car to transport them home in, so a picking I did go.  They are so beautiful.

The intricacy of each flower amazes me so!

Afterwards, I made my way to Twelve Pines in the center of Peterborough for a fresh steamed cup of cocoa and a slice of just baked blueberry coffee cake.  YUM.  After a little lolly gagging there, I ventured over to Bower Bird Antiques for a little poking and treasure hunting.  Next time I go, I'll snap some photos there to show you.  It's a lovely shop.

My last stop was at Twin Elm Farm for a quick hello to store owner, Louise, and a not so quick poke through the shop.  There too, some small treasures were to be had.  My greatest delight today, was while I was there at the shop, Louise shared her pleasure at my post on her shop on this blog and informed me that the local paper was interested in using some of my photos in the paper for her advertising.  While I was there, I  received a call from the gentleman at the paper, asking to do that very thing.  What a validating boost to my blog writing, picture taking ego!  Thank you!

I love these art deco letters and numbers from Bower Bird.

The beaker is destined to hold flowers on my windowsill; the bottle caps will become magnets and the vintage toweling will be made into tote bags.

I love the hand painted soda fountain sign.  It will look sweet hanging on a wall in my kitchen or dining room as well as serve as inspiration for the signs I make and sell.

Lastly, I leave you with a peek at some of the farm fresh bounty I was blessed with today.  It just says, "be happy," I think and as you can see by the milk bottles in the photo, the road to the farm did indeed reopen.  

Hope you are blessed with a happy day today as well.  Remember, it's all how you choose to look at it.

Vintage Boy Scout Items

This past weekend, I happened upon a yard sale in the mountains when I was on my antique ventures.  In general, I have sworn off yard sales.  I have found too many to be disappointments for the kind of goodies I am hunting for.  I'd rather sleep in on my Saturday morning.  On occasion, however, if I pass one when I'm out and it doesn't appear to be mostly kid stuff, I'll stop.  At this sale, I picked up a box of vintage sheet music which I will sell in parcels.  It's great for paper crafters.  I also picked up a bag of old boy scout and cub scout items.  I had a chance to look at it today and am pleased with what I found.  It all appears to be from the 1960's.  Fun.  Hopefully, there is a collector out there who will enjoy these items.  I will sell them at the next Cooperage Market sale in September.  Here's a peek for you.

I love the graphics on these two kerchiefs.

Well, I'm off to paint and clean.  It's a beautiful day and the windows will be wide open.  Enjoy your day.

Happy Treasures!

Well, it has been a very busy several days for me.  I have been occupied with cleaning, painting and gardening.  Not much time left over to share new projects or ideas with you.  So instead, I thought I'd share with you, some of my happy finds this past weekend.  I did go to the flea market, but was initially very disappointed in the lack of good finds.  The pickings were surely on the slim side.  Once it became clear that I wouldn't be finding much to sell at the Cooperage, I decided to switch gears and do some looking for things for myself.  I found a couple of the vintage magazines that I enjoy perusing through.  Some vintage rick rack found its way into my bag as well.  I stumbled upon a couple linens and quite happily a 1 1/2 yard remnant of 1940's fabric in a sweet butter yellow color. 

My favorite find was these four never used, vintage vegetable seed packages.  Last week, I took a class on spiral binding, and I intend to use these as inspiration for some small spiral bound notebooks to sell at the Cooperage.  I love the soft colors and crisp illustrations.  Check back to see what I come up with.

The day before the flea, I posted a blog about a new shop, Twin Elm Farm in Petterborough, NH.  Before visiting there, I had stopped at another favorite haunt, White Home Collections in Wilton, NH.  I picked up a couple goodies at each shop and thought I'd show you.  The flowered linen is destined to become a small tote bag.  The flowered pitcher will be added to my small, but happy collection.  Lemonade just seems to taste better when poured from a pretty vintage pitcher!

I love the intricacy of the carving on the wooden stamp.  I think it was intended for stamping clay, as there was some dried clay in the grooves.  I cleaned it out and inked the wood with pigment ink and stamped a sheet of card stock with it.  The image comes out vague, but pretty.  I stamped it again, this time with a soft cloth behind the card stock, and the image came out very crisp and fully detailed on the paper.  Not sure if I'll keep it or sell it.  And lastly, I was pleased to find this vintage seed and flower catalog.  I love the graphics, and it surely will inspire something happy.  Well, tomorrow, it's back to cleaning, but for tonight it is dreaming of new inspirations thanks to my happy finds.  Sweet dreams to you as well.

Twin Elm Farm Home Furnishings and Antiques

I went out meandering today to do a few practical errands and combined it with some antiquing fun.  A new shop has opened up in Peterborough, NH on route 101, called Twin Elm Farms Home Furnishings and Antiques.  The business has opened in an old New England farmhouse that has been tastefully and authentically restored to provide the happy shopper with a comfortable, well lit (much of it natural through improved windows) and delightful antique seeking experience.  I know the owner, Louise, who shows happy enthusiasm for this new endeavor.  Only open a week, and the doors are constantly opening with customer traffic.  The official grand opening is next weekend with give aways, refreshments and delightful atmosphere.  While I was there, procuring a treasure or two (or three!), I snapped a bunch of photos to share with you.  Whether to whet your appetite as a local who can take a trip out there, or to inspire you with it's lovely vignettes if you can't get out there, I hope you enjoy the tour.  The shop is open seven days a week.

I asked about the twin elms, assuming they were on the property somewhere.  I learned that the elm tree had been one tree that split into two and grew like Siamese twins.  The trees have long been gone from the property, but the farm has retained the name through many years of history and Louise chose to honor the heritage by keeping it the same.  Well done!

The entrance at the front porch greets the shopper like an old friend waiting with rockers, wicker and an iced jug of water.

The shop is a multi dealer one. The following photos highlight many of the delightful booths and spaces.

Even the powder room has a wonderful display!  I LOVE this old dental cabinet.  Wish I had a place for it and the spare cash in my pocket to bring it home.

Thank you, Louise, for allowing me the pleasure of photographing your new shop and sharing it on my blog.  I wish you all the best and success in this happy, new adventure!

Heidi's Bed

Looking back at past posts, there were several sharing Heidi's room redo with you.  The tour left off without showing you everything, not because I forgot, but because I was a little burnt out and needed a break before the final big work push.  Well one task led to another and before I knew it I was immersed in a wealth of other work and Heidi's room was on the back burner.  Well, it was long past time for me to but it back on the front where it belonged, so I am pushing forward and trying to finish it up.  Here is the redone bed.  The comforter is store bought for the bed that I built a platform for, to enable it to be tucked into this little nook.  I made the bed skirt from red stripped ticking. 

The large pillow cases, I made from homespun fabric and bits of ticking trim, and notions like vintage buttons, french ribbon, scrabble tiles and stamped linen (bought from my friend Kris over at Cricket Acres Studio).  

The small pillows, I made from two colors of ticking and homespun panels that I ironed on images reproduced and enlarged from a vintage French dictionary.  I pulled it all together while Heidi was away with a friend for a couple days.  It was so much fun to surprise her.  And it is so much fun to see this finally coming together.  Hope you like it too.

More from the market

Thought I'd show you two more of my projects that debuted at the market this past weekend. The first was this cute little folding table and two folding chairs.  Here is a quick peek back at them in their original state.

I repainted the chairs with a fresh coat of black and made little linen slip covers for the chair tops and stamped each one with a numeral word.

I painted the folding table with an almond color and a chalkboard top.

With the chalkboard, you could draw the place setting instead of using place mats, write out the menu, take votes for your favorite wine or baked good, play games at dinner, have all your guests sign in, and so much more.  It's a fun set and was fun to make.

Another project new for this market was  a collection of dishtowels made from stained or torn vintage tablecloths.  I cut out and hemmed unspoiled sections of the old cloths and added a hanging loop to each one.

At first I was hesitant to cut into them, but then I realized that I was doing exactly what my vintage fore mothers would have done, saving as much of an old worn thing as possible and putting it to a new and worthy use.  I am living up to my vintage aspirations.  They are not only practical but so pretty.

A Sneak Peak at this Weekend's Marketplace

Well, I am pretty much all set up at the Cooperage Marketplace for our weekend sale, so I thought I'd snap a couple quick photos to get whet your appetite.  It looks great, if I do say so myself.

You can see from the photo that the lockers I picked up roadside turned out beautifully.

Remember this photo showcasing my few finds in Connecticut.  Well....check out the transformation to the rolling shopping cart.

I painted the inside rim and spokes of the wheels as well as the straight leg tips and part of the top handle.  Next, using burlap and a vintage drapery panel, I created a custom liner for the basket.

Complete, right down to the pockets inside the back panel to hold a custom water bottle.  The owner will be the belle of any flea market or farmer's market ball, don't you think?

Lastly, this is not my piece, but I couldn't resist sharing it with you.  One of the dealers is a very handy man with visions of new uses for old stuff.  This is a garden sink center.  The base is from an old sewing machine, the sink is an enamel wash bowl and a door is the back wall from which to hang your mirror.  Pretty clever, huh?  I want one.  Guess I'll have to see how creative I can be.  Remember that vintage green sink from a few flea markets back.  Well, do I have plans now!

Take care an hope to see some of you at the Marketplace tomorrow.

Mini Collage Kits

Here's a new item I made up for the upcomming Cooperage Market Sale:  mini collage kits full of vintage goodies, just enough to get your creative juices flowing.  The items would make a lovely additon to a collage artist's stash of goodies, but I think for the non artist, they would be fun to work with as well.  Perhaps for adding just the right touch to a homemade card or a sweet and unique trinket to tie on to a gift.

Rambling in the Rain in Rockport

 

Yesterday the girls and I ventured off to meet my mother (here for a long visit from Nebraska) and my aunt (here for a short visit from Washington) in Newberry Port, MA where my parents are temporarily calling home.  After gathering ourselves, the five of us headed off to Rockport.  Our goal was to spend a lovely day together, first seeing the retreat house my mother enjoys so much once a year in Gloucester right on the ocean and then having a lovely seaside lunch followed by some meandering and shopping on Bearskin Neck in Rockport.  The weather forecast cooperated right up until the night before, when rain jumped into the picture.  We went anyhow and hoped for the best.  Well the best was rain and LOTS of it until about an hour before we were ready to leave.  I don't think I've ever been so wet.  I felt like I had put on my dress straight from the washing machine before the spin cycle had wrung it out.  Despite the wet circumstances, we had a lovely time and I'm glad we went.  The company was great and we were all in good humor despite the dismal day.  Lunch was a wonderful affair and a lovely surprise to be treated to.  I finished it off with a slice of decadent chocolate cake with a side of peanut brittle ice cream.  Yum!  We all found a goody or two while shopping, and I even picked up a couple of fun gifts for family.

I love watching out for what I consider to be photo quality doors and windows when I'm venturing about on day tips and vacations.  Not sure what it is about them that attracts me so, but I have quite an archive of window and door photos stored away.  I was able to capture these two between the raindrops.

I love the seaside gardens that seem to thrive on even the smallest postage stamp lot.  The flowers are so vibrant and growing so vigorously.  They were a lovely sight even in the rain.

Guess it's not the circumstances you find yourself in that dictate the day, but what you make of them.  I think we made a very nice day out of them!!