Fall vintage show line up

 Our first Mini Market last weekend kicked off our fall show schedule. It was so much fun to pull items out of our storage locations, dust them off and begin putting everything together before we hit the road.

This weekend was School House Market Days in Saffordville, KS. We enjoyed chatting with some of our fellow vendors and hanging out in a very cool old schoolhouse!

Between the weather, the trees turning and more and more pumpkins and mums showing up, we are starting to think FALL!

Here are a few more places to catch up with us over the coming weeks:

September 23/24
Fabulous Finds on 99

Westmoreland, KS

October 1Kansas Barn Sale
Hesston, KS

October 8Old 54 Outdoor Market

Augusta, KS

Stocking up - fun, affordable find

Every once in awhile, you find something so great and so affordable and so useful that you can't resist.

Last spring, I ran into Target for one of my trips to restock the house. It is too irresistible to skip the dollar bins near the front of the store.

Tucked in a top corner, that was a bin full of these awesome looking cards. The designs were so fresh looking and included just the right mix of thank you and generic cards.

So, I stocked up...

and then promptly went home and put them in one of my favorite wooden tobacco boxes.

For someone who likes to write notes, having new notecards is one of the biggest treats. A fun, affordable find!

Some assembly required

We got inspired by Jenni Bowlin's July post where she featured the Micro-Billy by Cardboard Safari mounted in a vintage cigar box.

I was intrigued.

Perhaps, it is because I am a little starstruck by Jenni. I tell my husband all the time that I want to be her friend. Her style and eye for putting together vintage items in the most balanced and beautiful arrangements are the gold standard for me.

So, seeing this fantastic looked buffalo together with one of my accidental passions in collecting - tobacco-related items - had me from the beginning.

We ordered the Micro-Billy and the Tex and Toro, too. They shipped flat - brilliant and a little terrifying. How does it go from flat to 3-dimensional?

Once you open the package, you have to punch out all of the pieces. This represents Micro-Tex before assembly.

And, meet Micro-Tex. You might notice that Micro implies there are other sizes. And, you are right! You should check out the different sizes on the Cardboard Safari Etsy page.

The details is amazing, including the paper ear tag!

My favorite! I love this bison head.

Just so you can see the detail.

And, the toro. The detail on the horns had me a little scared.

Cool, right?

And, just so you can see all three together. We had a lot of fun putting them together and look forward to maybe trying some more. Perhaps, this winter when things slow down.

Oregon adventures continued: McMinnville

Yes, we are still sorting through photos from this spring, including our spring break getaway to Oregon.  I keep telling myself to move on to other blog topics, but there are so many great memories and things to share about our finds from that trip.

Near the top of the list was McMinnville, Oregon.  My favorite "small world moment" from this year happened at Community Plate in historic downtown McMinnville.

First, you should know that I love this place for a thousand reasons.  I won't name them all, but here are a few...it has an open kitchen and I am insanely curious about how food is prepared and am fascinated in thinking about how so much food is prepared so quickly.  The space is this cool, historic building with open storage and vintage decor.  Check out their website to get a feel for it.  The seating is a mix of large community-style seating and some smaller tables, too. 

Now, the small world moment.  We were ordering and the person at the counter asked if my Wildcats shirt was for Northwestern.  And, I said no, it was for K-State where I went to school and work.  He's says that he went to school there, too.  So, naturally, I geek out...trying to do so quickly because of the line behind us.  I ask him where he grew up and he says he went to high school in the same county where I grew up.  Get out!  He's much younger than me, so we didn't know anyone in common, but what are the odds that on the other side of the country, I would meet someone from my same home county.

Other than the chance meeting, you should also know the food was out of this world.  We also bought some granola to take home with us and it was fantastic, too.  Super huge fans of locally owned, great food making, community supporting, and kind people sort of places - this place had it all.  It had a similar vibe to Biscuithead in Asheville, another of our favorite places.

We stayed at Hotel Oregon, a McMenamins' property. You might remember that we want to be the McMenamins when we grow up - the two brothers that renovate historic properties and turn them into great places that honor the past and create a place where people can dine or stay and just enjoy themselves.  This was a great stop. The bar downstairs had awesome food and enough tv's to get our March Madness fix.  We skipped the rooftop bar because it was kind of chilly.

Our room was pretty spectacular.

Price wise, it was comparable to what we would have paid at a mid-tier chain hotel, but this place had tons of character.  The walls had quotes and notes about the history of the property and the bed was really beautiful.  I loved the old sink in our room and all of the character throughout.

We really want to return to get the full experience of the town.  We were there midweek and kind of "off season," so many places were closed.  And, we are freakishly early risers, even on vacation and factor in the time difference and we were always up at the crack of dawn.

A dream realized: IKEA

I am not really sure how we have made it this far in life and not been inside an IKEA.

When we landed in Portland for vacation a few weeks ago, we saw an IKEA along the way to our first stop.  I made a mental note that when we returned on our last day that we should try to make it to IKEA to shop around.

We did make it on time and spent some part of the evening wandering around.  We did a lot of looking and our only purchase was some kitchen towels.  These are the perfect kitchen towels - great price, absorbent and they have held up really well after some washings.

I understand that Kansas City will soon have an IKEA.  We will have to add another stop to our Kansas City shopping list.

Creative friends

 One of the best things about our Prairie School Farms adventure is meeting so many great people.  We continue to be blessed by opportunities to collaborate with creative and talented people. 

We belong to several different creative communities and one of the benefits is sharing ideas and items. We won a contest and had the chance to connect with Colleen from Pennsylvania.  She makes really beautiful cards.  Check out her Etsy store.

She custom designed notecards for us in two different styles.  The cards include photos from our Facebook page.  We LOVE the cards and can't wait to use them!

Please take some time to look at her work - nice things made by a nice person!

New year, new finds

 One of my ambitions in the new year is to do some updating and editing around our home.  I am inspired by the idea to surround yourself with things that bring you joy.  My new questions when either purchasing something or deciding whether to keep to sell/donate/toss something are:

Does it bring you joy?

Is it useful?

Is it beautiful or delightfully odd?  (All lovers of vintage items have to have the "odd and unusual" disclaimer.)

My other ambition is that when we decide on something, we do it Examples:  Buy a new picture, hang it. Decide to let something go, sell/donate/toss it.

Maybe with some time, I can knock down the piles.  Send me good thoughts!

When we were in Asheville, we found so many really great items.  I was so excited to *finally* get our box of goods we had shipped home.  Yes, we had that much stuff!  We outgrew our suitcases pretty early in the trip and decided to just get a flat rate box and carefully wrap all of the breakables and take our chances.  Our two day delivery turned into about ten days and one item did break in transit.  In the end, it all worked out.

Some of my favorite finds included some new decor for the house.  And, it's early in the year and I am still on the "get things done" bandwagon.  I wanted to share three new pieces with you and I am proud to report, they are all on the wall.

The farm kid with the dairy cow caught my eye right away in the Antique Tobacco Barn.  The base is a burlap wrapped frame and I am guessing someone enlarged a black and white photo and decoupaged it to the top, roughing up the corners.  It was dusty and tucked above a door frame.  It caught my eye - love at first sight.  But, I decided to walk around and think about it.  In the end, it went home with me and I am so glad.

I knew it was a good buy because so many people have commented on it.  It hangs in our kitchen and I really, really love it.
 

 For years we have had this vintage frame hanging in the half-bath off of our bedroom.  It is the perfect color - a light cream - and has beautiful age.  A family member gave it to me and we have really treasured it.  I had ideas about adding a mirror or framing some family hankies, including the one my grandma gave me to carry for my wedding.  In the end, I just decided to hang it for what it was - a beautiful vintage family piece. 

While we were roaming around in the Antique Tobacco Barn, we found this set of angel wings. We had been on the hunt for some wings and had considered everything from giant wooden versions to tiny metal options.  We found something in the middle.  They are mid-sized and are a metal base with some texture.  I am not sure exactly how they created the layers and texture, but it makes them look really cool.

When our box finally arrived, I was so anxious to see if the wings and the frame made a good pairing and luckily, the wings fit!  I am happy with how this turned out.

We found this beautiful woodcut print at the arts center off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We had a great time walking around the usual exhibits of local artists and was surprised to see that they had a separate area for an expanded show.  We browsed through the booths and discovered Nancy Darrell's work.  We bought this framed print and two sets of note cards.  She called the bull "Ferdinand" and that name has stuck.  So, meet Ferdinand who has a prominent spot in our kitchen.

I feel like I get extra gold stars for making progress on my updating.  Now, for more editing!

Vintage finds: cookbooks

I have a small obsession with cookbooks.  Some of my best memories are of cooking and baking with my mom and grandmas (and later my dad).

My dad passed along a ton of vintage items for us to sort through.  I was thrilled to find a whole bunch of vintage cookbooks - some from the 1930's.  There was this great Girl Scout cookbook, a version from GE meant to guide the cook on the new methods of preparing food (i.e. using an electric oven), and the Good Housekeeping Cook Book.  There is also a very rare Chinese cookbook and a volume called Roundup of Beef Cookery, and a few more.

Now, the big decision...keep or sell?!

Vintage finds: dress form

We added a new display item to Prairie School Farms - a vintage dress form. 

I am excited to see how we will incorporate it in future displays.  For now, it's cleaned up as best we could - the jersey fabric is a little rough in some places, but we love the overall character.

Keep you eye out for this piece at the studio.

Kansas Barn Sale

We are still celebrating a great Saturday at the Kansas Barn Sale.

This event is held each fall near Hesston, Kansas and features vintage, handmade and antique goods along with food, live music, and great fun.  We learned about it several months ago and applied to be a vendor.  We were thrilled to be accepted into the juried show and spent a lot of time working on what we might exhibit.

To complicate things, I was scheduled to be working out of state.  We had a plan.  And, like most of our best plans, things happen.  Just before the show, my husband got really sick and it made it hard for me to feel comfortable being a six hour drive away in the event he started to feel bad again.  So, we made the decision that I would stay close to home and help at the show.  We had a time trying to make decisions about what was the best things to do.  In the end, I think we made the right decision, but not without a lot of our usual chaos and scrambling.  Thanks goodness for my mom and dad who helped tremendously.

On the morning of the show, we set up all of our items and had the chance to really take in the whole event.  It was excellent - the best hospitality, a great crowd, excellent sales, and meeting new friends and reconnecting with old friends.

If you have a list of "must-do" fall activities, please add the Kansas Barn Sale.  You won't be disappointed in the quality of the shopping, the entertainment and great food.

Vintage photos

 I am working in Texas this week and am loving all of the Texas culture surrounding me at every turn.

The hotel lobby has a lot of interesting decor, including this impressive collection of vintage western photography.  The photos are all framed in black or brown wood frames of about the same width.  The frames line the top of a book shelf that runs along two walls.  I love each of the photos - pictures of what seem to be working ranches, all in black and white.

I love the subject matter and the visual impact of the collection together.  Really simple and lovely.

Mother's Day project

For Mother's Day this year, we decided to have the cushions on my mom's porch swing redone.  We had given her this swing years ago to celebrate another Mother's Day.  Time, the sun, and elements had made the original cushions break down and we know that she really loves to read outside on her porch.

We called on MandiMoo Designs to make the replacement cushions.  She was awesome as usual!

We met her at the fabric store and she arrived with coupons in hand.  (We love it when someone helps us save money!)  My mom and I brought two dusty and rough looking cushions in a giant trash bag.  Mandi didn't even blink - she directed us to the outdoor fabrics and turned us loose to find the fabric.  My mom decided on the stripes.

We told Mandi that this was a Mother's Day gift, but there was no pressure to turn the cushions around in just a couple of weeks.  She was thankful, but then called just before Mother's Day to tell me that they were ready!

We finally made it over to help freshen up the porch swing with a new coat of spray paint.  We ran out of paint, but we have more paint at home and will try to get the second coat on soon.

We couldn't wait to put the cushions in place to see how it looked.

Everyone should have a MandiMoo Designs on call for sewing projects!

Thank goodness for good friends and good wine.

A friend surprised me with a wine sampler from the Argyle Winery in Oregon.  The box had six miniature bottles of wine in great packaging.  And, the whole thing was very stylishly wrapped with an awesome western themed card.  Bliss.

The small bottles are brilliant!  There are several times when just a glass of wine is all you need and you don't want to open a whole bottle.  And, have you ever wanted to try a wine, but don't want to commit to a whole bottle unless you know you will love it?  I think these miniature bottles are the solution.

My husband and I are big fans of Oregon wines.  We first tried a few from that part of the country during one of our first (and still favorite) vacations.  This gift was perfect for so many reasons - including the chance to reminisce about a great trip.

I am so thankful for thoughtful friends who know just when to share something to help make a week a bit brighter.

BrettLynch&Co.

I did something really old-fashioned - I bought a cd.

We purchase most of our music on iTunes and it has been at least a year since I bought a cd.  It's funny to think that 15 years ago, I subscribed to a mail order cd service.  Did anyone else join those clubs where you ordered your cd's by pasting stamps that were tiny versions of the album covers on the order form?

I was moved to make this latest music purchase, not because I was feeling nostalgic for holding an actual item that represented my music purchase.  Rather, it was because the music was playing in the background of my favorite home decor store in Topeka - Soho Interiors.  This is one of those stores where I can spend time browsing and feel like I still see new things with each walk through.  I discovered them last year after purchasing a - everyone say it with me - groupon.  (My husband is preparing to tease me right now; he loves to tease me about being frugal.)

While I was shopping, I kept think that the music sounded like some of my favorites - Mumford and Sons and Ray Lamontagne kept coming to mind.  I really liked what I heard.

The album was at the front counter and when I went to check out, I fell for the oldest trick in the book - an impulse buy at the point of purchase.  I haven't regretted this one!

I especially loved hearing from the woman helping me.  Brett is her brother!  I enjoyed talking about his career and the album with her.  That personal connection really made the purchase more meaningful.

I love this album for many things.  The cd itself looks like a mini-LP.  It looks super cool when you open the case and I totally dig how it looks nothing like a shiny silver disc.

The music is great.  I could listen to it all day.  The music has a folk sound and is kind of blues-y.  I think when I looked it up, it was called alternative folk.

And, the album art just screams "Kansas" to me.  The old white farmhouse and the great porch.  A guy, a chair, and a guitar...it's just so elegant.  The bare tree branches are such a great touch.

Check out this album.  We all need some new music for our busy spring.

Cool find: Soho Interiors

If you are in Topeka in the near future, stop by Soho Interiors.  Located off the beaten path, it is worth it to have a great shopping experience and to find some unique items for your home and for gifts.

I didn't find it by driving around.  A friend didn't recommend it.

This is where I say with some embarrassment,

"I had a Groupon."

Insert husband chuckling at me.

I bought a wide variety of things.  Some I can't show off because they are designated as gifts and of the approximately six people who read my blog, these are the people who might be the recipients of said gifts.  So, here are a couple I plan to keep.

 Art Cards for Baby by Wee Gallery.  Think of high contrast flash cards made out of board book material.  For this set, one side has the animal in white on black with the animal name.  The other side has the animal in black on white with the sound.  There are a variety of these sets - sea, garden, jungle, pets, and more.  I brought home the farm theme.

I have an idea for a project with the cards.  And, I really want the garden set.  These make me really happy - love the design and the subject.

And, these little beauties.  These white glass balls with black letters have so much potential and I don't have a really good idea for them yet.  They found a place in a vintage ice bucket and made their way to our coffee table.  Still not sure this is the final way I want to display them.

They had to come home with me since I loved them at first sight.  I walked around the store about one hundred times and kept coming back to them.

More on shopping and projects later.

Shop Soho Interiors, 3129 SW Huntoon in Topeka.

Cool find - Where Women Create

If you have not picked up an issue of Where Women Create or Where Women Cook, and you actually love creating and/or cooking, you have to check out these magazines. These are my newest guilty pleasures. While a little pricey, they are so full of inspiration.

I subscribe to Where Women Create and my mom subscribes to Where Women Cook. We share these and then pass them along to friends with similar passions. When a new issues comes, I save it until I have time to sit down and savor the articles and photos. This practice sometimes means that it sits for weeks, but it is well worth it to be able to go cover to cover and give it the time it deserves.

One thing I notice about the artists profiled is that many of them are collectors (like me). Many of their collections are centered on scraps (paper, ribbon, embellishments), trinkets, fabric, and other raw material. I get the sense that these women all have a list of ideas a mile long (like me). I am really inspired by all of the different organizational systems. Many of the women have vintage elements in their work space and I love to see things artfully arranged to support their creative work.
And, these women make beautiful stuff - really cool things across media. The magazine is also a great way to find new blogs to follow and project ideas.

Cool find: Garden and Gun magazine

I know...Garden and Gun as a magazine title makes you wonder.

I was swapping some airline miles for magazine subscriptions and was curious about this title. After a little research, I thought it seemed like a good risk. After all, it wasn't money and I really try to have a broad sampling of magazines in the house.

Oh, what a pleasant surprise!

I love this magazine for the beautiful photography and the well-written articles. The profiles of towns, artists, restaurants, and gardens are really top-notch.

The most recent issue profiles women and the piece on Dolly Parton is a treasure. If you are reading the second part of that sentence and laughing, you really need to read the article. I am sold. Dolly may have an outer shell that draws ridicule; the inside is a savvy business woman, a generous philanthropist, and a beautiful soul.

Back to the magazine...I really, really love the photography. The articles on the landscape in the south have a conservation element that really appeals to me. The profiles of towns always make me want to pack my bags. And, they talk about southern food - bar-b-que in the issue before last. You can't go wrong with bar-b-que.

The gun aspect was my biggest concern, yet it strangely feels like home. Growing up in a family of responsible hunters, I appreciate a magazine that shows off bird dogs and talks about the outdoors with what seems to be deep appreciation.

I kind of miss that aspect of my life. Several cold fall mornings began with an early wake up, wrapping up in a sleeping bag, packing a book and sitting in a pick up to spot birds with my brother. I did more reading than spotting, but I can tell a prairie chicken in flight to this day.

Another cool find

American Pickers is one of our favorite shows. We love to follow Mike and Frank as they go around the country digging in attics, sheds, barns, overgrown yards and any other place that has rusty junk. We feel like we are kindred spirits and often wonder what it would be like if we turned them loose on my dad’s farm.

On a recent episode, Mike and Frank were sent to find some unique decorations for William Shatner’s home. They sought many things, but the most intriguing was an antique mill stone. We loved learning about the history and value of mill stones.

A short time later, Jeremy sent me a message saying that someone had listed a millstone and he wanted to take a look. I responded and told him to get it!

We are now the proud owners of one intact millstone and several pieces of another. Made of granite, these stones were used to grind grain at a mill in Enterprise or were manufactured at the J.B. Ehrsam and Sons Manufacturing Company located in Enterprise. The building that housed these operations was razed around the holidays this year.

The stones came to live with us and we will soon place them in an area where we are reinstalling a flower garden. We are proud to have a piece of Kansas history!