Yesterday definitely what I would call...

It started out well..I got up early...went to a yard sales for a few hours and found a truckload of fantastic things - but then it started. The downhill slide that makes your wonderful day just totally crash and burn. You know the kind...where you feel slapped in the face at every turn. Ugh.

So let me get to my point. I promised a preview of my goods for my booth at Kane County Flea Market this weekend...and I didn't want to disappoint. But lets just say an unexpected visit to the ER for my sweet man resulted in some stitches...and my photo preview idea to not turn out as planned.

But, I came through - kinda. With a photos of a whopping 7 of the 78 pieces I am bringing to the show

this weekend. I figured it was better than holding out on you completely.

But brace yourself.

You are about to view some of the worst photos in history. Bad lighting. Lots of shadows. And one very dusty floor at my warehouse. To sum it up...I had exactly 10 minutes to snap as many pictures as I could before the goods all had to be loaded into not one...but two...huge U-haul trucks.

Did I ever tell you this 'painting-furniture-for-your-job' thing was glamorous? If I did - I soooo lied.

But I love it...so here we go.

I am totally crazy, flipping out in love with this H-U-G-E ornate frame. I just finished mounting a mirror in it...and it is stunning. Seriously. I have tons of mirrors for this show, all shapes sized and colors, but this one is just over-the-top!

And the desk...that old girl was rescued from the office at an old horse farm. The drawers were full of old ledgers from the 1950s. Those will be available at my booth at Junk Bonanza this September.

I wish I could have photographed more for you! I will try to snap some pics at the show Saturday.

I can't wait to meet all your girls that emailed to tell me you will be at the show! Remember, I will be in the Arena Building...right on the main isle. I have 4 booths so you kinda can't miss me and the sea of furniture.

If you are the praying kind...please add a little thought in for me this weekend...there is a chance of rain! Yikes!

Oh, and for my annoncement I mentioed the other day...hopefully later today. Just ironing out a few details...so check back!

Have a great weekend, girls!

I love this time of year.

That's right, girls! This weekend marks my official start to Flea Market Season! I will be at the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, IL this Saturday and Sunday!

Just look for me in the sea of white painted furniture. I will be the tall thing with dark hair sticking up over a pile of dresser...vanity tables...desks...coffee tables...cabinets...mirrors...chalkboards...you get the idea.

My booth location is the same it has been for the last few years, so most of you will know where to find me. On the main drag, right across from the Office/Bathroom area. I am in the Arena Building, right on the isle.

I will be trying to get photos of everything as I drag it out of storage to load the truck - so look for a preview on Friday. Oh, and a little announcement from me is coming on Friday, too! So do check back!

Hope to see you this weekend at the flea!

It is going to be a busy month, I can just feel it...I have my first show coming May 1st & 2nd and I am starting to feel the pressure...but I am so excited at the same time! Selling at the show is always so much fun! I love meeting the people...and there is nothing better than seeing my furniture being loaded up and on its way to its new happy home! I sell quite a bit of furniture for little girl's rooms, and it feeds to soul  to see how they light up when the get a new dresser or desk. Never fails to make me happy...I am not so sure a piece of furniture would have thrilled me like that when I was a kid!

Here is a little of what I worked on this weekend...

A few vintage frames...

I am a road-trip kind of girl.

There are few things I like better than hopping in the car with my hubs and heading somewhere for the day. We always have such a darn good time!

Saturday I had a delivery in the Chicago area, so we loaded up the trailer...hooked up the GPS and took off for the day.

First stop...ESTATE SALE. I love, love, love seeing those words on a sign nailed to a post! Here were my finds at that sale...some are to keep...some are to sell...but hands down favorite was the galvanized metal tool box! How cool is that thing, anyway? I was gushing about it the whole way into Chicago.

At one point, my so-easy-going-you-have-to-check-him-for-a-pulse-sometimes hubs says proudly "my friend's wives want designer jeans and expensive shoes...not my wife, she wants a dirty old toolbox she crawled on the floor under a workbench full of sawdust to get."

He gets me.

After breakfast at a little diner along the way..which, by the way, is a requirement for him spending the day "junking" with me...we were off the the flea market.

First stop at the flea market...to see Anita & Judy aka the Iowa Junk Gyspies! Now, I really shouldn't tell you this or I am going to create competition for myself, but if you don't get early, you will be sorry. Trust me on this. The things on their tables grow wings and fly out of there. They always have stacks of ironstone, tarnished silver, loads of old bottles...you get the idea...really, really good stuff!

I snagged the basket in the photo below...but why the heck didn't I get those finials?? Kick.my.self.

I was on a mission to find a chandelier...or two. I almost let out this really-embarrassing-for-my-husband squeal when I found a vendor that was actually from my town...and was selling chandeliers! Here is one that I think I might buy...if he didn't sell it. The prices were fantastic!

(Yes, I knocked that crooked bulband broke it...I blame it on my excitement.)

FINALLY!

I have been waiting...and waiting for my flea market to open for the season!

Notice, I say my flea market...but it has become such a part of my life...I feel I can call it whatever I want! But really, its known just as the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, IL.

I give 7 months of my year to selling there...but this weekend I am getting my shop on, so watch out girls!

Wish me luck girls! Hope you all get to go to a flea market this weekend! Here in IL it is going to be 50 degrees - WOOHOO!!! It is about time!

Happy Friday, girls!

Only hours left to get in on this giveaway, girls!

My friend Anita, from the Iowa Junk Gypsies, is doing a fabulous giveaway!

For the love of all things French...get over there and leave your comment to enter!

one. Entre Nous - A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl

two. Wandering Paris- vocab and guide book in one

three. TheLittle French ABC Coloring Book (training them young is best:)

four. Say it in French - a travel phrase book

five. Madeleine Peyroux- The Perfect World CD

six. Lu Petit Beurre notepad ( these butter cookies are awesome)

seven. Sabre bottle opener and cheese knife

Did you know Anita is fluent in French....and she lived in France...and she teaches French, too! She is hosting a trip to Paris in April! I am hoping to tag along with her...but if you want in, click on the link under her header for more info!

Now click on over and check out her blog...leave a comment and you just might win her bag of goodies!

But then again...when isn't it around here?

I make it that way.
I am a change junkie.

My husband comes home from work and finds a new coffee table in front of the sofa about once a month. A few weeks ago we went to bed...he turned his lamp off...and about 30 seconds later says "I see I have a new nightstand." It doesn't even phase him anymore. Although he does think I should donate some of my extra time to being a case-study for a college Psychology class somewhere. He thinks I have some yet-unknown metal disorder that make a person constantly change their surroundings.

Thank goodness he so easy-going...because I need that constant change. That is one of the pit-falls of painting furniture for a living. Few things stay in the same place in my house for more than a couple weeks. But it feeds my craziness that I can do something different each and every day. Lets just say I am not a girl that can sit behind a desk in an office 8 hours a day. I have tried. Trust me on this one. Oh how I yearn to...I want to wear the cute clothes and killer shoes. It would be much better than the hoodies with paint all over them you would normally catch me in. I miss seeing people at work, the gossip, the day-to-day chat. It is just me, a radio and a paintbrush most days.

This year alone I have painted and sold over 500 pieces of furniture. Maybe doing this is what has made me a change-junkie. I am always needing to do something different...and better than the time before. Is this how extreme-sports get started? Mountain biking becomes boring after a while until you are doing it at high speeds next to a cliff? Will I soon be seen on a reality show for Extreme-Dining-Room-Set-Painting?

By now I am sure you are asking where the heck I am going with this long winded chat about change...so let me just say there are new things going on in my life right now. Professionally, that is. Exciting things...things that are keeping me up at night. And once I do fall asleep I wake up thinking about them as soon as I open my eyes. I'm plotting and planning. I can't tell just yet, but I want to soooo badly. I am busting to let it all out. I work so hard, it is such a wonderful thing with life rewards you with opportunity you didn't even see coming.

I am definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl, but ironically, new things make me nervous.

 So, to escape all this stress of these big changes...I am making a pact to finish all the reno projects I have started during these winter months. To tie up loose ends, to vow to keep a piece of furniture in one spot for a long time. (Don't tell my husband just in case I relapse on this one.) I am going to finish my home rather than always work on other people's spaces. And I promise to take photos and post my projects as I go.

Whew, I was soooo good to let that all out. Sorry it was such a long one. That happens when I don't get much sleep.

Off to finish project #1. The hallway. How hard could that be?? Wish me luck. I am painting it the fourth color since I have lived here. Yikes!

(photo found here...)

I've never been happier than I am right now...that I am a coupon clipper.

That's right girls...I am no longer ashamed to admit it.

I.use.coupons.

I thank you all for your emails, you are just so sweet and I am feelin' the painted furniture love over here, thats for sure! I am slooooly loading things up on Etsy, so bear with me.

A sincere THANK YOU to all you fabulous ladies that are patiently waiting for me to get my act together.

You see, with doing shows May-October, I don't have much of a life during that time. I work 7 days a week almost ever week of the summer. So, once that last show wraps in October, I relish in being able to do 'normal' things like...clean my house...cook...finsh off reno projects that are loooong overdue, do a little shopping now and then. Things I should always be able to do, but I have a little problem with the phrase "sure, I can get that done for you by next week" popping out of my mouth waaaaaay too often. I have been busy with custom orders, but with only 2 left to finish that I promised for this month, I have a little time to try to get some things posted before I start in on Decembers load. I am so lucky I love what I do!

So, heres a little preview. (sorry my pics are not the best, my camera had a little "accident" so I have to use my old one for a while.)

I have loads of frames to post...so if you want enough to fill a wall, email me! I think I have 18 vintage ornate frames ready to go...

I love a good before and after...so here we go!

This is a buffet I started yesterday for a client...and I just finished it up so thought I would snap a few pics. Sorry they are not the best. The sun was going down, so it was a 'now or never' scenario...as it usually is for me.

It needed more than a little love when I came across it. When I saw the picture I wasn't quite sure about this one...but it was solid oak, from the 1930s...deep down I knew it had potential. A little fixing and a few coats of paint later...viola! One mighty fine piece of furniture!