October Flea Market

Well, we are getting down to it. Next month will be the last flea market I hit until March or April depending on weather. The Nashville Flea Market runs year round, but over the winter time there are not a ton of vendors that have the type of things that I collect. So...I will be getting my fix this winter at the my favorite indoor flea market or (when I get desperate) ebay.

But, the last couple flea markets of the year are usually AWESOME. And this month was no exception! 

You can find just about everything at the Nashville Flea market, these beautiful mums were huge and gorgeous!!

Vintage Blow Molds were everywhere you looked.

I finally found a reasonably priced lotus bowl to replace the one I smashed into 1000 pieces. You can see by the light, I was at the market early!

Lots and lots of Pyrex...not at bargain prices.

Pyrex Heaven...again, not cheap but this dealer is good about working with you on the price.

Snapped up these Hazel Atlas mugs for a buck each!

Do I even need to caption this? Oh yes...I spent some time at this table.

One of my favorite vendors, Deb and Daughter had this adorable jewelry box, I don't believe it is very old, but it is very pretty and I picked it up for a decent price. Deb mainly paints furniture and her stuff is...well just wow. They are both very talented ladies! Deb has set up a booth at the Farmisan market the last few months as well...coolest booth in the parking lot.

Lots and lots of vintage linens to be found, but, most of the tablecloths I find are priced pretty high.

I picked up several more things that I did not get a chance to photograph, I will get to those this weekend. But all in all it was another enjoyable trip to the market and I walked out with plenty of treasures. I am sure glad that I am an early riser, when I got to the market, maybe a quarter of the parking lot was full...and I was disgusted thinking I got there too late...well....by the time I left? The ENTIRE parking lot and the overflows were FULL, they had cars lined waiting on the road in front of the entrance trying to get in, I had trouble getting OUT of the parking lot! And this is a very large venue with lots of parking. Needless to say, next month I am going to get there a half hour earlier than I did this month just to make sure I avoid the masses.

Hope you are having a great week!

Halloween Traditions

I love Halloween. I have so much fun watching the kids have fun and I LOVE handing out candy Halloween night. The little ones are my favorite, always so cute!

But really, the weather,  pumpkin everything, decorating, carving pumpkins, trick or treating and costumes. Love it all.

One of our Halloween traditions for close to a decade now is visiting the home of President Andrew Jackson. The Hermitage is the museum of President Jackson's home in Hermitage TN. It is a wonderful place to visit year round, but for Halloween they put on "Haunting's at the Hermitage". It is very kid focused with trick or treating,  kid theme Halloween movies on a movie screen in the back field, a spooky hayride, fun snacks, Halloween crafts, ghost stories and a tour of the house, gardens and graveyard. My kids love it. At 15, even at  my son still wanted to go and had a great time....of course it did not hurt that he arranged to have a cute girl meet him there as his date. I won't complain. It is a sweet and fun outing for young teenagers too.

Every year on "Haunting's night" we have the same dinner menu and for dessert, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter M&M cookies. In my opinion, the best cookie ever.

I am not really a big collector of vintage cookbooks, I do have some, I love my vintage Julia Child cookbooks but other than Julia's, cookbooks are not usually something I look for, Although they do catch my eye sometimes.

Wandering through a local antique store some years ago now, this little cookie cookbook caught my eye, published in 1991, it is not vintage, but the peanut butter cookie recipe found inside it was a  jewel. The Peanut Butter M&M's were my addition to it. Oh they are so decadent and rich. If you love peanut butter, you will love this cookie.

Cookies, Food Writers' Favorites
Edited by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane Baker
Printed in 1991 with proceeds from the sale of the book going to MADD.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed) 

2 eggs (well beaten)

1 tablespoon milk

1 cup sifted all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground ginger (I usually skip the ginger)

2 cups peanut butter M&M's (My addition)

follow the usual steps, cream butter, peanut butter, sugar and wet ingredients, sift and mix in the dry ingredients then the M&M's. Pop the bowl of batter in the fridge to chill for at least a half hour, then drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. I make mine BIG, like six to a pan big and also soft and chewy so 15 minutes is all they need. Chilling them for that half hour keeps them from spreading all over the place.

If you are a peanut butter lover, you will love these cookies!

We have had such a fun full weekend. I did make it to the Nashville flea market early Saturday morning. It was a great market (and PACKED) I am very glad I am an early riser and like to be there when the market opens.  I walked out with some great buys and had a wonderful time wandering around. I will post about my finds at the Flea Market later this week.

I hope you all had a wonderful, beautiful fall weekend!

Merry Christma

You ever have one of "those" days? 

This is not the blog post I had planned. My original blog post was typed up, previewed and ready to hit "publish" but instead of publish I hit close. Oops, entire long post, gone. 

So, when I have one of "those" days I sit down, watch a movie, go to bed early and start all over again the next day.

I should have had a clue, when I was hammering out some stock earlier today for the craft fair next month, this was one of my sentiment spoons...well...now it will be a key chain.

 I had a wonderful weekend! I hope you did too! I will try this blogging thing again tomorrow night! 

Until then! Hope you have a wonderful start to your week!

A little sugar

I needed a little flea market hit last week so I wandered into my favorite indoor flea market and found a couple adorable finds.

One of my favorite finds from this last trip was this cute little pink pyrex sugar bowl. 

The matching creamer was no where to be found but it gives me something else to put on my "must find" list for the Nashville Flea Market this weekend! I am (as always) excited to hit the Nashville Flea and I find that I have a pretty long list for this month. I will be there bright and early Saturday morning to see what treasures I can find!

The weather here in Middle Tennessee is getting colder in the mornings and my morning glories are opening later and later, and the poor bee's are starting to die off for the year as well. But when it is cold like this, they slow down just enough so I can get a good picture of them.

I just love these majestic little warriors!

Hope you are having a wonderful week!!

Last Farmisan Market of 2014

We had our final Farmisan Market of the season yesterday and I would say we certainly ended on a high note.  We ended up with a decent crowd, nothing close to our opening market, but we were competing with a very large craft show in the town just down the road from our location. Still we had a decent turnout and I was happy with my sales.

We really had a lot of fun stuff going on this month, Halloween contest for the kids, Two different bands playing really fantastic music, the local Firetruck visited and the kids were welcome to explore it, and we had some of the best BBQ I have ever had for sale.

When I went through my camera shots, I realized I did not manage to get any full market pictures. Sorry, I was either distracted by the band or chatting with customers. 

I did not have quite as much stock as I typically have, gearing up for next month, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well these cute cheese and butter knives sold.

These were my favorites, they sold early. I will surely make more for the Holiday fair next month.

Shot of my little booth and my handsome sales associate son Jacob. Notice my Goodwill chairs are in the booth and although I did not sit very much, the few minutes I did sit, oh were those chairs comfortable! 

I have some more booth decoration and display ideas for the holiday show next month. I have learned so much over the last few months and I am really enjoying this experience as well as meeting so many new people and friends. I am very fortunate that I was able to participate in this event and learn as much as I have.

Looking forward to the Nashville Flea Market next Saturday, but I have a busy week to get through before I get there! I hope you have a great one!

A picnic at the lake

We have a rule here on Friday nights...I do not cook. 

It's not unusual for us to grab a pizza, Chinese, just something quick as we make our way home on Friday nights, but this summer we started a new tradition. Munchie nights. Its not really cooking, but, assembling.

I grab whatever everyone is in the mood for, usually one of two "menu's" French bread, shrimp cocktail, cheese and fruit, pickles/olives or French bread, ham or sausage, cheese and fruit, pickles/olives. Always simple and easy to throw together and always a favorite in our family.

The weather here in Middle Tennessee today was just gorgeous. Beautiful blue sky, cool breeze and warm temps. And after a week of rain, we all wanted to take advantage of every minute of this glorious day. 

So, I packed up my vintage "picnic set" tossed our munchies in the cooler and off we went to the lake for dinner. We are very fortunate to live less than a ten minute drive from a gorgeous park on one of our local lakes. And tonight was the perfect night for dinner outside.

I love my Normandy Rose Melmac set, I have managed to get a pretty large collection of it. I love using it for our picnics.

My daughter found this perfect chippy vintage metal tray on a Goodwill trip this week. It is a great addition to our set.

I love spending time at the lake. So peaceful.

Have a great weekend!

Fried Green Tomatoes

I am not originally from the south, but never had a problem adopting southern food. I love it ALL. Well....almost all, lets just say...most.

 In the spring I could never bring myself to pluck one of my tomatoes to fry,

 but in the fall? No problem. Until I moved south I had never had the opportunity to try a fried green tomato that I recall, not a big menu item in WI. But it only took one try and I was hooked.

I love how my green tomatoes match the green bowl I picked up during my last flea market run. Less than two weeks to the next market..yes I am counting down.

I even use the recipe from the book/movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" one of my favorite movies of all time I might add. I still remember seeing it for the first time on a weekend trip to Iowa with my best friend Laura and her sweet mom, I think of them every time I see the movie...or eat fried green tomatoes. 

Oh and these were a really good batch!

Hope your having a great week so far!

The Simon and Garfunkel "Scarborough Fair" set

When I refer to this as my "Simon and Garfunkel Scarborough Fair" set, I usually get a strange look and end up feeling like an idiot..I cannot help my musical taste, I just like what I like.

I am still struggling to take a decent picture of my flatware creations, these spoons are pretty tarnished and were difficult to photograph, but the more beat up the spoon, the more I tend to like them, and these look much better in person. Today I finished hammering out almost all of my herb markers, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Cilantro, Dill, Mint and Chive. I will do a small selection of other herbs that have not proved to be popular choices like Tarragon and Cat Nip,  but those will be easy hammer out over the next few days. Feeling pretty good about my stock for the November Holiday market, I should be pretty well prepared.

Not that I am getting too over confident, I still have sentiment spoons, cheese knives, key chains and bookmarks to finish up, my arm is killing me just thinking about it. Oh...and lets not forget getting pictures matted and framed.

What was that I said about feeling pretty well prepared? I may have spoken too soon.

Trust me, I am not squandering a minute!

Hammering, Sanding, Cutting, grinding and photographing

It has been a very busy week so far. 

My kids are on fall break and I am making time to do fun things with them in between running to football practice, dance class and getting things ready for my upcoming craft show as well as preparing to head back to work, I swear I don't know where the time is going, but still at the end of each day I am not sure how I managed to get so much done and still have such a messy house.

First the hammering, I have a really good start on my herb markers, they are big sellers in my booth and I am getting a whole new batch ready for the Holiday craft show in November. I have also been working on a new batch of sentiment spoons. I have to admit. I really enjoy hammering out the sentiment spoons and I am always thrilled at how well they sell.

What would I do without Pinterest and all the inspirational quotes found out there!

And the sanding...my precious little chair...is one huge pain in the rear end. Stripping off four layers of paint reminds me why I do not love to refinish furniture, but I am still excited to have it done, although, I may end up going with a dark color to cover some scars as opposed to the creamy vanilla I had envisioned.  Regardless, I know I will love it when it is complete.

The cutting and grinding. With all the hammering I do I make my fair share of mistakes so I decided to cut the handles off the spoons I messed up and turn them into key chains. Handles cut, now I need to finish grinding them until the ends are smooth then bending them around a ring. I hope to have a selection of these complete for the last Farmisan Market of the year coming up next weekend.

And last but certainly not least, photographing, in this case my morning glory's. I have a major crush on morning glory's and can easily lose an hour snapping away, all different angles trying to catch the right light or the bee's wiggling in and out of them. I know it will not be long before a hard freeze takes them away from me until next year and I keep getting swept away trying to capture just how gorgeous they are.

Hope you are having a great week!

The end of tomato season

Often, I am pulling the last of my tomatoes off the vine's a week or two before Thanksgiving, lining the window sills with under ripe tomatoes trying to enjoy every last one of them. But, this year my vines are looking pretty poor and after the cool weekend we just had here in middle Tennessee I suspect this year that will not be the case and I think I may help them along by pulling them up early.

 

 

I grow my tomatoes from seeds ordered from rareseeds.com every year. In my opinion they are the best source for everything heirloom in the garden and I have been buying the Black Cherry tomato seeds from them for several years now. I always start to miss them by February.

 

I think I will toss these beauties with the last of my fresh Basil some vinaigrette, spread some herbed ricotta on a loaf of French bread with some prosciutto and the perfect fast Monday night dinner is born.

 

Have a great week!

The big reveal!

Ok, that sounds a little over dramatic, but anyway, here they are!

I really enjoyed the process on these chairs, I am not huge into painting furniture, but I love to tackle a project like this sometimes. But, I really had a blast setting the stage for the pictures. See the picture above the table? That was my extra project that I picked up at the Flea last week,  I was seeing them all over at the Nashville Flea market, people just framed burlap bags. I loved this graphic. A quick run to Goodwill for a frame and I had it together pretty quickly. Fun easy project, now I just need to figure out where I want to hang it, honestly, I see it outside on my front porch I think it will look great out there with my coffee sack covered black iron garden chairs.

A little closer shot of the chair, I distressed and rubbed with furniture wax, the color is called Spanish Brick and ended up matching my favorite vintage rose tablecloth perfectly. I picked this tablecloth up last year at the Nashville Flea market for an excellent price, I pass on a lot of tablecloths, even at the flea they are 24.00 and up, too much for my personal thrift budget. I decided these should be my craft show chairs, they are nice and sturdy, really comfortable to sit in and fold up nicely, and now that they are cute, they will fit right into a craft market booth. Love them!

And, not sure if you noticed 

Yup, I Ebay'd them, Yes I am sure I paid more than if I hunted them down myself....but...who cares it was worth it! And they were not that horribly expensive even on Ebay, I still come in well under what the set is worth according to current auctions. Not that they are going away anytime soon! I love them too much.

My daughter and I sat down to this pretty table and had some lunch this afternoon. The weather here in middle Tennessee is breezy and cool, perfect afternoon for some lunch on the deck!

Have a great weekend!

A new chair project. What??

I had no intention of picking up a new project to tackle. I  just finished the chairs I picked up this past July last night (pictures to come tomorrow) and I had no desire to start another project other than finding and refinishing picture frames for the prints I plan to sell at the November Craft fair. I am determined to wrap up some half finished projects and get some of my new treasures settled in the house before I head back to work later this month.

But, I had a few minutes to kill before picking my daughter up from school, and there is the cutest little flea market not far from her school and as I walked up I saw this chair, and I just had to have it. It was exactly what I was looking for to put into my kitchen, small, sturdy,lots of character and a nice low price tag.

Lots of chippy old paint to come off, heavy layers that pulled easily away, I have no idea what color I am going to paint it, I think once I get it cleaned up I will shop the paint isle and see what inspires me. I know this little project will not take me two and a half months to complete, I am too excited to get it into my kitchen!

The chair was actually found at my second stop for the day, First stop was my favorite indoor flea market, it is just five minutes down the road from my favorite Thai restaurant where I was meeting one of my most treasured best friends for lunch, I was surprised that I found so little in there today, only one thing jumped out at me, this laurel Fire King platter, not a pattern I remember seeing before in my travels, but it caught my eye and I have a serious weakness for Fire King and at 3.00 I knew I would easily get my money out of it, I will definitely put it into my everyday use rotation.

I am thrilled with how my Goodwill chairs turned out and am excited to get the pictures of them taken and posted tomorrow.

Happy Friday night!

October Cause

As everyone knows October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, Like many woman, breast cancer screening and awareness is a cause close to my heart, I hope everyone is going pink and doing what they can to raise awareness. I know I am!

October is also adopt a shelter dog month, pet adoption is another cause close to my heart. Growing up, I always loved dogs, but owned cats. Not long after we married my husband "adopted" a German Shepherd mix, I say "adopted" but rescued off the street is more accurate. He had been put out by his "owner" because they just did not want to be bothered with taking care of him. This person was actually living in our neighborhood at the time and just let the poor animal roam while the neighbors took care of feeding and letting him stay with them when they could. When we left that neighborhood and moved into our home here, he came with us. I had three cats at the time and was not overly thrilled with our new addition, but he was a good dog and needed a home badly, I could not turn him away and I am glad I did not. Bubba was definitely my husbands dog, but he was very protective of me and as they arrived, both of our children. They loved him dearly. He was with us sixteen years before he passed away, he may have had an uncertain start, but he lived a good happy long life with us. 

A couple years before Bubba passed we adopted another dog, a pit mix this time. Daisy came from a family member that just could not care for a high energy strong as hell five year old pit mix, so home she came with us. My cats were gone by this time and Daisy stole my heart. She was a handful at first, but improved diet, a lot of regular exercise and daily routines turned her into a well behaved very affectionate and loving girl. She is my sweet girl and I love her dearly.

After Bubba passed, we decided to get another dog to keep Daisy company, I was set on a Pug and decided that this would be my bucket list puppy. But, that was not to be. My son found our Bruno on a pet adoption site, only nine months old and needing a new home after his first family surrendered him. Well, he was not the tiny puppy I imagined for us, but under a year was close enough, he needed a home. He is everything a Pug is supposed to be and truly my precious baby boy. He annoys my sweet Daisy, but she is a good girl and puts him in his place as needed. I treasure them both.

Vintage Robinson Ransbottom pottery dog bowls. Two of them found at the Goodwill, and one at the Nashville Flea Market. I actually have one that says "Kitty" as well, it was just too sweet to leave behind. I love how I have a dog bowl to represent each of my beloved dogs.

Adoption is not for everyone, and donations to shelters for both dogs and cats is a wonderful way to help,  but If you are ever considering bringing a dog into your life, I hope you consider adoption and visit your local shelter first.  Adopting a shelter dog is a very rewarding experience, they know when they have been rescued, and the bond that forms is precious.I have yet to regret adopting any of my fur babies!

Happy first day of October! Go Pink!!!