Raised In Cotton

Kansas City Love

Tomorrow I will be among the throngs of people in Kansas City attending Deb's estate sale at the Curious Sofa. She has rented out the space next to her shop and filled it with what I am sure will be fantastic stuff including some of the things that were featured in the Country Living article about her home. So join me!

I also wanted to introduce you to another Kansas City lady who has a new blog!  Julie Reed is a talented artist who formally worked for Hallmark and now is the art director for K&CO. She also sells on Etsy! So please take the time to visit Julie and tell her I sent you:)

Images To Share

Since 4th of July is almost here, I thought I would share some vintage images with you. Right click and save to your computer:) 

Millinery Heaven

Nelly Don was a famous clothing manufacturer from the 1920's-1960's in downtown Kansas City. A few years ago, I had the great opportunity to organize an estate sale for a lady that was a seamstress for Nelly Don.  Her little bungalow was filled to the brim with trays of buttons, ribbons and trims. A vintage millinery gold mine that had been locked away for several years. Last week I went junking with Karla, who uses her beautiful millinery flowers in some of her projects. I had forgotten about some of my Nelly Don stash until shopping with Karla. I think the contrast of the faded flowers and the rusty porcelain tray is so pretty, I bet Nelly Don would understand.

 

Milk Bottles

This is simple and been done a million times, but I just love the clean look of flowers in milk bottles. Of course I have a fondness for the old type but I also have a bit of obsession of finding the new ones to display flowers in. Case in point is this "Fresh" milk bottle from a local Kansas City diary. Oh, and what about the cute little Frappuccino® Coffee Drink bottles that Starbucks uses.  Does anyone else buy the drink for the container, I would love to hear about your glass obsessions:)

MoodBoard

Holly at Decor8 is having a contest in conjunction with Amy Butler Designs. The idea is to put together a moodboard using any of Amy's fabrics from her new collection. Combining my love of vintage with a little modern zing, my entry is called "Farmhouse Fresh." The chair and chandelier are from Brocade Home. The blue-green painted cabinet is from Tracy Porter.  My very favorite zinc topped table is compliments of Mecox Gardens. The burlap chaise is from Beach Dwelling.  The rest is from yours truly Raised In Cotton. Go on over and enter your own moodboard!

Porch Therapy

I think sitting on a porch swing with a gentle breeze is simply perfect. The soft rhythmic swaying back and forth and touching your bare feet to the wood floor is blissful therapy in my book. Yesterday I went south to my friend and shop partner Phyllis's house. She has a beautiful house in the country with the most lovely wraparound porch you could find. I also took some scout photos for a magazine article. More on that down the road (hopefully)

I will be adding these wonderful crown pillow covers to the website. They are imported and made from a lovely flax material with French graphics.

I also will be offering this lovely imported book featuring rustic garden style decorating. It took me several months to get my hands on this book that is widely popular (and sold out) in Denmark.  It is not in English, but the gorgeous photographs more then make up for the language barrier.  

Thank You Dear Friends

Wow, the outpouring of love and support shown to me on the recent death of yet another brother was truly amazing. I have to say "Thank You" from my heart for sharing details of your own personal stories regarding family heartaches. I am returning a huge virtual hug to each and everyone one of you for helping me last week.

Over the weekend I did get to do something fun which was great therapy for me.  For the last several weeks, I have been working with Karla on Fall projects for Romantic Country Magazine. Yesterday, we spent all day designing and styling the setting for the shoot. Diane the professional photographer was wonderful to work with. Watching her precision and sense of detail to get just the right shot was amazing. Diane gave a free tutorial as she worked on how to achieve the best lighting conditions during the shoot.  Karla was a dream to work with, please check out her blog for pictures of the preshoot.

I can't show you photos of the actual shoot, I thought I would share pictures of our patriotic porch at the shop.

I have loved to decorate with flags for years and I placed a few in a urn for these pictures. I also added some red and blue crepe paper to the edge of the flags along with a strip of old music then placed a gold glittered star to the bottom. Just enough embellishment to make these store bought flags look a little special. Before I added the paper details, I tea dyed the flags and the wooden poles to give them more of a vintage look.

This week I wil be adding some great new finds on the website that I am excited to share with you. I hope you have a wonderful start to your week.