Raised In Cotton

Inspirational Blogging Friends

I have a article in the current issue of Artful Blogging Magazine and am delighted to share the pages with some extremley talented bloggers. "Visually Inspiring Online Journal" is the subtitle for the magazine and I think that is a brilliant description for this lovely issue.

 

Here are links to a few of the fantastic bloggers the I hope you can visit from Artful Blogging~Amazing Sara Duckett, Kay Ellen Hammar, www.Creativeeveryday.com,  Penny Elizabeth Neil, Donna Courtney, Maya Donenfeld and many more.

I am also honored to have one of my photos in the new Somerset Life issue. Here are more links to some of the incredible bloggers that grace the pages of the magazine~Heather Bullard, Liddy Baars, Kim Caldwell, Jenny Doh, Suzanne Duda, Dawn Edmonson, Sandra Everton, Jenn Hayslip, Cari Kraft, Kim Kwan, Beth Lentz, Maija Lepore, Cammy Pollak, Andrea Singarella.

Karla did a recent post on finding new bloggers to visit and I would love to do the same thing. If you have a blog or know one that you find inspiring please leave me a link and comment. I am always looking for more friends to share creative ideas with:)

Artist Loft

Here is a sampling of the talented vendors at our Miss Frenchie's Show that were upstairs in what we called the "Artist Loft".

Lesa Dailey~

 

Julie Reed~

 

Greg Johnson~

Vintiques~

Friends Of A Feather~

Robin of The Three Shabby Chicks has great pictures on her blog so I hope you can check those out also.  

I hope you enjoyed the Miss Frenchie's tour, our next sale will be in December.

More of Lesa Dailey's incredible work. Just loved this little handmade doll she made!

More Miss Frenchie's

Elizabeth and I had our booths in the annex section just off of the main barn. Let me just say that Elizabeth uses her background in theater to produce the most amazing spaces. She clustered several antique chandeliers from bungee cords and hung them from the tall barn rafters. Elizabeth is also the queen of draping and used soft flowing material to hide the bungees. Our customers were mesmerized by her talents!

 

 

 

 

Dressed up army cot~

Lavender display and check out her "ice tong" collage ~

 

 

As for my booth, you know I always have to start with a "theme".  I went for the "French Farmhouse" look with a mix of garden, primitive and zinc~

 

 My decorating focal point was this great old metal farm sink that placed in front of one of the barn windows.

 

I used lots of baskets, urns and fresh plants. I used only dark purple and white plants so they would show up against the dark barn wood backdrop.

 

I reconstructed this old garden chair by stenciling "France" on a piece of burlap and using it for the seat. I then made the back support into a chalkboard.

 

 I placed some handmade wooden signs throughout.

 

 

 

 

I hung vintage lace panels from the barn rafters~

 

 I made my version of a finial out of string and a metal stand. Stenciling "Paris" right on the string. The watering can is hung on an old piece of a gas light fixture that I stuck on the side of the urn.

 

Elizabeth and I at opening night, do we look sleepy? I am still trying to recover:)

Next up, The Miss Frenchies Artist Loft:) Thank You once again for all the wonderful comments. I just love to hear what you think:)

Miss Frenchie's Show

Come along with me as I take you on a tour of our Miss Frenchie's Show held in Kansas City this past weekend.  To start, our opening night was Friday evening and the weather was simply beautiful. The crowd was huge and had folks visiting from as far away as New York! We had a wine bar for customers to enjoy as they were waiting outside the entrance to the barn.

Donnie was set up outside and as always had a wonderful display:

On the inside of the barn, we wanted the feel of a European Market so we used lights draped inside of cheese cloth that hung from the huge center chandelier:

We also added lots of blooming branches and fresh plants throughout the barn. You can also get a glimpse of Karla's pretty booth.

 

Deb's booth with it's mix of antiques, garden and white bushes was lovely:

 

 

 

 

Across from Deb was Barb Farmer and her collection of chic antiques:

 

Check out how Barb displayed her mother of pearl silverware by sticking them in a garden urn filled with moss:

 

 

Next to Barb was Gwen and Teri of French By Design fresh from Marburger and Round Top. Everything they sell is straight from their trips to France!

 

 

Across the isle from Gwen and Terri were Karla and Beth and their magical collections:

 

 

One last picture for today: I loved this garden angel in Deb's booth.

 

Tomorrow we will venture into the barn annex where Elizabeth and I had our booths:) Thanks for visiting:)

Show Promoting 101 Tips

This evening is our opening night at the Miss Frenchie's Show. We worked all day yesterday (I got home about 1:00 am) transforming the Barn and our individual booth spaces into what we feel will be a magical event. Probably the number one advice I can give you is find a core group of Women (or Men) that share a bond of creativity but also have individual strengths that they can contribute.  Then discuss with your group what type of event you want to host.  For Miss Frenchie's, we knew that we wanted to do a show that would combine antiques and handmade goods with a European flavor. Almost like a open air market. Next we had to find the perfect venue for our events. One of our members (Gwen, French By Design) found the lovely historical Alexander Majors Home and Barn that is centrally located in Kansas City. We approached the Home's management with our plan of donating all door proceeds to their fund. This would also be a great marketing tool to get a greater amount of people through their doors due to our events. The Home's management was equally as excited as we were at the prospect and has been wonderful to work with.

I will be busy the next few days with the show but will post after pictures of how we transformed the Barn. Also, I will give you more tips on hosting your own show. This is Teri at midnight completing a wonderful decoupaged French shelf. See her smile, that is a huge strength especially at midnight when every bone in your body aches:)

Show Promoting 101

I have always been one to "put things together" when creating something decorative or organizational.  Last December a group of us decided that Kansas City needed an event that would showcase some of the talented Antique dealers and Artist's in our area. At the top of our list was to create a unique buying experience with a European styled flavor. Thus, our Miss Frenchie's Brocante was born. We found a beautiful Historical home in Kansas City that has a wonderful Barn that fit our needs perfectly.  The response from our inaugural show last December  far exceeded our wildest imagination. That was really amazing since we literally planed the show in less than two weeks. In my next few posts, I thought I would take you along on the journey of being a show promoter and share tips on how you could do the same thing in your area .  Today I am off to help tape the individual dealer spaces and decorate the Barn with Deb and Karla.  My first tip would be not to plan a event like this the same day taxes are due! 

Marburger Antique Show

As promised, here are a few highlights of the Marburger Antique Show~

First up is Judy Hill's wonderful booth~

 

 

 

The ever inspiring Linda and Ludmil~

 

 

Theresa's booth is always incredible. Check out her blog for more great pics.

 

 

Shelly's lovely booth:

 

Gwen, Teri and Barbara our Kansas City friends had a spectacular booth at both Marburger and the Red Barn Antique Shows:

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed my tour of Texas Antique week! This week will be very busy as I help to organize the Miss Frenchie's Show to be held on April 17+18 in Kansas City. I plan on doing a series of blog posts on the show so please check back:)

Texas Antique Week Part 3

Thank you so much for all the great comments regarding the Texas trip.  One of the reasons I love to go to this fantastic event is ALL of the inspiration that you find at every turn. I mentioned in one of the previous Texas posts that Industrial Chic was the "hot" decorating trend through out most of the shows. Tables with metal or zinc tops and everything on rollers were popular sellers. All my years as a Registered Nurse I would have never imagined that gurney's would be the new modern cool to decorate with. One vendor told me that her best finds were from a recent dairy farm auction!   

Love this wagon at the Blue Hills Show.  Check out this beautiful farm table and all the lovely "blues" mixed in.

  Heavy Metals!

 

  

Simply adored this beautiful Mary statue with the sun creating a stunning visual. See what I mean about inspiration?

   

Down the road to Zapp Hall~This is pictures of Gina's booth.

 

 

 

 

Of course at Zapp Hall we had to stop at 411 Theresa's Blog Party ~Check out her blog for more wonderful pictures.

 

 

Had to snap a picture of this guy dragging the front bumper of a car.

Next in my Texas series the Marburger Antique Show which I am dedicating an entire post on:)

Texas Antique Week Part 2

One of my favorites, the Texas Rose Show!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come:)

Texas Antique Week 2009 Part 1

  After a couple of days of much needed rest and healing some bruises (more on that later) I am ready to share photos and stories of our Texas trip.  Deb and I left KC last Saturday leaving a Spring snow storm behind and just in the nick of time. One of our dealer friends Terri was on our same flight to Austin and the three of us chatted the entire trip. Terri with her sister Gwen own French By Design and were selling at the Marburger and Red Barn Antique Shows. After landing in Austin, we headed to pick up our U-Haul. This is Terri in front of our empty truck.

Warrenton show traffic~Yehaaaw~

  First stop was the can’t miss event of Texas Antique Week the party at the spectacular Leftovers Antique Store in Brenham.  I just have to say that Ed and Michael the owners of Leftovers are super sweet and made us feel so Welcomed! The buzz was amazing and it was fun to visit with all of our friends including Ms 411 Theresa,  Kentucky Theresa, Linda and Ludmil, Mr and Mrs Sweet Pea ~Shelley pictured with Deb~

   

 

 

Bright and early the next morning we headed straight to our KC buddy Donnie's incredible booth~

 

Did I tell you that Donnie will be doing our Miss Frenchie's April Show in KC?

 

 

 

Industrial chic, garden and rust were all huge in Texas~

 

Next up tomorrow is the Texas Rose Show~Fabulous!