Color of the Month May 2016!

Hey MAY! Wow! I’d say I’ve had a pretty stellar start to this year so I’m going with COOL blue this month. Feeling a little bit behind here with all the busyness and travel as of late, but oh well, loving it! I’ll be doing a post soon on my trip to Nashville to the Country Living Fair which was at the end of April in case you missed my social media posts. Be sure to follow along if you aren’t already, links at the bottom of the page. I’m keeping it short here as I try to play catch up with work and general life responsibilities, enjoy the May color of the month! Also garden season is here! Prepped my veggie gardens last night! YAY!
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Fave vintage items: awesome juice glasses-love these! Vintage great lakes blueberry mug, cute little ceramic elephant, flower mugs, blue ceramic mugs, cornflower napkin holder, birdie planter, floral napkin, and polka dot glass canister.

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Fave vintage: tablecloth, funny flower lady potholder, patterned napkins, ceramic cup n saucers, juice glasses, woven plastic basket, and napkin as a centerpiece.

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APRIL color of the month!

Yes! April! Spring is now official! The cottage is back open, I haven’t been yet but soon, soon! I can’t wait for some quiet island time, bird watching, and starting the garden there, and the garden here at home for that matter. Plenty to do in the meantime. April is a busy month traditionally with family activity, work, and the commencement of rummage sale season. Spring is a great time to dig deep as we renew and refresh from the winter. With my upcoming birthday, giving me my last year before I hit the next decade, and going into my 10th year in business I’m digging extra deep these days. SO, I give you red this month, an emotionally intense charged color.
BLOG APRIL COLOR OF MONTH 2016

Fave Vintage: the kitschy wood salt and pepper bird saying salt and p’s, add-a-matic, tiny play cups, red honey jar, Hazel Atlas shot glasses, juice glasses, Welsh candy tin, plaid thermos, wind up ducky-too cute when he spins his cane! cast iron initials- bought them at a flea last summer, looked down there were my initials, it was a sign from the flea gods. All anchored by a sweet vintage tea towel. Head over to the vintage shop as usual to find most of these treasures!

BLOG APRIL COLOR TABLE SETTING 2016

Fave Vintage: Let’s start with linens! This new to me vintage tablecloth is going into my personal collection for now with its cool plant motif, the red star napkins MINE, and the napkin in the middle, yep keepin it! Now for you: vintage glasses, I love this shape for wine, and these Fire King primrose pieces are in shop ready for your collection or own setting! Proving once again a few colorful pieces make a great table setting! BOOM!

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NEW product NEW colorway!

Long ago, I created a blue jay block live at a neighborhood fundraiser. I’m bringing it back into my work, and it makes sense as certain ideas are really circling around as I’m reviewing what it means to be going into year 10 of business. The blue jay is such an interesting, beautiful, and amazing bird yet it often gets a bad rap for disrupting the typical backyard community and people unfairly judge it for all that it really offers and what they think it is. The blue jay is simply misunderstood and sometimes therefore ultimately feared or even disliked, but alas, it is an asset to have if you take the time to appreciate and understand. As you really start to research them you’ll find they are highly intelligent, highly adaptable, social, and family oriented. I’m a therefore a fan of the blue jay. As I’m typing this I’m suddenly remembering as a child I would put on my navy corduroy’s and navy zippie hoodie, pull the hood over my head and declare that I was a blue jay! I still wear a navy blue zip hoodie, and maybe I am still feeling like that blue jay from time to time…   And now to the swan. I’m wrapped up in the blue jay in my brain at the moment and I’ve talked briefly before about the swans significance so let’s cut to the chase here. There’s a brand NEW colorway in town and the organic swan tea towel is now available in Navy to go with the existing 16×16 designer fabric swan pillow, and of course back to the blue jay, also NOW available in shop the NEW 16×16 designer fabric pillow!
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BRAND NEW blue jay designer fabric pillow, and organic tea towel. And brand NEW navy swan tea towel colorway to go with the existing designer fabric swan pillow. Available in shop NOW!

 
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Color of the Month March 2016!

March! Yes! Getting close to Spring and green and gardens and plants, my fave! I got a nice dose of Spring while I was out in Seattle. I also got a nice dose of seasonal allergies there at the end of my trip which I was mindful to just embrace while I enjoying the daffodils, crocuses, gorgeous blooming camellias, and other amazing flowering plants and bushes that really popped. Plus, I find that having a dose of pollen from a trip pre at home allergy season helps in an immense way, so I should be all set this year! Anyway, ode to all things green with this color of the month. A bit of a dingier green mix, the kind that starts to surface from the grungy muck of post winter.
blog march vignette

Fave vintage: melmac cups, kitschy snake mug, toy cups, lamp salt and p’s, McCoy pot, Fire King bowls, Hollywood Extra cold cream jar, and MI Mackinac Bridge glasses, anchored on a pretty springy floral napkin.

blog march table setting

Fave Vintage: Bold tablecloth, daffodil tray, melmac, and pale stripe napkins.Thinking Spring over here! Just a few pieces this month make a stellar statement! And the tablecloth is a round one I tucked, the magic of styling and cropping 🙂

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Back from Break.

      I just took an unprecedented 2 weeks off and headed to the great Pacific NW. It was a great and much needed break. I enjoyed lots of old school friend time, exploring more neighborhoods, hitting some great spots I’ve been to before and lots of new places, live music, great food, some vintage digging of course, and just general chill time. I even assisted my friend in her textile studio and in installing custom bedding on a yacht which was pretty fun. I shared a few pics on instagram and the pic below is by far my fave from my trip, but I really tried to unhook from technology and be present which was pretty awesome. I’m feeling calm and relaxed and enjoying a much slower work pace. I’m all ready for Spring and my next adventure!  
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Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle. What a stunning view.

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Color of the Month February 2016

Jumping right into February! Slowly creeping closer to Spring, my favorite. Here’s some perky pink to help guide you through this drab month by adding a little extra bit of color. Wherever you are, I hope you’re getting more sunshine than we are here in MI, blah. I’m feeling a bit under the weather as I write this so…extra blah. Cabin fever is setting in and it’s waivering between 99.1 and 101.6 degrees. I think I’m on the mend, but seriously, I could use some real vitamin D from that thing we call THE SUN.
blog feb 2016 vignette

Fave vintage: salmony pink laundry sprinkler lady, fire king custard cups, raffiaware mugs (already sold), McCoy bowl-part of a set, Pyrex loaf pan, Miami salt and p’s, anchored by a pink crochet edged runner. Most of this and more, as usual, in the vintage shop, except my pink sprinkler lady, that weird collection is mine all mine 🙂

blog feb 2016 table setting

Fave vintage: gorgeous vintage tablecloth, I love tablecloths with either gray or this yellowy limey color that looks fresh with my walls. Pink melmac platter under another McCoy bowl from the mixing set, raffiaware tumblers, matching Fire King saucers (to the custard cups), gorgeous pink rose bowls, and oh so lovely pink squiggle napkins. I should have thrown in a pink artgoodies cupcake tea towel! Also, I want to mention, check the vintage shop if you see something you like, many times I’m setting a table for 2 but have pieces for 4 or six or more!

 
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NEW artgoodies BEE products!

beeprintcollegeNearly 20 years ago I made a bee print. It was significant in my early work, perhaps largely due to process. It wasn’t an etching, or engraving, or linocut. I made a wire sculpture and rolled it through the press in metalsmithing, hammered my copper plate flat and voila my bee print was born. I made several prints this way including “sad man” and “funny lady”. I guess I’ve always looked for ways to keep with traditional process but combine it with something else and go outside the lines trying to merge both 2 and 3 dimensional work. This time the bee, a linocut, makes an appearance again in a significant way. I’m still enjoying very process rich work and the poor bee is in a state of demise due to our over processed world. The natural world has and always will be a theme in my work, life, and live close to my heart. This new work reflects with a little more blatant seriousness my feelings on the subject matter. IMG_20160111_141436 (1)blog honeymix400wzp-bee - Copy bee towels    
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Valentine’s Buying Guide

January can feel a little bleak so let’s jet forward to the next holiday while I’m working on new designs (stay tuned!) In the meantime, here’s artgoodies Valentine’s buying guide.  If you’re looking for a way to give a sweet treat to anyone you care about, artgoodies can help, because everyone deserves a little love. Nab a sweetie pie towel set and SAVE or help someone celebrate a new engagement with a blingy ringy towel, tis the season. Whoever it is, remind someone you care, a friend, a neighbor, a loved one, be nice, that’s all. blog valentine mix
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Color of the Month January 2016!

Hello New Year! I was working on another project which slightly delayed my color of the month post but here it is in its sunshiney glory. I think warm sunny yellow seems like a bright way to start off the New Year! As usual I have an optimistic list of ideas, dreams, and things to do in 2016.
JAN 2016 VIGNETTE - BLOG

Keeping it simple in the vignette this month. Fave vintage: 2 little planters, cute little horse one huh? melmac cups, straw raffia mugs, plastic pig bank, and flower linen. As a little reminder you can purchase most of the items in my color of the month posts in my vintage shop right here!

JAN 2016 TABLE SETTING - BLOG

Fave vintage: melmac as usual 3 different styles this time, Pyrex carafe, tray, McCoy bowl, straw weave tumblers, gorgeous metal tray with gold edge, cute plaid napkins, all grounded by a new to me vintage tablecloth I just thrifted. Yay for yellow!

JAN 2016 ROOM - BLOG

Sometimes when you take down your holiday decor, especially when it’s an entire wall display, your house feels bare. The poinsettias really help fill the void and I get to enjoy them a little longer. I just love how they blend in and complete the look in vintage bamboo style ceramic planters I already have. I adore how this room came together.  

   
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