Notes from A Cottage Industry

Weekly words to live by.

Getting the jump on spring planting.

We had a sudden burst of glorious springtime warm weather this past weekend, and I took full advantage of it by running to Home Depot to buy up as many sun-loving hydrangeas as I could find. Most hydrangeas like shade, but I was thrilled when I recently discovered there is a variety that not only likes sun, but only grows to be three to five feet tall. My front yard is pretty much all sun,I needed eighteen to go around the inside perimeter of my picket fence (I plan to keep them trimmed to just over three feet once they grow, so that they will peek over and through my picket fence, much like this photo with roses that inspired my picket fence.)

They had ten, so I bought them all, and I will keep checking back for them to be replenished, or I may check a different Home Depot this week. I got home and later managed to get five of them planted (yippee!) and I will plant the remaining five tomorrow after work.

It's along, slow (and spendy) road to get my little cottage all dialed in like I envisioned it, but inch by inch, I am getting there.

And I am having so much fun in the process!

 

Weekly words to live by.

Because nothing says perfect campsite accessory like a pair of original Featherstone Pink Flamingos.

Am I right?

(You knew I'd find something fun to make sure our motorhomin'-road-trippin'-campsite had some fun touches.) 

I knew I wanted to get a pair of these little cuties as soon as Ralph got his motorhome, and surprisingly, once I decided to get them, I started seeing them everywhere online. Some of them are more creatively painted, and some without any yellow touches, and there were quite a few different shades of pink out there as well.

I ended up finding mine at World Market, and once I got them home, I decided to google up the history of the pink flamingo yard ornament. It turns out that back in 1957, a sculptor named Don Featherstone was hired by a Minnesota plastics company to create three dimensional lawn ornaments, and the pink flamingo was his second assignment. Being in Minnesota, he had never even laid eyes on a flamingo, and he had to use a National Geographic book to study photos of the long necked birds. Selling for less than three dollars a pair, they were an instant hit, winning America's hearts, and lawns.

As the 1960's progressed, America began to like more...well...natural looking yard decor, and for a while the pink flamingo yard art fell from grace. It has come back in a big way, with so many of us (me included.) loving the cool retro vibe.

My own personal relationship with pink flamingos goes back to the late 80's, when we moved our young family to the biggest little city from northern California. We bought our first home in a neighborhood of other young families, and long story getting longer, my then-husband purchased a single pink flamingo on a trip to the nearby ShopKo store. He brought it home, and during the warm spring and summer evenings, the flamingo would be there, stuck in someone's lawn, and then the entire neighborhood would know that this would be where we would gather that evening to visit and watch the kids play. As the Dad's were arriving home from work, that hot pink bird would appear on a lawn, and we'd all end up meandering to that house. At the end of the evening, someone would grab it and take it home, to place it in their yard the next evening. It's one of my fondest memories of that time of my life, raising our kids in what felt like small town America after living all my life in the crowded bay area.

I can hardly wait to go camping again, and break those sweet birds out of their box, and plop them into the dirt in our campsite, adding some cheerful whimsey.

God bless you, Don Featherstone.

Weekly words to live by.

Booth re-fluffing.

Wednesday night was dealer night at Camas Antiques, and I was busy adding a couple sweet finds from a convent that was being demolished. Mmm hmm, see that charming little arched medicine cabinet? My daughter scored two of them this past week the night before the building was to be demolished, and if I had found a place in my cottage for one of them to 
fit, they wouldn't have made it to my booth.

A few more treasures made their way to my booth space as well.....

...and I am working on a few painted items that will be added to the space next week.

This is all too fun!

Save the dates for Camp Cupcake 2016.

I know.

I'm a little carried away.

Over the top.

But, that's kinda who I am, you know?

I'm already planning and list-making, and merit patch-buying for this summer's Camp Cupcake, and since I've picked the weekend in the summer to hold it, I'm getting ready to send out the save-the-dates.

I found these solar powered fire-fly mason jars that exude "camp-out" to me. (What do you think?)

I added homemade tags, and I think I might add some feather embellishments, and they will be good to go in the mail and in-person delivery next week.

It's going to be so much fun!

Farm Chicks serendipity, ten months later.

Thanks for all of the cottage compliments yesterday! Yes, I am having a ball making my house a cozy home, and I have so many ideas spinning in my head at all times, that it is all I can do to saty focused at work during the day.

I love it when I see a fabulous vintage idea, and then, at some random time and place, find it for myself. Case in point is this photo I pinned a good while back....

Oh, how I loved the look of the weathered canning jar basket, with canning jars filled with old silverware! A few months later, I saw the same concept at the Farm Chicks Show. It wasn't filled with silverware, but other items, but my heart jumped when I saw it, because I could not believe my luck, and I thought I could buy it.

Sadly, it had no tag, and when I asked about it, I was told it was not for sale.

Time passed, and when the Other Tracey was up helping with my booth, we went out thrifting. She spotted the wooden plate pedestal; she thought it was a lazy Susan, but then we discovered it was a pedestal. I had a cheap moment and was not going to buy it. (It was $2.99, for gosh sakes, and as I said, I was having a cheap moment.) She was horrified, and pointed out that I could paint it my signature robin's egg blue, which I could picture, and so I ended up buying it after all.

It sat in the garage for a week,and then I stopped by the Goodwill bins. I spied with my little eye, from an entire row away, the weathered metal canning basket.

I quite literally gasped out loud and scampered over to it, scooping it up out of the large bin full of crummy junk.

Oh. My.

Could it be that it might fit the wooden cake pedestal at home?

I drove straight home, and rushed into the garage, grabbed up the pedestal, and set the two treasures on my workbench.

It was a match made in junk heaven, for sure.

I washed my canning jars and filled them with some of my favorite old silverware.

Too fabulous for words.

sigh Like I said, I love it when stuff like this happens.

 

Making more progress outside.

Can you see it? The progress on the outside of my sweet little cottage?

 

I'll give you a clue. there are two things that have been done in the last two weeks.

Okay, one of them might be a little harder to see in these pictures. My oldest grandson and his Mama came over, as well as the Sewing Queen, and we finally got the picket fence all the way painted. (This was no small feat, folks. Two sides, each over 150 feet long, two coats of white stain...and, you may recall that the Sewing Queen and I originally  started this project last October...)

The second improvement is a new roof. (Notice the color change up there?)

Next steps out side...landscaping... a section at a time.

 

 

Weekly words to live by.