Junking fun on the west coast

It’s been a while. Though I think I made you smile. (Maybe I’ll start all future posts with a Peter Frampton reference. But today my track record for music accuracy ain’t so hot.)

Anyway…I was fortunate to spend Saturday at an antiques market in California! I’ve only been to California a few times, but I’ve always managed to find time to junk. This time I was staying with a friend, so she had to drag me by the hair from the cool coastal climate in San Diego to The Vintage Marketplace, further inland in a place called Rainbow. Sounds pretty as a picture, doesn’t it?

I’m not going to waste anymore time with words. Instead, I’ll just show you the goods and the charming setting, and let you decide if it’s picture perfect.

Here’s what I left behind and where I left it. Hope you enjoy the beauty!

 

That is Dotti, Jo and me, doing a little advert for Broke Jewels, who I’ve been stalking on Etsy and Facebook for some time now. I came home with a nice lot of her findings but didn’t keep the crown.

I left Rainbow with a few things I had to squeeze into my carry on, including three giant sunflower heads and a silverplate pitcher with an 1868 monogram. I also left with a ton of inspiration and some fabulous new friends.

Putting the pro in procrastination

I’ve had terrible sales at the shop this month. Okay. Not terrible, horrible, no good, very bad sales. I didn’t loose money. And considering I haven’t added anything new to speak of in two-plus weeks, it could’ve been much worse.

The thing is, I’m down to pieces that need work. I don’t have a single piece of furniture in my inventory that I can just move right into the shop. I need to paint. I need to use power tools. I need to add knobs. I need to pick up stuff I’ve purchased! Right now my storage space includes the sheds, playhouses and basements of my friends and their children! This leads me directly to something else that needs to be done that I’ve been putting off:

Cleaning out my trailer. I have a deadline for this. And it is Thursday evening. Then I’m hooking the thing up, with the help of a very handsome man who sometimes calls himself my husband, and heading to Fort Worth to pick up a HUGE shop-ready load and make a little art with Lisa of Tarnished and Tattered (see my sidebar) while I’m there. It just so happens, an antiques show is scheduled in Fort Worth this weekend in the Cultural Arts District. Sweet Talk/Rubbish’s Janet (see my sidebar) will be selling there. And I MAY be able to break bread with her and a couple of other junkers in for the show. And, AND we may swing by the Cattle Barn flea before going our separate ways Sunday.

So once I get my trailer cleaned out for the road trip then reload it with cool stuff, I’ll be getting the house in order (well, in a little better order) for a Red.Neck Chic Soiree that I’ll be co-hosting the following weekend with my neighbor and dear, SWEET, adorable, talented friend, the infamous Amy Boland.

Click on the photo above for all the details. {If you’re a creeper, and you show up, We. Will. Cut You. Make no mistake.} You can email me directly if you have any questions at all. If you’re in the area and you’re NOT a creeper, we’d love to have you stop by for a look-see and perhaps some gourmet snacks.

In the mean time, instead of cleaning out and/or just plain cleaning, I made some art.

It might not look like much to you, but it has a story. And it goes something like this:

We got a new printer. And I mostly love it. The colors it turns out are much more vibrant than what our old photo printer would spit at us. And it’s cool. It is supposed to have wireless printing capabilities. So we were testing it earlier tonight, and I printed out a test page to make sure it was working. The image I printed was a digital collage I’d been playing with on PicMonkey. To the average Joe, it doesn’t look like much. But to me, it was a couple of hours of work and a new technique learned.

The digital collage began with the green background. Then I layered a cabinet card on top. Here’s the new-to-me technique: I extracted the woman from the cabinet card background. {I love the word “extracted.” It sounds so medical.} Really what I did was erase the background. The next layer I added was the swing. More background erasing, which gets a little more complex with each layer. Then came the wings. Again…hard to remember what you’re taking out, and what you’re adding back in. Adding the text, butterflies, corners and crown was no biggy. Even adding the wand was pretty simple, but it still involved some erasing so she’s actually holding the wand.

And speaking of the text: I have always loved that Glinda the good witch quote. And I saw it beautifully painted on an old door at Not Too Shabby in Helotes a couple of days ago. It fit this image perfectly.

Since I had already printed out this image, I decided to make something out of it. I scrounged up a dusty canvas that was getting stepped on in my storage room. I added a couple of layers of paint. Then I added some gel medium and adhered the image, random buttons (another thing I seem to hoard) and some German glass glitter. I added the bow at the bitter end.

It was a quick piece, but it served a purpose: It was a nice diversion from my to-do list which needs to get ta-done! Will I hate myself in the morning? Probably. But what’s new.

Procrastinators unite!

Keep or sell? That is the question…

A couple of years ago, I brought this statue home with me because someone broke her feet completely off at the shop. She was pretty pricey. And I was plenty miffed.

 

I had found her at an estate sale. Purchased on the discount day, she was still a little spendy. So I had to charge more for her. Then tragedy struck. Since she was no longer able to stand, I rescued her and brought her home with me to live out her final years. She got quite comfy resting on her side on a tea cart in the corner of my pink room.

Then I bought a “crown” from vintagesue. (Her blog is on my blogroll, but she doesn’t use it anymore. She’s now selling through her Facebook page, aptly called vintagesue. You should check it out.)  I thought the crown would look so smashing on a cement statue, but the only statue I had was a gargoyle. That wasn’t quite the look I had in mind.  So I decided to place the crown on a dress form instead.

And I loved it there. By the window. In my pink room.

Until I remembered my footless statue.

I think she was born to wear that crown! It seems to have lifted her spirits. So tonight I planted the footless girl, topped with the lovely crown, in a mid-century tulip. So far she hasn’t toppled over and broken the planter. She is quite heavy and I am known for making bad decisions that end up putting someone’s eye out. (Okay. That may be a BIT dramatic.) Tomorrow I’ll fill in around her with moss. Then I must decide whether to keep or sell. I always meant to sell the planter, but I’m rather attached to it now. And if I took my creation to the shop, I’d have a huge hole to fill in the pink room and in my heart.

Overjoyed

Still on cloud nine from chasing rock stars last week. Egads. I decided to put the excess star-struck energy to work and create a transfer for a piece of art.

Lisa from Tarnished and Tattered (blog roll), has an old photo of a little girl that ends up in many of her art pieces. We joke about how Lisa is whoring her out. (I even saw her for sale at an antiques store in Waco, for crying out loud.) Well, this is my girl who gets around. Her last appearance was on a bag with lyrics from the Shins.

If you have groupie tendencies, feel free to read about my latest adventure over at http://museforthemasses.blogspot.com. I’m putting that link right in this copy because suddenly this format looks foreign to me, and I can’t seem to be able to link anything (but you might be able to click on the photo to go there). Oh, well…

The 2012 Peep Show…

The New Year. It always starts with a clean slate, which fills slowly but surely.   This past year wasn’t much different from any other year. Travel and friends mixed with art and junk to create a very good time. Also this year, I opened an Etsy shop, bought a cargo trailer for hauling all my junk, graduated a kid from high school and sent the same kid off to college at the University of Chicago.  You won’t see any of that personal stuff here. This is your tour of my junking year, with a few art stops along the way. So strap in and get ready for a LONG ride. Maybe you’ll see some familiar faces along the way or make some new friends. Hope you enjoy the trip. I know I did! {P.S. This was posted mostly from my phone. They have updated the app, and now I can edit it online. And, most importantly, you can click on the photos to see them at a larger size. You are welcome, Theresa Cano.}

The photo above is from the Peacock Park Design showroom in Dallas. January market is actually a holiday market, with previews of new Halloween and Christmas merch (none of which is pictured here). Peacock Park had a Christmas line for the first time. It was TDF (to die for).

Fab farm sale in early March… I made three trips to this sale (full price day, 25% off day, and half-off day). The final day, I was determined to get everything in one load. As you can see, a bookshelf had to be lowered in through the sunroof. This was hands down the best sale of the year. On two of my trips out, I saw the awesome mom-daughter duo of Accumulations. In fact, I gave up the coolest canvas seed spreader in exchange for their undying friendship. LOTS of familiar faces shopped this sale. It was huge. I think I bought 10 antler mounts, among loads of other things.

Over spring break in March, I hit the well-worn trail to Waxahachie for A Paper Cowgirl art retreat. (I made that crown above!) Petticoats on the Prairie had taken their West Texas show on the road and set up shop that same weekend. It was a super fun weekend, and hopefully no one caught the bacterial infection I was unknowingly harboring. Steroids made me feel up to making the trip. Yay for good drugs. And good friends, like the rockin’ women below…

That’s Karla, Beth and Lisa, three of the Paper Cowgirl teachers. And this is some serious foreshadowing for another art retreat I went to in April.

Dear Amy And Betti (above). Betti travels all the way from NYC to come create with Paper Cowgirls. Secretly I know she comes just to see me. I had the chance to visit her in NYC a few weeks ago. She’s a fantastic hostess. She and I may get to spend some time together in Warrenton this spring. My fingers are crossed. Amy is my good neighbor. We love to make plans, but they almost always fall through. We need to work on that in 2013. I think I see some juice bar dates in our future!

See Troy. See Robelyn. See Troy hug Robelyn. See the cutest picture ever. These two are my favorite Waconians…together at last at the Petticoats show. Junk brings out the best in them, don’t you think?

No trip would be complete without a Debbie and Cat Daddy sighting.  Even in Waxahachie! Just between us, they are terrible at following driving directions. With them is Lisa Love Harris, who has the best smile I’ve ever seen. She moved back to Texas this year after living in the Pacific Northwest for far too long, IMO. So glad she’s back.

On the left in the photo above is head cowgirl, Cindy (we’ve since talked about her strange arm pose. She promises to correct it next time.). Susan is in the middle. That’s NY Betti on the end. Can you tell it was St. Patrick’s Day? Betti had just spilled an entire cup of coffee on her brand new white ruffled leggings, but New Yorkers are tough enough to live with a huge stain out in public for an entire day. Watch for my meet up with Susan down the road in April. After this breakfast, Betti, Cindy and I headed to Ft. Worth for the Cowgirl museum and flea market shopping. Also we consumed some bundt cakes. Yes. Plural. They were small.

Amy, Cindy, Betti and me… at some famous burger joint in Ft. Worth. Amy’s mom, Terri, took this photo. I think this was after we had shopped the Cattle Barn flea in Ft. Worth. I taught them a little something about ordering animal style.

Now it’s the end of March, and we’re in Warrenton and Round Top, Texas. Ah, Happy Belly’s final Warrenton show. Gone are the days when I would bookend my Antiques Week visit with luch at Happy Belly. Oh, how I miss the meatloaf sandwich. Deb, you promised me the recipe. Don’t make me come to Florida to find you!

Blue Hills show in Round Top. I’m in love with Love Train Antiques.

Queen Lisa took the tiara theme seriously at Theresa’s blog party, bless her heart. She’s the coolest thing ever. She sells at Zapp Hall field in the teepee tent.

Amy and Ms. Blends of Georgetown. I have made the most of my velvet jacket and pants this holiday season, D.

This really dark shot looks to be Kim of City Farmhouse (middle) and the blog party host herself, Theresa, on the right.  Please help me identify the woman on the left! {BTW, I don’t know any of these people. I just show up and take pictures so I can brag on this blog. Ha.}

I made her wear that crown. It was in her booth, and if I was expected to wear a crown, the hostess with the mostess was going down with me.

Things sometimes get a little nutty after hours during Antiques Week.

ToT!

Shelley and Christie. Did I just botch the spelling? I’m just now realizing how well-represented Florida Is during Antiques Week and how long this post is! Hang on. We’re just getting started.

The two Pacific Northwesterners invade Warrenton… Pam, of Plucky Maidens fame, and Lisa, the Garden Cat. Lisa has one murder mystery under her belt and is working on her second novel.

Betsy and Elaine of Sisters Treasures joined in on the blog party fun. You can find their wares for sale at Fredericksburg Trade Days.

ToT and Sweet T… and they seem to be behaving.

Sandy came all the way from the west coast to enjoy our hot, humid weather. With her is Charlene and Lisa. They are all artsy girls.

Happy. The only word to describe how Cindy makes you feel. Well…maybe not the only word. For reals I have no idea who the man is. We just liked his sign. And he was happy to pose for us. Why wouldn’t he be?

You know trouble’s brewing when the sewing circle gets this large and the sun starts setting. That’s Lisa, me, Pam, Janie, Lynn, Elaine, Lisa, Cindy and Betsy.

Kim, Debbie and the man who would like to be the next Cat Daddy. Goodluckwiththat.

And speaking of CD, here is a gang of imitators…except David, who seems to exist in his own hot little world.

Paparazzi shot. All that’s missing is a hand covering the camera lens. She did throw me to the ground after this was taken…as a warning.

Luncheon at Royer’s, featuring Carol Bolton. That’s Charlene and Cindy with Carol in the photo above.

Junk haul from Warrenton!

Sweet Talk/Rubbish’s sweetie, Janet, at Marburger Farm. You should see this girl pack. She has serious skills.

Stephanie’s junk at Marburger. She and Janet both sell in Dallas At a KILLER shop called Curiosities.

Now it is some other month and we are in PLANO, TX. Yes. That is me with my BFF Tim Holtz.

And now we add Susan to the mix. She later took me to lunch in her sweet convertible. Tim, sadly, did not join us.

More art fun. This time with KC Willis in Ft. Worth. Somehow I didn’t get a picture of her. But this is the cover of my class project, a fabric collage book.

And the art tour continues with Cami and Lisa, as we traveled to Kansas for Karla’s Birdsong retreat We got sidelined in Oklahoma for a few hours…junking.

Karla in her element… at her home in Kansas. That is a blog post itself. She has an amazing home and is such a generous host. Her cooking skills are mad.

The Texas  Birdsong crew… Me, Nicki, Tammy, Cami and Lisa. Tammy flew. On a plane. The rest of us carpooled Nicki is a drivin’ fool.

I love this picture of Beth. Looks like she’s leading the art zombies to drink some kool aid.

New friend from California, Dottie, who I plan to visit, with Karla. Yes, Dotti, I’m a known couch surfer. So don’t ever offer up your home — especially in Cali — unless you mean business.

Karla poses for us, after we are loaded to go home…

Then she somehow falls from the bumper to the ground, causing thunderous laughter. She wasn’t hurt.

Now it is the end of May and we are in Hico, at the  Homestead antiques show.

Brenda and Mike, the lovely owners of Homestead. All the Hico show vendors RAVE about how fun it is to vend at their shows. They cherry pick the best vendors. It’s a beautiful show.

Random: My bedroom, sporting some Red.Neck Glam on the wall.

Major junk haul over the summer from Lisa in Ft. Worth. Now she has more for me. She is threatening to send her sweet baby daughter to work the corner in her ‘hood if I don’t come claim the new goods soon.

Citywide in Austin…Debbie and Theresa

Cat Daddy and Cruz at Citywide…

Antiques Week, Warrenton/Round Top fall show…shopping in the rain with funk and junk queen Nancy.

Oh, David… Thanks for sharing him with all the rest of us, Kim. You are a trooper.

Another decent Warrenton haul…

After hours in Z app field with Debbie, ToT and Robelyn… Rex and Shelley… I think some tequila may have been consumed prior to this meet up. I won’t tell who consumed it.

Awww…Marburger…

Yep. Back in Warrenton.

Now it is October, and we are back in Waxahachie for Paper Cowgirl Wicked Tea. New instructor Binky was a huge hit. She is junk + art. Bonus! You can find her shop in Llano, Texas, right next door to Whimseys.

In October, my mom and I drove to Colorado City for the Petticoats show. I bought this, along with a trunkful of junk. Why there are no pictures, I’m not sure.

Then there was the Rusted Gingham barn sale in Gonzales, first weekend in November, where I actually sold for a change. Okay, I bought there too. But this is some of my stuff. It’s a fun show. It was huge this year. And I think it was hugely successful, too. Why don’t you add it to your junking calendar. First Saturday in November, and the evening prior.

Final junk purchase of 2012. When my sister brought her to me, her hands weren’t posed like this. I can’t show you that picture. One word: Nephews. I can’t decide if I’ll part with her or not. Right now she’s still pretending it’s Christmas, with a wreath around her neck and some sheet music in her hands. My cats love that she’s now wearing a fur coat. They are bonding with the fur.

That ends my “what I did in 2012” XL blog post. I hope it was a good year for you, junk-wise and personally. May 2013 be full of joy and prosperity! See you again soon. Next time, maybe you can be my co-pilot!

The booth that threw up Christmas, or how NOT to put all your eggs in one basket

So I had this whole idea for a post: talk about how, if you are an antiques dealer, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to holidays — unless, of course, you are that quirky space everyone flocks to when the seasons change. OR…if you don’t care to sell a blessed thing other than Christmas merch at Christmastime. Then, and only then, be my guest. 

BUT… then I thought that post would be a bit pushy and bossy since I’ve been MIA for a few months. {Even my husband noticed. That’s when I know I’ve let things go a little too far south.}

So instead, I thought I’d throw in a few pictures of my pink room, which is where I sit when I’m computing. It’s also where the cats do their business, so sometimes I avoid it. It also houses two sofa beds that can’t be folded out into beds at the same time. And there’s a stunning view of the trampoline in our backyard and the junking mess I’ve amassed on the patio. Sounds perfectly inviting, doesn’t it?

Sometimes the pink room is filled with music. When I look above the computer screen, I see my children’s artwork from many moons ago. I also glimpse a tiny inspiration board full of family photos, art workshop name tags and other odds and ends. There’s a killer new dress form I haven’t been able to let go of and the coolest coral-colored arm chair with matching footstool. I also have a horse-hair quilt from France that was bought for resale, but has found a home on the back of one of the sofas. See? Not all bad.

This is a corner in the pink room. The magnet you can hardly see on the wall says “my house is cuter than yours,” which is only true most of the time.

Truth be told, blogging became a hassle for me. I was taking photos mostly with my phone, so I would blog from my phone. But I don’t really like the keyboard on my phone, so my writing was brief. And when I started this blog, I started it as a place to write about junk. So I was hating that I’d stopped doing that. In addition, I hate uploading photos. I’m not sure why I found it to be such a nuisance, but I did. Maybe I’m over that phase now. I got a new camera from Santa, and I’ve been having fun messing around with it. And the uploading really hasn’t been bad at all. BUT…there may be times when I’m only writing a post. I may skip photos altogether. I realize that breaks a cardinal blogging rule, but I really couldn’t care less at this point. Rules were made to be broken. Right?

I LOVE pin cushions. These were purchased at the Magnolia Pearl garage sale a while back. In the background is a LONG Victorian pyrography box, covered in old wallpaper and purchased from Willow Nest. These sit on a coffee table in the pink room.

So, looking forward, I’m still planning to publish my year-end name-dropping post where I brag about all my cool junking peeps and the fun places I’ve been during 2012. That post will probably be from my phone because that is where all the photos are! New this year: I’m mostly doing away with links. You can look them up yourself, right?! I’m too lazy to link up. Also, I’m following in the footsteps of Debbie from Talking White Trash and turning off blog comments… when I get around to figuring out how to do it.

It’s not that I don’t want to hear from you. I do. Really. But you can shoot me an email or visit me on Facebook if you’d like to chat. I’m that close. All the time. 24-7. 

The only kind of flowers I can grow : metal ones on a chandelier.

And this concludes my strange but true blog post for this evening. I have a BIG January planned. Somehow I need to work in a trip to Ft. Worth to pick up a load of stuff from Lisa with Tarnished and Tattered. My across-the-street neighbor is pressuring me to pick up the cabinet I purchased from her back in the summer. I still have a couple of pieces of furniture, including an antique wheelchair, to pick up from a friend who lives pretty close to me. There’s a crate and some sewing machine drawers waiting for me in New Braunfels. Dallas Market is RIGHT around the corner. {I LOVE going to market, to market to buy who-knows-what.} And finally, look for news here after January 30, when I’m sure to be announcing my upcoming nuptials to Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, who I’ll be spending time with in San Antonio. {Apologies to my current husband for having to find out the news on my blog.}

All the junking news that’s fit to print. Right here. For you and you alone. Hope you are enjoying a fabulous holiday season! Cheers!!

Do you think she’s scary?

Working on a little Halloween art, while the rain pours down outside …

 

Is she at all spooky?

Is she disturbing?

Does she look wicked?

I realize it’s only September 13, but I started stocking Halloween at the shop way back at the end of August, so it feels like fall already to me. So far, the hot Halloween items seem to be $5 glittery owl ornaments. I suppose the popularity of the owl is here to stay? I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a horrible thing.

 

Wordy Wednesday: Pickin’ and grinnin’

I found a pair of hotel pitchers at the flea market. Different hotels, but both marked.

This case is original to the ROLLER SKATES hidden inside!

My vow to buy NO. MORE. BOOKS. was quickly broken when I saw this at the flea market.

Cut velvet from the flea market

Found this amazing cooler in Georgetown at Gatherings. Too scared to bring it in the house since I’m purging, it’s resting sweetly at the shop.

Chair once belonged to a friend, pillows belonged to a neighbor and the book was the second vow-breaker I found Sunday at the flea.

You’d break a vow for this too. I just know it.

Scale part! Nice ‘n’ rusty. Karly got its much better twinkie at the flea.

I’m now the proud owner of a kazillion of these bottles. “If you buy them all, I’ll make you a really good deal.” She wasn’t joking. Therefore, I bought!

A pair of these came home with me from the flea. One will be heading to college with the elder son, if I can convince myself that it won’t cause a fire in a 1930s dorm…

Maybe my favorite find from Sunday. I don’t know why.

SOLD! One blue and one white fish-shaped pool lounge chair. G-sale success…

Egads…leftovers from a box lot auction buy. Never again.

Childhood memories…

This table remained unchanged and unsold at the g-sale. Maybe it was too cute for its tablecloth.

Toward the end of last week I was all, “I’m so tired of STUFF!” I was smack dab in the middle of trying to make some kind of sense out of our storage room when the garage sale idea was born.

So we had our garage sale over the weekend. Two full days in 100-degree heat. We ended up about $1300 richer, thanks to a couple of sweet sales and my trendy taste in furniture. (Joke)

My husband was out of town during the whole shebang. Before he flew away to cooler temperatures, I warned him that I might sell everything. (That right there is some kind of creepy cool foreshadowing.)

Little did I know that the raspy-voiced woman from our last g-sale would return. Little did I know that she, in her too-short shorts and skimpy tank top, had connections. And maybe because we suffered sights that should remain unseen while we helped her load at our last sale, we were met with some kickin’ karma: Her connection spent $900 with me. And I have his card just in case I decide I can part with my dining room furniture at some point in the future.

Because I like to sweat so much, I got up nice and early Sunday morning for some flea market action. I would’ve skipped it had I not been meeting Karly, of Gypsy Treasures fame. She’s so much fun to hang with, as is her hubby. And their kids are precious…even if the wee one had his shorts on backwards. Or maybe because he did. They arose at 0-dark-thirty to make the trek to San Antonio from Boerne, which is quite a drive when you have a 7 am play date, though not as far as Houston or Louisiana, where they used to live. So glad she’s close enough that we’ll get the chance to be more than 6-month friends!

Most of the pictures above are flea market finds from Sunday. A couple are from our garage sale. I tried to make the sale cute, but nothing’s cute in a brown yard when it’s 100 degrees.

Word.

Talent on a Wordless Wednesday

Not completely wordless, of course. For me that’s impossible. But I’m stuck at NTB with a nail in my tire, so I decided to finally take a minute to show you the work of one talented woman: Sari Jane, my across-the-aisle neighbor at Homestead.

She and daughter Dawn are fountains of creativity. They design jewelry and the most gorgeous lampshades I’ve ever seen. Right now there is a beautiful hanging lamp in their space. And because I’m the nosy type, I had to stick my head under the shade just to look at its innards. Its underbelly is perfection! These women pay strict attention to detail, as you can see in the photos of the precious trike.

I love them both. Like their lampshades, they are beautiful inside and out. They and their work are huge sources of inspiration.

The final final expansion

And just like that, the “you can do it all” part of my brain overtook the “you hate going to the post office” part of my brain.

The result?

I’ve now opened an Etsy shop.

I have a huge stack of these Victorian albums. Maybe they’ll all eventually make it to my Etsy shop.

So…in keeping with self-promotion, I’ve now added a link on my sidebar to said Etsy shop and to my business page on Facebook. AND…in case you are confused by the different names, my shop name has always been Checkered Past. My blog is Junkology.  Simple, right?

Now I just need to figure out where to put what goods. This has always been a problem for me. I’ll take something to one shop location and wish it were in the other. I use the term “holding it hostage” entirely too much when I’m referring to something that hasn’t sold at one location. I’m always sure it would sell if I moved it. Sometimes I’m right. Sometimes it was just a bad buy to begin with.

If you have an Etsy shop, please let me know your shop name so I can add you to my circle o’ shops. And just like my neglected blogroll, I may be a little slow to link up to your shop, but it will happen.

Thanks, as always, for coming back to this blog, even when a month has passed and I haven’t had a single word to say. Oh, I’m thinking plenty. Believe me. And I’m doing, too. I just don’t always take the time to share.

Hope you’re having a fabulous summer…