Primrose Parlor

Primrose Primitives

2011-10-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well that's what I call it anyway. For now, it is just a small, simple vintage and collectibles business all official and everything with the state of Wisconsin. I've been selling out of a great antique mall in Hixton, Wisconsin. Tried a few other places but not as much success. I'm actual amazed at how well it has been going. The sales for the summer were great. I know things will start to wind down as vacation travelers are now back in the routine of school. Then we have the holiday season and snow fast approaching. I'll be happy if the sales during the slow time just pays the rent. It will pick up again shortly after that.

I Finally Did IT!!!!

2010-10-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

I bet your wonder what the IT is? Well I have always wanted to have my own antiques/collectibles store out of our house or if we had a barn. Well our house is too small and we don't have a barn. So I decided to rent space in a shop. I ended up with actually two locations - one is a much more upscale shop with only items that are 1968 and older. The other spot I'm hoping works out well too but they have very few rules on things so I could almost put anything in that booth. They even agreed to let me put a few handmade primitive items. So maybe that will work well too. As soon as I get more set up I'll try to post some pictures. Wish me luck on this new venture!!!! I really just want to pay the low rent fees. Looking forward to the next auction I can attend.

Going Down and Down

2010-04-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't posted in awhile. It's hard to keep up with crafting and prim decor while homeschooling five kiddos. So I guess I'll try to fit some in during summer break and then the rest will have to wait til they all graduate.

I've also been busy trying to fit in some exercise both for health and because of really needing to lose some weight. The good news is I am down around 16lbs and I really don't know how many inches but I started at about a size 18/20 and I'm now in 11/12 for some things and 13/14 if the jeans are from those stores that the sizes run small anyway like Aeropostale and Old Navy. I only have about 30lbs to get to my weight watchers goal and then I won't need to pay the meeting fee.

Knee Problems for my Little Guy

2010-01-25T18:17:00.000-08:00

My son Micah (age 7) has patella knee where your knee cap shifts out of place from time to time for no reason. The other night at about 10:30 during his sister's sleepover party it happened again. It was the worst I've ever seen it. He was screaming he was in so much pain. I kept trying to shift it back into place, not that I really know what I'm doing, but I've watch the doctors before but it wasn't working so well. Or at least I thought that. I took hubby along because the roads were icy and we headed to the ER. I felt so awful leaving the girls home after inviting two of Natania's friends over to sleep. I felt so guilty but my oldest daughter 16 was home and Natania's friends are very mature and well behaved. They took 4 xrays and the knee was lined up right but they were concerned about ligament damage. So we went home at about 2:30am with crutches and a leg brace that is the size used for a small adult so that wasn't all that helpful but it did immobilize his knee for a few days. Our follow up visit was today with our family doctor. He told him to try to limp around until it felt better and to try to put some weight on it just a little. As long as it didn't hurt. He thought he would be better in a few days but he is also setting up an appt. for us to see an orthopeds specialist. He is thinking Micah might need knee surgery but he wants the specialist to make the final decision because Micah is so young and the surgery is usually done in your teen years. So now we now wait and see.

Giveaway winner!!

2010-01-17T15:00:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Tammy from a Primitive Place. She is the winner of the cute Christmas tea light. Enjoy!!

Blog Anniversary Giveaway

2009-12-31T16:21:00.000-08:00

I didn't even realize but one of my blogs is one year old today. I haven't been blogging all that long but have enjoyed skimming around the blog-o-sphere and reading what is happening in your world, in your part of the country or the globe for that matter.

I think in honor of this blogs birthday I will post this picture of a simple give away that you can put aside for next year. I made a few of these this season. The tealight holder is made from black felt and the top edge is sprinkled with german glass glitter. I wrapped some tea stained cheese cloth around the hat and pinned a rusty jingle bell.

All you need to do for this giveaway is become a follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know that you are following or if you are already a follower just tell me that. Sound good? I'll make it easy this time and a little more interesting the next. Good luck! I'll post the winner around January 17th.

And Happy New Year everyone

Let the Merry Making Begin

2009-12-24T11:59:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve and at our house that is when a lot of the celebration begins. We prepare the rest of the food which this year we bought too much so we will have to finish some of it tomorrow while eating left overs. Micah woke everyone up early to open stockings. I manage to put him off until about 10:30am so we could get a few things started.

On the menu this year is ribs (for later or tomorrow), chicken wings, cranberry chicken wings, lots of dips, hummis and few other things. I'm hoping to make tomorrow or the day after a gingerbread cake. So that will be a nice treat.

It looks like we will be snowed in from the storm that is going on outside today and tomorrow. They are predicting 15-20inches for us. I guess this will be a real "white Christmas". One of the girls is a little disappointed about getting snowed in - she was hoping to go to a movie on Christmas day like we did last year. We don't normally do that but with all our family too far away to travel to we decided to try that. I was actually very surprised at how crowded the theater was last year.

Merry Christmas to all of you. Enjoy your time with family and friends celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world.

Lil' Christmas Eve

2009-12-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Today our family celebrates "Lil' Christmas Eve". We adopted the tradition from our pastor back home in New England. His family has Norweigan background and my husband's side has Sweedish. So the day before Christmas, we start baking and doing those fun little things around the house as we get ready to celebrate the birth of Christ. We listen to carols while cooking and maybe a little bit of cleaning gets done. We finish up the wrapping and put the final touches on our decorations. We baked 3 different cookies today. We usually do much more but the time this year seemed to just get away from me and my little guy started to seem like he was getting a sick stomach. I'm praying not, since it will be no fun to have a sick child on Christmas, especially at his age. He's been waiting and waiting with very little patience, but then I don't blame him for that everyone loves presents.

Children's Christmas Program

2009-12-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

Tonight was our church's Christmas program. We had a really good turn out for attendance and some family visitors coming to see the grandkids, neice or nephew of their relative. My daughter Natania had a two verse solo in one of the songs. I'm very proud of her. I think she is a little disappointed in how it went. She got kinda nervous on the 2nd verse, so I think she feels she could've done better. But I'm so glad she even tried. Bev, the lady who handles this each year kept asking for more volunteers and no one was willing to take on a solo verse or two. I know Natania can sing really, really well when no one is looking at her. So this is good practice for getting over those nerves. The hymn had about 10 verses, maybe more I lost track and it isn't the easiest song to sing even the congregation had trouble with their verses. We can't take photos during service so I'm posting a couple from the kids Christmas concert with our homeschool choir. The first is a picture of Natania with her friend Mackenzie. Natania is the blond on the right.

This one is from our concert. She really loves to sing so we are encouraging anything musical for her. She is part of the choir, takes voice lessons twice a month and piano.

Decking the Halls

2009-12-09T11:44:00.001-08:00

I finally had a few moments to take some pictures of this years decorations. I'm not completely done. I'm still hoping to work on the kitchen a little bit more but that room is always full of school books or dirty dishes.

This year I did a little bit of outdoor decorating with the sled and the box of greenery under the window. I've wanted one of those sleds for a while now and found one at a reasonable price at the antique store down the street.

Onto the livingroom/dining room area.

After getting the tree up and decorated we lost some lights. I hate when that happens. A few years back we had the same problem just on a different tree and in a different house. We were living in Indiana then.

We have another tree in the dining room. It's a collection of victorian ornaments that we've bought over the years. We've come a long way since the first few years of marriage when we didn't have alot in the way of decorations.

Let's not forget among the fun of decorations and gift giving the real meaning of Christmas.

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Luke 2: 7, 11, 14

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.

If you'd like to post photos of your home go here and join the fun.

You can also join another tour at the inspired room.

A cute little story

2009-12-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my husband, my son and two older girls went to Sam's club while I took the younger two girls shopping for new Christmas dresses. They finished before us and tried to call my cell but it wasn't ringing. My husband decided to send Arianna and my 7 year old son into Kohl's to find us. They had a hard time finding us in the store and the funny part is Micah's conversation with Arianna which went like this

"Mommy is lost, that's why mommy shouldn't go out alone" Arianna told him I wasn't lost.

Micah continued with "If Mommy doesn't come home then she's grounded."

He says the cutest things.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T07:54:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy the day with family and friends. Some of us are still a little sick but it was requested we still try to cook a turkey with all the trimmings. so we will do that later today and then we usually start our Christmas decorating. Stay tuned for pictures in a few days.

What Ya Working on Wednesday-11/25/09

2009-11-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of the things I've been working on for a few weeks now. They were from some free patterns of various places, one item was from a pattern by Sweet Pea Primitives and another from Moonchild Prims. I've really enjoyed working on so many different things. My 7 year old son tells me that we have to keep some of them for ourselves. I'm thinking he might be right.

These candy canes were quick and fun. I baked them in the oven and scented them with coffee, vanilla and a little cinnamon.

These little guys look so great in my wooden bowl with some primitive greens.

These prim snowmen were fun but I'm not completely sure if I liked how they turned out. I didn't coffee stain the pure and natural batting, I only tea stained it. I think they should maybe be a little bit darker.

I made two of these one in green and one in red.

These were also baked in the oven. I left them a little crinkled. I didn't iron them I just smoothed out a little bit and then stuffed them. I think the crinkled look helps them look a little old. I love the graphic that is pinned with rusty pins.

I made 3 of the following little ornaments. I think they came out really nice. It was my first attempt at sculpted noses.

These little tea light holders were really fun to make. The brim is sprinkled with german glass glitter. I'm pretty pleased with these.

I made three of these also. I finished them up last night.
Now I'm finished for a few weeks and have boxed up my supplies. It's hard to find the space in a small house to keep the projects I'm working on out until they are completed. It's been awhile since I did so much crafting but these are for a good cause. Our church is doing a fundraiser on 12/5 a cookie and craft sale. I don't really think they will get what they are "worth" the way you would at a craft fair or a prim shop. I think whatever is left over I will try to sell here, on ebay or maybe even open an etsy shop of my own. When my oldest girls were little I had a very successful crafting business doing fairs and renting booth space in craft malls. That was a long time ago or at least it seems that way so it's been fun working on crafty things again.

I'm thinking too that I might do a Christmas giveaway. I've been enjoying reading other blogs and seeing what they have to offer this time of year. So check back around December 7th or so I might have it together by them. I certainly need more blogging friends/followers - it's lonely out here in a small town. I'm not a small town girl, somethings just won't change, no matter how much one tries.

Old Road Primitives

2009-11-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Kim is having a really wonderful Christmas give a way for a set our Christmas Mice from one of her very own original patterns. I just love her stuff. Go on over and check it out, who knows maybe you'll be the lucky winner.

Check out this cute snow angel

2009-11-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

Head on over to Harvest Moon Primitives and enter her giveaway for this adorable ornie. Go take a look!

Wondering?

2009-11-20T06:48:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be 42 on Sunday the 29th and boy am I starting to feel not so young anymore. But the only reason I mention that is because hubby a while back stopped at a local prim shop and must have bought something there for me. I went into the shop a few days later (not knowing he had already been) and the owner said Happy Birthday and was I surprised. She felt so bad when she realized it was my daughter's birthday in October and mine was a month away. So now I've been wondering what did he pick out on his own? Sometimes that's a scary thought -he has very little decorating taste. Time will tell and maybe I'll post a picture. You can tell me what ya think.

I've Decided

2009-11-13T16:35:00.000-08:00

I sent the photo below to a couple of friends and they both said to use the picture above our fireplace which is in the TV room of our basement. I don't think much about decorating down there because there are no windows and the kids also use it as a play area. The mantle has been bare for most of the 3 years of living here except for Christmas when the kids put out our Christmas village pieces. So now I think I will re-think the decorating down there and maybe do an antique colonial style room or at least part of it like that since the other wall is floor to ceiling of hubby's books. It was also suggested that I darken the frame to prim it up a little so I will add that to the look. After Christmas I will scout out the TS and Goodwill for additional items that wall sconces and things. The pictures remind me very much of our old colonial home back in Winchendon, MA. I really miss that house. It was full of old features, 14 rooms with 7 fireplaces one that had a beehive oven built in. It was a 200 year old federal colonial home once on the town register for historic homes. Our whole family still misses living there. Oh, well maybe someday we will have a home very similar to that one or build one for our retirement. Then the grandchildren can come over and enjoy the space. But I'm a little too young for being a grandma just yet.

Primitive or Not???

2009-11-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

Gotta question for any of you prim collectors or lover of antiques and anything of the olden days. I bought these yesterday at Goodwill. I really loved them when I saw them but now I'm wondering if they would really go with prim decor. I thought I'd put them above the piano and take down the raggedy ann picture type thing that is there. I'm kinda tired of that one. But now I'm not sure. So tell me what ya think?

What Ya Working on Wednesday-11/11/09

2009-11-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a few items for our churches cookie and craft sale held in December. I thought I'd share a few of those photos.

I had so much fun working on these little guys. I made 8 of them but I'm going to keep 4 of them for myself. The pattern is from the Old Glory Company. It was the first time that I tried baking things in the oven. My hubby and kids would come in and ask what I was cooking. The smell of coffee, cinnamon and vanilla just waffled through the house. They were quite disappointed when they couldn't eat these little guys. But boy did the kitchen smell good.

Here's a whole pan of them. Don't they look great!

This snowman isn't really all that prim. He is lightly tea stained but I thought I should have a mixed variety because ya never know in such a small area as where we live right now how many are really into the prim decor.

I have some other items that I've been working on but they aren't finished yet. Mostly Christmas ornaments hopefully I will get those finished and can post them for next week. I figure if they don't sell very well at the church bazaar then I will either open an etsy store (never done that before) or sell them off my blog. Years ago I had a small craft business and did pretty well selling out of a booth and at fairs. Now with so many kids and the homeschooling I have really run out of the time needed to invest in something like that so that you have enough inventory to make the booth rent each month.

If you want to check out what others are working on head on over to Leslie's blog.

I Won, I Won!!

2009-11-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

I won this cute, adorable santa guy from Cindy over at Our Primitive Heart.
Thanks so much!!

I know it's not Christmas yet, but he is going to be hanging around our house early this year. I think he's great!

Goodwill Hunting

2009-10-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks I've been finding several great items at Goodwill and TS's but I haven't posted pics of those things because they are fairly generic -wooden bowls large and small things like that. But this week I wanted to post some of my great finds. Some our just fun things and some will be little re-do projects for a prim look. The first few pics are mostly just fun Christmasy things. Over the years I've found alot of mix and match type seasonal dishes. I think I'm just a "collector" type gal. Even as a child had collections of records, glass figurines, books, etc...I think it just sticks with you. Now with a family I like adding to our house and making it more homey (not that you can take it with you) but it's fun and the kids love it too!

I love this time around and shopping at the local Goodwill's and TS's - ya never know what your gonna find.

Now onto the more prim finds . . .

These are Williraye studio. There are flaws in them but I think I might be able to fix them, but they are also hardly noticeable. I got them for a steal.

I plan to remove the cork from these and do something prim with them just don't know what yet. Any ideas?

Not a great picture but it is a tin basket that says Merry Christmas and a woodend sled.

A cute little peg rack.

Lastly these are some trays that I'd like to redo into something else. With so many good finds it's hard to pick a favorite. Which one would be your favorite?

More Blog Giveaways

2009-10-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

Anyone who loves primitives and handmade items needs to check out these ladies blogs:

touch of sunshine
has a nice snowman and santa ornament. I'm kinda partial to that neat ornament.

Irish Corkies
has some really nice Christmas items up for grabs. Wish me luck on those items. You can find the giveaways by clicking on the highlighted bar.

Please let them know that you found their give aways here at my blog.

A great Addition to any Snowman Collection

2009-10-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

I just entered a blog giveaway at Bittersweet Prims. Scroll down a little bit and you will see this great guy. The drawing ends on November 7th, so hurry up and enter for your chance to win.
Lisa

So much crafting, so little time

2009-10-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

I started working on some christmas items for our churches cookie walk and craft sale in the beginning of December. I'm curious to see if any primitive type items will be hot around here or not. I am hoping to mix it up some with some things that are grundgy prim and others that are less so. But just walking through the fabric stores makes me want to get back into all sorts of crafts like quilting. I made quilts for my kids beds many, many years ago but I would love some xmas quilts. I decorated our church basement for my daughter's 16th birhtday check out my other blog if you'd like to see pics at house of many blessings One of her sister's wanted to help and she was so fascinated by a self healing cutting mat and the rotary cutter. I love so many of the calico fabrics. I'm not sure where I will find the time to work on quilts, primitive items and my new thing which is stitcheries. That's why I say "so much crafting, so little time". Or maybe we should say "he who dies with the most primitives wins" (LOL) Happy crafting to all of you. It's the best time of year to work on things I think.

Christmas is just Around the Corner

2009-10-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

I've been working on these primitive stitcheries. My feeling is it is never too soon to start working on Christmas items. The time just seems to run away and before long it is Christmas and nothing has been created.

I plan to make little tiny pillow/bowl fillers out of them for Christmas this year. If you'd like to see what everyone else has been working on then go to http://sweets-mycountryhome.blogspot.com/

My forgotten Blog

2009-08-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time for keeping up with blogging and/or crafting. Some how I need to find the time for the crafting. But it's been a busy summer which is unusual for us. Tonight my daughter broke her left arm, so if your reading this send a prayer her way for speedy healing.

House Hunting

2009-02-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

We are starting the process of house hunting. We are looking to get into a larger community for me and the kids. Small town life has been very hard on us. We are figuring that DH can commute to the church. So far the elders have not had a problem with this idea. I'm hoping it stays that way because one person's idea of commuting is very different from anothers. And we are from the east coast where it is not uncommon to commute between 45min to an hour. We are taking a 2nd look on a great home tomorrow. It is a "fixer-upper" because on our little salary it was all we could qualify for. But the upside to that is I can decorate the way I want. I might even be able to snag a craft room out of the deal and then finally get to really participate in the "What ya working on" deal over at Leslie's. The house I would kind of call a cross between a victorian because it has 12foot ceilings and a colonial because it is square (at least the main part of the house)and then extends back. There is an offer on it already but we plan to try to counter offer and see what happens next. Wish me luck.

What Ya Working on Wed.

2009-02-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

I started these a couple of weeks ago and just haven't had the time to finish them off into pillows. I've been thinking that maybe I will coffee stain them some and dry them in the oven before I sew on the border homespun fabrics. They are tea stained but they don't seem dark enough to me. It seems right now that I have too many un-finished projects. Hopefully I will find the time to get these done. Life can be so crazy around here with homeschooling 5 kids and taking my older ones to friends who live an hour away. I'm also sick right now and have very little energy today.

I think they will look nice when done. I have stitched the words "americana, simplify, primitives and folkart" on them.

Distressed Wood

2009-01-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, all you crafting, blogging buddies. I haven't done much with distressing wood but I'm thinking it can't be all that hard. I've been going in and out of some local craft stores and I see an item, look at the price, and think I could make this for much less for myself. I've done some painting on wood and slate - more of a country theme. So can someone tell me what supplies I need for "distressing" say a shelf or a wood bucket? I saw a nice wooden tray style basket (but made out of wood), with a handle, it was green and then had an aged look to it with some white paint - I'm guessing here. But it was way more than I would pay for something like that. Which got me to thinking how could I make it myself. I also saw how Leslie made that black candle wall sconce from something from the thrift store. So I want to know how to do that. Any pointers??

What ya Working on? Jan 14th

2009-01-14T12:18:00.000-08:00

Well it is Wednesday and I am working on this stitchery. When completed I plan to make it into a pillow.

I'm hoping to finish it while we are gone for a week to Fort Wayne, Indiana. I'm bringing along some other stitcheries too. Some are simple sayings and others have a Christmas theme. Never too early to start on that, right? It gets so busy that time of year.

Anyway, if you want to join in the fun hop on over to Leslie's

Great giveaway!!

2009-01-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

The above is a photo of what you will win by entering the contest over at Seasons of the Past

Good Finds!

2009-01-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

I went out to Goodwill today and found these items at really good prices. Most of it was from the sale color they post each week.

I'm planning on taking the pictures out of the frames and changing their colors for some primitive stitcheries that I will be working on. Probably won't get them done for a few months though. I'm planning on the wooden candlestick being a make-do pumpkin or Christmas item, the little green can I'm going to put a snowman inside it, and the can that is already painted I think I will just put that in my flower garden this summer.

Any ideas on what I can do with the white candlestick? It is very heavy (I think cast iron that was painted) but because of it's weight I'm not sure what to use it for.

The little red stool I'm either going to repaint a different color and put in my flower garden too or I'll incorporate it into my Christmas decorating. Not sure yet on that one.

The snowflake luminary thing I'm going to spray paint white and go from there.

If you have any other thoughts I'd love to hear them. Ya know the great minds think alike philosophy.

What ya Working on?

2009-01-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

Today is my first time participating on the What ya working on meme that is hosted by Leslie at My Country Home. I haven't crafted in a while but I'm hoping to work it into life's busy schedule. I had to stop because we moved from the East coast to the Midwest so my DH could go to school. So we were living off of student loans and grants for a while. There was very little money to invest in selling crafts like I had in New England. So here is what I'm going to try to work on over the next couple of weeks. These are few prim dolls about 5" with dress. And off to the side is a small bunny that reads Hippity, Hoppity that I am thinking of using as a spring give away. Right now I'm still trying to finish putting away the Christmas decorations. It normally doesn't take this many days but my DH is now a pastor so life in the parsonage can be crazy with the extra phone calls, people stopping by, and church life. I'm really enjoying meeting new people by blogging and seeing all the wonderful things you all make. It is very motivating!!

What's in the Box??

2009-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

You ask, "What's in the box?" This is the box that has traveled with me through countless moves. From New England, to Indiana, a few moves in Indiana, back to New England, then out to Wisconsin. This is a box of "unfishished items" that has been sitting in the corner of my bedroom for the past 3 years. Before that it was in a cardboard box stored somewhere in the house. My youngest two girls Annaliese and Natania have been asking me when am I going to finish those dolls, bunnies, snowmen, etc...hopefully soon, sometime in 2009.

Americana

2009-01-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

Along with primitive things I also love americana items too. I've found some of these items at your typical store. But strangely enough I've also found some at yard sales and thrift stores such as Goodwill. The prim Raggedy swag I made myself during the years that I had booth space, about 10 years ago. I decided one day to keep it for myself. I had been spending so much time working on items to pay the rent, but I had nothing in my house for just me. So tell me what you think?

The pictures aren't that great. I'm hoping I can get a new camera sometime soon. This one has given me lots of trouble for years now.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2009 to all of you prim folks out there. Some of you had been followers and/or blog links on a different blog I have. I'm in the process of moving everyone who is a prim lover over to this blog instead. Blessings to all of you for 2009.

The Birth of Primrose Parlor

2008-12-31T16:37:00.000-08:00

I decided I would create a new blog for all of my primitive things that I have grown to love. I'm really excited about getting back into crafting a little bit. Years ago, about 8-9 I had a little craft business selling country and primitive items at fairs and booth space at retail locations. Since then life got busy and I had to put it aside. Life is still busy, but I'd like to get back to creating. I even have a few ideas of my own for patterns, which would be a first. So stay tuned, in case I ever post them here. I hope other prim lovers will find my blog. I'm always looking to chat with those who love collecting and primitive decor. Even make a few Prim Friends.