Busy at the Farmhouse ..

It's been a little quiet the last few weeks here on my blog ..but that's for a good reason .. I've been working on several custom orders ..which I am actually growing to love doing.

As I sit here at my computer preparing this post to share with you all a not so fragrant aroma wafts through the air .. the slider door is open drawing fresh air from the out of doors ..but the aroma or maybe I should say stink still permeates the air .. My mind is drawn to a specific scene in a specific Movie .."Anne of Green Gables" .. when Anne Finds she has left the cover off the pudding ..and finds a mouse has died enjoying his last supper inside the pudding crock. A sweet little mouse has done the same here at the farmhouse .. he has lived and died although I do not know that he feasted on such a beautiful meal at the end .but my nose tells me his end came ..inside the wall ..that my desk sits against. It's impossible to tear the wall out ..so the house is airing out today ..thank goodness for the constant onshore breeze we have had all day ..unlike yesterday where it was very warm and still outside. The poor little mouse .. I imagine he got stuck and couldn't get out ...and had an untimely death.

So as I sit here ..yummy aroma and all .. here's what I began to share ..

When I first started custom orders ..I was slightly nervous to put it mildly ..and more than afraid when it came time to reveal the order to the client ..fearfully thinking that it wouldn't be what they wanted ... After doing a great many custom orders my confidence has grown ..and so far Everyone has liked their orders .. which I am so grateful to God for. For it is truly his work through my hands and I want it to be the very best it possibly can.

Two Sweet Gals ...Sarah and Beverly ..who come to the Vintage Marketplace ..placed an order with me at our Dec. Show for a sign to hang in their shop in an Antique shop in Norco, CA. "Antiques Trinkets & More.

Their shop is the "Vintage Farmhouse" ...

Sarah had purchased one of my Farmhouse Blessings Signs I did for I think it was the show last June ..and wanted it to be similiar to that one .. So I had a great starting point to work from.

The only difference rather than being 3 feet long She and Beverly needed this sign to be just about 6 ft. in length ..

Below is the finished sign ... Unfortunately I couldn't find a spot big enough around our house to hang it up ..but I think it still came out great against the tree .. And I bet it even looks more fabulous in Sarah and Beverly's shop ..

Be sure and Visit Sarah and Beverly's shop .. inside Antiques Trinkets & More .. Located On Hamner Ave at 4th street in Norco, CA ... info@antiquestrinketsandmore.com

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Another order I worked on this week is ..a Very Long Custom Burlap Runner

Our Burlap runners are one of our top sellers at our marketplaces and in our Etsy shop .. and lately I have been receiving several inquiries for custom lengths and sentiments ..which I am glad to do for anyone.

Our Shorter Runners that run around 63 inches in total length are made from our vintage WWII Era Burlap ..which is wonderful. It's got a really close weave and is super nubby ..so it's got a wonderful appeal that the new burlap you find at the average fabric shop today just doesn't have. "They don't make things like they used too " ...

Our longer Runners are made from New Burlap but it's a high grade burlap with a close flat weave ..and looks so stunning when made into runners.

I just finished up this Beautiful Runner this morning and it's off and in the mail to it's new owner.

She requested her runner to be a total of 104 inches long to fit her 7 foot long table ...which will look better than our short table ..but for show and tell it had to be ...

And She wanted it to read " Joie De Vivre" ..french for

Joie de vivre (French pronunciation: [ʒwa də vivʁ], joy of living) is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit. Joie de vivre

"can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life, a Weltanschauung. Robert's Dictionnaire says joie is sentiment exaltant ressenti par toute la conscience, that is, involves one's whole being."^[1]

 

 

This is my 2nd runner this month with this sentiment ..so among all you french lovers it must be a popular phrase...

I can see why .. when it speaks of Joy ...what a great reminder to have draped at your table and as you pass it throughout the day ..you remember to "Enjoy Life"

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So it's back to the work table ..time to get my fingers going once again .. time to get the sewing machine all revved up ..and time to let the creative juices flow...

Until next time .. "Joie De Vivre"

Guess who's ... Arrived at the Farmhouse ?

Well here she is ... Our new arrival to the Farmhouse ...

"Flossie"

Flossie has now been with us just over a week ..and it's taken me that long to get time to share her with you all .. For all of you who are mothers ...well I'm sure you have experienced with your babies the long nights of crying with "VERY" little sleep ..and our sweet girl proved she wasn't much different than a newborn ...

She Turned 9 weeks old on Friday ...and is she ever a bundle of Joy and a bundle of energy ...

The Picture above was the day we brought her home and had just put her in her crate in the backseat ..Well .. those little eyes say it all and she ended up in my arms on the way home ..

She slept most the first day in her crate with no problem and my thought was wow this is going to be much easier than I thought .. she already is o.k. in her crate .. My Fantasy was dashed within hours of that thought ..when we headed to bed ..and she was not happy to be crated ... when she realized she wasn't in OZ with her sisters and brothers anymore..as she was the first puppy to be picked up.

It took 3 nights and 3 days of howling , crying and down right throwing fits to get her crate trained even with all the positive re-inforcements of feeding her inside her crate, playing inside and putting her toys inside her crate ..she was determined she would much rather be in our Beds or in our Laps ..but in order to establish who's the boss  or who the ( alpha dogs ) around here are we didn't give in which was so Hard ... (I know it's hard to believe that sweet little face throws fits hah ..LOL ! ) It would have been much easier to give in and let her sleep in my bed but I knew the repurcussions of that from my previous dogs ..and knew I must outlast her and endure.  Which I did ... Not easy but it pays off in the long run as any trainer or Ceasar Milan would tell you. 

She was easily potty trained in 3 days which has taken alot of work getting up every 2 to 3 hours during the night and taking her out every 2 to 3 hours during the day to establish that outside in the grass was where she should go..She got it right away ..and the hard work paid off day 3 she cried at the back door when she needed to go and has done so ever since with no accidents in the house at all ..Crate training has it's BIG PLUSES !!! 

Day 5 ... I began leash training her and teaching her the sit command .. both came easy to this smarty pants ...and in 10 minutes she was following along ..and sitting to get her kibble treat. 

By Yesterday I have to admit I was totally and thoroughly exhausted ..literally "Sleep Deprived" .. and I admit in Tears .. Thank The Lord for Abbey and Papa Fred ..She took care of Flossie all day yesterday and kept her with her in her bedroom last night so I could get a full nights sleep and Papa fred helped play with her and get her energy exhausted and boy do I ever feel better today .. It's amazing what losing sleep can do to a person ..!

The world looks alot brighter to me today ..LOL !

And Flossie looks a lot cuter today ...LOL !

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Flossie is a sweet sweet puppy .. of course aren't all puppies .. and we are thrilled to have her part of the family.

Flossie will be obedience trained and will be coming to our Marketplaces with us ..as I am looking to train her as a therapy dog so she will need to get all the socialization she can so she knows how to be the perfectly well behaved dog around children and elderly and other animals also. Eventually I hope to have her pass her Therapy and Good Canine Citizen tests so she can visit retirment homes and hospitals in the future.

In the meantime ..we now have to start juggling work with puppy ...which has been impossible the last week ..but I think we will be able to get that in hand this week.

Wishing you all a Beautiful week ahead ..may it be ever so blessed !

Have an Etsy Shop ? Did you Know ?

The last few weeks I have spent filling our Etsy shop ..and catching up on Threads from my Etsy Teams I belong to...

Belonging to Etsy Teams can really provide you with a huge audience for your shop ..but it also can provide you with a wealth of information ... which can be an absolute Blessing.

Before Christmas .. I was reading in the Etsy help section about Search Engine Optimization and how to get your Etsy Shop found in Google Searches in more ways than one ..

That got me to thinking ... I have had a Web Address that I pay for ...sweetmagnoliasfarm.com and have always had it pointed at my blog being that I didn't have an actual website ..this way rather they typed in sweetmagnoliasfarm.com ..Or Sweetmagnoliasfarm.blogspot.com ...they would end up at my blog .. 

Well I began wondering would it be possible to point the web address to my Etsy shop ????

Pause .. add alot of days of work in and this and that ..and well a week or two passes and Voila ..I'm now visiting in my Etsy Team ..and see a thread that basicly says you can point your web address to your Etsy shop ...and I read on and sure enough this gal said ultimately you could and she paid someone to do the work for her.

Luckily in my favor I knew exactly how to point my web address ..and thus 5 minutes later I had it done ..

Now when I hand out my business cards ..and or tell someone about visiting my online shop ..all I need do is tell them to check out sweetmagnoliasfarm.com for my online shop and sweetmagnoliasfarm.blogspot.com to visit my blog .. WooHoo ...!!!p>

If you have an Etsy shop and have a web address you have purchased .. and either have it pointed at your blog or just sitting not being used or have wanted to buy your personalized .com ... You can point it to your Etsy shop ... Which is perfection in my book. I had a website for a few years ..and the work involved was more than I cared for ..so Etsy is the perfect oppurtunity to have a shop and still be able to use my .com name to send my customers and potential clients too ..

So that's my Sharing session for the year ...LOL !!!

Hope it helps those of you who sell on Etsy ... we can all use a little help all the time.

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P.S. my sweet puppy is coming home a day earlier than I thought ..tomorrow .. I'm so excited I just might wet my britches .. ! Prepare for a parade of pictures ..because I'm sure I won't be able to contain myself ... !

A Sweet New Addition to the Farmhouse ...

The countdown ..has begun here at the Farmhouse ...

Only 4 more days and our new addition will be headed home.

The Sweet Picture below is the English Springer Spaniel Litter our sweetheart will be out of ..

Nope we don't know which one ..only that we are getting a black and white female as we requested .. There are only 2 black and white females ..and we don't know which ones in the picture they are ..it's just a guessing game.

We can't wait for our Sweet Girl to come home ..ever since Maggie passed away the day after Thanksgiving .. our house has been so Empty ! .. The spirit she brought to our home ..the joy she brought to our hearts ..and the smiles to our faces .. went when she went ..It will be so joyful and such a blessing to have a sweetheart to bring a joyful spirit back to our Home Sweet Home ..

We get to pick her up on Saturday ...so I'll share some more picts and of course her name ...come next week !

Filling the shop again ...

The New Year and we are back to work little by little here at the farmhouse...

This week has been spent re-organizing, cleaning up from Christmas, running errands, getting the transmission in our truck replaced because it died, and time spent refreshing our Etsy shop with some New offering once again ...

Here's a sneek peek at just a handful of the items that I listed this week ..and there will be more to come in the next few days...

If you would like to visit our ETSY shop ..just click HERE

Starting the New Year out RIGHT !

Yes ..Abbey and I ... and our Sweet Friend Christie ..started the New Year out with Perfection !

3 Vintage Girls ..go Flea Marketing !

Yesterday the 3 of us ventured out for a fun day at a nearby Flea Market ..and did we ever have fun !

Our Bags and Carts were filled to the brim .. and the truck came home fairly full.

Christie found some fabulous pieces for her home and shop ..She has such a great eye for her beautiful French Style .. and she even took the time to display them all and share them at her blog Chateau De Fleurs . Take a peek and check out the fabulous wicker vanity and matching chair she got !

Abbey and I found a bunch of vintage lace and doilies which we were on the hunt for ...( No I didn't take photos ..they made it to be washed before I even thought of doing that ..LOL ) as we have some new product we are working on for our shows coming up in March that will need alot of  vintage lace ( are you excited ) we are ! .. Yes we are already working on show product. We have learned you can never start to Early !

We also found a couple great pieces to offer in our Etsy Shop ..

This Great wire basket ..isn't it a cutie !

SOLD

And this old Sea Blue Glass Bottle ..with the most beautiful decorative embellishments...

Both of these can be found HERE

So Yesterday's fun is over ...and we are now back to work once again and looking forward to March for the next Vintage Marketplace at the Oaks ..

Until Next Time...