Pickin' Pics

A quick album of some of our favorite recent picks.  As you can tell, we've had a lot of fun, and our enamelware obsession is going to require an intervention soon.

Doll/baby-sized bed springs.

Enamelware colander, dipper and little pots.

Crayola chalk box.

A pyramid of benches and enamelware.  Yum!

A rusty green metal box becomes a sweet showpiece for our next event!

A slide box, whose slot are just the right size for a business card.

What's better than plain old enamelware?  Enamelware that stacks, of course!

A tall skinny cabinet that holds lots of goodies.

We love flea markets, garage sales, junk shops and Etsy.  Ahhh....

When a Door Opens

About a year ago, Jesse called me up and asked if I wanted to join her at a craft fair.  She'd been sewing cute wallets and billfolds and setting up at few shows and she was tired of going alone.  I had a few things of my own to put out, so I agreed.

On the morning of our first joint show, we were awakened by tornado sirens, and it was no drill. In a haze of sleep-induced grogginess, my husband and I did our usual turn-on-the-tv, check the radar-on-our-phones thing and realized that there was, indeed, severe weather approaching.  Fast.

We weren't frightened for ourselves, because we have decent shelter in our basement, but Jesse, Joe and the dogs have no basement, and, as it turned out, Jess was home alone, huddling with her hounds in the bathtub, praying that the storm would pass and staying on the phone with us for comfort.

Fortunately, no twisters touched down, no damage was done, and we made it to the show only a little tardy.  As was everyone else.

That first show was in a smoky VFW hall and the shoppers outnumbered the vendors by only a slight margin. However sparse the turnout, we made a few sales, had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed ourselves.  It was an inauspicious beginning to what was about to become an all-consuming passion.

What followed was a whirlwind of craft shows, farmer's markets, a web site, launch of our Etsy Shop, Facebook and Twitter pages, and eventually, we stumbled upon Pinterest.  Sigh.  It not only fed our creative lust, but gave us one more place to tout our rapidly-growing product line.

We didn't really set out to start a full-fledged business, but Poverty Barn had a mind of its own and before long, whether we were ready or not, Jess and I became more than two names on a checking account.  We became small business owners.

The last year has taught us a great many lessons.  We've been a part of two great shops and just really immersed ourselves in the experiences.  Those partnerships have inspired us to dream of having our own brick-and-mortar store some day.  And we mean that quite literally.  No modern strip mall will do for Poverty Barn. We need wood and exposed brick, wavy glass windows and tall pressed-tin ceilings.  Those things will be the perfect backdrop for us.  Eventually.

The best part about this business is that we are in it together, a mother-daughter team that works like a well-oiled machine.  Through this experience, I've gained new insight to the creative creature that lives inside my daughter.  I've watched her blossom not only with motherhood, but with the mindset of a true marketer.  She is brilliant and gifted and despite the way her room looked when she lived here at home and the way her office looks now, she really is organized.  We make a great team, and I will be forever grateful that she invited me to be a part of this.

It's funny because I mourned the passing of days as she prepared for her wedding almost two years ago.  I feared that once she left, her world would revolve around her husband, household and eventual children.  The empty nest, while appealing in some ways, held a certain trepidation over my being left to gather dust as I scrambled for any remnants of herself she might save for me.  Well, all I can say is that this Mom is definitely not gathering dust.  There's no way Jess would let me!  And honestly, I think we spend more time together now than we ever have. And with Olivia added to the fray, the mixture just gets sweeter.

As I look back over this past year, I find myself humbled by what has become of this little enterprise.  Not only have we made sales, but more importantly, we've made friends, and not just the Facebook kind.  I would like to say thank you to our families who have prayed for us, supported us and cheered us on.  I would also like to thank the fellow artists, shop owners and small businesses who have contributed to our success.  Without each of you, we would never have made it this far.

Most of all, I would like to thank Jess, for opening the door and inviting me along for the ride.  It may have started out on a dark and stormy morning, but it's been fair skies and smooth sailing for all the days since.  You rock my world, Sugarlump.  Never give up your dreams!

Rainy Days and Sundays

There is something cozy and warm about being inside on a rainy afternoon, especially on the weekend when we can take a little time to work on fun "rainy day" projects!

We've had our share of rain and storms over the last few days, and I have tried to put the hours to good use.  Yesterday I worked on this fun project with an old shutter from my corner stash.  My husband had suggested this a long time ago, but I just hadn't gotten around to doing it.

Originally, the plan was to leave off the kitchen part and make it an open and closed sign for our business, but since we decided that we didn't want to over-extend ourselves, we didn't move out on our own yet, so the sign wasn't needed.  It's going to stay on the back burner until the day comes that we are ready to take that step.

So here's how the sign turned out.  I asked for some input on the colors from my son, and I played around with various schemes until I came up with something I liked.  I did this with vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo, which I love, and I think it turned out pretty well.  Getting the letters to line up was a little tricky, but not too bad.

Besides this project, I'm also in the middle of another one involving glass blocks.  I've always wanted to try my hand at these but just never seemed to be able to catch them on sale.  Finally Hobby Lobby and my schedule cooperated so now I have a small stash to work on.  I'll get pictures of those later, after the lights I ordered arrive.

Finally, a few weeks back, my husband and I went "pickin'" in an old barn and came home with a van load of architectural treasures. Among the stash are six of these beautiful textured glass windows.  They measure 12 by 24 inches, and each has the wonderful, naturally distressed handle.  I'm still trying to decide on some good phrases to vinyl on these, but hopefully I'll have at least one done by the end of the day. By the way, this one looks really good now that it's cleaned up.  You should have seen it barn-fresh!

Anyway, here's to everyone else who is using this afternoon to play around with some fun new projects.  I hope you have a wonderful time!

Valerie

P.S.  Here's what one of the windows looks like now that I've finished it:

And here's where we're linking up today:

At Home at Home Depot

There was a time when the only reason I wanted go to Home Depot was to see Tony Stewart's picture on the Coke machine.  Those were the days when all I saw was boring stuff like lawn mowers, pvc pipe, and electrical supplies when I walked through the door, usually trailing my hubby.

Oh how times have changed!

Don't get me wrong, because I firmly believe that heaven might just be one big craft store, but Home Depot is a really fun place to find project supplies. It all started with spray paint and has moved on to washers, thumb tacks and sand paper.

Last week I went in for some of the aforementioned thumb tacks when I found myself in the tile aisle.  I've bought tile before, but it came from the Habitat for Humanity store and the selection was pretty limited.  Needless to say, Home Depot's choices are something out of a dream.

Previously, I've used 4x4 and 3x12 ceramic tile for applying vinyl lettering and sayings.  Those are fun, and I love how easily vinyl sticks to them, but I got a little bored with my colors (or lack of) since I bought only white and gray.

The tiles I bought last week are small, and the colors are oh-so-yummy!  Most of them are glass, but some are tumbled stone and I have yet to decide which ones I like best.  They come on a sheet and for this project, I just pulled them off the mesh backing, created some inspirational words with my Silhouette Cameo and stuck magnets on the back.

You can see here how they look.  It's a very simple project with limitless potential.

So even though Joey Logano has replaced Tony on the Coke machine, I still find myself gazing that direction as I leave one of my favorite stores.  And I still smile.

Linking up to this party today!

From Junk to Junque

Green does not describe me.  I am not a jealous person, I am probably the worst recycler on the planet, and my thumb is pasty white, causing only weeds to grow in the gardens and flower beds I touch.

Despite that, I absolutely love rescuing items that are destined for the garbage truck and making something funky and fun out of them.  Here's proof from my old blog that this isn't my first recycling rodeo:  http://studiovalerie.blogspot.com/2011/05/bubble-full-of-blooms.html

It's fun to take something weird, something that anyone else would think you were crazy for saving, and turning it into something useful, fun or pretty.  This is the story of our latest rescue.

So yesterday my husband walked into my office with this odd piece:

"What is that?" you're probably thinking.

It's the vent cover from an old upright freezer that had to be trashed several months back.  The first question, of course, is "how did we not see this when we hauled out the freezer?"  That question would be answered immediately if you've ever seen our basement.  It is wall-to-wall junk and boxes, collected over nearly twenty years of living in the same house.

This piece intrigued my husband, and he just knew that it could be turned into something fun.  His suggestion:  Use that fancy vinyl cutter and make a "cold drink" sign out of it.

So that's what I did.  First, I found this really cool (ha!) font and cut navy blue letters with a layer of white "snow" and created "ICE COLD DRINKS" in a size that would fit the piece.

Next, they were transfer-taped and applied, creating this one-of-a-kind sign that will some day grace the man cave that we hope to eventually carve out of the basement once the kids extract all their stuff.  We have two old Pepsi machines and one old Coke machine, so this should look great hanging on the wall above them...someday.

So there you have it!  My fun little Sunday afternoon project.  One less piece of junk in a landfill, one more piece of junque in my basement.  It's a treasure trove of pickin' paradise that Frank and Mike would love to crawl around in, that's for sure. Sorry boys, you're not invited.  We're going to enjoy all of this stuff ourselves, eventually.

Here's where we're linking up on this beautiful Good Friday:

Springtime Goodness!

We barn girls have had a busy couple of weeks. Not only have we added lots of new goodies to Etsy and the shop, but we've also added a new family member.

Meet Olivia Nicole, my daughter and son-in-law's first child, and mine and my husband's first grandchild.  Isn't she beautiful? (I know, I'm biased, but come on, she is beautiful, right?)

Olivia was born on her due date, which should bode well for her being punctual in the future, at least we're hoping.  She's a precious little addition to our family and the beginning of a whole new generation.

Being Grandma, I feel as if I am going through withdrawal on the days I don't see her. Thank goodness she lives less than a half an hour away! Today we snuggled on the couch and watched Mama Mia!  All I could think of was that the last time I watched that movie, I never dreamed that the next time I'd see it with my grand-daughter on my chest.  Wow, live moves at an unbelievable pace, that's for sure.

While Jesse is at home being Mom, I've been covering our shop hours and bringing in all kinds of new goodies.  I'll be putting up a whole album of pics on Facebook once I publish this post, but here's a sneak peek to whet your appetite.  Some of these items will be available in our Etsy shop, and some will only be available at Cottleville Crafts, Etc. and any upcoming shows.  If you see something you really, really want and don't live near us, drop us a line and we'll see what we can work out.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by.  We are so excited about the future of both our family and our business!

Making it Personal

There is something special about personalization. It makes a piece truly unique and "yours", doesn't it?  I absolutely love it when I get to turn one of my creations into a personalized piece, and when customers come to me with an idea of their own.  The challenge of re-working a previous design, or starting from scratch keeps me from falling into the hum-drum of making the same things over and over again.

These three canvases all started in different ways.  The Family Tree was a birthday gift for my step-Mom.  It is very close to my heart because our family may not be related by blood, but we were joined by God and we are truly blessed.  I have always been interested in genealogy, so this piece was just a natural outpouring of that fascination.  It's one of my favorite pieces to date.

The Pittsburgh canvas was one of those creations that was requested by a customer. I've done several cities in a series I call "See the City," but this one was the first that used a sports logo in the background.  The client chose all of the aspects of the collage, and I was able to put it together for them.  The process of creating a piece like this is so much fun for me.  I love interacting with the customer, and tweaking the layout, colors and placement until it's just right.  Hearing from them once they have received it is such a great feeling!


I've made many family name/initial canvases over the last year, but this one was to be used in a way that had never crossed my mind.  The bride-to-be requested this in a large (16"x20") size with lots of empty space around the writing so that her wedding guests will be able to sign it at their reception.  It will hold a place of honor in their home afterward, and I feel blessed to know that I will get to have a small part in their big day!

There are many other custom creations in my portfolio, and many more to come.  I welcome your ideas and would love to create a special piece just for you!

The Barn Door is Open!

It took a while, but we have finally completed most of the process of re-branding our various social media outlets, web site and Etsy store with our new logos.  There are still a few loose ends to tie up and a newsletter to get out, but we're breathing a collective sigh of relief that we're almost there!

If you followed us on over from either Studio Valerie or Roos' Remnants, we would like to welcome you.  In case you don't already know, Valerie and "Roo" (her given name is Jess) are mother and daughter. We started our little business last year and are having the time of our lives watching it grow.  We started out keeping everything separate because it was easier for us, but after much thought, we decided that putting everything under one name would a whole lot less confusing for our customers.

So now we are off and running on the next leg of this journey and we can't wait to see what's in store!  Of course, it's all going to come to a temporary screeching halt when Jesse's little girl (my first grandchild!) makes her appearance.  We are chomping at the bit to meet this little girl and we will let everyone know when she does.

Thank you again for taking the time to "friend" or "follow" us on any of the social media sites, and for making or shop or any of our products your "favorites" on Etsy.  We are truly blessed to be doing something we love, and even more so to be doing it together.

The Evolving Collage

Several years ago now (though it doesn't seem that long ago) we refinished our "public" bathroom.  That's the one that guests are supposed to be able to use.  Right.  When you have an adult-teenager living in the house, and that's his main bathroom, well, you can imagine that it isn't always readily suitable for visitors. Oh, and when I say "we" refinished that bathroom, I mean my husband and my son-in-law.

Anyway, after months of construction mess and having to share our master bath with two kids at the time, the room got done and it's absolutely beautiful.  Jesse is great at choosing colors, and, in fact, used the same color when she painted the bathroom in her current home.

This bathroom has been sitting there completely un-decorated, directly across the hall from my studio and driving me crazy.  There is one small framed verse on the wall and a candle on the counter and that's as far as it goes.  Bare, empty green walls stare back at me any time I dare to enter.

I should stop here and say that my husband has plans for these walls, and when we finally find the perfect frames for the perfect train pictures, we can easily swap them out for what I just did. Seriously, I'll be ready for a change by then...and the walls will probably be ready for fresh paint as well.

Last Friday my hubby and I ventured out to some of our favorite antique stores, and for the most part, we came up pretty empty.  Of course, I managed to find a few little things, but my favorite was another vintage wire desktop letter sorter.  I now own three of these, all different, and since I am a total vintage office stuff geek, I can never have enough.  That also means, however, that I'm running out of room in my office.

So how do my lack of office space, a third mail sorter and a barren bathroom all come together to make for a worthwhile blog post?  Rather than get into a long explanation, let me just show you.

Here's what I started with:

and here's what I ended up with:

I'm calling it "The Evolving Collage" because the plan is to add things to it as I find or acquire them, and to encourage fellow family members to do the same.

These are all just random things I found in drawers and cubbies, wired and tied to the letter tray, which I hung on a matte black hook from Hobby Lobby.  It's a fun little montage of silly stuff that I thought visitors might find interesting.  Many of the items are hung with old Christmas ornament hooks that missed being put back in their box after we took down the tree.  Who knew I'd find a use for them in February?

Thanks for stopping by the barn.  We're all about taking the old and making something new out of it.  I hope you are inspired by what we do.

Valerie

A Sneak Peek...

With the upcoming addition of a new little one in a couple of months, I have been hard at work thinking of new baby themed items and finding the perfect fabrics to create them out of. I have a ton of ideas and they are starting to slowly trickle into my Etsy shop and into Cottleville Crafts, Etc. Eventually, they will also make it on to the Poverty Barn Online Store which is currently in the construction phase.

For now, here is a little sneak peek of one of the ideas that I have created as well as two of the fabrics that I have fallen in love with:

Baby Chicks Burp Cloth with Green Applique Chick

(Fabric: Urban Zoologie Spring Chicks by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman)

 Color Choices for the Chick Applique on the Baby Chicks Burp Cloth (blue, dark pink, light pink, yellow, and green) 

 Zoo Pals Burp Cloth with Blue Applique Zebra

(Fabric: 2D Zoo Pals by Alexander Henry)

Here are some better views of the fabric that is used on the back side of each burp cloth.

Each burp cloth is made of absorbant terry cloth on one side with cotton fabric on the back side.  They are top-stitched with a coordinating colored thread and feature an applique design in the bottom right corner of the terry cloth side and a Poverty Barn tag in the bottom right corner on the cotton fabric side. They measure approximately 8" x 17" and can be customized with the baby's name.

The baby chick burp cloths are already available in the Roo's Remnants Etsy shop and the Zoo Pals burp cloths will be there in the coming days. The Zoo Pals set will also feature a light blue elephant and a green giraffe option for the applique design. Be sure to check back often to see what other fun baby accessories and fabrics Poverty Barn will add to its lineup!

Moving Day!

We Barn Girls have been busy little bees lately!

The Christmas rush caught us off-guard, and before we knew it, it took everything we had just to stay on top of orders and requests.  It was a nice problem to have!

Now that things have calmed down, we've found great ways to occupy ourselves.  Besides gearing up for Valentine's Day and Spring (still a-ways off, but we can't wait!), we also started discussing ways to expand our storefront.  This lead to a lot of debates, pondering, praying and calculating before we reached what we think is a great resolution.

Our dear friends at Cottleville Crafts Etc. made us an offer we just couldn't refuse.  In exchange for working a set number of hours inside the store, we've been given an entire room and then some to call our own.  It's a very exciting step for us as we both work toward our goals of making this business something substantial.

The space is cozy, well lit and has lots of great features.  We took some before and after shots to share with you, but we would love it if you would actually stop in and see us.  Here are a couple of peeks to get you going.  The full album is on our Facebook page.

 It is so nice to have plenty of wall space for all of the canvases, as well as lots of shelves for all of our smaller goodies.  We'll be adding lots of new designs in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on our Facebook pages and Etsy pages.  Also, we are working on the first edition of our newsletter, and we would love it if you would sign up.  Just go to www.povertybarn.net and enter your email address.

We look forward to a long-term relationship with Cottleville Crafts, Etc. and we appreciate all that they have done to help us get our little business off the ground.

Here's to a great new year for all of our friends!

Valerie & Jesse