Message in a Bottle

Back in the old and dreadful full-time work days, Saturdays usually meant laundry, cleaning, and general housework. Because I work at home now, that stuff usually gets done during the week and I get to use these awesome weekend days to create!

Aw, who am I kidding?  I'm a major slacker and my house is usually a disaster every day of the week. We have to invite people over once or twice a year so it actually gets cleaned up. Seriously.

Anyway...today is a delightful spring day that could be spent outside working in the yard, but I just wasn't feeling it. Plus, I was inspired upon awakening to work on a project that has been simmering on the back burner for a while now. I had everything I needed to make it, but the execution had not yet jelled. That is, until today.

I had been wanting to make these bottle opener things for ages and had acquired the jars, hose clamps and the actual openers ages ago.  Just a few things eluded me: How to actually "decorate" them, and how to attach the clamps to the wood.

This morning, the whole decorating thing came together.  Recently, I had been playing around with cutting apart aluminum cans and embossing them.  I hadn't figured out what to do with the embossed pieces, but I knew this new-found skill would come in handy eventually. Destiny, thy name is Saturday!

As for the dilemma of attaching the hose clamps to the wood, my hubby figured that out for me.  In the process of making it work, I learned how to use yet another power tool:  The drill press. I can now add this to my repertoire, which also includes the nail gun, oscillating sander and chop saw. I want patches for my apron, like the workers at Home Depot have.

With all of the dots in the process finally connected, it was time to get to work.  I dug around in the scrap wood pile in the garage, found a few decent specimens and painted them with some interior paint from the "Oops" bin at Home Depot. While that dried, I created the arrows by cutting apart a couple of cans, tracing the design with a pencil, then cutting it out with tin snips, before running it through my embosser.

We used the drill press to make the holes in the hose clamps, and I attached those and the openers with screws.  After rummaging around in my husband's very organized nail container, I found the really cool looking tacks/nails and used them to attach the arrows.  After adding saw tooth hangers to the back, I proclaimed them finished and then showed them to the QA department, aka, my hubby.

For the photos, we raided the beer stash and staged everything on our front porch. I think these would make a wonderful gift for Father's Day, and once I figure out a good shipping method, they will be available in our Etsy shop.

Happy Saturday!

Dressing up for Spring

When I was young and I dreamed about the type of house I wanted to live in some day, it was always an older home with a big, wrap-around porch. It had a swing and a scattering of wicker chairs and tables.  There were flowers in canning jars, a pie cooling in the window (made by whom, I have no idea) and old, faded patchwork quilts draped over the rails.

I'm still waiting for that steeped-in-Mayberry dream home. For the last 20 years we've lived in a great room ranch in a subdivision. I actually love our home, despite the fact that it doesn't match the one in my fantasies. At least it has a porch, even if it's small and compact and there's no pie in sight.

After the long, nasty winter we had, here's what that porch looked like Saturday morning:

 Yes, the snow shovel was still out, because believe it or not, we had flurries last weekend. It's the Midwest, we expect this kind of thing.

After a trip to Home Depot for some color, I got to work removing all the stuff from the porch, dragging the wicker up from winter storage in the back yard, and cleaning everything off. Then I set about arranging the furniture, hanging the lights and then I finally got around to the planting.

The lights are new for this year, and I'm still trying to decide if I like them or not.  One thing's for sure, when I turn them on at night, it's very bright.  Kind of Clark-Griswold-lights-up-the-house-for-Christmas bright. I'm still hoping to hang these in the backyard one of these days. My hubby has a vision for a corn hole court, and I think these would be perfect overhead. If we get around to that project, you'll see it here.

There are a lot of fun pieces packed into a very small space, but I love the coziness of it.  From the laundry tub full of plants, to the table my hubby made out of pallet wood and the scattering of enamelware, there is always something to look at.  This year I also added the little wooden piece with the glass insulators. It was just laying among the pile of pallet wood that we use for signs and it seemed perfect for something. I'm still thinking I might want to letter it but I haven't decided what it needs to say.

So this is my little piece of country in the suburbs. Feel free to pull up a chair, shell some peas and catch up on all the latest gossip.

4 Left Turns

It's no secret that dirt racing is a passion of mine (Valerie). You've seen my posts about following the POWRi Midget Series, and we continue to add more racing-themed products to our line up all the time.

Because the racing fan base is quite different than the handmade customer profile, we decided it was time to ratchet things up a bit and set up a separate brand exclusively for our motor sports products.  Conveniently enough, I have had the Twitter handle "4LeftTurns" for quite some time, and since that seems to fit what we do, it has become the new brand for Poverty Barn's high-speed productions.

We are currently working on a web site, which will eventually be found at 4LeftTurns.net.  Our Facebook page is up and running and we've added a separate section in our Etsy shop so you can easily find 4 Left Turns items. Our plan is to incorporate an online store on the web site as well. You will still be able to find announcements of new racing signs and more on the Poverty Barn Facebook page and web site, here.

We hope you will join us on this new adventure, where our products are "made for race fans, by race fans".  Even if you are not a race fan, we would love it if you would share our information with anyone you know who is.  As we build our base, and expand our product line, we look forward to engaging more with our customers. Also, once the web site is up, we have a contest planned exclusively for drivers, but we think you will enjoy following the action as well.

Thank you for your continued support of our little endeavor.  It has grown far bigger than we could ever have imagined and we owe that to you.

Your friends,
The Barn Girls

Background, Check!

We've all heard that saying "There's no 'I' in 'Teamwork,' which is true.  However, if you rearrange some letters, you will find the word "we" which is the perfect word to describe our home-based business.

Quite often, when I come up with a new idea or something with which I need help, my hubby is the one who becomes my sounding board.  He lets me bounce stuff off of him, listens when I ramble about crazy things I'd like to do, and solves problems that I run up against.

Today was one of those days where he came through in a pinch and solved a problem that I had kind of created for myself.  Back in the blur of the Christmas season, I bought some beautiful vinyl photo backdrops to use for photographing products. They came from Etsy seller Swanky Prints and I absolutely love them!

I've never used backdrops before but I just knew that they would add a little something to the images I shoot for our online listings.  Plus, they would mean that when it's brutally cold outside I won't have to freeze my face off taking pictures on my front porch.  The only problem was, I didn't really know how to set them up so I could actually use them.

Hubby to the rescue!

We stopped in at Home Depot to look at torpedo heaters for the garage where all of our pallet signs get built. (Did I mention that we're in the midst of a deep freeze here?)  While we were there, I mentioned the backdrops and how I needed some kind of contraption on which to hang them.  At first, I could tell he wasn't all that interested in the project, but after walking around a bit, he asked me to tell him more. When we walked down the aisle with the PVC pipe, I knew a solution was close at hand.

After looking at some pipe, calculating flimsiness and discussing how the drops would actually hang, he figured out exactly what we needed.  The best part, I spent less than $4 on supplies.  The next best part, he had it built within about 15 minutes of our return home.

This seems like such a simple solution, but for the life of me, I couldn't seem to come up with it.  What's great is that I had the grommets and the rings already so once he did his part, mine was easy and it was up and working in no time.  It's lightweight, comes apart for storage or transport, and I can use it anywhere!

He's going to make one more modification that will allow me to lower it a few inches if I want to, but to me, I think it's already awesome.  It sure is nice to have a man who not only supports this business, but isn't opposed to helping out when his nutty wife throws new problems at him.

You should all be jealous.  :)

Valerie

Happy New Year!

As this year winds down, Jess and I would like to take the time to wish each of you a very Happy New Year.  We hope your Christmas was wonderful and we hope 2014 brings you nothing but blessings!

T-shirt for my son, the railroader.

We made the decision this fall to close our Etsy shop from December 1 to January 2 so that we could finish up all of the orders that had already been placed, and get them shipped out. We also wanted to have time with our families after the craziness of Craft Season. It was the perfect decision for us, and I feel confident that we will continue that practice next year.

Because of this break I (Valerie) must admit that I had the most relaxing Christmas season I've had in years!  Without the stress of having to worry about orders, I was able to get my own shopping done, wrap the gifts, clean the house and even bake cookies!  Honestly, since we started this business, I don't think I'd done that at all.

Special request sign for a customer.

While we feel bad for anyone who wanted to place an order after December 1 but couldn't, we made sure to make the announcement regarding the closure early in November to give everyone plenty of warning.  Since we will do this next Christmas, and we could do it again if we ever take vacations, we encourage you to follow us on Facebook so you don't miss out on any important announcements.  That's one of the places where we post new products, discounts and other information, so following along will help you stay current on all of the latest and greatest Poverty Barn goodness.

Speaking of new products, Jess and I are both brainstorming about some really fun new projects, which we will roll out in the coming year. For my racing friends, I will be attending my first Chili Bowl in mid-January, and several of our racing signs will be in various auctions there throughout the week. A new one will make its debut there as well.  Be sure to check with the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and the Kick-It Cup Charity Auction events if you plan to be in Tulsa.

Special request sign for
a customer.

Here are a few photos of items I made as Christmas gifts and some that were ordered by customers.  Visit our Facebook page, where I will be adding even more.

Thank you again to everyone who has supported us over the past few years.  We look forward to working with you again in 2014.

Blessings!
Valerie

Jesse's New Office

I (Jess) have been very busy lately. Not making goodies like I should be, but MOVING! We finally found and bought a house and are now moved in (for the most part).

Our awesome new house has the most perfect space above the garage for me to run wild with Poverty Barn creations. It needed a little work before it was a functional space, but luckily I have some awesome and handy men in my life that helped me out a ton with getting that taken care of.

It's not quite done yet and probably won't be until sometime early next year as the busy season is now upon us. However, I can't wait that long to show it off so here are some sneak peeks of the progress so far:

Here is what it looked like before the floor was put in:

Our little Poverty Barn girl checking out our new space. 

There are 3 dormer windows on one side.

Looking from the stairs.

Dormer Windows

Another view from the stairs

 After the floor was put in and starting to move things in:

Look at all that work space!

Pretty new flooring!

Attempting to get my desk organized again!

The wall where my cabinets will go

Looking towards the stairs

This is a panoramic picture of the space from the corner by the stair rail. 

Here is Popsicle with the awesome gate he built to keep our Muchie safe. 

This is the cleanest my desk has ever been (and will ever be).

More to come...