Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Paris is Just around the Corner

Part of this is a re-post with some new informaiton

For several years I've wanted to take one of the Red Shed Girl's trips to Paris. I've made sure my passport is up to date, and watched as they blogged about the trips. I did go on one guided trip with the girls to my first Junk Bonanza and I must say, they think of everything. Val even contributed to the recent Flea Market Style magazine on page 11 in an article about shopping the Paris Fleas. So I knew there was no better group to go with.



But you see I'm a cheapskate and it takes a lot for me to part with a dime, so I've been putting it off.

Then one day Mr R said to me "when you are 80, and you can't go, will you regret not going?" Of course the answer was "yes", and so that was all the nudge I needed.


After a few conversations with Val and a small down payment, I'm headed to Paris And it's only a few weeks away, After waiting for about 9 months, it's finally, as we say, "within spittin distance".

The information emails have gotten more frequent and closer togehter. I've emailed with my roommate, and there is a meeting coming up. I've tried to temper my excitement so far, but It's getting harder and harder.

Of course I'm excited about sharing it with all of you so stay tuned, April 18th is the day we fly out but I've got lots to do before that. Oh, My Son is getting married April 6th :)

In case you are not familiar with the Red Shed Girl's tours, go here for all the info.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Recent winter Finds

After a few months of just finding nothing, I got the Junk call last week and got some fun things.
The windows and fence piece above, and these lovely iron wheels below.
My favorite find was a bunch of animal fence post toppers
And this great old globe bank. I also found those unusual glasses at Winnie and Tululas, and some chalkware sconce candle holders with cherub angels.
Hope you are finding great fun things in your neck of the woods. Spring is just around the corner and I hope folks open up their garages soon. :)

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Before and Afters of wood floor install

As any do it yourselfer knows, each home improvement project comes with it's own surprises...twists and turns you might say. We hired my uncle from MN to come down and help us minimize some of those surprises with his re-modeling expertise, and he was so helpful. Not only did he have the know-how, he had the brawn as well. We started by pulling up the carpet in the master bedroom. I was glad to see it go...

First surprise, the padding was GLUED down as well as stapled. Which added time to prep work, we had to scrape padding that was stuck to the floor as well as pulling staples. Another road bump, was a small area of vinyl that was very stubborn at coming up. My DH's solution... a heat gun and a scraper. The boys got that up toot-sweet and we were ready to roll.



The bulk of the flooring was pretty strait forward, glue, plank, pound in place, and move on. It's the areas around the walls and closets and doorways that takes so much time. But Uncle D has pride in his work, and it was done RIGHT.

Now for the before and after pics. Below is before with the carpet. Not so bad in the pic, but definitely stained and smelly, and as I see now, it lacked color and depth.

And now, it's all clean and purdy. I like the contrast the wood ads as well as the warmth and depth. I don't think I'll ever install wall-to-wall carpeting in a house again. (note the new lamps as well)


The stairs had been carpeted in this house and so that had to go as well. The stairs were tricky, but Uncle D got it done beautifully with new oak treads that we stained to match the existing wood in the floors. He even rounded that bottom one, like it was before.
There were lots of other honey-do's that became uncle-do's while he was here, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I still have work, I need to paint the areas he repaired, and do some clean up, but we have plenty of time for that.

Here's wishing you luck with all of your home improvement projects coming up.

Margo and the demo team!!!!!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

You know I love Orla


I know you all know that I loooove Orla Kiely's design and especially her bags. What you may not know is that she has designed several jute shopping bags for Tesco in the UK. Each bag sells for 4 british pounds and the proceeds go to charity. I was lucky enough to nab 2 recently from a UK seller, the one above and... the one below



Announced early this month is a new design that I am in LOOOOOVE with, and I have my UK relatives watching out for it for me.


There are a few other designs of the bags that are not my favs and so I've opted not to try and get them, but I'm lovin that green one above. And they are so affordable. Now you too can have an Orla original





And never fear, in all my Orla Kiely Crazy love I am still a Junker and I have a new stash to show you all soon.

I've been busy shipping magazines and have been able to keep up with getting new orders out within 2 days.

My wood floors are done, as well as several other projects around the house, which has kept me busy. I'm thankful to have a wonderful Uncle who came down to help (basically do most of the projects) he leaves tomorrow, and I'm so sad.

Thank you David for All you do!!!!!


Thursday, February 16, 2012

All Magazine pre-orders have shipped and more

Just wanted to take a minute to update all my magazine customers.

As of today, all pre-orders have been shipped, all new orders received 2/15 or prior have been shipped and all International orders have been shipped.
(if for some reason you do not receive your magazine within a week, please contact me. Click my picture on the right side bar)
International orders will take a bit longer to arrive.

New orders will be shipped within 2 days of payment, International orders are shipped once a week.

Get it even before it appears in stores, order yours today.



The Spring 2012 issue is currently in stock for immediate shipping. Order yours today here


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Shipping Updates and Hickups

As I said in a prior post, when dealing with the postal service one never knows...

Hickup #1

Today I got this little letter, stating that my parcel is too thin to be shipped first class with delivery confirmation, as offered by paypal. Their solution, upgrade to priority mail (passing the cost onto my customers which I do not want to do) or, I need to make my packages thicker, according to the letter. Now this makes no sense to me, A thicker package can be mailed first class, but a thinner one cannot?????

My solution, is to add a sheet of bubble wrap to each package, so...If you get a magazine with an unexplained sheet of bubble wrap with it, you'll know it was shipped after today. Which fortunately is only a few magazines at this point.

On the other hand, if for any reason the postal service tries to collect additional postage from
you, please let me know.

Hickup
#2: I use paypal postage service to post all of my magazines, but for some reason, the Bulk processing option is not working for a huge chunk of the magazines, so I'm having to process them one at a time. I have not been a happy camper, as I would love to have all of these out you all already. But due to these 2 issues, some have been delayed, however I am making headway, and hope to have them all out in the mail by Thursday.

Back to packing and shipping.

Margo

Sunday, February 12, 2012

My Weekend New Floors

My uncle David, the construction wiz, graciously flew down to help us with some home projects. It's always nice to have him around, and it decreases our learning curve for each project.
First on the list is wood on the upstairs bedroom floor and down a hallway. So this is how I spent my Weekend.
I am sore in places I didn't even know existed. The largest room is done, and later today we start down the hallway. My house is a wreck, stuff stored wherever there is space for it. Bed leaning against the wall etc.
I'll be worth it. I'm so glad to get rid of that carpet. Carpet and pets just do not mix. I love my dogs, but......

Never fear, I've been working on magazines as well.
Every break I stuff envelopes and attach labels. I've got a huge batch to mail tomorrow but there are still a few that have not been mailed. I'm going to work hard to get all preorders mailed out by Wednesday.



Thursday, February 9, 2012

I now have Flea Market Style Magazines in stock and are starting to Ship


Hello everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that my magazine order has arrived and I have begun shipping them out. I've had a chance to thumb through it and it's fabulous... absolutely fabulous. Just when you think it can't get any better... it does!!! I'm going to be working my little patootie off for the next few days to get them shipped out to you, so that's why I'll be a little MIA. Local pick up information is at the bottom of this post.




Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Two new Tutorials

Tutorials no longer available for these projects.

Tied Fabric Scrap Lamp Shade


All you need is an old lamp shade, scraps of fabric and scissors and time to tie,




&

Spindle Tree


Make a shabby Christmas Tree with vintage spindles, also works with branches. You'll need spindles, Drill and metal rod for this project.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Flea Market Style New Cover Reveal

Pop over to Flea Market Style to see the reveal of the cover for the upcoming Spring issue.


Woo Hoo can't wait.

The Spring 2012 issue will be available soon. Order yours today click here

Friday, February 3, 2012

Orla Kiely Love...Obsession



I'm not sure why Orla Kiely's patterns attract me so much. They are simple, colorful, graphic and for some reason I just can't get enough.
I feel as if I've been infected.
Most Orla Kiely products are a bit out of my budget. So for Christmas I requested some Orla like items, like the Lotta Jansdotter fabrics below, The notebook and clips above (staples) and the Orla's book" Pattern" (Highly recommend). I also requested some actual Orla fabric (from Etsy) which came a few weeks after Christmas.

I was so excited to finally get some of her beloved fabric, and I went right to work, making those few fat quarters stretch as far as I could.
I embellished some towels, (Jansdotter 2 upper, Orla the stem pattern lower)


spruced up a Tote, It's different on each side
With Scans from her book, I dressed up my date book and cel phone. These clear phone cases are wonderful and easy to change.

I've also found ways to work Orla-like items into my decor, hopefully, without going overboard???? This green coverlet and pillow shams are from Kohl's and are still available.
If you want to see more of my Orla Kiely finds, wants etc, I keep an Orla pinboard on my pinterest just for that.

I read in her book that she looks at the blogs, so Orla if you are reading this, I want drinking glasses. The mugs are nice, but I would love a line of Orla Glass Tumblers perfect for a Texas Sweet Iced Tea, How about it??

And Last but not least, This has to be my favorite Orla item of all...

Can you believe there is an Orla Car???? Sigh







Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Winnie & Tulula's First big event of 2012 Happening Now



My space is 20% off across the board, including jewelry. Other discounts throughout the store, varies by dealer space.
Stop by after or before you hit First Monday Trades Days in Canton.

See you there
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