Changes Are On The Way

Changes Are On The Way!

Where has this year gone? It's so hard to believe that Christmas is only weeks away!!!  It is like, I just blinked, and the year is almost gone.  How does that happen?  2015 has been a full year for Shell's Vintage Charm and I made the decision in October to focus on my business full time.  It has been wonderful and I have not looked back on leaving my steady income and position. This, however, means that I  will be stepping up the game plan for Shell's Vintage Charm.  

As I am  looking forward to Christmas and the New Year, I am making some  new business plans and changes in 2016.   Some of the changes have already began and I am beyond EXCITED!!!  I am currently working on revamping our website and blogging all in one place!  New products, designs are also in the works.  

I will be back with more details soon!  I would love to hear any ideas on new products you would like to see listed and blogging topics you are interested in reading or learning about.  

Early Morning in the Country

The sunshine is beginning to peek over the trees, as I take a morning ride on the 4 Wheeler. I am a morning person, love mornings and there is nothing better than enjoying it in the country with a cup of coffee or a ride out in the pasture. Totally and truly love and enjoy being a small town girl, living in the country. 

We have a new addition on the hill, (one of the reasons that I was out and about on this particular morning).  My daddy called to tell me that Baby (the spotted Jenny that I laid claim, to) had a new foal.  Meet Long Tall Sally, named yes, from the song.  My 8 year old granddaughter wanted the honor of naming this one.  I am sure that Sally will be spoiled like the rest of the donkeys in no time at all. 

Being as how the Baby was not quiet ready to share Sally at the moment, I decided it was a great morning to ride around and enjoy the morning before the Oklahoma heat set in.  Snapped this shot of the what was going to be a log cabin (my brother, was working on this project), an abandoned project as you can tell.  It has made a great source for photo backdrops.  

Stopped along the way to watch a pretty blue dragon fly.  It wasn't being very cooperative while I was trying to take the picture and this was the best one I could get.

Love these little pink wildflowers, or I am sure they are probably a weed, but they are a very pretty weed, I think.  

A few more weeds with pretty flowers.   I will just call them wildflowers, they are a flower and they grow wild, or maybe they are just colors of inspiration along the journey.

Sampson, our Lab, stops to look at me.  I am sure he is wondering and thinking, why are we stopping to take pictures again? He always tags along and patiently waits while I poke along and take pictures.

Close to the end of the fence line is Midnight, the ornery donkey. 

The morning inspirational ride is over and it is time to "crack-a-lack". I made a very impromptu decision to set up as a vendor at the Peach Festival in Stratford.  My inventory was ridiculously low and but we went anyway, had a wonderful time.  New friends are always a pleasure to meet.

 

Speaking of "crack-a-lacking" and low inventory, been having lots of fun making some new pillows.  They are only available at our vendor space, in Tishomingo, Oklahoma at Baker's Mercantile at the moment. 

 

Stay Charmed,

Shelley

 

 



Playing with Vintage Flour Sacks

What is a girl to do when she is needing curtains for the Glamper?  You pull out your stash of old vintage doilies, napkins and flour sacks from my catch all container.



Decided that I wanted to use some of my flour sacks to make a curtain.  So I pulled out the flour sacks and laid them out to see what I actually had.   I didn't have enough to just use the flour sacks so, I added some of the doilies and napkins.

 

 

The flour sacks that I had were pretty faded, some had been cut or torn.   I decided to go with various sizes and to leave edges tattered and even made the seams on the outside to add to the shabby look. 

 

 

I absolutely Love how they turned out.  You can see more pictures of the curtains, here. I had two that were actually still a sack so I made pillows out of those to place also use in Glamper. 

 

 

 



As you can see they are very faded, and you can barely see the print.  I added a few extra decorations, to give it more character. 

This one is from the Shawnee Milling Co in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

I had plans of taking them to the Glamper, and place them here in the dining area with the curtains, but the rain changed my mind for the moment.  I started playing around with them in different places in the house. 

This is a corner of my dining room.  I really like the way it looks here in the corner sitting in an old chair with a bonnet that both belonged to my Aunt Sis.  They may or may not now make it to the Glamper. 

I am linking up at the following:
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants
Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch to Yours

Stay Charmed!
Shelley

Reflecting

Emberlynn's 4th of July Picture.  Which was a very impromptu photo shoot taken by my very talented daughter, Paisley. The truck is my husband old 68 Ford we, call "Ole Blue."  Flag was an unfinished project made by yours truly, but worked great for this photo. ( Photography by Paisley's Prints)

 



I hope that you had a great 4th of July weekend.  Mine was terrific and spent with my littlest firecracker, Emberlynn.  Time spent with family is always time well spent.  Along with the usual cooking out with family, watching fireworks, we spent most of it taking it easy by our pool  Which I lovingly call our "Redneck Water Hole".  It is nothing fancy, just an above ground pool with a deck and gazebo (which the top did not make it during one of our Oklahoma spring storms).  I love my Redneck Water Hole, it is my happy place along with my front porch (a whole other story this year). With all of the rain we have had this year, and just being so busy with all that has been going on,  I have not placed or planted one flower this year.  Have been planning on making pillows for my furniture and it hasn't gotten done, either.  As I sit here writing this morning, I realize even in it's plain state and disarray this year, it is still my happy place.  The sound of water is calming, the birds are chirping, the horses are in the pasture grazing and one ornery donkey, is trying to get my attention.  As it is on the East side of my house, it is a great place to sit and have coffee in the morning, watch the sun rise and plan my day for Vintage Charm. 

As I sit here this morning reflecting and dreaming on my future with Vintage Charm, I am reaffirmed that I am on the right track and love what I do.  I have taken the summer off from shows to work on my inventory.  I have so many new designs and plans, that I am eagerly looking forward to the shows this fall.  Sweet Caroline, our vintage mobile boutique, will be joining me for a few of them.   In the meantime, I am will stay busy working on new products and designs.  We are also in the process of updating our website,  and working on a new logo.

Can't wait to visit with everyone again this fall.  In the meantime you can shop with us on our website, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Blog), and we have a booth at Baker's Mercantile in Tishomingo, OK.   I sincerely hope, you will follow along in our journey as we move forward and grow.

Life is truly good when you decide to follow your heart! Now to get in the studio/workroom and get busy!!! Have a great day!

Stay Charmed,
Shelley



Tutorial for Raised Stencil Design on Cabinet Door

I made a raised stencil design on the cabinet doors for the Vintage Camper. After receiving several questions on how I made it, I thought I would doing a tutorial. 

Materials need:
Wallboard Joint Compound
Putty Spatula
Stencil
Cabinet Door

Place your stencil design of choice on the cabinet door. 

 

Next take a glob of the joint compound on your spatula.

Spread your joint compound over the stencil.

 

 

Lift stencil straight up to remove the stencil. You will now have your stenciled design. 

 

 

I wanted a little more texture on the door, so I randomly placed more of the joint compound around the design.

 

 

Let dry completely.  Sand. if desired, to knock some of the rough edges.

 

 

You are now ready to paint as desired.  I used a gray base coat of homemade chalk paint. 

 

 

After the base coat has completely dried.  I added an off white paint to highlight.  I used a dry brushing technique, but left the paint a little bit heavier on brush. 

 

 

 

Distress and wax to complete, as desired.

 

 

I love how easy this is to add a design to a surface.

Sweet Caroline our Glamper and Mobile Boutique

Sweet Caroline made her Grand Debut

After a few set backs, and months of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, my dream is finally taking shape and seeing the efforts of all our (got to give my Prince Charming, his fair share of the credit, too) work.  We still have a few things that we need to do, like the counter top, but all and all she is at least presentable and we were able to use her.  We finally had a Grand Debut with her this past Saturday, during A Touch of Rust in Stillwater, OK.  Although, I do plan to use her as part of my mobile boutique, I didn't put any inventory to sale inside on this trip. I think that she was a success and she had lots of traffic, coming and going out of her little door.

Sharing pictures from our set up and her interior.