Prim Decor & Newly Painted Front Door

What happens when you take some grapevine wreaths/shapes, old shutters, barn stars, pip berry garlands, coffee stained hangtags, fabric, light sets and put them together? Well hopefully, some great prim decor!

I've been busy doing some outside painting the last few weeks. Our front door was plain white....5 coats of paint later and it's a great prim burgundy. I decided that the front door also needed a new wreath decoration....so what do you think?


Shutters that were from an old farmhouse!

Here are a few pictures of some of the new prim decor that I made with a bunch of the things that I picked up while wholesale shopping last week.





Most of the prim decor I make is sold at my weekend craftshows.





Of course I did something for the summer season...using prim americana pip berries, a rusty barn star, a grapevine wreath and some coffee stained hangtags.



Creating prim decor is a nice change from painting for me. It gives me another outlet to let my creative juices flow.

Collingswood Mayfair

I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in this years Mayfair in Collingswood, NJ. This year was the Mayfairs 30th anniversary and my fourth year in attendance. Collingswood is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia right outside of Camden, NJ. It's a very eclectic town, full of neat little shoppes and nice restaurants with reasonably priced food...but Collingswood is a dry town, so BYOB if you would like some wine with your dinner.

Mayfair has 4 stages of entertainment, a kidszone, farmers market, strolling entertainers, a classic car show and lots of arts and crafts. I'm so mad at myself for forgetting my camera but if you click on this link www.collingswood.com , it will take you to the official website that has pictures of previous years festivities.

It was a beautiful day and the crowds turned out. So if you are ever in the Philadelphia area on Memorial Day weekend, make the trip across the river and visit the lovely little town of Collingswood, it's certainly worth the trip.

Oh, and if you come, do come early and be sure to pick up some locally grown strawberries at the farmers market...they are to die for!

Wholesale Shopping in Lancaster

Isn't this the cutest plate? And I love the plate holder too. Two completely different suppliers but yet they compliment each other so well.

I am very fortunate to live where I do as we have some of the best wholesale shopping closeby in Lancaster, PA. I live about an 1 1/4 hours south of the area and get the opportunity to go rather frequently.



(Some rusty tin watering cans, taper holders, star votive holders, wrought iron plate holders, 2 americana plates and 2 cute little prim totes.)



On my recent trip yesterday, we started off by stopping by Basket Warehouse outside of Manheim. I meet my girlfriend Sharon there but of course she was late. She had a valid excuse...seems like as she was starting to pass by some yardsales they began to call her name. Being the bargain diva that she is, Sharon just had to stop and see what was being offered. She arrived at Basket Warehouse, with a wingback chair and a few other goodies packed in her truck. Anyway, on to our shopping expedition. Basket Warehouse had the cutest new line of products, the plate and plate holder being some of them. Since I'm in a patriotic swap, I couldn't resist purchasing one for myself and my swap partner too....now to just hope she doesn't read my post til after her package arrives. I don't like purchasing imports but for the price, I
couldn't pass it up.



(Some rusty wall pockets, rusty star garlands, metal match holders, a bag of small rusty stars to use as accents and 4 tin and wood frames stars.)

Our next stop after we wound our way through the backroads, over hills and dales was CDM. They were not very well stocked, which is somewhat disappointing. Can't buy what's not there.



(35 and 50 count brown wire lights, battery operated tapers and 10 yds of blue checked fabric.)

We then wound our way down Rte 772 to Amish Trader Country over in Paradise. Of course along the way we passed many Amish farms, a one room Amish school house and a one lane covered bridge. Amish Trader Country has really expanded their selections. There I was able to pick up 10 yards of mini blue checked fabric, 7" barn stars, some soap pumps and rusty jar lids and a few grubby candles.



(7 and 12" barnstars, soap pumps, rusty jar lids, grubby candles, more star votive holders)


Next stop was Amish Trader Imports...yep, another Amish Trader. They were actually partners at one time both having separate but combined efforts at making the business a success. After many years together, Gil and Gary have parted ways and have both taken their businesses into a high profitable directions. I have to say of all the wholesalers that we do get to visit, Gary, the owner of Amish Trader Imports, is the nicest, friendliest person. He always says hello and is right there in the trenches, unloading, restocking and checking out customers.

(24 pip berry garlands)

Of course there are many other wholesalers in the Lancaster area including Primitives By Kathy, Audreys and Little Valley...but there are never enough hours in the day to visit everyone.





(dragon vines, wreaths, s vines and grapevine on a roll. One of the grapevine rolls is for my friend Pat to see if it will work as decoration for her daughters upcoming wedding. Yep, Pat had her own personal shopper!)

Our last and final stop was to get a bite to eat. Wholesale shopping can work up an appetite. We asked for recommendations for eateries in the area from one of the employees at Amish Trader Imports and she suggested a few places closeby one being Isaacs. Well we had the best wrap ever. It was called the magpie. Chicken with spinach, pesto sauce, ranch dressing, asiago and parmesan cheese, provolone, and bacon all wrapped in a flour tortilla. Yummo! When talking to our waitress, we found out that Isaacs has about 20 locations in the PA area, so if you ever stumble across one, you should stop in and try the Magpie wrap. You won't be disappointed.



(I have to say I pick one thing each time that I just love and this little rusty taper holder and battery operated taper are it. I can't wait to paint the holder and grubby up the taper)


Of course the wholesale warehouses are only open to the trade. You need a sales tax license number and other credentials to be able to make purchases. Each wholesaler has their own separate requirements and it's best to call to find out which documents each need before making the trip. But I would say if you are ever in the Lancaster area, and do meet their qualifications, that they are a must see.



(This picture is a pile of my purchases....a little smaller than usual but still enough to keep me busy for a few days!)

Nothing Like Sisterly Love

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I started out making some new sign this last week....without much of a theme in mind and what I came up with is a cross between witch signs and oz signs. See where my mind wanders... Of course the oz sign is my favorite one! LOL!



Of course being the youngest of 3 girls...well let's just say there was lots of sisterly love in our house! LOL!



And of course anyone that has a sister feels like this sometimes! Anyway, nothing like having a sister or two that you can poke fun at! LOL!

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

As you can see I was at it again...creating more "Oz" signs. With the 70th anniversary of the making of the movie this year, there has been a renewed interest.



The Emerald City was located in the middle of the land of Oz. It needed no "sign" to indicate that one was entering the city, as everything was green and brilliant. I made my version of what a sign would say proclaiming the entrance to the Emerald City.





For the filming of the movie, 125 "munchkins" were hired to become the inhabitants of Munchkinland. In 2007, only 6 "munchkins" remained living when a star was presented to them on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Just recently, the munchkin who played the "town crier" has passed away from natural causes.

Bunny Kisses

It was nice outside finally on Friday, so out came my boys pet rabbit for a hop around the yard.

We inherited "Toonies" almost 2 years ago. A neighbor said there was a bunny hopping around another neighbors yard....nothing unusual about seeing a bunny...but it was a pet bunny. A cute little lopped eared bunny. So off my boys went to catch him to see if we could find his rightful owner. After searching for days, without any luck, we decided we would give it a home. So the boys and my hubby built a hutch for the bunny.

About 3 weeks after we had the bunny, one of the other neighbors saw it and said, "Hey that looks like Nugget". We then determined that it was indeed Nugget. Problem was the 2 college aged girls that Nugget belonged to had moved right after he was found. They didn't have a care in the world about the cute little bunny that they had gotten as a gift for Easter a few months back. Anyway, we took the bunny in and named it Petunia.


Toonies giving Sean bunny kisses

After a few months, Ian, my 13 yr old came in from being outside with the bunny and stated that he didn't think that Petunia was a girl. I asked why he thought that and of course he proceeded to tell me that Petunia had hit puberty, well puberty for a bunny! LOL! So, we decided to not give the bunny a gender identity crisis and called him Toonies which wasn't too far off from Petunia.

He's the sweetest little bunny. Loves giving bunny kisses. Ian and Sean take him for walks with his harness and leash. He loves getting out of his hutch and exploring the yard.


Toonies showing off his harness

His favorite foods I would say would have to be apples. He gets all kinds of treats and is a rather spoiled bunny. Ian gives Toonies a prune, yep, you heard right, a prune each morning before heading to school. If for some reason Ian forgets, Toonies, becomes a grumpy old bunny and will turn his back and ignore you over in the corner of his hutch.

Having Toonies has taught Ian to be responsible for something else besides himself. For the most part he does a good job taking care of Toonies. He has Sean, his older brother help in his care. Sean has come along way in helping too. From 10th grade animal science where Sean would stand over and guard the bunnies that the class were in charge of by standing over them, to actually getting on the ground with our pet rabbit and interacting with him. Sean will also give Toonies treats and go visit and talk to him. I guess it's all those bunny kisses.

The Twilight Zone

This sure feels like my house most days....but not for the reason that I made the sign. Mine has more to do with living with 4 males! It's been raining here since last Wednesday, so I had lots of time to create new signs. Anyway, my hubby watches a program called Fringe and it's sort of X-Files an Twilight Zone combined, so inspiration struck and I made some more "Twilight" signs to add to my twilight series. I know, how do vampires and the supernatural mesh? But it was the thought of the twilight zone, that my mind went off...I know scary where it will go, huh?



This sign is for all the young girls that dream about being with a vampire...how romantic huh? To be in love with someone that can love you forever?




Of course this is for the true vampire fan....put out the welcome mat and they will come? LOL!



This was a quote from one of the books...not too sure what this one was about exactly but it did give me the opportunity to use the red glitter paint I have! LOL!




Of course, I started with Bitten, but somehow it morphed into Smitten. I guess to be in love with a vampire one does have to be smitten to get bitten! LOL! Sorry couldn't resist. I have no idea what all the hype surrounding the Twilight series is all about, as I have boys and they tell me it's a chick thing! So maybe in my free time, I should read one of the books.

It's May Day!

It's May Day. Hard to believe a quarter of the year has already gone by! Where does times go? These pansies are on my front porch. Aren't they gorgeous? It's been sort of showery on and off here for the last 3 days. Which has helped my grass seed sprout.



Can you see the sprouts? LOL! They are there! Yippee! In February we had a large Silver Maple taken down due to disease. The branches were hollow and we could see daylight through the trunk. It's sad but the tree had to be removed. So down it came...now the challenge of getting grass to grow.



I've fertilized the lawn, watered it 3-4 times a day during the 90+ degree days and it's finally paid off...I have grass sprouts! WooHoo!! I know the little things in life that make me happy. I can grow flowers but grass has always been a challenge for me. Funny thing is that the hubby has a lawn mowing service! We are the true shoemakers family! LOL!

I need to go back and overseed some more and hopefully in a few weeks the dirt area will have filled in with a nice green patch for my boys to mow.

The sun has peeked out again so it's time to go put out more seed....Mother Nature is suppose to provide us with some more showers tonight so the seed can get another soaking.

Have a Happy May Day whether you are dancing around a maypole or working in your garden.