Another Pink Tent

I've been looking for something I can use to set up items to take pictures-a backdrop of sorts and I saw this tent which primary use is to go over the front of a twin bed. I originally found it when I was looking for something to use when my sister's twins can come to the barn sales and set up a pink lemonade stand. This would keep the hot sun off of them ...but I need to figure out how I'm going to hang it over there-there are no trees on the barn lot?????

Vintage Yard Sprinklers

We have an old smokehouse on our property that I've used for many party events. For the past couple of years I have used it for a little garden cottage and storage for garden items. I haven't had time to clean or play in it. I hope to use it sometime for a WW, but for now here's a corner of it with my small collection of yard sprinklers.

Antique Iron Beds

I admit it -I'm a hoarder- I hoarder of many things-beautiful, detailed iron beds is one of them. I have several beds sitting next to my smokehouse waiting for something-but what is it? I've seen people make benches, fences, and more out of these. But I like them just as beds-and I have a few more in the garage-someday I'll get an idea for these wonderful beds!

Pink Christmas in July

My family-my parents, sister and her family and I had planned to go camping this weekend. My mom had called a few days before to check and see how early we needed to get there to make sure we all had camp sites together. She also asked if they had any activities going on because when we camped there two years ago they had movie nite with free popcorn on Friday nite, Saturday-free kite making for the kids and bingo for the adults. The only thing planned was a Christmas in July event to get gifts for needy children for Christmas-you had to donate a $20 toy to enter. I thought it was a neat idea but decided I didn't want to hassle with it. Friday morning came and I was packed and ready to go-just waiting on my folks to get closer to where I live. I only live about 20 minutes from this campground. Well, I ended up waiting about an 1 1/2 hours and got bored and about 2o minutes before they called to say they were where we'd planned to meet- I decided that -what they heck-I'd throw in my two pink Christmas trees. I should have known then what would happen. Anyone that knows me -knows I do everything overboard-I mean really overboard-just ask my family. We get to the campground and get set up and I see 2 campers set up with a Redneck shindig. I thought they were doing the Christmas thing. They had an old junky couch(from the 70's), two recliners, a fish tank, an old radio console, and a toilet-yes a toilet. Not to mention the small stuff. Now I got into over-drive mode and called my best friend Teresa- help me!!! She started planning and my sister and her twins drove back to my house to load up more stuff. I already had my pink tent so that was a start. Some of the redneck people 's friends came that nite and they were dressed to the hilt(or whatever rednecks dress like) -I wish I had pictures-it was really something to see. They even all paraded(drunk) around the campground pulling a red wagon with something in it? How could I up them and all their friends in their costumes. This was Friday nite and I only got 1 1/2 hours of sleep from worry and planning. I kept the tent closed up so no one would see and begin the hours of sweat(I mean sweat-I changed my clothes at least 3 times each day) and worry. Little did I know that the Rednecks weren't even doing the Christmas thing-they just were having fun. They packed everything up Saturday afternoon.

So I filled out the entry form with pink ballpoint ink and attached these cards I just happened to have in the camper and had picked up at a garage sale for $.25 -how perfect! I wrote inside-Come to campsite #44 for a Merry Pink Christmas and signed my name. I was getting my groove on to going crazy!

This was in the middle of my camp site so I decided to use it like a mascot. A pink bow and glittered Santa hat!

Here's the entire set-up. I had 4 of these suckers to give the kids. I made a pink fire in the fireplace with pink lights !

We placed pink greenery on each side at the bottom. I love my pink doll Teddy Bear(it's an old one) and my pink/black radio/CD player I use in the camper. I have an entire set like the pink stove. My sister's twin helped wrap so many presents in this cute pink paper with snowflakes!

The big pink tree -we had 2 big pink light up balls along with victoria secret bags and a strand of colorful light up balls. The games under the tree-Babble On(one of my favorite and it comes in a pink box) and Bunco(also a pink box).

The right side of the tent -small Christmas tree-and light up vintage snowman(who had pink hat and wreath) I had 2 of them next to the fireplace.

This is one of my Ella Maes Barn Signs that I grabbed to use. I love it in front of the beds-especially when the kids would have been sleeping in them!

My best friend Teresa(always there for help and ideas) suggested that I set the table up for a Christmas dinner. I loved that idea! Check out the fire in the background- pink Christmas lights!

Each of my sister's twins made a pillowcase snowman(also Teresa's idea). Allison wanted hers to be striped. ( I have a ton of pillowcases and sheets in the camper-we didn't even use 1/2 of them). We stuffed the pillow cases with extra blankets and sheets and proceeded to dress them up! I had only bought one scarf from home so we added this pink tinsel-I loved it. I couldn't resist adding the notes to make sure the judges understood they were snowmen.

This was Asher's snowman. He decided he wanted the rose pillowcases. I had only grabbed the one scarf and could only find the one mitten at home so his snowman got the shovel(I already had that in the camper). The sunglasses were an afterthought because Teresa wanted me to use junk jewelry for eyes and I forgot to get it. I thought the sunglasses worked out better anyway!

Here is my set up-

To the left is a table and tray for Santa with a sign saying cookies for Santa . I was just putting 3 kinds of pink cookies and all kinds of pink candy along with pink marshmallow roasting sticks(I just picked up at Target) and pink marshmallows and pink lemonade. I also had a sign saying Kids List-Toys, Adult List -70 degree weather.

To the right is 3 bed cots(which I always put up when I'm camping) for my sister's 3 wonderful kids-twins-Asher and Allison both 8 and Arabella-almost 2. They had planned on pretending to sleep until the judges got there. I had sprayed their hair pink and we had outfits for them.

This is the camp site that won 1st place - what do you think?

This is my outfit-minus any hat. We got a flood of rain about 15 minutes before the judges came around about 7:00pm (they could have checked the radar-duh!) I sprayed my pony tails with pink and my shirt I bought at Walmart within the last month for $1-it says Let It Snow with a pink flamingo with a hat and scarf. As you can see -I'm drenched-we all were. It took my whole family to help tear everything down. The back half of the tent was in several inches of water.

This is the final kicker- the certificate had white out on it with my name written on top. I don't know if I would have been 1st place or not placed at all. HOW TACKY!!!!

Needless to say-I spent two days planning and setting this all up(with my family), sweating my butt off(105 degrees index) in a hot tent(we kept it closed so no one could see until reveal day) and the winner just put up a few Walmart blow up toys and won a week of camping -did they know the judges ? Is everything rigged?

Christmas In July

I've heard of Christmas in July so many times -it makes me sick! We start getting our christmas inventory in July where I work and it gets me thinking of long hours, a tired body, cranky customers(yes, most are), but here I am buying Christmas ornaments. Am I crazy? I couldn't resist some of them-I don't know if you can see the little elephant on the clip or the two clowns-it's my weird circus addiction. There is a couple of fish that will go in as an extra present to a lady at work and they rest will be re-sold at one of my booths!

White Wednesday:

Another junkin' find!
I found this at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those with all the baby clothes and newer stuff. I was going to drive right on by and not stop until I saw this big thing leaning up. I am so glad I stopped! Isn't it the best thing ever? I'm not sure what I am going to do with it yet. It is just so huge! I love cherubs. And I don't have to paint it!

Another Chandelier

I was taking some items into my booth at our local antique store when another dealer was bringing in this chandelier. I can't resist them. I have several hanging in the barn for sale and still several(more than 15) waiting to go into the barn. I love how they look against the rustic background and they really give the barn a fun atmosphere. I have the barn set up like rooms -which in the evenings makes you want to just live in there-except I know about the mice, coons, and possums!

just a little peek inside the barn...

An old barn just sets the perfect backdrop for wonderful old pieces. I have so much fun in my sale barn. I love to rearrange and set up displays featuring some of my greatest finds.
This is where I play when I don't have to work and I'm not out junking. I hope you enjoyed the little peek and have a great White Wednesday!

Come again anytime...the blog is always open!

Barn Tour Sale Day

Making a sale-it was fun to visit with everyone. The lady checking out was in charge of getting the Jeep club to go on the barn tour. We had a lot of Jeeps on the lot that day-what a fun ride!

I put out a table and chairs for people to sit and visit. Rachel invited her friends and family to come out and visit her here because she knew she wouldn't get a chance to see them all. They brought sandwiches and food to share! My pink and white striped umbrella didn't come in because it was back-ordered(from every company I called) so I used my fun circus style umbrella. Still waiting for the pink and white umbrella.

There was chance of rain that day-but luckily it stayed away until the evening.

My friend Rachel just sent me the pictures she took last month from the barn tour. She doesn't have a computer so she couldn't email them to me(she prefers to have them developed and send them thru the mail). She likes to do things the old fashioned way such as handwriting letters. I have to say she's better at it than me. She says that in a few years we won't have any hand written documentation of our feelings and thoughts. She's right-I keep all her letters together in a little box. She always uses the most fun papers to write on. Sometimes she includes ideas she's seen on selling items or like today she sent some information on renting items for parties. I've thought about that before but I was always afraid the items would come back damaged or broken or worse yet -stolen! I have enough stuff to start that business right now though -barn's full.

Barn Sale Day

I love this tent-it's called a castle tent. The size is great 10x13. It has privacy sides. I put up a couple of the sides for backdrops.

Many items in this tent belong to my dad-he's a junker also. My barn's getting so full-I have to put up 1-3 tents each sale just so people can get around in the barn.

Waiting for customers-I couldn't find my hot pink cowboy hat(somewhere in the camper) and this one just wouldn't bend right.

BARN SALE DAY TOMORROW!

Tomorrow another sale day and it's going to be a hot one. I start early(between 6:30 and 7:00) bringing items out and setting up the tents to try and be ready by 1:00. It's exhausting. Most of it is done by myself. My husband does help with the tents and then he's off to church(where I should be!). I decided last year to try and have the barn open once a month on a Sunday. I get more Sunday's off from work and there's not as much competition with things for people to do(yard work, ball games, grocery shopping, etc). I wanted to be some place a person could go for a Sunday drive. Little did I know how much more work it is to put up 2-3 tents(which are needed with the hot sun and no shade) and all the extra stuff that has filled this barn in the last year. I'm always working on a plan, thinkin what could be done better. My best friend, Teresa(Tete-beyond the Garden Gate) is a big help with that. She's full of ideas and suggestions. She's a great sounding board and wonderful support. Thanks Teresa. Well, on to my real job for the day and then it's time to do the pre-planning(it's almost like a party!) Hope to see you all there-I love meeting new friends, and of course-seeing the old ones!

Barn Sale Coupon

I sent out a few of these to my favorite customers and then(having a marketing degree)decided to post one to see if anyone would bring one of these with them to the next sale -This Sunday!

Hope to see you there!

Newspaper Article From Paper

This is the article that was in the newspaper before the last barn sale where our barn was on the barn tour for Oakland Landmarks(Historical society that I'm a part of ). I was so excited!!!!!! To get free advertising is wonderful. This shows the back of the sale barn. We had a great turnout and a lot of fun!!!

My Obsession with/Collection of Metal Lawn Chairs

Well we've got some sticks to burn-wanted to do that on the 4th but it was too windy. I keep several of my chairs around the fire. My husband's working on painting the back fence(that's another story) and you can see how tall the corn already is. Our outhouse in the back (I have a great [past post on that!) Hope you're 4th was Fun!

A pair of these-need to get out them out of barn Bought this one yesterday-couldn't resist the pink! Bought this one last week-different with the smaller scroll back

Fun Yellow This one needs a paint job-bad-I have three so one's off to Ella Maes for the next sale! Two of these-one in red-I put it out for the fall display Two of these-love to have them around the fire pit in pairs

I have three of these in white so one is going to Ella Maes for the next sale. I also have one in red and one in blue for my red/white/blue display! Another chair still in the barn-my favorite color -pink This is probably the most common style of chair I see when antiquing Only have one of these-simple style-needs some attention Shell back style-I have two of these This one needs some TLC -don't know what color to paint?-my dad found this one -I don't have one of these in my collection-so I may have to buy it from him Still sitting in the barn-love the color and extra detail-haven't seen another one of these

Whew -are you tired of looking at these-because I'm tired of posting them. I thought these might be of some interest because they're all so different-like we all are. That's what makes it fun-kinda like putting different chairs around the dining room table!

I usually like all my outdoor furniture to be white-we have a large yard and everything seems cohesive when it's all white. That's why my colored chairs are still in the barn, I only pull them out for special occasions like a party or holiday. These metal chairs are great for my yard because they're heavy enough to not blow away(we don't have a wind block and we see some pretty crazy winds out here on the flat prairie! They're fun to have sitting around-waiting for friends to stop by!