Spring and the Nashville Show

 Hi guys! My post is a mixed bag today. My first pics are of the Sweet Honesty that is blooming on the edge of my driveway. It is also called Luminaria or money plant. The seed pods when they are dried and you remove the outer coverings are papery luminous white discs the size of a quarter..hence the names!

 I planted this once and it reseeds itself every year. Sometimes I help it along a bit by knocking the seeds loose or if I cut the seedheads, I remove the outer husks and seeds to get to the pretty inner seed membranes and I toss the seeds back where they came from to replant them. The dried seed heads make a pretty arrangement in the fall.

 These have survived my husband trying to "RoundUp" them and... I am embarrassed to say..the little boys peeing off the edge of the driveway when they are outside playing and too busy (lazy) to come inside and use the bathroom! They don't do that when I can see them! It is pretty here today and my husband is out mowing the lawn for the second time already!

 I did the Nashville Gathering show this weekend and here is my booth. I used the tent frame again to hang things. It rained all day Wednesday so I had to load the van by myself Thursday morning, drive 250 miles to Nashville and unload it and set up the booth alone. I was a bit tired that night and a bit nervous as my hotel room was on the ground floor with an outside entrance. I was in the shower and the bathroom light went out..I leaped out of the shower (straight into the trashcan) and grabbed a towel. I could see the lights were on in the rest of the room through the gap of the door. I brushed up on my ninja skills in my head and thought "I can't die until I lose 20 pounds!" and slowly peeked out saying ..of course..."Hellooo?" Luckily no knife wielding madman but I checked every inch of the room before my heart rate returned to normal!

 I made this booth banner with the help of my grandson Hunter. The oversized "tags" we cut out of manila folders. We added pretty scrapbook paper. The middles are vintage dictionary pages that I painted hope and joy home onto. I could have printed them on the computer, but for me just painting them was infinitely faster!

 We added dots of black glitter to jazz it up and because Hunter said we HAD to use glitter! I like the look.. it makes it "pop". I made word spacer tags to which I added punches of vintage wallpaper. I threaded them on twill tape the length of my tent frame plus a lot of extra to tie it on. I used clothespins to strategically pin it up between the words.

 I like how I set this booth up. I used the vintage gray shutters as a backdrop with some vintage barkcloth panels. I tied clothesline across the back and clothespinned the panels to a hanger and hung that. The shutter leaned against the tent frame and also had the clothesline behind them just in case to keep them from tumbling into the booth behind me! (That would be tragic!) I used stacked wooden crates for height because that is what I brought with. I ended up selling most of those!

 The clotheline with my vintage baby dresses. I lucked out and had open aisles on both sides of my booth which really about doubled my booth space since you could shop it from all sides!

These are some of my handmade paper peonies and an upcycled lamp part candleholder. I think the flowers added an element of pretty. My tablecloths are vintage white damask ones topped with 2 pink sheer dotted gathered curtain panels I bought for like $2 at a yard sale. The pink and white ties the booth together.The show was OK..the attendance was loooooow, but those there were buying so I did ok. I hate when other vendors tell you.."Oh you should have been here LAST time!" Ed came out Friday night after work so I didn't have to load alone and had company. I think I will still do the Knoxville shows, but if I come to Nashville again it will be for the Flea Market over this show as that has a LOT more traffic!

 This is what I came home to..momma cat had Kitties! Too cute!

And THIS is what my South Dakota friends and family are dealing with TODAY..April 22nd! Sorry guys! Hopefully this is your last snow! So that was my weekend..hope you had a great one and stop back! Julia