Santa Baby!

I am so excited to have finally received the picture of my girls with Santa Claus this year!  It is a tradition that we take the girls down to the local mall Santa every year to get their pictures taken.  This year we decided to support a local cause to help foster children and support a wonderful local cafe by having the pictures taken at Little Garden Cafe.  This cafe is my all-time favorite!  Located on NW Blvd, it is so homey and comfortable with a kid's play area and beautiful views of Audubon Park.

Summer (the baby) was by far the most enthusiastic about the picture!  Guess she's just a Santa Baby!

Birthday Craziness

Aahh December... Not only is it Christmas time, but two of my three girls have birthdays in December as well.  It is always an absolute crazy time of the year!  My poor girls wish that they could "change" their birthdays to be in the summer.  There seems to be more cute birthday party ideas for kids when the weather is nice, but we do our best and using a lot of pink makes it feel a bit more like summertime. 

In total, 8 dozen cupcakes were made in less than a week for all the parties.  Gabby had her third grade party with cupcakes, then Gabby's family birthday bash at Grandma's house, and another party with her best buds (and more cupcakes).   My mom made the adorable house cake for our little family party. She took a cake decorating class about 25 years ago, but she obviously remembered what she'd learned!

Lily also had a birthday party with pre-school friends and family. Lily loves kitties and tea parties, so we just combined the two and made kitty balloons and cupcakes and tea party games.

   

And I Said That I Wasn't Going to Decorate This Year...

When everyone was busily decorating their homes and Christmas trees the weekend after Thanksgiving, I announced, "I'm going to be a Scrooge this Christmas and not put up a tree!"  Now this came as a shock to my family as I was one of those kids relentlessly begging my mom to put up all holiday decorations way too early.  I loved setting up all the Easter, Christmas, Halloween, and other holiday decorations with my mom and am certain that this was an initial sign of the love of displays yet to come.  So, here I am now, ready to forget about the tree and simplify this year due to a scheduled surgery this month and the lack of artificial tree (my husband's allergic to the real ones) and no funds to buy and new one.  The artificial tree that we've been using over the years is at least 20 years old, falling apart, and the last straw was the mold growing on it from the box getting wet!  Of course, I had to be subjected to seeing my mom's beautiful tree and I made the big mistake in sitting down one morning with my cup of coffee and old Christmas edition of Country Living!  I couldn't stand it, I had to decorate...

I love to use burlap garland anywhere that I can!  I used this on the mantle along with the vertical garland on the Christmas tree.

My daughter, Gabby, knows how much I adore bird nests and is always finding them for me (after the eggs have hatched, of course!)

Tired of all the usual tree ornaments, I made ornaments out of vintage playing cards that also help my 3 year-old learn her numbers!

Under the Weather?

Our family has been hit particularly hard this Fall with various viruses and illnesses.  About a month ago, 3 of the 5 of us in our family had the H1N1 virus and this last week we all have shared a very nasty stomach bug which has left us all without much energy and a few pounds lighter.  I suppose with one child in public schools, another in pre-school, and the fact that we get never get a full-night's sleep as the baby gets up 2-3 times a night, we're just a pretty run-down lot that has been hit on all sides recently.  Luckily, Summer (4 months old) has been able to escape the H1N1 and had just a day of the stomach virus as she has been our main concern.  I suppose there is no better time in the year to hunker down, rest, relax, and focus on getting better.  I hope all of you and your families stay healthy and for those of you who are under the weather like us, I hope this virtual chicken soup makes you feel a bit better!

The Last Show for the Season

I had a great time at the Vintage Treasures Market at the Nine Mile Falls Elementary School yesterday.  I teamed up with Rustic Angel, A Little Something, and Jessica Cobb to sell our "wares" for our last show until next spring.  On one hand, it will be nice to slow down a little and have to some time to create while being holed up in the house during the winter months, but I absolutely love the shows as I get to meet the customers and all the other wonderful creative people out there!  It was amazing how many people that recognized Sophia's from the Farm Chicks show!  It really meant a lot to me since I wasn't able to participate in many shows after having the baby this past summer.  I love re-connecting with people and it never ceases to amaze me how small the world really is - or maybe how small Spokane really is!  I also had the chance to talk to quite a few of the incredible vendors there including Jamie from The Bizi Shop (she's such a sweetie!), Jennifer from Unexpected Neccessities, and Shari from Southern Charm.  Shari was gracious enough to give some tips on glass pendant making.  Her jewelry is out of this world and as I've just started experimenting with jewelry-making, I was a sponge.  It is always so nice to talk to others that have the same hobby and share experiences with one another. 

Vintage Finds and Handmade Treasures Market

I'm excited to be a part of the Nine Mile Falls Vintage Finds and Handmade Treasures Market this Saturday!  The show is organized by Jennifer and Kathy Walker, Unexpected Necessities

This mother and daughter team are so sweet!  I first met these gals when several of my neighbors and I were having yard sales and they stopped by.  I was working on a piece of furniture in my driveway with my garage door open and, of course, it was full of my "junk".  They had commented that their garages were in a similar state and we quickly learned that we were both vendors at the local Farm Chicks Show and share the same passion for "junkin".  Jennifer came to our Angel's Attic Show and invited us to attend their event this Saturday.  Rustic Angel, A Little Something, Sophia's, and Jessica Cobb will all be sharing a large booth together and we are excited to be able to do another show together before winter sets in.  Hope to see you all there!

Thanks Everyone!

Thank you to all our customers, visitors, helpers, everyone that came out Saturday for Angel's Attic first sale!  We were so grateful that the sun came out after such a dreadful, rainy day on Friday.  It just turned out to be such a beautiful day.  Jon and Linda (Rustic Angel), Kim (A Little Something), Jessica and I are all excited for upcoming possibilities and shows.  We wish we could have more shows throughout the winter, but the attic isn't insulated and the stairs would get too slippery, but we are definitely on again in the spring (April 24th) and are looking at being part of a local show in the next couple of weeks!  More info on that later...

Here some more pics from inside the attic and out. 
Again, big thanks to all our first customers.  We couldn't do this without you!

Sneak Peeks of this Weekend's Sale!

We've been working hard up at Angel's Attic these past few weeks.  We want to make the first show as special as possible!  Here are a few sneak peeks of what goods will be there...

This is only the inside!  There will be tons of vintage goods, furniture and fall items outside as well.  Hope to see you all there.

Upcoming Sale!!

I'm very excited to announce the first of hopefully many sales put on by Rustic Angel in their wonderful attic on the most gorgeous property. "Angel's Attic" will include Kim Panter's goods from her former shop in Freeman, "A Little Something" as well as my very talented step-sister Jessica Cobb.  Jessica makes the cutest things out of vintage fabric including totes, pillows, faux food, etc.  Sophia's will be part of the show as well with vintage furniture and frenchy finds.  We will also have hot apple cider and delicious homemake baked goods available.

The sale will take place on October 24th from 10am-4pm and is located right off the intersection of Country Homes Blvd. and Wall on Spokane's north side.  You can email me with any questions at sophiasdecor@gmail.com   Hope to see you there!!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!

One of my passions is designing and decorating kid's rooms. About half of all my decorating books are relating to kids rooms and nurseries and I think I would still love kid's rooms even if I didn't have three of them myself. As my third daughter was born this last July, we had to add another bedroom in our house to make room for her. This means one thing to me - another room to decorate!! Luckily we were having another girl and since I had just started a children's boutique, I had plenty of inspiration. The hard part was getting it done a few weeks before I was due as I didn't have time to complete it with getting ready for the Farm Chicks show.

Using leftover paint from the shop and scouring sales, I was able to complete Summer's nursery for about $500-$600, including crib, dresser, chair, shelving, rug, equipment, everything in the room. While that is still quite a bit of money (at least to me), I'm not sure how else I could have done it any cheaper. I love sitting in there and rocking her! I tease my husband that it is the only complete room in the house (we are constantly working on projects)

My other daughter, Lily, got a room makeover as well. Since she is my little helper in the flower beds, she has a little garden room. My wonderful step-dad hand-painted the picket fence mural on the wall. Since Lily is 3, she is working on her ABC's and nothing is better than having her wall covered with floral alphabet cards to help her learn. I love these cards! I used to sell them in my shop and are available at Eeboo. I just punched holes in the corners and threaded ribbon through to hang them. Once again, I was on a tight budget and everything thing in this room only cost a few hundred dollars and most importantly, Lily loves it!






I have one more daughter that got a new room this year and I think her room is my favorite. More pics of those to come (I have to get her to clean it first!)

Barn Bazaar

My family went out to the Barn Bazaar out in Spangle for the first time this last Saturday. Those women do an awesome job! The cute pumpkins, mums, and Fall decor were everywhere, not to mention the adorable farmhouse. I didn't see a corner of the property that didn't have cute decor, old signs, etc. The store inside the barn was also great. Great vendors, great location, I will be back next year for their July show...hopefully as a vendor this time.