Snippets of the New House

Last week, I mentioned that my mom and step-dad were closing on their new house in the subdivision next to mine.  They moved out to the Raleigh area from Spokane, WA last summer and lived with us for a few months and then stayed in an apartment while their house was being built.  After much deliberation of house plans and communities in the area, they ultimately chose a beautiful community with the equestrian barn, miles of beautiful jogging trails, and many other amenities. It's a great community with lots of wide open spaces which was important to them after moving from their previous home on three acres.

Eastern Migration

Well, it's official!  I'm excited to announce something that's been in the works for a few months...  After my husband and I and the three girls moved from the Pacific Northwest to Raleigh, NC last summer for my husband's job, my mom and step-dad decided to migrate east as well.  It's been a stressful time for all of us the last couple of years with two 2600-mile moves (and them having to sell their gorgeous home above), but we are all happy to be together again and of course, the girls love being with their grandparents...

Vintage Show Love

When my husband and I were deciding to take the plunge and move across the country for his new job, a big factor for me was that I would be missing so many incredible vintage and antique shows that are a part of the Pacific Northwest.  Since The Farm Chicks Show began several years ago, the Pacific Northwest has become a mecca for these incredible shows.  I knew that I would miss them.... a lot!   Sure enough, now that I'm mostly settled in the new house, I'm pining to be a part of the shows again and I certainly miss all my wonderful and talented friends that pour their hearts into these shows, like Jennifer and Kathy Walker of Unexpected Necessities.  This mother and daughter team have their annual show this weekend in Nine Mile Falls, WA.  Even though I won't be able to be there, I'm living a little vicariously through my oh-so-talented mom and step-dad of Angel's Attic right now.  As they've been getting ready for the first show in which we haven't shared a booth, they've shared some of their projects and I'm in love...

This Isn't Your Grandma's Attic...

We've been busy transforming "The Attic" for the next big sale this Saturday (9am-4pm)!  The driveway is going to be full too!  The first few customers in line will receive something special as well.  Hope to see everyone there...here are some preview pics of what we've been working on!

Angel's Attic Autumn Open House!

Come join us Saturday, September 25th from 9am-4pm for the last Angel's Attic show of the season!  As usual, we will be packing out every inch of the attic and overflow onto the beautiful grounds of my mom's house!  There are some incredible furniture pieces to be had at this sale that have been lovingly restored by my talented step-dad, Jon along with one-of-a-kind art pieces, french decor, harvest goods, and newly designed jewelry pieces.  In addition, we'll have some great end-of-year prices! Come browse the displays with a hot beverage and tasty treat that will be provided and enjoy one of the last few vintage sales of the season! 

(Look for these signs!  Directions below...)

(Autumn Open House 2009)

(Spring Open House 2010)

To get there...

• Starting from the "Y" on North Division, go WEST on Country Homes Boulevard.
• At the next light (Wall Street), turn RIGHT (North).
• Take an immediate LEFT (West) onto Price.
• After one block, Price will come to a "T" at Mountain View Lane. Turn RIGHT.
• Look for the sign (like the one above) on the street. Park out front, then walk up the driveway to get to the Attic. We look forward to seeing you!

Mom's House - aka Angel's Attic

Just a couple more days until the Spring Open House at Angel's Attic!  We've been so busy setting everything and finishing all those last-minute projects.  I promise a few sneak peaks in the next day or so.  In the meantime, I wanted to share a little of the story behind the Angel's Attic sales.  You see, even though I may have started out being part of The Farm Chicks Shows the last couple of years, I've always said that my mom has more talent in her pinky than all of me.  As she's helped me out in the past couple of years at different shows, I've slowly convinced her of the fact that she should be doing this too.  I also was always telling her how perfect her house would be to set up our own sort of shop that could include the creative talents in all of our family including my seriously talented step-dad, Jon, and step-sister, Jessica Cobb.  It took a while, but she came around and last fall we had our first sale!

My mom's house and the little neighborhood on Mountain View Lane is such unexpected treasure on Spokane's northside.  It is hard to imagine a quaint little street lined with South Hill-esque homes right off Wall St. (just north of Country Homes Blvd), but sure enough, just up the hill and nestled against the Five Mile bluff, is a little slice of country life.  The houses on Mountain View are on large lots, many 3 acres or more, and it really feels like you are out of town, not five minutes from the "Y"!  It's been almost 10 years since my mom and I discovered this street as we followed the small red "For Sale by Owner" signs to this house...

Of course, we both thought it was adorable and at the time I had my oldest daughter and we practically squealed when we saw this playhouse off to the side...

It seemed like it was meant to be.  My mom had just had to sell our family farm in Chewelah after my dad passed away and moving into town would be an adjustment after having endless space on a farm.  The little house on Mountain View was perfect with it's country feel, but was close to everything.  Even though I think we all miss the farm at times, this house has been a wonderful substitute for our family gatherings and my girls love to go to "Grandma & Boppa's" every chance they get.  Now that we have our Angel's Attic sales from here, it seems even more perfect for our family!     

Trying New Things

I've always been a furniture girl.  At every sale or thrift store, my eyes go straight to the furniture.  Fixing up and painting furniture is what got me started on this path of junkin' and I still make a beeline to the furniture before anything else, but I've got a new love... jewelry.  Yes, I know, I'm a complete late-comer to this.  Creative women have been making awesome jewelry since way back and I never really took notice of it.  Yes, I've always thought the typewriter jewelry was so cute, but I never dreamed I'd make it.  I just didn't do the jewelry thing...until now. My mind started to wander from paint treatments for furniture to ideas for necklaces and took the plunge, ordered some supplies, and started out with some easier (but still cute!) things to make, i.e. typewriter pendant necklaces and bracelets.  

Another good beginning jewelry project has been the popular Scrabble pendant necklaces that I can whip up fairly easy.  I made these with vintage ephemera images and I have some more batches coming with vintage seed packet and cute bird images - just in time for spring! 

Next up was crafting some pendants with some funky pictures out of an old dictionary...

I purchased a vintage backgammon game with these cute and chunky chocolate brown and cream colored game pieces and I've been crafting different necklaces out of them.  These have pink clock faces and I was lucky enough to find some metallic chocolate brown chains to go with them.  I've been adding sheet music and other images to these as well. 

And last, but not least...my favorite!  I'm so excited about these!  These pendants have a big glass bubble on the top that magnify the images underneath.  The image looks different at every angle and though I started out making the birds and cameos, the next batch I make will have more letters and words.   

(with silver settings and chain)

(with black setting and chain)

Of course, I had to make one for me!

All of these little babies are going to be at the upcoming Funky Junk Antique Show on April 10th as well as the Angels Attic Show on April 24th. I still love finding great pieces of furniture, but now my mind is always open to what I can create with those little treasures I may come upon! 

While Momma Plays...

Warning:  If you love to click through blogland to find beautiful images of clean and completely "together" houses like I do, this next posting is not for you...  I couldn't resist putting these pictures up that my girls took of each other and the fun they were having with Mommy's camera while I'm trying to just get something, anything done for the upcoming Angel's Attic Show on April 24th (more on that to come).
Last evening, I had left my camera on the table and got busy working on some projects like making price tags and painting a few little things.  With my husband virtually non-existent this time of year (he's a CPA in the midst of tax season), a baby that literally NEVER naps, and two other monkey-children, I've had a hard time getting ANYTHING done around the house, let alone for my little hobby.  Anyway, I begged the older girls to PLEASE play with their baby sister so Mommy can get some work done.  Well, they had a grand ol' time alright!  They dressed her up, spread toys everywhere, played with stamps (just like Mommy) and seems like they took pictures of it all while Mommy was oblivious...

Poor Summer - don't worry she's just fine.  Naturally, I had a few surprises when I just downloaded the pictures off of the camera!  It's really pretty amazing that a 4 year-old could take these good of pics with an ancient camera that's been dropped repeatedly.  Well, I may have had a mess to clean up when the evening was through, but I got about 200 price tags made and these cute little bird pictures painted and done!    

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.