WOW - Mercantile is busting at the seams!!

With this. . .

(this month's very "Gypsy" Papercrafting Kit - loaded with exclusive stuff made just for this kit!! Find it here).

and this. . .

(our "spooky" Project Kit - in plenty of time for Halloween Crafting. Find it here).

and this. . .

(a Limited Edition Vintage "School Days" Crafting Kit. Find it here.)

and this. . .

(a Limited Edition Vintage Halloween Crafting Kit. Find it here.)

and these. . .

(vintage glove molds - great display pieces!! Find them here).

and these. . .

(more Patera adjustable rings, this time with a circle setting and in sterling silver. Find them here).

and this. . .

(another Limited Edition Kit just released last week. Find it here).

AND. . . all JBS CHA Summer releases are now available in the shop including our popular Memo Books in 6 colors, my favorite - Rub-On Singles in 6 styles, 2 colors each, new stickers, new chipboard buttons and the new Town Square Line!!

Everything shown here will be available (some in very limited quantities) beginning tonight, August 31st at 12:00 midnight central.

And don't miss this month's Add-On Kit too - see the Inspiration Blog for info and photo(s)!

Oh how love the first of the month!!

Flea Market Finds. . .

We had the most beautiful weekend here. Upper 70's and no humidity!! I spent all day Friday blissfully walking around the flea market finding treasures. Right off the bat I found 2 identical (although Jared had to point out that one was about 2" longer than the other) painted church pews that will be PERFECT on our new front porch on either side of the front door. I'm so excited (but of course forgot to take a picture). Here are some more great finds. . .

Still collecting things for Silver Bella (and another event or two I have up my sleeve)!!

Found a great Yo-Yo quilt and have been cutting the yo-yo's out and adding vintage buttons. . .

And finally a pile of fabric remnants for art quilts and other projects (I'm bundling them together in lots). . .

Also, check out Ali's blog today for my Tuesday Tutorial and information on a limited edition kit I just put up for sale at the site.

And. . .thanks to Mandi Johnson for my new blog look! I love it and I hope you do too! We are still working on side bar stuff, but you will see a link to her blog soon (she can give you a face lift too)!!

Happy Tuesday!

Morning Blogging

I have decided that blogging in the morning before I start my day is a much better scenario for getting it done on a regular basis! I think it is going to be my new policy which hopefully will mean more than once a week blogging is in my future.

So many things going on right now. We are still digging out from show orders (a blessing, not a complaint) and of course I am already starting development on our Fall release. Such is the way it goes! Also working on new classes to roll out this fall. More about that soon too!

After almost 3 months of being in our rental, they finally started on our house last week! It has been a 3 year process and I must say, until I saw movement and changes over there, I couldn't let myself believe it would really happen.

Hard to tell here, but they did a ton of clearing and have now dug out the foundation (ended up having to dig down a little in the back). Of course they hit rock - it is Tennessee afterall! That is why our basement is a "daylight" basement, basically just meaning we will have 3 levels. You don't have a basement in TN unless your on a cliff (exaggeration, but you get the picture)!

Jared has been over there almost every night moving rocks that we could use for something eventually (not sure what, but I'm sure it will be cool)!

We have worked on the plans for nearly 3 years and have a storage unit full of pieces and parts to "recycle" in the building process. And. . . the most exciting thing of all. . .

we just secured bricks from an old (early 1900's) tobacco barn in Greenville, TN where my inlaws are from. The barn sat next to Andrew Johnson's home right in downtown Greenville. I remember seeing it and admiring it when we toured the home more than a year ago. Sadly, vandals burned it down several months back (maybe a year ago now), almost taking the Andrew Johnson home with it. After several months of trying to figure out who actually "owned" the brick, we finally secured it and 60,000 of them will be on their way here soon!!! I'm so very excited to have that piece of history as part of our home (not to mention it's recycling at it's best)!!

Hopefully I won't bore you too much, but I plan to show updates here and there as we go (and ask for prayers that I make it through with my sanity still in tack)!

Happy Tuesday!!

A REALLY long week!

We had a great time in Orlando! The show was great and we stayed over two days to spend some time with the kids at Disney. All was well. . . until the day we were leaving (a week ago Sunday).

I woke up with a stomach bug! I was able to get enough medication in me to make it through the plane trip and was actually feeling a little better that night and into Monday. Just figured it was a 12 hour thing. It came back with a vengeance on Tuesday however and I was down (hard) until this weekend. Lost about 7 pounds. I have never been so happy to eat again - I can't even tell you! Thinking now it must have been bacterial (lab test is back tomorrow) as antibiotics are what seemed to do the trick finally. So glad to be back!!

I had something way more fun to post about, promise, but blogger is acting up at the moment and I can't move my pictures where they need to go. Will try again tomorrow or Wednesday I guess!

P.S. - check out the gallery over at Mercantile if you haven't already. The girls did some amazing things with the kits this month (including some cool takes on the Project Kit)!