FARMERS MARKET SNEAK PEEK

Today the rain let up for just enough time to do a dry run of our farmers market booth.

I've shown you lots of the crafts were going to be selling, but here are a few sneak peeks of some of our vintage goodies that will be there as well.

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Excuse the not so great pictures.  We set up our dry run in the parking lot.  Not so pretty.

Also, keep in mind that set up is still pretty rough.  If you want to see that whole booth in all its glory, you will just have to come down to the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market next Saturday between 10 and 2!

Or just wait for the blog.  :O)

Pair of REVAMPED vintage foldable bistro chairs.

$20 each or $35 for the set.

Vintage 1950's school desk with names carved on the back!

$55

Great vintage wooden ironing board.

$25

(I'm still not sure I want to part with this yet!)

My mom is shipping up a bundle of these super cute apple cozies that she made by hand!

Also, I will be selling some amazingly cute handmade purses and market bags made by Curtis' mom Kay!

And lots and lots more hair flowers!

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Can't wait to see all of you this Saturday!  If you're too far away to make it, keep an eye on the Etsy Shop.  I will be posting all of our new hand crafts this week!

Cheers!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

I'm sorry I've been so busy and haven't blogged in a few days.

I'm jamming to get more good stuff together for the Des Moines Farmers Market

which opens in 6 more days!!

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I promise I will write soon!

CHEERS!



AN ARTFUL SPIN ON CHAIN LINK

Trade in the dingey neighborhood fence for an equally functional yet so beautiful spin on the old chain link fence.

These fancified fences are a design from a young Dutch firm called Demakersavan and are being produced in Banglador India.  Interest in these beautiful fences has been sparked among construction companies, designers, art galleries and retailers.  They have noted; " Designs can be created to help discourage climbers, hide or enhance surroundings, deal with harsh weather, or create a custom look." 

The company is currently producing a minimum of 2,700 square feet of fencing per month and range in cost between $17 to $30 a square foot.  I love the idea of using this in interior spaces with an industrial feel.  Simply lovely!

Find them on the web at http://www.demakersvan.com/

Cheers!

ANOTHER CRAZY IDEA

I've had this idea for a long time, I just haven't figured out how I could execute it without spending a huge wad of dough!  At this point in the Little Road business, my house has started getting over ran with crafting supplies and items for resell.  As most of you know, this is a one bedroom condo for heavens sakes!!  There isn't a ton of extra room hanging around! Anyway, currently I have a tinsy winsy little bit of extra space in the dinning room... but call me a traditionalist, I don't want to store all my business supplies where I'm supposed to enjoy my meals.  I have a small walk in pantry in our hallway...... But its full to the brim with food storage, and my kitchen is all open shelving.  Nothing says home like a collection of caned corn hanging out on the shelf above your sink!  I also have a long and tall full wall closet in my bedroom...... NOW WERE TALKIN!  But where the heck am I going to put all our clothes?

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Time for the old switcharoooo.  Really, the clothes would be much better off in the pantry, where I can walk in and grab what I need, instead of digging all the way to the back of my closet.  Really, that's how great children's novels like the Chronicles Of Narnia were thought up, but alas I am no where close to a novelist and I don't think my dinning room table has room for even one more pin cushion!  Okay, so we move the clothes to the pantry... now where is the food storage going to go?

Originally I had planned to buy 3 of these beauties from Ikea to put in that silly little extra space in the dinning room.  I could frost the glass and hide everything away in there and it would look amazing!  But I don't have $800 to drop on 3 of these beautiful cabinets!

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So, I'm going to put it all out there and go industrial!

I love to mix shabby white furniture (which most of my house consists of) with industrial finds, and its rather popular right now.  And as far as putting my box of cheerios and cans of corn right out there for everyone to see... I think I'm anal retentive enough to make this work.  Cans can go in baskets, we can get cute storage containers!!  I can make this look good, I know I can!

In fact, I think I could even make these awesome shelves to cover the wall for hardly any money at all!

Oh yes, I can definitely make this work.

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Not only will it look cool, the old pantry will be a way more functional closet and then I will have that whole bedroom closet for all my little odds and ends and doodads.

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I want to get started right now I'm so excited!

What do you guys think?

Cheers!

NEW ITEM TO THE SHOP: PLAYFUL WOODLAND PILLOWS

Hi friends, hope yall are having a great weekend.

I want to show you guys what I've been up to this weekend! 

My friend Brittanya has always been one of my all time biggest supporters.  Not just from a business aspect, but she's also been one of those dear friends who has held my hand in the absolute worst of times.  She's picked me up and dusted me off I don't know how many times.  Not only that, shes always done it with a loving heart and a "You go girl, that was one hell of a fall!"  Which always makes me laugh and quickly move on from my embarrassment. She's cooked me abondegas soup after I spent an entire day at the doctors office, and she sang at my wedding. She is one of the greats in my life.

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So I got a call from Britt a few weeks ago telling me that she wanted to have me make a couple pillows for her to give to a few of her friends that are new mothers.  She gave me a couple ideas and then told me I had creative freedom to come up with something on my own.  So here is what came out of it!

I've always loved woodland type toys for kids, so I wanted to something like that on the pillow.  I found this awesome canvas wood printed fabric.  I also wanted the pillow to have a tactile element to it since its going to be gifted to a child, so I attached the little pocket on front and the little woodland creature inside attached to a string so it can't "fly" away.

                                                                                             You can order a pillow with your choice of creature.  I currently have birds, owls and frogs!



These fun pillows will be gracing My Shop sometime this week.  Ill keep you informed.

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All pillow cases fit a 14x14 pillow perfectly, and have been reinforced to hold up under lots of wear and tear.  These guys are washable but because of the little creature you should dry flat or hang dry.

The backs all have easy to insert flaps and have fun funky decorative buttons!

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Ill let yall know when they make it to the shop.  Of course I can always customize orders so feel free to message me with any special requests!

CHEERS!

WEDNESDAY RANDOMNESS!

The week is half over and I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off!  I apologize for the visual state of the blog at the moment... I'm trying to teach myself how to make my own banners and backgrounds and such... (I'm failing miserably!)  Also, Curtis was able to pick up some extra farmers markets selling our local grass fed beef!  Woot!  I love market season!!  Crafts are taking over my house completely with preparing for my farmers market this June as well as some awesome new private orders!!  I'm so happy this little business of mine is taking off at a rolling pace.... not a fast pace a rolling pace.  :O)

Also, its plan plan plan for our next Help Kayla Breathe event!  July 9th we will be having a HUGE soiree, with music, cocktails, hors-d'ourves and a silent auction!  I'm in charge of getting the music talent squared away and making all the table decorations!!  Ah Dios Mio! 

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At least I can't say life is boring right!

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So sorry for this random post... This is my brain on crafts right now!! lol

CHEERS!

BEFORE AND AFTER ARMOIRE

Before and afters are my favorite thing to google image!  Its really fun to see what kinds of cool and funky ideas people have that can transform a piece of furniture.  

I have about a million before and afters going on in my house right now.  The problem is, I always ether run out of money or motivation to finish it.  You can slap my wrist if you want to but you know were all guilty of doing it.   Anyway, I'm vowing to get some of these furniture over hauls done with.  Of course so I can show them to you!

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So here is one that I just recently finished.

I have to admit that I am responsible for how shitty this armoire looked.... Well Sorta.

When I first got it off craigslist it was painted a pretty white... but prior to being painted white it had been painted zebra stripes.... and well it showed through the paint.  It also didn't have those cool burlap coffee bags in the doors ether, there was crappy flowery wall paper duck taped inside.  Later, I got a horrible idea to paint all the furniture in my bedroom black.  I painted this piece and immediately knew It was a horrible idea. It not only looked like absolute crap, it also showed every little spec of dust.  AAARRRGG.  So it has sat and sat and sat, ugly black and nothing in the doors, just big gaping holes.  Later I eventually added the Brazilian coffee bags... which I rather like!

Here is the after.  With three coats of bright white paint, and new pretty knobs.

Blue is an ongoing little pop of color through our house.  I picked these knobs up for cheep at the World Market.  I like them a lot!

And now everything looks so pretty hung up inside.

What do yall think?

NEW SHOP ITEMS: VINTAGE ROSET HAIR FASTENERS

The shop is under way!


Check out these fun flowers I made this weekend.  I haven't attached the hair clip to them yet, but I will have them up and moving here in the next day or two.  Keep an eye out for them in the shop or swing by the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market the first Saturday in June to pick one up there.

Do you guys have any other idea for these little flowers other than hair fasteners?  I was thinking they would look so cute as a head band or lapel pin.  Maybe even a boutonniere?

CHEERS!

NEW BUSINESS CARD AND GADGETS!

Happy Rainy Sunday.

Curtis and I made a trip out to Puyallup Washington yesterday to visit the Funky Junk Sisters Junk Salvation show.  Unfortunately we weren't really able to buy anything but I was able to get so many amazing ideas for my own up coming booth at the Des Moines Farmers Market!

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Actually, I had sort of an epiphany!

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Remember Fridays post The Dream Of The Rubber Tramper?  Well considering how much I love those little vintage trailers... and since the name of my business is The Little Road

Said Go.....  How damn perfect would it be to get my hands on one of those trailers and turn it into MY SHOP!  A TRAVELING LITTLE ROAD EMPORIUM!!!  It's a perfect idea!  It's so perfect I could pop!

I could hitch that right up and just pull it right into my Farmers Market slot!

Now.... How can I get my hands on one?

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In light of this new epiphany, Curtis and I made up our new business card last night!  I'm so happy with it!

The Des Moines Farmers Market is right on the waterfront so I love the fact that we found this little picture of the trailer right on the water.  It's going to be great!  I've ordered 100 of these in postcard size which I think will make more of a statement then just a little business card.

On a different note, I also met a wonderful lady at the Junk Salvation show that told me all about this new gadget called "The Square."

The box hooks right up to the audio jack in your smart phone and allows you to take credit card transactions right through your phone.  Curtis and I immediately came home and checked it out on the web, and were happy to find out how easy and low cost it will be!  We should be receiving it in the mail in just a few days!  I'm so excited that I will have the option to accept credit cards at the farmers market as well!  

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The process is so simple.  You simply slide the credit card through the box on your phone, then it uses your phone to transmit the data of the sale to your Square account.  Then Square will immediately transfer the money to your personal bank account and only charges a 2% fee.  The costumer simply signs for the transaction using their finger on your touch screen, and Square will ether text the receipt to their phone or send it to their personal email.  (I obviously will also have a paper trail as well.)

It's as simple as that!  This might be one of the most awesome inventions ever made to help out small business.  I just can't wait to start selling!

Cheers to all of you!

THE DREAM OF A RUBBER TRAMPER

Oh vintage Shasta trailer......

It's quite hard picturing an existence without you.

And all the fun we could have together!

Rubber tramping this world over....

One day you shall be mine.

One day.

Sincerely,

The Little Road............................ And Curtis  (The Driver)

A SUNRISE IN A BUBBLE

Somehow this post randomly got deleted... So I'm posting it again!

Norwegian photographer Odin Hole Standal wakes up early to capture the sunrise using a bucket of soap water, thread and a spoon.  Just gorgeous.

And over the ford river

Cheers!

WHAT I MADE THIS WEEKEND AND NEW SHOP ITEMS

Hello friends!  I hope you all had a beautiful weekend.

June is coming up fast, and I'm quickly preparing to open up my very own brick and mortar (or should I say tent and table) at the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market !

So here is what I made this weekend!

My shop sign!!  I found this old busted window frame in a back alley close to where I work. My husband and mother in law helped me find a backing for it and paint it with chalk board paint.  There you have it!  Now everyone at the market will know who I am!  Oh, I also found that fun art easel in the dumpster! Just added a few coats of yellow spray paint and BAM!  Really! The excellent junk people throw in the dumpster!

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Also new to the shop this week is some shabby burlap bunting banners!

With a quote from one of my favorite Beatles songs.

Love, Love me do!

I will be adding this to MY ETSY SHOP in the next few days so make sure to look for it.

Remember, if you want a banner made with a quote that's personal to you, feel free to message me and I will be happy to make you a custom order.  All of my burlap has been treated and will not fray what so ever.

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Do any of you have some ideas for fun short quotes to put on bunting banners?

I need ideas!

CHEERS!

TO MY MOM

Happy Mothers Day!

One story you can always catch my mom telling is how her and my dad had been trying to adopt a baby for soooo long with minimal luck, then one night she had a dream that she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and the very next day her and my father were called and notified that a baby girl was available for them to adopt.  That was me!

Over the years my mother has taught me to;

Always keep a smile on my face, think positive, and keep mindful strength in the person I am.

To always reap what I sow.

To always work hard and believe in the work I do,

But play as often as possible!

She's taught me to express myself through art.

And love who I am and the body I've been given.

She told me that the world was an ocean of opportunities, and she was right.

She taught me to love all things big and small.

She told me to always try new things.

And to enjoy what the world has to offer.

She told me to always be me, no matter what anyone else thought.

She told me to always dream.

She taught me to always slow down to smell the roses.

She taught me that there is no greater comfort than getting a hug from someone you love.

My mother has made me the woman I am today.

When she looks at me, I can tell that she loves me more then anything in the world and I know that I make her proud.  She has and always will make the sun rise and set for me.  I love her all the way to the moon and back down to the dirt.

And that's the truth!  Ppppphhhhhhhhh!