Summer Stylin...

Happy Monday everyone!!!  Today I wanted to share with you a petite little patio party!  When I found out that Fifi was coming to photograph my home, I had a whole outdoor Summer party planned to set up near the beautiful prairie field next to my neighbor's yard...well no such luck, the day of my shoot, it rained literally the whole day!

Yesterday I decided to go ahead and play stylist anyway and set up a scaled down version of my idea on my own patio...the backdrop isn't nearly as pretty, but it was a lot easier to set things up right outside my door :)

So I am going to keep the chit chat short today and stick mostly to pictures...trust me, I know I'm no professional and I have a lot to learn about photography, but I secretly hope to some day become a stylist of some sort {a girl can dream, right?!}...I love everything about it :) :)  Thank you so much for always being such an amazing "audience" for all of my crazy ideas and practicing!!!

{This lovely garage sale find from last year will be Caighton's "big girl bed" when she's finally ready to move out of her crib}

This post marked 100 for me!  I can't believe it!!  July is also my one year blogging anniversary, so I do believe a giveaway will be inorder...coming soon...

Tracey

A few more things...

In my state of exhaustion and lack of sleep yesterday, I forgot to mention a few things in my post...

The new issue of Jeanne d' Arc Living Magazine is up on my website and available for pre-order.  It should be here in a week and be at your door by July 9th.  Here's a peek...

And, for any of you fellow bloggers in the Chicagoland area, I'd like to tell you about an event that is going on this Saturday that I just love...

3 French Hens Market

in Morris, IL

For all of you who have asked where I get the great architectural pieces that are in my home, well, now you know!  This is a really fun event and I highly recommend it {I'm definitely going!}.  You can read more about it on my friend Traci's blog by clicking {HERE}!!!

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Tracey

Fifi's in the house...

Hello my friends!  At last, I am ready to tell you why I have been so absent the last few weeks...I was getting ready for this lovely lady to come and photograph my home for her new book!!!...

Just before I left for the Farm Chicks Show earlier in the month, I received a phone call informing me that Fifi wanted to feature my home for her new book!  Gasp!  I seriously couldn't believe it!  My first instinct was to scream, "NO!"  I was waaaaay too nervous about it and I didn't think there was any way I could be ready so quickly for something so major...but thanks to a little pushing from Joy, I agreed...and I'm so glad I did.  It turned out to be a truly wonderful experience for me!  But, I'm not going to lie, I ran myself ragged getting ready for Fifi to come and I'm pretty much exhausted right now :) 

So, yesterday Fifi and her very talented photographer, Mark Lohman, showed up bright and early and we worked all day!  I can't reveal the theme of the book, but of course it is going to be a decorating book...and let me just say that fabulous Miss Fifi has some really amazing ideas for this book!!!  It's due out in early Spring 2011 and I will keep you posted on more details as they come up!  The best part is, that some of my good friends are going to be in the book as well, and that just makes it all the more fun!!!

Thank you Fifi and Mark for such a fun, inspiring, creative day...you were a joy to have in my home!  And I really appreciate you letting me be a part of the whole process!!!  WOW, what an amazing day it was for me :) :)

On a completely different note, I wanted to share with you the picture I took last week of the rainbow that formed after one of the many storms we've been having lately...

It was one of the most spectacular rainbows I had ever seen in person...there was even a second rainbow trying to form!!!

Switching subjects again {sorry girls, lots to catch up on}...I'd love for all of you to pop over to Houzz.com and check out the interview Adi did with me and her feature on my home.  It was such an honor to be featured as a part of their "Ideabook" interview series!!   There is so much inspiration over at Houzz and you can even create your own Ideabook!  If you leave a comment on my interview before midnight on June 27th, Houzz is offering a chance to win a $50 giftcard from Pottery Barn!!!

I am in desperate need of some sleep and unwinding {I'm still buzzing from the stimulation of such an exciting day yesterday}, but I will be back soon to share some of the "sprucing up" I did around my home in preparation for Fifi!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Tracey

Garage doors...inside the house!

Well my friends, I've been at it again...redoing a room I just changed a few months ago!  Shocking, I know!! :)  And it's all because of these 1920's garage doors I bought from my sister's friend for a steal!!  I love how they add a fun and unexpected element to my studio space...

Somehow they just started the ball rolling and before I knew it, I was changing all kinds of things in this room.  I'm not 100% done in here yet, but it's close, so I thought I would share it with you...

{sorry for the bad exposure on these pictures, but the mornign sun comes streaming in the bay window in this room and it screws up all of my pictures}

I love my good friend Maria's ladder and how she decorates with it {you're uber fabulous Maria :)}, so when I found this vintage ladder at my new favorite store, Whimsy, I had to have it!  I hung a few of my vintage grain sacks on it...

I just found this adorable little caddy over the weekend...love the color and patina on it...

I can easily set it aside and have an additional work surface to use when wrapping orders for my SHOP...my son/helper also likes to refer to this table as his desk :) 

Since I don't sew, I made a bolster for the daybed by stuffing a few pillows in one of my grain sacks...

And speaking of the daybed, did you notice I painted it pale grey??!  The black just wasn't working for me anymore...it's much prettier this way...

My mom made a skirt for around my work table out of the Jeanne d' Arc curtains I carry in the shop...I was in need of hiding all of the clutter under the table!  A huge thank you mom!!!

I also decided not to use the wine rack as my ribbon rack anymore...it is now back in the dining room and I will probably hang all of my white cups from it again.

I bought these two gorgeous vintage garden chairs from Joy when I attended Anne Marie's Barn Sale a few weeks ago {BTW, Joy is having a giveaway if you want to head on over to her blog}...

I continue to be mostly absent from blogland due to a major project I am working on...more details on that in the next week or two...but it has me working night and day...so, please be patient with me girls, I promise I'll be back more regularly soon!  I miss you all so much...

Enjoy a wonderful week!!!

Tracey

Farm Chicks...the goods...

Well, what can I say other than...IT WAS FABULOUS!!!  What an amazing show Farm Chicks was!  And it started right here, with these two gals...

Jen and Tara were the best Farm Chicks roomies a girl could ever ask for!  I miss you two so much already!!

Despite the fact that it was very crowded and I was completely overwhelmed {I didn't know what to grab first!}, I managed to take A LOT of pictures.  I was going to split it all up into a few posts, but then I decided just to widdle it down a bit and show them to you all at once!

I spent a stalkerish amount of time in Heather Bullard's beautiful booth.  I couldn't get over it, it was so incredible!!!  And the nicest part was finding out that this mega talented woman is a truly kind and down to earth person!  These first shots are from her gorgeous booth...

I can't wait to do it all again next year!!!

Have a great week!

Tracey