A New Journey...

Well friends... it's time for a new journey.

I started my first blog Ramblings from a grateful heart in April 2006.  It was pictures only for I was afraid that I would lose the few followers I had with my ramblings.  Then I got a little braver and started telling stories along with the pictures.

In December 2009, my second blog was born-- Berry Homespun Primitives.  This blog was for crafting, decorating, and my Etsy shop.  While I kept my personal blog going, I decided in July 2013 to integrate the 2 blogs.  What a hassle it was to try to keep up with both blogs... I didn't do very well.

Little did I know that the beginning of the 2013 school year would bring craziness to our life as we pulled our youngest from public school.  We have home schooled him these past two years.  Then this past month, the little guy went back to public school into the same district but a new building that houses 4th-5th grades.  He has done tremendously well and for that we are very grateful.  So while all the creating and crafting was put completely on hold... the time has finally come for me to get back at it.  Yay!

So now that I have caught you up to speed, I want to share a new venture that I am starting.  I created and registered a new business with the state the past couple of days and I am now the proud owner of "A Vintage Journey"!  My husband has had a screen printing business for a few years now so we are going to utilize this and start printing boutique-style shirts for me sell along with my re-purposing pieces.  For now I will do business through facebook and my booth at Homeward Bound in Claremore, OK.  The rest of this year will be getting the business set up, advertising pieces printed, and display pieces bought so that I can hit some shows next year.  I'm pretty excited about it because it's been so very many years since I've done the show circuit.  I LOVED it back then... meeting new people, making new vendor friends, visiting with customers.  It was such a joy.

While the excitement abounds for the journey ahead, I'm actually sad to leave this blog for awhile.  I won't close it down, it will be here as long as blogger allows it.  I even exported all of the posts of both of my old blogs into my new blog.  I do hope you join me at my new blog.  For it is very lonely with no followers yet, lol!

My love for primitives has not dwindled.  I still love the deep, dark colors of barn red, mustard, burnt orange, rust, and black.  But I am slowly starting to fall in love with aqua, red, and yellow.  I feel like just using the word "primitives" limits me to prim pieces but I love so much more than that... antiques, vintage, retro... just anything old.  Thus the new name, new business, new direction.  

It's funny the direction life takes you.  You never know, you can never guess.  But one thing I do know for sure is that I truly treasure my time blogging and the wonderful friends that I've made that I have never met.  

Over at my new blog, I will be sharing as I create... projects, good deals, shows... all that fun stuff.

Now, won't you please join me on my new journey... A Vintage Journey

National Park Map Canvas Prints

While antiquing with my daughter one day, we came across some old maps.  I loved this one of the National Parks.

On the back of this United States map was maps of the individual National Parks.  They were REALLY neat and I instantly knew that I wanted to put them on canvas.  I bought a bunch of these gold & silver canvases from Michael's when they were on sale for 70% off, then I used a coupon on top of that.  The 4-pack cost $2.29.

I used the silver ones. I started by painting the backs with an ivory acrylic paint because I wanted all of the silver covered.

Because the map was going to be centered on the canvas, I only painted a strip around the front of the canvas.

To give it a little character and an aged look, I went around the edges with brown ink.

I tore all the individual maps apart which was very easy to do because of the creases.

And because I am still totally in love with my vintage paper trimmer that I bought at The Junk Ranch Country Barn Sale in Prairie Grove, AR, I use it as much as possible!  To give the edges a worn look, I tore them with the paper trimmer.

Next, I used trusty 'ol Mod Podge as a glue to adhere the map to the canvas.

Then another coat of Mod Podge on top to seal the map.

These were a lot of fun to make, I really enjoyed creating them!  I made 11 of them in one afternoon.  And here are a couple in my booth at Homeward Bound in Claremore, OK.

It's been great fun to be back to creating again!  I'm grateful that I have a little more extra time now to do something I love to do.  Getting paid for it is even better.  =]  

Thanks for stopping by friends!  I'm still reading through my blog roll, trying to catch up with you all.  I have missed out on so much and have missed YOU!

Have a delightful week~

Turquoise & Burlap Vases

Hi friends!  Funny thing happened... the next day after my last post, my laptop died.  No saving it but it was time for it to go.  I was so disappointed though because I was ready to get back to blogging.  It's really, really hard to blog on a cell phone so another break from blogging was my only option.  I have a new laptop (thanks sweet hubby!) and back in business again.

I've been doing a little upcycling on some pieces for my booth.  I had a couple of left over vases from a garage sale that I had awhile back.  So I decided to pretty them up rather than send them off to goodwill.  Here is the before:

Turquoise and burlap are popular right now so I added a touch of each to create this:

Another before:

The after (which already sold, I was surprised at how quick it went):

The kids went back to school last week.  It's time to finally do some deep cleaning around the home as it's been put off for a couple of years.  But the best part of all is that I'm back to creating and blogging.  I'm grateful for the time I had to focus on my family and thankful to be back doing what I love so much!  Thanks for stopping by, have a delightful week~

Remember Me?!

Hi friends, remember me?  I've been hit and miss for the past couple of years and MISSING you all like crazy!  I've been cleaning up my blog this week.  Got rid of the Feedly reader, that thing was more of a headache than it helped.  I see that some of my blog friends have closed their blogs or have been absent for a long time like I was.  It saddens me, but I'm VERY grateful for you that are still here.

I've had to take an unintentional break to tend to my family.  Family first always.  After just a few weeks of my youngest's 2nd grade year in 2013, we had to pull him with issues we had with the school. We've been homeschooling him for 2nd and 3rd grade.  That elementary school was only for those two grades so he moves on to a new elementary school for 4th grade.  I met with the principal recently and he's set to go back to public school for 4th grade.  I'm pretty excited about it because I get my life back and the little guy is excited to be with his friends again.  I APPLAUD you homeschooling moms.  Whew, this is time consuming stuff.  I'm just not patient enough for this but when it comes to your kids, you do what needs to be done.  My older two kids went to these same schools (there are 5 total in our district) for all their lives so I'm confident in putting Robbie back into public school.  It ended up being a blessing in disguise though because I was able to work with him so much to get his reading back to where he should be (actually above grade level now, thank you Jesus!).

My oldest son has been home from Army training for 3 months now.  He's been getting back to civilian life.  Ryan is a chaplain's assistant which works well with what he wants to do... youth ministry and sports chaplain.  No job yet but he is doing some networking with some area youth pastors and getting his resume out.  Once he gets a job and gets established, he's planning on moving out.  His Guard pay alone is not enough to move out yet.  I told him that he needs to make sure he is ready to move out because once he's gone, rooms are being arranged, and I will finally have a crafting room again!  Haha!  If you follow me on Pinterest, I've been pinning room ideas like crazy and already organizing my things.

Well, I wasn't planning on a family update but might as well finish off with the middle child.  Amariah just turned 16 but she took driver's ed at school which put her behind on getting her license on her actual birthday.  She'll be getting it next month.  My babies are growing up!

Anyway... crafting and creating has taken a back seat for the past couple of years.  It has always been my way to relax.  No wonder I'm so uptight, lol!  I rented a booth with a friend at The Grapevine in Claremore, OK last year.  It was hard to keep up with it though while working part time at the Lodge, homeschooling, football, basketball, and golf was going on.  We just pulled out last week but it was a neat place and a fun time.  This picture was taken when I first moved in, my friend wasn't in here yet.

I'm going back to Claremore towards the end of summer to get another booth.  My Etsy has taken a break also so I'm planning on opening it back up.  I have seriously missed crafting so very much!  My dslr camera is broke so I have only been taking pictures with my phone.  They're decent but it sure is hard to blog without pictures.  =/ 

It sure felt good to get back to blogging.  I have always loved it.  Even when others were leaving to go to facebook, I knew I'd always be here.  I might have to take some leaves of absences, haha, but I will always come back.  If you still follow me, THANK YOU so MUCH for staying with me while I was gone!  Looking forward to getting around to everyone's blog and seeing what you've been up to these past couple of years.  I'm grateful for our friendships that God has blessed me with~ 

Recovering....

Hey ya'll, hope you are enjoying what's left of this fabulous fall!  It has been a nice, enjoyable, relaxing one for me.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the prayers and well wishes on my surgeries.  Finally getting back to normal... kinda.  Still having to slow down and sit down every once in awhile.  My body is constantly reminding me that it's not that young anymore, hehe!  But God has blessed me with a wonderful family that took amazing care of me and never complained... well to my face anyway.  ;) 

With this forced relaxation time, I have been catching up on my pile of the past 2 year's worth of magazines, coming back to blogland, and watching a little HGTV... sure miss the good ol' shows but I do enjoy the Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan.

Attended an estate sale down the road from me that I never even realized was there but I found it in the last hour.  So all of this was originally $40 but with the last hour discount, I only had to pay $5... vintage linens, old books.  The dictionary is old, yellowed and falling apart but will be perfect for the many book page ideas I have been seeing on Pinterest.  I also picked up an old Bible that is ripped and falling apart.  There are more pages here than I can craft in my lifetime so if anyone is interested in some pages to craft with, shoot me an email and I'll gladly share with you!  berryhomespunprimitives (at) gmail (dot) com.  

I'm not supposed to be sharing this on social media because of the ISIS threats that are targeting military and their families... darn it, why does the world have to be so cruel?  But I just can't help it.  I know my God is our protector and He has already won all victories for us!  We attended my son's basic training graduation during fall break and it was wonderful to watch the ceremonies, seeing the soldiers march through clouds of green, blue, and yellow smoke as they sang their cadences, and just spending time with our son since he's been gone for the past 10 weeks.  Here is his graduation picture.  Love this kid, so proud of him... 

Happy Veteran's Day and THANK YOU to all who sacrifice their lives to keep ours safe!

Dining Room Shelf

I was able to get a small project done this year.  I forgot to take a before picture (and I just LOVE looking at other's before and afters).  But here's an in-the-process photo.  I bought this nice sturdy wooden shelf at a garage sale for $3.  Robbie is always my helper, no matter what I'm doing he finds me and asks to help.  I let him put the first black coat on since it's going to be painted over a couple more times.

A close up of the red undercoat followed by another coat of black on top..

I finished it off with black Bri-wax and loaded it up with a few prims.  It's a nice addition to my dining room, especially with all the natural wood...

Best of all, I love how it only cost me $3, a little paint, and an afternoon of fun with my little guy.  Oh, and look at the tiny butter mold I found, barely 1 1/4"... I was SO excited!  It's the little round wood piece on the lower shelf, it has an acorn design... adorable!

Thank you friends, for your prayers and sweet words of encouragement on my last post.  I'm grateful that I can come here to express my feelings and be showered with love when I need it the most.  I've been staying busy since Ryan left.  We're cleaning out bedrooms, getting ready for a garage sale next month... lots of kids clothes and toys to pass on.

Thanks for stopping by, wishing you a grand week~

My year...

I've been a little occupied this year friends, and quite honestly I'm having a hard time.  This kid here..

went and did this in February...

and this in May...

So here I sit a crying mess because Tuesday morning I send Ryan off to Ft. Jackson for boot camp.  Then he will have training to be a chaplain's assistant in the National Guard.  He is my oldest and the first to leave home.  I've been on an emotional roller coaster this year... so proud of him, yet so selfish and want to keep him safe at home.  What keeps me going though is to see his excitement when he talks about it.  This kid is ready to do something with his life and this momma is having a rough time with it.  His influential years at home have come to an end and from here on out I have to trust God that He will watch over Ryan and keep him safe.  I've heard moms talk about this time in their lives; but I never thought I would feel this heartache with there being 2 other kids still at home.  So if you would, Ryan and I would appreciate your prayers.  Thank you my friends!

It probably doesn't help my emotional level that I found out 2 weeks ago that I have an enlarged uterus with fibroids.  I am scheduled for a hysteroscopy on Aug 22, followed by a robotic partial hysterectomy on Sept 5.  Doctor reassured me that it's not cancerous and nothing to worry about.  Enough about me...

Not much going on around the homestead to blog about because I have been wrapped up in my family and our last few months with Ryan, but I have spent some time outside.  I went a little petunia crazy this year... well I should say Amariah did.  We have pots of red and pots of striped red & white in the backyard by the pool.  She picked these beauties out, love the color combination she chose...

The Twilight Viola was really pretty this year.  It looks like pastel pansy.

Something new I tried this year is Lantana.  Oh my I love these pretty flowers and beautiful leaves!  They look so good in the old whiskey barrels.  Wish they were perennial.

The pink double knock out roses bloomed out beautifully as always, along with the single knock out yellow roses (oops... should have deadheaded and cleaned up around the mulch before the pic, hehe).

I transplanted the hosta to the back yard and must say she is loving her new home... look at the lushness of those leaves!

I just realized all of my flower shots are close and don't show the overall picture.  But here is one little vignette that will greet you on the front porch.  I love how the red of the double begonias complements the red and white enamel pot that it's sitting in. The cute fence piece was a Christmas present from my sweet mother-in-law.

I think it's bedtime friends.  My little mind is an emotional wreck but coming here and putting my thoughts and feelings in writing is good therapy for sure.  I have not actually talked to anyone about my feelings so this has been good for me.  Thank you for being the best blog friends ever.  I appreciate you and your prayers!

I'm grateful for the time that I've had with my son and very thankful that God chose me to raise him!  Sure, I can look back at all the if's and where I went wrong but I choose to live in today and try my best from here on out.

Thanks for stopping by friends, miss you TONS!  Have a delightful week ahead~

Valentine Tree

Well friends... I sure wasn't planning on being gone for months and oh how I have MISSED YOU ALL!!  I won't go into details but we had some issues with my youngest son, Robbie, and his elementary school back in August; only 9 days into the new school year.  With Rich beside me, I went to battle for my child.  In the end, we pulled Robbie from public school (the same school that my oldest two attended) and I am now a homeschool 2nd grade teacher mom.  Yikes!  So needless to say, it has been quite the transition for all of us.  My oldest two, a freshman and senior, are still in public school.  I took my complaints and evidence to the Administration.  I was told that I was in the right as they profusely apologized and was assured that it would be dealt with.  We've been around this small town for many years and I know whom to trust... I trust that it was most definitely dealt with.  For those that have been following me for a few years know that I've had to battle the school in the past (on too many numerous occasions!).  We HAVE to stand up for our children, we are their ONLY advocate!!

Along with this mess, we are in full swing of basketball season... of which I am the booster club president for 7th-12th grade boys and girls.  We have around 100 players so there are lots of parents to deal with.  But we've been fortunate so far to have no complaining, only volunteering.  Thank you Lord!  =]

As we are starting our 4th month of online homeschool, I feel that we are finally in a groove.  I took down the Christmas decorations today and not one to leave my year round tree bare... I went ahead and added some primitive metal heart ornaments and vintage Valentine cards to it.  I don't know about your area, but these cards are pretty cheap around here.  These were 50 cents to $1.00.

These two are really sweet.  They are dated 1929.  It looks like they are To Odelia, with one being from Catherine and one from Oneita.  I like that I'm able to display them like they are communicating with each other.

This is the oldest card I have, dated 1926.  It actually opens up but there is a piece missing.  I still love it though.

These are dated 1929 and 1930.  Most of these are also To Odelia.  I bought them at the same antique mall but at different times... funny that I was able to buy her Valentines.

Isn't homemade the best?  Cute little homemade card dated 1927 to Odelia From Kathern.

To start the year fresh, I emptied my blog reader, Feedly, of the 1000+ unread blog posts that I'm behind on.  I was so totally overwhelmed that I didn't know what else to do.  Now I will be able to catch up with you as you have a new blog post.  I've missed you terribly!

I'm grateful not so much for this actual blog, but for the wonderful sister friends that God has touched and blessed my life with!  Thanks for staying with me.  I'll be visiting you all between lessons and basketball games.

Have a delightful week~

Waxed Corn

Well I tried it and discovered it's not for me.  I was super excited about it but should have known it would be too dark for my liking.  I waxed 2 pieces of indian corn and I just hate the way it took away from the natural beauty.

I'm gonna scrape that wax off.  The whole time I was cutting up the corn I kept thinking how pretty it is and how it's going to be so hard to sell it, being the fall lover that I am.  Now I'm excited that I've decided to keep it all, lol!

I gotta tell you about my little man.  Robbie smelled the cinnamon and came into the kitchen to see what I was making.  He said "Oooh, can I help you?".  He sure loves to help with anything.  Robbie was helping me dip the corn into the wax.  I told him that I didn't like it all and was disappointed in how it turned out.  He asked me if I was doing it right, ha!  He ran and got his "phone" (his sister's old phone) and googled 'how to wax corn', lol!  Pretty smart thinking for a 7 year old.  Scrolling through the phone looking for an answer, he finally gave up and asked me why I wanted it waxed anyway.  I explained to him that it was primitive looking, old looking and I like things that are old and remind me of my grandma.  The wheels were turning in his little mind, you could just see it in his facial expression.  Then he pipes up and said "You mean like that one tv show where the guys take old stuff and make it look new again, only you take new stuff and make it look old again?"  I love all my kids equally but this one really makes me smile a lot, he's always thinking.

Anyway, we decided that we liked the indian corn better natural so we got the icicles and started waxing them.  The good thing is that I will finally have some ready to sell BEFORE Christmas instead of after this year!  =]

I've decided to only sell them by a baker's dozen from now on.  These have natural twine but the rest will be stained muslin hangers, I believe I like that look the best.

I'm really contemplating doing away with Etsy.  Mainly because it's such a hassle to keep track of what sells elsewhere and in the meantime pray no one bought it off of Etsy, making sure to delete it from the shop as soon as possible.  I created a couple of new pages on my blog and will use this to list my handmades.  Also in LOTS of selling groups on Facebook.  Doing really well there but I'm in so many that I forget what I list where, lol!  Gotta find a system for tracking.

Anyway, that's all that's going on here.  My mom came to stay with us for 9 days, leaving on Labor Day.  We spent the week scrapbooking but running around a lot too.  Rich kept up the laundry and the house picked up for the most part which was sweet of him.  But still SO much to do to get caught up.  As always, I enjoyed her stay so it's been worth a hectic week.

I'm grateful for my family that supports my crafting even though they don't understand it or even try to understand it.  As long as they are there to help out and take care of other things then it doesn't bother me a bit.

Thanks for stopping by friends.  Hopefully I'll get some pictures of fall decorating soon.  Have a delightful week, be a blessing~

Crafting again...

I've had a very busy couple of weeks of crafting and it has been a blast!!  I can't even remember the last time I was able to spend so much time doing what I love.

This is what I was doing last night until the 3rd time I cut into my finger with the big knife and my son suggested I stop.  But none of the cuts bled too much, haha.  Cutting up Indian corn for waxing.  Can't wait to see how it turns out, I'll be back to share with you.  I'm not doing them extreme prim, but just enough to more or less seal it and add a little cinnamon scent.  I definitely want to be able to see their beautiful colors!

After I took a break from that, I had the family carry down 8 totes of fall... my very favorite season of all!!!!!!  Robbie had so much fun helping me unpack it all... his choice, by the way.  It was cute to hear his little 7 year old mind talk about remembering all the pieces as he unpacked them and how much he loves them, lol!  A sample of what this week holds for me...

Robbie and I went outside today and put the scarecrows out.  I just love sweet potato vine.  Glad it's cheap as I have to buy some every year.

I want to share some of what I've been working on.  I bought this cute fall fabric at JoAnn's a couple of months ago.

...and turned it into this...

These are slowly being filled with sawdust to make into little bowl tucks.  I say slowly because they are small and the fill hole is even smaller, lol!  So they have been a booger for sure.

I'm extremely happy to say that I sold my first wholesale order to our sweet friend Patti Leitzel, proprietor of THE BRICKHOUSE CRAFT SHOP.  The wonderful shop is located at 1625 State Route 209 in Millersburg, PA so if you are ever in the area please stop by and tell her and her husband Tim that I sent you.

I wish that I had taken a picture of them all before I boxed them up but I forgot.  I bought this fabric at Jo-Ann's also.  I love to look for squared off designs that I can cut apart and make into little pillows/tucks.  These ended up being 5" x 6" and I backed them with red/green homespun.  They are filled with fabric scraps and cinnamon, I love the chunky, old-fashioned feel of these!  Here is what one of them looks like.

Last Tuesday was our first day of school.  Don't let their expressions fool you.  Ryan will be a senior this year.  He's actually looking forward to it, he just hates when I take his picture.  Amariah has a fake smile hiding her fears and anxieties about entering high school as a freshman.  Robbie's expression is about right... he's not sure what to think about entering 2nd grade in a new elementary school.  They crack me up and sure make our life fun!  

Ok, time to get back to work... lots to do to get autumn rolling around here.  Looking forward to seeing your pictures of beautiful fall colors around your area and your wonderful fall decorating in your homes!  =]

I'm grateful for the three awesome kids in our lives.  As we enter the busiest time of year for us as football is in swing now with basketball soon to follow, I'm thankful that God blesses me with time to craft and create, so relaxing for me.  Thanks for stopping by, wishing you a grand week ahead~