Poppy and Ivy

Creative Fun!

So, unless you were hiding under a rock, most of you knew that the fabulous team of Come Play Eugene was here at my house (as Come Play Portland) and the teacher was Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy. 

I did my usual panic cleaning. I am not proud of it, but after 20 years of doing this, I have learned this is my Mode of Operation. Again. Not. Proud. 

But, just in case panic mode cleaning, cooking for 20 and having tables ready for crafting were not enough, I decided to finish my daughter's curtains and finish off her room. (Yes...It IS the 417th re-do of my daughter's room--don't judge me). So I was sewing for 5 hours straight on Friday, eyes crossed and I DID it! (It looks ever SO much easier in writing). 

The end result...drum roll please. 

 
 Let me explain. I am not a seamstress. The sewing machine terrifies me. Buttons. Bobbins.Foot pedals. And MEASURING? What? 

Give me paper...3 scraps even...and I will make you a card. I will. I can take the challenge. Fabrics. Holy Smokes. I sweat. Heart palpitates. Then I had to top it off by choosing a repeat pattern fabric, so I had to MATCH things. 

Two words. Shoot. Me. 

But it worked out! 

The rest of the house looked okay as well. 

Flowers. Check. 

Dust Bunnies Gone. Check. 

Crazy Gnome, Dinosaur, Eiffel Tower, Birds Collections Organized. Check.

Cobwebs in the chandelier. DOH. I forgot those. 

 



 

Then it was time for food. I did a homemade smoked Gouda mac & cheese, butternut squash soup and a favorite of mine that I discovered for French Dinner Group, Amaretto Brie. 

 
 

The gals arrived and crafting began at a furious pace. 

 
  
And how do you end a perfect day of crafting? With Saint Cupcake OF COURSE. Because I didn't feed these poor women ENOUGH carbs. 

 
 

The day ended beautifully. 

I was completely inspired. 

I laughed. I heard stories that were both sweet & heartbreaking. 

Alicia has a tale and I knew that going in, but I didn't expect the other stories and snippets. 

I really do not have many regrets. I ended up a very lucky gal in this life. But when I think about artistic events I have not signed up for, for weekend getaways that I chose to miss so that I could work instead, I regret that mightily. 

These events are eye opening, learning experiences that I cannot begin to put into words. These women walked in strangers and left as friends. So cliche, I know...but very honest. 

Crafting & art bring people together in a way I cannot properly express. This is my second Come Play Eugene event and each have left me so happy, pleased....giddy! Such a mix of emotions!

I am so very Thankful for Jill & Emily allowing me to host this event. Thank you girls! I hope it met expectations! Cheers!

It's Been Brought To My Attention......

...That I have been a delinquent blogger. 

Just when one thinks people do not notice, you discover that they DO ,in fact, notice. And worry! 

I went to a dinner party last week with a big mix of people (the best sort really). The host introduced me as "Amy". Followed by "She owned Poppy & Ivy, now she's a co-owner of Found of Fremont". 

The gal says "Wait. Amy of the Poppy & Ivy blog?"

I kind of jumped a bit and said "um....I think so" (Because I am ALL about witty, intellectual conversation in a vast array of new people).

She says "You haven't posted for almost 2 weeks...I have been WORRIED about you. Are the kids doing well?". 

It is moments like these that you feel your little blogger heart swell and at the same time want to grab your family, dye their hair and change their names. (Just kidding Nice Dinner Party Lady). 

So. All is well. The kids are taking their elderberry, olive leaf extract, Vitamin D and C and we are healthy and happy. 

I have no excuse at all for neglecting my sweet blog except that I have taken my new found time and wasted it to the high heavens. I play computer games, watch day time TV, read labels and often stay in jammies until 2:00pm. I have found myself cooking dinner in my jammies on MORE than one occasion in the last 65 days of This New Life. 

I have partied like a Rock Star at a Rock Star Halloween Party, eaten dinner with a rock star & his lovely wife (for REAL!), worked like a fool while some of my co-workers fought off mystery fevers & weirdness and just enjoyed how well thing are going. 

The stars did align. In some crazy way, the new owners found me, I found them and we just click. Everyone is discovering their "roles" and "strengths" and forging ahead. The new shop is just BUSTLING. We have waiting lists for vendors, business has sky rocketed and it's all just GOOD.

Here are some peeks!

 



 

And in Real Life.... 

  

We enjoyed our yearly Halloween dinner group. Always good. One of my friends REFUSES to use the bathroom that houses this adorable guy and his snake friends. 

We celebrated my husband's 40th. We gave him a surprise party and there was a Table of Fiery Hell there JUST for him. El Jefe wings, 40 bottles of new hot sauces, jalapeno deviled eggs & habanero cupcakes...
 

At the Rock Star party my friend and I went as Black Eyed Peas! We are both as far from ROCK STARS as it comes. We're both just this side of Amy Grant, so we were at a loss. We went for the play on words!

 

Now I am back to cleaning my house in a  complete panic. The Come Play Eugene gals are coming up to conduct Come Play Portland at MY house! Alicia Paulson will be teaching, so I have this delusional plan to have my house "perfect" and it totally goes against the grain of living in jammies. I have been sewing, painting, moving, straightening and WHY? These gals are coming for Alicia...not ME! I am trying to think up clever appetizers, snacks and a lunch.....then I freak because have you SEEN Alicia's posts about food? Amazing. They make the Barefoot Contessa look lame. I need to hire someone to keep up. Sheesh. 

Cheers to a lovely weekend! May you find the best treasure at an estate sale ....or may your college football team win their game.... or your child's soccer team gets extra muddy, win the game and earn themselves extra hot chocolate from the Snack Mom. 'Tis the season! 

The Sign, Fun Things & The Men Behind the The Venture

The sign went up at Found on Fremont! Yahooooo!

 


 

I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning packing up all my smalls from Poppy & Ivy. At Found, we have to have initials on everything so the cashiers can ring it under our names. Bobbins, typewriter keys, buttons, vials, etc. were put aside for the last 6 weeks while I tackled the big stuff--closing accounts (power, gas, Qwest...did I mention I hate Qwest? Sorry if they employ you or your partner...but I dislike them mightily), getting my initials on bigger items, placing Holiday orders...all that FUN stuff! 

Finally took the blinders off and got my act together. 

 
 Tonight we celebrated our grand opening. WHAT a show of folks! Neighbors, customers from all of our old stores, Portland Picks shoppers...fun was had by ALL! 

But we want to all give a huge thanks to the men behind the venture. They have moved our shops, hung chandeliers, painted, listened while we panicked, sat with us at some *funny* Happy Hour *meetings*, ran for business cards at Kinko's at 11:00pm, built our sign, hung our HEAVY sign...and yet, they smile and stand by us all the while! 

 
Here's to a lovely Sunday for you and a GREAT night of sleep for me.  Cheers!

Pumpkin Patch, Charms & Grand Openings

Portland weather has officially gone over to Fall weather. I love that kind of weather. Even if it's sunny, there is a crisp chill telling you it is time to make soups, hunker down, move the sweaters to the front of the closet, but MORE importantly, it's time to GET PUMPKINS!  

Portland is surrounded by farmland and we have so many choices of pumpkin patches. Our family tends to visit the same farm every fall. Traditions! The corn maze, the hayride, the country store for corn stalks & hay bales. 

 


  
Love the hayride every year, but this year it  took a fun twist when good old Mom (that would be me) fell off the hayride. Yes. Ker-plop. The good part is, the ride had STOPPED. They didn't leave me out in the field. THAT would have been bad, but it DID happen right in front of 100's of people waiting to get ON to the ride. What a tool. I have spent 15 years clutching babies, toddlers, children and teens praying THEY didn't fall out. Sheesh. I am all about setting examples. But really...they DO need sides on those rides. I am just saying.....

I just finished a charm swap. WHAT was I thinking. Really. I am not a jewelry maker. I love paper. I want to be good at knitting, metal work, painting...I want to. But those charms nearly killed me. I didn't even get to attend the charm swap party. Maybe it's best that way because I might have circled the room apologizing. Andrea ran the swap and was going to gather mine and bring them to me. I am sure I will just be embarrassed. I was THRILLED with my end result because a) my daughter saw them and asked where I bought them (yeah!) and b) I actually finished. But I know the other gals are PROS and theirs will be over the top.

 

Now I will continue to go get ready for the Grand Opening! Only 2 more days to prepare! Violet joined the crew at Found on Fremont this week, so she should be up there setting up soon, JOHN is still making the sing for the building, postcards are out, e-mails are being sent...it's getting all official and stuff.  

 

 
Hope we get to see you there!   

 

The Kick I Needed!

So, the oh-so-lovely, creative, silly girls at Come Play: Eugene and I have been talking about doing an event up here in Portland. Eugene is only about a 2 hour drive away from Portland, but I knew some Portland Peeps let that deter them from going and we need to CHANGE that! I think once people take ONE class, they will be hard pressed to miss another even if it's 5 hours away! I attended an event of theirs for the first time back in June and I had one of the best days of my life. Certainly, a most memorable, touching day.

So the time has come, a date has been set and the teacher is.....drum roll please....Alicia Paulson of Posey Gets Cozy. 

Yeah. For reals. 

You can sign up for her class at Come Play: Portland:. I know a few people who have signed up and space is limited to 15, so HURRY my crafty peeps! Run! Grab your purse! Get your crafty mojo ready to go! Look at what you are making. No. Seriously check it out. And drool. And then realize you too can play these reindeer games at my home!

or/and:

So....if I needed a kick in the pants to get all the half finished jobs around the house ready...this is it! ALICIA freakin' PAULSON..in my house. Holy Smokes. No pressure. I could pretend my house is always put together, but hello...I blog about how upside down it is. Oops. My mistake.

So. I am off to make curtains (shush you Emily) and go hot glue gun the hair back onto the dogs (kidding PETA....I'd use cool glue).

Now, if I could talk Emily and Jill into Come Play: Maui.

Cheers!

Tomorrow is Adventure Day!

Tomorrow Kecia Deveney is flying into Portland to be an Art and Soul teacher. And me-deciding to break out of my shell (really) - asked to pick her up and drive her around while she is in Portland.

 

 

I can be silly. I can be loud. People would probably say I am NOT shy, but the truth is I AM kind of shy! This is about 95% UNLIKE me.

Am I a stalker who has the new hobby of asking to drive strangers around? No. Not really. Maybe I have secret aspirations of becoming a limo driver. I don't know. It started like this...I joined Kecia's Lemoncholyfan club on Facebook about a year ago. Then, I think that I asked to be a Facebook friend of hers (also kind of weird because of my rule that I have to be able to know I can sit down and eat dinner with a person before I can "friend" them). So, I read her posts daily and she makes me laugh, she's made me tear up and I feel oddly comfortable with her.....so I suppose thisis my first "internet relationship". Yep. I am livin' on the edge.

So tomorrow on the agenda...Saint Cupcake, Noun, my *favorite* Goodwill, Found on Fremont (duh) and where ever else she wants to go! My car will head that way. If we have time...I will take her to Mintand maybe wow her with their infamous Avocado Daiquiri. Don't knock it 'til you try if folks.

I had a productive weekend which of course involved HALLOWEEN! I love me my Halloween people. Love it. Okay. I had some unproductive portions of the weekend too which involved massive doses of Gilmore Girls, Jerry Maguire, Hope Floats and Brady Bunch. I am not even kidding. You can't make that stuff up. It's the one where Bobby is called a "shrimp" and hangs off the swing set to stretch himself and grow. Yea. You were being a doubter. GOTCHA. I passed your test!

Oh. Back to Halloween.

 

 

 

 

I worked on my daughter's room a bit. STILL not brave enough to tackle the curtains. I am just not  natural seamstress. The sewing machine entices me, the fabric store makes me drool.....but I am NOT a natural. So awkward and frustrating for me.

The fabric is FANTASTIC....I love her choice of colors.

 

 

And...the real fun of this will be me starting THIS adventure.

 

My friend sent it to me, we have the teams chosen, we start Wednesday and it should be fun. (I am just saying that so I don't hurt my friend's feelings or scare the other team mates. I think this is going to be difficult, terrifying and I might go through all sorts of withdrawls and pain) but it will be worth it!

The whole thing is this is a GAME. You get POINTS for doing GOOD stuff. Yes. The food is important, but you earn (or loose!) points for drinking 3 liters of water a day, getting 7 hours of sleep, communicating with your team members, exercising 20 minutes a day, not snacking and eating 5 small meals a day. The small meals are basically breakfast, snack, lunch, dinner and a dessert/snack. I am reading it all cover to cover. It's plain old common sense, but you get to be competitive and I am SO competitive. (Ask my Bejeweled Blitz and Word Challenge partners).

Wish me luck folks. If you don't hear from me anytime soon, call 9-1-1 and share this post with the coroner.

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birds, Busy Me, and my "B-O-O "

I found a birthday present waiting for me on my front porch this week. The metal birds I fell IN LOVE with in Toronto! My friend brought them for me...in EVERY color!! That made for the best day EVER!

Here's where I saw them....

And now they are MINE!!! I am so happy. I have them all over my craft area. I can't stop looking at them! A little piece of Toronto and Queen Street in my art area!

And I got a bunch of chandeliers FINALLY posted on Craigslist.

Three chandeliers to be exact...all different styles. Feels SO good to post them...even of they don't sell, I got it DONE. They have a CHANCE to leave my garage.

And I got one "B-O-O" banner finished...my goal is to get 5 done total this season. I sold 2 of these last Halloween (okay...I'll admit that's all I made), but I discovered Halloween was NOT my strongest seller at the big shop verses the Alberta shop. Same price points, same TYPE of items....should be interesting to see how it goes at the new shop.

I worked today in the shop and had a pretty busy day to my surprise. It was a HOT day. Not normally a great "let's go shop the street" kind of shopping day. One gal came in, was there for a good hour and came down and said "You are OFFICIALLY the best shop on the avenue". Yeah us! She bought something from 3 different vendors. I always feel good when I see that happen.

I spent a bit of time making my area "Halloween-ie"...but I left and it looked pretty darn lame. I have lost one HUGE bin of my Halloween goodies. Tomorrow I hopefully make a bit more progress on that little table of mine. Think ribbon, candle holders, more cards.....spoooookyyy.....

Happy First Day of Fall to you all!

Life. Shop. Home.

That's what I tagged my photos, so it seemed fitting to name the post that as well. Life. Shop. Home.

Life: I am getting used to this early morning gig. I am a bit bruised from running into things....I am sure I will get accustomed to this Morning stuff soon enough! I ever thought I'd enjoy after school activities SO much.

Shop: is HUMMING. Feels so good. Look at what I found today! Only 19 "official days" and we've been "discovered!".

Today I discovered a NEW home! I want to live here. Arts & Scraps is up the freeway and worth every second of drive time. I WILL be back!

 

Good days. Good days indeed. Cheers and happy Saturday to you all!

Never Fear...My Camera is Here

I am trying to rename the blog....still. Or do I? You can tell I am making no prgoress on that front. I still have the same shop address!! I need to contact the designer who did this blog header...I have NO idea how to change that info!

I am trying to start a new blog for Found on Fremont. Typepad is making me cranky. It keeps linking me to my current blog and not allowing me to start a new one.

But it's all good because my camera andI did a little walk through on my last BUSY shift at the shop. I mean...bustling busy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an amazing old hat that I took a very poor photo of. And is this the only amazing hat that this particular vendors carries? Why no....far from it! Welcome to dress up/costume party/Halloween central!

 

Lots of stuff happening at Found on Fremont. Many new vendors still coming in, I am trying to find my garage (still) and I am not feeling 100% certain it will be found anytime soon and the craft table. Oh wow.

And I ask....did that stop me from buying MORE? Why no. I was out estate sale shopping just this weekend. I am an ANIMAL!

 

 

Oh. Fondue. Mmmmmmmmm.

Happy Almost Tuesday! Cheers to progress in my garage!

School, Work, Fun...BALANCE!

That balance I have been so desperately seeking MIGHT be peeking out at me!

We had game day on Saturday...

This week was back to school. Milestone years at our home....junior high and high school. HOW (when) did I become old enough to be the mother of a kid in HIGH school??? I remember her being born like it was YESTERDAY!

 

(Nice dog poop & spider webs....eh?? That's real life for you!)

After I dropped the kids and got them settled, I didn't need to rush off to work, so I did what any girl would do....I got a foot massage at Barefoot Sage. I had never been there and I heard rave reviews about their massagesrelieving plantar fasciitis pain. Ahhhhhhhhhh. I am STILL floating!

Then an after First Day of School dinner at Podnah's BBQ Pit. Double Ahhhhhh......killer pulled pork and Brisket...but the winner meal as far as my son was concerned was the Frito Pie!

 

It was served IN a Frito bags!

And then off to the nursery to fill all the long empty spots in my garden.

 

 

Today was my first day at Found on Fremont! (Click on this link you Facebook People and "become a fan" to receive updates and sale event information!). A bit nerve racking. I am very used to working, selling and fluffing....but there is a lot of pressure when I am ringing up for other people! On a new-to-me computer system no less! I think I did well...nobody lost any sales!

Today we agreed on a Grand Opening Party date. October 17th my little party people.

More photos and party info to follow. I was so busy learning the ropes, I didn't take any photos! And there was ALREADY so much new stuff! I can see such amazing potential already........

Cheers to a successful back-to-school period for you mothers, grandparents and care givers. Enjoy!