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Running a Business

Random Thoughts About Lucketts

It’s crunch time. It’s 10:00 at night and I’m just coming up from the basement to work on this post. As usual, I had some grand plans for my post today, but the late hour and a body that needs sleep made me change my mind, so I thought I would just share some random thoughts as I’m getting ready for the fair. (It seems like the random posts get the most response, anyway!) I always get stressed out when I’m getting ready for the Lucketts Antique Market. Every year I say that I need to start getting ready 6 months in advance, but that never happens. I’m like a college student pulling a week of all-nighters in order to pass. Despite the stress, I always feel inspired as I’m painting and pricing and shopping and pulling it all together. I seem to work best under the pressure. I

May 8, 2013 No Comments

buying & selling antiques

typewritergallery

May 7, 2013 48 Comments

Antiques

New Vanity & More Finds

I have been buying some furniture lately to sell at the Lucketts Spring Market, but I’ve found a couple of pieces that are keepers. Now, when I keep something, especially a piece of furniture, then something else has to leave. This keeps my inventory up and allows me to “trade up” for my home without becoming a hoarder. Here’s the “keeper” vanity I bought last week in its new place… The vanity I used before is special to me, because it belonged to my grandmother, but it’s not really my style. I have a lot of pieces that belonged to her that I really love, so I decided to let the vanity go. The new vanity has some issues…missing veneer and a missing knob, but I’m willing to work with those. …and the wood is just too beautiful to paint…at least for now. I’m starting to make some

May 6, 2013 41 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Another “Crafternoon” & More Stuff for Lucketts

Back in August, I spent an afternoon crafting or a “crafternoon” with Emily… …and we made a herringbone cork board for her jewelry. (She’s such a cute, teeny-tiny thing, isn’t she?) Well, last week she asked if she could come over again. This time, she wanted to make a place for her sunglasses out of some lace and a cheap frame. She wanted to paint the frame a minty color and I just happened to have just the shade in a new paint product I was testing out (I’m just full of secrets…) So, we painted and distressed the frame and then stapled some lace on the back. The lace Emily brought was a little shiny and wasn’t open enough for inserting sunglasses, so I went through my fabric stash. I found a perfect antique eyelet lace that was from the bottom of a petticoat. And ta-da… It was a

April 21, 2013 38 Comments

Antiques

A look at my stash…

Last week I worked on organizing all of the junk (and good stuff) in my basement. I then worked on sorting and pricing and ended up with two main piles. One is the pile of stuff that I need to do something to – paint, upholster, fix, etc… The other main pile is stuff that is priced and ready to go… …and now my basement is starting to fill up with things that are ready to be repaired, reupholstered and painted… I’m selling my dining room set, so we’re going to sure up a few of the chairs and I still need to put some finishing touches and upholster the seats of two of them. I just brought home this French settee to upholster with some of my Hungarian linens (I’m a glutton for punishment)… …and a dresser and the primitive cabinet from my office are waiting for repairs and

April 18, 2013 73 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Coolness is Colliding

Some of you may know that The Graphics Fairy/Karen and I are good friends. She’s one of only a few people I actually talk to on the phone regularly and she’s been such a wonderful mentor and encouraging influence in my life. She’s the one who got me into Lucketts as a vendor, first selling furniture out of her space. So, a few weeks ago, we were catching up on the phone and she says something like, “I bet you’re so excited to finally meet Donna.” WHAT?! When will I be meeting Donna? “Yeah, didn’t you know she was coming out to Lucketts for a Hometalk Meet Up?” NO!! GET OUT! AND it turns out that they are going to be my booth neighbors. Donna…The Graphics Fairy….Hometalk….Lucketts. Coolness is colliding. See, Donna and I have been blog buddies since the beginning. Since I had 75 followers. We e-mailed a

April 15, 2013 68 Comments

Miscellaneus

how I develop my photos

I thought I would take a break from the projects and share a bit of behind the scenes stuff. For the first several months of my blog, I didn’t edit my photos. Not at all. I finally picked up on the fact that photos were important for the growth of a blog, so started adjusting the brightness and contrast and basic stuff in Windows Live Photo Gallery. I still didn’t do it on most of my photos. It was so tedious and time consuming. Well, welcome to blogging, Marian. Anyway, my father-in-law sent me an extra disk he had hanging around – Abode Photoshop Elements. So, my mom bought me a PSE for Dummies book and I started to muddle my way through the digital darkroom. I never got very far with PSE. I liked it, but when I upgraded to a more recent version, I felt lost again. I

March 6, 2013 No Comments

Photography

tutorial on making tutorials

I currently have a huge to-do list of tutorials to make for HGTV.com, so I thought while I was in the middle of making all of these tutorials, I would share some tips with you on making a tutorial. A tutorial on making tutorials, if you will. Good tutorials to be exact. 1.) Pick a good project. Try to show how to make something that’s totally original, a hack of something really expensive or take the mystery out of a project that seems complicated. Tutorials like these will get the most views, pins, comments, thank yous, etc. 2.) Do your research and know what you’re talking about. I’m going to admit that I have sometimes figured things out as I’m making the tutorial (and I really wish I could go back and redo some of those), but I usually do a lot of research and practice what I’m going

February 2, 2013 33 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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