by Wendy Scheel | Oct 24, 2016 | Life
I’m tired, and to be honest, I earned these weary bones. Starting a week ago Sunday night, I committed 10-12 hours per day to make our Market on Old Lake George a success. And Alyssa and I determined that it was in fact a success. So much so that in January we will ramp up the creative juices again for a Spring Sale. But we’ve got some time until then.
Our sale ended at 3pm and by 5:30, we were at Jimmy and Nikki’s house for a pumpkin carving contest.
Jimmy won. He carved a vomiting pumpkin and it was epic! You can see the Boomerang of the pumpkin on my Instagram account: Old Lake George.
I got fifth place out of the five pumpkins entered. 🙁 I’ll chalk that up to all being tired, because between you and me, I would have won. (Yes, I’m competitive, can you tell?)
Then on Sunday, the neighborhood got together and we pulled our boat docks out for the season. The removal of the docks is always a little depressing. I am not a winter person. Not so much because of the freezing cold temperatures, although that is not fun, but more so because of the constant gray skies. It’s can be so gloomy for such long stretches of time that when there are sunny days the entire vibration of a cold winter day feels better and hopeful.
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Looking forward to this coming week, I am going to commit to the guest bedroom. It needs to be done by mid November because Spencer is coming to take pictures for the 2016 House Tour.
Between sessions of paint drying, I will be listing the items that did not sell at the Market sale in my Etsy shop and putting back together my studio. On top of that, I have to catch up on Etsy orders that were placed this weekend and whip up some headboard ideas that have been swimming around in my brain for the guest bedroom.
But for now I am going to sit and do nothing, cause I am tired. The best kind of tired.
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Oct 22, 2016 | Life
One of my greatest friendships started seven years ago this week when a young couple moved in next door. We lived side by side for five years and shared the joys of raising children, bringing home new puppies and discovering the same taste in decor. Even though we have both moved from that original neighborhood, we still remain close.
You may remember me talking about Alyssa because it is her Dad that helped me pull together my amazing staircase.
Last Spring Alyssa and I were given the opportunity to join a pop-up market. However at the last-minute life got too busy for the people setting up the market and it fell through.
So we pulled ourselves up by our boot straps and decided to create our own sale.
We thought to ourselves, “How hard can it be?”
Ignorance is Bliss.
We starting planning instantly because we wanted to use the same October date and it was already late August. Meeting over many cups of coffee and Mt. Dew we planned what items we would each be bringing to the sale.
Stop. I have to share this quick sidenote with you:
Alyssa and I are writing this post together while sitting at our Market. The next line of the post she wanted to write was,
She filled my holes and I filled hers.
I busted out laughing and reminded her that we were not that good of friends. 🙂
I think what she is trying to say is that because our decorating tastes are similar we compliment each other without overlapping as to which products we would create and sell. It was a seamless process and seamless processes have no holes.
She admits that sounds better.
Anyway, we proudly pulled it all together and now on our last day of the sale we are critiquing what we did right and what we will change for next time.
The top 3 things we will continue to do:
- Stage the market as if you were walking through a home
- Greet customers and create a personal connection
- Consider local pricing
The top 3 things we will change for next time:
- Advertise sooner on social media and place more street signs
- Change the hours of the sale to weekday evenings and all day Saturday
- Expand the sale with a variety of vendors
Thanks to everyone that stopped by and supported our sale! We look forward to seeing you again in the Spring.
~Wendy and Alyssa
by Wendy Scheel | Oct 15, 2016 | Life
Funny story. Sam is back for the weekend and I put her to work. Hold on, that’s not the funny part. We were working on removing the finishing nails from the baseboards I had taken off earlier this week.
The next step was to sand them before we could start painting.
And now comes the funny part.
After a day of hard work, we sat down to write the blog post and I asked her “What did I call Thursday’s post?” So we looked it up and this blog series about redecorating Jack’s room is called “Stinky to Stunning”. Her response was “What does that even mean?”
Pretending not to be slightly offended that she hadn’t memorized every word of every blog I had ever written 😉 , I explained to her that Stinky to Stunning was a play on Jack’s old nickname. When Jack was little we used to call him Stinky because…boys, dirt, sports….well you get the point. So we are going from “Stinky’s” old room to a Stunning new guest bedroom in this blog series.
At this point in the blog writing, we hit a road block. We were bored writing about sanding and pulling nails and assumed anyone reading it would also be bored.
So we switched topics. Subtle huh?
As a family less one Stinky, we decided to celebrate Halloween. We had a pumpkin carving contest, roasted pumpkin seeds and put on a pot of soup. What a great Fall evening.
In case you were wondering, Nikki and Jimmy were late to the party so we made them judge the contest. They picked this pumpkin as the winner of the carving contest.
I personally feel that the winning pumpkin should have been this one.
Guess who created that one? 😉
~Wendy
P.S. Sam and I are feeling ambitious today and want to get the whole bedroom painted. On Monday, check in to see our progress!
by Wendy Scheel | Oct 3, 2016 | Life
As forecasted, Saturday was what we call a “top 10 weather day” here. It was the kind of weather that reminded me why we live in Minnesota. It was a perfect 72 degree, slight breeze and full sunshine day.
As a thank you for tiling their backslash, Nikki and Jimmy bought us tickets to join them on a dinner cruise in Taylor’s Falls, MN. Because perfect weather was expected, we decided to make a day of it.
First, we stopped at a little wine and cheese shop.
We bought squeaky cheese, spicy jerky and Jimmy got a speciality strawberry soda. For those of you who don’t know, squeaky cheese is a bag of fresh cheese curds. So fresh in fact, that the squeak when you bite into them. Warning: squeaky cheese is addictive. 🙂
The next stop was a sculpture garden right outside Taylor’s Fall named
People have said to me that I am very creative. Many times I receive compliments on my ability to make something out of nothing. This sculpture garden put any ability I might have to shame.
Let me show you what I mean.
As we walked around, the four of us would walk up to a sculpture and give our opinions about what we saw. For instance we probably said something like, “This artist had a vision about keeping things out, so they built a wall.”
Now read what this “wall” was all about. We weren’t even close, on this sculpture or any others. 🙂
After reading most of the placards, you could kind of, maybe, sort of see where the artist was coming from. But this one? No idea how six stuffed deer stuck on poles could mean this:
During a sketch comedy performance an actor follows a script and is expected to perform in tune, with eventual laughter the outcome. At times, not everything goes to plan. These professionals stumble, they break character, and even laugh at their own botched attempt at mastery. They become unstuck, they are neither performer nor audience and aren’t laughed at or with. They are something entirely different. When we laugh as Gilda Radnor can’t hold it together we experience what collective vulnerability is, how frail the body and mind are, and how redeeming empathic embarrassment is.
Seriously…all of that from six deer stuck on poles. 🙂
Our third stop before reaching Taylor Fall’s was an apple orchard and pumpkin patch. The fall colors were beautiful, the apples were crisp and the cider was cold.
Our final destination of the riverboat dinner cruise did not disappoint. The leaves had just started to turn, the sun had started to go down the view was breathtaking.
Thanks Nikki and Jimmy for a perfect Saturday.
~Wendy and Wade
P.S. This week I am going to be staining a bench and finishing up some other odds and ends for the Market On Old Lake George sale. But I have a little confession to make. When Sam and I were writing the post for Saturday, I couldn’t find the original picture that had inspired me to redecorate Jack’s bedroom. So I found and used a photo that I liked. Then Sam taught me how to find my “Recently Deleted” pictures in my phone and there it was! So here are the actual bedroom photos that first inspired me.
#1
#2
See you later this week!
by Wendy Scheel | Oct 1, 2016 | Life
Did you see the saying going around on facebook last week that there are only, “90 sleeps until Christmas”?
What?
That makes it feel like Christmas is right around the corner! I hope I’m not the only one concerned about how close that is because I’m not even ready for Halloween.
It feels like I have lots to do in those short 90 days, but one thing I really want to do is redecorate Jack’s bedroom. I want it ready by Christmas so when company comes, they have a beautiful calming guest bedroom to stay in.
Sadly, the only thing I have for that bedroom is, well, making my wish list for that bedroom.
Since it is illegal to post others’ photos, there are going to be a few links to click on instead of pictures in the blog.
I apologize in advance.
Let’s start with my inspiration photo .
Pretty right? I love the subtle ship lap and the tranquil color scheme with a couple of pops of color.
This is another bedroom photo I love.
Oh to have a window like that looking out from the bedroom. Can you imagine waking up every morning to that view? Amazing.
I could link bedroom photos all of day, but I have less than 90 sleeps, remember? So from here I will keep you in suspense and update you as things start to happen in my guest bedroom.
Speaking of things that are happening (nice segway, right? lol).
The Market on Old Lake George is officially a Facebook event! We have been working all summer to create some great items. Mark your calendar! 🙂
It’s a top ten weather day here in Minnesota. Wade and I are going to an apple orchard and on a dinner cruise!
Enjoy your weekend.
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Sep 19, 2016 | Life
This past weekend we traveled down to Iowa for a family get together at my sister’s house. While we were all watching football in her living room, I noticed that she had two of the very first pillows I ever made.
Five years ago this October, I started my pillow business on Etsy. The original name of my shop was PoohPoohPillows.
Pooh, as in Winnie the Pooh, not as in your dog has to be let out 🙂 When I was little my dad had nicknames for my sisters and I. My oldest sister Carrie’s nickname was CaCa. Julee, my middle sister was named Rugi and my name was Pooh. And that’s where the name PoohPoohPillows came from.
The pillows Carrie had in her living room, were ones I had made before PoohPoohPillows even started. Who knew that a hot glue gun exposed turquoise blue felt flower would grow into what it is today.
I’ve mentioned this in a blog before, but once I added home decor items I changed the name of my shop to Old Lake George to show that I was more than just pillows, but it was nice to be reminded of where this all started.
My niece Emmalee is a hoot, so I asked her to help me showcase the original PoohPooh pillow. Here’s how that turned out 🙂
Then I asked the family to join her in expressing such joy for the original PoohPooh pillow…. which was about as easy as herding kittens.
We did eventually get a fun family photo which included the pillow. Crazy family. 🙂
Here’s hoping you all had a fun weekend also!
~Wendy
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