Shop Stuff, and a Birthday...

(click any photo to enlarge)

I hope y'all don't get tired of my shop photos...we change the look there on a fairly regular basis and I always want to be able to share it with you...  It's where all my decorating mojo goes these days...and a LOT of my time. I used to take a fair amount of photos of my treasure hunting finds, but now there seems to be little time for that, so the only way I have to show them to you is for you to see them in the shop all cleaned up and ready to sell...

Occasionally however, I do sneak a "before" photo like I did here with the makings of a coordinated set of serving items...it's just a pile of thrift store plates and glass here...

...but I turned it into these tiered serving pieces...

I am going to make a concerted effort to take more before shots...because who doesn't love befores and afters...?

Meanwhile, here's a look at the Easter-themed area in the back section of our space...

Here's a peek at the sweet little Easter display of "Pass-it-On" cards from Universal that I mentioned in a previous post. This is the first time that Universal has featured an entire collection of my artwork in a dedicated display! I love the way it came out! I also have the Mother's Day and "You are Special" collections ready to add to the shop right after Easter. I'm so glad to have the opportunity to share these little seeds of faith with our customers at Whispering Willow!

A few more snaps from the Easter section...

This is something I want to do more of in the shop...put together moderately-priced complementary gift items grouped into a gift container and sold as a single item...

We moved the wicker shelf from the desk to the table and added a few Springy-Eastery items...

...and we added a shabby metal shelf to the desk to replace the wicker shelf...from this angle on the left, you can also see a bit more of the cute English washstand with the marble top and transferware tile backsplash that my parents bought at an antique sale recently...it's holding the serving pieces I shared earlier...

Thanks for hanging with me for that little tour. The town where our shop resides (Tomball, TX) is hosting a 3 day German Heritage Festival today, Saturday and Sunday. 150,000 folks are expected to attend over the 3 days (yikes!). From what I've heard from the other vendors, we have a crazy few days ahead of us at the shop. We'll keep the shop open late hours to coincide with the festival and the carvival which is right across the street from us. Mom and I will work the 5 - 10 shift tonight...we took the Friday shift because my birthday is tomorrow (more on that in a minute...)

It should be an interesting weekend...I hope we sell a bunch!! It be great for you Houston-based folks to stop by...it should be a lot of fun!

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Yep, my birthday is tomorrow...I'll be 49! Whew...where did the years go...? I have a fun birthday-related announcement to share with all of you...It has to do with beginning my 50th year and what I hope to do in that year. I'll do that on Sunday, so I hope you'll stop back by!

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"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139:16