It's in the bag...

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I think you should know something. Something VERY important.

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I stare.

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A lot.

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Sew-much-sew that I sometimes I walk in to things. Or trip over my own two feet.

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OR - I will stop in the middle of somewhere I probably shouldn't stop. For example: I stopped while crossing the street one time.

To stare.

That could have been bad.

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I'm actually REALLY surprised that no-one has ever said anything to me...

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but I HAVE noticed that sometimes the woman I'm staring at puts her hand protectively over her pocketbook.

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Yes, that's right... I am always staring at women. Well, not AT them...

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but at their shoulders or hands - to see what kind of pocketbook they are carrying!!!

What did you think?!?!

When I was poppedUP at Cedar Chest Antique Mall, I did a LOT of staring. It seemed like every woman that walked in the door was carrying a vintage - or retro - pocketbook! I LOVED IT!!!

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I have my own collection of vintage pocketbooks... some I've found, some I've inherited... but, I remember packing them very carefully in something, and now I can't remember what that something was...

This makes me laugh, because it came up on a search for "vintage purse". hahaha!
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Do you ever carry a vintage pocket-book?

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide where I have a vintage pocketbook in my hands RIGHT NOW that I'm adding to my collection! As soon as I locate my collection...

Have a FANTASTIC week-end!!!

I went - I poppedUP - I partied!

Oh my goodness - the Soiree and popUP shop at Cedar Chest Antique Mall was SEW MUCH FUN!!!

Friday morning I loaded up, loaded up some more - made the resident teen break a sweat before 10am (after I had the red.neck in charge working with me half the night!) - and set up! Shannon, the CEO of Cedar Chest, gave up her own space right inside the front door, so when you walked in and turned to the right...

you couldn't miss me!

In the "popUP shop" section, I had just my "fashion" department ("home" and "life" stayed in my normal shop space)... let me take you on a tour!

As soon as you entered, my "wear it." pearl-snap shirts were waiting for everyone to try them on, and find the perfect name and/or design!

Right past the pearl-snaps, I had a "sitting room", because stuff like that is important, and it came in VERY handy!!!

Lendi (aka: The Threadbare Gypsy) came to celebrate with me at the Soiree Friday evening, and Holli (aka: Holli's Hoots and Hollers) brought me lunch, and hung out with me Sunday afternoon! The rest of the time, the chairs were filled with old friends, new friends - family and loved ones!

The chairs are also filled with bullet holes... *grin*

Next up:

the "sparkle it." jewelry table. Complete with my Velvet Elvis as the table cover!
hunka-hunka-burnin' love!

And then, of course, was my shelf, and various hang-it-on-it things with my "carry it." pocketbooks!

I love the look on people's faces when they find out I made them, and then when they read WHAT they are made out of!!! I don't discriminate... if I can cut it and sew it, I will make a pocketbook out of it.

Friday night was the Soiree. Did I take pictures of it? No.

The food set-up was crazy cute and fun! "the Mama" made mini birthday cupcakes with sparkles, and glitter, and sprinkles, and more sparkles, so I parked them on the license plate cupcake stand you can see in the picture above. She had also thrown in a can of nuts, so the dump truck (in the photo, hiding under the shelves!) held a cute box with the nuts in it! "the Mama" also provided a FANTASTIC vintage metal cooler for ice (she might not get that back!), and a cute little "redneck-ish" igloo for peach tea!

I attempted some cookies that looked SUPER EASY to make on Pinterest, but apparently they aren't THAT easy for the cooking challenged. Luckily, my "Ethyl" made some corn dip to go with Frito's that was so GOOD it had ME asking for the recipe.

That evening, the whole mall was full of laughter! Everyone came to visit, and shop, and visit some more - other vendors stopped in to meet-n-greet and have some fun... My face still hurts from laughing!

I'm READY to go for many more years! I can't thank each of you enough for reading along, for coming to visit, the other vendors for entertaining my insanity, "the Mama" and "Ethyl" for feeding us all - and Shannon for opening the Cedar Chest doors and welcoming a bunch of crazy red.necks!!!

Let's do it again next year!

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide where I made a really grin-worthy observation during the Soiree and popUP shop...

Let's Party Like it's 2008!

In June of 2008 I went to a yard sael.

Seriously. The sign said "sael". This is the actual sign. hahahaHA!

Piles of junk and more junk, alllll spread out in front of a double-wide: the poster-woman for TRUE redneck (i'm gonna let you use your imagination re: what she looked like. be very creative...) was in charge. And - she LOVED my purse. After purchasing a pillowcase and some belts (even though I was short a quarter!), I got in my car to head home... slightly traumatized by the thought that only a REDNECK could appreciate my pocketbook made out of re.po'd vintage fabrics and other fun stuff.

41 miles.

I was 41 miles away from home. But, you know how it goes... by mile marker 3, I had thought of my business name, "red.neck Chic". By mile marker 9, I had my logo designed in my head. By mile marker 14, I had my tag line (re.defining redneck Style...). By mile marker 17, I had my branding and packaging perfected in my head. All the rest of the miles home saw me jumping in my car seat with excitement and ridiculously happy JOY.

By the time I parked in my driveway, I knew that my passion and business had just collided in the way that is unique to me... and I was off like a crazed roll of duct tape!!!

I started with a small "shop space" in Hillsboro Antique Mall, tucked safe and sound under the stairs.

I had NO CLUE what I was doing... but I had some SERIOUS fun figuring it out!

I continued to grow...

and grow some more!

Then - I decided it was time for my first show with red.neck Chic, sew I hit the road...

and found Jessica and Joe, aka: Funky Finds!

 After that, I felt like I was finding my groove, so I tackled my first outdoor show...

and thought I was going to have to lock myself in to the crazy farm.

To this day, I STILL shudder when I think of the 110 degrees in the shade - on ASPHALT - that happened the day of the Peach Festival.

In between the shows, I got invited in to an art gallery in Dallas...

I've popped my duct tape roll in to various shoppes and boutiques, and I started rolling my duct tape in to Zapp Hall for a few years...

These are the only 2 photos I can find of my various tents over a 3 or 4 year period!

and I kept growing in the Hillsboro Antique Mall.
I moved in to the second side of the mall...

and I eventually spread allllll the way across the back 40 of the second side of the mall.

Other shows, the addition of "soiree's" and popUP shops, expansions to the product lines I offer (fashion. home. life.), and THEN: a second (and NEW!) location inside the Cedar Chest Antique Mall!

And now that we are up to date? It's time to celebrate all of this duct tapin' FUN!!!

Yes... it's belated, but I'm just cool like that. haha!

It's going to be SEW FUN!!! I have swag bags I'm building, and "festive drinks and tasty eats" I'm planning on finding someone to cook (i'm thinking the fire department doesn't need to be involved in this celebration...) for the Soirée... pocketbooks, pearl-snaps, sparkly things, smell good soaps, paper stuff and concrete things - ANYthing and EVERYthing I can think of - for the Soirée and popUP shop!!!

I would love to see you there!!! If I can't, I'll keep you posted over the miles - that way we can both pretend you're there!

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide where I can't WAIT to see what my next 6 years brings! It's been sew fun this far - can you imagine how many giggles you and I are going to have in the future? hee-hee

 

the month (no, wait...) the YEAR of...

*i'm waving at you!!!*

Did you think I had been kidnapped? No. The kidnappers would have returned me immediately, citing "pain and suffering" while demanding a full refund.

*grin*

HOW ARE YOU?!!!

I've just been... HERE! Well, obviously not HERE, but HERE! One day at a time, trying to stay out of trouble, making great things, having ideas and more ideas, having FUN, taking lots of pictures, making more great things... HERE! Big HUGE things have happened, little things have happened... we'll get back to those at a later date! You'll love it!

First and Foremost (and because I left off here!): The resident teen graduated! AND! He's already completed his first year of college!

Could I be more proud of him? nope. Do I see him anymore? nope.

He started college full-time (honor roll!!!), then started working all of the other time, then - you know - he has to do all the things college kids do. I know he's still around because there are dirty dishes in the sink sometimes.

my favorite blurry photo EVER.

All kidding aside, I am SO proud of the man he is becoming!

He still gives me hugs all of the time, and when I send the random, "what are you doing" texts, he answers - even though I know he's rolling his eyes.

red.neck Chic is continuing to go strong, and is just growing, and growing!!! I'm in The Hillsboro Antique Mall still, I've done a couple of shows, I keep rollin' the duct tape roll of red.neck Chic fun in to various shoppes... AND I've moved in to Cedar Chest Antique Mall!!! There is some celebrating gonna happen, but we will get back to THAT too...

If you can't wait, you can always find me on Facebook, and on Instagram. But, I promise on my duct tape, I won't make you wait again. I know this 'cause I have about 10 more blog posts in "draft". haha!!! Some were started last year, some at Christmas, some whoknowswhen... do you KNOW how many stories I have to catch you up on? hee-hee-hee

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide, where have I told you that I have MISSED you?!?! I miss you.

the month of may... part 1

i left off at Prom (and the First Lady of the neighborhood association is demanding an update!)... if i remember correctly, prom was in April, and i reported in to you in May. i could be really really really wrong though because i still kinda think this is January.  :-D

i saw a rabbit... okay, i saw a lot of rabbits. they are ALLLLL over my 'hood this spring and summer!

it's become a big joke in the single-wide about how if you wanna know where i've been, or what i've seen, look through my camera card. it's also become a big joke that really strange things catch my eye through my camera lens and i feel compelled to photograph them... but that's a whole 'nother story...

for now - i've decided to tell you a pictorial story of my May... and because my camera card holds vast amounts of extremely random stuff (and that isn't even including the picture folders on my phone!!!) - this will be a two-parter...

part 1:

(it started with the rabbit.)

the man-child had his very last high school band concert where he pulled a fast one and traded the trombone for the baritone... he does that sometimes.

then, one bright, saturday morning, i headed off for a tractor pull that the ultimate redneck - my Uncle - was pullin' in...

i looked for petal powered tractors, but i didn't see any.

 

not tooooo far in to this fun little road trip, i got sidetracked by an estate sale sign. on the way to the estate sale, i crossed this bridge and became fascinated with the yellow... so i pulled over.

when i was little - we used to swim in this creek...

instead of counting my age in years - i've decided i'm going to count it in dropping water levels... ;-D OBVIOUSLY i was little a lot of water levels ago!!!

and i saw this... growing in rock and debris, yellow stuff and asphalt... that's pretty fun, right? so i took a picture of it.

i made it to the estate sale and found some barrels and an old tv stand and a various assortment of other fun... did i take pictures of any of it? no.

BUT! i did make it to the tractor pull...

and - just in time!!!

i almost missed the Uncle redneck!!!

look Ma! no hands!!!

did he cause a tractor jam?!

redneck tractor puller in training...

luckily - i didn't miss the Uncle redneck. well - 3 of his 4 pulls i didn't miss. he had 3 tractors out there... the two gorgeously restored and stylin' Allis Chalmers, and this one...

he HAD to take this one so he could maintain his redneck credentials...

don't judge a book by it's cover though...

he won four of these - and one on this tractor!

there were some other pretty cool tractors out there... just don't tell my Uncle i said that, m'kay?

red tractor, red suspenders... "git'r done!!!"

and this one:

i want a roll bar.

after the tractor pull, i made great things.

one of them was "mar.gie":

not only a new pocketbook out of re.cycled FUN - but a new pattern design as well!

THEN: it was senior picture time...

yeah... that's about how it went.

remind me next time to HIRE a photographer - not try to argue with the man-child and his hair for just ONE good photo!!!

since he hated posing for me sooooooooooooo much...

i saw this in an alley and i made him the getaway driver (for the first time EVER) in a dumpster diving expedition.

he KIND OF thought that was amusing... but not as amusing as he found it when i told him i was going to report him to his Grandmother (don't tell her, but he's really not as skeert of her as i am) if he didn't straighten up and let me get good graduation invitation photos...

~to be continued~