Always Have a Party Favor

I remember going to a birthday party in elementary school and receiving a party favor for the first time.

It was Jolie's party. The little bag was darling, you know, the plastic kind with a pretty design like balloons or candy or a clown on the outside? We were given the gift as we left the party. I vividly remember climbing into the backseat of the car and couldn't wait to see what was inside. I opened the bag and it overflowed with gum, candy, jacks, bouncy balls, so many tiny, wonderful toys and kindnesses. Someone was giving ME a gift?  I will never forget that. Since then, my favorite thing about planning a party is the party favor.  My children have had "themed" birthday parties. You know the ones, the cake matches the invitation, there were treasure maps and trunks full of gold, bags filled with beads and gems and gold coins. Everything matched..right down to the what we wear!

 Now, I have the joy of designing jewelry. In my Lucy Lockets jewelry line, I have a prism that hangs on a leather string. It's not fancy and can be worn with anything, seriously…..anything. A t-shirt and shorts or your favorite little black dress, from a picnic to the prom. Wear it anywhere. I was invited to a Blogging Get Away Weekend on Tybee Island hosted by Mermaid Cottages and Mary Kay Andrews. I had to take everyone SOMETHING! There were care packages for all of us and I just slipped my little stamped burlap bag in for each and every attendee with a prism necklace. They loved them!

I found everyone wearing them at different times and to different venues. On Saturday, we made our way to Savannah to shop and visit historic homes around the city. My absolute favorite was Alex Raskin Antiques on Bull Street and West Gordon Street. The home was built in 1867 and I couldn't get enough of the chipping plaster and wallpaper and imagining the stories those walls could tell. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted and asked if we were with the blogging group. This wasn't on our planned tour and we were taken aback that he would ask two random girls that question. Did we stand out that much with our cameras in hand? He recognized the necklace!!  Someone had been in with one on earlier. He knew we were together because I had given everyone a party favor. I was thrilled with that little bit of branding I had accomplished in this intriguing town of Savannah! So, if you see someone walking around with a prism necklace around their neck, ask them if it's a lucy locket and if they are a blogger. There are a few…..

all over the United States!

If you are interested in browsing my jewelry or know of a store that might be interested in carrying Lucy Lockets, let me know! My etsy shop is called Lucysinspired.

Covering Walls with Paper

I know wallpaper has been making it's way back for the last year or so. I love it. I can remember helping my Mom hang wallpaper at our house when I was younger. It was not easy! Then trying to remove it out of our first home! We don't have fond memories of hanging or tearing down wallpaper.
It's everywhere now!! Very glam and in small spots, wallpaper can be an easy update! I don't have plans for wallpaper for moon glow, but I'm sure it will show up in a closet, on a ceiling or in a powder room!!

One thing I found at market that I can't quit thinking about is 8x10 pieces of paper that could be used as a wall covering. It had the perfect vintage look and even had texture, like old, european texture. I wanted to try a piece of it, you know, bring it home and play. I'm buddies with the VP of Sales for the company and he said, "NO WAY!!".  Apparently, the cost is pretty substantial. I may call him and see how much they ended up selling, maybe he needs me to sample it and show how fab it could be somewhere in my world!

Thinking about it tonight, it reminds me a little of the booth I created for the Sloss Holiday Shop in December. I had a Lucy Lockets booth for the Friday night and Saturday show. I was looking forward to hanging out with my buddies from Digs Design. We kinda hung out a lot in the local shows for the season!

My brother helped me build these walls and Ashlee helped me cover them in old books, sheet music and an old wallpaper sample book I found at a house that was being torn down! OH MY GOODNESS, this little book was from the 30's and the wallpaper was priced between 12 and 18 cents a roll! I loved how on the back of each sample, the company would tell you the perfect use for the particular pattern or color.

The frames I have hanging are just for looks, they weren't for sale, but they were salvaged wood that was pulled from the home with the wallpaper still attached. I had it made into frames and I LOVE them! There's a floral pattern and looks like kraft paper with the simple flower design repeating.

These are a few pictures of the whole booth. It was a cold and rainy weekend, my booth fell over, but as usual, I had a blast!

What do you think? Have you been too scarred by wallpaper? If you have used it in your home, I would love to see pictures!

The Gardens of Hansel and Gretel in the Snow

This house. I can't begin to describe how much joy I get out of this little cottage in the woods. Right now it is full of clutter and there are coats piled on top of blankets piled on top of theater seating and cherubs and jewelry and corbels…ugh. It's full!

Tuesday, Birmingham may have gotten a little snow storm. It may have only been 2 inches, but people, it shut this city DOWN! I was lucky enough to get my kids and a few others home to my house before the traffic got dangerous. There were so many that were not so lucky. Some that spent the night in their cars or walked miles, serious miles, in the snow. uphill. both ways. They can totally tell their grandchildren that story and not be exaggerating!!

I look outside after I got a phone call out of the blue that kids were getting out of school early. I had no idea. This place, what I call Hansel and Gretel, looked like a winter wonderland! It was gorgeous!! I was walking to the car snapping photos with my iPhone left and right. I just couldn't get enough! After the debacle of getting home and calming my nerves, I got out the Nikon and got some up close and personals.

Here is the tour of the Hansel and Gretel Gardens in the Snow.

This antique gate is from New Orleans. It is the entrance into the front gardens of Hansel and Gretel.

I could eat the patina off of this gorgeous gate. 

Upon entering into the front cobblestone walkway, you will see several characters that were here when we moved in. The angel at the end was my addition and I love the way she is looking over our home! 

This cutie was here and can't you tell she is a flirt? She's always smiling! 

This bike was featured with a bow for the Holiday issue of Fresh Style Magazine last year. 

Here's an upclose of that gorgeous angel. I know she is praying over our home.

When you pass her you come into the courtyard at the front of the original part of Hansel and Gretel.
The snow is covering the antique bricks that are in a gorgeous pattern surrounding the fountain.

This tree overlooks the courtyard and holds the twinkly lights in place. It is truly magical at night!

From our steps leading down into the courtyard, you see the front of the house. Kevin Palmer took an awesome shot of that red door and doorknob when he and Layla came by a few weeks ago. You can see some of these same spaces with no snow!

I just love these icicles hanging on our little cottage!

The back of the house was a true winter wonderland! 

The Magic Barn….I should have styled it for Christmas for next year with the snow.

We don't get very much snow this far south. I enjoyed it while it lasted…3 days! If it ever snows here, it usually melts within hours!

Birmingham Snow Shuts Down the City

Hansel and Gretel Courtyard

Tuesday morning I woke up with a smile on my face. One of my best friends, Ashlee came to Birmingham for my birthday party at Bottle Tree the night before and we were going to have a fun day playing. The kids went to school and we sat and drank coffee enjoying the view of Hansel and Gretel and reminiscing about the songs my new favorite singer, Davin McCoy, sang the night before. I heard him at the Songwriter's Fest the weekend before and fell head over heals. Connor surprised me on Friday saying he was coming on Monday! So incredibly blessed with that guy. Connor not Davin. (wink)

I was on the phone with another friend laughing about the events from the night before and I saw a few snow flakes. It was that whole, "Oh, look! It's snowing!" Ashlee asked how I could even see those flakes they were so small. She declared, "It's just flurries.". She had an appointment with TMB Skin Clinic at 11:00, I was going to go with her and then it was lunch, shopping and playing for a few hours. OH, I forgot Connor's car battery was dead and he had to jump it off before he left for work. I'm thinking that was around 9:00. Ashlee and I decided we should get up and get going, so we started getting ready. As we were finishing up, Connor called and asked if the I thought school would get out early. Why in the world would they? I looked outside, the ground was covered and snow was falling as fast as it could! How wonderful! 5 minutes later, I got the phone call, school would be out at 11:30. Ashlee's car was still at Bottle Tree, we needed to pick that up, go to her appointment and get back before the kids got out. We had an hour. Still just taking our sweet little time and trying to look cute for the day, we finally got upstairs and realized there was no time to get her car, that could wait. MY CAR HAD BEEN RUNNING SINCE CONNOR LEFT! #seriously

My driveway!

We start out of my neighborhood toward TMB, there's a hill to climb. It's covered in snow. There are cars going up…slowly. Ok, no biggie, let's get her to her appointment, I will drop her off, go pick up kids and head back to pick her up. We make it up the hill. People are turning around. I freak out a little. These people are panicking. They are worried about not making it over that hill and back. My kid's school is on this side of the hill. I look at Ashlee and say, "We have to go get the kids!". 30 minutes before they are letting them out. I get gas since the light is on….just in case. I tell Ashlee to get some snacks inside the gas station. I go in to help her, she has nothing. She's looking at Vienna sausages and mac n cheese single servings. No, Ashlee, we need chips and salsa, doritos and junk food! It's a snow day!

We jump on Hwy. 119 and this is what we see.

Not a lot of cars, but a lot of snow. I pull in the parking lot and decide to go ahead and go inside. I've since talked to two different parents and need to pick up 3 extra kids. The check out desk was diligent with her "rules" and I had to tell her each kids name one at a time and she had to double check that I was on each ones list. The last two? I was not on their list. She wouldn't let me have them. I told her I would just grab them in the parking lot. Abduct much? I stood in the hall as John Connor walked around the corner in shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt. All the parents just stared at him, shook their heads and then found me. Yes, he's mine, he only wears shorts. If he's comfortable, I'm comfortable, ok? Sophie walked up next, then Emma with Caelis, "Can Caelis go home with us?", sure. Bryson, one of the kids I'm abducting and we set out to find her brother. I just tell them where the car is and we head out. Guess what? I have 2 seats. 6 kids and 2 seats. Pile in the back, kids. I know it's snowing, the roads are slick, but I was not prepared!! We pull out of the parking lot, to the left 119 is backed up, we can go the other way to pick up Conor from the high school. I'm crossing my fingers we make it the 3/4 of a mile home. As we turn the corner to the high school, it's pretty backed up but moving. We are trying to call Conor and get him to walk down the hill. There are high school kids walking around everywhere. The signal is horrible…has been for the last hour. We finally get him and he's already started walking. We pick him up at our road and he jumps in…that makes 7 kids, 9 people with 4 seat belts. We are on the home stretch, though! Our house is a winter wonderland!! We all pile out and snowballs start to form and be thrown. They can't wait to get on the trampoline and bounce all that snow off!

In the meantime, Ashlee is a little worried about her car, oh and getting home!! She's from Florence, Alabama where it isn't snowing at all. Our first priority is feeding all these kids. If you know me…I do not cook. Seriously, never. My husband cooks and buys groceries on the day that he decides to cook because we eat out 5 nights a week. I'm not kidding, at all. I know we have frozen PBJ and maybe some eggs. We did buy a loaf of bread. Toast? Emma starts making cheese quesadillas for everyone. She's 14. She's so smart. I thaw out some deer meat and find a chili seasoning packet in the pantry. We put on a pot of chili. (I know how to cook some things, I just choose not to) We feel pretty good about the situation. Then we start watching the news and I start getting text and phone calls from friends that are stranded or their kids are still at school. The buses in our district never even left. The next area over sent their buses out and had to turn around or leave their bus. My MIL had to be rescued with her bus full of kids. They were coming home from a field trip. There were teachers on the bus, but she was stuck on the interstate for 2 1/2 hours!!! She said there were so many people helping move cars out of the way. They got a police escort, meaning she still had to drive her bus full of kids through the mess! Thankfully, she delivered them all safely. I felt so much panic for all of those mothers. One of the mothers of the kids I had had to abandon cars and walk home. One was on an airplane and was rerouted to Memphis. She wasn't going to be home until Wednesday. That hill I mentioned earlier, well…those panicky people? They panicked, slid, got slammed by other cars, and realizing they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, abandoned their cars. Panick. I was safe at home, with my kids, my friend and I were panicking for them. Connor was in a meeting, remember? He was in Vestavia, which is not too close to home when there's a blizzard and cars are stuck ALL OVER THE INTERSTATE! He has 4WD and believe me, he was going to take advantage. He is not a patient-sit-in-traffic kind of guy. He was off-roading and taking the "back way" all the way home. Remember the panic? People needed to call people, the phone lines were jammed and not a lot of talking was going on. We were just texting to find out where he was and how bad it was. He was updating and it only took him a few hours to get home. On the way, he was picking up old ladies that had abandoned their cars and taking them up the hill to the church. One told him her car was sliding and she just opened the door and rolled out, letting her car slide away. STOP.THE.MADNESS! I was so glad when he made it, but we still had friends that were stranded. My other friend, Ashlee, really how many people have two besties named Ashlee with 2 EE's? Me. So, she and her mom were on their way to UAB to see her Mom's hubby that had been admitted the day before, when they realized they couldn't make it. Heading down 119 from HWY 280, toward home, they made the 5 mile trek in 3 1/2 hours!! Sliding, blocking traffic, creeping home. Her mom is in a wheelchair…no chance of walking home! They made it to the entrance of her neighborhood about the time Connor with the 4WD got home. He went to help and some other sweet samaritan had already come to the rescue. When he got home, he said it was terrible with all of the cars all over the roads, abandoned. What is going to happen to those people that got out of their cars in the snow and less than 20 degree weather?

We just sat and watched it all unfold on Facebook and the news. The kids were happy and warm and fed, so all we could do was wait. If there was someone in need that we could help, we were ready.

It took my brother 6 hours to get to his kids. Speaking of kids stranded at the schools, there were 1,000's, seriously THOUSANDS, that had to spend the night at school. Not just middle schoolers who were glad to hang out with their friends all night, but preschoolers, kindergarteners, teachers who rocked them to sleep that night.

So many were on the highway over night, in their cars, with limited gas and some without chargers for their phones. A friend's sister was on the highway overnight and sent a picture of around midnight when they were standing on the side of the road by a fire. Gas was limited and it was the only way to keep warm. One friend was sliding down a hill uncontrollably in her car and was hit multiple times. She got out of the car and walked to the hospital nearby. Thankfully, a friend picked her up so that she would have a bed to sleep in. Her husband stayed at work all night trying to get trucks in and her boys were safe with family or in college within walking distance of all that he needed. Another friend also slid down a hill, had a wreck and ended up in a hotel room with a stranger as a roommate. She gave a blanket to a fellow stranded driver that was sleeping in the hallway of the hotel!! There are so many more stories just like these, some a lot worse and some not near as bad. Never the less, we all have a story about this Snowopacalypse of 2014. We were supposed to get a dusting. Our friends on the coast cancelled school this day and the next because they were supposed to get snow. I think they did, but nothing like what we got. Our weather people got it wrong, but man, I don't envy that job. I know they do their best and we have some of the best in the country in our area. I sure don't blame them or anyone for what happened. We get made fun of when there is a chance of flurries around here. The grocery stores have bare shelves of milk and bread and some of my snarky friends make snarky comments laughing at themselves, us southerners. We just aren't equipped, we don't have to deal with it like those northerners do. Remember at the beginning when I said my son was in shorts and tshirt? He has one pair of pants and one small under armor lightweight jacket that I BEG him to wear when it's below 20 degrees. I had on a shirt, jeans and boots that day….with a scarf. No coat, no socks, one layer. We play in the sunshine 9 months out of the year. If it gets cold, it's usually in the 40's. Our city was shutdown on Tuesday and finally made it's way out yesterday, for the most part. My kids are home again today and yes, my son is sitting next to me dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. He's heading to Arkansas with his best friend to go duck hunting. He has his camo….he'll be outside for a long time in the cold. He can handle it!

My friend, Ashlee finally got to go home yesterday, we ate chili and soup and chips and crackers, made cookies and ate the dough. I enjoyed having her here so much and can't believe she's not sitting on the couch with me again today.

Happy Snowmageddon, snowpocalypse, brrrrrrmingham snow 2014!!!

Hansel and Gretel Barn

Atlanta's America's Mart Gift Market

That's a tongue twister! I just got home from market and as usual was clearly inspired! There were several fun trends I picked up on. It's funny how the trends sneak in and then, with our web-based lives, they take over!! I think we are all tired of chevron (I've never been a fan of it everywhere), antlers, they didn't really last long. They went from I don't want a dead animal on my wall to fake dead animals on every wall! ugh.

This market had a few of those left overs, but the brands have to find the trend almost a year in advance! They are already in China sourcing what we will love in 2015!! woah. that sounds crazy! We enjoy going to Creative Co-op. They do a great job of sourcing and making those reproductions look real. We love their lighting and furniture, but The Spotted Zebra is more of a gift shop. In January, we jump right into Christmas. yes, I haven't even gotten all of mine out of my house from December and I'm picking out new for 2014! It's a little unnerving. Let me tell you there will be woodland holidays everywhere! Hansel and Gretel will have fake critters on every mantel if I'm not careful! Owls, squirrels, foxes, did I say fox? Yes, there was a fox in EVERY showroom. I sang that song, you know the one, all day everyday! Honestly, we didn't buy a lot of it. It seemed a bit over done. I think we will be tired of the fox. Won't we? Please say yes.

We got to see old friends, like Thom, at Creative Co-Op.

We also met new friends, well, we've been friends on Instagram for like EVER, but I met Brian Patrick Flynn in one of my favorite showrooms, Blue Ocean Traders. He is a designer and producer at Flynnside Out Productions that lives bi-coastal and I love his style. The fact that he knew who I was and said I was pretty was just icing on the cake! I shared some of my "market tips" with him. He's not used to the mart. Oh, BPF, let me show you the way!

We weren't just there for The Spotted Zebra, Lucy Lockets got some new trinkets and chain for Spring! I have several stores waiting on jewelry. Hopefully, it's in a store near you! If not, let me know and I can contact them!

I found several light fixtures that will be great for Moon Glow. Do you buy lighting just because you love it? Or do you find a spot for it first? These will have a place, just not sure where, yet!!

I love these! I already have a pair of AMAZING pendants for the kitchen at Moon Glow….oh, maybe these can go to the cabin on Lake Martin! That's a new project I picked up yesterday! I'm so excited about it. It's being completely gutted, so it's like starting fresh!

 Gorgeous mirrors at Blue Ocean Traders. I could fill a crate at this place!

Textured wall paper, covered books and dachshund dogs were everywhere! This was in the Creative Co-Op showroom. 

One of my favorite showrooms for their displays is Demdaco. This wall made into a flag with mason jars. Yes, please.

  Another display at Demdaco. It reminds me of the gym flooring Layla used from Southern Accents several years ago. I love the way they spaced it. I'm thinking we can do something like this at Southern Makers this year!