I'll let the graphics speak for me today. ;)

My brother's 1970 VW bug redo

My brother Carl is redoing a 1970 VW beetle and it's almost finished! And,,,the silly guy had it going at 100mph!!! Yikes~~~~~~~~~Carl, we'd like to keep ya around for a few more years, so slow down!

Today's finished product

Just finished this primitive angel garden wreath and hung it on a red barn for the photograph.

It's kind of big to be shipped, so I think I'll just have it for sale in my store. I made this using a pattern from Piney Creek Primitives.

I'll be listing lots of new things in my etsy shoppe tonight so be sure and check it out! Primitive dolls for your kitchen bags, prim cowboy sheriff Andy doll, stenciled wood signs, primitive checkerboards, and an American folk art sheep painted on a piece of old barn wood. Lots of new goodies!!!

http://www.priviesandprims.etsy.com/

My Photography

I promise this will be my last post today!

I studied photography in college, but haven't done much in the way of promoting my photographs.

On a recent trip to Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, I took many awesome photos of old barns on the back roads through the mountains. I am so pleased with them, I've decided to offer some of them for sale!

Tonight I listed two outhouse photographs in my etsy shoppe. I will be listing more in the near future, but couldn't wait to share these. Being over the creek, it saved them from digging holes and moving the outhouse when the holes were full. Sure wouldn't wanna be downstream during a hard rain!

Be watching for more in the days to come!

Craft Show & Yard Sale Treasures

I've gotten a bit behind in my postings, so I'm trying to catch up. Here's some photos of Friday's yard sale finds and my booth at the Garden Jubilee in Hendersonville, NC. The lady in the photo is my friend Alice. She went with me to help with the huge crowds, but they never got there, so unfortunately, most of the inventory came back home with me. Today I had "fun" putting it all back in the store. Home again and glad to be here. Next show is in Labor Day weekend at Wolf Laurel Country Club Fall Festival.

Hilltop Restaurant fire

Awhile back, I told you about one of my favorite restaurants. The Hilltop is located on West Main St., in Burnsville, NC. They just did extensive remodeling and then last week in the early morning hours, the owner opened the doors to a nightmare. There had been a kitchen fire overnight. Thankfully, it went out before doing serious damage. Most of the damage was smoke damage.

Just when they were getting ready for Memorial Day weekend and their grand reopening, they now have what the owner (David) is calling "a minor setback". He has such a positive attitude and is a great witness with his faith in God to work everything out. We would all do well to have half of his optimism.

On the floor, you'll see a framed portrait. David's wife died from a medical condition while they were going through closing on their purchase of the Hilltop. That was just last year. Then when he started the "two week" remodel, the two week renovation turned out to be many more weeks. That was just a few months ago. Now the fire. And still, David stays positive and trusting in God.

Find the blessings in our tragedies. Count the day's blessings, not the day's troubles.

Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg trip ~part 2

A week later I'm finally getting around to posting part 2 of our trip story. So sorry about the delay. It's been a rough week and I'm glad to be starting a new one!

Last weekend my son and I went to TN for the weekend. We went to the BBQ festival and the Pattern Hutch on Friday night. Saturday morning we went to Hardee's for a bacon/egg biscuit, then to a "As Seen on TV" store to pick up something for a friend of mine. After that we headed to Gatlinburg!

Part of the reason we went on this trip was to check out the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival & Games. We found out recently that some of our heritage is Scottish. My 16 yr. son went online and researched our clan, our tartan, etc. He got so excited about it! So, we just had to find a Scottish games event to visit. BBQ Festival, shopping at the Pattern Hutch, and Scottish Games. Fun weekend!

We are originally from the MacMillan clan, even though my maiden name is Bell. How does that happen??? My son knows of course, cause he looked it up. Me, I have no idea. :)

I took so many photos, that I'm putting them in a slide show for you. You'll see my hippie looking son in one photo. He was talking to a guy from our clan. Haircut is coming this week. I promise!

My son, he can't wait to go again! It was $18 to get in for me and $8 for my son cause he had his student id. I think $18 is way too much money! We had some Scottish food and my son even tried haggis. I watched. :) Heard some Scottish music and watched some pretty good size, tough looking guys doing some games. Look for the green beard. ;)

It was hot and muddy. I was glad to leave, but at least we can say we went to one. :)

I zoomed in on some interesting looking folks and some of them had no idea I was taking their picture! sneaky, sneaky. Love that zoom lense. I couldn't get the slide show to work in this post, so I'll add it below for ya.

I still have one more part of the trip to tell you about. Here's a preview photo from part 3. I'll do my best to get the story posted real soon. :)

I've also got lots of new prims in different stages of completement, so I'll be posting new photos of them as I get them finished. Primitive cowboy Raggedy Andy dolls, prim crow & ladybug wreath, penny rugs and lots of prim stitcheries.

Not at Garden Jubilee Sunday

I decided not to go back to the craft show on Sunday. It wasn't a good show for me, so I decided to take it easy tomorrow and go to church instead. :) I'm getting too old for the craft show circuit and I'm THRILLED that I don't have to do another one until Labor Day weekend!

Sorry if you were planning on coming to the craft show tomorrow to see me. I will be open Monday from 11-4 at my store in Burnsville, NC.

Thanks to everyone that stopped by to see me today! I met lots of nice prim lovers. :)

I'm at a craft show!

Come see me today or tomorrow at the Garden Jubilee in Hendersonville, NC! That's Saturday & Sunday, Memorial Day weekend from 10-5. My booth is near the Wachovia Bank.

See ya there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prim Folks From the Hollar!

Sometimes when I'm "trying" to go to sleep, my good Lord puts fantastic, exciting ideas in my head. Then I get up several times turning the light back on to write down notes as I'm "trying" to go to sleep. :) Last night was one of those times.

After I get my latest batch of dolls finished up (which is a lot!), I will be designing a line of prim doll patterns! The name of my doll line will be "Prim folks from the hollar". I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina in the small town of Burnsville. There are lots of "hollars" around here and lots of interesting people to model my dolls after. Some of the dolls will be modeled after friends, so that should be interesting to see their reactions!

Bubba will be first in line. I created him years ago, but never put it on paper. He just kind of evolved as I went along. He started out to be a hooker doll (lady of the night), but it just didn't look right, so I gave him a sex change and made him into a boot leggin' moonshiner hillbilly! Wha la, it worked! This photo was taken in front of the Yancey County Chamber of Commerce building. Their fall display was a perfect prop for my photo!

Bubba now resides with a man that reminds me of Rodney Dangerfield. He lives in Spruce Pine, NC about 20 minutes from Burnsville. Bubba lives in the game room and has a permanent seat at the bar. He's been waiting a long time for a pretty girl to come along and I think that will have to be the second doll I put to paper. I think her name should be Bertha. Bubba and Bertha. Good ole' country names. :)

I'll be taking notes and doing some sketching and will let you know when I get started. It may be awhile before I get to it, but be patient. I plan on making the dolls into e-patterns so everyone will be able to have some fun with it!

If you're still waiting on Part 2 from my Pigeon Forge trip, sorry, you'll have to wait a bit longer. The photos are on my laptop and there are so many for part 2, that it will be a slide show. Just a bit of a hint---they were taken in Gatlinburg, TN.

Well, as much as I'd love to keep chattin' with ya, I've got to get ready for the day. I'm meeting the gal that makes soy candles for my store this morning. She's giving me some great summer scents to get ready for the big weekend.

make it a good one!

Manic Monday~~~day off???

This is what I'm doing on my "day off". Not really a day off, but a day that my store is closed so I can get stuff done at home. Some probably think I'm just loafin' around the house. :)

Break is over. Back to work girls!

My trip to Pigeon Forge ~ Part 1

Friday afternoon, my son and I drove to Pigeon Forge, TN. We stayed in a cute little campground cabin at Alpine Hideaway Campground. It was a one room cabin with a double bed and a set of bunks, fridge, a/c, and a tv. The cabin we stayed in also had a bathroom, but not all of them do. You have to take your own linens and pillows which is fine with me cause then I know they're clean. :) They had a bit of a problem with the last manager, so we didn't have wi-fi, but I found that I could survive without the internet for one night. ;) The manager took off with the internet equipment, cash, and who knows what else. The new management is working hard to get everything back to normal and we wish them luck! It's not a fancy campground, but the people were real nice and ready to help any way they could to make our stay a good one. This is a vintage Shasta camper that was parked there, but no one was home for me to talk to. Click on the photo to make it larger so you can see the detail in the painting. There's critters!
After we checked in to the cabin, our first stop was The Pattern Hutch! They should of been closed at 5:00, but they had a customer, so I was able to get in before they locked up. The first thing I saw when I walked in is what they call "the man chair"! Cindy recently reupholstered it in style for the hubbies to sit in while the ladies shop. Would your hubby sit in that? My 16 yr. old son wasn't even gonna think about it! ;) Have a little fun guys and maybe they'll even take your photo in the "man chair" for you to share with your buds!I thought you might like to see a photo of Cindy's daughters with me, so I went back Saturday morning to get a photo with them. I got their picture, but not their names! (I'm the one with the bandaid on my nose. Use sunblock and hopefully you'll never have to have your nose cut.)
Look over my head and you'll see the model doll for one of the patterns I bought. It's a huge Annie Angel from "You Are Special" patterns. I bought 3 patterns and all were from "You Are Special". Her patterns are so cute and easy to make. I've already got 2 of them cut out and ready to go in the coffee!
Make sure you stop in at The Pattern Hutch if you're in the Pigeon Forge area. Friendly people and great selection of patterns for needle punch, applique, wood painting and of course, prim dolls.

I hope to move over to Sevier County when my son graduates in 2 years and my dream job would be to work at the Pattern Hutch!

After our visit to the pattern store, we went to Sevierville to a BBQ/Bluegrass Festival and had some of the best ribs we've ever had! Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car, so I don't have any photos from the festival. There were some craft booths set up, but no prims! What's up with that??? Maybe next year we'll have to do something about that. :) We did sit and listen to one song from a bluegrass band, but since my son prefers rock music, I didn't make him sit through anymore than one song. :) Bluegrass in NOT his favorite. But we both LOVED the ribs!

I've got so much to tell you about that I'm going to split it up over a few days. There's simply too much to tell about all in one entry.

In my next entry, I'll explain this photo. :)

What I've been working on this week

Stitchin, stitchin, stitchin, getting ready for my first show this year!

Check them out at my esty shoppe. www.PriviesAndPrims.etsy.com

Happy Mommie's Day!!!

My Grand Opening Celebration

Today was the Grand Opening Celebration at my new store!
I had a fantastic turnout and I thank everyone that came to visit! Prim folk were coming in, chatting, shopping, snackin', and everything was good. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing the pottery windchimes and downtown was full of folks. Eating outside at the Hilltop's new tables and browsing through the shops.

Then,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the sky opened up, the thunder roared, and downtown was a ghost town.

After awhile, the sun came back out and so did the people. And it was a beautiful day in Burnsville once again.

Cherish the little things in life, like chatting, snackin', and shopping. They're a few of the best things in life. :)

What a crafter looks like!

If you've ever done a craft show, then you know what I mean. We crafters get pretty stressed out when it's down to the last couple days before a show.

Well, I'm not getting ready for a show (yet), but I am getting ready for my Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday. I'm doing my best to make as much inventory as I can and still be sane. ;)

Then, I get ready for my first show of the year which is only two weeks away. I'll be doing the Garden Jubilee show in Hendersonville, NC for the first time. It's a two day show and just over an hour away, so it will be an exhausting weekend. My store in Burnsville will be open thanks to my friend Judi, and I also need to leave some inventory there since it's Memorial Day weekend.

Sooooo, I think this picture pretty much sums it up.

If you're in Burnsville Saturday, or Hendersonville on Memorial Day weekend, stop by and say howdy!

Don't look for this lady in the picture though. I'll be 52 on Tuesday, so I'm MUCH younger than her. :)

Black Cat on a whisk broom!

Unique item here! It's a sleeve that fits over a whisk broom! I've appliqued a black cat and flowers on a tan background with wool felt. Handstitched penny rug style.

This is the first one I made and I think it's pretty cute if I say so myself. ;)

For sale in my etsy store. Click on the photo to get to the listing.

I'll be making more soon with different designs.

A dollmaker's shower

Now most women might have pantyhose, bras, etc. hanging in their shower, but a dollmaker,,,,,she's got body parts hanging in hers! This is part of a new group of dolls I'm working on. These are for the black dolls. (duh, like you didn't know that) The other dolls are much further along, so you'll be seeing them soon.
See the hanger thingy that the parts are hanging on? I'd have to say that it's one of the best things I've ever spent $1 on! I got it at a yard sale and I use it when I coffee stain and paint. I could actually use more of them when I do a bunch of primitive doll clothes all at once!

I'll be back soon with something new and prim perfect!

New penny rug listed & a cute little Dachshund doll

I've been working on this penny rug off and on for weeks and finally made myself finish it today! Now I can move on to the next one. :)

I'm still working on a group of dolls, and hope to have a few finished in the next couple days. I'm having a Grand Opening Celebration at my store on May 9th, so I need to get all these half-done projects finished up!

This one is a penny rug for the cat lover. It's a combination of 3 different patterns that I have. Click on the picture and it will take you to the sale page in my etsy shoppe.

I've also listed a primitive Dachshund doll on ebay. Haven't had much luck on ebay lately, but once in a while I try again. :) I'm working on my "vacation fund" for an upcoming trip to Pigeon Forge. Gotta get some money to buy more patterns at the Pattern Hutch! Click on the Doxie photo if you just gotta have one and wanna help support my habit. :)