The Farm Chicks

Happy Candywinkel Halloween!

What a Happy Halloween!  We love these treat packages that Amy at Candywinkel sent us.  Thank you, Amy! 

The fam and I are off to Seattle for a fun family weekend.  Happy Halloween!

~Serena

Two Girls and a Soapy Dream

Our long distance friendship with Tiffani and Ashley began a few years ago, shortly after they had launched their business, Serendipity Soap.  At the time, they both lived in Colorado, and applied to be vendors at our show - it would be their first show ever.

They're sweet and funny and full of dreams.  And they've worked incredibly hard to build their business.  Now Ashley lives in Illinois and Tiffani's still in Colorado and they're managing their business as two best friends do.  They're making it work, and we love that.

It just so happens that I'm going through a lemon phase.  Everything lemon sounds good right now.  So imagine my excitement when I saw the their new line of lemon spearmint soaps, scrubs, and bath bombs.  These are totally going onto my "to buy" list.

Ashley and Tiffani say they are incredibly blessed and lucky to have found each other and to have created their business.  They even say they put a bit of their own good fortune into every product they make.  I'll take an order of Bath Bombinos, Sugar Scrub, and a bit of their Wildly Lucky Soap!

 

Honey, I'm home!

Oh my goodness, I'm gone on vacation and come back to a whole neighborhood of new friends!  We didn't plan it this way, but it just happened that our blog went up the day I left on vacation.  I'm trying to catch up on all the posts and comments between unpacking and laundry.  Thank you for making us feel so welcome!  Please bear with me as I venture into the uncharted waters of blogland!

Steve and I had a great time on our little anniversary get-away to Savannah. We loved the history, gardens, architecture, art, people, food and of course shopping.  Bless my hubby...he was such a good sport!

Whenever a good friend of mine travels she tries to find a piece of art to bring back home with her.   Each of her paintings have a story to them and are a
reminder of that trip. I thought it was such a great idea and decided to start my own collection.  I was thrilled when I found out that Savannah was home to a very large art community.  The Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) is located right in the historic part of town where we were staying.  After searching many galleries and stores we ended up buying a painting of a beautiful local church from an artist on the street.  I had it shipped home.  When it arrives, I'll share it with you!

The shopping was incredible!  A couple of my favorite stores...

(Sorry, the photos aren't great.  When I finally remembered the camera it decided to pour down rain)

@ Home Vintage General on Broughton Street
Love, love, love this store!  Everything you would ever want, new and vintage.  Liz (the owner) is so creative with her displays.  I could have spent the entire day there!

Terra Cotta on Barnard Street
Purveyor of fine apparel, shoes, handbags, jewelry and everything a girl would ever want!  I loved how Christine (the owner) used vintage in her displays. If you love Free People clothing...check out this store!

 

Right next door to Terra Cotta was a great store called Kitchens on the Square.  It had every gadget you would ever want.  I decided that it was time to replace some of my tired utensils.  Seemed like a good
idea until it was time to pack everything up for the flight home...

It was so much fun to explore a part of the country that I'd never been to before.  Steve has traveled down south on business and he always said how much he thought I would like it.  He knows me well Ü  We had a ton of fun, but after ten days we were happy to be heading back home.  I woke up this morning, poured myself a cup of coffee and headed out to the back deck to watch the sun rise.  It's good to be home!

The Baking Center

When we built our house, we were definitely on a budget.  And that was okay, because Colin and I had never lived any other way.  Although we had a builder, I took classes at the community college on being your own general contractor, as we wanted to have as much information as possible, and be educated enough to make good choices.  We also spent a lot of time at the library (one of our favorite places on earth) looking for inspiration.  Colin and I aren't big house people, so when I found The Not So Big House book, I was really happy.  Small-ish homes, built with quality materials.  We loved the concept.

Colin's best friend, Tony, was just discovering a new hobby of cabinet building and offered to build our kitchen at cost.  We were thrilled with his offer.  Tony and I met up one morning at Starbucks and sketched out the kitchen.  I wanted it to be classic, full of light, and have plenty of space for foot traffic so the boys could ramble freely through, even if the dishwasher and oven were both wide open.

And most importantly, I wanted a baking center on the island in the center of it all.

What I love most about the baking center are the drawers that hold my spices - right next to the stove, and the flour, sugars, etc. in the others.  If I need to dust the countertop with flour, I can just reach right in and grab a handful.

I have another fun little place that I keep more of my spices.  Sorry, I can't show you quite yet, but you'll be able to see it in our book!

Scrubbing

Monday is my scrub day, where I shovel out the house from a weekend of non-stop action.  Changing all the sheets, dusting, cleaning, scrubbing.  I love it.  Everything will be sparkley when I'm done.

And!  Teri will be home soon.  Man, I miss her when she's gone.  I'm looking forwarding to hearing about their trip, and having her join me here.  I know she's going to love hearing about all of you.  Me too.  I can't wait to sit down and read about all of your businesses and business dreams.

Power to the People

Thinking about how we got started as The Farm Chicks, and all of the work we put into our business, makes me think about all the others who are out there - trying to start a business of their own.  Your own.  To follow your dreams.
What is it that you want to do?  Or if you've followed your dreams, what type of business have you created?  Are you waiting to be discovered?  To be the next big thing?  I say, we can all make each other the next big thing.  Let's support each other.  No waiting to be discovered.  Share your story - leave a comment and tell us, tell everyone about you.  You never know who may be reading.  Power to the people!

Tag Crazy

I happen to be crazy crazy crazy about labels and tags.  Here is what I'll be ordering to stock up for the holidays and beyond.

From Etsy Seller Elles Studio:

From Etsy Seller The Paper Pixie:

From Etsy Seller Every Jot & Tittle:

Hi Friends! It's me, Serena.

At the end of every school year, I'd say goodbye to all of my friends for the summer and head for home, which was deep in the mountains of Siskiyou County, California.  It was a lot like losing contact with the world for those few months.  When I'd return to school, I felt a lot like the new kid, like I needed to introduce myself to everyone once again.  And although I loved summer, reading for hours on end, wild strawberry picking, and the occasional visits to the swimming hole, I craved news from my best friend, Lisa.  Since we had no telephone, I had to rely on letters from her.  And each time one would arrive, it was the best thing I could ever imagine.  A gift in my mailbox.

When my BFF Jordan (Okay, I don't actually even know her, but if I did, I know I'd love her) recently announced her Pretty Little Things Club, I had to sign up.  I have no idea what she'll be sending every month, but I know it will be lovely.  So, every month, I'll be waiting for my mail from Jordan.  It won't contain any news, just something sweet.  The best thing I could ever imagine.

Pumpkin Muffins

We're sort of cheating by calling these muffins, as they could just as easily be cupcakes.  If you're feeling cupcakey, just top with your favorite cream cheese frosting and enjoy!

1/2 cup butter, just slightly softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
pinch of nutmeg
2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with 24 muffin liners, and set aside.  Beat butter in a medium mixing bowl until softened.  Add sugar and egg and beat until fluffy.  Add pumpkin, and vanilla and beat until well combined.  Add in dry ingredients and beat until just combined.  Add buttermilk and beat until just combined.  Divide batter evenly among the 24 muffin liners.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Optional:  Sprinkle tops of muffins with a small amount of brown sugar and cinnamon prior to baking.

Yield:  24

Patience is a virtue

When we built our house, the plan was to have a big fireplace in the living room.  The chimney was built, the wall framed in, and everything was set to go.  Then, for one reason or another, we decided against it.  So, now we had this angled area in the wall that didn't really make sense.  The builder built in a little platform and covered it with beadboard and carpet.  We decided it could be a little sitting area.  And it was.  Until the boys discovered its potential.  It became Thompson family X Games Central.  Boys running at full speed, slamming into the platform, and thrusting themselves up, as if in a handstand.  "Sweet!  I just did an Ollie Quarter Foot Backspin 360!"  "Rad!  A Fakey McTwist!"  (You get the point).  And although Colin and I love their constant energy and enthusiasm, we were ready to relocate the X Games.

Here is what our X Games Central looked like:

And here is what it looks like now, as a part of our living room:

Now, the planning for this re-model began last fall, and after a few delays, finally began during the winter.  Perfect timing to coincide with working on the book.  So, on the days that Teri and I were working at my house, it wasn't the X Games we were dealing with.  It was the ZZZZZZZZZ of the saws, BAM BAM BAM of the hammers, GGGGGG of the air compressor.  And a couple of weeks later it was almost done.  Then one delay led to another and it was incomplete until last week.  Imagine my joy when the last doors were added on.  Patience is a virtue.

Pretty Little Magnets

A while back, Betz White pondered what to do with all of the caps she'd been collecting when she recycled her plastic.  It got us to wondering about it too.  Since the caps can't be recycled (at least where we live), we knew there had to be something we could do with them.  When working on a recent recycling project for Country Living, it occurred to us.  Why not make pretty little magnets?  They are incredibly simple to make and really useful.  Here are the easy steps:

Select your fabric and caps that you'll be using


Draw a circle around cap (allowing enough fabric to cover up and over sides of the cap).  Cut out circle.


Apply hot glue to the top of the cap, all around


Flip cap over and press onto wrong side of fabric circle


Cut lines in the fabric to the cap edge, all around

Apply hot glue to the tips of each little fabric section.  Pull each section tightly up and over the side of the cap, and press into place.

Continue gluing each fabric section into place, until every piece is set and cap is completely covered.  Glue magnet onto the bottom of the cap, and you're done!

Update:  If the magnets you use are thin and get swallowed up by the cap, simply glue a smaller cap, turned right-side-up to the interior of the cap.  (See below).  Then glue magnet on top of the smaller cap.

Sources:

The darling green dotty fabric is from Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Fabrics
The red daisy fabric is from JoAnn Fabrics
The tiny red/white flowery fabric is from Hancock Fabrics
The pink notepad paper is from McMaster & Storm
The shopping paper is from our website

Savannah Smiles

So, Steve and Teri are on an extended getaway to the south.  Enjoying the beauty of Georgia.  They deserve this break after a summer that was gone before any of us were quite ready, and many months of Teri and me plugging away on the book.  I just know they have ear to ear smiles right now.

The weekend at our house was a whirlwind of activity.  We celebrated Micah's birthday and rocked the house with 9 boys ages 11 and under.  On Friday, Micah brought these smiley face cake pops we made to school for his classmates.  We learned about them here (I'm loving every cake pop she creates!).  Who knew treats on a stick could be so incredibly cute?!

His party was pretty much football, football, football.  Football in the fields.  Football in the dark.  These boys are so easy to please.
Then there was soccer, a visit to a little sale, and the flea market.  Micah and Bongo were adept little bargainers and came home with about ten pounds of baseball memorabilia.  Me, not so much.
There was also golfing at dawn, a family hike, more football and more golf.  I love my house of boys.

*Blush*

 

It's like we've just moved into the neighborhood and all the neighbors have stopped by with casseroles and pies.  What do we even say for such a warm welcome to your blog-er-hood?  Thank you for your sweetness, your encouragement, your love.  It's the best move we've ever made.

Good morning, Sunshine!

It's been exactly six years since we launched our website, thefarmchicks.com.  We started the website as a way of getting the word out about the little antique sale we had just held and the details of the next one we were planning.  We purchased a "user-friendly" software program and designed the site all on our own, complete with details on the next sale, as well as a journal of our junking adventures.  It was all very rinky dink but we were so proud of it just the same.

And then, things started to happen.  Our business took off, evolved, and the website changed a time or two.  It's all been very exciting.  And a lot of work.  All of which was a drastic change to the daily lives we had grown accustomed to as stay-at-home moms and wives.  But we embraced it and managed it in a way that worked for us and our families, never taking on more than we were comfortable with and stepping back when we needed a better perspective on where we were heading with our newfound entrepreneurship.  Thank goodness we've always been on the same page.

And now, we're on the verge of releasing our very first book, just months away, and we find ourselves evolving once again.  We're entering the world of blogging, and journaling about our lives on a regular basis.  We haven't been ready for it until now, but that's how things always work with us.

So this is our good morning.  The start of something new.  We're excited to be here and to share our lives with you!