Sparkle in the Dirt

When my mister and I started on this business adventure,  I told him I wanted the company name to be a little bit of sparkle mixed with the down home organic style I grew up with.  I grew up romping around my family's ranch.  

Ice plant in spring bloom

My Grandfather built his ranch from recycled wood. He knew everyone in town and when he heard a building was being torn down, he would bring his crew to help take down the building in exchange he got to keep all the wood. In turn, he took this wood out to the ranch and rebuilt the building with it. In essence he built himself a little town.  He collected buildings like most guys collect cars.  Of course I thought this was completely normal. 

My style has always been eclectic. I like Shabby Chic, I like the dark rich wood of Hawaii. I lived there till I was eight. I like coastal cottage. I have never lived more than 10 minutes from the pacific ocean. Except for that little side trip to New Jersey, but thats a whole different story.   

I grew up spending time at the ranch but I was also a product of the 80's. With all of it's preppy topsiders and double collars, and who can forget Madonna.

We didn't have much money so my mom was the master at finding cool relevant clothes for me at the thrift store so I wouldn't be shunned by all my peers.  A horror for any teenage girl. 

This was not the beginning of my love for found treasure at rock bottom prices. I had been going to thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets with my mom since I was little.

All of those experiences have influenced my style and my desire to have a company that is both sparkly and organic. Diamonds and vintage fabric. Burlap and rhinestones. And in this we came up with the name Glitterfarm. Organic glamour. 

As we continue to develop our brand we will  continue to combine  the organic with some sparkle because I like to wear my rhinestones and diamonds with my cowboy boots.
That's just how I roll.

p.s. Because this year is all about growing, I will be learning to take better pictures and posting them here. Please have grace for me as I learn and grow into the blogger I know is locked inside of me.

xoxo

Jenny

A peek behind the scenes at Glitterfarm

Big families mean big noise and big fun at get togethers. While I'm an only child, my mom is one of five, so with my aunts, my uncle, and a zillion cousins, it seems we've always got a reason to get together. Sometimes we even make up reasons.

Like this past weekend, for example. My husband ("Mr. Glitterfarm"), who does the marketing for our business, asked me if I could get some models for the new tee shirts we designed. We needed pictures, and we needed them fast! I sent an SOS to my family: HELP! Pretty please? I had my yeses within a few hours!

The day of the shoot, Mr. Glitterfarm loaded all the gear into the minivan, and the six of us piled in for the short drive out to my mom's house.

My mom lives in a little adobe my great grandmother built in 1950. It's nestled among the golden hills and scrub oak of Central California's Huasna Valley, and decorated with the treasures she's found in her years as a vintage collector (they used to call this "a junker"). This makes her yard perfect for lots of our photo shoots. (See also here and here.)

This time, our shoot would be on my grandfather's property, just up the hill. We picked two locations, both cowboy-era buildings that my grandfather had moved from town and reconstructed on his property in the 60s and 70s (more about this "building collection" in another post.)

Location one for our Glitterfarm Tee Shirt photo shoot: "The Barber Shop," complete with an old barber's chair inside!

Location 2: behind "The Opera House," a saloon-style building with a big dance floor inside and a huge barbecue outside.

As we tried to get the lighting right, my girls snuck into all the pictures they could. My boys, generally bored with photos, were running around with their bb guns shooting "away from people and houses," as instructed (fingers crossed...)

My littlest loved posing with the ladies.

Soon, a white truck rolled up the dirt road in a cloud of dust and pulled up to the shoot. Out hopped my models: my mom, aunt Sarah, aunt Kate, and my cousin's friend Ellie, all dressed in cute jeans, cute shoes, and lots of bling (we are Glitterfarm girls after all!). Sure, we got a lot of great pics, but I think I enjoyed the laughter and conversation more.

After the shoot, my mom hosted a barbecue on her back patio. We piled our mismatched, vintage plates with ribs and organic greens, plunked down in an assortment of brightly painted chairs, and chatted and laughed into the twilight.

On the drive home, my mister and I chuckled about how different "working on the weekend" is for Glitterfarm, compared to his previous corporate job. We also talked about how blessed we are to have a big family that's so supportive of my Glitterfarm dream.



(PS The last day to order those shirts is Jan. 31, so head on over to this link if you want one : )

My mom's yard adorned with "found objects." Always a fun backdrop for Glitterfarm. The house is built from the same adobe bricks you see here.

Running a home and a business without running

Source: styleblueprint.com

Running an online business and a home, while keeping four kids fed (and clean) is a lot! I know many of you are doing the same. 

This is the time of year when everyone talks about goals, and I'm no different. I know I'm not alone in needing -- but generally hating -- the planning session, so we try to make it fun.

Since Mr. Glitterfarm comes from the corporate world, he calls our meetings  "off sites," which looks like this:

• Meet at a coffee shop (The dining room table is (a) boring, and (b) often sticky courtesy of my 4-year-old or my craft projects).
• Lots of papers, a clipboard or two, and a laptop/iPad.
• Coffee and muffins

We try to have these offsites four times a year to talk about our business, our family, and our marriage.

When we walk out, we have a penciled road map and know at least the direction we want to go. I find this so helpful and freeing. I really like a road map. It makes me feel more at peace knowing where we are going. And getting there from a coffee shop is a lot nicer than from my crazy home.

What are your strategies for moving forward on goals? Any tools you recommend to stay sane and stay focused? Let me know in the comments.

xoxo Jenny

P.S. Sally Loo's is the coffee shop of choice here in San Luis Obispo for our offsites. If you're ever in town, stop by for a treat. 

What makes your heart flutter?

Source: The SoHo

Something I learned this past year is that sometimes the "small" moments in life are the most meaningful.  I have decided I need to start — just start — blogging again. I launched my blog back in…I can't even remember when…but it really never got out of first gear.  So…I resolve to make 2013 more consistent in my blog, and more of a journey of discovery for me (and by extension, you).

2012 was filled with joy and sorrow, and while I love to share my passion for decorating, I also  feel it is so important to talk about what's in my heart.  So, this post is the first step on that  journey. I have lots of adventures planned for my family this year, and I invite you to come along. It will be fun and, like all matters of the heart, sometimes messy, but still so worth it.

While my hubby and I are working diligently to grow our Glitterfarm business, I'm also discovering the artist inside me, and taking steps to draw her out. This past year I have taken some online art classes, experimenting and learning mostly what my heart and soul have to say.

It's a work in progress, and now that Christmas is over, the artist and mother in me is in planning mode. I'm already thinking about Valentine's day and my craft show calendar. Nothing is in stone yet, but I have a few ideas.

Will you join me?

Decorating...with a red pen

Decorating is often more about what you leave out than what you include.

If you follow Glitterfarm on Facebook, you may have joined our recent chat about "decorating weaknesses"-- all those things that make us swoon when we run across them at flea markets, yard sales, antique shops, and even on the side of the road. I call them "weaknesses" because it sounds so much nicer than addictions, lol. This list for me (and for many of you!) is long, and we all laugh as our husbands scratch their heads wondering how many mason jars we need, when we don't actually do canning.

Hodge podge alert! I just had

too much stuff at the show this year. 

As funny as our hubbies are, they do have a point, and one I've (secretly) struggled with when I decorate. How do I display the right things, in the right layout, in the right room, when I have a truckload of collected things that I love? There's a fine line between a room looking pretty, textured, and pleasing, and it looking like a space at a flea market! To me, this is "editing" what I choose to display (and not display), so it presents the right picture.

Even with years of decorating experience, and now my Glitterfarm business, I still find editing a challenge. It's been on my mind lately, particularly last weekend as I set up my Glitterfarm booth at the Remnants of the Past Vintage show. After months of buying and prepping for this twice-yearly show, I'm still overwhelmed when the product is waiting for set up, piled in front of my empty booth.

Atelier de Campagne's booth.

One story, well told. Love it! 

It doesn't help that the other booths are nothing short of amazing! Each and every one is a unique experience when you walk across the threshold. Dreamy Whites, Serendipity, Atelier de Campagne, Chalk Farm Home, and dozens of other names are synonymous with talent, class, and beauty, and their booths show it. These giants of retail display inspire me even more to keep my Glitterfarm booth pretty and inviting instead of cluttered and "hodgepodgey."

A dear friend helped me out this weekend, and reminded me of the basics: grouping like colors, limiting what I show, and having a few key "stories" to tell with product. She also pointed out that mixing those stories -- even with things that I love -- can be confusing to the eye and to shoppers.

The show was a huge success, my booth was better this year than last, and I learned a lot. Probably the most important lesson I learned this year is that with my long "weakness list," I have to edit what I buy as well as what I display. I love so many beautiful things, but as my inventory becomes too varied and too different, display becomes a real challenge, and the flea market chaos starts to creep back into my booth.

I did have pockets of order in my booth. The Glitterfarm

flowers look good with the yellows and creams.

So, as I learn, Glitterfarm is evolving. It will always be a mix of my crafty stuff -- handmade purses, aprons, flowers, and crates -- and the "found treasures" I acquire from suppliers all over California. But I'm editing this down. I'm still writing Glitterfarm's "Organic Glamour" story, piecing together "paragraphs" of product I love with the right mix of color, style, richness, funk, and beauty to delight my customers.

I'm getting out my red editing pen now!

~~~~~

More info: Here's a recent interview of me where I share how Glitterfarm and "Organic Glamour" came to be.

Do you edit your decor? Share your thoughts in the comments!

A Yard Sale Romance

I'm an avid garage saler. And by "avid," I mean crazy; like, giddy, weak-in-the-knees enthusiastic. My husband and I (now just past our 15th anniversary) have been going to yard sales together since we were dating, and we both come from families that made yard sales frequent family outings.

I grew up with a single mom who is creative, has a fantastic sense of style, and a keen eye for good junk. Blend that with the fact that we didn't have a lot of money, and I learned early on that yard sales make a dollar go a lot further.

Of course, as a girl, I didn't like the garage sale style. Chippy-rusty-old yard art, mismatched-but-vintage china and silverware, and funky cottage antiques were normal to me, but so different from my friend who had all the new stuff. (I used to think it was so cool that all her plates matched, and of course she loved that all mine didn't : )

Let's say that with age, though, I've come to appreciate my roots. And, having married a man with the same passion for the "thrill of the hunt," we're an unstoppable force on Saturday morning.

When my husband and I were first married, we'd be up at 6 on Saturdays, getting coffee and rolling up to the 7AM sales just a touch too early, hoping we'd find someone who thought of us as customers rather than "early birds." When we did, we'd scope the sale (and the still unpacked boxes) with the flashlights we'd brought, searching for treasure in the pre-dawn chill.

Since then, we've made garage sales, yard sales, estate sales, tag sales, barn sales, car boot sales, flea markets, rummage sales, jumble sales, and all the other "piles of junk" a part of our Saturday mornings. Even on vacations, cross-country trips, overseas excursions and business trips, if we can fit in some g'sales, we'll do it.

We use an app called iGarageSale which plots sales near your location. Great if you're at a hotel in the DC metro like this trip. That's a lotta sales!

Hmmm, this could be interesting.

When walking to NYC sales, the scenery is different than when driving to a local Central California barn sale.

...too bad. This wouldn't fit in the overhead bin.

Mostly I would look for chippy furniture and home accents while my husband is always searching for American-made tools and lighting to rewire and sell.

Today, we do some resale through Glitterfarm, my creative outlet, online community, and business. This has only fueled our enthusiasm, spilling over even to our kids who frequently choose to spend allowance dollars on Saturday vs. during the week. 

I couldn't imagine not garage saling. Even on mornings when I start out thinking, "Nah. I'm tired," I get the nagging, "something good could be out there," feeling, and we all pile in the car. 

Anyone else have the bug? Leave your comments, as I'd love to hear about what you love about yard sales.

~~~~

(By the way, I'll be at the Remnants of the Past vintage market this weekend with some of my finds. If you're in California, or know someone who is, take a look! Here's the page and the blog.)

Living Unscripted

Most days I wake up with a plan. I know the first six things I plan to do as soon as I have my first cup of coffee. I can't help it. I'm a planner-list-maker-type. With four littles, the wheels would come off the bus if I wasn't! 

But there's a downside. It can be hard to just let life happen. "No plan" means uncertainty. Spontaneity, but a lack of control?! That's crazy! But, no-plan days often make the best art days, and sure, they're usually more fun. It's a bumpy road during the day when there's no plan, but sometimes that's when the fun happens.

Our littlest farmer lives life "unscripted;" it's obvious on days she picks her own outfit. 

"Today, I'm Supergirl, mama," said the confident 3-year-old this morning, as she padded down the hall in this little number:

Pink superhero mask, leopard-print top, gray tights, and purple suede boots, each on the wrong foot.

"Sweetie, your boots are on the wrong feet," says Mom. 

"I love boots on wrong feet, mama!" says Little Farmer, breezing down the stairs and heading for her tot bike. 

Confident uncertainty. Unscripted beauty. Always fun. Life lessons from a 3-year-old?

I like that.