Hallow's Eve is fast approaching!

Peek inside for some hauntingly good finds!
A new addition and making many new fans this spooky season...the majestic IllumiNoir Halloween candle. Sleek and lavishly fragranced, it is filled to the brim with a premium soy blend wax and the highest concentration of fragrance available. IllumiNoir candle is housed in a stylish matte black glass container and is creatively presented in an elegant box with a clever magnetic seal. The box is topped off with a perfect holiday scene of buzzards in front of a shiny moon...where darkness falls and danger looms.


I am loving these newsprint wood signs with hauntingly good Halloween salutations scrawled stylishly across them. They pair perfectly with our hobnail mercury glass compotes...elegant spookiness indeed.
White wax jack o'lanterns inspired by the 1950 versions from the Gurley Company. Ours complete with a battery operated t-lite.

Hands down an absolute customer favorite! Our spooky tree bottle light candle! Looks great while burning and smells even better...hot mulled cider, yum!

Strand after strand of flying black lace bats complete one of the haunted windows. What fun hanging from a tree in your yard with a strobe light during trick or treat or maybe a curtain of them for your party guests to walk through or even a colony of bats flying (draped) around your chandeliers?
How many ghosts can you feed at a 12 foot table? None! Ghosts don't eat! But you can feed 14 hungry guests who just returned from trick or treating (and what about those upcoming holiday feasts?).
My lovely parchment roses, what happened...you were so beautiful with the sea fans and player piano music paper at Country Living. But now, you are "Drop Dead Gorgeous" in these ghastly gray urns with dripping moss accents. How dreadful!
Looks like heads have rolled

White sheet like things floated, they looked just like ghosts
But the skeleton with bones clacking, it scared me the most
Down to my last 4! Better hurry in if you want one of these gothic looking black wax skull candles.
"The angry owls and their piercing eyes perched high in the leaf bare trees, the gaze following me all the while. Then suddenly through the mist filled air, a shape appeared with long gray hair."
Of course it's not all Halloween, there is the autumnal season to celebrate. Apple stems, hydrangea & acorn arrangements and our 3 fabulous Farmhouse teas to warm you up on those chilly mornings and evenings.

Our Heirloom Pumpkin candles in a beautiful bronzed leaf bowl.


My absolute favorite piece in the shop right now! I love this and will hate to see it leave but I don't think I will get to enjoy it very long. Two customers have already measured it for spots in their homes (count me and that's three :-)!
urban wire crows nesting in these lichen branches
One of my beloved fall favorites, the Cinderella Pumpkin or ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ is a beautiful French heirloom pumpkin. It first became available in the U.S. in 1883. The Rouge Vif d' Etampes has a thick, sweet flesh that is moist and custard like. They are beautifully piled in this 1930's European baby bathtub.
But what would Halloween be without the famous Haunted photos? Add to your collection or start one today.
Did that picture just move?
And so much more...there always is!

My angelic family and friends.

I would be remiss if I did not mention and thank everyone who helped pull off our weekend at the CL Fair. All of them are truly angels in their own right and I am more than blessed to have them as family and friends.
Seen here is Kimberly, a kindred spirit on many levels, who graciously volunteered her truck, her trailer AND her time for the entire five days. Thanks also to her husband and beautiful girls for giving her up to me for so long. Thank you all! I owe you some mucking time!
This is Lisa Marton, one of two selected to sell her fabulous finds at urban farmhouse. If you want the unusual, rare, funky, amazing finds you better be at the store weekly to check out her one of a kind finds. I am not kidding when I tell you most of her truly phenomenal finds last 1-2 days at the store before they are snatched up. Just last week she brought in a vintage round, copper birdcage with an aged and bleached wood crown cap. It was snatched up within hours of it's arrival. Lisa is also the one that snaps me out of my myopic display mode to say "Hello?? Anyone home? Do you realize the VP for Brand Development of Hearst Publishing is trying to buy something and you told her no credit cards?" sigh...

The one picture I was able to snap of the talented and generous artist Pat Warthen. Honest to goodness I think Pat knows every 3rd person that comes along. As most of you already know she is an amazing painter and an even more amazing person, giving of her time to just about everyone she knows. Thank you Pat for helping keep my sugar up with the cookies!
My mom, Connie, on the right. God bless her she was with me from the first tent design convo until the last box was loaded on a trailer to come home. As much fun as it is it's also sooooooo much work. My mom hung in there for the whole ride and then some. Couldn't do it without her. Thanks to Dad too for taking us out to eat every night! One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend! Spending time with my parents at Wing's...priceless.
Kimberly hard at work again.
My AMAZING husband with the patience of Job. Perry wears a lot of hats with me and my venture; business coach & advisor, accountant & financial planner, and then the not so fun lifting, delivering, moving, painting etc. Can't thank you enough. Thanks also to Jethro One (Zane) and Jethro Two (Zach) for loading and unloading the trailers. I know at 18 and 15 there are other things you would rather be doing than helping ol' mom. Thanks for smiling and laughing while you did it.
Just for fun here's a picture of the shop on Monday after the show...show...show...(hear the echo?)

Lots of others to thank too; My in-laws, Toni at Schubert Nursery, Comptoir de Famille, Debbi and Rusty for uncovering some amazing finds, Mr. Ridenour for the flatbed trailer and tent arrangements.

And the winner is........

Comptoir de Famille, one of my suppliers who was also featured in the September 2009 issue of Country Living, generously provided this lovely, overloaded basket full of goodies to me for a giveaway during the Country Living Fair. Comptoir offers a lovely collection of home decor, accessories, and furniture inspired by the French Countryside. Last night a random name was chosen and the winner is Kelly from Parma Heights, Ohio!!!
Congratulations Kelly and thank you Comptoir de Famille!

Findings from Summerhouse at the CL Fair...

Okay, I admit it. I am THE most disorganized, "woulda, shoulda, coulda", "if it weren't for last minute I wouldn't get anything done", kind of thinker/doer. Sometimes it works out great and a phenomenal idea will come to me just when I am about to throw in the towel while thinking "I'm clueless...I can't think of anything". To prove this point the player piano rolls/mini vintage milk bottles/parchment roses/sea fans on my tent at the fair. A bit of a last minute collaboration of textures, etc. Imagine my surprise and subsequent joy when I unrolled the 3rd roll and found the lyrics were down the side, beautiful! Why I have not seen this before?

But...sometimes (and honestly more often than not) my spinning of many plates at once causes me to drop a few. For example...Joanna's Findings bracelets from Summerhouse (for those of you who attended the 2009 Country Living Fair she was in Tent 4). thats her behind her sign, busy wrapping up a purchase

Last year I oohed and aahed over her creations, absolutely loved them!!! I asked her for information on how to sell them in my shop so that I could share her masterpieces with you, she very professionally mailed me a typed wholesale terms package. Then I dropped a plate. The package is on my desk, which most days I can't get to because of various piles and projects blocking my path (very UNprofessional of me). To top that I left the fair without buying for the store!!! Okay, for 2008 I have an excuse, it was a wee bit windy on Sunday which caused some chaos. But, alas, did the same thing again this year! No excuse except exhaustion.
(I am the proud owner & wearer of the bottom bracelet!)

However, I did pick out one of her bracelets for myself...a lovely, chunky marriage of texture(glass/metal/lucite), with one of a kind trinkets mixed into the collage. The 2 that caught my eye were a mini shell whose edges have been dipped in gold and a round charm that says "genuine".

I'm sure it's that way for all the lucky owners of a Findings creation...particular elements of a piece caught their eye or "spoke" to them. Whether it conjured up a fond memory (the shell for me) or is a quite, simple reminder about how someone wants to be in life ("genuine") a Findings bracelet is more than an accessory for an outfit. It's a snapshot of a special moment, thought or idea that wraps around your wrist.

Thank you Joanne for sharing your creations with us. They are a true joy! Attention Urban Farmhouse shoppers...Findings creations will be arriving soon...what an awesome Christmas present! Find more about Joanna (and her mom Kathe), her shop Summerhouse and her Findings creations in this months Better Homes & Gardens.

Country Living Fair 2009

Shop closed this week...see us at 42 Main Street in the historic Ohio Village!

If you go to just one show this year...this should be the one.

Country Living Fair 2009
September 18-19-20
Friday-Saturday-Sunday
For more information click here
To revisit last year please swing by my blog posts from September 2008, remember this?