Meeting Other Texas Bloggers and Misc. Happenings at the B Farm

Hello my friends! Is your summer starting off as busy as mine? Things have been rolling right along since the end of May.

We spent the week from Memorial Day weekend through the first weekend of June at the farm. The plan was for Bruce to cut the hay and bale it, but it rained the entire week. So much for that! However we did get some other things taken care of - like finding windows for the art studio -

On an afternoon with a break in the rain, we headed to Athens to a salvage place. We dug through lots of windows:

And found 2 large matching windows and loaded them up:

Here they are safely in the barn:

Those guys are heavy. It was probably quite comical watching me trying to help Bruce unload them...or nerve-wracking - I'm not sure which it was! I was afraid I'd drop my end and break them.

On another afternoon, we headed to Tyler to the countertop place and selected granite for the kitchen countertops:

Mayfair White

 Hopefully we can tackle that project the end of July but at least the granite is picked out! It's going to look amazing!

And on a very rainy Saturday, Bruce started framing up the walls in the art studio.

Bit by bit, it's happening! Tin Roof Studio is becoming a reality!! (And just wait until I share the cool logo my son came up with for me!)

The sun finally broke through the clouds Saturday evening. Gorgeous sunshine!

Bruce headed back to the city on Sunday but I stayed so that I could drive to the Texas Bloggers Art and Crafts Retreat on Tuesday in Rockwall. Oh my! What a fun day! I took along 5 mini paintings I did to give to the hostesses and speakers as a thank you.

Jemma from At Home With Jemma and Stacey from Poofing The Pillows hosted the event.

Jemma

 (I think Stacey was ducking the camera as somehow I didn't a picture of her. Next time I won't let her get away!)

They had everything decorated so pretty and Jemma's home is just beautiful.

One of the tables...love the turquoise

Judith's display of her craft project

We were treated to a talk from KariAnne of Thistlewood Farms. She gave each person charm packs from her fabric lines, "Sweet Tea" and "Simply Eclectic". If you're like me and don't have a clue what a charm pack is, you can go read about them here on KariAnne's blog. I can't wait to create something from them. They are so pretty!

After a wonderful lunch, we had Laura from Decor To Adore share how she used the charm packs to make a banner and cute magnets plus the sweetest sewing kit. If you'd like to see what it looks like, go here. We were then given the supplies to make our own banner and magnets along with a galvanized chalkboard.

Last, but definitely not least, Judith from Botanic Bleu, shared a beautiful craft using scrapbook paper, garden dictionary page, stamps, and paint. I didn't get to finish mine as we had run out of time but I will be finishing it up soon. I am updating the guest room at the farm and this will be perfect in there!

It was fun meeting other Texas bloggers and getting to know the women behind the blogs.

I snapped these pictures of Laura, KariAnne, and Jemma:

Then I got distracted and forgot to take more photos of the others. oops. Trust me when I say we had fun with the photo props. :o) Check out Jemma's post to see more pictures and get the tutorial for a great 4th of July wreath too.

Jemma has promised another retreat soon - possibly in February. I cannot wait and hope even more bloggers will be able to attend.

In closing, we were back at the farm Friday. This time Bruce did get the hay cut and it was drying nicely when more rain blew in Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, we'll be heading back up to finish the baling. Wish us sunny and hot days until we get done.

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