Flannels and Fireside; Home for the Holidays - Our Christmas Window Display and Open House

Everything has a story and our window display at P20 is no different. 

“Flannels and Fireside; Home for the Holidays.”

 

Of course we have lots of flannels, mannequins, and love cozy plaid shirts and super soft tees… but it’s more than just that. 

 

I was already thinking about our window, when our friend Randy passed away. He built the mantle for us to use in shows and it had been in storage for over a year. I knew immediately, the mantle would be our focal point. 
 
“Flannels and Fireside.”
 

Back in the summer, I experimented and messed up a load of flannels and they shredded, because I didn’t process them quick enough… and they’ve been in a pile, just waiting for inspiration on how I could repurpose them. I created flannel rag garlands and used them on a couple of my trees. No matter our past and what we’ve gone through, we can overcome that and be something else. 
 

 

Of course we needed some trucks to carry our trees home. Brenna lent a black truck and Susann from Farmhouse Gourmet had a red truck. Angea brought an extra tree. There’s a burlap door hanger from Burlap Decor and More and wooden lanterns from p20. Jeff cut me some firewood. Brenna had a helping hand and ideas. It’s a collaboration. It’s “home” town makers and creators… and it’s reflections of our town in the windows and mirror on the mantle and memories of Christmas past…oh the memories….

“Angels appear, when cardinals are near.” Of course there’s all the pretty plaid ribbon, but there’s cardinal ribbon on one tree, in memory of all those not home this year… we know the holidays won’t be the same for so many this year and our hearts go out to you. We hope you find peace and comfort. 
 

It’s cozy. It’s warm. It’s home. It’s friends. It’s handmade. It’s memories… and we hope this holiday season will find you enjoying all of that. 

So much has happened since I last blogged... so much! In mid-August, I was able to rent the back room inside P20 as my workshop. I started moving most of my production to town (I do still make some things at home.) This has allowed me to have more room to work and organize my things, which has been very helpful. 

 The room has really transformed since we moved in (I'll do a before and after bog post soon, so you can see the difference.) The ceilings are still ugly and the floors aren't pretty, but I remind myself first and foremost, it is a workshop, so it's ok! We've got several rugs and floor mats down and don't look up at the ceiling much. 

This coming Thursday evening, November 11, 2021 is the Art Walk and Tree Lighting Festivities on the square in Gilmer, TX, so we have decided to have our workshop open house at the same time! We will have the doors open from 5-8 pm and you can come back to shop the extra flannels on the racks, before they hit the store front, we will have ornaments, mugs, and decor as well. Also, my mom, Diamond J Designs will have some of her leather work and crochet items, as seen in a few of the pictures. My sister in law, Lisa's Sweets and Such will have some of her toasted pecans and cookies available Thursday evening. If you've been to any of our shows this year, you might have tasted some of them and they are delicious. The orange glazed pecans are my favorite! 

You can get to my workshop by coming in the front door of P20 at 100 Davis St Gilmer, TX (corner of Davis and Tyler St/ Hwy 154, at the red light on the square.)

I do have a side door, that is located in the huge Live Gilmer mural painted on the side of the P20 building. We hope you'll stop by Thursday evening and see our workshop in person! 

Support Your Local Farmers and Ranchers New Tee + Return to the Farmers Market!

So it went like: 

"Hey Brenna, you got an idea for a farmers market themed tee? I want to do something different from last year and put it on a red bleached tee."

"What about something with a red tractor?"

"Yes! Oh, yes, yes!! I have a red tractor graphic."

"Ok!"

We were hanging out at my mother in laws house with my niece Brenna, my husband Jeff, and of course Ms. Karen, my sweet mother in law. We ate supper, hand washed the dishes, played with Sally, our puppy, and finally set down with the computer about 10:00 on a Saturday night. 

I started pulling on some graphics I had on my computer - the vintage red tractor, baskets of produce and flowers. The squash was grown by Brenna's family last year, we grew the cucumbers, the best ever blueberries were purchased at last years farmer's market. The basket of sweet potatoes once decorated the Yamboree band stand (our county fair is centered around a yam.) The sunflowers were some I used in flower arrangements and the wildflowers were grown in our yard and (digitally) placed in my Granddaddy's old well bucket. I grew up driving my Granddaddy's Farmall tractor in the hayfields, when I was a kid and Brenna's Granddaddy had a restored Farmall they played on when they were growing up. Red tractors are definitely a part of our history. 

Brenna "what about adding some animals?"

We tried some of our cow pictures and they just didn't fit. I had some farm animal silhouettes, that we tried and by midnight we were like, Ok, its done. 

Sunday. Jeff: "You need real animals. That's just not right."

Well ok, then. We went searching for farm animal clipart and purchased some. 

Sunday night, after supper again, Brenna and I worked on updating our image with the farm animal clipart. We saved our work and was excited about it all looking more life like.

Our sweet puppy, Sally May, had recently started travelling with us and made a fast friend in Brenna. They played together a lot and Brenna had taken a pretty picture of Sally sitting in the kitchen floor. Sally set in Brenna's lap, while I was designing on my computer. "It'd be cool if Sally could be in the graphic." 

"Oh yeah!" Grabs my phone, pulls up the picture Brenna had taken, removed the background, uploaded it to my file sharing app, downloaded it to my computer, and there she was setting by the produce baskets! 

Save As... again. Then it was time to call it a night and go home. 

About midnight, I text Brenna (we are both night owls) and ask if she would have any goat or horse pictures we could use? Brenna was an award winning photographer in 4H and has a love of photography like I do. She had showed me some of the animal pictures she had recently taken, so I knew she had some good ones.

She sent some pictures and the next morning I went back to editing. I looked through my pictures and found a cow picture to go along with her horse and goat pics. I removed the backgrounds and adding them to the farm scene. 

A few more tweaks and saves and we were tickled with the outcome. We added both our initials to one of the baskets, because we just felt like our work needed signing. We added the Rocking E brand and 2021 to the tractor. (Due to trademark / licensing / copywrite type stuff, I won't use the tractor brand name, make, or model.)

So our final image has Opal (our heifer),  Brandy the horse (who belongs to my mother in law and picture taken by Brenna), Tex the goat (who belongs to Brenna's family) and our sweet Sally May. A few chickens and a cute pig also make up the image. 

Fun little side note about Sally - we already have a Hank and Drover, named after the main characters from the Hank the Cow Dog series,  so when it came time to name her, I looked up characters from the series to find a girl name. Sally May was wife of High Loper, chief of the chicken coop, and manager of the vegetable and flower gardens. (according to Wikipedia) I knew Sally May was the perfect name for her as a puppy and that she would in fact be a part of our flower and vegetable gardens! How pretty is she posing in out gazebo?!?

Of course she's loving playing in the dirt, helping get the garden soil prepared for planting. Our goals are to have some extra produce to sell some at Farmers Market this summer. 

We had a great time collaborating on this graphic! It took time and more edits than usual, but we feel like the hard work was worth it and the shirt tells a story.

Last years shirt said "Support Your Local Farmers," and Brenna suggested adding "and Ranchers" so we did. It's a powerful message and we believe it needs to be said over and over again. I grew up watching Horace McQueen on the Farm and Ranch Report. It came on at 6:00 am and we ate breakfast, listening to him, before we got on the school bus. Everyday he reminded us the "if you eat, you are involved in agriculture" and that's stuck with us for many years. 

We will be joining the Gilmer Area Farmers Market again this year! Although, please take note, there are new hours and different days. It will be held the first and third Saturday evenings (except July when holidays will affect schedule)  from 5-8 pm on the Gilmer Courthouse Square (empty lot by Stewart Insurance and Hil-Tex Insurance formerly known as the Roberts Building, on the northeast side of the square, just a block from US Hwy 271 and Hwy 154.)  There are lots of new businesses and restaurants on the square. If you haven't been lately, you should really come check it out. We've also got items inside P20 Land and Cattle Interiors and More on the opposite corner where the new mural is at (at Davis St and 154/Tyler St.) The new speakers are up and there should be music playing and a great time to be had at the market. 

Our Farmers Market themed tee will be available at the Farmers Market or you can order online. If you want to order online and pick up at the market, you can use coupon code LOCALDELIVERY and let me know you want to pick up at the market. Also, for the first time ever, we have YOUTH sizes as well, so we have Youth XS all the way through Adult 3X! 

We hope you enjoy the story and history behind this shirt and as always, we thank you for your support! 

 

 

 

 

Join us for our First Event of 2021!

We are excited to announce our first event for 2021 is on the calendar! After a long winter, we are ready to get back out and see all of you again! 

We will be at the Spring Vendor Market in conjuction with the Live Gilmer activities and Risk It for the Brisket BBQ competition on April 10. 2021 on the downtown Gilmer, Texas square. My sister-in-law, Lisa, aka Lisa's Sweets and Such will be joining me with some of the best homemade sweets and things. Cupcakes, cookies, cakes - I've sampled lots over the years and it's ALL good! 

It sounds like the BBQ competition is a bid deal with $10,000 in prize money up for grabs, so I'm sure we will have some good eating that day! I'm also hearing there will be live music on the square and other activities planned, so it sounds like a great day to get out and enjoy the spring weather! From my understanding, the vendors will be set up on the Upshur County Courthouse Lawn, although I do not know our tent placement at this time. 

Our downtown square has lots of new and exciting places to eat and shop, so if you haven't been in a while, you should check it out!

You can also find our items at P20 Land and Cattle Interiors and More on the square, where they are open Tuesday-Saturday. (Check their Facebook or https://instagram.com/p20landcattle  pages for their hours, as they do fluctuate some.) 

We hope to see y’all soon! 

2020 in the Rearview Mirror

I’m looking back on this year. There’s no doubt this year has been different and it’s been hard for so many. My heart aches for those who are suffering, while we are celebrating with the ones overcoming the obstacles this year has thrown at us all. 

I know this year is one I’ll remember for the rest of my life. While some want to erase it from memory, I’ll refer to it often, because even though there’s been bad, there’s so much good to celebrate. There's been weddings, babies, new businesses, new connections, gardening, trying new things, overcoming obstacles, spending quality time with the ones we love, a greater surge to support the local makers and small businesses... 

 

January started off with a bang. Busy, busy, weddings and events. The Spencer Wedding and a show at the Mineola Antique Fair both happened on the same weekend, but we figured out a way to make it all happen, with some extra help from our friends. 

 

February brought about the Grand Opening of Kickin’ K Cattle Co in Quitman, Texas, where we opened a booth. 

March kept up the momentum and I was so tired when we finished our last show at the Mineola Antique Fair. Little did we know that would be our last show there and what was to come. That week was when the toilet paper hoarding went crazy and I was lucky to grab us some Charmin, because we really did need it. My foot ached terribly and I did take some quiet time to rest my body. It was tired. We also fretted and worried about the future. We did a flubbed up live facebook video... poor internet service got me frustrated, as I was trying to do a live sale and it just wasn't working right, but we pressed on. We did do a few gardening videos though...

 

April, oh April. I scribbled on my planner that “Covid shut down the economy” and two shows were canceled, but my attitude suddenly changed and I said I wasn’t setting down and letting it destroy us. “When times get tough, get creative” became my motto. 

I scrounged through our fabric stash and starting sewing mask. Then I worked on my website and launched the Tee of the Week deal, and we made porch deliveries, and sympathy arrangements, wreaths, and Rosie the Riveter school lunch lady tees for the ladies working hard to continue feeding the kids at home. My calendar had notes all over it. 

 

May found us dealing with more of the same and stores cautiously reopened. “Keep rolling on” became my other motto. We also started a garden - a little late to start a garden in East Texas, but we did it! We stuffed that mailbox full of packages on lots of occasions. We picked wild berries at the farm with the calves curious as to what we were doing. We tried new recipes and fruity little drinks. 

June found us deciding to completely close our Mineola booth, but we joined the Gilmer Area Farmers Market. Gosh, those were fun Saturday afternoons on the square, with just a simple setup, but y’all showed up and we made lots of friends and connections there. Good times! I had never in my life ate zucchini - Jeff was doing the shopping at the feed store and had brought home some new plants. We honestly tried lots of new foods this year and have enjoyed them - For anyone reading this with a picky eater - there's hope! At nearly 40, I started eating zucchini, asparagus, kiwi, raspberry lemonade, strawberry lemon / lime drinks, and more! 

 

July found us delivering wedding flowers, then sadly we said goodbye to Jeff’s dad. He’d fought the long fight and we’d had almost two extra years past the night he wasn’t supposed to survive. We spent extra time with our family and did what we needed to do. We harvested things from our garden and enjoyed the sunflowers and looked forward to fall. The small town country girl tee was inspired by him... and there's just something about a flag and a sunflower that I absolutely love. He had a military service and the warm bullets were place in my hand at the service. He was one of my biggest supporters and I sure wish I could to tell him about the remaining part of the year. 

 

August found us returning to the Farmer’s Market, making flower arrangements, giving a conference presentation on repurposed items, and creating lots of tees. Did I mention we made lots of tees this year?!? Oh my, we have had so many deliveries of blank shirts! We create the finished product on all of our shirts. Sometimes people think I'm simply ordering wholesale and selling shirts. That is not the case. My hands touch and apply the images (and bleach0 to each and every single shirt that goes out. 

 

September we celebrated the final farmers market with a grand time, then we prepared for the inaugural Holidays on the Farm at Prairie Creek. That was a record breaking day, that lead to our record breaking month. We were saddened to say goodbye to our favorite side kick and road tripping partner. Old age caught our Trixie dog and our hearts were broken. She filled so much of our lives and was our child. 

 

October, oh October. We didn’t have the Yamboree, but we were thankful that the Live Gilmer group hosted the Fall Y’all Fest and it was a great alternative and success, even though it was a very scaled down event compared to the Yamboree. It was what our town and businesses needed. Fun little tidbit here. I received a Facebook message from a friend, letting my know we could use their potty’s during the fest, so we wouldn’t have to use the portapotty. I knew that weekend, it might lead to something more... 

Our new fluffy side kick made her first public appearance and we had a large shirt order for Sorelle Farms. An overnight trip with a family member, led to me having a "high rise Dallas office" for the day (aka known as a hospital procedure and I took my computer and got lots of work done in the waiting room.) 

 

We started November with the annual Christmas Bazaar which was another great event. Then, mid November brought about the invitation to join the P20 Land and Cattle store on the square in Gilmer. Did I mention De Ann was someone we met in Mineola a couple years ago? We had a great conversation there, didn’t see each other for a year, closer to two, and reconnected this summer over social media. We’ve since met some of her family and made new friends and been welcomed into the P20 family and are loving having a place on the square. We made lots more shirts and wedding flowers. Lacy’s wedding was at Dove Hollow, where we filled the space with lots of pampas grass arrangements. Thanksgiving, goodness how much we’ve had to be thankful for this year. 

 

December brought about the Yulefest with modified schedule and activities, but Miss Gussie still got to go to town with us. My nephew Jake, known as Jake’s Jigs, joined us, with his handmade jigs and fishing jewelry. We had a great day together and witnessed the kindness of a complete stranger that still makes us tear up thinking about it. We kept making shirts and flower arrangements. Stocking booths, delivering to cemeteries and porches, then got ready for the Efurd and Parish wedding at the Venue at Efurd Orchards  - it was a spectacular winter wonderland event, even if we had to deal with a little rain during the setup. Since then we’ve made more flower arrangements and lots more tees to restock our booths after Christmas. 

 

One of the few times I went in a store in April, I bought a gallon of paint, for a project I’d take on in my expected free time. Ha, I’ve yet to open that can. We know we are so very fortunate to be able to continue doing what we’ve done this year. We’ve made numerous shipments from our home, made lots of porch drop offs, cemetery, funeral, and even wedding deliveries without coming in contact with many (if any) people. We added contactless pay and worked all but one of our shows outdoors. We work mostly from home and occasionally on location. 

A few things I've learned this year:

• Attitude and a good mind set are crucial. I am extremely guarded as to what I let in and consume. I don't watch tv at home (only when we are at Jeff's parent's house), I will snooze / hide the negative sharing folks on social media. Starting each and every single day on Facebook with a positive post sets the tone for the day. 
• It's ok to pivot and shift. Just because things have always been done a certain way, doesn't mean things can't change some.
• Truly, when one door closes, another one opens. 
• Try new things, you just might like it. 
• Live stream a wedding or a funeral if you need to, so that it can include the ones who couldn't be there, whatever the circumstances may be. 
• Always look for the opportunities and jump on the ones extended to you, even if you don't know exactly how it will all work out. 
• Persistence will finally get your Instagram and Facebook Shop started. (It took a year and a half to get the Instagram shop approved, so you can 'Tap to Shop'  now.) 
• There are still so many good people out there.
• I have met some of the best people this year. Sometimes you meet someone at an event, have a discussion, and don't hear from them for a year or two and then great things happen. (Booth advice here - sometimes the connections at a show are more important than the dollar amount you made that day. It can pay off in the years to come, when you least expect it to.) 
• I love working from home (ok, I already knew this, but its worth repeating.) 
• Some things like fresh air, sunshine, cute baby calves, and puppy dog snuggles are hard to beat. 
• I have the absolute best customers and friends! Your support this year has been amazing and we can't thank you enough! We know you have a choice and we are certainly  appreciative of you choosing us to help make pretty things for you. 

We wish we could reach through the computer and hug every single one of you. If I did a video to say all this, I'd certainly have tears running down my face. We seriously are overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness for all of you, who support a girl who makes things in her small house on the backroads in the country. Who knows how the next year will go and where the road will lead us. We will continue travelling it and making pretty things for all of you. We wish you all a happy and safe new year ahead. Let's Keep Rolling On and make 2021 a great year!  Much Love, Janice  

 

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All the places you can currently find us:

Online Shop www.gypsyfarmgirl.shop

Etsy Shop www.gypsyfarmgirl.etsy.com

Facebook Page Facebook.com/thegypsyfarmgirl

Instagram Instagram.com/gypsyfarmgirl

Pinterest Pinterest.com/gypsyfarmgirl

Booth inside Kickin' K Cattle Co in Quitman, Texas (located next door to Dollar General) https://www.facebook.com/kickinkcattleco 

Booth inside P20 Land and Cattle Interiors and More on the Square in downtown Gilmer, Texas https://www.facebook.com/p20lc  or https://www.instagram.com/p20landcattle/

Both booths are generally open Tuesday-Saturday, but please see their respective Facebook pages for the most up to date store hours and directions to the store address.