Why did you name your
shop Gypsy Farm Girl? It's a question I get from time to time.
Lets rewind to the winter of 2010/2011. I stalked the
Junk Gypsies website like crazy! Late nights on slow internet, but this website I found was creative and different. None of my friends spoke of it. It was like my own little secret crush. It was inspiring. There was the Miranda Lambert air stream they had done and well, in a word amazing. It was repurposing, rescuing, making something fabulous out of something ordinary. This spoke to me. BIG time. It was that junky, gravitational pull...
I knew, somehow, someway a camper would be a part of my future business. I had the love of the flea market and forever wanted to be a vendor at one. I figured I would have a booth and stay in the camper, but I knew deep down inside, I must get one, but it had to be affordable and older and fun. This was before everyone had a glamper and "glamping" was a big thing. I looked at every place I passed by, I would check out craigslist, but nothing affordable appeared. But still, I just knew I would get one.
Back then, I had a huge pile of magazine's every month and
Mary Jane's Farm was a must read for me. (Its about the only one I still pick up on a regular basis.) I stalked their website too and there's the line about the FarmGirl Sisterhood "We're country, we're city, and every texture and stripe in between. It's not where we live, but how we live." Add in Mary Jane was the queen of glamour camping...
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| Junk Gypsy Inspired Photo Booth at a Farm Wedding! |
I was drawn to the Junk Gypsies and Mary Jane's FarmGirls (of course, coming from a long line of farmers, that part made sense) and the two collided to become GypsyFarmGirl.
I was reading the new
Junk Gypsy Book this week and was introduced to the poem by Rumi in it
"Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray."
Wow! That's IT! Looking back, I NEVER expected things to turn out the way they have. I started my
etsy shop with the idea of making a little extra money, in addition to keeping my job at the flower shop. A way to feed my creative spirit and share it with all of you. It's been an amazing journey. I worked at night and weekends, building up my
little shop, not telling my friends and family (because of fear of failure). My products changed from the early beginnings. I found the camper I envisioned and fixed her up, I quit the day job at the end of 2014 and last fall we set up at our first market / county fair booth, along with our friend Angea aka Rooster Tails. Our very first booth, with Miss Gussie the glamper, of course, and other vendors couldn't believe it was our first ever show and said we should be doing the big Dallas shows and we heard several say "This looks like something the Junk Gypsies would do!" Of course, that was about the best compliment we could get!
I've shipped bouquets, clothing, and home decor to 47 states and 6 countries! We are working towards our Yamboree booth again next month and will be joining the Backwood's Marketplace for the Winter Wonderland show November 19 - 20. I do freelance floral design and events and we have a farm. I love junk, cows, horses, tractors, and Jeff! Gosh, how he's believed in me all the way and always encouraged me to do my own thing!
So there you have it - I was silently drawn to the gypsies and the farmgirls and they've led me to where I'm suppose to be today!
