What's Happening, Y'all!

 I know it's been a while since we've set down to blog. A lot has been happening this spring and we really haven't set down for very long. 

We just finished up with the Cherokee Rose Festival this past weekend and y'all have kept us busy creating tees and flower arrangements. I am so thankful for all of you who support our small business.

We've been adding lots of new tees to our website and our space at P20 Land and Cattle in Gilmer. 

For the Cherokee Rose Festival, we were outside on the Upshur County Courthouse Lawn and we split the tent with my sister in law, Lisa of Lisa's Sweets and Such, so there was lots of shirts and sweets. This is the second event we've done together and I created us a fun, rustic sign that says "The East Girls" with both our business names. We are married to brothers and have a great time working together! 

This is our space inside P20 on the square in Gilmer. We love, love, love this little shop and it has been great to be a part of this. I think back how I nearly said no, when they ask me to join the P20 family and I am so glad I said yes. It is awesome having this shop in our hometown and we love seeing all the new growth and activities that are happening locally. 

Here's a close up of some of the new tees for summer. 

Red, white, and moo! How fun are these rustic, patriotic tees? 

The Summer Vibes tee completely sold out last weekend, so we are planning to make more (blank shirts are ordered, so a major shirt restock is coming.) 

Plum Crazy and Relax and Enjoy the Crazy! 

The "Crazy" tees have been a big hit! I think we can all relate and feel a little crazy right now. 

Just a couple more updates / news / things to remind you about: 

P20 in Gilmer is our only "in store" location now. (The Quitman shopped closed this spring.) Follow them on Instagram or Facebook to get the daily hours, as they do fluctuate some. Located on the corner of the square with the new Live Gilmer mural on the side of the building. You can't miss it, if you are driving down HWY 154 / Tyler St. 

We are participating in the Gilmer Area Farmers Markets again this summer, but they have NEW times this year. 1st and 3rd Saturday (except July, when holidays will affect schedule) EVENING from 5-8 pm (but I am usually set up by around 4-ish, so come early if you wish.) Our next market is June 5 and I believe there are some exciting things planned with live entertainment, etc. If you haven't been downtown lately, there are so many great businesses, restaurants, and things to explore. It is so, so good to see all the new things happening downtown Gilmer.  

New shirts are added to our WEBSITE: www.gypsyfarmgirl.shop 

While we still have our etsy shop, we are adding all the new tees to our personal website, since it allows other features such as being able to tag our products in pictures on Facebook or Instagram, which makes it convenient for you to click on the pictures and purchase easily. Our etsy shop is once again  focused more on weddings, while our website is more about the clothing. 

Make sure you follow along on Facebook or Instagram, so you can get the most up to date info on new releases, events, and all the behind the scenes fun. We've even joined TikTok and trying to share some tutorials and glimpses of things we are working on. 

The Plum Crazy tee released last week and today I decided to do a few no-sew alterations on one. I've received several request for more v neck tees... well, with the current shirt shortages, there aren't too many colors and sizes to choose from, so we decided to show you how to easily convert any crew neck, into a v neck, then we decided to create fringe sleeves as well. So fun for summer! You can find my quick video tutorial reels and TIkToks on all my social accounts above (and I'll work on getting them here on the blog as well). I promise you, it is so, so easy to transform your tees!  

As I mentioned earlier, there is a shirt shortage happening and some colors and sizes are not available to me. But here's the deal, if you want a tee and it is not in stock in your size - message me about a custom order. We can put the graphic on another color or style tee for you. Also, I am starting to stock some styles in 3X - same thing applies here. If you want a graphic on a larger shirt, please reach out. Not all shirts come in 3X or larger, but we do have some options that we can explore, so we can create something just for you. 

Sunflowers and Flags - Small Town Country Girl

As a designer, the things we work through and deal with in real life affect the things we make and create and we hope you all can relate. I am most definitely a small town country girl...  the rural back roads and way of life influence me. It's where we work and where we live. Last year, it influenced the Rural Route tee. 

I've always loved sunflowers, but this year, we are actually growing them and I could post a picture of them everyday. They make me happy! We also spend a lot of time at my in-laws house and we help with the garden there as well. There's a flag pole by a square flower bed, near the veggie patch and my mother-in-law wanted to plant a pollinator garden there. I helped plant the area and I planted some sunflower seeds, in hopes that I would get to take a sunflower and flag picture and she'd get bees to visit. 

My father-in-law was retired from the Air Force and died this summer. He wanted a military service and he was fortunate to get his wishes (with the current situation, we didn't know if he'd get full service, but he did.) It was a very emotional and touching service. The past few years, we have become very close to them, as we've helped with his care. 

Honestly, we've been feeling the sunflower / flag vibes all summer - from my painted buckets, to gardening, and shirts. The week after his funeral, I was checking on the garden and found the first sunflower along with the flag gently blowing in the breeze. It made me tear up. Their farm land and black top road in the background... One of the songs we chose for the memorial video was Small Town Southern Man by Alan Jackson. As we drove through our small town, on the way to the cemetery, Jeff and I were both overcome with emotion, as everyone stopped and waited for us to pass... true small town life. As Jeff said: "it's just different when it's your dad." Yes, yes it is.

We've been in sort of a funk the past few weeks, but Sunday afternoon, I sat down at my computer. I wasn't sure what I was going to create, but I pulled up a sunflower graphic, then a flag appeared while I was browsing my files... I piddled with it a few minutes, then I started getting the vision and it all came together. It's got buckets of sunflowers, crates of pumpkins, my Granddaddy's well bucket with wildflowers, hay bales and wheat, a rooster, a vintage turquoise pick up truck... did I leave the flag background or not? That's not really fall, but I wanted it there... Fall words or what would it say? That's when "Small Town Country Girl" hit me and I just knew that was it. Quite possibly my favorite original design to date!

I got the shirt made and listed online today and I love it! I'll definitely be making one in my size! 

I really wasn't thinking about these things, when I sat down at the computer, but I can look back and see how it influenced my design process. When I posted a message about his passing and that I would be away for a few days, I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and kindness you shared with us. I really just thought it would have been a simple announcement that I'd be away, since only a few local friends knew him personally, but once again, you supported us.

Our set up at a recent Gilmer Area Farmer's Market - I can participate as a local make, so I've been taking the old buckets, windows, and things from our closed booth and painting them. We also make all of our tees, right here in the county.

I've been advised to "clean up" my Instagram feed - no more quotes, flower pictures, cute farm animals, our yard or gazebo (by the way, pictures of it got us on the Country Living website this spring), heartfelt ramblin's from the backroads, etc - only limited personal pictures and to only have pictures of business / products for sale post. I did back off my personal pictures on ig, but I've certainly been thinking about it - those things that I'm not suppose to share are the things that influence us, the things that connect us to you. They are our journey on the rural route... I'm not so sure having a product only, perfect feed is really what it's all about. Maybe for the big brands, that's ok, but not for us, a small town country girls... What do you think?

 Since we've got so many items featuring a sunflower, I also created a new collection ( and menu) on our website that's called "All Things Sunflowers!" I think you might like a few of the things you find there as well. From buckets to key rings and car accessory kits to all the shirts with a sunflower on them and even a wedding bouquet. There's just something about a sunflower that makes us all happy and this world needs a lot more happy right now! 

As always, we thank you for always supporting us with your comments, words, and allowing us to make something pretty for you. Y'all are the best!