The Springtime Hive- vendor lineup

2.27.15- 

  So thrilled to announce who will "bee" joining me in The Hive this time around.  Some past favorites & a few new ones to throw into the mix too. Hope you have your calendars marked, car pools organized & babysitters arranged.  It's going to be a fabulous show! 

Aimee Ferre 

Vintage Fern 

Woven Pear 

Bit Of Beck

Dana Engemann Designs 

TaDa Home Decor 

Shop To Market 

Janet Wilkins 

The Urban Post 

So much amazing stuff is going to "bee" under one roof.  Don't miss it.  As always sneak peeks, info. & updates will be shared on the hashtag #thehiveboutique so be sure to check.  GiVEAWAYS coming too........ stay tuned. 

{M}

Flight of the honeybee- Paint Workshop

2.26.15- 

Wanted to tell you about the fun day I had with a few new friends at one of my favorite local shops.  I recently teamed up with the amazing owners a fabulous shop called, To Market.  We hosted a couple of blogger events in their cute shop & they introduced & educated us on the most amazing stuff called CeCe Caldwell chalk + clay paint.  

 It comes in all sorts of yummy colors.  Not to mention that the To Market girls have it all stored in the most awesome metal mail sorting cubby bin, it's amazing!  I love how they showed off all the colors to on these wooden paint brushes, so clever. 

Here are the darling owners, Melanie & Holly giving us all the scoop on the fabulous organic, water soluble chalk + clay paint.  Because, well you know you could.  It's a fairly new company started by a darling couple & it's made right here in the good US of A.

This is my first time ever playing with or being around chalk paint of any kind.  I was a little excited & a bit nervous, not exactly sure why it has intimidates me but it has, but no more.  After they instructed us on the paint they turned us loose on creating a fun barn wood flower holder project.  They had great little vintage bottles for us to choose from, Melanie & Holly had "picked" them themselves from estate sales & such.  Here is an aerial pic of my project before I started to get busy.

 

 I stepped aside from my station just for a bit to get a pic of everyone getting elbow deep into the paint project.  It was so great to look up & down the table & see all the different color combinations, color palettes & techniques that were being put to use.

 

My project after a few things done to it.  I put on a layer or greenish/blue paint. Completely covered my board & then with a damp cloth rubbed a lot of it off.  Just leaving a little bit in the grooves of the wood.  Remember I told you this paint was water soluable so it can be rubbed, rubbed again & as much of the paint taken off as you would like.  Awesome!  Then I added some texture with a layering technique, Holly showed us, with the white chalk + clay paint.  LOVED this step.  I painted a few lines of white paint onto the wood, let it dry for a bit, then with a scrapper ran it up the wood as it pulled off patches & streaks of paint.  With the excess that had accumulated on the scrapper I just reversed the scrapper & put the paint back onto another section of the wood.  Gives the look of layering & peeling paint, so cool.

I was just about finished with my project when some inspiration hit.  1- I noticed the two old nail holes on my wood.  So I turned my project upside down so that I could string ribbon through the holes to hang it. 2- I reached into my pocket to get my lip gloss & apply some, I'm ADDICTED to this stuff, 

{please tell me you've tried it.  If not drop what you are doing & run to your local Bath & Body store & get some for yourself, life changing!!}  

& noticed that I liked the coppery color so I decided to apply some shimmery chalk paint to my board. I just added it into the corners & along the edges.  This can be applied thick too to create a layer of paint. 

 

After affixing a little eye hook, to hold the glass bottle in place & securing it with some metal tape & nails all I had to do was accessorize.  I grabbed a branch of cotton, how cute, {they are currently selling it in the store} a little yellow rose, stuck it into my glass bottle & my project was complete.  Ready to take home with me.  I loved how it turned out!

 We also learned about all the different types of wax, finishes & stains that the CeCe Caldwell line carries.  It's all amazing!  So many different ways to finish off a project.

 

  

Here are some of the finished boards.  Love how each one is different & unique.  

As fun as the paint workshop was it was just as fun to walk around To Market & look at all the fabulous things they have for sale.  Furniture, jewelry, candles, glassware, pillows, wreaths, vintage finds & cake stands.  Oh, you know I love cake stands & they have a whole bunch to choose from.  great styles & amazing product for sale. 

 

If you're interested in finding out more about the classes taught at To Market you can visit their FaceBook page or email them at shoptomarket@gmail.com.  

Stop in their shop if you're a local. Trust me I don't think you'll walk out empty handed.  

Tell them the honeybee sent you. 

{M}

Go & get it!

2.17.15- 

  With only a month away before it's St. Patricks Day it's time to get lucky!  

Head over to my online shop on Instagram @shophollyhocksandhoneybees to see the latest H&H Collection of cute green stuff perfect to welcome the leprechauns & luck into your home this year.  Hurry though..... everything, like always is unique & no two look alike so many of the items for sale are one of a kind.  To order all you need is a Paypal, just comment on the picture you like & then all the good stuff will be sent your way or ready for you to pick up. Easy as that! 

-Just a peek at a few of the things in the shop-

I enjoyed creating it all for you.  Such fabulous fun stuff.  Happy shopping!! 

{M}

Journal-booking

2.16.15- 

Happy Monday, hi everyone.  Yes, I'm blogging again. Sorry I've been a little sporadic with my posts lately.  For some reason sitting down, finding time to write & coming up with what to write about has been kind of hard for me lately.  Not sure why other than the idea I have that a post has to be something big, grand & profound. I think I've fallen into that trap a bit in my thinking.  When it dawned on my yesterday, as I posted this pic on Instagram {really, that's the reason for my blog neglect.  Instagram is so gosh darn easy to do!}  that I need to remember the reason I started blogging in the first place.  

Sharing little everyday things that I enjoy & hopefully inspire you in one way or another.  So that's what I'm going to try more to do.  Share the little everyday things that go on around here. 

Journal-booking 

{Combining journal writing & scrapbooking into one}

 

 I think I've mentioned before that I love writing, jotting things down & collecting memories.  I do this in a variety of ways. I'm a collector, a note taker & a memory keeper.  I think I've always been this way so it's natural that I would want to do that for my family & especially my 3 girls.   Yesterday morning when I got up, I got out their journals & wrote down a few memories about our Valentines Day.  Our journals are not just written in.  They have cute stickers, labels, tickets & programs glued into the pages, pictures, invitations & lots more other things tucked into the pages. Hence, the name journal-booking. 

-Here is a pocket from 2006. That cute Care Bear card & a ring pop wrapper.  Guess those were treasures from that year-

We have several Valentines traditions that started when the girls were little & still continue, so glad they do!  I wanted to write down a few thoughts, feelings & memories in each of their books. On the opposite page in their journals I glued in an envelope.  {GLue dots or double stick tape works best} This is for them to tuck cards & little mementos from the day.  I just hate to see cute cards, notes tossed aside at the end of a holiday.  Somethings are worth keeping.  I've done these envelopes over the years & even though the amount of cards & what they've wanted to save over the years have gotten smaller the idea is still the same to treasure just a few things each year.  

-Love that the X in the X's & O's that year were made using staples. I must have had a moment of inspiration!-

 These "pockets" in their journals over the years  hold some of their favorite Valentine cards.  The style, amount & friends they are from has changed over the years but it's the little things  & memories that mean a lot! I'm so grateful that my girls have wonderful family & friends who love them.  Sometimes the envelopes are elaborate & sometimes I use ones that a Valentine was sent to them in.  Doing this can be as simple as you want it to be.  The idea is just to have a place to collect & keep all these love notes. 

-One daughter's stuffed pocket from Valentines 2015.  Liked that she included a hand made heart that was used as decor for our traditional family dinner on Valentines Night.  These pockets aren't just for cards, my friends.  Save your favorite candy wrapper, ribbon from your gift or note from the day. Anything goes! -

 Seeing all these journals makes me happy.  Oh, the memories!  The very first one in line {the gray one} is from my college days when I started dating my husband.  In this row of journals volumes of mine & my girls.  They are all kept safe & snug in a safe we have in our home.   Sometimes I like to just get these out & read through them. {My girls enjoy it to} You forget about the little things, funny stories & moments that have happened over the years.  So glad we've written down just a few of them to re read, laugh & talk about. 

 A few other fun memory, journal-books of all colors, shapes & sizes that we have.  I've created some little ones for the girls over the years to commemorate specials occasions & milestones in their lives. 

Hope this has inspired you just a bit.  If you don't already journal, get a notebook & give it a try. if you do have a journal think of some new ways you can incorporate some fun & new ideas into it & try journal-booking.  It really is a fun thing to do.  

{M}