I Had Sooo Much Fun!

I am back from the French Flea Market in Tipton Indiana and I so much enjoyed myself! It has been years since I did a show and it is hard work but it is liken to childbirth... you forget all the labor because of the outcome :) 
The main reason it was so fun was because of my good friend (sister) Donna from D.Reyne, she invited me to do this and was so gracious to offer me a place to stay at her lovely home during this event. If you have not met Donna you must go over to her blog and see all the inspiration this talented artist has to offer. She is such a sweetheart. She made my stay so incredible with her southern (yes, she is southern by Texas way) hospitality. I didn't take pictures and could kick myself  but she has pictures of the house she and her husband are renovating themselves. The upstairs is a dream and that is where I stayed with fresh flowers picked from her gorgeous gardens and she even stocked the small fridge off the bedroom with vitamin water that she remembered I liked!

Donna working hard bringing people from the train to the Flea-market with her Paris parasol.

To Give you a little history on this market it is coordinated by Donna who is the design coordinator for the Horton's Hardware store. Now this is no ordinary hardware store, it has a secret, a Secret Garden that is, that Donna has put together with owner Karen and Tim Horton. To promote the area, they sponsor this event and invite vendors to come set up their tents and transform a parking lot into a Paris park.  Let me show you around the Flea...

Come on in! Just through the architectural gate is a little bit of Paris...

The Fresh Flower Market

Next to the greenhouse is Horton's daughter Holly Beth's corner, she is only 15 years old but does beautiful knitted creations and jewelry.

Fresh Produce!

The Patisserie was busy all day, the lavender lemonade was so delicious on a hot day.

On the left side of the produce stand was the Bakery and Lisa's award winning pies were my down fall... I discovered sugar cream pie for breakfast!!!

I do not have the numbers of attendance but I do know my tent was only empty once on Friday for 2 seconds and Saturday there was a even flow. My sales were good especially for my high end merchandise.

Donna serving her famous Chicken Basil Salad and fresh bread from her French cart. She also whipped up 2die4 desert and sparkling juice for all the vendors on Saturday at no charge. I call her the  Whirling Dervish she did all this at 6 am while I slept. She can do more in a second than I can all day and she does it top notch, detailed and with style.

Vintage Living tent...

I bought this tent two days before I had to leave, I looked on line for a cheapy and found one at Walmart but it is not water proof!

 I left Thursday morning for the 3.5 hour trip to Tipton to set up and meet Donna. The trip was an easy one and as soon as I got there everyone was so helpful. The Horton's were so helpful with getting the tent up and getting me anything I needed. No sooner did we get unloaded and the tent up, we heard a storm was headed our way. So we got everything in the tent and secured it with cinder blocks. Well, we needed them because all of a sudden the wind hit first and the tent went air-born! We ran and grabbed it and 4 of us held on for dear life... it was all I could do to hang on to that tent and pray!  Then the rain... which then I discovered not waterproof! Karen ran and got tarps and we tarped my stuff under the tent, at that point I was wondering if I really wanted to do shows again... like I said childbirth.

Tim and Donna were running around securing the other vendors tents and getting soaked to the gills, we were lowering mine and holding onto it now from the inside all bent over. Donna had a run in with a rain gutter that exploded on her head... where is a camera when you need it - we could have made some money off of that one on AFV.  
By the time we got everything dried and back in place it was getting late, we worked on our displays until 11 and then we were back again at 5:30 to setup. I found out I am slow and putsy but I did manage to get things together and was still last minute pricing when the gate was opened at 9.

I so enjoyed the people of Indiana, I met so many wonderful women. I had brought some magazines of Where Women Create and I sold out before the first day.  I have so much more to show you, so I will do a second post in a couple of days called 

Friends and Horton's Secret.

 I can't wait to show you the friends I met and their talents, featuring Donna's booth. A huge thank you to the Horton's and to Donna and her crazy husband for putting up with this Swede that doesn't have a Minnesota accent...

Thanks so much for stopping by and as always I enjoy your comments. (Jodie I haven't forgotten you)

Many Blessings

Rebecca