Barn Cleaning..........

Every step we take brings us that much closer to our goal. This week, the mission was to clean the barn. This is not a very fun thing to do, so Jill came over and we literally puked the entire contents of the two bigger sheds onto the barnyard.............upon returning home with Mr Renaissance, oldest daughter Cloie dramatically rolls her eyes so she can see her brain, and declares our place a junk yard. We sorted, stashed, stacked and then power washed. Here are our empty spaces, on for me, one for Jilly!

 

I couldn't wait and had to have Mr. Renaissance put up these cute metal awnings, inside, yep, inside. Jill's space is on the left, mine on the right! Can't wait to transform them!!

Then these two little Renaissant's in training cleaned out and powerwashed the main barn, and here are all of the stalls, bright and shiny, ready to be filled with vendors goodies!!

It's all ready for beautiful, rusty, restored, refurbished, ready to be loved again goods to grace a new home! What a joy this is to work on, stay tuned for more news from the ranch, and Born in a Barn!

Blog LOSER!!

I apologize for being so incredibly negligent of my blog! I promise after my Born in a Barn sale I will be better! I'm painting furniture, going to sales and ordering some goods wholesale to add to the joy of my world! We are filling garages with fabulous finds and meeting potential vendors when and where ever I can! I've wanted to do this for so very long I almost can't believe it is going to happen!! More later!!

Brave Girls Camp

Brave Girls Camp July 2011, was everything promised and MORE! That's Miss Melody in the middle and who knows what the pose is about. She is exactly who she is on the video's. She laughs, she crys, she looks you right in the eyes, she is in the moment, and the next moment distracted by someone else's moment. There isn't a fake, mean, self serving cell in her body. She is truly on a mission to empower women and you know what.....she is succeeding!

 When we arrived we were greeted with so much love and acceptance it almost felt surreal! As Miss Angel (in photo below) later admitted that she thought...."Oh great, beautiful fake people.....". It is sad to think we have become so jaded as a society that we immediately think a stranger couldn't embrace us and love us.

 Also that first night, I was paired up with Miss Angel. As we got ready to try and sleep that night in our shared Queen sized bed.....she looks over at me and says, "I flew all the way across the country to sleep with a white girl from Wyoming! This better be worth it!". Turns out the picked the perfect ornery girls to share a room and our lives!

 There were break throughs and break downs. But there was always the perfect person right there to listen and help put the pieces back together. Coincidence? I don't think so.

 There was laughter, love, stories, history, culture, tales, more and more and more of the same! We learned to lock it down and Shhhhhhhhhh......both incredibly powerful tools. Thank you Miss Tanya!!

 Some came with their best friends and we all got to share in their trust and love for each other, and then we found we could trust and love everyone there, instantly I had 20+ new best friends!

 Some came with their mothers and we got to share in their beautiful relationship. We could celebrate the love we have for our mothers or mourn the love we never had, either way we were healed!

 And then there was ART, everyone is an artist and this proves it. The art that was created was amazing and gallery worthy. But the conversations being held while the creating was going on was the real work and the real art!

 Everyone was transformed from tired, worn out, distrustful, to rejuvinated, revived and loved!! In other word BEAMING just like the beautiful Miss Julia!!

There is move to come, but I knew I better get something up here! I stole all of these photos from my fellow campers, I know they won't mind.....I was just too busy to take my camera out!! I will truly remember this experience FOREVER, life changing, indescribable until you experience for yourself!! Be Brave, love Shelley

I've done it now...put it out there!!

Born in a Barn

First Fall Sale, October 14th and 15th, 2011

I am currently in the process of putting together a sale that will be called Born in a Barn. This type of sale is very popular all over the United States, one of the biggest being Round Top Texas (go to http://www.antiqueweekend.com). I am not looking at doing something on this large of scale!! These sales enable people who love to collect, refurbish or make things to have the opportunity to retail their items in a supportive, collective environment! A couple of guys in Washington State have a sale called Barn House, they invite friends of theirs to set up shop for the weekend at their farm (go to http://www.barnhousebh.com), their friends in turn invite them to set up shop at their sale (go to http://retreatdesign.blogspot.com). And round and round they go! There is nothing except for the occasional craft show at a school gym or hotel around here. I want to put it together so we have a quality of goods similar to the antiques that Neltji offers (at prices regular people can afford). With out having to maintain a store front and no employee costs, the goods can be sold at prices that are reasonable. This letter is going out to a very few of you I have met here and there. Starting out small is fine with me, starting out big is fine with me too…..finding vendors to pack up and come to Highway 14 in Sheridan, Wyoming will be a little bit of a challenge, but I’m not scared! I’m hoping to have an organizational meeting around mid August. If any of you have people you think would be interested and would fit into this kind of sale, please let me know. I can make an appointment to see their goods and go from there! Any input is greatly appreciated and you can e-mail me at this address: shelley@tkinnison.com

So excited for this new adventure!!

Speaking of Abundance......

When we lived in town we had a sheepwagon in our yard that the kids always played in and it was a focal point of my yard.......then we moved to a ranch? What better place for a sheep wagon.....the father-in-law had better ideas and wisked it away to somewhere else...... so I was very sad :( ......until one day we were touring the hunting land behind us with our neighbor who owns it, we went in a big ranch circle, opening and closing lots of gates, and came out up the road at his place. He's showing us around, and all of his tractors, and what's that right behind the tractors?? A fully restore, refurbished as good as brand new sheep wagon!! Why is it in the barn? Don't know what else to do with it, why? You want it at your place? Next to the bunkhouse for overflow kids and vacationers?? Why, yes, yes, I do! Great.....I'll just bring it right on over and you can have it every summer!!  Well.......thank you Abundance!!

And here she is in all her glory! I haven't tricked it out yet......she will be magical then!!

ABUNDANCE.................

Ask and you shall receive!! HOLY COW! Or I should say HOLY CANNING JARS! I was thinking I need a dozen or so turquoise blue canning jars for a little project I want to sell at Born in a Barn this fall......so I toddle into to town to help a friend with a garage sale.....scuttle and chat tells me of a huge, hord across town....not to be left out of the hord.....right over I go......and the objects of my desire, where waiting for me 10 fold!!

All of these so I can make these!!

This.....now this.......

First I did this......in January and February of this year!!

                                                                                      

Now I'm going to this...........scarey because I have to really decide who I want to be when I grow up......now that I am almost 50!

And the cherry on top is going to be this in July!!

If you haven't you should! You'll love it, you'll love it!!