Interview with a Junker: Where I Found My Why and How to Find Yours
A few years ago, I did an exercise in a business training that helped me to identify why I really love to do what I do, and my notes and progress from that exercise still are helping me to hone in on what really matters to me. I started with a basic question, then turned […]
New Product! ::: SOLAR PORCH LIGHT SIGNS made from vintage metal safe deposit boxes from the Bank of Alba!
I had the opportunity to purchase some safe deposit boxes from my friends Ben and Deborah Pugh of Old Barn Woodworks. Check out their social media…they make amazing furniture and decor in an old barn in Lamar MO, where my studio is also located on the town square. I immediately envisioned the boxes as drawers, […]
Farmgirl Toolbox Tip #2203: The Pricing Bot
I talked about my pricing robots in my last Toolbox Tip on The Pricing Kit. A valuable time-saver, you won’t regret adding one to your tool arsenal. My pricing bots are thermal printers that only require thermal labels (they come by the roll) and the occasional recharging. An app on my phone runs the bot […]
Fingerpainting life into old furniture: Art Deco Waterfall Chest
Walk with me step by step through painting this waterfall chest.
Fingerpainting life into old furniture: Old Chippy White Dresser Set
To feel childlike joy, the fastest way is to get your hands dirty. It’s proven science that getting your hands in the soil produces endorphins that make you feel joy. It may not be proven by science, but I get the same feeling from painting with my hands. It’s some fantastic medicine this time of […]
Join my Newsletter
My Farmgirl Toolbox Tips Newsletter has it all: tips to improve your DIY game, craft product reviews, new product releases, the inside track on workshops and events…and you can unsubscribe at any time!
The story of me.
I grew up farming. When I was a kid, I drove my parents crazy with my little “farmsteads.” I would gather rusty bits from the garage floor, out of the top crust of the dirt floor of the machine shed, or pilfered from the dregs of my dad’s scrap metal pile, which stretched along the […]
Farmgirl Toolbox Tip #2202: The Pricing Kit
How important is a pricing kit? All of the tools in the toolbox are important, but I’ve never been so miserable as when I forgot to bring along my pricing kit to an event. That was a race to the nearest shop where we could get sharpies, sticky tags, cardstock, hole punch and twine. A […]
Farmgirl Toolbox Tip #2201: Start with a Toolbox
The best income tax return money I ever spent was on my toolbox. That probably sounds silly, but hear me out: I can’t live without it. Every time I go somewhere, I need my toolbox. Which means I have to have ALL the things inside it, and I have to load it before leaving, then […]
HOW TO BE AN UNHAPPY ARTIST
“And let us consider one another to prove unto love and to good works” ~Hebrews 10:24 Encourage fellow laborers. No matter what their labor is. Lift others up. I want to share a few remarks on weird stuff other vendors do that ends up preventing sales, how to not be that gal/guy, how to deal […]
My debut as a craftswoman at Silver Dollar City
I had given up on my hopes of being at the Harvest Festival in 2021. I had sent them a request for info last fall, and was in the process of gathering photos and filling out the application when Casey had his aneurysm occur in February. I didn’t even open the studio again until May, […]
My first published article in over 10 years!
I went to school to be a writer, and while I have used the skills I learned in college to write for newspapers in my early out-of-college years and I’ve used the marketing and advertising skills over and over, I haven’t attempted to submit anything other than my own blog posts in a very long […]
Your Comprehensive Tool Kit for Doing ALL the Loom Beading with Junkyard Farmgirl
Hey friends! I want to list the tools I keep at hand when I am creating loom jewelry to make the process easier. I’ll add in some details about each tool and how I use it. Some of this stuff comes in sets, which can save you some dollars in the long run, as they’re […]
My customer wasn’t sure what she wanted, so we put our heads together and I did something new…I cut a BB gun in half with my plasma cutter! See how I paired it with a silo door for a great up-cycled “Guydea”!
Sonya brought me her son’s old “Buck” BB gun. It had been non-working, out of commission, for years, and she wanted to do something with it for her son’s birthday. He’s grown and out of the home, so she had some kind of decor in mind, but she wasn’t sure what she could do with […]
Interview with a junker: The free junk is where I profit. Yes, I do all the welding myself. It never shuts off; my brain is constantly inventing.
People ask me where I get all my junk. Well, all over the place, really. Do you buy all your stuff? I do buy some stuff, but the free junk is where it’s at. I’d say 85% of the stuff I take in is free. I love the stuff nobody else wants! Where do you […]
