I think that now is a good time to reflect on the past year before starting a new one. Sometimes it helps me to remember and appreciate all of the great things I accomplished in 365 days.
One of my 2014 goals was to visit as many shops as I could in the Indiana Antique Guide. Dan joined me quite often with this adventure and we discovered many quaint towns not far from where we live. We visited shops in Avon, Bargersville, Bloomington, Cambridge City, Carmel, Covington, Edinburgh, Fountain Square, Frankfort, Franklin, Greenfield, Indianapolis, Irvington, Kirklin, Kokomo, Lafayette, Markle, Martinsville, McCordsville, Mitchell, Morgantown, Mooresville, Muncie, Nineveh, Noblesville, Orleans, Plainfield, Rushville, Shelbyville, Speedway, Westfield and Zionsville.
I imagine your state has a book like this too!
Wow - that's alot of antiquing and these are the thoughts that stand out in my memory:
Avon Antiques is one of the best antique shops I visited. Gail's things are truly old and displayed wonderfully. Bloomington has some good shops too but the best part was spending the night there with my friend, Rosie. We had such a great time!
Gail (owner) at Avon Antiques; Rosie and me during our Bloomington trip
Covington was one of my favorite places to visit. Not only were the antique shops great but we ate at the Beef House and that was a neat experience in itself. I had a lovely time with Dan and some of my favorite photos were taken there.
our visit to Covington, Indiana
Edinburgh and Franklin go together because they are close to each other. Edinburgh has one of the largest antique shops I have ever visited and I got lost in there for hours at a time (I visited there more than once this year). Franklin is one of the cutest towns in Indiana! Not only are the shops great, but I have driven down there many times to purchase Maison Blanche paint after I starting chalk painting everything I own in the color Vanille! I do love the color and feel such accomplishment when I look at the furniture I have painted. I'm pretty much done with painting furniture, but I continue to paint wooden frames, boxes and other small items with it.
After painting with the Maison Blanche Vanille color, I always finish it with the light brown wax.
It was great discovering Fountain Square. There are wonderful shops there and I love the feel of this restored area. That is where Ashleigh and I had a booth in September for Art Squared. It was such a beautiful day!
Kirklin is an adorable town with great shops. The only thing they lack is a place to eat! And on our way up to Ft Wayne where Dan has business, we stopped at the Markle antique shop. I love going there!
We found The Farmhouse Cafe & Tearoom in Nineveh where they offer orange creamsicle lemonade. If you are ever in the Bloomington area be sure to stop by, but it may take a little scouting because it is hidden in the woods!
Do you know what I discovered through all of these travels? Sure there are great places to visit, but we have wonderful antiques in my little town of Noblesville. Nearby towns of Westfield and Carmel also have great shops! I don't have far to go to get my antique fix!
I would like to challenge myself to do something like this in 2015, but I haven't decided what to do yet...maybe explore the Indiana parks?
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In January, I blogged about my Pinterest Procrastinations. There were so many things on my Pinterest boards that I had wanted to make. During the month of January when Indiana was frozen (one of our worst winters ever) it was a great time to keep myself busy completing some of the Pinterest projects. My favorite thing was learning how to melt the records into bowls. I discovered how easy it was to do. If you want to learn how to do it, I wrote the instructions here.
In February, I learned how to make made spoolies, of which I was not familiar,
and, had a blast with my friend Becky when we held our own art retreat called Alabama Holiday. I traveled to Alabama to escape the Indiana cold weather to only find that Alabama was on lockdown due to the frozen streets! We stayed warm at Becky's with her dog Samson and created to our hearts content. We made these wonderful wedding statues from old photographs via directions from Jenny Holiday's book.
In March, I was delighted to stay in the Princess Diana Suite at the Drake Hotel. It's a great story that I tell to anyone who will listen.
In April, I learned how to make birds nest pendants. I had seen them in shops and wondered how they were made for the longest time.
May was probably the most exciting month of 2014 for me. We traveled to California so I could attend An Affair at Downton art retreat and our grandson's first birthday. What an impression the Downton Abbey TV series made on us! It was great meeting some very talented artists. While in Los Angeles, I met fellow blogger Carol of the Art and Sand blog and she drove me to Orange where we had a delightful lunch at Paris in a Cup. I'm so glad I visited that restaurant because I see my California Facebook friends reference it frequently. I also traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, with my friend Anita so we could attend her daughter's baby shower.
An Affair at Downton, Paris in a Cup Restaurant, Carol and me, Anita and me
In June, we took a road trip to attend our niece's wedding. We traveled through Pittsburgh where we spent an evening with our wonderful former neighbor Anne. Then onto Virginia, where were stayed two nights with Dan's sweet sister and family. And finally onto North Carolina, where we visited with Anita, who was getting ready to move to Indiana. I also started selling my work in the Logan Village Mall in Noblesville, Indiana.
my friend Anne and some of my handmade journals I put in the Logan Village Mall
In July, I volunteered at our local 4th of July festival since Dan was in Korea. It was really fun! I won one of the three money gifts that were in the volunteer drawing!
In August, my friend Becky visited me this time and we held our second art retreat of the year! It was called Indiana Christmas where we made these adorable Christmas doll trees. I'll never forget the afternoon we made them. It was so relaxing and we learned so much more about each other as we stitched each layer of the doll tree.
In September, besides having a booth with Ashleigh in Fountain Square, I made some of my favorite things: the snippet roll on the left and the greeting cards on the right.
In October, I opened my Etsy Shop. It took some courage to do so when there are a kazillion shops on Etsy. I've made 13 sales so far. It's going to take some time I think to be noticed but I am having fun with my online shop.
In November, we traveled to San Diego to see our son and family, and then they visited us for Thanksgiving. Dan and I had a great time preparing for their visit.
And this month we visited The Drake Hotel again - two times this year! We didn't stay in the Princess Diana suite this time but we did get our photo taken in front of the lobby Christmas tree.
more about our Drake Hotel Christmases here
Needless to say, it was a good year!
So in a few days it will be
2015 banner available in my Etsy Shop
Have you thought about all of the great things you accomplished this year? Having a blog makes it easy to remember!