When You Love Someone Set Them Free!

That's what we've all heard before and been taught, right? 
 It's actually very hard to do and something I had to come to grips with this summer when my sweet "Assistant" for at least 12 years decided to do the unthinkable! 
She retired and moved to the lake! How dare her! 
In all seriousness as sad as I was to see her go I was also very happy and excited for her and her husband! What a dream come true! 
However, I was also a little panic stricken I don't mind telling you! 
Me? Run things alone? How could I do that? My mind was racing and yet I knew that I had several sweet women working part time that would most definitely be there beside me. For that, I am forever grateful! 

Alison of AKT Designs

Between Alison, Aimee and Gigi I felt quite certain we could manage! And for a while, Alison stepped in and we thought she would be working full time. Plans change and lives change and I had to really learn to roll with the punches when Alison was offered another job. Again, Lord? I'm not sure I can do that! But….I knew the Lord would be faithful and He was! 
He provided the two perfect people for me and I am forever grateful!

Aimee Hay

 Sweet Aimee is able to work on Mondays and hopefully fill in more as we get accustomed to this new life at Mulberry Heights! She is such a perfect fit at the shop and even better…she is Pattie's niece!  And go figure…right when Alison resigned Gigi had just resigned from her full time position somewhere else. Now I really knew God had a plan all along but this just confirmed it! Gigi has fit right in as our "full time" person and is taking charge as if it were her own. Which is exactly what Pattie always did! 

So, thank you, Gigi and Aimee! I am one blessed lady that is so excited that you are both the new "Faces of Mulberry"! I hope that you are half as excited as I am! I'm looking forward to all that God has in store for us! For you personally and for the shop! I will promise to appreciate all that you do for me and for my business and I pray that we will become dear friends just like Pattie and I are! ( I refuse to say "were")

As a shop owner and as her friend,  I certainly hope I appreciated Pattie enough!
 I'm not sure I did but I see now all that she did for me and for my shop and there is nothing I can do to repay her…except to set her free! 

Stay tuned…I promise to be a more faithful blogger and keep everyone up to date on the latest happenings at the shop! For now, I wanted you to know all that has been going on with us over the summer! 
We are busily planning a great event for the Antiques and Garden Show in early October as well as an art show in mid October. Hope to have more details soon! 
For now, keep us in mind! Come see us and meet all of the girls that help me so well!

Fall In Love With Art!

That was our theme for this particular show. As you can see Alison Thomas of AKT Designs incorporated that theme quite well in her arrangement she did especially for us! She always does the most amazing centerpieces, etc. for all of our events!

Even with with chalkboard out front to draw in the masses….

To the incredible arrangement she did on the front door, everything was centered with art and fall in mind!

When Melissa arrived with her paintings the theme continued with her use of fall colors in some of my favorite pieces of hers! 

This was the first time we had ever had our artists actually paint in the shop. People gathered around and it was truly fascinating! This is Melissa showing how she actually starts with her paintings on a flat surface and then moves them to the easel.

To all of us it seemed effortless! 

She actually did two different paintings so here she is with the second one.

Lauren brought a wide variety of subject matter in her paintings and there was something for everyone!

She has started doing these smaller pieces on canvas and then framing them. ( she also has an incredible framing business!)

Here Lauren is getting ready to paint for everyone.

Again, it seemed effortless to her but amazing to all of us!

When it was time for Vicki to paint we cranked up the Country music and let it blare! Seriously…that's how she likes to paint and she names a lot of her paintings after certain titles or lines in the songs. I like to try to see if I can guess which song it is when I see her titles. 

How cute is she? One of my sweet customers stayed to watch all three artists and during the demonstrations she remarked that all three of our artists are all so beautiful! And she's right! They are beautiful inside AND out!

Of course with every show we have we always have to have good food! This time I kept hearing people say it was better than ever! That's what we are always hoping for!

It is a tradition to have these fabulous chocolate chip cookies with sea salt! Everyone loves them! My sweet granddaughter came by after school with her mommy and thoroughly enjoyed them!

We had art displayed outside and in! 

We were so full of art yesterday it was amazing!

Now we are full of fresh, new art and I'm sure many of the pieces won't be around for long!

Oh, and in the midst of all of that our beautiful hand blown glass pumpkins arrived! 

So many pretty pieces were left for us to enjoy and sell to you! 

At the end of the day, when all was said and done I took one more look at the beautiful flowers that Alison did and just took in everything that had gone on that day! It was a wonderful time spent with friends, family and artists!

We had three very lucky and extremely happy winners from our giveaway at the end of the day! What a treat! If you are looking for a piece of pretty art to brighten up your home we certainly can help you do that! Come see what's new at Mulberry Heights!