Barn Light Electric $1000 GIVEAWAY!!!!

Holy warehouse pendant, Batman! Barn Light electric is having an AMAZING 

giveaway! 

The Winner gets a $1000 Barn Light Electric gift certificate! 

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS TO SPEND AT BARN LIGHT ELECTRIC???! 

I just might pass out. This is music to this farmgirl's ears since I dream of replacing every.single.fixture in her home with one from their website!!

But even if you don't snag first prize, second and third are pretty awesome, too!

2nd place - $500 gift certificate

3rd place - $250 gift certificate

Ok, lets get to the important stuff...here is how you enter in three easy steps:

1. Take a look around Barn Light Electric's incredible website, and pick out a few of your favorite things that you would love to have adorning your own abode. (pretty easy, right?)

2. Then feature your choices on your personal blog.

3. At the bottom of the post, include directions for entering

so your followers can enter, too

(you can just copy and past the instructions below to make it easier!)

So on to my choices to I can thrown my name in the hat for this giveaway of awesomeness...

I dream of having this beauty over my dining room table...

And then there is the double sconce...but I would get it in a galvanized finish. Wouldn't it be fantastic?? We are going to reno our master bath this fall...and I have this baby on my radar for lighting above the sink 

Sign me up for one of these gorgeous girls in white! I think it would look fabulous with the barn wood I have on the wall in my guest room. Again, that room is getting a fresh new look and this would kick the project off nicely! 

So get on it girls, take a cruise around the website, and get a post up on you blog to you can enter, too!

How to Enter:

1. Look around online at Barn Light Electric and pick lights you’d love to own
2. Feature your lighting picks on your personal blog, and link to the lights if you can!
3. Copy/Paste these rules at the bottom of your blog article so others can enter
4. Once your personal article is up, you must email your blog link to:marketing@barnlightelectric.com to be qualified to win. The contest ends Monday, July 2nd, 2012
5. Don’t have a blog? Find out how you can enter by reading the Official Rules

my summer snacking obsession...

Let me start by saying, I take ZERO credit for creating this amazing recipe. The original recipe I found on Pinterest via one of my favorite foodie blogs, Smashed Peas & Carrots. As I was whipping up a batch of these yesterday, I knew I had to spread the love and post the recipe. They are just too good not to make if you are obsessed with peanut butter like I am! But be warned, these little crazy things are addictive! I won't tell you how many I ate while I was shooting these pics.

 I cannot stress how delicious these are and are so easy to make! {Even my hubs can do it!} Mixing it all up takes just a couple of minutes, then you just pop the mixture in the fridge for a while and roll into balls. You are literally 40 minutes from snacky-time heaven!

So convenient to have a little something like this on hand when I am running out the door. Keeps me from hitting a drive-thru when I just need a 'little something' to get my through until dinner time.

Ok, so here is all you need to mix of a batch of peanut-buttery bliss...

Throw it all in a bowl....

The awesome thing about this super-simple recipe? You can change it up so easily with whatever you may have on hand. Use different nut butters if you don't care for peanut butter...take out the coconut and replace it with something else as a binding agent....the possibilities are pretty endless. I think adding a few chopped walnuts would be heavenly! Hmmmm...I may try that next time!

If you want to know the calorie count, or for some other ideas for mix-ins and substitutions, visit Smashed Peas & Carrots and check out the original post on this recipe.

For a printable version of Maggie's recipe click HERE...

Well, girls I have to get out of this house before I eat every last one of these darn things! I am off to paint furniture today...and its gonna be a HOT one here in Illinois! Days like this I dream of having a pool!

Disney loves vintage, too!

I never really had a 'dream job'. You know, that one thing you dream about as a kid that you want to be when you grow up. I have such vast interest in so many things, I could never really commit to that one thing I reaaaalllly wanted to do. Well last week while I was on vacation I finally figured it out. I NEED to be a prop stylist for DisneyWorld!! Or at the very least the buyer of their vintage goods!

If you have ever been to Disney, have you really taken a minute to notice the details?

Vintage is EVERYWHERE...shops, resorts, restaurants, the exterior design to their buildings, the rides...even the bathrooms. I was in vintage heaven. I felt like I was on a treasure hunt all week, just to see what they were using and how they were using it. 

This is one of the windows for the candy shop on Main Street in Magic Kingdom. Isn't that cash register awesome?? I would love one someday when I have my own little shop...

The amount of vintage lighting around the parks and resorts is amazing! There are warehouse lights and gooseneck lamps at every turn. I found these lighting up a 'faux' newsstand at Hollywood Studios. 

I have confirmed why it is so darn hard for me to find one of these amazing antique trophy cups at an antique shop. Disney must own every last one. They can be found in almost every shop...holding merchandise or just for display...they were everywhere. It is a very mean and 'unmagicall' thing for Disney to tease me with all these vintage wares, yet not let me purchase a single one!

Vintage bikes were tucked quite a few places...this one is in Hollywood Studios on the street that is supposed to be a movie set for the streets of San Francisco. 

This is inside the Muppets shop...LOVE the shade of blue on those old lockers!

Even the entrance to the bathrooms were decorated with cool old things. This one is on Tom Sawyer Island. 

The gift shop at my resort had a couple of cool old grocery scales...

Locker baskets are another thing that could be found at every turn! Usually they were holding merchandise in a shop, but these were part of a window display. 

 And I always love an old camera...

And the gift shop for the 'Everest' ride in Animal Kingdom had tons of them!

How is this for a sign directing you to a restaurant at Animal Kingdom?? Loooove. And my apologies for the random stroller in the pic. You can find one every 3 feet at Disney, so I lost my will to fight them after a while. Ha!

This awesome 'tickets' sign was outside the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. 

I love the old neon...it looks so cool when it is lit up at night. 

Both of these were found in the streets at Hollywood Studios...

So see...there is more to DisneyWorld than Mickey Mouse and long lines for rides! There are so many things to see, and sights to take in. One thing I have always loved is their attention to detail. It is the little things that really make everything feel so 'magical'. 

Hmmm...I wonder I can put in my application for 'vintage prop buyer'.....it is my specialty,  you know! 

Happy Monday, girls! I will be back tomorrow to share one of my favorite summer 'snack' recipes!

post-vacation randomness...

Despite what you all might think due to my pathetic lack of posting over the last month...I am still here! Summer always gets to me. Every year I tell myself I am going to handle it differently so I am not overwhelmed on a daily basis, but it never works out that way. It is my super-busy, work-like-a-maniac time of year because it is 'show season'. 

I needed a little time to just get away and breathe and have a little fun, so we hopped a plane to DisneyWorld last week with my nephew. It was hot, hot, HOT and steamy (ahhh...gotta love Florida in the summertime!) but it was such a good time! So many incredible memories came from our trip, but now it is back to reality. I already painted 11 pieces of furniture yesterday. And today I am off to spend that day with the fam and make the day all about Dad. 

And just because every post needs a little 'pretty'...I leave you with some of my favorites from my Pinterest boards over the last few days...

If you looked up summer in my personal dictionary...this image would be there. Isn't it dreamy?? Reminds me so much of growing up on our farm. 

And as if Golden Retrievers were not cute enough, someone has come up with a Golden Dachshund. 

Seriously. 

I am dying of cuteness overload over here! I just might need one of these some day.

 As much as I loved Disney, I am thinking for my purpose of relaxing and unwinding I should have chosen a spot like this for vacation. 

Sign me up for a patio makeover with a bed in the corner. Love every little thing about it!

Wishing you all a very happy day with your Dads, Husbands, Sons....whoever may be special in your life today!

(all images via my Pinterest boards, original sources can be found there by clicking on the photo)

I'll be back tomorrow! Until then, Happy Weekend!

I'm off to the happiest place on Earth!!

Off to soak up some sunshine and hang with Mickey for a week!

This is my week to regroup and gear up for a very busy summer! 

Woohoo!!!! I can't wait!

And PLEASE keep your fingers crossed for me the rain stays away. The Florida forecast isn't looking too 'magical' right now!

I'll be back next week! 

my weekend at the flea...

I wanted to get a post up about the flea market yesterday, but I was wiped out! To say the weekend was amazing, would be a total understatement. It was AWESOME!!!!!! I have been selling at this flea for 6 years, and this was the busiest weekend I have seen in a looong time! The girls that work in the market office said it was record attendance for the past 30 years! What I love most about that little statistic is that it reflects how many people in this big crazy world are embracing shopping somewhere that is an alternative  to a big box store. They are supporting individuals and small business. Buying vintage and being so darn excited about it!

That is just so cool.

Anyway, on with the show...thought I would show you some of the things I brought with me to the show this month...things were starting to get picked over before I could grab my camera, so I apologize everything is not so pretty at this point!

I did something I have never done at this flea before...I brought a few 'smalls' to sell as well...this photo is a bit of a mess, but someone had just dismantled my display to buy a few of the larger display pieces. 

I think I am going to do this again next month, too! It was fun just having one table of smaller things! Feeds my need to hunt for those when it is not the season for my Etsy shop to be open!

And after it was all said and done...here is the booth at the end of the day. Rather sad looking isn't it? Even that one lonely dresser had a sold tag on it and was just patiently waiting for it's new owners to pick it up. 

(taken on my iPhone, sorry its so fuzzy!)

As much as I love creating, and painting and giving new life to old furniture. One thing I love, love, LOVE about selling at a flea is meeting the faces that ready my blog! I will never forget these two gorgeous girls and how they so cutely asked 'are you Urban Famgirl'? They were so excited when I said yes. I mean seriously?!! These 2 beautiful young things read my lil 'ol blog??? Well, maybe they don't, but I know one of their Moms does! (Hi, Mom!)

Totally made my day. They were just so bubbly and cute and full of excitement! 

Moments like this make me feel eternally grateful for this crazy life I have. It is simply because of the support I receive from people willing to buy something that is not from a 'box store' I am able to do what I love! Thanks to these two girls I will be feeling warm and fuzzy about that thought for quite a while. 

Happy, Tuesday...I am off to pick up a dresser in Wisconsin for my guest room today! It is the perfect shade of blue, old and chippy paint!