An Interview with Artist, Designer, and Mom, Susan Medart

I've often remarked that The White Rabbit wouldn't be The White Rabbit without our favorite local designer, Susan Medart of Knollwood Lane.  My mom and I have gotten to know this creative St. Louis native as a friend as well as business connection, and want our blog readers to get to know her too.  We treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner at Cardwells the other night while we interviewed her.  I'm not going to lie; it was a great excuse to have a glass of wine and giggle for several hours, but we stuck to the task at hand and got some great answers to our questions

Susan's handmade notecards

LM-How did you get started creating handmade goods?

SM-I would literally wake up in the middle of the night with ideas of things I wanted to make.  I started out making for friends and gradually began doing trunk shows with decoupaged goods.  At the time, my kids were younger and it was taking too much time away from them, so I stopped doing the trunk shows and started looking for a store to carry my creations.

                                                              Handmade baby onesies

LM- Why did you pick The White Rabbit to carry Knollwood Lane?

SM- The second I walked in, I liked it.  It had the vintage inspired look that would work perfectly with my vintage images.  There was a bucket with an image in the baby section, and I looked at the price and thought, "I could make that cheaper for them."  And that was the beginning.

                                                           Knollwood Lane hand towels

LM-How old are your kids now?

SM- My oldest, Griffin is 17, Mason is 15 and my daughter Hayden is 12.  They're very supportive now that they're older.

                                                             New handmade jewelry by Susan

LM-Is your husband supportive of your business?

SM-He is a very patient person.  We've been married 20 years and  he still buys my ink, replaces my paper supply, and changes the light bulbs in my studio.

                                                               Adorable hair clips for little ones

LM-So how did you come up with the name Knollwood Lane?

SM- Knollwood Lodge is a peaceful, private, secluded lodge on a lake in Wisconsin that's been in my family for many years and it's on Knollwood Lane.  It's a magical place full of antiques that inspires me.

                                                            Knollwood Lodge in Wisconsin

LM- What else inspires you?

SM- I love Country Living.  Sometimes it's just an image that inspires me.  I'll see something and think, what can I do with that?  Sometimes a place can inspire me.  Like, when I go to Florida, I want to make all kinds of beach inspired things. 

LM- Do you have a favorite creation?

SM- I think my suitcases are my favorite.  They are all of my favorite things: Simple, cute and old fashioned.

My favorite images are the brown puppy because I love dogs, the leaping lamb because it's sweet, and the Boston Terrier because it makes me laugh. 

                                                              One of Susan's little suitcases

LM-My mom and I are a little obsessed with your workshop. Can you describe it for our readers?

SM-We put an addition on the house specifically for my workshop.  It has a large table in the middle for messy creating and around the outside is the "stuff."  I basically filled antique vases and found objects (from her travels in Wisconsin and The White Rabbit of course) with things like ribbon, paper, glitter and fabric scraps.  There is also a computer filled with vintage images that I use on almost all of my art.

Here are some pictures of the workshop so you can see for yourself how fun it looks!

LM- What is your dream for the future of Knollwood Lane?

SM- I want to do it until it's a job.

We hope you stop in to see Susan's newest projects in the store soon!  She brings her new creations to The White Rabbit almost weekly.  She also loves custom orders and welcomes a challenge.  We also plan to do a trunk show for Christmas, so stay tuned for the date! -Angie and Lindsay

     

Tried a New Painting Technique

Ok.  So I realize I can't take credit for this one.  I actually saw this on the blog by the lady that designed our rabbit logo.  Her name is Donna Courtney and her business is called The Decorated house.  Here is her blog tutorial that I followed to make this mirror look like it's been oxidized.

I left more of the blue than she did because my mom liked it just how it was, but Donna brushed some silver and gold on the outside which looks great too. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out! -Lindsay

Gypsy Caravan: The Good, the Bad and the Sweaty

Every year we debate about setting up for Gypsy Caravan, a flea market in St. Louis.  It's held annually on Memorial Day, rain or shine, and we decided to take the risk this year and get a booth.  It's been a week since the event, and there were a lot of great things about it, and a lot of not so great things.  Here's a breakdown of the reasons.

The Pros:

1.  We got to see lots of awesome local artists and store owners.

Adonna and Jan from Old Barn Rescue Co. We sell their cool, handmade signs and windows in our store.

My mom, Angie, with Sue Lombardo, owner of Recycled Rose, a wonderful gardeny, vintage shop.

2.  We had a lot of fun setting up a pretty booth

(Aimee and Susan trying to figure out where to keep our purses)

(T-Shirts designed by Susan from Knollwood Lane hung on our tent posts)

(I think Aimee is setting up jewelry)

(We put these wonderful teal chairs in the front of the booth.  They both sold.)

(More Knollwood Lane onesies, totes, and towels)

3.  We got to see lots of our favorite customers and meet some new ones.

(People shopping in our booth)

(We got pretty busy right around 9:00)

(There were 2 levels and as you can see, both were pretty packed)

4. We had fun joking around with each other

                         (My mom and Aimee setting up jewelry and probably laughing the entire time)

5. We got interviewed by Heidi Glaus on Channel 5-Watch the story.  She was so nice and does a great job of making people feel comfortable on camera. 

While the event was mostly fun, there were a couple of cons:

1. THE HEAT!  It was so humid and sunny and our booth was on an asphalt parking lot.  We were sweating like pigs all day!

(This is me, Lindsay, with a cold towel on my head and a snowcone, trying to cool off.  Susan saved the day by bringing towels that had been in the freezer.  I don't think I would have made it without them)

2. We were a little disappointed with the quality of the goods being sold.  I know, it sounds kind of mean, but a lot of the booths were kinda junky or overpriced.  Every year, people talk about how great Gypsy Caravan used to be when it was downtown and I think we have to agree.

Overall, we're glad we went, but not sure if we'll do it again.  It's a lot of work!

Have any stories from Gypsy Caravan?  Please leave a comment and share your experiences!

Out Junking All Weekend

My mom and I agree that the best thing about summer is the never ending amount of garage sales, estate sales, and flea markets. This weekend was no exception. Along with the warm weather came lots of opportunities for finding goodies. We really get a thrill out of hunting for anything chippy and worn. We can spot a dresser with a bad finish and good "bones" from a mile away and we seem to have a radar that detects old, ornate frames that can be painted. I have actually seen my mom run past people toward something she's spotted ahead. Here are a few of the fun finds her and I wrestled out of other shoppers' hands this weekend.

We aren't 100% sure what this cool machine is, but I overheard a lady saying she thought it was used for calculating payroll. When you press any of the buttons, the total at the bottom changes. I tend to be more fascinated by this type of item than my mom. I like old buttons and labels and I'm really attracted to black and white vintage things. I would put this in my house as a piece of art, just because it's neat.

This is an old garden statue of a girl holding her skirt. It has the original paint and she is perfectly weathered and worn. I thought she was the sweetest thing when I picked her up and I knew we had to have her for the store. I'm pretty sure she's concrete because she's pretty heavy. I put her in the baby section and she's holding one of our little barrette sets.

I think my favorite find of the weekend is a collection of over 200 old photos.  I'm so intrigued by the clothes, the furniture, and the look of the people in the past.

Are you seeing what I'm seeing???  I couldn't believe it when I pulled this out of the pile.  He has to be like 10 or 12 years old.  It's so weird!

These two are just cute.

A fun old rocker with white paint and a little green showing through on the edges.  It would be to-die-for on an old wrap around porch!

This little old table has a towel bar that slides out of the side.  It has the original paint so it's perfectly shabby.

This headboard is going to be awesome once we paint it.  Knowing us, it will probably be white.

Some fun vintage purses and a hand mirror.  The blue bag says, "Made in Italy" inside.

A pink wire dress form.  So cute!

This table had ugly 60's knobs and I replaced them with glass and gave it a whole new look.

This half table was already pink when we found it.  Woo hoo!

Can't decide whether to do this one white or black.  Hmmm....

This old box with drawers could be used in so many ways.  I think I'll have to paint it because the yucky stuff on the front isn't coming off.  We use Windex to clean everything and it almost always works.  (A little tip though, don't use the Powerized Windex because it has bleach in it and it will leave spots.  Learned that one the hard way!)

Super cute baby booties, a lampshade with pink ribbon around it, and a baby image.  Another lady had the round baby picture in her hand and I kept thinking, "put it down, put it down, put it down," and she did!  I snatched it up right away for our baby section.

And last but not least:

I'm already collecting the charming retro Christmas goodies for a display I'm envisioning for Christmas.  Yes, that's right, us retailers have to think about the holidays when everyone else is thinking about relaxing in the sun.  It's really fun though because I think our customers are going to love it!

Well, those were just a few of our finds this weekend.  There are more pieces of furniture that need to be painted like a coffee table on wheels, a gorgeous sofa table, and lots of mirrors and frames.  Next weekend, we're setting up a booth at Gypsy Caravan, a huge flea market at The University of Missouri St. Louis.  Maybe you can stop by and have your own junking weekend!  See you there and pictures of the event will be posted soon after.  Can't wait!         -Lindsay