The Lucky Star Holiday Market this Saturday, Dec 6th 9-4pm

What a blessing it is to be surrounded by creativity!  JB Knacker has that opportunity this Friday evening and Saturday with the Lucky Star Market's Holiday Market happening at our local winery just a few miles south of Gilbert.  I am honored to be a vendor as well as a sponsor of this wonderful event.  This is the 2nd annual Holiday Market and this year it features a preview party the Friday evening (Dec. 5th) before the actual market.  You can still get your tickets here!  The Saturday event is free to the public and is loaded with the best handmade & vintage goodies as well as Santa, trolley rides from the winery to the brewery and back (how fun is that?!) and so much more!  And as always, the store will be open its regular weekend holiday hours (Fri & Sat 10-5pm and Sun 11-3pm).  There is a sweet bonus for checking out my booth at the Market and then heading over to JB Knacker in Gilbert!  Have a wonderful weekend!
                                                   ~ Brenda 

                                                                               
                                                                                       

Shop Hop...Kick-off to the Season!

 Join JB Knacker and my vintage shop friends this Thursday evening for a kick-off to the Christmas season!  Christmas decorating & gift ideas will be plentiful as well as yummy treats & drinks at each stop.  What I love about the vintage shops in my area is that we all DO vintage a little differently.  Whether you love to decorate w/ nature, glitz, whimsy or rustic....whites, reds, silvers or golds...fresh greenery or good fakes - you'll find it AND it will be unique 'cause that's what vintage is all about!

Fall for Junk: Friday & Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 11am-4pm

The shop is coming together for Fall for Junk.  Bales of straw have been delivered, corn stalks have been cut and funky, quirky industrial pieces have been placed in the yard!  But due to the wet weather, we will have to wait until Thursday for complete set-up.  So...my planned Thursday evening "pre-game" party at the shop will not happen this time around.  But be sure to come nice and early Friday morning (even before the 9am opening...say, like 8ish...we'll be ready).  It's gonna be sweater, flannel and warm boots kind of weather.  We'll have plenty of coffee and sweet treats for you over at next door neighbor, PIXI.  Can't wait!
                                                             
                                                                                   Brenda  

Fall for Junk

JB Knacker is one of the 18 venues on this junk jaunt.  Located in small town Gilbert, Iowa...our address is 123 Main Street...really!  We are going into our 10th year of selling the best vintage home goods around...at a great price. 

The shop will be full as well as the huge side yard, the back shed...and there will be vintage vendors right next door at PIXI (my cute neighbor shop)!  If you crave harvest tables, sturdy farm-kitchen chairs, chandeliers, ironstone, mirrors, industrial pieces, buffets, ladders, lab ware, wire baskets, dressers, statuary and lots & lots more...all displayed around bales of hay, pumpkins, burlap and pie...then you will be delighted!!  JB Knacker is also planning a fun Thursday evening event on October 2nd...details to come!

Junkin in June ~ Friday-Sunday, June 27th - 29th

JB Knacker is a great place to be during Junkin in June.  What is Junkin in June?  Well, it's central Iowa's summer junk jaunt.  This year there are 19 venues on the jaunt...barns, sheds, coops, a flea market & vintage shops.  The towns of Ames, Gilbert, Story City, Jewell and Boone are in this year's jaunt and lots of country-side in between!  My shop is host to about 12-15 vendors out in my side yard...really good vintage vendors!  Hot coffee & cinnamon rolls will be available in the am and walking tacos and beverages in the afternoon. PIXI is the cutest shop located right smack dab next to JB Knacker...think beautiful hand made jewelry, the best candles around, Cavallini paper & products...just the cutest little things...hence, the name PIXI!  PIXI wil be hosting several vendors out & around her shop as well.  And Stella's on Main down the street from us will also be host to some true-blue antique vendors you won't want to miss.

JB Knacker has already started to evolve and get decorated to the hilt for Junkin in June.   For daily updates...go to my Facebook page.  You can also go to the Central Iowa Junk Jaunt Facebook page to get information.

 Our goal is to have the best vintage at the best prices around!  Can't wait for this event!!  In the meantime, JB Knacker is open every weekend: Friday 12-5pm, Saturday 10-5pm & Sunday 11-4pm. 
                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                 Brenda 

A Summer Kick-off Party at JB Knacker

JB Knacker has been humming along through this colder than normal spring.  And just as the lilacs and lily-of-the-valley are blooming, Memorial Day weekend is here!  We've been noticing pops of color in the shop as well...finding it harder to paint furniture pieces white or even gray lately.  Coral, turquoise, yellow and vibrant green sneaking in here and there. 

I haven't done an event at the shop that was just about my shop for a long time.  It's been a nice trend in these parts to gather w/ like-minded shops and do a shop-hop or a junk jaunt or whatever you want to call it.  I love those, too. But lately, I've been noticing that so much of the vintage inventory heading out of the shop is for events: weddings, showers, birthdays, graduations, anniversary parties...you name the event, JB Knacker has been supplying the WOW factor!

So myself and Mary from Twice the Story (a very talented paper artist), are reworking not only the layout of the shop, but each piece that is in the shop.  Sometimes vintage inventory comes in so fast & furious the best I can do is just put it out.  Well, I want to take the time to style it...put it in the exact right location...maybe even change the color of the piece...or just change the texture a bit.  Maybe do the ultimate in repurposing...which isn't changing the piece in any way, just using it differently...same piece, different function.  

Join us next Thursday evening, May 29th from 6-8:30pm at JB Knacker for a Kick-off to Summer Lemonade Party!  There will be sweet treats...think cupcakes and pink lemonade and a whole bunch of ideas to get your heart pumping for your next party.  Your event is an extension of your style & how you love to decorate.  Simple, elegant, whimsical, functional, unique and affordable...and nobody wants to have to stash this stuff after the party is over!  Mary and I will show you how you can decorate your home and your special event w/ the same vintage pieces.  Pieces that you use in day-to-day living become Wow factors at your party.  Your blanket storage trunk becomes a charming vessel to load up w/ shower gifts as the guests are arriving, your glass punch cups that kids use occasionally when they're "eating fancy" become party favors planted w/ succulents and moss, pull those fancy plates off the wall and glue 'em to a candlestick for a DIY cakeplate, wrap a present in a vintage gingham tablecloth & embellish w/ a cloth flower off an old hat...the list goes on & on.  

 
 Mary is going to work her magic w/ paper to show you how a few pages of a book become the focal point of the party...large paper flowers, pin wheels, smaller flowers on a stick, paper banners & flower garlands to name a few.

We are excited to showcase the power behind seemingly ordinary vintage pieces...we think you'll be surprised!
                                                                   
                                                                              Brenda and Mary

The Big Thaw

 

Central Iowa began thawing out this past weekend...it hit the high 60's yesterday!  But it's March in Iowa, which means any type of weather is possible...heck, that could apply to April as well.  We start to get excited about no coats, garage sales and letting the chickens out of the coop for fresh air a bit more!  I'm just going to post a few pictures around the shop...give you an idea of what's inspiring to me lately (or at the very least, what I am finding affordable while out junkin').  Have a great week!

Vintage Love Tour

Chocolate, Wine & a Little Valentine

 
JB Knacker's Chocolate, Wine & a Little Valentine event is this Saturday, the 25th of January from 10am-5pm!  The shop will have a fresh new rustic romantic look going on.  All sorts of new old pieces are being found, cleaned and tagged for this event...and I'm very excited to be adding several lines of local hand made goods...Zee & Co. candles & melts, Lisa Souers heart charm necklaces, the BEST glycerin soaps ever and so much more!  We'll be serving wine in the afternoon and chocolate all day long!  Hope you can make it!