Shoestrings and Heartstrings

There was a time when magazine stories had budgets...when there was actually money for fresh flowers and props and last minute items, and when graphic designers and writers and stylists were just simply part of the whole package.

"Those were the good old days" as folks say and for Flea Market Style we are literally flying without a net. It is good in some ways: we are forced to look at design with realistic boundaries. No trips into New York to attend trendy design shows or vetting our ideas through high end dealers who are trying to show off their wares in the glossy pages of a magazine. Our tips and ideas, as well as the items we are using to prop and decorate with, come from a place accessible to everyone. It is stuff you will find at the flea market because that's really where we found it. Our style and design is real because we are real.

Life is good when the work is good  is a mantra that the whole FMS team shares. We all agreed to create the magazine because of the great group of people involved. There will not be great riches exchanged in the end for all of the hard work put in. It is a labor of love whereby each team member is garnering different things. Some of us will be published in a "hard copy" format for the first time. One is involved because it fits her life and her ability to be at home with her kids. Another told Ki and me that she would have "done it for nothing because she was getting to work with us." There are photographers, stylists, writers, bloggers all giving of themselves freely because they want to be part of something new, something big and something beautiful. I am moved beyond words to have so many talented, giving, creative people on my side. I am truly blessed.

Ultimately, it is the flea market spirit that we will truly end up capturing because we are living it: we are bartering, trading, investing in something that will ultimately become more and more valuable as it grows. This magazine has an energy to create itself and that is something you just can't fabricate. It is palpable, pulsating, and plowing ahead on its own because it has such a strong purpose. I truly believe that the best ideas are born on a shoestring and I, for one, am grateful for those kinds of restrictions.

(blogged by Matthew Mead)

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Oh yeah, we almost forgot! The winner of the flea market shopping cart give-away is.........................................................

.........................................Jocelyn of Just a Little Southern Hospitality. Be sure to send us your mailing address ASAP and we'll get the cart in the mail!!