flea market friday

here's some yummy eye candy of the treasures i procured from the flea market

love these Dresden ballerinas. i have 5 of them now.
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i think this little book was handmade for a dollhouse. it is really cool!
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these are curtains and i just love them. think i'll put them up in my bedroom
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nice linen haul today. i got this lovely curtain panel (left side sort of a faded torquoise/aqua color. it is very pretty and high quality material. also got a couple of really old table runners with exquisite patterns on them.

another snow storm

this was how some snow drifted onto a tree limb- i noticed it from my kitchen window. i love how it looks like a heart.
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(this is a funny picture of pepper who came outside to use the bathroom and then immediately turned around and ran back into the house!)

well, we are right in the middle of another snow storm. i took a bunch of pictures outside during a slight let up and then i ran down to the beach (with Gracie) to take some photos down there. i've always wanted to see the beach during a snow storm and it was really beautiful. so quiet; hardly a soul there besides grace and i.

after leaving the beach, i took a side street that runs along lake como; a pretty area that i often take photos at. so i made a pit stop to grab a photo opp of a tree and bench next to the lake. i left grace in the car and told her i'd be right back. well, grace freaked out and some how managed to lock the car door! inside the car were my purse, cell phone and extra set of keys! yikes! i walked a few houses down and found someone home (the beach is deserted in the winter!) told them what happened, etc. called jeff, called AAA and then the police. the police arrived first with a sour policeman chastising me for "not picking a better day" (yeah, right buddy) and then was complaining how gracie was in the way to him seeing the lock. so i went to the other side of the car in hopes of getting her to go to that window instead and when she flew over, she managed to roll down the window a bit! yahoo. i quickly stuck my hand through the little gap she made (thank god for skinny arms and long fingers) and then managed to reach and unlock the door. pwhew! what an adventure. i have to say the couple who let me in to use the phone, was so nice and i am really grateful that they were so helpful.

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anyway, here's the picture i just had to stop for (that caused all the grief!)

what are you doing this weekend?

(Summerhouse shoppe photos of yumminess)

This weekend is the big shopping weekend - Black Friday! If you aren't sure where to go and you are looking for vintage, unusual or handmade - come on over to Pt. Pleasant, where Summerhouse is hosting an open house at their store this weekend. Santa is coming too! I've been graciously invited to sell some things at their open house (thank you girls), so i hope you can come on down. I'll be selling some vintage holiday ornaments made from old bottle caps and vintage light reflectors, vintage button bracelets, some beautiful old bottles adorned with very old seashells and more! Joanna also makes these, to die for, holiday wreaths with vintage glass balls/ornaments. they are alone are worth your time to feast your eyes on! and you've got to check out the miles of paper chain garland they created and strung all over the store. absolutely delightful! Summerhouse is just one of many great stores to be found in the darling little shore town of Pt. Pleasant. hope to see you there!

store info:

Summerhouse

715 Arnold Ave.

Point Pleasant Beach

N.J. 08742

732-295-1800

and in other news, if you missed the post, i am hosting a blog giveaway. you can find details here.

family is gone

Well, the girls have gone. i took them to the airport yesterday morning (4:30am - ick!) we had such a nice time and packed a lot of fun in a short amount of time. the day before they left, we spent the day driving around, running errands, etc. we went to Marshall's to check out their Christmas section, ran to Petsmart to get a bigger cage for Tuck's finches. i also got them a nest for inside the cage, but so far they haven't figured out that they can go inside of it!
i also took them down to the Asbury Park boardwalk. i've lived in NJ for 12 years and every time my sister has come, i have taken her down there to look around. it's been awhile since she has been here, so there were a lot of new changes. they are in the midst of a revitalization and it is going quite well. new buildings, new stores, new restaurants, new condos, etc. i took them by this one store called "Bodega Shoppe" (website is currently under production). I've been in there a few times and just loved it; but was happy to learn from my Country Living Fair trip with the *Summerhouse girls, Kathe and Joanna*, that they are good friends with the store owner, Michael. (did you get all that?) So when i was in there, i made a point to introduce myself to Michael, who i found to be super charming, pleasant and friendly. he has amazing style and we were oohing and aahing over much of the store. lots of Parisian influence (Marie Antoinette action figures with removable heads for god's sake!), a delicious line of Scandinavian holiday gifts and so much more. his theme this year was, Swans, stemming from Asbury Park's boardwalk heyday, when they had actual swan boats. i never saw the swan boats, but have seen pictures and would love to see them come out of storage and make a come back. anyway, i was just loving the swan idea given its historical sentiment. i bought one of his bigger swans and immediately put it on the top of one of my Christmas trees, now dubbed "the peacock tree".





*the Summerhouse girls, as of yet don't have a blog or website (it's in the works), but you can read Jenny Heid's visit to their store on her blog which is linked in their name.

p.s. i'm having a blog giveaway soon, so stayed tuned!

porch party

this is the metal homemade bookcase/cabinet that i picked up yesterday. it looks like its always been here. i thought i'd take some other pictures of my back porch for you to enjoy. there is a hook over the cabinet, so i'll pick up a hanging basket of flowers, which i think will look really nice.

this is a pair of shutters i picked up yesterday for $20.

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and here is the potting bench i also got yesterday. the guy who makes them is retiring. he said this is the last one. he and his wife are really cool. they live down south in a town called, "Tuckerton". he is selling off his wood pieces, so me and jeff (jane wants to go too!) are going to go see what he has.

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close up on potting bench. i put some of my precious sea balls in the enamel bowl on top there. (it's sunk in). because we get so much rain, we are going to try and find something to cover it with during rain and winter.
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the dress form i got yesterday

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a paper mache bust also found yesterday. i have some vintage metal flower curtain tie back pin that i will poke into the bust and then hang my necklaces from there.

* a couple of you wanted to know how i got all these items back home: we live quite close to this flea market, so jeff and dillon drove over and picked up one load. then jeff came back later and picked us girls up. then jane and i returned with the truck to get the tin shed. it was light weight and easily slid into the back of jeff's truck.

i just got invited to participate in a porch party. stop by Rose Colored Glasses to see all the participants.

Ocean Grove flea market

I love to go to this flea market. it is held twice a year. unfortunately the last two times they had it, it rained, so it wasn't all that good. but today was beautiful and the place was crazy! i went with Jane and her daughter, Claudia. they drove here yesterday and spent the night. we stayed in the trailer and it was great fun. we had a lovely dinner in Asbury Park.

this morning, we got to the flea market about 8:00am and right off the bat, i spied this home made cupboard. SOLD - to me! the guy told me he could have sold it 10 times over with all the expressed interest in it. i've already got it on the back porch and accessorized, so tomorrow, i'll snap a photo of it - in it's new home. i also bought a cool bust to hang necklaces on, a tattered dress form, 2 black shutters with moon cutouts, a home made potting bench and 2 bird houses. it was great fun. we got lots of sun, walked around forever and spent too much money.

self portrait wed (SP wed) & new listings to website

"self portrait wednesdays": take a pic of yourself every wed and post to blog. check out the comments for this post (by katie kendrick) to see how "SP wed" got started. I keep meaning to do it , but always forget! so in case you want to join in, all you do is take some sort of self portrait every wed and then post it to your blog. some participants are Judy Wise (gotta get a class in with her) and katie kendrick (gotta get a class in with her too!) is playing as well. katie's SP's are cool. so here is my first SP. not super great or anything creative, as i am tired and just remembered it was wed! it shows me sitting at the computer working on my website. it's showing me in the moment, working hard. i figured that was appropriate for today! (note glass of wine by my side.)

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here are some things i added into the website this evening. wow, sitting at the computer loading in all the stats, descriptions, pictures, etc. has made me exhausted! but my goal is to do a little bit every day until all my jewelry has been listed. then i give myself permission to start making new things! i will take a break in the morning and enjoy the nice weather by going to one of our favorite flea markets, "Columbus"

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this is a picture of my little section in a store that is carrying my stuff (well, it's really a co-op). the owner and a few artists have come together to run this little shoppe in downtown Pt. Pleasant, NJ. the store is called "Sea and Green" and it's based on recycling and handmade. The owner, Rebecca, had seen me at an art festival (i refused to call them "craft shows") and ask me if i was interested.

class with Lisa Kettel

Today i spent the day in Sumitt, NJ taking a class with Lisa Kettel at the visual arts center. we work with old books and created niches inside working with the theme - "dolls".

Lisa is a wealth of knowledge and can do anything with paper. she had so much to share with us. the day went so quickly. she took a class photo when we were done that i will hijack as soon as she blogs it!

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here is lisa showing us how to paint our doll faces

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these are a couple of doll examples lisa made

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here is one of my finished pages (4 more to go!)

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here's a little shout out to my dad who isn't feeling well (he's down with the flu) - hope you are feeling better soon.

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Wed. i am leaving for Florida to visit my friend, Pam. she has promised me sunshine,warm weather and fun. to quote Pam, "just bring your weary bones and i'll do the rest". now who wouldn't look forward to that? i am not bringing my laptop (even if it gets revived tomorrow!) - but promise lots of photos upon my return.

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