a little Marie for you

here's a Marie doll i did; altering a cloth rag doll i picked up. i changed her hair and added all these fabulous old doll clothes. her skirt is so fluffy i can barely sit her down. she's very elegant in her royal jewelry and vintage tiara. i'm going to try and make my own rag doll from scratch as i think this would be a fun class to teach.

off for more holiday open house at Summerhouse!

black friday continued!

Today was black friday open house at Summerhouse. it was a fun day. lots of festive wares to look at, yummy red velvet cupcakes, hot apple cider and more. weather wise, the day started off pretty nice. then later, it turned a bitter cold with a nasty wind whipping through the town. Brrrrrr! But Santa stopped by for the tree lighting ceremony, we saw elves and fairies, a beautiful horse pulling a lighted buggy and lots of participants wearing Santa hats. My girlfriend Jane, her daughter Claudia and sister stopped by for a hello and some shopping. Also my friend, Marlene, came in, good to see her again. Thanks for the support ladies!



I want to dress like this manikin.
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Jane, Claudia and I
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Marlene and I
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Joanna, Kathe and I
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button bracelets
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snowman bottles and one of my collages
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glass tiles necklaces
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more button bracelets
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in other news, if you missed the post about my blog giveaway, you can read about it here.

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!