My Little Treat

On Friday last, April 25th, I treated myself to a little "R&R". You know I love all things vintage, Victoriana, lace, frills, ruffles..............

One of my favorite places to indulge this habit is my beloved antique mall, THE SHOPS ON WEST RIDGE  www.theshopsonwestridge.com  I visit there on my "special days" like my birthday, Mother's Day, and any other day that I need to be pampered. My dearest vendor there is a huge shop called Maison Fleur de Lis. Practically everything in the shop is some shade of white. The shopkeepers of Maison Fleur de Lis repurpose, reimagine, reinvent, and remake vintage furniture. Loooong buffets, carved and embellished dining room tables, elegant dining room chairs, lounge chairs, sofas, plant stands, tea tables, desks, vanities and so much more. They recover, restore, and of course, paint. I believe they use "chalk paint" (more on that in a future post). They carry a charming supply of shabby chic tchotchkes too, like cupcake servers, birdcages, recipe holders, cloches, etc.

Entering their space is like Alice walking through the looking glass. Everything is heavenly, ethereal, restful, elegant. I practically swoon.

These charming shopkeepers had a special sale last Friday and Saturday. They staged it in an old landmark theater. All time-worn, dark wood, vaulted ceilings huge windows, double door entry. Wonderful building. I visited on Friday. I wasn't looking for anything in particular. Just wanted to be inspired. And my desires were abundantly fulfilled. Tables set for lunch and others for tea, restored wicker setees with lush floral cushions, garden furniture, garden accessories, wall art. It was a feast for my eyes.

The shopkeepers, themselves, were wearing vintage inspired attire. Maxi dresses, lots of lace and florals. And, best of all ! high heels. What devotion to their aesthetic. Some even wore fancy white aprons.

This single sized bed was painted with the white chalk paint and covered with the most elegant white linen vintage bedspread I've ever seen and folded, at the foot of the bed a stunning hand crocheted vintage counterpane. I can just envision this in a little girl's bedroom.

I took some pictures with permission and they have wonderful pictures on their facebook page, too.
https://www.facebook.com/MaisonFleurDeLis

 Luncheon is served ~ I have a hunch that the chairback fabric has handpainted roses

Above is a very old, rusted stove, lovingly transformed into a sofa table by the addition of a glass top.

                                           Musical dress form



As I was meandering through the displays, on a small, white (of course) occasional table were three, 3 piece place settings of a child's tea set in the blue willow pattern. It was priced very reasonably as one dish was cracked. I snapped it up as if it were the last one on earth. I have two dollies who are desperate for a cup of tea and in dire need of a tea set and since there are just two of them, it didn't matter one bit to me that one of the dishes was cracked. I wrapped up the entire third place setting and packed it away. Here are a couple pictures of the dollies enjoying afternoon tea with their new tea set. They are delighted with it.

CREATIVE BLOCK

Amazingly, sitting in my office a few minutes ago, I was thinking – today is the day to post on my blog and I have absolutely nothing to talk about. I just gave in to that thought and planned to open the castteam blog blitz without a post from me.


To keep myself from becoming insanely bored today, I brought a magazine to work with me. I brought the magazine because yesterday I completed the crochet project I had been working on and hoped the magazine would stave off this expected “twiddling of my thumbs”.

The magazine I brought to work with me is the latest issue of CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS. In the midst of reading an interview of an etsian – Chad Alice Hagen – her response to a question about what to expect next from her, was………”Only my cat knows. I find that the biggest thing that stops my creativity is trying to figure out what is going to happen next”.

                                         https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChadAliceHagen


Voila! that one little sentence sent the idea for a post into my brain as if it were an arrow. I find it totally amazing how faithfully this happens, without any help from me. It looks like these mind pictures come out of the blue, when you’re least expecting them, when you don’t have anything to write them down with, surprisingly, unplanned. Zoom, there it is in your mind’s eye. To prevent it from evaporating, I will usually write on anything handy – a napkin, a receipt from the bank, whatever.

Therefore, the thought that there would be no blog post from me today was hasty. The arrow hit its mark again –an idea – out of the blue.

As I’m sitting here, looking at the computer screen and typing into Microsoft word – I’m thinking - I could go on forever on this subject. It is so full of life. Yet seems bigger than life. I am so thankful that the One I worship and serve is
                                                  THE C-R-E-A-T-O-R.

While reading CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS, I came across an article about another etsian. Here's a piece of her inspiration and the link to her shop.

                                              https://www.etsy.com/shop/dearhazel

Is your experience, with inspiration, the same or different?

Inspiration Incorporated

I subscribe to a quartery magazine called WHERE WOMEN CREATE. I absolutely devour this magazine. I'm always sad when I've finished waaaaaay before the next one appears on my doorstep. I kinda go into WWC withdrawl, that is until the new one is on my kitchen table.

It's a pricey mag to be sure. But I have successfully suggested to my children a subscription for me as a Christmas gift. They never know what to get me. Problem solved.

Throughout the magazine, there are enchanting announcements for shows, conventions, camps, workshops, meetings, retreats, etc. plus visits to the most astonishing women in their own creative environment. But, alas, never one happening in my neck of the woods, though. They take place in romantic locales like California, Atlanta, Houston, NYC, Saratoga Springs, Colorado, etc. As you can see, not one occurring in western NY on the shores of Lake Ontario.

But, what to my wondering eyes should appear..........an ad for an upcoming event planned at a venue a very short drive from me. Inspiration Incorporated (an event celebrating inspired women who incorporate creativity and business) would take place on a Spetember Sunday in the little village of Honeoye Falls, NY in a 150 year old mill, once powered by those same water falls. A charming building of three floors, with a restaurant - The Rabbit Room - (where this event took place) on the first floor, boutiques, (one of which is Talulah's Fancy, whose proprietor - Tamara Shopinski - was the planner extraordinaire responsible for Inspiration Incorporated) and art studios on the second floor. I did not explore floor three.

As I walked into the building, I was greeted by a warm, welcoming hostess who pointed me to my assigned table, which had already started to fill up. I chose to sit on the side of the table that would afford me the best view of the speakers. All of my table-mates were busily creating their name tags in the most creative way they could. Everyone was intently sewing, clipping, pinning, while chatting all the while. What an ice breaker!!! Even if you were shy and reserved, people were going to be looking at your name tag and commenting, offering suggestions, passing you supplies, asking question of you, etc. The supplies were stored in 6 count cupcake tins, which were transformed into baskets by adding a wire handle and raggedy cloth bows. One of the cupcake spaces held a decorated canning jar filled with fresh flowers. In all the remaining 5 spaces were embellishments for your name tag (buttons, safety pins, needle and thread, bits of lace and string, small cards with sayings on them, even fresh rose petals. These charming little baskets of invention were the table centerpiecs. Three on each table. I counted 9 tables, each with 10 guests. There was a delightful female buzz in the room.

Note: Wouldn't this be an enchanting craft for a little girl's birthday party. All those dressed up little princesses would be thoroughly engrossed in making their name tags to be a charming as can be, instead of tearing through your house, pulling each other's pigtails.

All during act 1, a beverage station and an appetizer table were available.

Presently a lovely lunch was served, provided by The Rabbit Room and then the speakers. Lyn Alinger spoke first. She is the owner of Craft Company #6 in Rochester, NY. The shop is in an old fire house, the brass pole the firemen slid down from second floor on, is still evident. There is even a replica of the horse, which pulled the old fire wagon, standing out in front of the building looking like he's just waiting for that old alarm to ring. This store sells only hand crafted items by various artists. Lyn told the story of how it came about that she and her husband came to be the proprietors of this business.

And the main speaker was Jo Packham, creator and editor and chief of WHERE WOMEN CREATE. She gave a biographical look at how she came to be the editor of WWC. She has a delightful sense of humor and I know you all wold appreciate her stories about the amount of time she puts in on her craft and the resulting $$$$$ per hour she currently enjoys. She says she is up to $1.00 an hour and would like to be advanced to $2.00 an hour very soon. ha ha hah Proof that creativity is a constant, it is up and running all the time, you probably never will receive a comensurate monetary return. It is just something you have to do because that's who you are. You would create even if you never received anything in return. But your home would be decorated with all your projects and so would the homes of all your friends and relatives. And there would probably be a trunk and the end of your bed with carefully wrapped creativity waiting for someone who needed a gift.

I am so happy I had the privilege to be part of Inspiration Incorporated. It's tucked away with my treasured memories.