A VISIT TO THE SHOPS ON WEST RIDGE

I give myself presents every once in a while to pamper myself on what I consider to be a “special day”. This past week one of those "special days"occurred . And my gift to myself  was a trip to THE SHOPS ON WEST RIDGE  www.theshopsonwestridge.net  which is a huge, two story space that was once a furniture store but now houses 200 vendor spaces filled with antiques, home accents, artisan works, home furnishings, gifts, treasures and more. It’s a lovely place to get lost in for a couple hours of retail therapy. 

There’s lots of walking. Thank goodness, there is a small restaurant on the premises where you can rest your weary feet before tackling floor #2, you can get a cup of coffee and a sweet while resting. Blow are pics of the "rest area".

I just love this place and always have more favorites than money. Another plus about the Street of Shops is that there is usually some kind of special event going on. At Christmastime, they have a huge Dickens Christmas, with costumed Victorians moving about and scenes from Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol” seen through steamy windows into the story scenes.

When I visited last week, the special event was a table setting contest. It was totally charming. Several vendors of vintage china, linens, etc. set their own version of a fancy table. The shoppers voted on which one they liked best.

                            Red toile and red transferware china

                                  Wedgewood Blue

                               Aubergine Glass

      This setting seemed perfect for a Springtime luncheon or perhaps, Easter Brunch                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                           

The red toile was my favorite and I voted for it.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                       Personal favorites of the day.

The two pictures above are of two things that caught my fancy. The secretary desk is like one I have but this one has this heavenly trompe l'oeil cherub scene painted on it. And the white bedroom - all painted white furnishings, white tulle canopy and white lights - is like I died and went to heaven ~ swooning..........

I did buy myself some tchotchkes. A beautiful clipboard  with a rose encrusted clip and covered in a vintage song bird book cover, I bought a recipe holder, a gift for my sister, and a baby gift.

Baby gift has already been given to the adorable tot. And the last pic is what I purchased for me and my sister. 

             I had a lovely, memorable day and fitting celebration of a special day. 

Bringing a Dream to Life

I had a dream a couple days ago. In it I saw a wrist wrap wallet with several inside compartments. It was a very thin/light, flat, envelope purse that wrapped around the wrist to tuck in your driver’s license, a couple dollars and a car key to wear when you workout at the gym. Or when you run or go to pilates, or have playground duty or to walk the dog.

I made a mock-up out of muslin of what I saw in my dream, worked out the kinks (or so I thought). There were still some kinks  after I made my first one using real purchased fabric and beautiful lining. I had to scrap it. The Velcro was in the wrong place and there was an engineering defect where the flap was concerned. So you can see there’s a bit of a struggle to give birth to a new product.

I hope you didn't notice that I need to change the date on my camera. Get out the instruction book again.

But today I am ready to launch a new etsy offering. I hope I have created something that people need and will purchase.

I have embroidered a little stick figure “runner” on the front face of the purse. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/181487445/cuff-wallet-workout-wallet-runner?