Keep looking...until you find yourself!

Last weekend was our opening at the shop, and even though the rain was steady on Saturday, we still had a pretty good turn-out! It was also the weekend for the Addison Studio sale on the Berkeley/Oakland border. (Both Barbara Schriber and Kate's Paperie carry the artful wrapping paper that's printed in the back of the studio.) I've been twice before, but since I was working at the shop, I couldn't get to the metropolian side of the tunnels until Monday afternoon; the upside of that being that everything was a bargain (at least half-off!) on the last day of their sale! It's such an oddity of items they have! Last time I walked into the frenzy that is opening day with my friend Whitney. I bought vintage doll clothes & tiny clothes pins, small convex mirrors, numbers 1 - 10 enameled on tin, bits of ephemera and foiled angel wings. All the time Whitney was asking me "What are you going to do with that?". I didn't have a clear or clever answer as to what I would do with most of it, but I knew I HAD to GET them, because I would never see anything like them AGAIN! I also got to see Wendy Addison and a customer lock and load a vintage, peach tufted settee on to the roof of the customer's little sedan! On this visit, it was just me and a dozen or so others, rummaging through the boxes, looking on the shelves and even peeking under the tables for beautiful remains. Here's a picture (minus about 20 school valentine cards I've already put into storage) of my booty. Clockwise: A box of small, vintage glass Christmas ornaments, cardboard stars with red glittering, faux cherries, DO NOT OPEN TIL CHRISTMAS labels, two old office clamps (for this ), an embroidered crown emblem, a yellow-checked goose-appliqued linen, vintage Christmas card, miniature compass, bird cookie cutter, three iron finials and an old school art instructional book from the 1940's.

My favorite find was the "Creative Art For Graded Schools" book, which I realized after quickly thumbing through it at the studio that the instructions were fabulous! I couldn't believe that out of all the people who must have seen it, no one took it home! Then imagine my surprise when I got home and was savoring the inside graphics like these:

And then came across THIS graphic on one of the still vivid color pages! I freaked!

Guess it was just meant to be mine!

Cupcakes, Faires and Cool Junk

I've had a hankering for cupcakes lately, so I figured Valentine's Day would be the best excuse to make them! Have you ever wanted to bake some heart-shaped ones but didn't have (were too cheap to buy) the heart pans? I don't remember where I heard about this, but after the paper wrapper has been filled with the batter, you just place a glass marble in between it and the pan, bake it and viola! you have a heart-shaped cupcake! Pretty nifty tip coming from someone who hates to cook, huh? And I just love getting out my plates with vintage valentine images on them!



Last Sunday Room With A Past had a booth at the First Annual Heartland Danville Art & Antiques Faire. It was a beautiful day for it. Audrey & I were happy to see lots of familiar faces and to meet so many future customers! We also got to meet other store owners and antiquers from all over. For some reason, sheet music was a big seller for us that day...

During a lull in the festivities, we went over to the Rachel Capil Photography booth and had our pictures taken. The gals from Original Sin dressed us up as 1940's pin-up girls! Check out Rachel's blog for more info on getting one of these fun portraits done for yourself!




This huge (we're talking as big as an airplane hanger big), two-story boathouse is where I spent a couple of fun hours last weekend! I had read about this sale in Rodeo, and when I emailed for more info, I received a prompt reply from Wendy Addison! She was manning the helm of this sale, and was gracious enough to invite me to come early and poke around for buried treasure! My flashlight and I discovered everything but the kitchen sink in there (oh wait, I did see a claw-foot bathtub--does that count?). I came away with a few great finds that will be in the shop for our February sale. Hope you can make it in. Until then, I wish you smooth sailing!

Happy Birthday Joan!

This was the first project I finished from Winter Bella...a gift for my sister who celebrated a birthday this weekend. That's a picture of her in a favorite dress, that she insisted she wear for the picture. And she's a great gardener so I put a little flower in her hands. And when she's not out in the garden, she's in the kitchen (she's a great cook too), so she's always got a little flour in her hands! When I finished altering the Bingo card, I put it in one of the Martha Stewart keepsake boxes. There's a ribbon on the back of it, so it can be hung.

A Hearty Dose

I just finished my second project from Winter Bella (by Teresa McFayden). It’s actually the last project that was presented in the e-zine: the Valentine banner. Even my husband said it was cute! I hung it on a fancy mirror above some of my vintage valentines placed in jars, and decorations. The vintage pop-up coach of folded red and white crepe paper is like the ones my mom set up at our childhood birthday parties and then (clutch your heart and gasp) threw away along with the sticky, licked-clean cupcake wrappers! The Winter Bella is over now, but there still may be time to subscribe to the Sweet Bella series (which I did!). It’s my new self-medicating, tri-weekly dose of euphoria. There are tons of designs to try every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with equally beautiful pictures and downloads! It’s like a Christmas morning of eye-popping ideas three times a week!


(Notice I said it’s my second project? The first one is a gift for someone whose birthday is yet to come, but I can’t resist giving you this little peek!).


But….. I have to tear myself away from this fantastic smorgasbord of eye-candy, and get my goods together for this Sunday’s (Feb 10) “Heartland Danville-Antiques and Art Faire” at 125 Railroad Ave Danville, CA from 9AM – 3 PM. Marcia, owner of Cottage Jewel has been working her already slim fingers to the bone to help put this first-annual event together. Audrey and I are taking a vintage sampling of items from the shop to participate along with 40+ other craftspersons, stores and dealers. It’ll also be a great opportunity to shop for things “made from the heart” for Valentine’s Day. If you go, please look for the sign with our pink & black logo, and stop by our booth to say “Hello”! Hope you can make it!

And here is my sweet little parting gift to you-- the Cryptogram web site may sound more like a Halloween trick, but it's guaranteed to satisfy your virtual sweet tooth with fun! You can write anything on a virtual candy heart, and then save it to your computer, like I did on my Valentine blog banner! Schweeettt, no?

The House Is Always Pinker On The Other Side Of The Fence

Some of my blog readers have asked that I host a tour of my Little Pink House pictured on my banner, where the skies are always blue, and the grass is always green. So, if you’ll follow me up the walk (I did these cobblestones by hand!), I’ll give you a closer look. I do wish I had some lemonade and cookies to offer you, but I wasn’t sure how many of you would be stopping by. Please watch your step…

Let’s stop here at the front door, so I can tell you that the cottage was built just last year, but my little family already feels very much at home here. I did all the construction myself, and even though some of the walls aren’t exactly plumb, it suits me just fine. A friend gave us the plans, which were based on a centuries-old house. She and some of her friends built the same exact model for themselves, too!

It has a very open floor plan, and the footprint makes good use of the small lot size, which is located on a pleasantly rounded berm. We spend many happy hours rolling down the grassy hill, and discovered we needed to build a popsicle-stick fence at the bottom to keep us from falling out of the yard. I do wish it had a chimney, but that can be added on later, I suppose. With a square footage of about .04, it’s very easy to hold a cozy conversation inside from one end of the house to the other. Turning your attention here to the garden… it’s planted with pink Acacia twigs, moss and year-round blooms. We already have a pair of bluebirds who have made a nest in one of the trees, and always have a few eggs to tend! Construction took about 8 hours, and as soon as the two shades of pink were dry, we moved right in! It’s eternally spring here, and when it sprinkles; everything sparkles with glitter.

I’m sorry I can’t show you the inside; I don’t think we’d all fit! I hope you’ll come back to my little house soon—where the lemonade is always pink and for a little while, even your problems can become very minute.