Share and Tell: Rose and Bone

I recently stumbled upon this blog called The Wanderlusters - the shared blog of Rockie Nolan and Sati Patel. (and pretty  much the best theme/title for a blog ever don't you think?) This photo vignette by Rockie Nolan entitled Rose and Bone really caught me eye and I just had to share it with you guys. It seemed to capture some of the nostalgia and dark beauty that influences some of our look at The Paris Market. Also, and this is totally random, but Rockie let me know that the scissors in one of these photos came from Paris Market. How's that for full circle? Well enough of my yammering, here's Rockie:

"The concept for this series came from a common interpretation of the rhyme “Ring Around the Rosie”, relating it to the horrors of the Great Plague. Upon exploring this idea, I became more interested in the contrast of youthful innocence to death than to depicting the rhyme in a straightforward way. This series was created as a fashion editorial but as with much of my other work, I am interested in creating a narrative and combining commercial aspects with fine art." 

Here are just a few selections from the vignette:

Gaa! These are gorgeous. Go see the full photo vignette - in all their full size photo glory - on their blog The Wanderlusters!

The Quilt is Done!

I posted last year about this quilt I was making for my sister's wedding. Well, it's finally done and yes it took me that long! At her bridal shower, everyone decorated a white square of fabric with their wishes for my sister's life with her new man. I added some other colors and started sewing. Of course my old Singer gave me some problems along the way, (the tension of course!) and I didn't do the mitered corners right so I had to perform surgery at the last minute and resort to straight edges on the binding, and I ran out of thread on the last day...this is why as a recovering Catholic, I no longer need to go to confession; any projects my Mother dreams up trumps any penance a Father would throw at me. 

Voila!

 Isabelle and Susie hold it up for me at the store, final size is 6' square.

A Crafters Guide: Prize Ribbon Garden Marker

My thumbs have officially turned green.

As we southerners scurry to plant our gardens before the dreaded heat of summer hits our doorstep, it's hard not to soak up the precious time spent with our little green friends. I have taken extra care to pick out the perfect vintage pots and place them around my home with pride. For an additional crafty boost, I've come up with these handmade garden markers to show off my precious plants and do some prize winning boasting of my own.

Supplies Needed

Birch Plywood (0.8mm thick)

Wood circles

Chalk

Chalkboard paint

Brushes

Xacto knife

Cutting Mat

Paint

Wood Glue

Sanding block or Sand paper

Wooden Dowels

Step One

Paint your wooden circles with chalkboard paint. Two coats will do.

Step Two

Using a pencil, trace a wood circle onto your piece of birch plywood. Draw a design around your traced circle to create the top of your prize ribbon. A strip of plywood (1.5 by 3.5) makes a perfect second piece. Cut out both designs with your Xacto knife.

Step Three

Taking your sanding block or sand paper, smooth the edges of your freshly cut pieces. When you're finished give each piece a double coat of chalkboard paint.

Step Four

Using wood glue attach each wood circle to your ribbon backing. 

Step Five

While your glue is drying, add some creative touches to your prize ribbons. I really love the black and white contrast, but try using your own unique color combination. And get this, they now make chalkboard paint in a variety of colors! Try out designs that will coordinate with your garden!

Step Six

Cut a piece of dowel 10 inches long. The dowel I used was 3/16" by 36".

Step Seven

Finish assembling your prize ribbon garden marker by gluing the remainder of your pieces together. Layer your pieces

Voila!
Write the name of your prize wining plant with chalk on your marker and you're ready to stop other garden savvy snoots in their paths!
Until next time, this is your craft loving how-to gal signing off!


~ Jessica
Visit me on my blog!

Photo Books

This is a tribute to the little photo shoots my friend and I would do.  I write about this because its probably one of the coolest photo albums I have and it was done not quickly, but easily and cheaply. Sometimes God really is in the details, and sometimes the obsession over details can ruin a good thing.  Nobody went to the craft store and bought scrapbooking papers or used paper die cuts or stuck little (- what I call -) ooby-doos -on the pages. All we bought was film and some photo corners.

It started out in highschool, where we could print our photos in the highschool darkroom, and then when we were away at separate colleges everytime we saw each other we would do another photo shoot. We started a little book for our photos - My friend Jen bought it off the sale rack at the now caput Borders Books. It was just random portraiture. But you can tell where large gaps were and when I look back at the photos its nice to remember exactly what we were doing and where we were in our lives that day. Just the fact that that we used to do things like this is nice to remember. The last photo is of her trying on the bridesmaid dress with the flowers for my wedding. That seems like forever ago now, and while we've seen each other since then, I guess nobody took any pictures. Sad huh. There's about two more pages left and it would be nice to finish it up with one final good strong photo shoot. I don't know what it is about photos that's so haunting, I mean I guess I do. They capture time, and that's something nobody can do. Ghosts from the past. Stasis where everything else is in constant flux.

Joan Didion said something about this in her book  "The Year of Magical Thinking" Her husband dies suddenly and in the last pages of she comments that she never expected it to end; she was like most of us, just going on the unconscious premise that her life situations and the people she loves are going to last forever. I've had some taste of this strange phenomena in my life- When I had just visited my uncle in the nursing home a week before my mother told me he had passed away, I thought the same thing 'I never thought that would be the last time I saw him. I didn't think he would die so soon.' And on the less tragic side - when your jedi master acupuncturist in New York tells you she's moving to Vermont, or when your favorite chiropractor just up and vanishes. Nothing last forever. Except photo books. Here's some out-takes.

Happy photo-snapping!

Shop this Painting: The Red Room

The Red Room, Matisse

1.Florentine Deckled Edge Pad, 2.Flowering Perfume Bottle-$18.75, 3. China Mini Saucer-$5, 4. Faux Ranunculus, 5. Stockholm Cruet-$32.50, 6.Vintage Coverlet-$156, 7.WineStopper-$19.50, 8.Chateau Botanical Jar-$125

The Hot Air Balloons are Back!

So, the hot air balloons are back! I first saw these in Spanish Vogue about two years ago, and when I was in the window last April I saw them in person- (and of course, later regretted not getting them.) Today I saw them peeking out of a box below the jewelry counter. Hooray!! They're back! I'm getting a second chance! 

We have all these colors too, even the rainbow one...:)

 

These little beauties should up in the air tomorrow...

Come to the Egg-stravaganza!

First Friday is HERE and the Egg-stravaganza is continuing to Saturday! 

From 6-9 pm today and tomorrow all day you can pick up an egg at the register

when you check out. Open it up for a surprise and see what you won!

Hint: There will be coupons to all the fabulous stores all along Broughton Street. And a few coupons for our store as well. Visit the Broughton Street page to for more info. In addition there will be one lucky winner of a small garden gift ---if you pick the lucky egg!

Hope to see you all there!

And have a happy Easter!

For a Special Basket

The bunnies went to the Sear's portrait studio for Easter this year:

p.s. if you need something special for a special basket this year, this bunny is IT. She even rocks a pair of espadrilles! of course, the basket it great too.

Little Treasures from the Past

A new arrival of old sample jewelry is being unpacked today. They're from the times when you walked into a jewelry store and you could look at the sample model/style and order it with the stones you wanted. Not that you can't special order something today, but these were specifically set out to be ordered in that particular fashion. Like a fashion automat!

C'est simple, c'est chic! 

 

Still in the shopkeepers envelope with their notes...

They're pretty cool and I can see a crafty person having fun with these little treasures - whether to make into more jewelry or to use for another project. Jessie did a holiday tree from lots of gems similar to this actually - see Holiday Centerpiece. And she used a few like this for her Valentine Boxes. We get lots of interesting things in like this. Odd things that you wouldn't find anywhere else. So along with our vintage grab bags, you can have fun digging through this cool little stash and finding something you love. Speaking of treasure hunting, I think next week I'll dig through the back and see what I'm missing. I found these magic slides last time...Au revoir pour maintenant...

 

Judge Realty Redesign 4/3/12

So you saw the Tea for Two baby shower that we did, now you can swing by Judge Realty to see the new office that Paula Danyluk designed for them. They were expanding and wanted to freshen up the vibe. Also fashion blogger, Mangue Banzima of Qui Style (and Paris Market fan) has some great snaps (like this one below) of the party too. Check 'em out here! His blog features the unique street style of Savannah.

 photo by Mangue Banzima

Check out more pics like this by Connie Gomez on The South Magazine's website here