Coming Soon: Framed Feathers

I'm really excited about what's about to go out on the floor this week. These colorful feathers in rustic wooden frames are simply beautiful.

Love!Love!Love!

 

 

A Crafters Guide: Terrariums

With spring fast approaching I have been taken over with garden fever!

My thumbs have involuntarily turned green and I have begun planning a plant overhaul in my home. I love succulents! They are easy maintenance for you plant murders out there and come in a variety of shapes and colors! One of the most eye catching and swoon worthy succulent display is the Terrarium. It's no secret that the Terrarium has made its mark in the design world and this week we will be bowing down to these little plant houses and sharing an easy how to!

* When buying supplies it is important to note the amount you will need for only one terrarium is very minimal. Try planning to make multiples or have a flock of friends over for a terrarium making party! That way you won't waste your supplies and can spread the gift with other green thumbs!

Once you've chosen your container, fill it in 1 inch increments. Gravel first, then moss, then soil. By doing this you are creating a filtering system for the plants excess water. Succulents don't need a lot of water, which makes them easy to care for.

Using your hands, make a small indent in the soil where you are placing your plant. Remove each succulent from its pot, gently loosing the roots with your fingers, and place them in there ready made home. Be mindful that you need to plant your succulents at least an inch and a half to two inches apart from each other.

 No one likes a clingy room mate.

Carefully surround your newly planted succulents with gravel. Use your creativity to make your terrarium unique. Try adding dried branches, shells, or toy animals. 

This is also a great project to involve little ones!

Terrarium Care Tips

- water once a week

- A word about water: Tap water often contain high concentration of dissolved minerals. Such minerals can build up in the plant's soil over time, causing harm. When watering your succulents, try using distilled or rain water. 

 - keep your terrarium out of direct sunlight

- if living in a humid climate, try mixing charcoal with your base layer of gravel. This will help prevent the growth of bacteria and mold. 

Now share the succulent love and plant a terrarium of your very own!

Stay tuned for more spring time craft projects, and be sure to stop by my own corner of the web world for additional how tos and an extra dose of vintage love!

xo, Jessica

Beauty Transposed

I came across this little trick while looking through "Glamorous Rooms" by Jan Showers.

In the Outdoor Living section of her book, a perfect little courtyard is reflected in a convex mirror.

The idea hit me as rather nice. Of course I should have learned this just by looking at fabric or graphic design or simply branding - once you get a beautiful image you repeat it as often as possible. And how many times did Picasso draw a profile with two eyes? Not that I don't like Picasso, but until I saw this picture I forgot that a theme of beauty is most often a continuum of a repetition of forms on various scales and proportions. And if you want to double the pleasure of beautiful room or object, just put a mirror up to it and enjoy its reflection!  Of course, Narcissus was punished for this, but I don't find anything too wrong with it. And if people did it before electricity to reflect candlelight and get more bang for their blubber, then why not apply the same principle for aesthects? By the way, we only have one copy left so its 25% off now. I also appreciate how she savors the simplicity of design and that less is more.

"One of my favorite outdoor rooms is created by a border of hedges and a very simple floor of stone tiles set into the earth. Teak chairs and garden benches, along with iron-and-glass tables, sit out in the open, protected only by the branches of towering pecan trees.  Nearby, a bird feeder and birdbath. It is a picture of simplicity and comfort, and it serves perfectly as a vantage point from which to experience the outdoors, either alone or with others.

Amen Jan Showers!

Windows Studies: Day & Night

Light is such an important element in art. I realize that all photographers and lighting designers and many others are well aware of this, but I'm really beginning to enjoy it as its own separate element. I notice it most in the windows, and all the different moods it creates. When I first started taking pictures of the new windows, I used to fight the reflections thinking they were distracting to the display, but now I really enjoy them as another element to work with and play upon. Lighting adds the element of time and place and enhances the art of the window. But its also nice just to cut back on the light and really see the design clearly. The photos below were taken by Daniel George for full contrast effect. Taken at Night, with only the interior lighting of the store, these shots show how special and unique the windows are, and you get an idea of how much time and attention is put into each one.

Night:

Side by side and a bit smaller they look like storybook windows.

Shots I took of this and other windows reveling in their reflections:

Past windows where the reflections really worked well for certain effects.

In other news, we are in the planning stages of putting together some really awesome windows this year. With Spring and Easter fast approaching, we have great material to work with. As I type, the design team is scratching out their dates and planning their runs to various places for supplies. I'll keep you posted on their goings- ons!

 

 

Too Cute: Of Mice & Bunnies

These little critters were begging to have their picture taken,

and of course I obliged.

 

Come and get em before they're all gone!

 

Behind the Scenes

Ever wonder what your favorite Paris Market girls are up to when they're not at Paris Market? Me too! Sometimes I find this information out from eavesdropping or when others think I know less French than I do. haHA Paris Market! Anyway, there is a lot going on always, with pretty much everyone here, but today I'm calling out Kelsey Garrity-Riley for her shoutout on the Martha Stewart blog:

Take a look at her superb illustration of Lady Mary from Downton Abbey. (click then scroll down) This show has been a big hit and it even inspired a little piece on the eccentricities of Londoners in the New York Times Magazine this past Sunday. Like Why are they always apologizing? In a Nutshell: Social Leverage.  HA!

And that inspired this little post highlighting both our leisurely and hardworking wares. 

1. Ornate Metal Crown(sold out as of today), 2. Decoupage Pointer Tray 3. Mocha Creme Ribbon Locket, 4.Set of Red Suitcases, 5. Amber Glass Jar, 6. Ostrich Feather Brush, 7. Housekeeper Candle, 8. Vintage Saucer, 9. Friend and Foe Notebook, 10. British Crest Pillow 

Keep Calm and Carry On!

Fresh Batch: Vintage Hankies

Straight, Scalloped, or Blanket Stitched

Fresh batch of vintage hankies just in.

I love these roosters!

Also, we're open till 9 tonight, so come on over and listen to some fresh spun tunes while you shop!

Delightful Arrivals: New Ribbon

 

Check out this delightful ribbon we just started carrying. This stack looks like a little wedding cake. One spool actually has "for someone special" printed on it. Parfait! They're a sweet finishing touch for packages and they're pretty enough that the recipient will want to stash it for later use.

Grab some before they're gone!

They're right by the front door when you come in.

 

Ah the Good Life!

 

Come on in and get your taste of the good life!

 

Please sir, might I have a bit of Earth?

 Les Jardins de la Mansoniere

Today, I'm continuing with my love of gardening. Its not really a theme, its more like a little dream that's stuck on repeat. Right now I have just a spit of space by the back stairs and a low platform/deck my husband put down to prevent stray cats from using the space as a latrine. Totally glamorous, I know. But it's working. So I am looking at probably getting a few ferns and some pots to put on the stairs. Its little but it will make a difference. It always does. But I'm lusting for a bigger space to create some bloomy love, and all the new garden stuff we have is making me salivate.

When I have a little bit of dirt I get really excited about all the possibilities. When plants and flowers thrive, nothing could be better.  Everyone is having a good time and its la dolce vida. But as it goes in life, sometimes our best efforts are thwarted. Perhaps the soil is too rocky and shallow for one thing but too moist and acidic for something else. And its a big guessing game as to what besides weeds will want to live there. You have to find the plant that likes to grow in that specific place. It's much easier to swap out the plant than alter the earth. In my parent's house the things that do well are azaleas and rhododendrons - its a rocky and a little damp, and once they get a hold they get comfy. There was a fuscia pink azalea and purplish rhododendrom by the front stairs for many years, until there was a gas leak out in the street, that ConEd could never locate. When they did find it, it was too late.  Now there is a light pink rose and a pretty blue hydrangea that enjoy living there. But I still remember the original residents by the stairs.

The Parc Floral de Paris

The one thing that is very successful is a family of deviant Yucca plants that my Mom hates. She's commandeered many killing campaigns to end the reign of the Yucca, but there was always a shred of root left in the dirt and it happily grew back, not insulted in the least. I told my mom she could grind up the roots in a fine powder and it would be helpful to her arthritis. "No thank you," she said, "I think I'll just take my pill." My mom likes to try new things out and to make the place look nice, but being an herbalist isn't on her to-do list. A mini Tivoli is what she really wants, or maybe just the hanging gardens of Babylon...and my Dad, who is a retired biology teacher never really got into it. He had the laissez-faire attitude of just let it grow. Or die. A true naturalist I suppose. For me, the exciting part is locating a optimum spot for your new little bundles of joy, fresh from the nursery. Like Hey, there's actually enough sun to grow lavender here! or The ferns might look better in a shadier spot, or The bleeding heart still isn't happy. You have to check in with all your plants, record their gripes and see if there is somewhere else they can live. If not, a kind neighbor has to take it it and nurse it back to health. And keep it. This is the way it works. And if you get something new and exciting to grow that no one on on the block has tried before, you should deliver some little offshoots and say Hey, you wanna try some forget-me-nots in your yard?  Plants are expensive.

The Yucca plant, clearly a deviant of Botanica

If nature isn't thwarting you, like the relentless Yucca, it's some ignoramus with a leafblower or weedwacker. In one place I had a big bald area along the walkway by the side of the house. The few sprouts of pachysandra that I got from my mom's garden was just starting to spread when the "landscaper" the landlady had hired came by with his weedwacker and chopped off their heads. I asked him why he'd done that when it was clearly not a weed. But he didn't care. When I think about one day buying a place, this is high on the list of positives - "I can plant what I like and no moronic "landscaper" will take me back to zero!" Nature is making me hardier you can see.

Other times you are just too late. One bright summer day, waltzing down the stairs with camera in hand to take a picture of the sunflower "I" had grown, I witnessed a chipmunk scurry to the top, lob off its head, and hurry back down to munch on his feast of seeds. But such is a garden that sustains. And I like those little chippies anyway.

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