Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Well the shop has been a bit busier i guess the first sign of spring people start coming out of hibernation and thinking more about their homes. So hopefully with new stock arriving next week things will really pick up.
A french handwash we sell in the store.
Emmas beautiful flowers; i love the ornamental kale in the photo below.





A beautiful spring display. The table is new to the store one that we have had made.




Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Love all these textures and colours in the linen ; lovely natural feel that is not only easy to wear but is also a great foil for introducing other colours and layers.


I love the rust filing unit here; love the way they have done this display.


Just ordered some lighting for the outside of our home and i am keen to use a rust finish over them tell me what you think.

All the above photos are from blogsites; http:/coeurenprovence.blogspot.com
http:/heartinprovence.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Lovely Emma working away in amongst her flowers; she has started bringing in some more unusual flowers from the mainland which arrive most Tuesdays at around midday. Trying to do something different, with a different product is always more of a challenge, but will set you apart from other stores.

Here are some hellebore's or more commonly called Christmas Roses i picked from my garden. The double white ones in the front are called Betty Ranicar and are bred in Tassie by this well known gardener. I am now after the double pale pink variety.


Emma's lovely bouquet with hyacythins, freesias and succulents.





Trying to garden over the past weekends has proven to be more than a challenge. The weather has been so wet and on the weekend i was virtually up to my ankles in mud. I can honestly say i cannot remember in my history of living in Tassie it ever being so wet and miserable. We have a huge clean up operation ahead of us with our burst dam, and i can honestly say i am not looking forward to it. Skip is already so crabby ,he only had minimal work and it was all finished, now he is almost starting again.




Sunday, August 9, 2009

Hi everyone, well i have decided that i am very slack at blogging. I don't seem to find that spare moment to hop on line and write and post pictures. Still suffering from this rotten cold and now i have a sinus infection so i guess that is slowing me down. Yesterday i spent the day in the garden but i soon ran out of energy, realising i need to take lots of little breaks. So i managed with this to get a little cutting back and pruning done and may tackle a bit more today with some baking in between. The above photo is a pile of some of my fabrics stacked in my pigeon hole cupboard in my sewing room and below my dress form that i discovered at auction for a cool 90 dollars before they became really popular. I guess the key to securing a bargain is as soon as these vintage items start appearing in mags start looking straight away because you can be sure that they are going to become popular. I think i did the same when old galvanized items weren't popular eg watering cans, old baby baths, trugs etc; now they are worth quite a bit of money. I am sure that like everything else that things go in and out of fashion. Now its not fashionable to have lots of ornaments sitting everywhere more to have an eclectic mix of artifacts or groups of interesting finds. It seems that industrial items have found their way to centre stage; i guess that has arisen with the age of recycling and reusing. Items like old shoe storing shelves from factories now make a new life as a plate and bowl storage unit in a kitchen or old grape harvesting crates have a thick piece of glass placed on the top posing as a great coffee table. All this form of finding new uses for items is what has become very trendy; i saw the other day some one had used army blankets from the army disposal store to cover a full lounge suite , looked amazing in a doe skin grey colour.






These are all the teddies and golly wog that i have made, with the exception of the antique doll given to me by my mother; it belonged to my great Aunt Amy over 150 years old. Before i opened my store The Vintage Rose i spent 2 years building and landscaping our new house; and before that i had a Bed and Breakfast with a little shop where i made all the goodies. They included hand painted dolls, quilts, and lots lots more, it was situated in my garden and it was an old potting shed. From this i also had a mail order business where is would send my hand painted dolls all over Australia; it seems so long ago. I will post some pictures for you to see latter. I guess this is something i will pick up again latter in life.




Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Well what a fair got home Monday evening somewhat exhausted from the constant walking and thinking of what i have brought. You tend to look for an overall picture but when you are on visual overload from so many stalls and suppliers that can be difficult. Anyway i am absolutely thrilled with what i have bought and i must say i have spent up big. Trying not to think about our suppressed economy i think you could say i went out there with all guns firing. I bought beautiful everything; i am not disappointed with anything i bought, beautiful range of candles, linens, bags some for shopping others fashion and some linen laptop bags. Gorgeous bird cages, magical furniture, Louis carvers , island benches, tolix chairs, garden urns, giant bird cages, beautiful prints and wall hangings, candlesticks, laundry baskets, metal industrial letters, console tables, glasses in all shapes and sizes, marble pears that were stunning, old fashion scissors, lots and lots of cushions all shapes and sizes and the list went on and on . Today i am at home with a bad cold trying to shake it off so i can get into the shop in preparation for the arrival of my new things. We are also introducing a new line of furniture made by us...really thrilled. I must say congratulation to one of my suppliers Perfect Pieces for their stall it was the best at the fair and i sincerely hope it payed off for them because they really went out in a big way; it was awesome. Some of the other stalls i was a little disappointed in whilst others i was pleasantly surprised. I picked up at least 6 new suppliers which i didn't expect; really looking forward to dealing with them. Well i best go and try to rest even though i am looking around the house thinking of all the things i could be doing........and knowing me will probably end up doing them. Oh i cannot forget Christmas yes i bought some decorations as well, although this year a lot i am intending on making myself.