Okay, this is a first… there is a lady wandering around the store having a full-on argument on her cell phone. I hear bits and pieces… and I’m currently trying to hide because I don’t want to be in the line of sight while she is upset, pacing and hissing. “You know WHAT!?!” and “Shame on you!”
eeek!!!!
This has been a very odd Season I must say… hard to explain, but it feels totally different than the other 4 years. When I can put my finger on it, I will blog about it. Perhaps it’s just me?
I actually am the proud owner of some CDs made from obscure, awesome old records with songs such as “Jingle Bones” and the Partridge family singing “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree”. Thank you Susan… helping to make the holiday season less dull for those in the thick of it… with needle popping and scratching, too! yay!
I’m beat. These last few weeks have been trying for this entrepreneur ;) Our 5th Christmas. Wow. Fast. I don’t have any pictures of our first Christmas, for some reason. I vaguely remember the tree in the window, but pictures? They have to be somewhere.
A third person asked me about franchising again today… my first instinct is to quizzically ask “how come?” I tend to lump owning a store into “working”. You know, a job. I guess the only difference is my coffee breaks are a bit spaced out but I still dislike my boss ;) hehe.
So, I turned in the Holiday postcard at 4:35 am the other day… fingers crossed I’ll get them on Monday or Tuesday, but no guarantees. So, I’ll make the announcement here and in some emails later on…
Click on each image to see a larger image… so you can actually read it :)
And more pictures of the store :) Here’s our mantle window… It looks great at night!
These colors are so happy!
The happy little Christmas chandelier… everyone should do this at home! As of this evening, all those ornaments have been sold! Glad I got a picture when I did!
That’s what half of the store looks like when I run out into traffic!
A blurry shot of the turquoise you-wouldn’t-normally-have-this-at-home tree!
The pink and red pig tree and friends…
Happy little snowmen made of, what looks like, old sweaters and socks!
Jennifer Murphy’s little mousey in a stocking… “There’s no coal in YOUR stocking!” Too cute!
The Nicol Sayre corner…
Pastel wonderland…
Wow, that’s a lot of stuff
Christmas 2005
I can sort of see how the holidays are getting more and more overwhelming… the above was my “main” Christmas area in 2005… a little sparce compared to the way I smash it in these days :) I couldn’t imagine it any other way, though.
I keep promising a giveaway. It keeps getting away from me, I apologize. Also, my website is all Halloween-ed out. I’ll get to changing that, too.
In the world of crafting and creating… I got the bug to make soap and bath goodies today. I haven’t wanted to make bath stuff in years… I mean, had the desire to make stuff. It was quite strange. I feel like Goldilocks and the three cosmetic companies… this one is too expensive, this one has terrible packaging and this one is just right… but they won’t email me back! So… guess I’ll whip it up myself! ;) We’ll see… so many things a-brewin’!
What are you all up to next week? Turkey? Shopping? Crafting? Rocking back and forth in a corner wishing it was still June? ;) I don’t know anyone who absolutely hates the holidays, but I know that I really wish my Arbor Day celebration idea would catch on… I rarely show up for Thanksgiving anymore and Christmas is a sleepy blur… Arbor Day… April 27th… would be perfect!! Who’s with me??!?
Ahh… candy. Once again I went a little cah-razy at a wholesale warehouse but I really love the look. The day of the party I added little labels to each jar.
The progression… First, you see Babs’ dainty little fingers getting a piece of candy…
Then she slapped on a beanie hat and mimicked some of the vintage ads you see where the kids are just koo-koo for sugar…
And another… She takes her job seriously. (Sidenote… this was ALL her idea… now I know where I get it from)
Lovely halloween Decor…
I love this little black chandelier… just adding a little Halloween ornament turned it into a statement!
I hung thick ribbons from the ceiling… it adds a “cave” element… so it feels more safe and homey. I started hanging ribbons, streamers and lanterns from the ceilings all over the shop… it really jazzes up the place and even if you don’t notice it all, you know it’s there :)
These three pumpkins are in the window and they blink in intervals. The “magic” sign is made by Bethany Lowe. (This is the last one I have! eek!)
I risked life and limb to get this shot ;) I ran out into the street, frogger style, to snap this picture. This is the outside of our window at night… hard to see since I didn’t bring a tripod and it got a bit blurry.
We have an old TV case in the window and I play vintage movies all night long. Currently showing is “It came from Outer Space!” from the early 1950’s. The scary alien ships are really pie tins hanging on strings with lights and smoke. Awesome.
Here are a few small pictures of our Christmas items. Didn’t we just put up these trees??
Wendy Addison out-did herself this year… more glittery stars, snowflakes and even Eiffel towers this year! I can’t wait to get it all unpacked!
I got SO much new jewelry….
It’s spilling over every display :)
Although the weather has been teasing us all month… I got new scarves. Let the cold begin!
Our logo, backlit by the Christmas trees! :)
I’ve got some fun new ideas on the horizon! A Violet’s frequent shopper card, a new tell-a-friend promotion and other events for the Holidays! I’m super excited!! Must get to work… and I’m putting the finishing touches on our Halloween costumes. Be afraid… be very afraid ;)
Can I get a hallelujah that the Fall has actually come to us! No more constant a/c… cloudy and breezy… I love this change! Yippee! (I knocked on wood, therefore there is no jinx factor! It’s a rule I made up!)
Dang it, I haven’t crafted, or taken pictures or done anything creative in weeks and weeks! Still fighting the cough after the cold and I’m currently unpacking 60 boxes of candles at the store! Which brings me to my next idea:
We’ll be having a GIVEAWAY any day now… definitely a candle or twelve…that and perhaps a Webkinz and something Halloweenie… to get in the spirit!
I’m supposed to be assembling some sort of post card and mail it out for the shop’s 5th annual Halloween party… but I can’t think of anything to take a picture of or draw. I think the cold and large amounts of Robitussin have killed my inner artist! Temporarily, at least.
I need inspiration… the 300 pounds of Pumpkin Pie Candles just aren’t doing it.
Ooh! Something sort of sparked… just now! To the art cave! ;)
and spring one, too…
Since I’m so behind, I’m going to post 5 months worth of pictures… here.
My Mom’s Birthday in Las Vegas. The birthday girl, along with Pam, made US cupcakes for the ride out through the desert, I guess that would make it dessert in the desert. (I never said I was hilarious… or did I?) This one is for ME! See, a “C”!
I don’t know why I thought this was so amusing… a bunch of guys and a TON of beer… being wheeled in on a nice bellhop’s cart. Neat. (Identities have been carefully altered to protect the innocent.)
THIS is what we came to see!!!
We stayed at the Mirage. The entry has a wonderful tropical garden theme going on. Your hard-earned gambling dollars at work.
More lush gardens… “oooh… ahhhhh”. Uh-huh. Where’s Siegfried?
Mirage’s lovely pool. We read that they have the best pool on the strip…
The back side of water!!! You can walk underneath the waterfall (which is quite deafening, btw) to the other side of the pool!
The view from our room
Our little dining companion
Very cool entry…
Okay… just need to say this… I LOVE Cirque Du Soleil. O is amazing, Ka… anything in a tent in Santa Monica, I love it. I guess… growing up with the Beatles and naming stuffed animals after their song characters put a very definite image in my head of each song. Combine that with emotions and love for the boys and bam, you have a recipe for disaster a la king. I expected the performances to be the little stories and animations in my head come to life. Somehow, I figured that everyone saw the same thing that I did and related to their music in the same way. It’s like… take the most magical music, stick the most whimsical sets in as a backdrop, throw in some acrobatics and put them together. You think… out of body experience, right? But… alas… we came to the conclusion that this was more interpretive dance than true Cirque. Moments of beauty, moments of cliche and moments of… “what the…?!?!” If you go in with an open mind, you will love it. I, on the other hand, am a brat. I won’t talk specifics but… all I have to say… lucy was in the sky, and indeed, there were diamonds.
Next…
This is a normal Sunday (when Nathan is not on call) around here. We stop being lazy at about 3:30 then get reaaallly bored. “Hey… what do you want to do?” “I dunno, what do YOU want to do?”
We do that for about another 30 minutes then leash the hound and head out on the open road. This particular Sunday we ended up at Sequoia National Forest. I’ve never been… and with 80 full minutes of sunlight to see the magnificent trees, it made our adventure even… more… errr… abbreviated, yet memorable.
Oh, the picture… cherries on the side of the road on the way up.
The hike down to see General Sherman. It’s not kidding.
I didn’t know trees came in XXXXXL.
And here is the main attraction… the General. Top Half.
Bottom Half.
Moss!
Okay, I thought these only existed at California Adventure. (p.s… I think we should do the gnome-around-the-world gag with our dog)
I didn’t believe the postcards… That’s a truck nestled between those trees.
And an attractive porcelain deer… although, this one is real.
And on to our next adventure in July… LA to Florida to NC via 3 other states…
Our first adventure on this trip was us nearly missing our flight… We had a stop-over for what should have been 45 minutes. I’m not going to say anything, you can just look at the pictures…
Can anyone take a wild guess? But we were up in “vegas” for the second time… ever.
We stayed at the Yacht Club while in Walt Disney World… only my favorite place in the whole wide world. The Yacht Club hasn’t been my favorite resort destination on their property… but I’m glad we got to try it out.
A very lovely shot that Nathan took at the Yacht Club Dock to get into Epcot.
Ahh… Epcot… how we love you so. But, alas… on this trip, we almost had a date with disaster (I’m thinking in the tone of E!’s true Hollywood story narrator).
It was here at the World Showcase Mexican restaurant that the horrifying event occured… (although, this place looks awesome!)
THIS rock was in Nathan’s refried black beans. Holy Frijoles! (there I go again) In the darkness, he thought he had broken his front tooth. It was horrible. We got this mystery solid out into the light and we couldn’t believe it… a rock. This ruined our day. I contacted customer care and got a call back from a guy who… well… thinks mole-hills are still big. “Where I come from, finding a rock in your food tells you that it’s FRESH! So, you know that we use fresh food… although, this was an outside vendor and… **lame excuse here**” I love Disney. I mean… love them. This phone call… well… Disney thinks I’m an idiot. They think Nathan’s teeth aren’t important. This guy must not have any teeth because he comes from the land of quarry-a gratin. My Disney Love… down a few notches. That’s all. And I hope they read this, and that mouse, too.
We still had fun, despite the rock… on the people mover… which is being retired (rumor has it).
We always see the strangest things on or near Tom Sawyer’s Island. Last time, a gator (I need to dig up that picture and share!), this year… a very evil crane! Hard to see him, he’s on top of the wagon o’ beverages staring RIGHT at you in an evil-ish sort of way.
Okay… so we left WDW with all of our marbles and ran to the airport to go to NC. Delta had a pilot, but not a first captain. Then they had a first captain but no pilot. We ended up not having a crew so the flight was cancelled. They weren’t going to guarantee us a flight… only say… “errrr, maybe you’ll get there tomorrow??” So, we took matters into our own hands and rented a car!
“You’ll drive the first half and I’ll drive the second!” I said.
I slept through all of Georgia. I was way too tired to drive, Nathan was chivalrous enough to finish the 8 hour drive. We got to Durham, talked to our friends for 15 minutes then passed out. The day was a blur. And I had pictures from that day but they are lost in camera-land. Boo.
We did, however… have some pictures of our visit with Martha Stewart…. her homes, that is! In conjunction with KB homes, Ms. Stewart designed (or whatever) some lovely homes in the Raleigh area. Do you think she had anything to do with this besides point to that color green she always picks? I’m skeptical, but I loved the houses.
We didn’t get any pictures of the outsides for some reason… but we did get some interior shots…
First of all, this is my Cousin’s little girl, Kate… she should be a little spokesperson for KB because, let’s face it… babies sell. (isn’t she pretty darn adorable?)
I have to admit, the homes were nicely decorated but I hope that’s not why people were buying them. The interiors and floorplans were okay, one was bad (bedroom directly off the front entry). They all had a craftsman-feel inside. And I really only saw three exterior designs: Craftsman, farmhouse and one beachy/cottage-farmhouse. Again… some impressive details but… the planes flying loudly overhead, would have detoured me quickly.
My cousin Allison in one of the model kitchens.
Allison’s 2 youngest… Riley and Kate!
Back in Cary, NC, Mojo the french bulldog was dreaming about… treats and cooler weather.
The Q Shack. How I miss thee. I had some hush puppies, a chicken sandwich and Cheer Wine. Some good stuff. A bit o’ trivia… in the south and south-ish, you have to ask for your iced tea “unsweetened” if you don’t want a sugar syrup in it. By default, your tea will come loaded with sugar. Now you know.
Armadillos are funny. Even funnier when they are right under the menu holding a beer and… stuffed.
Nathan snapped this and said I should post it in the store!
This is how I will remember North Carolina… being lost. Even with our little GPS we couldn’t find anything… but a waffle house (dang it, they are everywhere!). We had a great time seeing everyone and are really looking forward to our second trip out this next week (yes, we missed them that much). We’re staying at the beach for a few days, should be a lot of fun :)
Jiminy Crickets! It’s 5:30 am!!! See, this is why I don’t blog… I get carried away ;) Have a great rest of the weekend everyone! :)
I haven’t been in a blogging mood lately… I just haven’t felt “crafty” or “creative” or like anything I had to share was new and/or noteworthy. I haven’t really made anything, too. Hmmm… too hot, perhaps? The summer… always puts me in a s-l-o-w and lazy mood.
I have a ton of pictures to share… a few stories… do you think it’s okay to post things that are old? :)
I did get some inspiration from Sandy at Art Tea Life… I have no idea where she gets the energy! So amazing and talented! And, she’s only one little town away!
So, let me try to remember that html stuff, sift through my hundreds of photos and I’ll be back soon!
Oh, and we got the webkinz… somehow my one order got tripled and I have to figure out how to get rid of them. If you are a store and want to buy them at cost, contact me… otherwise I need to hunt down my rep and make him pick up these darn ‘kinz!!!! over 400 of them… that I didn’t order… taking up a lot of room in my store. help.
What else… Halloween is up… I’m being daring and putting up a little bit of Christmas stuff this week aaannnndddd…. that’s it!
Lastly… we’re having an ant problem at the shop… I have to flick them off my leg and arm here and there, apparently I look like food. I was sitting at my desk and all of a sudden I see one crawling into my EYE!!! I run screaming into the bathroom… it was stinging SO bad and these are the little black guys!! In a panic, I flushed my eye out with water, still stinging. Finally, I pulled my bottom eyelid-thingy (technical term? I’m too freaked out to look it up) down to reveal that the little guy was dead… I had to pick him out of my EYE with a paper towel! EUGH, GROSS… I had no idea that would hurt so much. Ick. So… feeling defeated, I closed the store up early today, with a very red eye and shaken up quite a bit. I made 3/4 of a pair of earrings and watched a bad Keanu Reeves movie. Oh, the life of a jet-setting artist such as myself, never a dull moment ;)
Nathan (and I, sort of) participated in the 48 hour film project last weekend and went to the screening last night. We had a blast! This has inspired us to do more artsy film stuff. We don’t have a 35mm film movie camera, but we do have an amazing digital still camera… so we did a stop motion animation test using a box of matches:
It turned out quite well, for a 10 minute test with 70-something frames. So… we have the bug. We’re thinking of little stories to animate, both stop motion and 2d drawn stuff. I’m super excited :) It’s good experience for us both, but we are both so short on time, eek! I hope we can pull it off!
I’m convinced that Nathan is the next Spielberg ;) He has so much technical knowledge, it’s sort of humbling. I’m the one with the animation degree, but he knows soooo much more than I do! I like to build little sets, do the staging and come up with colorful characters, but he puts it all together with sound, creative camera angles and editing.
I may be turning the store into a production studio ;) hehe!
Lost… lost in a sea of “Summer Clearance” signs and over-indulging in a jewelry making supply purchase (shhhh…). I have about half-a-dozen posts started, but nothing up and finished… even my major epiphany entry… I love how that works.
I extended our Summer Clearance sale through this coming Saturday so come on up and take a look. I marked many things down to rock-bottom prices… Most things 10-30% off (All fashion jewelry is 30% off!!) but many random 40-50% off items and even some 75% off items. Making room for all the lovely Halloween items we just received!!
So… phew… I finally got the class schedule together…
Coming soon… Halloween Sugar Skull (Day of the Dead) Workshop, Basic Jewelry Design, Assorted Scrapbooking Workshops, Bath Product 101’s, Artist Trading Cards (ATC’s) and much more!
I’m going to put the schedule in flyer-form in a few local Starbucks… any other suggestions? I’m not a marketing guru and I hate going into such places and sheepishly asking to post my advertising. Better yet, you do it and I’ll give you something! hehehehehe…. shameless Tom Sawyer move.
It’s almost 2 am so I’m going to get to sleep, but I have been thinking of all of you in blog-city… I plan to take an afternoon and get acquainted with everyone again soon, and leave comments! ;)
To blog about (this is for “office use only” I suppose, because it’s not going to make sense):
The 48 Hour Film Project (Go Nancy and Friends!!)
Carrie’s Misadventures to pick up clasps and wire… I came home with a bead store
Have I mentioned that I dislike the heat?
We’re going to North Carolina in the middle of July! (what?!?! Whose idea was that?!?)
Looking through ancient Violets are Blue flyers from 1999… awww, look at my horrible layout design
My Mom may be getting her own park! Well, sort of
Happy Birthday Ms. Buswell
Who wants to come dispose of the 2 dozen deflated balloons I have hidden in the back room?
Birthday presents a-flyin’
Ummm… I knew there was more… but… whoa, it’s late!
