i can't help it. . .

i just can't help it. . .
i am already thinking christmas. maybe it is the gorgeous glass garland that arrived last week and is sitting in a glass bowl on my desk.

it could be that candice and i are going to be vendors at silver bella this november, lots to get ready for that.
or i guess i could blame it on the vintage sequin cherries and the candy striped trim i bought.



the tags for these little millinery fruits could be the culprit.



i know i should get a grip here, it is only the middle of august. its just i adore everything vintage and christmas, sparkly and shiny, and all the lights glowing in the snow.




no, i am not wishing snow on anyone right now. but the heat is dragging me down and i want to come in all chilly and have a cup of cocoa with creme and snuggle in a big blanket and read a book.
hard to enjoy that right now.
so until everyone else is with me on this christmas thing i guess i'll just hang in there a few more weeks. . .

summer days in new york city

a summer thunderstorm is moving through the valley out my window and streaks of lightning are flashing in the sky. it is a perfect evening. the kind when neighbors sit out on their porches and comment on the weather and the kids ride around on their bikes. we are to the slow crawl here at the end of july. the heat is beginning to break a bit, thank goodness as anything near 100 degrees has me wilting. i have been wanting to post about our week in new york but i am just relishing these last few days of summer. once august hits we are gearing up to go back to school and i am getting things ready for my classes.
so this week i spent a whole day reading a book, went biking up the canyon, stopped at the corn stand, did things that i love to do in the summer without a schedule.


we didn't take enough pictures on our trip to new york of course! this time because i didn't want to look like a dopey tourist or i didn't want to drag my big camera with all the walking we did. this is the view outside our hotel window. looked like gotham city. in fact we tried to go see the new batman movie on opening night but it was all sold out. as it turned out one of the places i wanted to go manhattan costume supply was right across the street. everything a person would need to be a costumer on a movie set. one aisle had 15 different kinds of fake blood, non-drying, drying, light, medium, dark, it was crazy.



central park was beautiful, one of the places marina wanted to see. we asked a lady to take our photo and she didn't speak any english, but the photo turned out to be our best one together. thank you nice lady. . .
one of my favorite stores of course was tinsel trading. they were moving to a new store so i think i caught them not on their best day but i loved digging through the cardboard boxes they brought up from the basement that were filled with old button cards with all the paper turning to dust. the wall of flowers took my breath away. imagine me digging through all the lovely boxes of vintage flowers.




china town was amazing! we went to pearl paint a five story art supply store that had everything i could ever imagine. a whole floor of paper, a whole floor of paint, an aisle of masking tapes. it was fantastic. we both spent hours looking at every thing. lunch was at the excellent dumpling house. noone spoke english, we just pointed to the pictures on the menu. the food was the best chinese i have ever had. wish that place was close by :)




on the streets there were vendors selling fruits we had never seen before. i stopped and tried everything. at the open air fish market however i did not. a big plastic tub of octopus basking in the heat. the smell was suffocating. the markets were so fun to walk through, we picked out a whole sack of chinese candy to bring home for the family to try. the packaging was too adorable to resist.




we went to lots of museums to take in all the underground art we could find. the museum of modern art had a big salvador dali exhibit going on, what a weird guy. his photo was fantastic though. the museum docent said there is a book just on salvador dali's mustache.
this was my favorite exhibit. a room full of light fixtures that had been dipped in the dead sea until they formed salt crystals. they had them hanging in front of a big screen where a silent film was running of a woman swimming with 100 watermelons strung together making weird formations.


in soho we found the coolest small galleries. we saw an original character sketch by tim burton of the corpse bride he had done on the cardboard inside of a cereal box along with the designs for the original disney sleeping beauty, signed dr suess originals and an original pencil sketch of winnie the pooh. the energy in these works was unmistakable!
i bought this piece from an artist the had a table on the street during the saturday art fair. her name is Vartouhi Pinkston. the etching is so tiny and hand watercolored. marina bought several pieces as well. magic. . .



mood fabrics was another three story wonder. i didn't know where to even begin. here are two photos from the bottom floor of upholstery fabrics. it was so fun to see pages from fashion magazines with top designer fashions on the walls with swatches of the original fabrics stapled to the paper. oh to have this magical store at my backdoor when i needed it.


just before we left town we stopped at dylan's candy bar. three stories of candy. the stairs were poured resin with candy set in. each landing had a saying spelled out in candy. 'stairway to candy heaven' and 'may each step you take be sweet'.
a wonderland, you can find everything there imaginable. old fashioned candies from your childhood. i brought home some ultimate sour war head drops. sorry, they are long gone. . . .

here we go . . .

marina and I are packing up and heading to new york first thing in the morning. here is the little painting she did today to celebrate. a new line of little vogue girls you can find on her etsy store.

they are just adorable, i keep wanting to keep every painting she does. its a mother thing i guess. i have been saving darling art work from my kids for so long it is hard to let any of it go.

curses, i ALWAYS stay up too late packing the night before, but i figure it is a six hour flight. i'll be just sitting there.
i used to live just outside new york city when i was a teenager. i would spend every weekend at the flea markets. i am sure so much has changed. one thing you can count on for sure, tinsel trading, here i come!!

sweet dreams. . . . at the art nest

i haven't quite figured out what you would call it when a person gets home from such an amazing weekend filled with art, laughter, friends, delicious things to eat, breathtaking scenery, and have hundreds of photos and feel stuck staring at this white screen and be thinking to myself how can i pull all my thoughts and feelings together and share all these wonderful photos?

so i am just going to start somewhere and not try to put everything into one post or in even in order.

the best thing ever is how fun it is to host the art nest with my amazing art friend candice! we shared a room together and stayed up way too late most nights, and had more fun than two middle aged ladies are probably supposed to be having when they start a business together. . .

i love putting together the packets and creating all the little details as we get ready for each person to arrive. this tool kit had supplies for each class. vintage fabric scraps, a guache palette, flower basket needle book, tiny seed beads, a square of dark chocolate for emergencies, prismacolor encil 5B, a salvage card packed with silk ribbons, wire, chain and beads, and even a tiny bundle of receipts from the sugarhouse mercantile from 1941. we had two left over, if you want one they are for sale here.


by the time the shuttles arrived at the inn i couldn't wait to get this art retreat going, it is worse for me than waiting for christmas to finally arrive. here is helen and maija hanging out on the patio the first evening, it was perfect june weather for the mountains.

helen was already there as she flew in from england the day before. i was dying to meet her, but when we arrived she was out getting her hair done and and massage. several people drove to the inn, and two shuttles arrived in the afternoon so we had time to relax before everyone arrived. carla drove from colorado and i must say at 6pm that night i was thinking, um, we don't have carla's cell phone do we? as it turned out she stopped to take a bit of a nap but still arrived for the trades and dinner wednesday night. we traded little gifties, oh what fun. i will have to do a whole post about the darling trades.
this was an amazing package of unbelievable goodies from cindy and char for me and candice. oh i almost couldn't open it as it was so beautiful in the package.

the inn was just so lovely! we hung little name tags on each door so we could find everyone. steve was our chef (how come i don't have a picture of him??) who set out the most scrumptions breakfasts and afternoon hors doeuvres. the big feather beds were just divine.
a couple photos of the teachers,
steph
on the day of her class. notice that amazing necklace she was wearing, char bought it the minute she saw it. close-up you can see the fabulous twisted wire soldered onto an elegant heart. a sweet rhinestone earing is in the center.

alma
totally posed for this picture for me, but i only had 1 second to click it. she was showing her bobble bead to the class. i love this photo of all her creations strewn on the counter. c


carla
after taking alma's class holding up her adorable sheep she stitched into a collage of fabrics she collected on her trip to india. it is as amazing to watch these ladies take the other classes as it is to be in the one they are teaching. their talents were so diverse and incredible.


i was so pleased with how the kimball art center worked out. one whole wall of windows and counter space, two big sinks, an outside door, and a yummy green wall in the back (you will see this in the photos) it was so close by we mostly walked unless we had a bunch of stuff to take down, and the art galleries were so inspiring. here is the shot i took after everyone headed up for lunch, fabric everywhere!


i loved meeting for lunch up in the kitchen with the huge table big enough for 14! here is candice and beth in the kitchen, we picked up a yummy lemon cake to celebrate beth's birthday. she wouldn't tell her wish!

dinner the first night was at the french bistro on main street. candice and i had a blast picking out the menu and taste testing everdything, but we were totally unprepared for how fabulous everything turned out! on my table we were practically licking our plates after each course.


so i have this list of the top dinners i have ever eaten (say confirmed foodie) one was in france with my sister kris, there was our anniversary at sundance, and wowie, dinner at the art nest is right up there. the molten lava chocolate cake sealed the deal for sure.

the artist sale was the best ever! my antique store friend and his wife brought up suitcases full of his goodies to sell. i bought this little doll from japan and i can't wait to make her a little wardrobe from my vinitage fabrics. . .




it was so fun to have a few of our art gals up for classes and the sale. here is cheryl and marilyn getting ready for the sale.


sherri squashed in marilyns car as we packed four of us in the tiny backseat and headed for dinner.

deb looking quite fabulous in her cute apron and cool scarf.
sherri and dan at the sale.


and just to make this my longest post ever, here are a couple more of my favorite photos:
beth and julie, they are friends and related!

steph smirking at the picture she took of me taking a picture of someone else. dueling canons is what it was.

colleen with her angels at the sale

and char showing her whimsical drawings. i love the expression on her face.

well, i am still in my jammies and noone is awake yet at my house. very mysterious. i will have to check that out.

happy 4th to everyone, julie

french blue art treats.

i have only had my etsy shop for a week and i can't believe how much fun it has been! i have always adored mailing packages wrapped up with string, writing little notes, making handmade labels, and packing little bits of my treasures. i am looking at everything with a new eye these days. last week as i was going out to the estate sales i had my eyes open for little things to put in my art treats. my best finds were two vintage pendleton wool shirts, gorgeous wool in the colors of fall.



my favorite thing so far in my shop is this little scalloped embroidered pocket i sewed from a set of old pillowcases. they were rolled up carefully in someones attic for years. i would have happily used them on my pillows, but there were some holes in the cotton and several stains. the lovely stitching was so fine and even i bought them anyway. i feels wonderful to make these beautiful pockets out of something that once had such care and would have been forgotton.
the little french blue blossoms are so sweet with the tiniest black stamen clusters inside. collecting old millinery flowers is only one of my weaknesses. . . .



two more quite delicious summer trips to look forward to:

the art nest next week-i am still sewing and printing the canvas tool kits. today i am finishing the guache paint palettes and starting the name tags. can't wait to post about them when they are all finished! candice has been making these amazing salvage cards to go inside with all the other goodies.

marina and i will be taking in new york city together to celebrate her graduation. i lived 20 minutes outside the city for a year when i was 18 and went in every weekend to the flea markets. it will be amazing to go again and check it out together. tinsel trading is one place i am definitly going to visit! if you found a wonderful shop or resaurant you have visited that you think i would adore, please leave the info in a comment. we will be going in about three weeks.
happy thursday, julie