Thoughts from Alice W.

Black Friday Sale!

In honor of the holiday this week, I am offering Black Friday Savings now through Sunday! {This isn't just a Friday sale!} Enjoy 15% your orders in both my Looking Glass House and Paradox shops by entering the following code when checking out:

BLACKFRIDAY2010

And I want to send a big thank you to all of you concerned about my health recently. The bronchitis seems to be almost completely gone {still a slight cough though}. I did end up having to return to the doctor's office twice due to terrible pain I was experiencing under my ribs on my right side. I was in excruciating pain for two days, and had to have an ultrasound today to be sure it wasn't a kidney infection/problem. Which thankfully it doesn't seem that it was, but more likely the rib cartilage that was stressed during my 8 days of coughing that is causing all of the pain. I do have medication which is helping considerably, so I am grateful for that. I really do appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers along the way!

Hoping to be back to my normal self very soon :)

Till next time, I wish you all a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

under the weather...but on the mend

Well, I certainly hope these past couple of weeks have treated you better than me.

Last Wednesday, I came down with what I thought was just a slight cough. By Thursday, I realized I had the full on flu. My entire body ached, I had a fever and felt extremely sick. I quickly set up camp on our new sofa - of which you have a glimps above.

{Can't show you the rest yet, as it is completely covered in old sheets, blankets and pillows, since I have barely left that spot for the last several days.}

Well, the flu lasted long enough...and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

My symptoms changed, and I came down with the most unbearable cough {which has kept me up very late, even into the early morning hours, ever since}.

I finally got myself to the doctor where it was confirmed that I now had bronchitis. Thankfully, I received some meds, and have been on them for a few days now and am hoping to recover soon. Now my sides are aching something fierce, but my cough seems to be subsiding a little.

Josh recently brought me home a beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas, which brightened my day when he walked in with them.

With being sick and keeping up with Etsy, I haven't had much time for decorating, which has made me a little depressed.

I so love decorating for the holidays.

I did start placing some items around that make me happy when I look at them...some recent acquisitions like this transferware dish. I just love it...

And I was delighted when I unpacked my ironstone pottery...haven't seen these in about 10 months!

And Josh found this great little covered dish recently with faces on both sides and the lid...

So, I have all the works to decorate beautifully...now just need the time and strength to do it! Sigh...

Yesterday, after basically being able to accomplish nothing for 8 straight days, I got restless and started creating again. It felt good to get things made and not just sit and watch Hallmark Christmas movies all day {although I am still enjoying those as I create}.

Here are few of the new items I came up with during my time on the sofa...

Last year, my rag ball ornaments were my most popular seller so those are back in burlap, white linen and natural linen...

And they are now available in several new styles...including white burlap, red ticking and pink cotton...

I have also whipped up some vintage inspired holiday banners...with more coming soon...

And have some other holiday items up my sleeve that will be coming in the next few days. I do hope you will stop by my Etsy shop to check them all out! Just click below to view the full Holiday Collection...

 

Till next time...I'll just be on the mend ;)

  

harvest and holiday...

It's hard to believe that October has already come and gone.

Most of the leaves have already fallen off of the trees in our neighborhood, and we even had our first snow last night. It was brief but a sign of the long winter to come.

I hope that all of you enjoyed a safe and fun Halloween...and haven't gotten too overstuffed on candy. This was our first year getting trick-or-treaters, and we were thoroughly impressed with the costumes that we saw. All of those adorable little faces dressed as a fireman, cowgirl, cheerleader, spider with large scary arms, princess, pony...we even saw a blue M&M {I think that was my favorite}.

And now that Halloween has passed...we move forward to my favorite time of year.

I long for the next two months all year long.

When I tell Joshua how I wish it lasted longer, he reminds me that it wouldn't be as special that way. So I strive to appreciate every single day while it is upon us.

This is the busiest season for us around here, with my three Etsy shops as well as Joshua's to help manage. We will be busy creating, listing and then, hopefully, shipping lots of items within the next several weeks. I am planning to have all of my shops stocked full of goodies for all of you this season and hope that you will stop by for a visit.

Here is a sneak peek at what you will find in my Looking Glass House shop...

I also wanted to share with all of you some other news. After a few months of debating, I have decided to close Painted White. If you have tried to pop over there, you will notice it is already gone. Since I have found more success listing on Etsy in the past year, and to save money on website hosting costs, I have decided to solely focus my efforts there for now.  I may at some point open another website down the road but that remains to be seen.

I hope that my long time customers will follow me over on Etsy and enjoy the goods that I have to offer.

For those of you who don't already know, I have three shops on Etsy...

For vintage finds, handmade home decor and artwork you can shop with me at 'Looking Glass House' {also known as aliceslookingglass}...

For vintage and handmade fashions you can shop with me at Paradox...

and for my romantic and vintage inspired photography you can shop with me at alice w. photography...

For those of you interested in my wonderfully talented husband's work, you can shop with him at St Joshua...

as well as follow him on the new Facebook fan page that I made for him by clicking here. 

If you haven't found my page on there yet, you can check it out here, and stay up to date with new items, sales, features and more.

* * * * * * *

And for those of you who are dying to see more house renovations and decorating that we have done, I hate to disappoint, but with how busy I have been in the past few weeks, I have hardly had a second to spare to work on it.

So no worries...you aren't missing anything. Trust me. We have gotten the studio painted in the loveliest shade of gray, and now I will begin focusing my attention setting it up and getting it ready to create in. Hopefully I will have it ready in a few weeks for some photos of the before and after.

This whole house thing will be one long process though, so I hope you will bear with me as we take our time making decisions and getting things 'just right' before I share them here.

I wish you all a most beautiful November and harvest season ahead...

Till next time...