Thoughts from Alice W.

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...

 

a little more press and a show...

I hope you will forgive me if I indulge in a little more bragging...

If you are an avid reader of Romantic Homes, you may have already seen it, but if not...

I am so excited to share that my blog has been featured in the September issue!

This is such an honor for me {and thank you Allison for alerting me that the issue was out. Lately, I seem to be the last one to find out about my features!}.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been preparing for a local show that I was invited to participate in.

Joshua and my mother decided to join in with me to combine our efforts, creations and offerings...

If you recall my last experience with a show, I typically have not had great success with these ventures, and unfortunately, this one was no different. All three of us barely broke even with what we had invested, but we did enjoy spending the day together, meeting some nice people, and getting lots of compliments on our 'vintage inspired' booth.

I took several photos and thought you might enjoy seeing them even though the show was less than a success for us...{makes me all the more appreciate the great online market!}

My mother and I combined our items in the majority of the booth...

We had lots of vintage items, antiques, and vintage inspired home decor...

{I have started receiving requests for the Toy Land Nesting Canisters featured above. I still have about 4-5 sets left, so for those interested, they are $12 for the set of 3. Just send me an email with your location and I can give you a quote on shipping and send you the link where you can pay through Paypal. And if you see anything else in this post that you are interested in just let me know. Thank you!}

I also included my photography and some handmade pieces...

as well as Halloween creations...

 

My mother also had her charming handmade wreaths...

This adorable retro Christmas wreath was my favorite...

We had a vast selection of jewelry {which is where the sales eventually came for Joshua and me}...

Joshua's jewelry received so many compliments and the most interest.

Most of the visitors had never seen anything like it....

I think from now on I will think a bit longer and harder before committing to do a show - they are exhausting! I am sure they can be worth it, if you make a good profit, but I just haven't yet had very good luck with that. Perhaps it was the location, the economy or any number of factors, but I think I will stick with what I know and appreciate that all the more ;)

Till next time...

A Summer in Somerset...

It feels like forever since I have been here! Well, it has been quite awhile hasn't it?

So, I thought I would take some time to share what I have been up to this summer...

First, I just received the Summer 2010 issue of Somerset Life. I have been anticipating this one for awhile but due to some postal issues and Border's not having a copy, it took awhile for me to receive it.

But alas, it came and I was delighted to see my article with a featured headline on the front cover!

The wonderful new editor, Christen Olivarez, wrote me a few months back and asked me to write an article based on this previous post featuring my vintage recipe cards.

It is funny how things work out in life...as I was certain that post would go by unnoticed by most when I first wrote it. And then it inspired an entire magazine article, who knew?
 
 

You can find my article on page 82, where I share how I acquired these vintage cards and what I have done with them, as well as some inspiration for your own recipes to share with others.

I am a firm believer that in today's fast paced life, a home cooked meal with friends and family is so important. And when the basic act of cooking it together is shared, special memories can be made.  I know that we all get busy and live in a society of instant gratification, so taking the time to prepare food and allow others to "help" can seem daunting, but it is the lessons learned and time shared here that will be treasured forever.

At least...in my humble opinion...

I was delighted to see that my article inspired a new challenge for readers...

You can share with them your own ideas for recipe cards, and if you do, I would love to see what you come up with!

{If you are interested in purchasing a set of the recipe cards, I still have several available and you can find them in my Etsy shop by clicking here.}

In the same issue, I was also featured in the article 'Simply Add a Button'...

It was based around embellishing packages with that little 'extra something' and just goes to prove that even the smallest of details {ie: a button} can have a big impact. Who would have thought by embellishing a previous box I sent into them, would result in a little spotlight?

And...I am honored to have three of my photographs featured in their Miscellany section! It truly has been 'a summer in Somerset'...

Some other events of the summer, I have joined this century and finally got myself on Facebook.

I know, I know...but I wasn't a 'fan' of it previously.

Since then I have found it can be enjoyable place to catch up with old friends/relatives...and keep in touch with people. I even created a little 'Alice W.' fan page for all of you, so that you can keep up to date with all of my shops and happenings if you are so inclined.

And some other big news of the summer...

Joshua and I are purchasing a home!

Finally, after a couple of months of looking we found the right one for us. We have already had the home inspection, applied for our mortgage, etc. So now we are just waiting and hoping it all goes fine as we wait for the closing date, which falls in the middle of August.

And then I will really be busy! Packing, moving, cleaning...and eventually my favorite: decorating my very own place.

I simply cannot wait. I am already looking at paint colors, scouring magazines for inspiration and dreaming of how I will make it my very own home sweet home.

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to check up on me this summer. I really appreciate all of your friendship and love!

Wishing you all a wonderful August...

Till next time,

The Watch Recyclers Wife

One day, I asked Joshua a simple question...

Have you ever heard of steampunk?

He hadn't. I barely had either, but had seen it around blogs and Etsy and wasn't exactly fond of it at the time.

I started to show him what it was...knowing his interest in pulling things apart and working with small pieces.

{He had previously begged me to let him pull apart our very old typewriter so he could 'make things' with it. That was a firm no.}

But after he got a good handle on what steampunk was...now he wanted to take apart all of my old pocket watches. Again the answer was...No. No. No.

I started to wonder why I had even wanted to spark his interest in this 'steampunk thing'?

He was certainly going to ruin all of my old things that I loved and collected.

So he was on his own...to get his own pieces...and grow his own collection...

and that he did...

It was very hard for me at first, to watch him take these things and use them to make new things {I tend to like to keep them around just to look at them...Josh is more practical, however, and enjoys turning them into something that can go to another}...

But once I started to see the beautiful things that he could do with them...

I became a fan. His biggest fan, in fact.

It's so inspiring how can take these...

and some of these...

and create these stunning pieces... 
 

He has made almost anything you can think of by now...rings, necklaces, cuff links, tie tacks, bracelets...and my personal favorite...his line of Remnants of Time earrings...

He uses crystals and pearls...

And is even branching out on a new line that I dubbed Reclaimed Relics {yes, I am the creative force behind the names of his collections and pieces}....to create vintage necklaces mixed with old finds...

And the answer to his question of whether he could use my small collection of vintage religious medals for these pieces? NO. Absolutely not.

So what did he do?

Went and got himself all of these...

Sigh. Maybe I can start hiding them one by one so he can't use them...{just kidding my love. I would never. Or would I? ~grin~}

But I suppose I only have myself to blame for all this. I did ask him that simple question that got the ball rolling.  

Just goes to show you never know where one little question can lead...
 

If you are interested in his work, I highly encourage you to take time to browse his Etsy shop. You might just find something that strikes your fancy. {But then again maybe I hope you don't so I can keep them all ;) }

Till next time...

{Jewelry photos courtesy Joshua Wingerden}