Found(not earrings)

Here's a shop to watch - Neat Curios. I think they have some really interesting and quality pieces including these majolica plates(I bet you thought they were earrings didn't you?) and the Chinese lacquer box. (You know all those fabulous, random plate-scapes that you see on stylish walls these days? Well wouldn't these plates look marvelous combined with other unique pieces - real show stoppers!)

Fabulousness

So, for all you fans of old, distressed, vintage, rusty and peeling - bring out the oxygen and prepare to hyperventilate at these fabby examples of patina perfection . . . breathe in, breathe out . . .

Images from here Verhext and from here Fint

Inspiration

How about some storage inspiration this morning? All of these images have been circulating on Tumblr and I think they are fabulous - I can't even tell you which one is my favourite - I love them all. Definitely some great storage ideas.

Inspiration

Here are a few vintage items to jumpstart your design inspiration today. Both of these are from Sweet Love Vintage.

Mingle

Calling all locals - if you haven't been to a Mingle Cocktail Lounge evening before I am encouraging you to go this week, Thursday night at Louie's. Lissa Knox from Maison and myself are the special guests this week - how fun(I guess that means I have to be on my best behaviour!) Mingle is a great way for women in business to network and socialize, I really enjoy it - see you there!

Found

I love this rug - we seriously need a new rug in front of the fire in our living room and I really want a large, busy, colourful rug to bring some richness into the space. I think something like this would work - maybe in slightly darker colours? What do you think?

Love the pillows too - don't you? From Anthro.

Found

I found these super ceramics by Ken Eardley on Huma Qureshi's list of 10 best buys for the home under £70 on the Guardian's website. Huma has a lovely blog at Her Little Place - she has very good taste and I think you will enjoy her picks.

Prints

These pretty prints have been making the rounds in the blogosphere but in case you haven't seen them before - here they are - from Farouche(who I now realize is the brains behind Dandy Bread and Candy - one of my regular reads.) Aren't these sweet?

Spotted

These are fun - I can think of lots of great uses for these burlap gift bags from Burlap Works - not just for gifts!

See what happens when a certain illustrator, who shall remain nameless, has too much time on his hands? I personally think that Mimi is looking a little uncomfortable in her school uniform - perhaps she should lose weight!

Road Trip

We went to an antique fair in Spokane WA on Saturday (though we are in Canada, our closest city is a 3 hour drive away in WA.) I have seen the Custers Antique and Collectors Sales advertised in the past but we haven't been before. It was well worth the visit. Held at the Spokane Fair Grounds it was a huge event, probably the biggest antique fair I've ever been to with hundreds of vendors in a huge space. My friend Linda came with us - she was buying for Pat who trades in a local antique shop in Nelson. I always find it overwhelming when presented with all my favourite collectibles under one roof - don't you? I lose my mind and wander around like a zombie trying to take it all in like sponge. Fortunately I had Doug my trusty photographer with me and so off he went to take pictures. I bought some wood type trays - very good price at $28 each and lots of paper ephemera which I will incorporate into some Cartolina designs in the future. Here are some pictures that Doug took - not bad considering the lighting was pretty bad . . . .

This is one of those counter display models(above) that Doug is always looking for - Simplicity model complete with box and clothes(Doug says if any of you have one of these can you send it to him!) Christmas collectibles were abundant. I love this old reindeer but the hottest holiday items were from the 50s and 60s.

The following items were from a collection of old cast iron match holders. I loved them for the sculptural appeal - especially the elephant! They were very pricey - but great to see.

Wooden type trays were a hot item again. I bought a few at the end of the day and now I really wish I had bought them at the beginning of the day and spent the rest of the day buying tiny treasures to display in them!

I saw loads of fabulous Bakelite buttons like these ones above. The cards below were part of a game - great little illustrations!

Chalkware is still very big - especially dogs - in fact Doug took a lot of pictures of dogs - what's with that Doug? Are you trying to tell me we need to get a dog?

One of the things that I was really impressed with was all the vintage display cases that I saw for sale. They were very expensive - but so cool. Everything from simple bell jars to Victorian store fixtures - really great!

Doug was instructed to try and find a card catalog - and apparently this was the only one - and at $875 we were definitely not taking it home with us!

And of course there was lots of Halloween collectibles - and none more appropriate than this halloween cat that looks like it was attacked by a werewolf!

Photography

When I was editing the antique show pictures I noticed some nice shots we took the last time we were in Paris - thought you might enjoy them. First image is a store front across from our rental apartment - love this shot!

Even the down spouts are beautiful(below)

One of the things I love about Paris are the gallerias(below) - like Victorian shopping malls - this one was so beautiful, the woodwork was outstanding.

The shot below is of the interior of the great hall at Galeries Lafayette - one of the most fashionable department store in Paris.