Trip To Atlanta Chapter 2

After our Lenox trip and the chocolate fix, we headed for higher sights in the buckheadish area. We stopped at an area we'd both been wanting for awhile, but never had time. Today is the day we've got time! I did forget to mention in chapter 1 that by now we'd called the store and there was no answer at 10:30. Funny, it's Julie day, right? Well, the light then hit my head that this week was her wedding she'd be planning with a lovely bride for almost a year and she'd asked off for the day. No problem I probably said, Valerie and I are here on Tuesdays anyways. Oopsy! Called Ashley, got her to fill in for a few hours. Otherwise, note on the door, "Flea Chick's gone junkin". Sorry if any of you came by!

Anyways, back to the story. We window shopped the first strip of overpriced stores while gulping down McDonald's (no time for real sit-down food!). Walking to Pieces (fab looking shop we spotted in Domino Magazine) we spot a dainty tattered chair in wilted velvet. It wooed us over to a most unusal spot behind two buildings. Downstairs was locked but you could see into some amazing antiques and two sweet black kitties. The hand-written sign on the door said to go upstairs. It was a wrod-iron staircase and a bit spooky to be honest. Valerie even said, "Let's don't go up there". But up we went and boy are we glad. A couple hours later we'd managed to fill the suburban to the brim with treasures you will now find on our store floor, including 2 beautiful blue velvet chairs. Great finds, we'll be back for more!

Field Trip To Atlanta/ Chapter 1

We constantly feel a need to go out and explore what's out there for inspiration, store display ideas and new product ideas. After the 3 day Halloween set-up we had to mentally take a week off and then recharge our batteries with a field trip to Atlanta. Valerie has all sorts of fun places she likes to go, so we set this past Tuesday as our day becuase we have our Julie in the store. Valerie arrives promptly at 9am and we are off! First stop, and the most inspiring part of our day, was to Lenox mall's Anthropolgie. We anxiously stand outside the driftwood doors waiting for the 10am bell to strike all the while taking in their beautiful window displays. Cool thing today, they were atually putting the final touches on the window complete with open paint can on the floor, painters clothes, ladder, the works. Yes, we always wondered when and HOW they do all they do to their stores, because quite honestly they are amazing! And they do it just like us. Cool.

So in we go heading straight for the new ceder wall shaped like a birdhouse with a HUGE rolling track door. Man, are they getting in our heads or what because we'd just talked about wanting one in our store! Of course all the displays are amazingly put together. Just the right amount of this and that/ old and new...inspiring.

So what's up with the picture above you ask? Imagine this in your head for a moment. Valerie and I are determined to get some pics for our idea book, so camera in purse this is how she does it. She has a nice size purse over her left shoulder, arms crossed over her chest and camera tucked nicely between the arm and the purse so no one sees it. She snaps away as she walks. We are giggling...acting as casually as we can. By the way I should mention that we are the only guests in the store with like 10 workers who came up to us no less than 5 times in our 30 minute stay, are they customer friendly or what! So we exit ready to come home and make some new displays taking a look in her viewer to see how we did. We about peed ourselves when we saw the lovely selection of "Valerie's Arm in Anthroplogie Collection" we now have. You think they'd get some hits on Flicker? Anyways, can you tell what she was snapping? If you can, tell us and maybe they'll be a prize!

After that we just had to get a cookie at the cookie stand and off we went to our next stop...........

Check out what's in these glass jars! This is a great way for you to decorate your home with somethings you may already have. Grab those glass apothecary jars you bought from us in the spring and add: candy corn and a few chocolates disguised as eyeballs in one, mini pumpkins and bouncy eyeballs in another and last but not least, a couple of doll heads atop of old fashioned Mary Jane candies! We've got some extra doll heads laying around if you need them!












This great primitive cabinet is full of old amber bottles we found on a junkin' run. Along with our owl collection and a few light up Haunted Houses, it makes a spooky fun display! The skeleton is ready for a party with his fabulous party hat and scarf!

Sneak Peak at Halloween

We worked ourselves crazy for three days straight to create this magical Halloween experience just for you! We hope you will wander in soon and see all the really great products we found for decorating this year. We've got black light-up jack-o-lanterns, a new line of figurines, great flicker candles, pillows, dolls, silhouettes, spooky jewelry, bowl fillers and more! Here are a few pics to get you excited about your visit!



This is a view from the left.....silhouettes fill this area and create a wonderful table scape. The flocked witch in the moon and bats are a mantel must have! The glitter bats and spiders hanging from our ceiling, priced at just $5.00 each can fill your ceiling, front entrance or your porch for a fun trick-or-treater greeting! On the wall behind the table is our new find at the mart. These fun figurines are made of paper clay. Witches, pumpkins, cats, Frankensteins, ghosts and more all have adorable faces and some even bobble too and fro! These are guaranteed to be a fun collection to start.


Here's a view from the right.....Notice the fabulous blue velvet couch (A Valerie find) full of great Halloween inspired pillows. We also have a nice selection of banners for your front door, mantel decorations and some way cool tricks and treats!

"Spirits Tell Us...."

We bought this Ouija Board on our adventure to Nashville, TN months ago. Those of you who've read all our past blogs may remember seeing it in the pile of treasures from that trip! Of course there was always a plan for it to land in our Halloween display!

So board, do you foresee us having a fabulous holiday season? If this week is any indicator, the board is tried and true! Thanks to all of you who stopped by Tuesday night. We had spirits, food and fun for all. The front of the store is definitely a spooky filled grand display!

My Vent

Hey all.. well Jenni writes these things all the time but she wasn't with me on this adventure and I just had to share. So off to Atlanta I go with my Olivia (8) and Brice (5) in tow to the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park. What a disappointment. Is it my imagination or was everything from a craft bazaar? I didn't see anything original or inspiring. But no matter- the real reason why we were in Atlanta was to pick up this cool couch that I found on Craigslist. We are putting out our Halloween merchandise next week and I thought this would be great in a display. So off we go to Canton.

When we get to the house....nobody was home. Now let me back up by saying the only communication I had with the seller was that we wanted to purchase the sofa and would pick it up after 5pm on Saturday. She said that would be fine and that she would be home. After about 5 minutes of ringing the doorbell, I left her a note saying that I would take my kids to dinner down the street and for her to call me when she got home. 1 hour later I get a call saying that she sold the couch 4 hours ago at 3pm!!!! A real honest women that one was...

It wouldn't have been so bad if on our way back home both Southbound lanes of Interstate 75 and 85 were shut down due to a bad traffic accident. All of us were rerouted to Interstate 285. 4 hours later the kids and I arrive home. I went up for a sofa but came back with this precious cargo instead.

He won't be for sale in our Halloween display though. :-)

HOLY COW! Grandma, where's that chair of yours?

"The infamous aluminum tube web chairs that society has taken for granted for so long are restored to accentuate their covertly true modern form. A stitched leather silhouette of the once web, new hardwood armrests, and mirror polished frame not only redefines the chair’s physical presence, but also its identity." So it's late, and I'm surfing the web, and just had to share this find. Those underlined words are directly from the website in vivid description of the "lawn chair" above! We had these way cute girls come in to the store today and through conversation, found out one's sister has a website with Lotta's stuff on it. (Lotta is featured in Blueprint magazine this month, you gotta check out her stuff. Love it!) The web shop is called www.greenergrassdesign.com. They offer way fabulous products and ideas for our store. Products and ideas for us to "springboard" off basically. And then I nearly fell to the floor laughing when I saw my Grandmother Adkins' favorite aluminum chair on their site under furniture listed for, are you sitting down? $2500.00!!!!! No lie! They have taken these chairs, used leather for the webbing instead of the scratchy plastic webbing, refinished the arms, and slapped a price of $2500.00 on it, plus shipping of course. So, if your Grandmother still has hers on the back porch, I'd sneak it off if I were you and bring it to Valerie and I, we'll fix it up real nice for you!

Emerging Artist

I think most of our readers know that I (being Jenni) write the blogs, while Valerie writes the website and our "Flea Bite" e-newsletters. That being said, I can take some liberty with my bragging rights when it comes to my best buddy Valerie in this blog entry. Below is a picture of Valerie's art as it now appears in Pearl Arts and Crafts Center on Roswell Road. Yep, our little artist has spread her wings outside the four walls of the Flea with her art! Doesn't it look amazing all together! Makes me so happy to see it there for others to see.


Many of you have admired her art as it has hung in our store for several years now. She has sold several paintings to regular customers as well. Valerie has been painting with encaustic wax, perfecting her technique now for about 3 years. The most inspiring part of her body of work is that she really is a self-taught artist. And although she claims to not call herself an artist, I believe she has amazing talent and a gift when it comes to this art medium! This first venture outside the Flea walls is a stepping stone to more showings for her. I look to the future and see her art donning the walls of many more art enthusiasts in the coming months! I'm so proud of you Valerie!
***Thank you Jenni.. I couldn't have done this without your guidance. My art website is now up and running so please go to www.artbyvaleriedumas.com and tell me what you all think!!