once an ugly chair........

Okay Jenni, move over.... I want to tell our flea friends about my fun upholstery class tonight. Downtown Newnan has a gem of a store called 34 Madison that does custom drapery and upholstery. They also teach several classes in sewing, jewelry making, faux painting, and home decor. These gals are not only smart but they are hilarious too! Cindy Roberson, the owner, was a delight and I am looking forward to many more Thursday evenings with these ladies.
The chair above is my ugly chair (or ugly duckling) that I will transform into a beautiful swan. Jenni and I found it last weekend while junk store shopping for only $20!! I wish I took a front shot of it but I was too excited to start tearing it apart. Oh it was ugly and full of stains but had lots of potential. The class is set up in 6 evenings, the first 2 or 3 will be devoted to taking off the original fabric. Then I will have the fun task of picking out about 8 yards of gorgeous new fabric.
So as I work on my chair, I will document my new venture for all of you to see. Wish me lots of luck. Melissa, below, will be working on dining room chairs for a client. Oh by the way, Cindy and I came up with a LNO for us in the future. We are going to have a class and learn how to make lampshades. Our inspiration comes from this blog http://lakeslampshades.com/blog/lampshadeladyblog.html where the owners teach classes and make gorgeous shades.

New Stuff Coming in Droves!

Oh my....the goods are arriving on almost a daily basis! In fact, since I took these photos we've gotten in fabulous needlepoint pillows, another Easter round, table linens, napkins and more! You have to come by and see our new collection of Funktion aprons, dishtowels and tablecloths! They are so fun for your spring entertaining!

Fit For a Queen

We hosted our Chocolate and Tiara's Tuesday night......and boy what a treat of a night! These ladies really know how to put together a tiara! We had all sorts of themes; butterflies, nests, birds, lots of gold, shells, you name it, it was probably added to someone's tiara! The ladies had a ton of fun and so did we! Here's a group photo of us all done. I think the Queen of England would be jealous, our tiaras are way more fun than her's! Thanks for all of you that joined us!

Easter Comes Early this Year

Easter is hoping upon us! This year it's March 23rd. Wow! So, we at the flea unpacked and arranged an amazing collection of Easter goodies for you. I've attached a bunch of pictures for those of you out of towners who regularly read our blog. We'd be glad to ship any of the items you see here!
Adorable, and very real looking cookie oranaments. We have more selections available. All at $3 and under.
These chenille bunnies can hang out anywhere...aren't they cute?
These little velvet birds would look great under a cloche or in the middle of your dining table. (Or any little spot really!)
We have several papier mache glittery little figurines all made by Bethany Lowe. They are made from her chocolate molds, hand painted and glittered. Definately a keepsake.

These are called Peter, Paul and Mary.
Sweet bunny pillow on our pink velvet wing chair.
Melamine trays and plates would be great to take sweets to teachers, your preacher or a special friend for Easter. All priced at $12 and under.
This one is sooooo cute. He is so saying "Ya'll come back now".
On the left are the old fashioned games where you rock the tray until you get the beads in the holes. Talk about a quiet game for car rides. On the right is one of the several we have to offer card board silhouettes. They are very reasonably priced and would be great on your table, mantel or even in a wreath on your front door!

Beautiful New Soap Line Arrives!

Valerie and I debated about this soap line for awhile now. We've always thought that when you think about something long enough, and still really want it, you should go for it! So we did. And it is so very worth it! The smell, the feel, the amazing packaging. This line has it all! I had to take pictures of all of it for you! It's displayed in the back corner, so wind your way back and follow your nose, because the smell is beautiful. Gianna Rose Atelier...what a name. We have egg soaps by the single, egg soaps in a porcelain nest, eggs in apothocary jars and roses. Great gifts for the hard and easy to buy for.



Yes, the nest comes in that amazing little box tied with ribbon.

Winter Break ART CAMP!!!

Did you know that Coweta and Fayette Schools are about to be out for winter break? It feels like we just got back from Christmas vacation! For those of you hanging around town during break, why not bring your child by for an art camp! We are hosting "PJ's and Art" on Tuesday, Feb. 19th or Thursday, Feb. 21st. You'll drop your children off at 10am with a sack lunch and return at 2PM to find their hands a little messy and their imaginations in overload! The day will be filled with story telling and art. We'll be painting a giraffe on wood, constructing a pig from paper, building a fuzzy duck, and drawing Smog the City dog! Oh the fun we'll have. Please call to make reservations and pre-pay! Hope to see all your children soon!

Valentine's Day Gifts

Need an idea for Valentine's Day? Show your special friend, hubby or boyfriend this entry and you are sure to get a special surprise! We have handmade just for you our felted flowers in all the favorite colors of love. We also made a few fused glass pendants in the perfect pinks and reds. Brand new to the Flea are our wax seal PMC clay charms on chains (made by Flea chick Valerie). We have since turned several into a beautiful darker patina...you'll have to stop by to see those as well! Flowers: $15, Fused Glass: $15, Wax seals: $28
Our new addition to the fused glass line are our belt buckles. Priced at $35 without the belt. Great gift!!
I've recently found this adorable little blog called the Constant Gatherer where the artist named Katie creates the most amazing wreaths and NESTS (you know how we love nests here!) This is our version. Look at these "Love Birds" - wouldn't they sit perfect on your front door to great your guests during this season of love! Also available is a round one, and several non-Valentine ones.
These glass sleeves have vintage postcards slipped inside. Once the season is over, you can open the sleeve and place your own photo or postcard inside! Priced between $4 and $8 these are a great happy for a teacher, friend, or for yourself!

We also have our bubblegum charm bracelets as mentioned in a previous blog. They are already packaged in a Whitman chocalate box---no calories in that box!

We're Back Part 2

Day 3 We wake bright and early excited about getting to the Gift Show. We'd been told to head straight for the Javits and Piers and skip the permanent showrooms, so this was our plan. Luckily today was the day it choose the rain ALL day. At least we were not walking all over town like the day before. This show is set up really different from Atlanta in that it is in 4 different locations, not three buildings attached by walkovers. We get to the Javits a little soaked (remember the walking everywhere I mentioned earlier?) and make our way through the Handmade sections. We found several great new lines we can't wait to get in, found a few LNO inspirations and tons that were just plain out of our price range but loved anyways. This is a picture of Pier 94 where they had temporary home and garden vendors. Yes, it looks like a giant floating mart. And in the fog and rain, even creepier! We didn't find too much this way, but it was fun to look. If we had a baby store we could have gone wild! One cool thing happened while we were buying from one vendor (we can't wait for the birds to fly in!). Elle Magazine came up to their booth and asked if they could use some of their products for a photo shoot! Were we in the right place or what? People all over stick their foot in their mouths though, because when asked about borrowing the product, one of the owners said, "Are you with Domino?" The Elle lady politely replied, "No, Elle Decor. Why, did Domino already use the product for a shoot?" There was some no,no,no.....they used something else...this and that. I guess we picked a hot spot!

DAY 4 This is a shot from inside the Javits. This was an amazing building, all glass, right on the water. In the rain, it was a wonderful sight and sound. The vendors were lined up by the thousands, and yes we walked the entire thing in two days. I don't know how. I guess the Billy's Bakery cupcakes had a bit to do with our energy levels....and the need to find the newest, latest and greatest for The Flea.
Sneak peek at a new product line for us. Your kids will love them! We've already test run them with our own babies and they are a winner! And no, we won't be selling the gigantic one, darn you say!
Long live the Rat King! If you've not heard our little rat story, be sure to ask, I won't go into details here. Those of you who know the story....isn't this hilarious that we found him on the streets of NY? We think it's a balloon from a parade. Perfect.

DAY 5 5:30am wake-up call, 6 am on a fast driving shuttle van, 9am on airplane, 12:30 at home with our families!

Overall, we are glad we went. We found new ideas and vendors we'd not seen in Atlanta. Although ironically enough, most of the ones we bought from have Atlanta showrooms. It took us flying to New York to find them though! We had some great laughs as always. Memories that'll last forever when you go with your best friend. Great stories like pastrami sandwhich.....rat king........bathroom sink.........seeing Mood........cupcakes with loads of icing.........dead man on street (did I forget to mention that in day 2?).............Spring Awakening?(A Tony really?) ..........JJ and Lovin' the One Your With...............

We're Back!

We're back from the Big Apple...a little tired, but full of ideas and a few new products on the horizon. I'll give you the short version of our 5 day excursion. I am sure you will hear more as you come in and shop and ask us all about the trip as well! We stayed at the Hotel Pennsylvania right on 7th ave right across from Madison Square Garden. Talk about a fabulous spot! It was in walking distance to everything! We never used a taxi or subway, even in the pouring down rain!
DAY 1
We are both HUGE Project Runway fans, so one stop we had to make was to Mood. This is the fabric store they use to buy all the fabrics for their assignments. Good thing we stopped at Parsons and asked where it was though because it was on the third story of a building. We'd have never found it! We also hit ABC Carpet and Home Wednesday. Here we found three stories of fabulous is the best way to descibe it. Way over priced, but worth the stair climbing to see the beautiful products and gather ideas to take home to you!
We were a very short walk to Times Square so we ended up walking here often. This night we decided to wander into a comedy club called Ha! During the 2 hour show we endured some really bad comedy and some pretty good comedy. It was a first for us both, so it was a fun experience (coupled with several margaritas).
Here's Parson's school of design where they shoot the Project Runway show. We were in what was called the Garmet District so we saw lots of model wanna-bes, cool dressed college kids and future design stars. One observation on both our parts were the vast number of thin women in this city. Of course if they walk as much as we did on a regular basis, I guess I could see why!
DAY 2 On Thursday we spent it walking up and down from our hotel, to Rockerfeller Center, back to Times Square. Our goal was to find goodies for our children, and a few treats for ourselves! Between Forever 21, Anthropologie, American Girl, souvenier shops and Swatch, I think we covered a ton of New York! Here we are at the famous ice rink. I should mention at this point that it is quite cold, and windy! That night we had tickets to see Spring Awakenings, the 2007 Tony Award winning musical. It was.......well.....it was something. Rated R for sure!