Looking Towards 2010

Yes it is true.. I am already looking forward to 2010. Well February 21-24, 2010 that is. The Art and Soul Retreat has now open its' online registration doors and I am ready to go baby.

A few years back, Jenni and I traveled to the Art and Soul retreat in Portland, Oregon and had the best time. I learned new jewelry techniques, met the famous Sally Jean Alexander, and had a blast with my BFF. What could be better- VEGAS! Yes, this year the retreat will be traveling to Las Vegas.

Want to join us? Start saving your pennies and go to the Art and Soul retreat website for more information. It would be fun for our first Flea Field Trip.

Art Camp Week 3

This week we went on an Outdoor Adventure without the bugs and heat! We painted these fabulous daisy fields, painted butterfly magnets, made firefly jars, and drew an animal in our camera lens. It was a great day for making art! Join us next week for Insects on Tuesday and Fit for A King and Queen on Thursday. Sign up today!

Art Camp Week 2

Hello again! This week my little artists created work that truly soared to new heights! From watercolor hot air balloons like below: To adorable wooden race cars....

To one of my favorite subjects to paint, the bicycle, we had an amazing day of creating.

This week's agenda for Daly is the Ragin' Cajin'...I am thinking there's going to be shrimp on Tuesday so I am thinking about stopping by. At least a little gumbo Daly? On Thursday my students will be going on an Outdoor Adventure. We'll be making firefly jars, painting butterflies and an outdoor landscape. There's plenty of room so please call today! 770-683-2825! See you next week! Jenni

New Totes

I am loving the new tote bags that we just got in at The Flea. Made with a durable oil cloth material, these bags will be great for you next outdoor adventure. They would even make the most mundane task like going grocery shopping, more pleasurable.

small tote $10

medium tote $12

large tote $14

Back from New Orleans

We are finally back from our 10 day trip through Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, and Gulf Shores. My Mother-in-law is visiting us from France for 3 weeks and we thought a little side trip out of Georgia was in order. The one thing I couldn't get over was all the alligator souvenirs you see in New Orleans. Coming from South Florida, I thought we had the market on Alligator heads.. but not even close!!

Heard about the Cafe Du Monde from a brochure and they were right.. the best beignets ever!!
We had our fortunes read by a very reliable source...

And then we were itchin to see the real thing.. Swamp Tours here we come!!

Glad to be back home now. Can't wait to see what our visiting artists do next week at camp. Thank you Jenni for offering to blog about it for us.

Art Camp Round-Up

Hello there Flea readers! I'll be guest blogging over here on Fridays to give you a peek at the week's art camp adventures. This week Daly hosted Gone Fishin' on Tuesday where they made some great Father's Day gifts. I understand these projects were really "fishy". My little artists chewed their way through the day creating these fun projects:Self portraits with giant pink bubbles were a favorite project for many. The giant bubble is a wooden doll head painted pink and glued on. Here Gracen, Abbey and Abigail show off their folksy portraits. These were created on a canvas board with acrylic paints.
What kid doesn't love a bubble gum machine? These were created on watercolor paper with watercolors.

This project was inspired by our story of the day, Icky Sticky Bubble Gum. The main character, a frog, gets stuck in some icky sticky bubble gum, just as these little silly frogs have. These were created using acrylics on canvas paper.

And of course we chewed bubble gum ALL DAY! We even had a bubble blowing contest. This little sweetie won by far! Next week Daly is "Going on Safari" and I'll be "Moving Right Along" making Hot Air Balloons, Bikes, Rockets and Race Cars! Call 770-683-2825 to sign your child up today! See you next week! Jenni

Outside These 4 Walls

Taking a page from my artist BFF Jenni, I am going to try to sell my encaustic paintings outside of these 4 walls, The Vintage-Flea. Yes I am packing up 8 little guys to send to The Curious Sofa art show in Kansas. These are a little different then what I have done in the past. I painted on scrapbook paper, then mounted them on foam board. Finally I put them all in a 11x14 driftwood frame. The request I had from the store owner was to keep my art under $100. I have priced these to be $90.00 each.

But my favorite piece of art right now is from this wonderful caricature artist Dave Washburn. We found him at the Cotton Pickin' Fair a few weeks back. He can even do caricatures from photographs. Check him out at www.davewashburn.com.

Happy Friday

Wanted to show our cute little vignette that Julie came up with at the shop. Super Mom is what I call her.. aren't we all? She is showing off our very popular Cotton American Flags. (These babies flew out the door last year.) We have huge buntings for $36, the standard 3'x5' flag for $36 and the hard to find 20'x8" pillar flag for $42. We also have antique reproduction wall mounts that hold up to 5 flags and Americana primitives. Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. The Vintage-Flea will be closed on Monday in observation of this holday.

on the color wheel

Cleaning out my magazine stash today I ran across the March issue of House Beautiful.. their ultimate color issue. The magazine asks "How much color is right for you?" and "Are you neutral or bold?" Since I am wanting to redo my master bedroom (again) I thought it would be easy to answer these questions... but I find that I am a little of everything. How about you?

Are you Cool? Shades of blue feels restful and soothing.

Are you Warm? Neutrals and Earth tones allows the interiors to breathe.
Are you Deep? Rich colors like chocolate, fuchsia, orange always add drama.

Are you Bright? Caribbean colors like citron, turquoise, coral.

Or are you Intense? Confident jewel tone colors like indigo, eggplant, corn and kumquat.

I like them all!! It will be a hard choice.

picnic in the park

Getting close to summer time and that means great new products like these Indian blankets. Don't they just scream picnic in the park? These colorful blankets are 5'x7' in size and are priced at $16. So grab one today and enjoy that concert in the park, the beautiful fireworks, or that breezy Beach day.

The Celebrity

I am not a "Dancing with The Stars" fan... it falls on the same night at "American Idol" and well never cared for it. But I was curious when Jenni called me and told me that Albert was about to dance.. my Albert?? He is here in the kitchen with me I told her. She meant the Albert Look-A-Like, Gilles Marini.. an actor. Well they definitely have the same accent.

Everyone has always said he looked like another actor, Andy Garcia.
Here is my Albert. What do you think?

So while we are on the topic of celebrities in our lives.. we can't forget the most important- our Mothers. We have a few items in the shop that might be perfect for your mother's day gift. Order by Thursday the 7th to get one of these custom necklaces made for you.

Sterling Stix- $18.. kids names are very nice here or a special date to remember.

Sterling disc- $18

Fine Silver Initial Charm- $10. We also have necklaces to go with these that retail at $10 each, you even get a free pearl to go with it.

These are brand new in the shop, lampwork glass pendants. With or without foil backing. Only $12 each.

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

This Weekend....

This weekend The Vintage-Flea will have a little set up at Serenbe's 4th annual Mady Day celebration. This is a fun event for the whole family. Click here for more information about the show. You will be amazed by some of the artists they have found from all over Georgia. Hope to see you there.

I Scream for Ice Cream

I remember so fondly running after the ice cream truck when I was younger. The truck would come 1x per week after dinner and my brother and I were always the first in line. I believe the push pops were my ice cream of choice back then.. or fudge bars. Yummy!

So I was running around like crazy when I heard the familiar ice cream truck sing along songs coming down my street today. My kids thought I was nuts.. I was screaming "The Ice Cream Truck is Here, The Ice Cream Truck is Here".. What??? They had no idea what I was talking about.

Oh but they quickly learned and got up in line with their $1 bill. Mr. Ice Cream man said that he will be by 2x per week in our neighborhood. What a fun summer we will have.. and yes they have the push pops.

Olivia choice of the day.. Joly Rancher Ice Cream.

And of course Sponge Bob Ice Cream for Brice!! Enjoy.

Going Green this Weekend..

This weekend The Vintage-Flea will be participating in Senoia's 1st annual Earth Day "Art of Going Green" show. The show will include open air booths of artwork made from recycled metals, wood, plastic, cloth, and paper. There will also be locally grown produce, plants and other home made goodies. I will be showcasing some new pan faces for the event and be bringing up some of our recycled favorites from the store. The event is Saturday, April 25th from 10am-6pm. Hope to see you there!!

Back From Savannah

About 2 weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to take a 101 photography lesson from my favorite photographer, Sara Anthony. Now I am the first to tell you that I hate having my photograph taken which is weird since I always wanted to be a runway model growing up. However, Sara has a way of capturing the spirit of the person or family she is photographing or as she puts it, "Evoking Emotion". No cheesy posing!! One thing I learned in her class was not to be afraid of breaking the rules. I prefer the artsy photograph anyways so this was great! Now I look for interesting backgrounds because they are just as important for my artsy photo.

And having a new camera lens to play with, didn't hurt. Thanks Sara for introducing us to the 50mm 1.8 lens! Incredible.

So as you can see I was really excited to try out my photography skills while we were on our spring break trip to Savannah. After the kids indulged me by modeling all around town, we were finally able to do what we came for. SHOP!!

My first stop is one of my favs.. The Paris Market & Brocante. Here I picked up some great new ideas to incorporate into The Vintage-Flea and new products to research. My 2nd favorite is One Fish Two Fish.

Here I picked up some great jewelry ideas. Who said doing research isn't fun!!

Then we were off to do the usual tourist activities. We walked all the squares in Savannah.

We then took a carriage ride to give our tired feet a rest.

At the end of the day we went to Tybee Island to enjoy a little coastal sightseeing.

We stayed two nights on the island... going to every souvenir shop in town and braving the windy but beautiful beaches.

Then back to Savannah and now home relaxed, refreshed, and renewed. Happy Easter everyone. Enjoy your day.