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.

Spring Break Sale

Not going anywhere for Spring Break Week? We are bringing the vacation to you!! All sea shells and ocean decor merchandise will be on sale from April 6th to April 10th. Take a savings at 30% off at the register.. does not include consignment or original artwork. I am feeling more relaxed already.....

The zombies are coming...The zombies are coming

Yes.. I said Zombies!! Another Hollywood connection took place this past Sunday in our Historic Downtown. The movie Zombieland had a location shoot at our old court house and on Greenville Street. The movie, starring Bill Murray, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin, is about a world overrun by zombies. The main character is a guy described as "the most frightened person on Earth" looks to find refuge a band of people to safety. Downtown was turned into a scene where a protest has taken place.

Here are Olivia and Brice in front of The Vintage-Flea... love the smashed up cars!

I didn't take to many pictures of the debris on the street but you can tell a lot of attention to detail was taken to create the atmosphere. Here a child's teddy bear was left behind.

You can see The Vintage-Flea on the big screen when this horror flick comes out in October 2009.

Report Card Day

Today was report card day at the Dumas household. Brice got accepted into the REACH program that will start next year in his new school. We couldn't have been more shocked when he was invited to begin testing a month ago. Never under estimate the class clown I guess.

Olivia made it into the Honor Role for the 2nd time in a row.

What a day. This brings me to my wonderful report card that I got when I was 10 years old from the International School in Manila. (We lived in the Philippines for 3 years when I was younger.) Look closely at the teacher comments for ART..."Could Do Better". Oh well, not everyone is a fan!

You can see my new encaustic paintings at the Canvas & Cocktails event that will take place on March 27th from 5pm-9pm. Hope to see you there.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I was lucky enough to have a double dose of soccer this weekend. Brice had his normal game on Saturday and then a rain make-up game on Sunday. Here you will see one (of many) of his awesome goals. The ball was too fast for the goalie to catch!!

Some new paintings for our Canvas & Cocktails event this Friday. The Nest... encaustic on luan board

Les Caraibes... encaustic on luan.

Also working on a new look for The Vintage-Flea website. A few tweaks here and there are yet to be had but you can preview it here and tell me your thoughts.