Too Many Treats

I got too many treats today, not only did I receive many lovely goodies but I got to chat with four of my designers in person, and that is always fun. First up, Mollie Dash brought more bracelets and also a few keychains in a similar style that I convinced her to do...okay it wasn't hard to convince her! I shot a picture, see below. Again, they are mixed vintage chains plus a little add-on from her stash of Cool Bits of Things That Might Become Jewelry Someday.



Next, Judith of Analogous brought a few more anatomical heart necklaces - we got some nice blog press this week and we are already sold out of the pieces! We do have a tiny version of the heart necklace, and matching earrings, these are at the store, along with other pendants and lockets. (Speaking of lockets, Greenjeans is doing a locket show that I need to catch tomorrow, I love art jewelry).

And then David of the Bubble Roome stopped by with his Tangerine and Lavender soaps, and the shop smells awesome as usual now. And *then* our newest designer came by - Jane D'Arensbourg makes jewelry from borosilicate, aka Pyrex glass. They look delicate but are strong! She says people have slept in her link necklaces. We've got rings and earrings, we'll get that up on the website soon. As a treat, in-store customers can check out the bowl of charms at a very insta-purchase price - these are one to three glass rings on a colored thread, which can be used as a necklace, moved to a different chain, whatever.





The mailman brought me a new batch of hats by Giant Dwarf. We are lucky to get any at all, Sue has been so busy this year selling them all over the place! The Flame Cloche is made from recycled sweaters, with wool felt, vintage silk ribbon, bits of lace and French glass button embellishment, they are all one of a kind and very special.



What else - the dog and cat pillows by Aaron Stewart are here! They are clustered in the front window...little kids are already running up and grabbing for them as they pass by outside. Up in the webshop very soon.



Finally, we are restocked on Kbox, the modular jewelry box system. Our favorite combo is the magenta sculpted pads with the black long box, it will make your sterling silver jewelry look great. We hide a bit of anti-tarnish paper under the pad, put the lid on and you are good to go.

Books

The good news: the Olle Eksell book is back in stock, so backorders will go out immediately. The bad news: we received so many backorders that after processing everyone, we will only have 4 books left! If you want this book this week, hurry and order now. We can get more, of course, but it will be another 2 weeks, probably.

We are also back in stock on a great inspirational book called 'Book Design of Graphic Designers in Japan'. Like the Eksell book, it's mostly images and little bits of text in Japanese, but it's great eye candy. I don't have this on the site as it sells out in the store so quickly, but email if you are still interested.

New goodies, again. Saturn Press sent more hilarious letterpressed cards, which some people are taking home to frame. They do a more woodsy vintage style so I have instructional cards on identifying your cloud formations, how to build a canoe, a 'house parts' card for your favorite architect, and shadowcraft, for really pro shadow puppeteering.

And - Susie of boygirlparty sent some too-cute 1" buttons, postcards and notecards, plus an octopus-adorned to-do list and brand-new recipe cards, to share with your friends. Some images below.





The Ivy coat rack system is finally here - I need to install these at the shop somewhere...the colors are a very bright green we are calling Kermit, and a dark taupe-y grey-brown that we have dubbed Weimaraner. Considering the scarves, hats and umbrellas people must unburden themselves from when they enter the store, I guess I should put it right by the door.

Finally, we brought back a few favorite Crystalyn Kae bag and tote styles, in burgundy and dark blue. I'm not really good at buying a straight black bag for the store, but if you ask nice I can order you one.

Happy 300

Actually, 301. This is my 301st post to this blog! We have been open for a year and four months so that is quite frequent. We are going to move things to Wordpress very soon (when the new site is live) so I hope I don't make it past, oh, 315 or so on Blogger...

Karen from Clothes-Pin was kind enough to interview me for her shop owner post today. You will see that the philosophy of the shop is taking shape, more than when I started.

So, so many things arrived today. A lovely hand-pulled print by Stolen Chicken, if you are in the mood for art; new styles from Catherine Weitzman jewelry; brand-new jewelry from Prismera, aka my assistant/elf Laura; the tiniest beadwork ever from Laurice Curran; coin purses back in stock from Deadly Squire; fantastic laminated passport cases from Tinymeat (yup, that's the name of the company). I'm probably forgetting something, but some pictures below.






And now, I could use some advice:
1) If you were going to Italy for a week, where would you go? (80% sure I'll be there in March)
2) How do you prevent that annoying gap at the base of the thumb when you are knitting mittens or gloves?
3) If you have ulnar tunnel injuries, what is better - pen and tablet, trackball, mouse or touchpad?

New Year

It's kind of fun to get to celebrate the New Year again...Chinese New Year, year of the pig, is February 18 and what I like is that it's all about hanging with your family...and eating. There is so much eating involved. This year we are going to gather a posse and hit Chinatown for possibly the silliest day ever to try and eat dim sum. It will be packed at the restaurants but that's part of the fun.

New things at the shop this week include jewelry by San Francisco's Gretchen Walker, cute and crazy pet pillows by NYC's Aaron Stewart, awesome anti-valentine's jewelry by Analogous, spring tops and coverups by OK47, and more cute woolen hats by Elasticco. We'll be restocked on jewels by Buji and Laurice Curran too.




Did we mention we'll be open next Monday and Tuesday for last-minute V Day needs? Come keep up company in the chilly store. There may be chocolaty treats...