Saturday, October 23, 2010

Molly Coddle French Tile Winner!


Can you imagine the beauty that must surround you daily,
if THIS is your art studio??

Or, if THIS is your side window?


Or THIS,
your back yard?

 Each of the images above is actually one of
Molly Coddle's original photographic art transformed into

Aren't they INCREDIBLE?

Molly was so sweet to offer one of her tiles for a giveaway...

THIS ONE:

And I just can't thank her enough!

Molly's shop has more to offer than I could ever show you here,
but suffice to say -- if you want to get a jump on your holiday shopping...
START WITH HER!   :)

One fabulous gift idea are her many gorgeous sets of


Love these!

I'm so thrilled to have been able to introduce you to Molly and her art.
I've carried her creations in my store for years and I can tell you, 
they are second to none.


Thank you to all who entered and as always,
never fear -- if you didn't win this giveaway,
there are always more tries just around the corner!  
:)

Before I leave you, I wanted to give you a little
sneaky peek at a few more new things we've had in stock now for some time,
just haven't gotten them up on the website yet for online sales....
More fabulousness crafted from true vintage/salvaged
European canvas (from all sorts of past lives)
and sewn into these chic bags and pillows!





Until next time, I will be found in the shop office continuing to
press on shipping out ALL those pre-orders for the 
English re-print of Jeanne d'Arc Living's "Jul" Christmas book...

6 cases down, many more to go!  :)

You are loved,

  

Thursday, October 21, 2010

We Have ALL The Holiday Decorating Inspiration You Need To Get You Ready To DECK THE HALLS!

SO MUCH end-of-the-year magazine goodness to share!   


It's that time of the year again when all our favorite magazines
are all gussied up for the holidays in their festive finest with
ideas and inspiration brimming from their pages...
and the latest (and last for 2010) issue of 
is just that --
 gussied up in her Christmas best and ready to ship!

Our cases of the magazine arrived yesterday and will be shipping out immediately.



En route to us NOW (and HOPEFULLY to arrive on Friday, October 22)is the 
that SO MANY of you
have placed pre-orders for.

We fully expect to receive the shipment on the 22nd and the 
"wrapping and packaging and shipping MACHINE" will go into motion
forthwith!   
:)




The last issue of 2010 of
(different from their "Jul" Christmas book) is now on the site 
for pre-order, too!

It seems almost impossible that we have ALREADY reached to last issue
of yet another great year of  Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine!
Doesn't it just seem that these 8 issues they planned for 2010 
came and went so quickly?

Unfortunately, there has been no new news on when the company will
re-open trade of it's decor products to America again (there were apparently
customs issues they wanted to work out) but it hasn't been because I haven't
personally hounded them (nicely, of course) about it all year!   :)

They had hoped to have things worked out by this fall but alas, nothing as yet.

But we've stayed plenty busy with just keeping up with magazine orders with them
so we're happy.  :)

In the last couple of weeks, we have added some VERY friendly
faces to the shop -- all in an effort to keep the gears turning smoothly and 
hopefully get your's truly out of the office in the wee hours of the morning
and back home where she belongs a little more often.   :)

Three lovely helpers are now going to be buzzing around helping 
keep things flowing and to that I say a hearty AMEN!    :)

One of them is my sweet sister, Libby.

You may recall back a few blog posts ago I mentioned that we found out she had
uterine cancer (back in August) and underwent surgery to treat it.

She has healed well and has a VERY good prognosis. (Thanking the Lord daily for this).

With her healing now just about complete, she was ready to jump into something
to take her in a new direction and keep her busy with something new.
SO... what's a sister to do?

HIRE HER of course!

:)

Libby is literally RESCUING me from an avalanche of paperwork/bookkeeping backlog
that has haunted/taunted me for months.  I am eternally grateful to her!

You see, she LOVES crunching numbers and sitting for hours solving the
riddles of paperwork.

Me?
Numbers CRUSH me, and the "riddles" that pop up endlessly that need to 
be unraveled leave me wanting to open a window and toss the whole lot of it out.
So, it's a match made in sisterly heaven.  

A sweet gal and bestie of my daughter will also be coming in to help out
here and there -- her name is Rachel and she will be, among other things, helping get all the incoming cases of magazines prepared for shipment back out to our customers.  When my daughter has time (between classes, her job, and her busy social schedule, she will occasionally be working with Rachel.

So, when you get your magazine in the
mail, it will have been beautifully tissue wrapped for you
by Rachel or Olivia.

That alone is such a time-saver for me.  
Many an all-nighter has been pulled wrapping magazines for shipment the next day.
Not that I don't just love that aspect 
(I am NOT being sarcastic here -- I TRULY do love wrapping!)
but there IS something to be said for being tucked away in your own bed
at 2AM vs. being alone in the shop until all hours of the morning pushing it to get
a jump on the next day's shipments.   :)

I love's ya, 
but I needs my beauty sleep! 
 ;)

So, it is wonderful to enter the shipping segment of these three 
beautiful holiday magazines with the knowledge that 
I have some much needed help and will be 
experiencing firsthand the saying 
"Many hands make light work!"

Ahhhh.... feels good already.  
And, it is so much fun have the extra laughter and banter between
us all as we work about our own little jobs.  
It is truly a joy to be there all day.

Back Saturday to announce the winner of the giveaway 
of that GORGEOUS tile from Molly Coddle!


Still time to enter, so if you haven't yet,
whatcha waitin for???  
;)

Much love to you all!!

  

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

GIVEAWAY TIME! Subway Sign Style With A French Twist!


I've been away from my blog (and your blogs) for 
FAR TOO LONG!!

Your response to my hubby filling in for me on the last blog post was
SOOOO sweet!!  Thank you!

He read each of your comments and he smiled with each one.
You guys rock  - he was definitely feelin' the love of the blogging world! 
:)

There is so much to catch up on, but let's start this first blog post
back with something FUN -- 

A GIVEAWAY!!!

Just LOOK at this fabulous 6" x 9" marble tile!!!
I totally love the edgy subway-style wording but with French places...
Just love it.


The tile is the creation of  Molly, 
owner of 

Isn't it wonderful?!?!

Molly has SO generously offered to give one of my lucky readers this tile
($44.00 value!) for this giveaway.   

Molly has SO many designs.....

you simply won't believe your eyes and the few below
are, trust me,
a DROP IN THE BUCKET...





If the beauty of these tiles looks familiar, it may be because you've seen
them in our shop -- we have several of her tiles and they have been
loved by our customers for years!

The giveaway starts NOW
and runs through Saturday.

Here is all you have to do to enter:

1.)  Leave a comment here, under this post, indicating you'd
like to be entered.

2.)  Pop over to her retail website, 
and take time to browse her site 
(you will get
simply LOST in the many, many, many tile designs she's created)
and if you are a Facebook user, be sure to "Like" her Facebook page
via the box near the bottom of her site's Home page.

3.) Stop by Molly's  blog!
You'll love staying connected with Molly and the new designs 
she's creating!   
While on her blog, be sure and join her blog following
(upper right corner of her blog).  

It's good to be back here on the blog and please enjoy entering
the giveaway and getting to know Molly Coddle designs!!

Much to tell about, but let's enjoy this giveaway and
THANK YOU, MOLLY!!!     
:)

P.S. -- We are now taking pre-orders for Jeanne d'Arc Living's
LAST issue of 2010 ... of course it is Christmas-themed, and GORGEOUS.
Click HERE to pre-order!

The re-print of last year's "Jul" (Christmas) book in softcover is on it's way to us
and if you already placed your pre-order for it, be expecting it in your mailbox soon!


  

Monday, October 4, 2010

Substitute Blogger!


Hello everyone! 
 Yes, it's been a while since Ruth
has put up a new blog post.  
Never fear!
She is doing fine!
My wife has been incredibly busy lately!
That's not a bad thing, though!
Of course, having me home for a well deserved vacation
has kind of kept her occupied along with plenty of other
stuff going on around here!
( I haven't been a lot of help, so I offered to do a post for her,
and she actually caved in and let me!)

We did get in a new shipment of the Autumn issue of the Jeanne d'Arc magazine.
All the pre-orders we have will be shipped within the next 
couple days, so you should have them soon!

Also, we got in some new vintage canvas bags and pillows.
Those will be up on the store site as soon as 
we can get pictures taken.

I am reminded of how much effort really goes in to running a store,
even if it's totally online...that might even be more work 
than an actual bricks and mortar store!

Despite my usually busy schedule, I want to help Ruthie whenever I can,
so I was thrilled that she actually let me do this post!

FEEL FREE TO LET HER KNOW IF YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE FROM
"HUBS"...  :)

Ruth really appreciates everyone who has been following this blog,
and all the friends who have been asking about her!
I'm sure it won't be long until she has another post,
and...you might even here from me again!



-Doug