"The French Flea" May 1 & 2 and 13-17

"The French Flea"

May 1st first sale event of our new venture.

A line begins to form before opening.

Gretchen and Peggy checking out Shayne. Note that the Fleur box which is black and white in front of Peggy is already sold. It is shown in the next photo in the display it was in before being nabbed by a shopper.


Before I get back to sharing on my blog about jewelry items, I just wanted to share a blog post about the wonderful new shop I'm blessed to be a part of. It is in Anoka, Minnesota and is an occasional sale shop, so only open a few days a month. The month of May, we had two sales at "The French Flea", as we decided to get in on the annual "Diva Days" event that Anoka celebrates. It was a smart move on our part, and gave us a great beginning.

We then only had 9 days to gather our goods, re purpose, paint, and or design our stuff for the next sale which started with a bang on May 13th. The shop was open from 3-7 pm for a customer appreciation gathering with beverages and snacks served out back on our wonderful courtyard area. It was a fun evening and a lot of merchandised was sold in those 4 hours.

During the 9 days we had to in between sales, I spent the Saturday before Mothers' Day working on jewelry. I was awake for 16 1/2 hours that day, and for 15 hours sat at my kitchen table toiling away designing jewelry. I also worked some more at our cabin on Mothers' Day finishing a few more pieces. It was well worth it, as I was selling my pieces quickly, but this upcoming month I plan to pace myself. lol

Fleurs "flowers" box.

Mimi-Toria's Jewelry Area

My jewelry display area set up in the shop.

Women shopping my jewelry area early on in the sale event.

Furniture and Great Displays

See photos below.

French Flower Shop Area

Fun gardening goods are included in the shop items that are available for purchase.

Julie helps a customer carry her purchases to our hold area, so she can continue shopping. This is our outdoor courtyard area that they are in. More photos of this area later.

Family and Friends joined us for the kick off event.

Part of my family. All of us four sisters are shown standing. L to R. Ingrid, Karen, Gretchen (me) and Sandy. Kneeling is Julie, my niece (Sandy's daughter) and seated is Ginny our Step-Mom. Thank you for your support!

Carolyn and I on opening day. Carolyn has been so wonderfully supportive of this new venture I've been on. I couldn't find a more supportive and helpful friend than what she has been to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My wonderful longevity friend, Laura. She is so sweet. She brought me a May basket in the middle of the first day sale. How cool is that. I appreciate your 15 years of friendship, Laura.

I met Shayne (center) at another Occasional Sale and she is the owner of Style Minneapolis a fabulous shop in South Minneapolis. She and her friend were great customers at this sale and found some great treasures they just had to have.

This young Mom, was so cute with her three precious daughters. They were the most well-behaved girls ever. Thanks for coming and sharing this opening day with us.

My next blog post will be featuring the jewelry pieces that I currently have for sale and will be available for purchase off of this blog. If you are interested, please stay tuned, as I hope to post these pieces in the next day or so.

New Jewelry -SOLD

A side note to this blog post is that the photographs in this post are not showcasing the overall beauty of these pieces at all. I even tried an Ott light, but still struggle with the results. Garnets are very hard to photograph, but in reality they have much more color than what these photos are showing them to have. This first necklace has 4 hours of design time involved in its creation. Please note all of the details I try to include in a piece such as this and because of the time involved, the semi precious gemstones being used, as well as the fabulous focal components, it is a higher end piece.

"Time Flies By" (SOLD)

Very cool vintage brass (?) watch dial front/medallion back w/brass bird in flight, religious medal of Jesus, semi precious gemstones (garnets and smokey quartz), a crown, rhinestones, watch fob chain and a wonderful rhinestone clasp make up some of the components of this wonderful new necklace I created last week-end while up at our cabin working while in the natural surroundings.

Vintage brass floral pieces are a great look with the

faceted garnet gemstones and compliment the necklace.

EARRINGS ARE SOLD

Religious medal of Jesus. (Front view)

Religious medal. Mary and baby Jesus. (Back View)

Vintage "Coro" crown front has a great vintage feel to it with the
combination of rhinestone roundels and garnets added to it.


Signed "Coro" back of crown.

Focal of the necklace is this time piece. A vintage pocket watch brass
clock face with a brass bird taking flight. (Front View)


(Back View)

This trio of focal items dangle from a vintage circle with detailing on it.
(Front View)


(Back View)

This photo shows how it would lay against you when wearing it.

Note the filigree circle I mentioned earlier. There is also an additional religious charm that hangs off of the vintage watch fob on the right side of this photo. On the left the necklace has more garnets, rhinestone roundels, and a large faceted smoky quartz bead.

A view of the attachments.

Large smoky quartz accent bead.

Cool vintage links are on one side along with more

garnets and the large smoky quartz focal bead.

Opposite side has a rosary style chain of garnets and a

gold watch fob chain as well as sections of vintage rhinestones.

Hand made hook with vintage rhinestone

circle are the clasp of choice on this piece.

Details of the clasp closure.

Necklace full view. SOLD

"Pink Delite" - SOLD

This is a very unique one-of-a-kind necklace. I actually wore this necklace to test how it would lie, durability, etc., and the person that bought it fell in love with it the day I was wearing it. This necklace pretty much was bought off my neck.

Heavy brass focal piece has the added features of the cool vintage rose and brass details, and than a vintage tassel as found has been added to dangle off of the brass focal piece.

Details of this lovely brass focal shows how intricate

vintage pieces can be. I just love this.

Details of the tassel.

Ivory faux pearls make up the chain portion of this necklace

as well as four very large vintage glass pink swirl beads.

"Autumn Love" -SOLD

A fun vintage redesign using a variety of vintage components.

The white vintage beads are all glass and are very unique.
The remaining beads are faux pearls.

This necklace is of a longer length and has an

additional length to wear it layered.

"The French Flea" - Anoka, Minnesota - May 13-17

As you may recall, I am part of a new venture in Anoka, Minnesota called "The French Flea". It is a new shop showcasing French, European and unique treasures that we find, refurbish, re purpose, recreate and in my case design into new one-of-a-kind finds. I am currently show casing a new line of jewelry that is created from vintage, found elements and new items to create truly one-of-a-kind jewelry that hopefully can be passed onto generations to come.

We were open for the town of Anoka's "Diva Days" for two days May 1st and 2nd, and to say the least the store was a hit. We only had about 2 weeks total to repaint, refurbish and get this place ready for this sale, and the hard work surely paid off. This isn't to say that we had perfection. No, we have things to learn, things we can do better, and things that weren't quite done yet. We didn't have a sign on our building yet, as we just didn't have enough hours in the day to create and do all that is necessary in opening up a new shop. We ran out of postcards with the first hour of traffic through the shop, and a few mix ups were part of the frantic first sale.

We recently had a lengthy vendor meeting discussing the good with the not so good, and how we can improve everything for you our customers. Our first sale was fabulous and far exceeded our hopes and dreams, so overall it was an excellent first sale.

We have really had some great free PR for the shop. This blogging community has been fabulous. My friends, Lani and Julie created a top notch post card to distribute, Lani with the help of Kimberly designed an awesome email mailing regarding the shop, the Minneapolis Star Tribune featured our new shop in their Wednesday Garden section the same week we opened up, thank you goes out to Kim. Sue from Junk Market posted a supurb posting about the new occasional sale "The French Flea", Lani and I blogged our hearts out on our personal blogs, and now Renee Christensen with the Minneapolis Thrifty Shopping has written a great article about our shop which can be viewed here http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8761-Minneapolis-Thrifty-Shopping-Examiner~y2009m5d6-The-French-Flea--An-Occassional-Market-Place. Thank you to everyone for your wonderful PR, support and most of all friendships during this new venture. We appreciate each one of you.

The French Flea is Anoka's first premiere occasional market place, and we are working hard to provide our customers were the best available products. The French Flea is located downtown Anoka at 211 E Main Street. The building is right on main street and features a charming courtyard area that will be turned into a bistro style market place for the upcoming sale. Our shop will be open every second Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of each month. The upcoming sale dates are next week already. Please join us, and let us know how you heard about our new venture.

Don't miss The French Flea's Grand Opening!

Wednesday May 13 from 3 - 7

"CUSTOMER APPRECIATION with Shopping"

(light snacks and beverages will be served out on the courtyard)

Thursday May 14, 10-6
Friday May 15, 10-5
Saturday May 16 10-5

Sunday May 17, 12 - 4

Future Shop Dates:

June 11-14

July 9-12

August 13-16

September 10-13

October 8 - 11

I will plan to publish some photos when we get more set up in the shop. On a personal note, I've been working hard trying to get some furniture ready for this sale. I will have a "Jenny Lind" style ivory bench which would be great on a front porch, at the end of a bed, in a sunroom or pulled up to a long table for seating. I also have a nice french blue round wood table which would be great next to a table, bed, or most anyplace you want a lamp and a place to set a drink on. A two person chippy white metal patio table and two chairs will be in this sale as well as a great vintage square black table. I also will have more great smalls, which will include an awesome metal black and brass vintage baby scale. This scale could be re purposed to hold a grouping of potted plants, a supply of toilet paper rolls in a bathroom, or a collection of candles.

I hope to see you there.

Award From my "Junkfest" Sisters

Andrea, Lynette, Cassie, Missy

The four awesome gals at JunkFest have given me a "Kreativ Blogger" award. I am humbly accepting it with gratitude. Check out Andrea, Cassie, Lynette and Missy at their very creative site at http://junk-fest.blogspot.com/ . These gals all live in or near Carrington, North Dakota and they hold an annual JunkFest in their hometown on the fairgrounds every year. This year it will be held one day only on September 12th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are sold out by 2 p.m. and there is a line to get into this great event. I hope some of you can plan to attend. Go to their site to see some of their great Junk transformations and to find out more about their sale.

I was fortunate to have met these great sisters through the Junk Market Style online site at http://www.junkmarketstyle.com/ , and I started emailing back and forth with three of the four. As it turned out these gals had a Minnesota junk trip planned for the first week-end in April, and so it was planned to meet in person. They had to travel through an awful snowstorm to get here, while towing a trailer. Hardcore driver, Cassie, got everyone to Minnesota and back safely. We met in Champlin and traveled to Andover to see "the Round Barn Potting Co", ate lunch at Applebee's, visited our new shop in Anoka, "My Three French Hens" in Anoka and than on to a thrift store before they headed on their way back from their four day journey that they had been on. Lanette from Minnesota joined us for lunch, but didn't join us in the shopping events, as she had just arrived back from Texas and had shopped her heart out down there.

Gretchen & Carolyn best friends

Gretchen, Carolyn, Andrea, Missy, Lynette, Cassie

Shopping at "Three French Hens" in Anoka, MN

So now you know who I've received this award from, so I'll get on with the award portion of this blog post.

There are rules to this reward, so here they are:

1) List 7 things you love.
2) Link to the person/blog that sent you the award.
3) Choose 7 more bloggers to pass the award to.
4) Comment on those 7 blogs to let the recipients know you've chosen them.

Here are the seven things I love:

) Jesus

2) My wonderful husband, Jon, and daughter, Emily.

3) The great friends, family and followers and blogging friends I've made since beginning this journey of blog land in January.

4) Vintage cool jewelry that I can redesign with and create into a beautiful piece for 2009

5) Time-worn patinas. European decor.
6) Our Kitten - "Coco Chanel" , is 3 years old, but goes by the name of "Kitten".

7) Our cabin I named "Lakeview Cottage" and the flower gardens I'm creating there.

8) shopping "occasional sales" with Carolyn

Had to add #8.

So, the next thing is to pass on some awards to 7 people. There are so many more, but this time I am going to pass them onto the people that have been most inspiring to me and/or have assisted me in the blogging adventure first, and than those that have become personal blogging girlfriends.

1. Elizabeth at http://elizabethhousestlouis.blogspot.com/ . This was my first experience into the blogging world and she set the bar very high right from the start. She is so talented in her photography, writings, display and overall the whole merchandising aspect of a business. I think if we lived closer to one another, we'd both find joy in each others company. She has been an inspiration to me, every since I first learned of her through her articles in "Romantic Homes" magazines a number of years back.

2. Elizabeth at http://formattingtest.blogspot.com/2007/05/shop-talk-series-volume-1-7.html . This site has a wonderful "Shop Talk series" she writes for shop keepers who are starting a business and/or are in a business and it is filled with a wealth of information. I'm not sure if people know about this information, so wanted to share it as a separate award, as it is well worth the read and time. I shared this with the gals that recently started up "The French Flea" in Anoka, MN, as I believe as individuals we should always be about growing in our faiths, our characters, and our lives.

3. Karla at http://www.karlascottage.typepad.com/. Karla is another great blogger gal and was very helpful in emails instructing me and encouraging me with setting up my blog. She is a very talented artist as well. She has a definite girly-girl attitude going on in her blog, and she has been very generous with tutorials on great projects, as well as sharing her life and soul as an artist, mother and grandmother.

4. Lanette at http://www.cottageelements.blogspot.com/. Lani as we like to call her in the junking world has become a person friend, a great helper for setting up my blog, and now a partner in the new "French Flea" occasional shop venture. She has a great blog and shows how to re purpose cool items you would think were useless and makes them into awesome treasures. Her house is to die for and would be my dream house if I ever win the lottery. However, I'd move it onto a lake if the lottery provided me with the winnings to do so. Just lovely and so wonderfully displayed. Check out her site for awesome PR regarding the new shop "The French Flea", as well as Sue Whitney book signings. Love you Lani!

5. Theresa at http://cottagegardens-theresa-smith.blogspot.com/. She has so much going on her blog. She is a very talented lady and I just love her time worn patinas that she collects and sells at large Flea Market and Gatherings through out the US. She has great taste, and I really admire her. Funny thing is she and her house she lives in was featured in a national magazine and I immediately loved what she'd done to her double wide trailer. Who would of thought to do such a fabulous make-over, but Theresa. You must read about it, and to do so go to this link: http://www.countryliving.com/homes/house-tours/double-wide-mobile-0607?click=main_sr . She was about the third blog I truly followed and admired. My dream is to meet her at one of her annual blogging parties in Texas. Maybe, this Fall.

6. Andrea, Cassie, Lynette & Missy at http://junk-fest.blogspot.com/ . I just met these wonderful gals on a Minnesota road trip that they took together to accumulate finds for their annual "JunkFest" event. This is the group that gave me the kreativ award, and now I give it back, as you gals are so deserving. Each of these four girls bring their own take to the Junking world and are very talented. What is cool about their site is that there are four of them posting their inspiring, enticing projects online and combine their talents for an annual "JunkFest" event. This year it will be in Carrington, North Dakota for 1 day only on September 12, Saturday. Read more about in this post from their site: http://junk-fest.blogspot.com/2009/05/just-reminder.html . Only 127 days away. Thanks ladies for the award, but most of all for our new found friendship. Blogging is awesome!

7. Candy at http://junksophisticate.blogspot.com/ . Candy is an inspiring gal and co-contributor with me on the Junk Market site. We have become blogging friends through this site, our own blogs and emailing and she is just an all around top notch gal. So very talented and works with her beauty with very little money. Hoping to get to meet her in person someday soon. Check out her site for wonderful photographs, inspiring ideas and just a great all around blog.

Thanks ladies for all that you've brought to my life in the past year. I look forward to many more years of blogging, inspiration and creativity with you all. And Elizabeth, Karla, Theresa and Candy, I promise you, I will one day meet you for real. It's a must!

"Now go out there and continue to Bee Kreativ!"

Photo taken last week while walking on a nature walk. I was about 12 inches from this bee. A bit scary, but made for a great photo op.