French Flea December 4 Day Sale & Holiday Home Tour Info & Photos of Past Tours

Time is Running Out . . .

December 10-13th is the 4 day sale dates for the French Flea of Anoka.  Hours are Thursday 10-8 pm, Friday 10-5, Saturday 10-5, and Sunday 12-4.

  Time is Running Out - Get Your Tickets Thurs-Saturday a.m.

Also, there is a wonderful opportunity to glean ideas from five vendors that sell at the "French Flea", as they each open their homes up to the public through a $10 ticket fee for all five.  They are described as the following: French Country in Ramsey, Industrial Chic in Ramsey, Victorian Colonial in Ramsey, Cottage with Antiques on Crooked Lake in Andover and Retro Modern in Anoka.  I personally can't wait to go on this holiday home tour.  I personally would pay the $10 to see just the two homes that I've viewed in years past, and this time I get to see an additional 3 homes.  I can't wait!!!!  I even have my three sisters coming down to go with me to view them, for one of our sister get aways to celebrate one of their birthdays.  A hotel the night before, dinner out, shopping at the French Flea, Holiday Home Tour, more shopping and appetizers.  Yes, I am excited.  Kim Yaeger of the Star Tribune has a nice write up in todays entertainment section under the heading of HOT TICKET about the French Flea's Holiday Home Tour.

Fishers of Men Necklace

Eiffel Tower 1 x 1" glass tile necklaces $14.00

Photos of Past Holiday Home Tours

One thing to be aware of is that these photos are from 2006, 2007 and 2008 of two of the five homes that will be on the home tour.  If you look closely, you will see dozens of fun and easy decorating ideas for dressing up your home for the Christmas holidays as well as New Years.  Check them out.

First up will be the Retro Modern home of Julie, our Creative Director of the French Flea:

Next up is Lanette aka Lani and she's got the Industrial Chic Style Home

One year it looked like this . . .

the next year it looked like this . . .

One year it looked like this . . .

Another year like this . . .

And yet another year like this . . .
Whew!  How they come up with such awesome ideas is beyond me.

Theme Trees below are very cool . . .

Note this tree is a collection of vintage shoes, skates, etc.

Close-up of baby shoes

This could easily be duplicated with a visit to the French Flea.  We have great silver pieces for your vignettes and table scapes for the holidays.  We hope to see you at the French Flea and at the 2009 French Flea Holiday Home tour.

To see more photos check out the French Flea blog here.  And Lani will be posting some sneak peak photo's of her decorating for Holiday Open House 2009 on her blog yet this week.  Check it out here.

100th Post Giveaway Winners Are . . .

I do not have a random generator set up on my site, as I don't know how to do that, so the next best thing was to do the drawing randomly.  I took all of the most recent followers and added them to the contest, as well as all blog comments on the giveaway blog, and finally any of you that were kind enough to take the time to blog about my giveaway on your blog also got your name added in.  There were a total of 64 entries in this contest.  A little birdie helped me out with it.

Thanks to the little birdie that helped me out... lol  Sorry about some of the blurry photos.  Have you ever tried to take a picture before of yourself drawing a winner, with your head turned to not look?  Doesn't always create the clearest photographs.  lol

What is cool about this giveaway is that out of the 3 jewelry prizes, one ended up going to a customer that left a comment from Texas, one is going to a woman that was kind enough to become a follower and the last is going to one that took the extra time to blog about my contest.

Thank you to all of my loyal customers for playing along, all of my blogging buddies and to all of my newest followers, a big welcome and thank you for becoming a part of my life.  I hope to get to know you all better as time goes on.

So the winners are as followers:
Marilyn Beesley is a customer and the winner of the $49 white pocket watch necklace
Fee of orangeinsanity@hotmail.com became a follower on my blog and won the Eiffel tower square tile ball chain necklace
Sandi of impatientcajun.blogspot.com posted a blog about my giveaway.

Two of the three winners, the last two each had 3 entries in the contest for commenting, becoming followers and for taking the time to post a blog about the giveaway. I guess that shows that the odds helped them out in this case, but Marilyn's name was the first one drawn and she just had one entry in the giveaway.  I guess it was just her lucky day.  I hope you all enjoy your gifts.  I will be contacting you and then mailing them out the first part of next week, after I get the addresses from you. 

Thanks everyone!

French Flea Sale Dates - Dec 4 & 5 Sneak Preview

I just love this necklace.  If it doesn't sell soon, it will be going in my personal stash.  The mix of metals with the silver and gold together, just makes it so versatile, and I love all of the vintage elements that makes up this necklace.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

Having just finished posting the French Flea blog and photos for this upcoming sale, I'm going to try to make this blog post more about my jewelry design with some extra photos at the French Flea included in it.  If you'd like to see alot more photos of the shop, there are a lot of pictures on the French Flea of Anoka's blog site, which can be viewed here. 

It's been such a long time since I've done much posting about jewelry, and with doing sales at the French Flea every week, maintaining two blogs as well as the photographs and editing, working a part time job, family events, and than hand creating everything, it just leaves little time for blogging.  I've also been planning for a very long time to do the give away when I reached the 100th post, and the timing wasn't the greatest with the Holiday season and all of the extra time that has taken, so thank you for your loyal following and bearing with me.

This necklace is similiar to one I'm giving away in a blog giveaway going on through tomorrow.  Check it out here and leave a comment to be entered into the contest.

Very cool vintage mustard jar with clock and original lid. I embellished it with the wire and vintage skelton key.

1, 2, 3 . . .  very cool stacking tables.

Hope to see you one of the days at the French Flea.  I usually work Fridays, when it is the two day sale and Thursdays when its the four day occasional sale dates.  If you see me working, please stop and say "hi".

Thoughts for the Day

The give away for the jewelry is still ongoing, so if you haven't already gotten in on it, go to the previous post and take part.  Over $80 in gifts will be given and there will be a minimum of 3 winners receiving a Mimi-Toria's Design.

Ok, so I just received the below item in an email form via my sister, Ingrid, and wanted to share it with you all.  Many of us women are especially hectic in the Holiday Season, and I thought this was fitting to share.

One Flaw In Women

Women have strengths that amaze men...
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their family and friends.
Women have vital things to say and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET,
"THEIR WORTH"!

Please pass share this with your women friends and relatives to remind them just how amazing they are.

Remember, God love you, and you are worthy!!!
Enjoy your day. 
Gretchen