Life detours

Life detours are similar to road detours. They take you through shortcuts, around obstacles, through obstacles and are supposed to keep you safe from the rough patches and dangers that lie on your normal, daily travels. They aren't always the shortest or preferred route to your perceived goal either. Some people say that you should always leave it in the hands of your higher power. But it's up to you how you decipher the detour. Has it been put there to make you change your way of doing things? Is it just an obstacle to teach you a lesson? Is it protecting you from yourself and some misguided thought process? Or maybe it's just a practical joke, sprung on you from some bet the higher beings (whomever they are) thought up during a poker game one night. No one knows and you can spend valuable time trying to figure it out. The best course of action in my mind aside from just handing it over, is to learn from the detours. Take the gift and use it to your advantage. Just like taking a road detour, apply some critical thinking on how you'll make the best of the re-routing.
We moved our shop because we had come to a fork in the road. One way was continuing on the the same path we had always gone, full of unknowns, rough patches and dangerous road blocks to be sure, and we have chosen the fork in the road that seems still to be full of unknowns and as in anything in life, will have rough patches, but I think we have avoided the dangerous road blocks. For awhile.
Life detours also come when you least expect them. For us, it was an accident my Mother suffered a week ago. She fell and broke her hip. This was traumatic for her and my dad. My dad has the onset of dementia so it has been a struggle for him to always understand why we are taking the place of my mother with his care-giving while she is being cared for at the rehab. For her, it is a struggle to relinquish his care to us as well as the worry of how much things will change in their lives when she gets home, or if it will at all.  It is a new journey for all of us, that's for sure, but it just shows how strong and close our family really is. We take turns with the care giving and it's working well. Takes a village as my Mother always says. It's true. Helps to have a morbid or warped sense of humor as well.

"Don't forget that you are human.

 It's okay to have a melt down. Just don't unpack and live there.

 Cry it out and then refocus on where you are headed."

Early in October 2019 we had an opportunity to change the location of our shop. It was a big leap of faith for us because as many of you know, we had been in the same location for almost 13 years. I had grown accustomed to being right down the road from my house, easily able to run errands, come in late, run out to grab lunch or call in sick because I knew that someone would always be there to check on my shop when I wasn't available. But the other part of having that convenience is also a certain kind of dependence on others. We were looking for a change and this cottage just kind of fell in our laps (unlike the Wizard of Oz, no ruby slippers were involved). It was serendipity, fate maybe that Mom met the owner of the building in the Walmart return line. Mom and I both believe that if you are given a gift like that, especially when you are struggling to figure out what you want to do when you grow up so to speak, you should just accept the gift and make it work. When we drove out and saw the cottage and the other little shops nearby, we just knew it was right. We were in our new location, set up to sell by November 1, 2019, 15 days later. I don't recommend a move like that!
The funny thing about being in the cottage is that suddenly my creativity started emerging from wherever it had been hiding for the last couple of years. There are so many ideas just pinging around in my head now. Our shop has the perfect setting for events of all kinds. There is no end to the things we can do here. We are hoping to have a few select vendors that will join our little cottage family so that we can bring you most unique merchandise around. We still carry all of the fabulous clothing brands that you know and love and a couple of new ones as well.  I hope you will come to see us in person and see for yourselves how adorable our Tin Star Cottage really is.

Vintage look, French canvas bags have arrived; FINALLY!

Today we finally received the vintage-look canvas purses and messenger bags that we've been waiting so patiently for.
Aujourd'hui, que nous avons enfin reçu les sacs à main toile Vintage et les sacs de messager, que nous avons attendu patiemment à arriver.

(that last bit is French, I didn't translate so forgive me if it's la wrongo)

These beautifully crafted purses have that vintage feel that go as well with lace and linen as they do with jeans and sneakers. They each have their own unique character, nubs, discoloration and old stitches from their original purpose and are lined with a very pretty striped cotton. The large purse measues about 18" by 16" without strap. The smaller version is about 17" by 12", again not counting the strap.

The messenger bags measure about  12" by 13" for the small version and "14" by 13" for the large.

Sunflowers

I know we still have several weeks of hot, dry summer ahead of us. It's supposed to be 107 here in Fort Worth tomorrow. But before we know it, it will be fall again. It shouldn't get over 100 then! Just kidding. I hope. There are sunflowers growing like crazy on the south side of my house. I have never watered them but they are glorious in spite of their neglect; or maybe because of it?

The butterflies and bees and certain tiny birds are having the times of their lives. Granted the butterflies and bees don't have a lengthy lifespan but they really don't seem depressed about it and they don't have anything better to do than to hang around my sunflowers.I love to make cuttings of them (the flowers not the critters) and place them around my house and in the shop but I always leave plenty for the birds and bugs and so they will re-seed. No worries about that usually, because they can be very invasive.

 The top flower is the bracelet and the bottom one is a brooch. It would be perfect on clothing, a straw purse or great floppy hat.

 We carry many beautiful flower pins in our shop created by a local artisan and friend. Her handwork is amazing. She brought these wonderful silk sunflowers just this morning. I will take orders for them by phone or email if you'd like one. The smaller is a bracelet and the larger flower pin are $42 each.

Same flower, different view

This view shows how vibrantly red the flowers were. They looked like velvet.

I had to share this picture

This is a close-up of an amarillis given to me by my friend Tamra Novak at Christmas. It grew and grew and finally bloomed when it was about 2 1/2 feet tall. It wound it's way up through my Meyer lemon tree that was blooming as well.

Pearl the vase lady

This is the little lady vase that we have in our shop. Everyone wants to buy her but she lives here with us. Isn't she pretty? She is now available as a mousepad for only $12.00! I'm hoping to have her printed to frame as well. If you would like to have one for your very own, they are available at the shop of course but on our website, too.
I am equally excited because I finally figured out how to put a picture in my posting! Up til now I've either posted or put up a picture. Maybe now I'm officially a blogger? We shall see.

Spring is springing

I feel like I am coming out of hibernation. The sun is shining (some days) and I just want to go out and plant things and clean my house and wash my windows and organize everything. But then I realize that it's still me and it ain't gonna happen. Not all at once anyway. It will probably take until next winter to get those things accomplished. But won't it feel good when I do?!
My wonderful friends and customers are starting to come by and I'm so happy to see that everyone wintered well and it's always fun to catch up on the things they've seen and done during all this nasty winter weather we've had.

I believe there are wonderful things in store for all of us and spring just starts the ball rolling! Mom and I are so grateful that we are able to visit with all of you. What other business could you be in that would be as fun as what we do? Thanks everybody and HAPPY SPRING!

Dallas Gift Market

Going to market for me is like buying bras. It is a necessary evil. I guess it's fun as far as looking for ideas and of course hanging out with mom. The best part is people watching for me! You never know who or what you might see. Apparel market is even better for that. Anyway, we will look for wonderful things for the shop. I'll let you know what we find.
It's rainy and nasty out and we have to drive in Dallas traffic, but you are worth it. Stay tuned for the results.

Are we in New England?

How many of you guys are sitting at home waiting for the "ice" to melt? Isn't this crazy? Thank you for the wonderful comments and the supportive responses I've received about our blog. Yes; I believe it will be worth it. Actually it's fun. I doubt it will ever be very fancy but it will accomplish what I set out to do; keep you guys informed.

I started writing this post early this morning. I was almost through with it when I got a phone call that will change our family's lives forever. My 37 year old cousin died this morning from a heart attack. Nothing prepares you for something like that. So everyone, I will be in and out of the shop sporadically for a few days. I hope that you will all understand and keep my family in your thoughts. You know how to get in touch with us if you need to.

Flea Market Style Magazine

Mom and I are very excited to be a distributor for this new magazine. It is being published by some of the editors of our favorite but defunct magazines that I personally grieve for daily. It helps that I have the last 20 years of back issues of some of them to peruse, but it's just not the same as brand new. This new publication looks like it will be a combination of all the greatest and most creative. I will only have 30 copies so if you want one, be sure to contact one of us! I've been told that it will ship out starting the 23rd of February. I don't know how long it will take to get but guess what? I get dibs on the first one!!