My Space at Oregon Antique Mall one Month Later

It will actually be one month on the 28th. My small space has been very active and I am having so much fun filling it up with treasure upon treasure. From a market research angle I've noticed that right here in beautiful Oregon City, Oregon, primitives and Victorian sell equally. My assemblage arts are doing very well and it is now time for me to put a few things onto my online shop Old & Good, as well as to get some new dolls onto my website. I'm even toying with adding another, larger space to Oregon Antique Mall. Busy hands are happy hands!

It is imperative that I offer only what I love. So if you do not see much mid-century (obviously, 20th), that is simply because I am not terribly enamored of it, yet.

Notice the cute pumpkin and the cloth cat. I bought Netty LaCroix's recent cat and pumpkin patterns and made them. I hope to make more, because I love all of Netty's designs!

Oregon Antique Mall in Historic Oregon City is Open as of August 28

Our official greeter, for a few days, is Nadine Cunningham, sitting prettily and happily visiting with us. Her son is one of the owners. The mall is not ready yet, but it is coming along famously, and we're all so excited about it! Scroll and see a few spaces that are filling up with treasures.

Again, the mall is open now.

Below is our savvy IT man, Kaz, (sounds like coz),whose real name is Andrew and is also simply charming to have around.

Gretchen Nation makes these gorgeous cuff bracelets, among other things. Please visit her blog for an earlier post about the new beginnings of this mall. Click Here.

Below is my "space", and although I've just shown a closeup (sort of ) of it, I want to show here how it is a new concept in mall space in that it is more of a platform, or little stage. The show must go on!

Note how incredibly shiny are the concrete floors after a professional polishing that will leave them this way permanently. It looks like I have space beneath, but that's just the reflection of above stuff. And speaking of stuff, I must get more over there!

Again, dear Nadine, laughing as I shot a picture of the area where the elevator, still in progress for being completely finished after this year long remodel. The upstairs is not yet occupied, because there is more work to be done, but it is beautiful!

"Pretty Porch Sale" A WONDERFUL SUCCESS!

Granddaughter, 5 year old Grace Elizabeth, watering the lawn as we were about to begin the process of preparing for my "Pretty Porch Sale" which is done annually in Oregon City, Oregon. Thank you, Gracie, you do good work!

Our brand new balcony railings!

The front porch.

The lineup.

And the rest is almost completely gone now.

A local docent from the historic McLaughlin House, which is right around the block from our house.

Summer is Finally Here in Western, Oregon!

As many Oregonians know, summertime doesn't really take place here until at least the very end of July. With temperatures in the 60's and 70's, we don't regard this as summer weather, and hello, who does? Well, it is a wonderful climate for flowers and greenery. Even the moss is still green. But just this week our temperatures have risen to the high 80's. It has been beautiful! There is no humidity here to speak of, so that's a good thing.

Just sharing a picture of some of the flowers back by our little, Victorian era pond, that is no longer a pond. I will, one day, restore it so that I may enjoy dragon flies!

New Dolls

I have finally finished my latest group of dolls and am in the process of sending out my newsletter to those of you who have signed up for the mailings. Click on the picture above and it will take you to the newsletter itself. Or click here too and from there you will be directed to my Dolls and Fancywork Shoppe. Thank you so much for viewing my creations.

Christine

Simply Beautiful

Every Christmas a few friends from grade school gather for a luncheon.  ~ We like to bring a gift to the hostess. Two years ago, my friend Gay, gifted this lovely, white, African Violet to me, when I hosted the event. ~ I know very little about gardening, let alone the care for indoor plants, but I rose to the challenge, and now two years later, I am so very proud of this beautiful flower. I simply bought a small bottle of African Violet Food, and followed directions. I even had to repot it, as it has  grown so well. Thank you again, Gay, for such a lovely gift!

I cannot get enough of the large, Victorian houses, many with balconies and third stories and turrets. We spotted this beauty yesterday perusing the older neighborhood of tiny, Woodburn, Oregon. This is the Settlemier House which is where the founder of Woodburn resided. There are a few other beauties in Woodburn. It was such a pleasure seeing them.

Yesterday morning, a friend in town gave to me her old twig table that was (and still is) rather rotting. ~ I placed it into our "rockery" and it is happy to be there. ~ I will place a small plant on it in hopes that it won't force the table to the ground. I do adore twig furniture and what have you, because it has a faerie-like quality to it. The faeries in my garden are already delighted!

Happy 5th Birthday, Adorable and Beautiful Gracie!

Yesterday was our dear little granddaughter, Grace Elizabeth's 5th birthday.

Brigitte, Grace's mom, our daughter, made all of these delightful dollies and decorated the party with them! I guess one could call them "Party Dolls".

Beautiful Gracie, eager to begin the opening of her gifts.

And the cake...

Fun in the sun on hold until after gifts and cake and ice cream.

 Below, see Grace's handsome, brother, Alex, (who will be 20 next month!), and his beautiful girlfriend, Sarah. Such fun in that pool for all. And who is that little fish in the corner? Of course it is Emma, also 5 years old and Grace's best friend who did not want to come out of the water even for cake and ice cream. Emma calls us Mimi and Baba, for she loves us and we love her and so have stepped in to be more grandparents for her, since we also love her Auntie/Mom, Amanda. See above. I told Amanda to say "prune". She did it so nicely.

Bathing darlings having a blast.

She told me she would love to have a "pink" piano, and below is what I scored for her, along with that hot pink, velvet and diamond tufted toy box.

Looks as though friend, Layton, who will be 5 in September, is getting some water into that device.

You go, Layton, squirt your silly and wonderful father! Sorry I did not capture any pictures of the very saturated Eric.

All-in-all it was a delightful time, and there were many other people there, but I whip out my little iPhone camera only once in a while. This was all that I managed to snap. 

Happy 4th., and make your own Freedom banner!

Teri Heinz of Artful Affirmations has instructions for how to make this lovely "Freedom" banner. Enjoy!

I Really Have Been Working on Dolls

So much to do just living every day, and yet I'm still managing some dolls. The four seen here, soon to be added to the website are Jane, Hattie A., Hattie B. and AnnaBeth. I'm working on a Tess, a Tillie, three Amy's, 2 Maggie's, 1 Emma and some small dolls. Just wanted to give a sneak peek at what's happening in this art room!

Mouses Houses by Maggie Rudy

A friend of mine from Ohio pointed this blog out to me the other day. Thank you Heather!

I am beyond thrilled to see this incredibly talented artist, Maggie Rudy's world of adorable mice, or as she prefers, "mouses".

Maggie lives in Portland, Oregon, which is my fair city but minutes away form my Oregon City home. I ordered her newest book The House that Mouse Built and am eager to peruse it joyfully and slowly.

Note the stove that mouse is warming himself by, for it is made of a poppy seed.

You must visit Mouses Houses and see what I am talking about! Enjoy!

Playing With My Blog Background

I have discovered a wonderful blog called The Graphic Fairy. It is through her that I now have the pretty pink damask background. One simply must visit her to see the ease of changing backgrounds. She offers beautiful free backgrounds. I may not end up with this one. But for now I enjoy it very much!

A Magazine Clipping of Sally Weaver Art

I have enjoyed this clipping from a magazine for many years. Sally Weaver, a miniaturist, created this adorable vignette and I have to share it with everyone.  Be sure to click on the picture to make it bigger.

From Grace, my 4 year Old Granddaughter

Just had to share what little Grace made for me on Mother's Day. I didn't get around to getting it scanned until moments ago. I love art work by children and the things they say about it.

:-)

My Next Door Neighbor's Dogwood Tree

I so love this beautiful dogwood tree. Of course, I love them all. This is in the yard of a next door neighbor. The house in the distance is mine with scores of bluebells. I love spring and fall the very best of all seasons.  Happy continued spring to everyone!