Browse, Drool and Buy!

Mes amies, today's post is not my standard postcard post. 

I'm actually listing photos of items I hope to sell in my own little space in an antique mall. 

I haven't met the owner of the shop yet 

except online and on the phone, 

but I already like her A LOT because she is beyond nice 

and considerate to the extreme.

Many antique shop owners will not rent a mall space 

to someone who isn't local. 

I've been told by others that it just doesn't work out. 

One's space needs to be tended to

 as items sell, the space spruced up and kept fresh. 

However, Billie, the owner of Cottage in Vancouver, Washington,

 is agreeable to the idea of letting me share in her business 

despite my being an out-of-towner. 

She just opened her shop this past Tuesday 

and it is the culmination of a lifelong dream for her. 

She sells antiques and vintage items,

everything from shabby chic to industrial. 

I'm excited for her!

 IF you live in the Vancouver area, 

I hope you will visit the Cottage!

With gasoline edging toward $5 a gallon and 

Vancouver being about 70 miles away from where I live,

 it was her idea that I send her some photos of items I have.

And then we can figure out how to proceed. 

I may indeed need to wait until I move to the Vancouver area

 (that may happen by the fall ... but with The Hubby

one never knows for SURE what life will bring:)

But ... if I can set up a little shop space now, 

I could sure clean out my closests!

Figuring out ways to display and sell some 

of my  8,000+ postcards 

will be a challenge, but I'm hoping that the 

altered book format will be the answer.

STILL working on that!

I know that presentation is important and these are just "photos," 

but .... imagine, if you will, a cute little beige vanity 

with drawers brimming with goodies ... 

or a large shabby chic shelving unit 

with the glass doors opened wide, 

each shelf filled with treasures.

 Would these items beckon you?:)! 

Vintage metal letter holders are tres shabby chic decorated with beaucoup de French ephemera!

 The sign is a reproduction but the enamelware is the real thing, circa 1930s.

 The black round box is from the turn of the century. It's a paper mache powder box lacquered with gold oriental designs. The Victorians were obsessed with Japan and China the way I'm obsessed about France...

 I don't know who made the drunkard's path quilt, but the other patchwork quilt was made by a woman born on a boat cruising down the Missisippi River. Her name was Lucy and she was my grandma! Oh, and that bear. We don't dare call him an antique cause he dates from 1956 and that's when I was born:) The fellow I got him from said the bear was won by his daddy at a carnival and was given to his mother when they were first dating. Don't stories like that breathe life into such inanimate objects?!.

 Did you ever collect these dolls? They date to the 1960s and '70s when gas stations used to compete to woo customers with bonus gifts. Whoa, those were days, eh?!

 You may recognize "my" book of travel labels. They are sitting in a 1920s magazine rack.

The gold and brown souvenir book is from 1889 and those round brass looking "coins" are souvenirs that folks could buy and have dated to commemorate when they visited the Eiffel Tower!

Let's see.. and then there's the French enamelware kitchen rack, the framed Art Nouveau perfume labels, the records I'm going to turn into decorator bowls, the vintage French key chain fobs, the antique crumb duster set, the wooden shoe molds.... Hmm... I might be adding some more photos:)

And the Winners are ...

Mes amies, it was a close race in the Kissed Again! contest, but two extra votes pushed Mary Anderson's "Paris" into the lead in the People's Choice award! I must confess that this collage is indeed one of my all time favorites:) I tried not to gush much while writing about each entry in the contest lest I unduly influence anyone, but 
No. 1 Red is my favorite color
No. 2 The design is awesome
and
No. 3 I believe this collage includes more FrenchKissed images than any other collage I know of! 
So, congratulations, Mary! When I mail out the mail art swaps, I'll be including your first place prize of a dozen antique and vintage postcards all featuring some sort of 3-D element: embossed, glittered, embroidered -- a truly tactile treasury including a 100-year old dried leaf:) 

If not for "Paris," Mary's Victorian Lady in Purple (lady in the keyhole) would have tied with  Linda M. Nelligan's Marie's Secretary typing "I'd like to eat cake." So, as I said, it was a close contest -- a testament to lots of talent!!!

Now, second place is determined by moi, not popular vote. I call second place "Trishia's Perogative." And that's going to Linda. Not that I was unduly influenced by votes. I was mostly influenced by indecision. I couldn't decide between "Marie's Secretary" and Linda's "Mirror, Mirror" !

Linda, your prize is a $25 credit in either one of my stores. IF you want to use it for digital scans, just email me a list. IF you'd like to use that credit toward postcards or perfume labels, you can do that, too!

Third place, determined by the Random Number Generator, goes to Marj Meikrantz. Her No. 16 "My idea of Housework" was the closest number to the random No. 17.

Marj, your prize is a copy of my book of Travel Labels which includes a CD. (You don't already have that, do you?!) I'll be mailing that out with your mail art swaps, too!

Well, ladies, I'm still working at my altered postcard book project. And I'm in the process of (hopefully, maybe, fingers crossed) getting to have my own space in an antique shop in Vancouver, Washington. Vancouver is a bit of hop from my side of the Columbia River -- 70 miles --, but it is more driveable for an anxious traffic freak like me than Portland is and most importantly, the space rental is affordable! So I'm working on gift packages of  cards as a door prize when the antique shop owner has her grand opening. My dining room table has once again disappeared under piles and piles of postcards.

The hubby is working all through Memorial Day weekend in the big city of Portland. I'm not sure if I'm tagging along or not.

SO if you don't hear from me on Memorial Day, I'll be back Tuesday for sure with another free download. 

In the meantime, I hope you'll be creating something for the next round of the mail art swap!

You'll find free downloads as far back as March 19. Use any freebies you find on my blog or FrenchKissed images you have bought. Just make sure you make TWO. Multiple entries are wonderful. The more, the merrier, the more you'll receive. One entry is swapped with another artist. The second entry is my booty. My contribution is an antique French postcard! Send your entries to:
LOVE ME TWO! 

Trishia Jacobs

PO Box 1217

Hood River, OR 97031

Deadline is July  9. Deadline is more of guideline than set in stone 'dead' line. If you can get your entries in earlier, great!:) All the better to inspire more participants!


PS Do you prefer mail art swaps to have a particular theme, color, motif or working with just ONE image? It's your mail art swap, so don't hesitate to speak up and share your ideas and opinions. Merci!

Take a Spring Walk with Me!

Would you like to go on a spring walk with me?! 

As we take our little promenade, you'll see me get cleaned up, altered and have some color added....

I've got lots of specks and spots, but overall, considering I'm 105 years old, I still capture that look of eternal youth, don't you think:) My "photo retoucher" calls me the "raw" original -- scanned in, as is. And she says that everyone hates the dark gray/black background. Hey, I'm just a working girl. I do what the photographer says. I don't understand why he puts me against such a drab background!

Here I've been given a lighter background with sepia tones.

Now, my photo retoucher made a twin of me and turned my world into a rich maroon, dark magenta. She combined it with my sepia twin and erased away parts that she didn't want to be maroon. (Japanese maple trees are maroon but she said it didn't look right....)

And a bit of green....It does look like spring around here now, doesn't it? Shall we continue our promenade down the Champs Elysees? I do want to show off my new hat and parasol!

Good Monday, tout le monde! Help yourself to any or all versions of my little girl with the pink ribbon dress. I would love to know which version is your favorite.

Lili Feingold of Texas is this week's winner of two FREE digital scans! One of her comments posted twice, so I deleted it. But even at that, she still came out the winner. So I guess that's what you call good karma! Your choice, Lili, from my Etsy or Zibbet shops, $3.99 or under.Just email me the titles/links:)

I'll settle up details on the Kissed Again! contest winners tomorrow. I've got to get outside for my morning bike ride. I've been making 6 round trips a day, 3 times a day. My hubby calculated the distance for me and it's about 5-1/2 to 6 miles! Incroyable:) I had no idea it was that much, so I'm all the more inspired to keep pedaling. Hopefully, I'll see some results!

Getting my Feet Wet!

This is the about the fourth statue postcard image I have listed in my shops. None of the others are popular, so why do I keep "pushing" statues?ha! I couldn't resist this one. The image didn't just speak to me. It hooted, hollered and demanded my attention. And what's really funny is: what I "saw" in this image isn't what it is at all.
This is a statue of the Roman hunting goddess Diana, sculpted by a Frenchman named Ary Bitter. This is the most "un" Diana statue I've ever seen. I had to look hard to figure out that it is her bow she is holding at the top of the wall. But what do I know? The judges liked it! Yes, back in 1924, Ary Bitter won a gold medal for this sculpture at the "Salon of French Artists," according to the only web site I could find with any information about Ary.

He was born in Marseille in 1883 and he lived to be 90! ART does a body good, n'est-ce pas?!! Ary died in Paris in 1973.... 

Today, this statue can be seen in northern France, near Lille, in the city of Roubaix. Merci beaucoup to Eric, who I met via Flickr. He has kindly given me permission to share his photo of the statue on exhibit at Musée La Piscine. 

Piscine means 'swimming pool' in French. Oui, oui, Roubaix converted its old city swimming pool into a museum!

FRENCHKISSED update: After posting the link to my blog on Eric's Flickr page, he emailed  me to let me know he had another shot I could use. His shot is quite similar to the Wikipedia photo I had previously used, but his has more "jazz" to it with the wiggly reflection:) Remerciements, Eric!

Hmm.... maybe I picked up that water connection subliminally. Cause here's what I saw when I saw this statue of "Diana." I saw a woman thinking about shedding all the "shoulds" (like housework and chores) and about losing herself in a good book ....

I need to find another piece of text for my book, but I played with this last night around 10, grabbing the only piece of text handy. Fittingly, it is about 'bains' -- baths:)

And if you haven't tried some of the new funky effects in Pixlr, you owe it to yourself to play there some.

My day is already filling up with a "list" : drop off car to get new brakes, check out a few more garage sales, hair appointment at 12:30 and physical therapy at 4. What do I REALLY wanna be doing? 

Here's a sneak peek of what I've been doing, getting MY feet wet, stepping out of the digital zone into the world of altered [postcard] books with some real HANDS-ON handcrafting .....

I call it "Black and White and Nude All Over." It's a combination "ode to art" and a motivational food journal for a dieter!:)

Help yourself to the freebies posted Monday. VOTE in the Kissed Again! contest posted Tuesday. And have a happy, happy weekend!

Last Call for May Art Swap!

 IF You Aren't INSPIRED Yet

  to Join in the "Love Me Two!" Challenge, 

CHECK Your Pulse:)

Mes amies, there have "only" been 5 people participating in this round of swaps, but as you can see, what's missing in quantity is more than made up for in quality and variety! I know of one other package that is headed this way from Dallas, Texas. 


IF YOU WANT to participate in this round of mail art swaps using a FrenchKissed image, go to March 19 blog post for beginning of freebies offered. This is LAST call:) Please leave a comment or email me to let me know, so I'll be expecting your entry. You can submit an ATC, a gift tag, a greeting card or anything you want!


I know that this is a busy time of year for many with demands of family, especially children, with the end of school looming. So I need your input as to whether or not to continue the swaps through the summer. IF you can't participate in this round, but would like to next month and on through summer, please let me know. I'm happy to be the host/middle man/clearinghouse mailer.


OH, and if you haven't done so, please VOTE for the 1st place winner in the Kissed Again! Contest. Remember, your comment could make you a winner, too. Every Monday I'll use the Random Number Generator  to select one lucky commenter who will get to select two free digital scans from my Zibbet or Etsy shop!


P.S. I have had issues with folks not being able to leave a comment. Blogger gives us 4 options: Google Account/Open ID/Registered Blog Readers Only and Anonymous (anybody can comment.) When I use Anonymous in my settings, I get LOTS of spam comments which I have to delete. So I apologize for any inconvenience, but right now my comment settings are the best I can come up with. Thanks for understanding.

It's Not Paris, But ...

I began the week with a photo similar to this one. I like to think of it as my 'fake' Eiffel Tower shot:) I promised I'd tell you more about it, so today is another detour, this time to central Oregon.

I count myself very lucky because even though I can't live in France, a country that I obsessively love, I do LOVE where I am. 

I LOVE the Pacific Northwest. Nature here feeds my soul .....

In the state of Oregon, there is so much variety in the terrain. It is incredible. And sometimes, quite often in fact for someone like myself who has issues with heights, it's quite scary. It's awe-inspiring and anxiety producing all at the same time! 

Case in point. My 'fake' Eiffel Tower is actually a close-up of a vintage railroad bridge going across Crooked River near Bend, Oregon. The  river canyon is 300 feet deep. Signs warn tourists to keep their animals in the car because many pets have fallen to their death:(

Do click to open this photo in a new window so you see it big and detailed. The rocks tell the story of the great upheaval and cataclysmic events that shaped this part of the country.

The railroad bridge is one of three bridges crossing this gorge.

 

Tourists walk across the second one, a retired two-lane bridge. I kept right in the center, on the middle yellow line -- when I wasn't holding on to my husband's shirt tale! (I told my husband that now he knows what a scaredy cat I am when it comes to heights, he will appreciate all the more how I can muster up enough courage to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower:)

The third bridge is the modern-day 4-lane crossing. It is a tad higher than the other two bridges and as you zoom by at 70 mph, the railroad bridge boldly underlines the row of snow-capped mountains in the background. That's what caught my eye and made us turn around to begin with. From the second bridge, however, you can't capture that scene. The mountain peaks are lower. We figured that if I sat on my husband's shoulders, it would put me high enough to get the pic I wanted....but ... I didn't want it that badly.

Another one of our stops was the Lava Cast Forest.

Here is an example of the lava cast or tree mold where the tree was upright as the lava enveloped it.

But this is an example of one that had already fallen. Still, it was so huge and massive...as you can see, it wasn't quite as wide as I am tall, but almost.....

But even among this lunar-looking heap of destruction,

 we found such beauty as the Big Berry Manzanita Bush

 and ponderosa pine trees with awesome cinnamon-red bark and huge darker crevasses.

At Lava Butte, we got another bird's eye view of the volcanic activity that occured 6-7,000 years ago. Our view wasn't quite as dramatic as this, but thanks to Q Myers and Wikipedia for this stunning shot of the butte, which I don't know why they call it a butte because it's a cinder cone, but .... 

This was our view, looking down into the defunct volcano.

And looking out on the horizon, always a row of snow-capped peaks .... Broken Top, Mount Bachelor, The Three Sisters, Jefferson......

And looking down over the edge of the cone, here's a view of  the lava flow....

At the edge of the forest, there is a visitor's center. I particularly appreciated this sign posted and its forthrightness in admitting that the "white settlers" basically stripped the land. Unbridled capitalism and consumerism isn't all it's cracked up to be:)

Another sign at the visitor's center:

Central Oregon is more than just lava flows, though. Within minutes, you can go from the barren volocano area to lushness, the likes of Paulina Lake.

Unfortunately, the road to East Lakes wasn't plowed yet and we couldn't get to the massive Obsidian Flow. And there's still the lava tubes in the river cave to explore. So that will be another trip.....

Yesterday I got a package with four rolls of washi tape. So now, I'm off to see what I can do with it and beaucoup de carte postales......


DON'T forget to vote for the Kissed Again! first place winner. And remember, comments are NOW NUMBERED! Every Monday, using a Random Number Generator, one lucky commenter will be chosen who will get to pick out two free scans from my Zibbet or Etsy shop.

Kissed Again ... and Again....

OK, if anyone is handing out awards to

 'she who takes the longest to wrap up a contest,'

 I WIN!!

What's my prize, what's my prize??

Hey, I'm old and slow and ditzy and .... 

I'm sure I can come up with several more excuses if necessary.

Without further procrastination, please look over all these entries. 

I've written more indepth about each one in previous posts. 

But here they are, standing on their own. 

Please leave a comment to VOTE for the People's Choice award. 

Votes will be accepted now through Sunday.

And remember, your vote could win you two free digital scans:) 

Come Monday I'll use the Random Number Generator to pick one lucky commenter. 

Cynthia Robinson (22)

 Mary Anderson (58)

 Brenda Meade (84)

  Mary Anderson (3)

 Linda M Nelligan (71)

                                   Linda M Nelligan (34)

 Marj Meikrantz (16)

 Mary Anderson (99)

                                      Linda M Nelligan (43)

Here are the prizes:

Kissed Again! Contest Flat Paper Category

 First Place Prize (People Choice): 12 Antique and Vintage postcards

Embossed, glitter, embroidered -- a truly tactile treasurey including a 100-year old dried leaf:) 

I like to think of these as ATCs from Yesteryear.

Mini-Project Second Place (Trishia's Perogative): 

$25 FrenchKissed Gift Certificate

Mini-Project Third Place (Random Number Generator): 

A copy of my book of Travel Labels which includes a CD.

16 pages of travel labels for collage and decoupage projects. Ready to cut out and use. A CD containing all 96 images plus about 10 extras not printed in the book. So if you start on a project and need more labels, just use the CD and print more!