A Fanciful Shop & some completed projects

While in New Jersey for Thanksgiving, Barb, Bunnie & I went on a field trip to Parcel in Montclair. Talk about sensory overload! It was a rainy, dreary day, but you would never have guessed that inside this shop. Everywhere you looked there were beautiful papers, embellishments, vintage do-dads, ribbons, stamps, cards, stationary, gift items, and candy! Something for everyone! I first read about this store here, on Jenny's blog (visiting Jenny's blog is worth the trip just for the music!) and again here, on Andrea Singarella's blog. Their pictures are better than mine, by the way. The owner, Nancy, was very gracious and helpful as we oohed and aahed our way through the aisles and around the displays. I'd love to show you what I got but...shhhhhh...some of what I bought are Christmas gifts.
My favorite display was arranged atop a case behind the check-out area. The two figures bolding the "Magic" banner were beautiful. Thanks Nancy, I had a great time wandering about and chatting. I was right when I told you it would take a long time to blog about our visit.When we left Parcel, we dodged the raindrops and had lunch at Raymond's, which was Nancy's suggestion. Delicious homemade soups were a most welcome treat. Here are Barb & Bunnie in their rain gear.
Since I'm on a roll here, I will show you some things recently completed on my work table.

I am part of a Book Group, made up mostly of woman from our church. We meet once a month in each others' homes to discuss our current book selection and have lunch. Our December gathering is always at Anne Harmon's home. Anne is an extraordinary hostess. Her house is beautifully decorated for Christmas and the meal is always extra special. This year, in addition to a luncheon of chicken stuffed with ham & cheese, salad with cranberries, blue cheese and nuts and a perfectly cooked rice dish, she treated us to steamed Christmas pudding with hard sauce, which was loaded with calories but impossible to resist! (We are smiling in anticipation!) Also to this gathering, we each bring an ornament for exchanging. This year, I found a beautiful tassel that I loved, made of ribbons, beads and cording in non-traditional Christmas colors of teal blue, brown and gold. I decided to cover and decorate a paper mache box to present the tassel in, and also stamped some gift tags. I used scrapbook papers from My Mind's Eye (the Bohemia line) and K & CO for the lid and sides....


and also used vintage sheet music, scallop cut, around the top of the lid. A copy of a vintage angel image decorated the lid, her wings trimmed in golden glitter. A piece of vintage lace trim was added and a button and embossed gold, stamped stars, too. Inside the box was the tassel and gift tags in a bed of shredded paper. My dear friend Bea chose my decorated box.

Collaged art boards are one of my favorite things to create. Paint, papers and vintage images are the most fun to work with. A friend from church asked me to design a board for a friend of hers, using an picture she had found in a program from the opera. (It was an ad for a local dermatologist) The image was of a woman and a young girl, which Maggie said reminded her of her friend and her friend's daughter. I scanned the image and printed it out, and, using the colors of the image as my guide, found papers that would compliment the image. I also used a page from a vintage French book. I cut and stacked flower layers using a pearl brad for the center. I love flowers. They can be cut from papers or music, made of silk or velvet, I think flowers always add something extra to an art piece.The back of the board was covered with sheet music. Holes were punched at the top of the board and grosgrain ribbon was used as a picture hanger. I found a nice quote about daughters (by an anonymous author) that I printed out and attached to the back of the board. I hope she likes it.
Slowly but surely, I'm trying to get caught up on my blog posts. I will show you pictures of ornaments from an online swap I just participated in on my next post.