Worth Repeating

Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you've always wanted to do but couldn't find the time. Call up a forgotten friend. Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories. Vow not to make a promise you don't think you can keep. Walk tall, and smile more. You'll look ten years younger. Don't be afraid to say, 'I love you'. Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world.

Ann Landers

Vintage Handbag Collection Coming To Shab-n-Chic

My daughter has collected vintage handbags for a few years now, and like any collection...it has gotten a little out of hand. I came home to a dozen purses sitting on my dining room table. She loves them all, but has come to the realization that she will never carry them all. She's still keeping some favorites, but she is letting go of some great ones!

Please visit my Shab-n-Chic online store if you are interested in checking them out! They will be listed on January 1st after 6:oopm PST

Thank you!

Matilda's Mouse Barn Sale Part II

It's been a busy past few weeks, Christmas is over and we can all take a breather. I finally sifted through the photos taken at Matilda's Barn Sale, and selected a few favorites to share with you. The barn sales are held monthly and we hope to attend the next one in January!


Meet the star of the show, Matilda...
and oh yes, Matilda is real!

Kandi loved this cupboard and this cute towel rack



Jane loved these glass doors



I thought this wicker floor lamp was so unique.

A beautiful vignette!



Is this a dog or a pony?

This tiny armoire would have gone in my DREAM bathroom to hold towels and neccesities. It was painted pale lavender! If it's still there next trip...hmmmm??

The Attic Girls with Matilda
Jane, Kandi , Nanc

With all of the tempting treasures, I still thought Matilda was the cutest thing I'd seen that day. :) Sadly, NOT for sale!



The ride home was a little tight after we slid the birdcage stand and column up the middle of the SUV. Haha... We turned the column into a cool jewelry stand for the shop!

Bon Jour

Back in stock on our website are the popular Bon Jour bamboo mats! $39.95 inc shipping to the lower 48 states. Click here to purchase.

Also in... a beautiful jeweled corona.
$89 includes shipping to the lower 48 states.

It was Far From Calm....

on Christmas Eve. It was more like All Is Smoky at our house on Christmas Eve. We had a little "kitchen disaster" that actually, could have turned out to be much worse. We were all at my Mom's house which is next door to our home. She needed an extra oven for baking the dinner so Jenna ran home to turn ours on to preheat. Well....a few minutes went by and the alarm company called my Mom's to tell us that our fire alarm was sounding..No, Nancy wasn't cooking again. She was standing mext to Mom when the call came in! In a matter of seconds, we heard the firetruck and we ran as fast as we could back to our house, which was filled with smoke, but no fire, thank God! We got the dogs out quickly, they were a little shaken, but fine. Lesson of the day. Do not turn on an oven and leave the house, especially if you used it the day before and someone forgot to clean what dripped onto the oven base!

Other than that, we had a perfect day with the family. Lots of laughs, food and good times. Pictures coming soon and no, I didn't take any of our disaster. That was the last thing on my mind. This is one Christmas Eve we will not soon forget!

All is calm...

all is bright....
Merry Christmas From Our House To Yours

Twas The Week Before Christmas

And all through the house, the smell of baked goods, filled the air. I LOVE the week before Christmas!
Jenna tried her hand at Pistachio-Orange Biscotti this year and I hope it's a yearly tradition! Her biscotti is YUM..filled with pistachios and dipped in dark chocolate. The recipe if from the Williams Sonoma Cookie & Biscotti book. She has other cookies made to bag as gifts to her Aunts this Christmas Eve.

Sleeping With The Angel

I placed a cement angel statue under my desk in hopes that it would keep Sophie from crawling under it and unplugging my computer cords. I guess my plan failed because she loves using the angel for a pillow. Did I mention pugs are very stubborn?

A Gnome For Your Pocket

I discovered these sweet little pocket gnomes one night as I was making the rounds on etsy. Isn't Etsy a wonderful place? Each one is handmade of wool and felt in Australia. I placed an order for the store and received them in plenty of time for the holidays. As you can see, each one has a hand stitched on their belly..so cute that it's hard to choose a favorite!

One of our favorite customers came in today to purchase 2 of these little guys for her kids stocking. I just have to share with you what she said she will tell them. She will tell the children that when it's time to go to bed, give all your worries and cares of the day to your little gnome friend. Then place him under your pillow and he will take all your cares away while you sleep. That just melts my heart!


For wee little hands and pockets!

Matilda's Mouse Barn Sale

We finally made it up to Matilda's Mouse, and I must say. It was SO worth the 45 minute drive. Heck, I would have driven 2 hours plus to see it all...maybe even just to see Matilda's sweet face.

From the minute we drove through the gated entrance, we let out a collective sigh as we scanned the old Betty Crocker estate. Kandi quickly announced she would trade her Coronado beach house for this place! As we entered the barn doors, Matilda..the perfect little angel, was perched on a turquoise throne. Matilda is the official greeter, and today she was wearing angel wings and a halo. She was even more adorable as I had imagined she'd be, and really didn't seem to care that everyone was cooing and making over her. She's used to it. :) Matilda must think that everyone comes to see her, not the barn FULL of treasures!
So on to the treasure trove inside the barn. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I will be sharing the items and vignettes that tickled my fancy.

I wanted so many things, but like most of the collectors reading this, we really don't NEED a thing, so we look and try to imagine how we would fit just one more thing in our home...or store.

What we did come away with was a charming little column that will be perfect at the end of our shop counter. It will be a jewelry stand once we have a more secure base attached so it won't tip. I picked up a cute burlap table runner, trimmed in lace and a darling headband which will be tucked into my girl's stocking. That was all I left with for myself, BUT it could have been much more! I wanted so many things, and I am looking forward to the next sale. upcoming sales. Nobody can put a show on these gals at Matilda's, so don't miss out on future events.

So we packed up our goods...the birdcage stand and column barely fit. Shall we rent a U-Haul next time girls? Photos are on the way so check back soon!

A Girl & Her Coat

This has been Jenna's favorite coat for the past two years. It has kept her warm on trips to San Francisco, and many trips to LA. She even wears it when she doesn't even need a coat! She loves it that much. A few weeks ago, I arrived home to find her in tears. She had washed the coat in cold water AND she put it in the dryer, on delicate. The coat is wool..what was she thinking? All she could manage to blurt out as she handed it off to me was that she tried to stretch it back but it wasn't working.
So I spent the next 30 minutes trying to stretch it every which way and I actually think I got it back to an XXXXX Small. So the next few days were spent on eBay, searching for the elusive Anthropologie Flower Field coat. Much to my surprise, she found 3, all of which had been snapped up with Buy It Now. I told her to be patient...another would surely appear... seasoned eBay veterans KNOW these these! `o) And the very next day when I heard a scream from her room, I knew. I made the purchase with Buy It Now, but she paid every penny of it herself. I'm 99.9% certain that this one won't be going into the washer.

A Slow Start

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...everywhere except our house! I'm getting a slow start on decorating our house this year, although Jenna managed to put up her cute little pink aluminum tree in her bedroom today. She borrowed some of my favorite ornies, but that's okay. I am just glad someone is appreciating them! I guess when you have a store to decorate, you can suffer burn out...at least I did! Here are a few shots of the store in holiday mode...


We filled an old birdbath with vintage ornaments...after Christmas it will hold seashells!



Everyone loves these little guys..we only have a couple left.


We have a woodland theme this year, filled with gnomes, forest friends and vintage elves.


Our vintage trellis is so pretty at night. We look forward to lighting it up at dusk. I hope everyone is staying warm and toasty during this season. Even though we've experienced some cold nights, I won't complain one bit about the weather in Southern Calif!

Tomorrow I will be taking a road trip to the Matilda's Mouse event with the girls. I have been wanting to make this trip for quite some time, and I can hardly wait to meet Matilda!

I Can't Believe I Found The Time...

to add a few things to the online store! It's been a busy month, and it's just about to get busier! I will most likely be taking a break from blogging here, but may continue on the store blog over the next couple of weeks. I know we are all in the same boat with trying to plan for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even though I'm not hosting the big dinners or any company..whew!.. I still have just enough going on to make my head spin. Besides being a shop owner, (where I am at at least 3 days a week), I spend much of my FREE time searching for store merchandise, trying to keep up this blog and the shop blog, a website that I had planned to update weekly, planning the Open House for the store on Dec 4th and a Craft Fair on the 5th, coordinating ads for the local newspaper for the store, and conducting an estate sale with my 2 partners the Saturday after Thanksgiving! So this blog, Facebook and Twitter will go on the back burner for a time, and I will update the store blog once a week. But enough about ME...what are your plans for the next 6 weeks? `o)

Cooking For The Queen

Does anyone out there prepare home cooked meals for their pooches? I started about a month ago, after our Pug was diagnosed with Pancreatitis. I will spare you the details, but we had to rush her to the vet last month. After a 14 day round of antibiotics, 4 days of an IV, and a new diet of turkey, sweet potato and pumpkin, she is as good as new! In fact, she has more energy than before, and her coat even feels healthier. I've also added apples, carrots, green beans and eggs for added nutrition, although I've read that they still need added vitamins, namely calcium. The vet said she can stay on this diet or I can slowly switch to a Low Fat Duck & Potato Low Fat food that should be easily digested. Just wondering if anyone has any tips on making a nutritious food for their pets. I make up 3-4 days worth of meals in advance which makes it easier, but am considering doing 1-2 weeks worth and freezing it. My husband jokingly claims that I cook more for the dog than him...this very well may be true, my dear!

Things That Caught My Eye...

At The Rose Bowl...

This beautiful curvy chest was embellished with seashells. I think it would have been just as gorgeous without! This space was loaded with soldered seashell bottles, and her booth was set up as beautiful as a store!



Jenna's heart always goes pitter patter when she sees a pretty prom dress.


Lots of dress forms to be found, but I didn't see any bargains. This one was $250-



A penny for your thoughts....



Jenna thought this was amusing...so I took a photo for her.


Loved the shade of green on this Vespa.


As soon as I saw this, my first thought was sitting my pug on the top bench, in her bikini of course..and Ivan the Lhasa Apso in the drivers seat wearing his muscle man tee. Heehee....I was so tempted to get this for our store summer window...and I can't stop thinking about it! I didn't really photograph my finds of the day, but I purchased some vintage Christmas, an old store stand to display necklaces on, some old butter knives and a cutie patootie cement deer that is pictured on my store blog. Jenna came away with one vintage dress, a vintage snowman ornament, a little dog hand puppet that looked like our Ivan and a cute Hostess apron with a squirrel on the front.



We all met under the umbrella at noon, to share a lunch and our finds of the day.




Sunday November 8
One last photo to remember the day we made new friends & found treasures.

The Real Treasures From The Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl trip was fantastic, and although I didn't bring home any great treasures..I came away with something better...I met some wonderful people with huge hearts.

We met up at 9am in front of the entrance for this group picture. Not everyone is pictured, but I will upload another at the end of the shopping day.



My daughter is in the front row, from left #2 and I am #4.

We were each handed a goodie box filled with sweets and a darling hand made necklace from Jenny. After a few pictures, we were off to shop. Not many bargains to be had, but we got our exercise! Since we actually started at 7am, we had already walked 2 hours before starting out yet again for another three. We met up at Noon for lunch, show and tell and lots of chit chat. Then we headed out to hit just a few more rows and with tired feet, Jenna and I surrendered at 1:30. Thank you to Heather, Jenny , Pam and Amy for your gifts and time in preparing for this event.

I have been so busy with the store that I have not uploaded any photos. I promise to have them by the weekend..

Brocante Carnival At The Rose Bowl

I'm planning a little road trip with the Attic Girls this coming weekend. We are headed to Pasadena, home of the famous Rose Bowl flea market! It's been 2 years since my last visit, and I'm so excited! I will be meeting Heather and friends at 9am Sunday morning for the Brocante Carnival! I'm looking forward to meeting Heather and the girls. Heather's blog was the very first blog I read and I've been hooked on blogs ever since. After a morning of shopping, we will take a break at noon and have a little show and tell with our favorite finds. Should be a fun day, with perfect weather. This will be a busy week for me, so my next post will be after I return. Hope to share some treasures with you next week...off to dress up my shopping cart. The word on the street is that they are going to award prizes for flea market apron, tote bag and cart. :)

Vintage Vixen with Paris Montana & More!

(click on images to enlarge)
Last weekend, Jane and I took some time out for a little shopping as we attended the Vintage Vixen sale in Eastlake. This event was to raise money for the the Breast Cancer 3 day Walk. After we parked, Jane and I made our way down the sidewalk and as we came around the corner, we both giggled..it was so stinkin CUTE! A vintage silver airstream with umbrellas and tables of jewels!



Heidi of Paris Montana came out to greet us in the most beautiful dress, cowgirl boots and jewels. I just could not get over her little trailer and I think The Attic Girls need one of those trailers! :)
Her designs were beautiful so check her schedule to see if she's rolling into a show near you!





I was unable to photograph all the vendors, but everyone had such nice displays and all for a great cause.


The sale took place in the front courtyard of the house and in the back yard. Perfect layout for a sale! We saw the girls from La Maison Rustique & Glamarella Junk.


Gina of Lizzy B's had a lovely display of bubble charms with old maps inside!


Lori, owner of Vignettes


Deb Hodge is just so talented..handbags, belts, dresses, tshirts. Is there anything this gal can't do?!!
No photo of Deb.. she was so busy I lost track of her!



Okay..Celia. YOU need to get a BLOGSPOT!!! I wanted it all, but settled for a statue to use as a store display, a necklace and 2 bracelets. I have received numerous compliments on my necklace each time I wear it, and I have probably worn it 5 days this week. Thank you sweet Celia! Now that I know we are practically neighbors, I might be knocking on your door for some of that sweet jewelry!




Miss Sophie even loves it. :)