Counting the days....

I know that the end of school year is here when those teacher present orders come in! Here's the latest entry in the cute kid contest! I will admit I am related to one of them so I am slightly biased....

I just unpacked some fun warm weather tote bags. They have a fun mix of vintage fabrics and images, retro embroidery and actual scrabble tiles and pages from old beauty manuels. They are a LOT of fun to make! And carry too. I drag around a HUMUNGOUS tote page with my great grandparents wedding photo on it. Reminds me of where I came from....

Saints be praised! The stairwell is painted!

It may not seem like a big deal to someone that owns their own scaffolding, but to us getting the 2 story high ceiling line painted was QUITE the feat! Actually I shouldn't say "we" because while I was tediously cutting in the upstairs hallway, Bob knocked out the entire stairwell! Oh my gosh, it looks SO much better! One less area to cringe about....
My client, friend and resident harpist Charlotte Roe gave me an unusual comission: to dress her Santo. Santos are plaster representations of Saints usually found in Middle & Central America. Charlotee gave me snippets and pieces of family lace & trim and I built her a modest covering. I normally make my art doll clothes like people clothes but because this little saint had one hand adhered to her hip it made it necessary to handstitch the clothing around her body. No changing outfits on this lady! I think she looks quite beautiful!!!

Hard to believe this weekend is FIRSTFriday weekend again! There is a LOT going on in town this month.... FIRSTFriday, the book launches, the jazz festival and last but not least, my vacation! Please get all of the details at http://www.stifelandcapra.com.

See you soon!

It takes so little to make me happy

Things that don't make me happy: two inches of rain in the basement of the shop (again!), driving to the only store in town that sells a particular something and they are out of it (Target & Smoots Lumber, anyone?) people that are late (do you own a watch?), laundry (does it ever end?), anything on Cartoon Network (this mom is not amused at most things that simply slay her almost ten year old son), rain on my parade (literally yesterday), having to hurry or multi-task (I am a slow & steady wins the race kind of gal).





Things that do make me happy: Calling an artist to tell her that I sold her first painting (Congrats Eileen!), hot coffee at 5:45 am (MiddleSchool starts TOO early), watching the light bulb go off when I am explaining something (sharing is great!),friends on the porch ( I have the best neighbors in the world!). And last but not least, my hot pink, they are not supposed to come in my size but the factory screwed up so I not only found them but they were on clearance, Chuck Taylor Hi Tops. Yippee! From the woman who never buys retail, this is a large deal, indeed.



Things to do in the next 48 hours: Start three commissions so I can deliver them (eek!) , paint the hallways & rehang the art. Strip the last two galleries so the new artists can move in (Welcome Angela, Beth & Becky!), pay the bills, hang the changing room mirrors, poles, and drapes, figure WHAT to do with my personal albatross, the infamous seven foot tall coat rack. ( you know the one everyone thinks is lovely but no one has bought yet) Oh yeah and run the floor for the rest of the week. If I look a little wild eyed this week,please be nice to me.

transformation -

Robyn the Paint Diva is doing the COOLEST paint treatment on the wall in the bathroom and dressing room. It is a troweled on plaster technique incorporating bits & bobs of jewels of all sorts. Remember last week when I was whining about prepping the area? Well, I did a COMPLETELY inadequate job from the looks of Robyn's meticulous work. I guess that is why SHE is the professional decorative painter! I can't WAIT until she gets to the color. Robyn is going to apply a teal blue color. It is going to look yummy! Robyn will also have sample boards and a portfolio at the shop so if you were thinking of transforming a space, she's your woman for sure!!!
















This trunk once was a scratched and battered storage box but now has been transformed to a fun & functional decorative piece. It came out better than I expected frankly! My mission for the week was to finish something that I had started before the move. So far this week I have finished the trunk, three collages, and the laundry!

Remember the quote on of this work when you are worried about what the world thinks....
Happy Wednesday!

Patterns & Painting

Amazing how one word can mean so much! Like "traveler", "broken", "loyal" or "indispensable" the words on my dipped wax dress shadowboxes or, more moronically "sure" as in Robyn, my paint diva asking me "will you have time to prep the bathroom walls that I am painting?" My one word response "sure!". In hindsight what I think is: "garbage!" if Robyn had prepped the bath et al I'd be done painting the cursed hall way by now and would be done painting the walls! What the blue blazes WAS I thinking, not much appraently! And ugh, do I HATE the smell of primer in the morning. There is actually no satisfaction whatsoever in scraping and priming walls a dingy white. ugh.

Ok, now that I am done whining, I will say I DID enjoy unearthing a midcentury wall paper from unlikely spots in the shop. This used to a be a doctor's consulting rooms and family residence in its first incarnation (pre beauty school & antique mall) and I really love this wall paper. Green and aqua are two of my favorite colors. I wish I could have peeled this paper to use it in a collage but alas, it just chips, so I made do with a picture instead!

We are firing up our first Little Falls Flea and Art Market this Saturday morning so stop by to see the perenially favorite Mary Moll of Merry Stitches, the MEH MIddle school kids selling their treats to fundraise for their big trip to the Odyssey of the mind finals, and the big Stifel & Capra sale tent. Hope to see you soon!

Ladies Night!

This lovely line drawing will stand in for our latest residents artists. Angela Williams penned this beauty. You can meet Angela, Beth Hudgins, and Becky ___________ after June 1st. Cheryl, Donna & Justyne, the ladies of Studio F are present, accounted for and have moved in so next time you are in, do stop in and see the wide variety of art they have hanging. (I will write about everyone individually soon. Stay tuned!)

On May 1st, this studio was still opened so my art dolls shared the spot light with DJ Gaskins of Lioness Press. I just started carrying her lovely line of journals, hand stitched books and whimsical accordian fold books. DJ had teeny little thought diaries up to full fledged dream journals. Take a peek and see where recording your dreams will get you. I know where mine have taken me!

A good time was had by all!

Thank you to everyone who came out to play this weekend! Both Margie from Down to Earth Designs and Charlotte from Harp Voyages put on quite a show albeit VERY different ones.

After the raucous crowd on Friday listening to Charlotte's Harp music on Saturday was BLISS! She played her original compositions as well as some of her personal favorites.


The resident artists did a fantastic job setting up their studios and transforming them into galleries for the evening. Phil probably made the biggest splash with his champagne greetings!

On a just as artistic but unusual venue - paint diva Robyn McGarry debuted her sample board for our next project: Trying to transform the icky bathroom and anteroom plus hallway into a fun and funky transition area and dressing room for all the vintage clothing shenanegians. I am SO excited about the concept Robyn put together and can't wait to see her in action!

FIRSTFriday is May 1st!

Can you BELIEVE we have been in our new space a month? I can't believe it. I feel like an old lady who needs to soak her feet because I have been on them so much.... Then there is the pesky problem of keeping up with the paperwork, oh if only I could actually type this would probably be easier...

Maryann Ogle of Terra Landscaping has put together the prettiest urns with lovely flowering and green plants. She also has some lovely plant stands for sale. They are all one of a kind so get them before they are gone!


I spent the evening hanging new art (thanks Debby & Beth!) in anticipation of FIRSTFriday. Yes, tomorrow is May 1st so we at it again! The store is open from 10to 5 & then the merriment continues from 5 to 8pm. Margie will be there with her trunk show and please remember Charlotte will be playing her harp from 2 to 4 on Saturday.


The new art & items in the space are simply astounding! Next Monday I will begin featuring all of our new artists and treasure hunters one by one. It's quite a cast of characters!









GOOD NEWS ABOUT PARKING FOR FIRSTFRIDAY!!! The kind and generous doctor next door has allowed us to use his parking lot after 5, so hopefully that will help ease congestion a bit! Hope to see you this weekend!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday and WHAT a great day! Started out the morning with the news that we made the "ShopTalk" blog on the Washington Post! Here's the link! http://voices.washingtonpost.com/shoptoit/2009/04/off_the_beaten_path_falls_chur.html Feel free to leave comments about how you like the new space. Thanks to featured merchant, Chris Novak of New to You. Aren't familiar with New to You? You gotta go, elegant high end consignment shop with "you won't believe it prices" for their designer wares. The dress collection that they have in house at the moment just makes you happy it's spring! www.newtoyou.net
Other big news is that center studio upstairs is rented. I was contemplating making it a vintage shop but realized that upstairs needs to be "all artists, all the time". We have two of the smaller studios left, tell the world! I want to get a full house before June, if possible.

We sold six pieces of art yesterday! Three to a brand new customer too. HOW exciting!

Then I headed home to dinner with my and my sister's family. I am still whirling under the influence of my husband's chocolate ganache cake. Birthdays are one of the days I am glad Bob went to culinary school!

Happy Birthday to Sue, too!

Deborah Conn & "Red Herring" at First Stage!

Talk about a double feature! Bob & I took the family to see "Red Herring" at First Stage in Tyson's last night and had a blast! Didn't know that Northern Virginia had a theatre? You don't know what you are missing! No tortured ride downtown with 30 dollar parking,just a straight shot down route 7 to an amazing space that has been carved out of an industrial complex.

Red Herring was part love story, part murder mystery,part spy story and all well acted play set in the 1952 McCarthy era.

Tickets are only $25 and the show closes the 26th so see www.1ststagespringhill.org for all the details! While you are at the show you can see Deborah Conn's one woman show. It's astounding in its skill, variety & breadth. I am particularly taken with Debby's monotypes. Go to www.StifelandCapra.com to sign up for her last watercolor workshop of the spring!

Klara Sever has brought in 2 new sculptures for Father's Day. Scope them out the next time you are in!

A Traditional Easter Breakfast!

Happy Easter!

After an historically appropriate gloomy Friday & Saturday, Sunday dawned bright and sunny! We had our traditional Easter Breakfast(!) and then went to services at the tardy hour of 11 (www.viennapres.org), then headed back to the 'hood for the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.

Our mischievous neighbor waited for the kids to find his annual sneaky standard ploy, the "crazy, how did that get up there?" Easter egg. This year's egg was hanging from fishing line twenty feet in the air. How he got in and out of there without being seen is beyond me!

It takes a lot to get me to buy anything but I couldn't resist Christine of Society Hill's Cross pearl ring for my Easter outfit. Isn't it awesome? Christine is in studio three or four days a week and I have the key to the case if you see anything you can't live without!

Blessings to you and yours-

Love those...PEEPS?!?!

You might think it was our freshly painted new venue,Linda Morgan's awesome art dolls, or the continuous tours of the new artist studios but to some of the younger fans of Stifel and Capra, it was the Peeps! It IS close to Easter after all.
The rest of the crowd, however, had fun checking out my funky new revolving tacky jewelry cases for my tremendous, tacky, terrific vintage jewelry. I just LOVE hearing the the chuga, chuga,chink, of the goofy bicycle chains that run the things. What a hoot!

Jane, Sandi, Concetta, Vicki, Lori, and Heidi debuted their working studio/gallery spaces this last FIRSTFriday. They had lots of well-wishers toasting their success! We had a FanTAStic crowd; I don't think there was much of a crumb or a libation left to tidy at the end of the night. Cathy from Joie de Beads revived me Saturday morning with a humongous plate of doughnuts and Bellinis to enable us to finish cleaning the next morning. Nothing like a little fat, sugar, and champagne to get you motivated (?).

Thank you to EVERYONE who came out to celebrate our big move. Your support really reinforces that committing to the big thing will be a good move, rhetorically as well as literally. A thousand thank yous.

April 3rd - FIRSTFriday in our new space!

Linda Morgan of Purple Cat Studios brought in her latest collection of art dolls. Linda's whimsical dolls will be featured at our First FIRSTFriday celebration in our new location, tomorrow Friday from 5 to 8pm. If you can't stop in on Friday night, remember we are now open from 10 to 5 on Saturdays as well!

You can park across the street at the post office after 5 o'clock on Friday night, so grab a friend and come see what's new!

Check out the other community "happenings" at www.firstfridayoffallschurch.com.

LLLLLoooooovvvveee that sign!

I feel SO legitimate. Marshal and Preston Signs www.prestonsigns.com did a fantastic job fabricating my sign. LOVE it! DId I mention I think it looks great?
I had fun making baskets for two Falls Church related auctions this week. They are both Art & Soul baskets (naturally!) and contain art & accessories from the shop. Thanks to Cathy Soltys of Joie de Beads for contributing bling above and beyond the call!

The first basket is for the Falls Church City Schools Fundraiser. www.auctionforourschools.com











And the second one is for the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce annual Gala.
www.fallschurchchamber.org

I also make baskets for birthday, wedding and shower gifts. I enjoy making them; do let me know if you'd like me to put together one for you!