Men of Mystery

Oh my. In between the incredibly long hours at work, late nights working on ornaments & prints, and mornings spent packaging up goodies, I put up my 3 ft aqua tinsel tree.
Yes. It is in fact only November. And Thanksgiving is still a good two weeks away. But with the way things are around here, by the time I actually get a moment to savor the holiday senses, it will be gone. At least, that's what happened last year. I haven't gotten to the point yet where I can listen to the holiday tunes (give that a couple more weeks still...), but apparently I've reached the "must-decorate-and-make-the-house-Christmas-cozy" state. I put the tree on a vintage melamine tray I bought last year at a small antique/boutique store (it's just so adorable!). There's also a bunch of yummy candles burning away (I found the best Roasted Chestnuts scented one at Michael's the other day)

A large batch of glitter birdies has flown through the post and is merrily heading towards MY MY boutique down in Hatboro, PA for east coast shoppers. Yay! I'm laying off the glitter bird ornaments for a few days until I can cleanse my space of all glitter. And get the remainder of said glitter out of my curly hair.

I also want to tell you that there will be a Shop Update of sorts on Monday, November 12th in which a handful of newly handpainted brooches and other goodies will be put up for greedy hands. I'm crazy about them! A mysterious English gent adorns each pin with snippets of text clipped from an antique book. Fanciful ribbon and lacey bows make each one a darling addition to a jacket--I put one on today to see how it looked and had a hard time getting myself to take it off. Each is a completely original, one-of-a-kind miniature painting for you to pin wherever you wish! Here's all four that will be listed as "Dear Chap" brooches:

Handsome gents, no?

Back to the painting table I go. Happy Friday!