Tillies Attic Update ~ Lots of pretty pictures:)

Its amazing how when you let things take their natural course how well things can work out. After starting my new job, one that I love and so thankful to have. I realized there would be no way I would be able to keep the large room I had at Tillies Attic stocked full. So I moved out into a smaller and more compact area. Its absolutely perfect for me and my new circumstances. Plus there was a new vendor who loved my room, so its now going to be filled with lots of new home dec items and vintage finds. I cant wait to see how it will look when she is all moved in. I hear she is amazing at putting displays together. There are so many new vendors moving in now. Its looking amazing in the store and I just know this is going to be THE place to shop. I went in today to take lots of photos to share with you all. We do have a new vendor who makes the best pickles and she is displayed on an adorable wood cart, but my photos of that did not turn out. I hear that they are the best ever so dont miss out on them when you visit.

(Shell,,,, I took the bunnies for you :) )

If you are in the Phoenix area be sure to visit Tillies Attic in Mesa. They are located on the Southeast corner of Guadalupe and Dobson. (1941 E Guadalupe, Mesa, AZ 85202 )

Gifts From The Cape

I am still missing my vacation time at the Cape. Ok maybe not the cold weather, but I am sure missing my friends and the cupcakes. I started my new job this week working for Target. Its an amazing company and I am so thrilled to be there. The department I work for is at the corporate offices and there is an incredible amount to learn. I am getting my sea-legs and trying to get used to working outside the home and I come home pretty tired. I am lucky to be awake at 8pm. lol Its an age thing I am afraid. So, I dont have alot to share this week. Pictures of me pulling my hair out trying to learn new stuff or sleeping probably would not be too inspiring. LOL So, I wanted to share two special gifts I received from my friends on my trip. My very favorite souviners I brought back home.

The first is the sweetest basket made by Carol. She is an amazing seamstress and always has the best ideas. Her quality is outstanding, and if that wasnt enough, Carol has many talents. She is an amazing cook and baker. She makes fudge. Its not just any fudge either. Its ooooh Fudge! It is so creamy it comes in a jar and you eat it with a spoon. Man, I am so hungary and that sound so good right now. Dang! Anyway.....she made each of us this special gift to celebrate Mothers Day. What a sweet presentation. Thank You Carol. You can see her incredible work at http://www.espritdejoie.com/ or http://www.businessinthebag.com/.

The next awesome gift I received was from my friend Marie. She makes the prettiest soaps and sweet lotions. She made each of us this adorable jar that she filled with hand made sea shell guest soaps. Also another wonderful presentation. Maries products can be found at http://www.savonmarie.com/ And how lucky we all were. So, even though I am home and I have begun a new career I still have my pretty souviners to remember my special trip to the shore. (Well, the fudge is gone now:( ) I hope everyone has a great week. Until next time,,,,gail

Cape Cod in the Spring

I just got back home last night from a wonderful trip to Cape Cod where I met some friends. I flew into NYC a week ago last friday and my friend Marie picked me up there. I spent the night in her charming apt. in a pretty Irish neighborhood in the Bronx. We left saturday morning and drove up I95 to start out adventure. :) We stopped in Conneticut to visit another friend from Make Mine Pink. We stopped in the shop that Jennifer and her Mom from Cottage Flair own. It was a pretty victorian house full of the most beautiful merchandise. Jennifer had alot of her furniture pieces she "makesover" and they were prettier in person. I am sorry to say I left my camera in the car down the street. It was really raining hard. But I did do some shopping and bought an adorable pair of sandles from OKA b and some very pretty ribbons. (http://www.cottageflair.com/). Then we stopped in Mystic CT for lunch and some window shopping. It was a very charming town and the bakery we found had orange brownies! Unbelievably AWESOME.

When we arrived at the cape we were greeted by our friends and hostess, Joyce from Make Mine Pink. I loved the house and the views from the window were so tranquill and pretty. I had to take a photo of the bathroom sink. It was so pretty. They had lasagna and salad waiting for us! We talked until very late and had fun. During the week we did alot of antiquing enjoying the sights. We discoverd a cupcake shop called Cupcake Charlies and we spent alot of time visiting there! One day, Marie, Katie and I drove to Bostons Little Italy neighborhood to visit Mikes Pastries. We also bought fresh deli meat and cheese there, so it was an awesome dinner that night too. :) We ate lunch in a pretty tea room and visited one of my favorite shops, Horse Feathers. She has so much vintage ribbons and linens. Buttons also. We also decided to make dolls! LOL We thought this would be a quick project. Quick it was not,,,but alot of fun for sure. In the photo, mine in the one dressed in pink and ribbons. But I bet you could have figured that out. :) I hope you enjoy the photos of my trip. It was so much fun and very pretty. The only part I didnt care too much for was it was cold for me. I was sure it was going to snow, but the Eastern girls assured me that it wouldnt snow at 50 degrees. lol I am home now and its 96 now. And just for today, I am enjoying 96 degrees. And in case you havent guessed by all of the bakery visits this week, I will be starting my diet this week! Have a pretty week.

Jacaranda Trees in May

OK, I admit I have a thing for trees. I think its because there just arent that many trees here in AZ. The trees we have are desert trees and some of them are very pretty, but they are not the huge trees you see lining the quaint streets in other parts of the country. The color of green is not the same either. Kind of a yellow green. One time, during summer break. My daughters were little girls then. We were talking about trees. I decided to mess with them a little bit. It was always so much fun. LOL But I got out lots of magazines and scissors. I told them to cut out all of the pretty trees they could find. Then I gave them a roll of scotch tape and told them we were going to tape them on the back fence so it would look like we had lots of really pretty trees in our yard! I still remember the way they looked at each other, like I had finally lost my mind. But we did have one beautiful tree. It was a Jacaranda tree. They bloom each May. May only! The flowers are trumpet shaped and the prettiest shade of purple. When May is over and the pretty purple flowers have fallen and covered the ground, its still such a pretty tree. It is a very full and nicely shaped tree with lacy leaves. They grow all over around here and are so pretty.

I have some great news too. After being laid off in September, I have gotten a great job. I will be working for Target in their corporate offices in their customer relations dept. I worked really hard for this job. Its perfect for my background and experience. I did my homework and spents hours on my resume. Its been amazing at how it has all fallen into place. It doesnt even start until the 17th and I get back from my trip to Cape Cod on the 15th. Its been perfect and I am looking forward to beginning a career with such a great company. I will still be creating for my website and I will also still be located in Tillies Attic. Actually I believe with the stress of unemployment not hanging over my head I will begin to have fun working on lots of new ideas. Its all very exciting and I am looking forward to the future and all it holds.

Have a nice week, I hope to be able to do a post from Cape Cod. Last year our laptops service was iffy there, so if not I will see ya all when I return!

Blog winner :) and I am going on vacation

Hi, I have a winner for my shop hop blog contest. I put all of the names on paper and put them in a bowl. My sister Steph was here this afternoon. So I had her pull the winning name. I am happy to announce it was Julie. I just recently met Julie in person at the AZ Bloggers Luncheon and we stay in touch on our blogs. She is so fun and just as cute as can be. She does beautiful scrapbook creations. That was alot of fun. And I like the idea of the winner choosing

This friday I am off on an adventure. I am going to fly to NYC to see my friend Marie and then we are driving up north to Cape Cod to meet some friends from Make Mine Pink for a week at a beach house. We did this last year and it was so fun. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone again. On our drive up we are stopping in Mystic Conneticut. I found out today that another Pinkie, Jennifer, has her shop there and I plan to stop and visit her. Its called Cottage Flair and she has an amazing website too. I love getting to meet my online friends in person and have been so lucky to meet so many now. Here are my friends links. If you have a chance check them out. These are talented and awesome ladies!

http://www.thetuckerwolekclan.blogspot.com/, http://www.savonmarie.com/, http://www.cottageflair.com/

Invitation to the Mad Tea Party :)

I was so excited to hear its time for the Mad Tea Party once again. If you have never heard of this blog party.... listen up! lol This is hosted by Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist. She is an amazing artist, photographer and writer. Her blog and especially her blog parties have been featured in so many publications. The very important date is Saturday June 26th. There is a badge on my sidebar to her amazing illustrated party announcement. I could not even begin to do it justice. lol If you would like to attend this event please click on over and sign up. It is the party of the season. Plan your Mad Tea Party and join Vanessa in all the fun.

Blog Give away: Celebrate the Shop Hop with me

In honor of Mothers Day fast approaching and the much awaited Make Mine Pink Mothers Day Shop Hop I am having a give away. Its super easy too! Just leave a comment between today and May 1st (saturday) on this post or any other post after this one to be included in the drawing... I couldnt decide on a prize so I am making it a choose your own! The winner can go to my website and choose any one pair of earrings you like. Everyone has different tastes and likes different colors, so this seems like the fun thing to do.

The Shop Hop begins today and goes through May 1st also. Click on the link to register and get all of the details. But basically you will be visiting all of the participating shops and looking for a hidden shopping bag that says "You found it". You click on that bag to get credit for the find. The more bags you find the more chances of winning. There is no purchase neccessary either! But we dont mind if you take a look around at the shops and have a look at all of the great merchandise that would be perfect for you Mothers Day shopping.

I have also been busy working on a few things for gifts. I have been making a few of these make up bag/wallet/whatever you want bags. lol I also made up another piece of Alice in Wonderland inspired jewelry. This is a statement necklace and was alot of fun to put together. Well, I guess thats it for today. Dont forget to leave a post and here is the link for the shop hop. www.makeminepink.com/shop-hop

Celebrating Mom

By now you all know I am a very proud member of Make Mine Pink, and you probably know that each week we hold our one special day shopping event called Make Mine Pink Friday. Tomorrow is a wonderful theme: "Celebrating Mom". I know their will be so many gift giving ideas from all of the participating boutiques. I am really going to look forward to seeing everything being offered. I have seen a few sneak peaks and believe me you dont want to miss this. I have seen some beautiful tuffets, vintage linens, antique pieces, jewelry just to name a few. So if you need a special gift for your Mom, Grandmother, or maybe this is a special young ladies first Mothers day, visit us tomorrow at www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday

Inspired by Blue

I love color. Every color! Of course my favorite will always be pink. But I have been having alot of fun with blue as of late. What other color has so many hues. There are so many shades of blue from the palest baby blue to the deepest indigo. And they are all so pretty. Its almost like a neutral because blue goes with so many other colors too. Its getting warm here is Arizona so blue represents cool water to me. So this must be why its on my mind. This is a short post with some new creations in blue! Thanks for visiting. I hope the bluebird of happiness visits you this week.... gail

Sarah and her pretty yard.

I believe it was John Lennon who said "Life is what happens while your busy making other plans." Truer words have never been spoken for me and the last couple weeks. But I think I have myself aligned with the stars again:)

I had a petsitting job this weekend. Sarah is a very sweet dog. (who does not like having her picture taken!) She has two cats, but they would have no part of having their picture taken. She lives in a historic home neighborhood and in AZ that means beautiful green lawns, really big trees and lots of flowers. I enjoyed sitting out on the porch this weekend just listening to all of the birds. I only live 10 minutes away, but I dont have the same birds! lol Butterflies and hummingbirds too. It was just what I needed and Sarah was the perfect company.

I have been making alot of new creations for my website and Tillies Attic. I always love being able to add new products. Also, thank you all so much for the prayers and well wishes for my daughter April. She ended up being in the hospital for 9 days and having her galbladder out. With her problems with seizures and anasthesia it was an issue, but all is well now. I had little Mikey the whole time. He is so good, BUT he is four, I am not:) My internet was down a week during this too, so I have been away far too long. I hope we all have a great week. (()) gail