My Friend, Pete.

For those of you who don’t know him, I want to introduce you to my very talented friend, Pete Berg.
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Getting Ready for the Spring Open House!

Since our Spring celebration is just around the corner, Ivy Gate Cottage is getting all spruced up. With our last (hopefully) winter storm moving through this weekend (12 inches of snow forecast for Julian tomorrow!), it is time to get ready for Spring! Corners of greenery like this one are popping up all through the shop and barn area. Bulbs are springing up, the lilacs are budding out and primroses are blooming in the garden areas.

Next Saturday & Sunday (March 24 & 25) from 10 am to 4 pm come join us if you can for our Spring Open House. We’ll have all kinds of treats for you, including delightful snacks, special discounts and eye-popping spring decor as we redecorate for Spring. Stop off next door at Descanso Mercantile those same days for Michelle’s Open House as well. Make a day of it and drive up to Julian to see all the blooming daffodils along the way.

Take a look at our new spring line of bath cupcakes — they look good enough to eat! Each cupcake has a “cake” that is a fizzing bath bomb and “icing” top that is really a sweet soap topping! The scents pictured are (clockwise) Lavender, Lemon, Orange Creamsicle and Mint. They can be purchase in groups of four, two or just a single cupcake.

Be on the look out for a very special invitation coming your way for a special event at Ivy Gate in early May! Check out our new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ivygatecottage

While we’re on the topic of beautiful things and Spring, take a look below at an incredible Spring Crown that my friend, Deb Hodge (of Swoon!) has created and is currently offering as as project for her monthly kit club: Absolutely breathtaking!

To see Deb’s work and kit club projects, go to her blog: http://www.swoonwithdebhodge.blogspot.com

She is an amazingly creative woman! (I try to surround myself with women like that!)

See Phyllis’ darling handpainted signs:

Happy Spring!

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To All Bath Addicts! (you know who you are…)

This winter I’ve been working on some new bath products with my partner in crime (who shall remain nameless). We’ve come up with some interesting results. These sweets are really lavender and lemon bath bomb cupcakes! The “cupcake” is a wonderful bath bomb that releases an amazing fragrance while fizzing away. In addition, it moistures as it disappears into the water leaving behind moisturizing mango and cocoa butters.

 The “frosting” is just that with some “fizzing” action and shea butter moisturizer. Here is are the sweet cupcakes wrapped up and ready for sale!

You can now find these cupcakes at Ivy Gate Cottage in Descanso!

I got the idea below from the “Soap Queen” (http://www.soapqueen.com). These are sweet little sugar exfoliators that smell like lime, lemon, lavender and (yum!) vanilla frosting!!!!!

These sweet little cubes are for your tub (what else?). They fit in the palm of your hand and are VERY sugary. Scrub dry skin away and moisturize at the same time with Vitamin E, shea butter and cocoa butter. I found them to be a bit too oily. They begin to melt on contact with your hand so back to the drawing board to make them more sugar-cubish.

Yesterday’s experiment yielded these sweet lemon cupcakes:

These cupcakes are different than the ones we made earlier because the frosting is soap! My partner got the idea from KCherieSoaps. The cupcake is my amazing lemon bath bomb (VERY DENSE, SLOW TO DISAPPEAR AND MOISTURING) but the icing is “Vanilla Frosting” soap! When you place it in the tub, the bottom fizzes away (smelling and moisturizing, of course) but the top remains intact and is used as soap. It smells heavenly and, if you play your cards right, can be used for one or more baths! Here are little frosting “leftovers” that we plan to use as samples of new and interesting (and yummy) soap scents!

    

Extra Vanilla Frosting Soap!

As soon as the soap frosting cures (in two weeks), you can find these sweet cupcakes for sale at Ivy Gate Cottage. But we’ll soon have them available for sale on Etsy. Stay tuned!

If you’re in the San Diego area, plan to visit us during our special “Valentine Days” in Descanso (see the link at the top of page for Descanso Events) between Saturday (February 11) and Valentine’s Day (Tuesday the 14th). At Ivy Gate Cottage, I’ll have sugar scrub, soap, cupcakes and all bath supplies for 25% off the regular price and Phyllis will have her gorgeous fresh cut flower bouquets, balloons and other lovely flowering plants as well as a huge variety of gift items. Next door at Descanso Mercantile, lots of Valentine goodies will also be available as well as tea served throughout each of the four days and Valentine giveaways.

In the meantime, here’s to amazing bath experiences!

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Me and Alexa

The Perfect Day

Okay…If you could choose to do anything with one of your favorite nieces, wouldn’t you go here? Yep, Coronado on the perfect day! We laid on the beach, ate and talked until we could take the sun no more. Then we dressed and walked through the Hotel Del Coronado oogling candy and ice cream. Looking in all the windows up and down Orange Avenue and discussing everything we saw.  Very fun….

Alexa and I have had a great time together — pretty much doing San Diego: Downtown, Mission Valley, Fashion Valley Mall, North County for breakfast, and now in Julian.

This morning at 9 am we started making soap and then lost our way making other bath products:

Scrumptious Lime Bath Balls and Bath Fizzy Tablet!

Lavender Bath Crystals, Bath Balls, Tangerine and Peach Bath Crystals, Too!

Tags, Ribbons, stuff to decorate our little treasures with!

Oh yes....one more old bleach bottle transformed into a "new" french antique! Love that soldering stuff!

My partner in crime, Niece Alexa!

Darling Girl.

Her wonderful tags…..Just a sampling.

Her manilla tags -- both large and small. Some stamped, some embossed, all look so vintage!

Great idea for gift tags. Manilla large tag inside a coin envelope! Darling!

Great Craft Day for both of us! We started at 9 am and are calling it a day at 6:30!!!!! Boy time sure flies when you're having fun!

Tomorrow it’s off to Descanso and cleaning, rearranging and dusting with my little partner!

 

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A little bit of this and a little bit of that….

The beginning of my summer vacation has been absolutely thrilling and educational in a very different way than I’m used to. Rather than learning more about textbook chemistry, I got to take a class from Rita Reade on soldering and using chemicals to make metal look old and glass bottles look beautiful! Thanks Rita!

This lovely glass door knob has been soldered to a stopper and attached to a beautiful bottle. This was a class project with Rita. Notice the scalloped metal strip at the bottom of the bottle.

A little glass charm with soldered back and sides that we made as part of our soldering class. Very cute.

The icing on my summer cake was an opportunity to take a banner-making class with artist Debbie Hodge at Urban Barn. Her banner was a lovely, glittery “WISH”! Absolutely lovely. The reason it looks like perfection is that there are many layers under the final decor: paint, glitter and more glitter.

Scrumptious wish banner....Debbie is a real artisan and does things RIGHT! What a great class! I will definitely be signing up for her next class!

Notice the detail on each letter. Vintage metal fillagree, rhinestones, crystals and a tiny Christmas tree!

I’m working in my office today on a little more bottle soldering and decorating….

An old lamp base that I found at Ivy Gate Cottage. I attached a glass door knob and added some soldering and bling. I think it looks like an old apothecary bottle...

A dressed up brown bottle. I used a brass door handle rather than glass, a vintage french label and, of course, rhinestones!!!!!!

My summer vacation is off to a great start….

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Upcoming Descanso Days

Now that the 4th of July is safely behind us, it’s time to celebrate Descanso Days this coming weekend, Saturday, July 9th. Michelle, owner of Descanso Mercantile will be holding her Peddler’s Fair & Flea Market from 9 am to 3 pm. You can expect to find lots of great shopping outside the shop (at 8306 Hwy 79, Descanso 91916) as well as inside. Check out some of the great finds just inside:

Great Eiffel Tower display with wonderful jewelry and assorted bling!

Perfect little shabby vanity....

Great handpainted window....

Along with great shopping, the Descanso Town Hall Fair and parade will be held. The parade begins at 10 am and the Fair gets going after that. There will be vendors, games, music and food at the Town Hall for your enjoyment.

Be sure to stop in at Ivy Gate Cottage…just a few steps away from the Descanso Mercantile. Phyllis, the owner, continues to expand and re-beautify(!) this great shop. For example:

Lots of glitz and glass gifts abound in this beautiful shop.

Lots of great ribbon for sale along with beautifully decorated hats!

Stop in and see the newly expanded shopping area specializing in shabby chic, country french and Bohemian glitz!!!!

While you’re out and about, stop in at the Descanso Junction for a quick bite or a great steak!   

Any questions? Call Michelle at (619) 850-9361 — she’s still got spaces available for vendors/sellers if you’re interested. Phyllis (Ivy Gate Cottage) can be reached at (619)309-6782. We’re looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

 

 

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Time Off and Sparkly Things…

After a week off of work, I’m just now starting to unwind enough to begin to enjoy myself! What is it about a vacation that requires initial startup time? I can’t seem to get into the swing of having free time until that free time is nearly gone…

Oh, well. Better late than never.

Here are a few things I’ve been working on:

Took my sparkly corset and turned it into a small dressform (using a metal flower form as a base). Everything covered with glass glitter.

I made a second small dressform with a rusty base and finished it off with a tarnished jeweled crown.

Old bottles I filled with white buttons. The stoppers are decorated with lace, beads and pearls. Ribbon is dyed to my favorite color of blue!

Little packages of glitter -- 3 tiny bottles in each.

Vintage silk thread on wooden spools.

Stack of wooden clothespins -- stained dark and covered with french! Maybe I have TOO MUCH time on my hands. What do you think?

Off to Descanso to drop these off at Ivy Gate Cottage and then back to my work bench to work on crown construction!

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