Teddy my love...

Heidi Steiner's heirloom teds send me...they are finely made and appointed with charming and oddly sweet vintage accoutrements...old trims, antique dolly frocks, and found fabrics. Their expressions are winsome, captivating and oh so dear.

I adore the latest grouping she's sent us and I had to share some glam shots of my fave pieces...

(...yes, these should be posted to her page soon and watch your email if you are on her update list...)

Thanks Heidi, as ever, for sharing your artistry with us. As some of you know, Heidi was one of the very first artists to become and Earth Angel...and it's been a long and wonderful relationship with fabulous teds arriving over the years and then sent on to so many appreciative collectors' homes...

Cheers!
xxoo
Jen O'Connor
Earth Angels
PS Read more about Heidi on her festive and fun BLOG "Heidiland":
http://www.steinerbears.blogspot.com/

This is Halloween...

Warwick loves Halloween...there are those towns that go big for the 4th of July, others might embrace the Christmas Season...but our town -- we've got four wineries and orchards and pumpkin patches immeasurable -- so it loves the autumn, the harvest, and with it that candy riddled, costume donning, and oh so spooky...Halloween.

...how lucky for me that the kids love trick or treating as much as I did when I was a little kid. They love to costume and beg for treats...but first -- along with the rest of the town, we assemble at Village Hall and follow the Honor Guard and oodles of sirened vehicles to parade down to Railroad Green.

The strut down Main Street is a rag tag assemblage of personalities, fairy tale characters and all manner of attired beasts and beauties....but it does get us in the mood. The crowds linger at Railroad Green for costume judging...but not us!


We have our priorities straight and head for the houses on Oakland Ave, Oakland Ct and Welling to ring those bells. (Our final destination is always the colorful and candy stocked home of our great Earth Angels gal pal, Jane G!)

This year, we had 18 members of our family out there workin' it for candy with some very good friends in tow. Along the way we meet a ton of our friends and neighbors, school buds, along with my hubby's childhood pals and their kids(he grew up here in Warwick...)


The rain never bothered any of us...what a wonderful evening...Thanks Candeas, McCabes, Cotters, LaRoccos, Mihalicks and Graneys for making it so...

Hope you enjoyed your holiday too...

xxoo Jen
Earth Angels
ps -- look at this shot from Charlotte's haunted tea room...

...and here's my niece and nephews later that evening in a second round of costumes as the Peanuts Gang for trick or treating...

They looked great!
xxoo Jen

Kitchen Ta Dah!

Finally, at long last the kitchen is actually finished. We got the last pieces of the puzzle in place the week before we left for vacation, but it all seemed so unreal...Was it really done after all that time? Had the fridge finally arrived? Had the dishwasher that went bust 2 weeks into use been replaced by the manufacturer? Was the hood finally released from customs? A resounding -- YES!

I am thrilled with it -- it's very us and it's very me as a cook. That said, it is flavored and filled with idiosyncrasies, collections old and growing, and lots of open space...
(...to recap for newer readers -- we merged our den/family room with the existing cramped kitchen and made one big open kitchen....)

There are no utensil drawers -- a trio of pewter pitchers hold them instead; there are no overhead cabinets -- dishes are on the hutch and on open shelves -- and there are no sleek racks. There is: a huge open space, lots of flat surfaces and yes, lots of reclaimed, reused and recycled objects and furniture that somehow meld and work together like a good team.

There's no matchy-matchy here, just good, simple stuff that we are putting to good use. And yes, we have already scratched and chipped and worn that delish carrera marble -- so be it! I love the imperfections earned from good use.

Here are some images....


Now let me interrupt...
...and for those of you that don't remember when (I think I have already forgotten how bad it was myself) -- here's the before!
Yes, it was functional but I compared it to unappealing leftovers on the verge of going bad...
THE BEFORE...

THE AFTER:

(If you want to back up see the before and during phases of this see these post...)
Island Dreams...
http://earthangelstoys.blogspot.com/2009/07/kitchen-update-4-island-dreams.html
Update from June...
http://earthangelstoys.blogspot.com/2009/06/kitchen-update.html
Inspiration...
http://earthangelstoys.blogspot.com/2009/06/inspiration-right-here.html

Now, this new space...well... it makes me just wanna go cook something. Thanks to all the wonderful cheerleaders...and again to my pals and tech crew Melissa, Jennifer, Kathy, Stephanie, Ken, Robert, Oliver, Billy and Rob for making it happen. I should be cooking you all dinner on that new stove shouldn't I!

xxoo Jen
Earth Angels

candy countdown

Diana Card's series of Halloween paintings have put me over the edge and I am lost in candy-filled thoughts...

I confess...I am obsessed with trick or treating and thoughts of the candy pouring in next Saturday...Thankfully I have kids to legitimize my incessant ringing of doorbells and I live in a town where it is big to do.

When I was little my sister Vickey was the Queen of Halloween and must have felt much the same as I do now...16 years older than me, she dragged me house to house for hours and then we hauled our loot home to weigh it on the scale.

I wish I could remember a pound count, but I can't; it's lost in a haze of childhood memories so thick I can brush them away with my hand and confused in the tussle of candy wrappers and sticky chocolate hands. And I suppose, Vickey, this is all your fault!

Annie, Michelle...I still haven't grown up...Bellerose at Halloween was heaven, and perhaps Warwick just might be the same for my little ones.

As ever, I will be sure to blog about Halloween in Warwick after the merry night has come and gone...in the meantime I will be pining for the sea of Hershey's miniatures, Mary Janes, Tootsie Rolls, and those cute little square Snickers sure to roll in...

smitten with trickin' and treatin'
xxoxox Jen
Earth Angels

New Favorites - Site Updates

A big thanks to Paul -- our fearless webmaster - for all the recent updates to the website...he's loaded the site with new arrivals, fall treasures and oodles of goodies.

...as for me, I have been having fun going through all the new arrivals and choosing my favorites...I'm going to share the images below as well links to the site to share the latest offerings...

Here's what's new:

Jennifer Lanne...

Debbee Thibault...including a new "From the Vault" page where will be posting rare and retired pieces...


Dara DiMagno...


Cheryl Kuhn ...



Deirdre Friebely...


Earthgirl Pottery...


Diana Card...


A big THANKS Paul for all the hard work, and a BIG thanks to the artists who have been hard at work creating the art we love to share with you...

xxoo Jen O'Connor
Earth Angels

Issue # 5 of WWC has arrived!

Great news! Issue # 5 of Jo Packham's "Where Women Create" magazine has arrived.

This just might be the best yet -- indeed they do keep getting better and better!

This issue features two of Earth Angels' artists...jewelry designer and creator of wearable art, Dara DiMagno and potter Jill Wiener, aka The Earthgirl..

Here are a few images of Dara's shoot...the magazine will have oodles more...

And here's a peek at Jill and her space on the day I shot her wonderful barn studio...


If you haven't yet reserved your copy of Issue #5, please email or call and I will get one out to you...they are $14.99 + shipping.

Thanks Jo for yet another wonderful wonderful publication -- it's utterly inspiring and I am so thrilled to be a part of it...

xxoo Jen
Earth Angels

The Ferry Boat Ball

It really was a night we'll never forget...often these annual gatherings of the Mild Zanie Check Society roar upwards of 100 people -- ...indeed, last year we made merry on all 3 decks of the Yankee Ferry on a sultry summer evening.

This year was something different, a very special gathering, just 23of us...We sat as friends at one long and gloriously adorned table and feasted on lobster, enjoying the wonderful chance to chat with fellow aficionados of Victoria & Richard's design and style.

Charlotte was my date and it didn't take very long for her to pal up with Felix and Wittika -- Victoria and Richard's grandchildren. When they weren't lowering the candy bowl but it's sock festooned pulley, they were doting on Mr. Brown and Pinky, the most seafaring dogs I've ever met.
Victoria and Richard excel at decoration, embellishment and theme --they are masters of design and I adore them and their creations. Their company and design business is now called "Victoria & Richard Emprise" -- most of you know they sold MacKenzie-Childs some time ago and now their designs are available only through Emprise...Their Emprise creations -- are as lush as ever, astoundingly whimsical, exceedingly well made, and of course, festive and full of graphic folly, color play and texture. Victoria says she is really loving the jewelry she's designing -- and I do too!

Here are some images of their floating showroom just off the gangplank, I nabbed a few fun necklaces, a prototype pin and a bracelet for someone special on my Christmas list.

You can read more about Victoria & Richard on their website (stay tuned because they are re-doing it as I type this) website and in Jo's book Where Women Create, as well as in Issue #1 of the magazine. Thanks again to Jo Packham for introducing us and allowing our circles of friends to collide. Click this link to an older blog post showing the Yankee Ferry during the day --
And of course, a big dose of gratitude to our hosts for the magic --it was a wonderful night. We can't wait to visit again soon -- Charlotte and Wittika had the best fun playing in Grand-mere's dressing room! Charlotte has not stopped talking about all the frocks you've made Victoria, the gowns and all the color and texture. (And when she dyes her hair a rainbow of colors, I'll know from whence the inspiration came!)

xxoo
Jen
Earth Angels