A little bit of France

One of my inspirations to become a shop owner are the ladies behind French General. I learned of their small shop in Manhattan a few years ago while researching women in business "doing what they love". I loved the aesthetic of their store and the way they used vintage notions and jewelry mixed with new gift items. It was, I'm sure, my biggest inspiration to start my shop Eye Candy. French General has since moved to Hollywood, CA and the owners have published a couple of books, one of which I received in the mail yesterday. I love this book! The pictures are beautiful and the instructions on jewelry making is detailed. Not to mention that it has many examples of one of my current obsessions... the charm bracelet (with vintage charms of course!)! Can't wait to try making a piece of my own.... all I need to do is get my collected beads, bits & pieces of old jewelry and various other crafty notions that are all dumped together in boxes out of my basement cleaned and ready to go! First things first, right?

Out like a lamb?

Here are my first blooms of the season. I feel I need to acknowledge them today, this second day of spring, as the threat of an inch of snow is upon us tonight. I hope they can make it. Primroses, in my experience, do pretty well through harsh weather, at least mine seem to anyway. I should also mention that I have exactly one crocus and one (and a half!) daffodils blooming too... but who's counting?

Stage one of my spring clean up outside continues. I've cleaned up most of the leaves and expired perennials and it's finally starting to look like an actual garden out there. Although I am worried now that I was a little too thorough and that I have exposed my tender plants to the elements. I took away the blanket of protection they've had all winter. It's just that this is the first spring in a few years that I do not have my store Eye Candy- needless to say with a full time job and the store on top of that, I was a little more than neglectful of my own gardens and property. All of my energy had been going into keeping my retail property (which had stone pathways, a huge gazebo and multiple flower gardens!! whew!) looking presentable. So this spring, as I mentioned in a previous post, I am a little over anxious to get things at my own house in shape!

Open for business?

Well, sort of... my actual brick and mortar store "Eye Candy" is no longer open; however it lives on in my heart and imagination in anticipation of one day opening again. Good news is my Eye Candy Blog is now Open for business so to speak. I wanted a place that I could share my decorating obsessions, love of shopping, antiques and vintage curiosities... and for now, this blog is the perfect answer for me. My store Eye Candy was housed in an 1800s era house and consisted of an artful mix of new and vintage gifts, decor, textiles, jewelry and anything that caught my eye. Unfortunately, the reality of having a full time job (outside of the store) and mananaging the retail store were too much for this sole proprietor to handle. Who knows what the future holds for Eye Candy, but I have a feeling that maybe one day........