I'm home from a weekend away with nothing but artsy fun on the agenda. Here's how it all happened. Amy and I were in the Somerset Offices talking to Jenny Doh, when Jenny mentioned that she wanted to go flea marketing. Well, say no more to us, we'd love to take you. We talked about Long Beach, Irvine, Rose Bowl, and I mentioned that I'd always wanted to go to the Alameda (sp?) flea market. A month later I found myself driving up the 5 freeway with Jenny and Amy with the main agenda being the Alameda flea market...I should have realized then that I'd soon be calling Jenny, Miss Get-it-done. (The art supplies shown here are shown as found at the flea market, by the way.)
Jenny hooked us up with her dear friend and artist Connie Stuart. Connie is the sweetest, and met us at our hotel with a big basket of craft supplies and a welcome card. She'd tried to put it in our room before we got there, but the hotel wouldn't let her. (That tells you a little bit about her thoughtfullness.) I'd show you some of Connie's work here, but I think it's all being published in all the various Sommerset magazines, so I can't. Check out any issue and she'll be in it, she's that prolific. She's the artist that did the cool doll shoe art on the cover a few months ago. Connie took us on a guided tour of the area. The first place we stopped was the adorable shop Sweet Magnolia...loved it, and the owners, and their baby, that the Dad introduced as "Shop Baby". Here you see Connie and Jenny with the owner Jill Cox and Shop Baby :). And here are some more photos of Sweet Magnolia.
You can visit Sweet Magnolia at 404 Hartz Avenue, Danville or call (925) 855-9845.
After Sweet Magnolia we popped in to say hi to Connie's artist friend Bari. Another sweet gal. She is a handbag designer and hopefully soon scarfs, because I want one of these!
She also had yummy things like this sitting around.
You can buy your own Bari original at her website, barijonline.com
After that it was time for bed, but not before one more treat. Amy gave us each a special necklace wrapped so beautifully (as usual!) Oohs and Ahhs were shared by all. Can never have enough of her jewelry.
After a fitful night of sleep, it was a very early wake-up call for the reason we came, the flea market! Here we are in the dark when we arrived. Left to right, Amy, Jenny, Connie and me.
Here's Jenny and Amy trying to get each other's cell phone numbers since Amy and I had heard that Addison Endpapers would be selling there and were determined to go off and find them.
Find Addison Endpapers we did, and Wendy Addison too, whose art I love love love (don't most?). Like strange star struck crafters, we asked to take a photo with her. I didn't feel too bad though, because some ladies after us said they came all the way from Pennsylvania (?North Carolina? can't remember) to meet her and made a bigger fuss, so we weren't the only ones.
Here are Connie, Amy and Bari.
I also saw Lisa Congdon, and like a freaky blog stalker said, "Are you Lisa?" and proceeded to introduce myself. Sorry Lisa, I love your blog and art so much, it was like seeing a friend I had to say hi to, but I'm sure that just had to be a weird experience for you. Thanks for being so graceful about it. I had to laugh at myself even.
So of course, you want to see what I got, right? Just remember, I've wanted to go to this flea for a long time, and saved up my mula for the occasion. In other words, I got a lot, (and we didn't even finish the whole flea market it was so big). In case your wondering, I love the Alameda flea market, it did not disappoint.
Yummy stuff. The trip, nor the day, ended here...but motherhood beckons (do your kids get out early one day every week?)...I'm sure you'd like a breather anyway! I'll fill you in on the rest of the trip soon...
