Ma Chambre....

Even though it was over 90 today here, I decided to stay in-doors and take advantage of some free time that seemed to come out of nowhere.  Now trust me because when you do flea markets and such, free time is such a rare luxury that it's ridiculous.  Of course, that's only if you're doing Flea Markets full time like I do.  Anyways, I've always loved the look of chalkboard walls such as this one I found on Apartmenttherapy.com here:

I love their use of dark rich colors and the soft flickering lights from the tea lights.  I am not completely there with my room as you can see the pink wall and door next to my small partition wall (the other side is my office) but I thought doing my chalkboard wall was going to get things started with a huge punch of change in the original set up.  You can also see one of my Art Deco dressers as well.

Tomorrow's Just an Excuse Away.....

good grief....where to start.....Monty, Dior, Rodin, Le Labo......

My older brother and I....1987?....on my dad's motorcycle

love Burled Walnut....

So that's what I did with my time today! lol  I must admit that I had my sister come in and go through all of my collected items (still in moving boxes no less!) and she arranged everything on top of my dresser.  She's a Visual Communications major and she is immensely immensely talented. 

The long lost photos.....

As promised, here are a few of the photos that were trapped in my camera.  I finally got a new cable and decided to upload these real quick.  These were taken at The Long Beach Antique Market just a few weeks back.

definitely changing it up....

This milk glass lamp lights up throughout the entire body.  I had to put it away because of the gusty conditions but it will be available this Sunday at The Irvine Antique market.

This Buddha head was the first thing to go that morning!

Art Nouveau items are always fun

These postcards are totally worth framing.

too cute

Antique Love Letter lots....you won't find them anywhere else at the flea markets here. I guarantee it.

WWI French Sailors working out......or doing the YMCA....not sure

The Ever-Present Menu of course

These frames were fun to make.

C'mon, everybody needs a Madeleine pan!

 See you all this Sunday at The Irvine Flea Market!

a much needed update

Although I've been selling at Flea Markets for over a year, I never really thought I would be where I'm at right now.  I suppose that doing flea markets was something I thought was only going to be temporary as I had plans on continuing my education but it would seem that fate had something else in mind entirely.   

Ça Va was another idea that I thought was going to be temporary to pass the time as I anxiously got closer to my enrollment date for school however after several successful sales, it appeared to be something bigger than I imagined; something with a concrete future that I not only was beginning to love but also a future that is tangible.  I felt my imagination and creativity just exploding with every new piece I picked up and my work has definitely changed from my first solo sale with Ça Va. Not only will Ça Va continue on, it will be expanding with an actual shop with store front quite possibly within the next two months.  There will also be an expansion with what I will carry such as my own art work and other interesting pieces as well. 
 The only problem right now is that when I moved into my new space, I seem to have misplaced my camera's cable so I have not been able to upload images from the last few shows.  Trust me when I say that the new pieces I have are very different and certainly reach our further than the typical shabby chic style I once limited myself to.  

The Irvine Flea Market at The Great Park is coming up this Sunday and I'm very excited as I've got some cool stuff for sale.  I'll try and get some pictures taken with my phone but the camera on it isn't the best.

Bright Sunshine and a Gentle Breeze at The Irvine Flea Market

I'm seriously loving this cool summer as it is making for amazing days at the flea market.  This past Sunday at The Groves Antique Market at The Great Park in Irvine brought lots of new faces and lots of new sellers too.  I actually really enjoyed taking a break and walking around to see the new venders and what they were selling.  It's nice to see such variety from one vender to the next as one too many stalls with all of the same thing can be overwhelming.  Some very cool things I did see were an antique Japanese Samurai Winter Coat with armor, some antique French chairs, a vender with books only from the 19th century, a beautiful chandelier with all of its antique crystals intact, a set of black antique Chinese dressers, and lots of cool vintage hats.  I wish I had taken pictures but my phone decided to not play friendly and I forgot my camera thanks to accidentally sleeping in over 30min lol. 

Here are the few pictures I was able to take and two extra that I felt like including.  I will be at The Rose Bowl Flea Market this coming Sunday with some very very cool stuff.  I will post a picture or two before the weekend of what I will be bringing.

I'm slowly but surely working on my chalk skills!

So many books and not a minute to sit and read them lol I'm glad most of these found a good home on Sunday.

I've had this awesome phonograph player for awhile but decided he needed a good home.  I also magically stumbled across a large collection of 1930s Victor Classical records the day before and sold them all in less than an hour.  I got to play one on the player at least and the sound was awesome and the records were in mint condition too!

Every time I'm in LA, I stop by my favorite Danish bakery in the world called The Hygge Bakery.  It's on Hope Street just a block down from FIDM.  Everything I've had there is amazing and they are beyond friendly.  I took a bite of my Napoleon Hat before I could snap a picture but oh dear lord, it was so worth it. 

I found this little Dakin original at a yard sale and just had to have it!  Named him Kaiju and he has been bringing me luck ever since I picked him out of that dusty box I found him in.  My other cats seem to find him threatening but I'm sure they'll come around haha

last minute deliveries

With all of the time and work it is taking to get my new place together, I certainly did not expect to receive new items this week.  With that being said, I was thrilled to see my mailbox over stuffed with packages from France this morning.

Here are a few pics of some of the items which I am more than sure will be added to the packing list for Sunday at The Groves Antique Market at The Great Park in Irvine

Back to organizing and such!  See you on Sunday :-)

Settling in.....

After a month of testing the waters here in Southern California, I am very happy to announce that Ça va will no longer be a 'pop-up shop' but will indeed be a continuing presence at the various flea markets.  It has just been a blast this last month and it's hard for me to believe that I almost considered waiting until next year to begin selling.  One thing is for sure, I have no idea where I would have kept all of the inventory if I had decided to do so!  So yes, you will be able to continue finding me at The Rose Bowl, The Long Beach Antique Market, and The Irvine Flea Market at The Great Park/The Groves Antique Market and I am so very much looking forward to meeting more new friends.

On a personal note, I am currently in the middle of moving spaces so to speak.  I have always kept things minimal in regards to furniture but recently, I came across an antique Art Deco bedroom set with a price tag that I just couldn't pass up and so I bought every single piece!  The previous space I was occupying did not allow me to use either of the pieces so they've been in storage for the past few months however with my new space, I've been able to take them out of storage and have the coolest set up I could ever ask for.  Now if only unpacking my supposedly minimal collection of stuff was much easier to do than I previously thought it would be lol.  Maybe I will post pictures once everything starts to settle and after I've begun the painting process.  

Unfortunately because I've been so focused on packing, moving, and unpacking, I won't have anything spectacularly new this week at Irvine.  If you're in the market for antique love letters, I did happen to get a large amount last week and will at least have many more than ever before.  Until then, hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather and I'm sure Sunday will deliver perfect weather yet again. 

Stormy Weather at The Long Beach Antique Market

Making new friends is always a treat when I'm out selling and this past Sunday was a perfect day filled with new friends and faces.  Although the weather was a bit on the grey side and slightly drizzly, there was still lots of fun to be had for everyone.  I didn't expect a huge turn out because the forecast had called for lightening storms and such but the crowd was great and people seemed to be really enjoying the cooler temperature for sure.  I certainly know that I was anyways! 

I love that the attendees at the various flea markets here in Southern California vary much more than you would think.  I absolutely love working with the designers and such at The Rose Bowl because it's awesome to hear what they are going to do with the items they purchase from me.  The Long Beach Antique Market has a very young and hip crowd that is also fun to work with and boy do they know how to haggle, let me tell you! LOL However I am noticing that I am getting to work with many brides of all ages and it's really interesting to know that something from my shop will be such a focal piece in their weddings.  It's even more fun to hear of all of the different possibilities a bird cage can have at a wedding or how they are going to create a display with antique French postcards.  I love being creative and offering my help and I must have gone overboard because I was called a Wedding Planner not just once, but TWICE! haha Maybe I should consider adding weddings to my business card?...just a thought ;-)

So yes, Sunday was fantastic and I enjoyed every single customer that came into my stall.  I even sold out of one of the items on my "menu" board!  So exciting......

My next sale will be on Sunday, August 4th at The Irvine Flea Market at The Great Park.  See you there!

Here are some pictures of my set up from The Long Beach Antique Market

ugh....I need to work on my chalk skills

I really hope this looks great in the wedding it will be featured in!

Two of my new favorite items: An elegant French style side table and a vintage suitcase!

Such an amazing find!  This book is made up of bound Newspapers from 1909!  This guy is huge and is going to look great as wedding decor!

Antique mirror with custom cut and hand beveled glass

Everyone needs vintage french Elle in their lives and this solid oak antique blue coffee table!