Sunday, September 26, 2010

Come join us at the Mermaid's Mercantile today! A few fun photos from yesterday!

So here are a few sneeks from yesterday, it is gonna be crazy today and I must get down to the shop!
Forgive me please, not sure how to rotate the photos and I am running late. Hope to see you all today!
Thanks to all of the great peeps who came and had fun in the Sun with us yesterday.... looks like summer finally showed up at the coast!
Sincerely,
Debi

Friday, September 24, 2010

The Mermaid's Mercantile begins in a few hours! Woo hoo! and a $75 giveaway!




Our Fall show and Sale is just a few hours away, and before I get to a good nights sleep before the big weekend I would like to show you some sneek peeks of what we have in Store!
Tommorow is our preview to the fall season. We are super excited to annouce our new vendors Sicilian Gypsies....
. I am very selective when it comes to great bags, when I saw this amazing collection  I was at a loss for words, the best thing to do is give the words that these very talented designers use to decribe their passion.
Sicilian Gypsies quality style and beauty.
We invite you to enter our world, the kingdom of the Gypsies and find that one of a kind object of desire that allures you.
Maria and Susan
you will not want to miss this sale. 
We also have a tent full of vintage costumes... hundreds of cool frocks and wild get-ups!Jenn Wiley is back with her totally over the top Halloween accessories, Jenns spooky goodies flew out the door last year. I know she has been counting down the days to Oct 31ST and I can hardly wait to see what is in her bag of tricks this year!
We have a whole garden and store full of new treats! I made a halloween chandelier that I had to force myself not to keep for my house! Rachel and Frauke have been buzzing around whipping up black glittery goodness, Valentina and Marie Vollaire dropped off a few loads of treats, one customer bought chairs from Marie before they even made it off the truck! I am sure Marie and Mary are back at home finishing up more goods for tommorow morning!
The fabulous Nicky Glade and Cynthia Bardeen will be waiting to greet you in our classroom as they reveal our brand new and long awaited, fall class schedule! We have Terri Brush coming back for another soldering workshop (sign up fast she sold out last july) and a whole new line up of sewing, needle felting, jewelry making and holiday projects galore! I will be teaching a class on seashell and mermaid christmas ornaments that will make you dizzy with excitement!
Last but not least our New Mermaid ! Michelle Ramirez has just moved into the cottage and she has some of the best blingy jewelry supplies that can be found.this girl is a doll! and she has talent coming from her elbows, welcome Michelle! 
See you all in the morning! This mermaid has got to get some sleep... she has been working her tail off getting ready!
Oh and remember to sign our guestbook this weekend, we will be picking one lucky person to recieve a $75 gift certificate!
Sincerely,
Debi

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A spooky Giveaway, Lot's of Vintage costumes this weekend and....A real true Halloween Story..........

 The moral of this story is: Never rent a Halloween costume, always buy one outright!
Allow me to set the scene. It was the dawning of a new decade: the groovin' 70's, and I was 6 years old.
Halloween night had finally arrived -every child's favorite candy coated holiday. I think I probably looked forward to this night more than most kids. You see my mom was, and still is, very much a health fanatic. There was absolutely NO SUGAR allowed in our house. Mom made bread and even ketchup from scratch! She did not want her family eating sugar, refined flour or foods laden with sodium. This would have been OK except that her early attempts at baking and cooking healthy foods were, um, hard to swallow. I have memories of dense and chewy whole-wheat birthday cakes with honey and flax-seed frosting that none of my friends would eat. Seriously, could you blame them?  Mom made oatmeal wheat germ cookies that would give someone a concussion if used in a food fight. One year we had little boxes of organic raisins to hand out at Halloween. A great many of them ended up floating in our swimming pool the next day. Are you getting the picture yet?

Even though my family did not hand out candy, Halloween was the one exception to our strict diet. Mom very reluctantly agreed to take us trick-or-treating even though it just about killed her. I was a very strong-willed child, and I was determined to get as much candy as possible. This was really my only chance! My Easter baskets and Christmas stockings were filled with carob chips, fruit roll-ups and string cheese.  But one magical night a year, we were permitted to eat the forbidden treats. So, off we went, me, my little sister, and Mom into the dark and chilly neighborhood to get the good stuff. My favorite? The chewy peanut butter taffy wrapped in orange and black wax paper. On this particular Halloween night, my Dad stayed back at home listening to Simon and Garfunkel, drinking beer, and snacking on whole wheat chips and organic guacomole with his buddys. My parents were hosting a Halloween party for their friends, and I knew that we would have maybe 15-20 minutes max to score some candy. At that point we would be allowed to eat two pieces and be put to bed while my parents partied the night away 70's style.

Soon after we set out,  I realized that I had to go to the bathroom. Letting my mom know this would be Halloween sucide. I just knew that if we went back home, that would be it. The trick-or-treating would come to a screetching halt, and my plastic pumpkin would be filled to less than a 10% capacity. Needless to say, I held it. In my head I was chanting, "Just one more house. Just one more house." Mom noticed after a while that I was doing the pee pee dance and  asked me if I had to 'go'?  "No Mom", I assured her. I said that I was just a little cold, but I was fine and wanted to keep going. That particular year I was dressed in a flannel clown suit with one of those plastic masks that made it difficult to breath. Every house was a gamble, but I just had to have one more piece of candy. 

We had made it all the way around the block and we were now at the house across the street from ours. This house belonged to a very cranky and scary-looking old man. This man totally freaked me out,  "Hey little girl!", he would shout across the street to me, "You see these?" and he'd wave these little brown sticks in the air. "These are poisonous sausages. The next time your little dog gets out and goes in my yard, he will eat one of these and it will make him very, very sick!" I loved my little dog Bootsie and I'd be in tears every time he dug a hole and escaped under the fence. 

I don't know if was because I'd pushed my bladder beyond it's limits, or if it was the sight of this man up close and personal that made me wet my pants, but I did -right there on his porch. And it went on for a good long time. I left a giant puddle on his front steps! Looking back now, I feel that justice was served in twisted sort of way. I am sure this guy must have been way more put out by me peeing on his porch than he was by Bootsie lifting his leg on his landscaping. Even so I was mortified and there are pictures to prove it.




OK this is not really me. I don't have a scanner to show you the image of me crying in my clown suit or the look of humiliation as I walked through the front door in a wet costume . But the look on my face was the same. 

For me, Halloween will always be bittersweet. I still love the candy, but after several root canals and thousands of dollars in dental bills, I try my best to avoid it. The costumes are a different story, I adore them! I especially love the really creative ones. I am a firm believer that every costume should be original. You never want to show up wearing the same get-up that some other girl ordered online or bought at a chain retail store. 

The handmade and vintage numbers are a must, and there is no limit to how you can alter them or switch them up. For example, don't go as a regular hula girl, go as Miss Hulaween! Sort of a Goth death-warmed-over hula babe. You take a black grass skirt and a coconut bra that is made to look like giant eyeballs. This is just one idea, I have thousands more and I will be happy to offer complementary costume styling advice this weekend. 

So whether you are thinking Minnie Mouse on the prowl or Twiggy off her diet, we have got  a tent packed full of cool and creative costumes galore and we will be revealing them this weekend at the Mermaid's Mercantile! Oh, I must mention, there will be lots of peanut butter taffy for everyone! (Except me, I never touch the stuff)

Be sure to sign our guest book on the way in, because we are giving away a $75 gift certificate! The winner will be picked at random and  announced in next week's post!
Stay tuned, tomorrow's post will be a vendor preview! Soooooo much good stuff!

Sincerely,
Debi 

Friday, September 17, 2010

The Mermaids are featured in Romantic Country.... Yay!

What a blessing and a super fun experience to be featured in Fifi O'neil's fabulous magazine.
I went to Von's today and bought three copies, the checker looked at me a said "are you in this magazine?"
YES! I replied with a super big all teeth smile!
A few months ago Sunday Hendrickson came out to produce a story on our monthly flea market, it was so exciting to meet her  and see the pictures come to life. The entire process of being published is exciting, from speaking with Fifi, to being interviewed by Kimberly McCole to seeing the joy in the eyes of all the hardworking artists as their work was photographed by Sunday Hendrickson.
 Many of my amazing Mermaid vendors are featured in the article, including Deb Hodge  of http://breathingbesideus.blogspot.com/, Marie Vollaire, Holly Stinnett, of http://hollylovesart.blogspot.com/  Melissa Robinson and Linda Scheitman.
here are some tidbits from the issue but you will want to get  your own copy as this issue is packed full of magnificent articles including dreamy Debbie Dusenberry of Curious Sofa and the one and only Tracy Porter.
not to mention the pages and pages of Halloween and Holiday ideas!
We love you Fifi!
all of the mermaids say...
thank you, thank you, thank you!
We are busy getting ready for our next Flea Market on Sept 25TH and 26TH
It will be a great weekend filled to the brim with vintage and handmade goods Galore!
We have got some of the dreamiest handbags that I have ever seen, perfect for Fall and so beautifully handcrafted.
Stay tuned... photos of some of the merch, info on our talented artists and a giveaway to say prayers for!
hope to see ya all in one week!
Sincerely,
Debi

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Several Truckloads of Dreamy Goods for our next Flea Market, in just TWO weeks!

We are trucking in the Goods for our next Sale from all over the place!

there will be a ton of Sweet deals, EYE candy and treats!So don't let the grass grow under your feet! Get to the Mermaids Mercantile bright and early Sept 25TH and 26TH 10 am -5pm.Because you never know what you will come home with!
Stay  tuned we have some MAGNIFICENT giveaways coming up in the next post!
Sincerely,
Debi