Artful Day w/Friends

I can't think of a better way of adding some excitement to the middle of the week then a day out with friends for lunch and exploring. Last week my dearest friends Suze and Bonnie met up with mom and me for lunch in Montclair. If you aren't familiar with Montclair, its a great place to explore, fabulous architecture, boutiques, antique stores, artsy activities, eateries, cafes and more. Look at the following building, I feel like I found the secret entrance to Hogwarts or Diagon Alley, its this kind of architecture that gives the area its unique flare. For me Montclair has some great memories for me, I lived there for a short while as a little girl, then moved on to West Orange and eventually 20 plus years in Maplewood, a town similar to Montclair and one worth exploring as well. We met up at Starbucks now housed in the former Haynes Department Store building and headed up to eat at Famous Raymond's located on Church Street, which is the most fabulous vintage operating deli/diner/cafe serving all types of breakfast and lunch entrees, including fountain drinks, shakes and desserts. The decor is by far my favorite asset of the eatery, art deco class and glamor meets a 1950's essence, all wrapped up into one. The menus are just too fab with seer sucker stripes, the counter guy even had a bow tie on which I thought was too cool, the ceiling is original tin w/hanging bulb lamps, wall mounted art deco lighting, rich red leather booths, sophisticated tables and great food, but the company of Suze, Bonnie, Mom and Me was the best part. After lunch we explored a bit on Church Street and headed over to Madeline's Accessory shop which I love, love, love their trendy jewelry and accessories, plus their prices are really reasonable fitting every budget, even Johanna who can be found at Madeline's is extremely nice, helpful and artsy too. Following Madeline's no trip would be complete without a visit to my friend Nancy at her artsy boutique called Parcel, located on Bloomfield Avenue, just the cutest shop ever with fun and unique items sure to fill any artsy, crafty lovers essential list of fun items, Nancy is even doing more classes now, which is so exciting. Finally we all headed to our cars and started to plan our next adventure, but for Mom and Me, our adventure was not quite over, since we were in the area, we decided to head over to Applegate Farms for some ice cream, a real treat for many of us Jerseans, I've been going to Applegate for years, since I was real young, perhaps even as an infant, lol, such a nostalgic place and great atmosphere to spend some time and unwind before heading back home. I opted for a change and went with green tea ice cream and black raspberry, normally I'm a soft serve vanilla girl w/rainbow sprinkles on a cone, lol, but today I changed it up a bit. Thanks for recapping the day with me, have a wonderful coming week and remember adventure can be found through everyday experiences, a walk in the park, by your house, around your house, within your religion, children, family, friends, pets and art, simple things such as shoes, flowers, books and food. xoxo Lisa xoxo Lisa

Creating on a Sunny Spring Afternoon

Its warm and sunny here in NJ this week, a perfect time to take advantage of the the patio with the cozy swing, umbrella and side table to hold my coffee, lol. Today I decided to grab the huge box I scored for $8.00 a few weeks ago and actually see what I got for that mere $8.00. Opening it was like opening a treasure chest, I knew I found great items, but forget what I actually bought. To my excited surprise I found about 25 vintage and some new children's books, one vintage book from 1895 in German w/color plates all about a puppet and toy maker ( right up my alley ), about 40 vintage piano and music sheet books, 10 figurines from 1940s, 50s and 60s complete w/a few bunny candy planters, old millinery, trims, Dennison's crepe paper and labels from the 1930s, vintage kitsch ornaments and novelties, about 30 or 40 vintage bulbs: Shiny Brite's, West Germany, Poland, Austria all in great condition, some 70's and 80's plastic toys, circus animals and vintage costumes, all for $8.00, now that is a total bargain if I don't say so myself, even my cat Lucky got in on the act, making a play date with my plastic toys, lol. It was time to re-pack the ornaments, and put away my new faves in the stash, make a cup of coffee and sit on the patio swing to create and make my latest bow tie and baseball cuff orders, which I carried out in my up-cycled crochet sewing bag, which I made last year from old crochet pillow case, sewing bag handles and a variety of vintage pins, it holds my sewing supplies when I'm on the go. Here's a sneak peak at my handmade sewing supply bag and some of the newest finished pieces for customers: Bow Tie Bracelet and Shabby Pink Baseball Cuff were completed for customers, I made about 8 more bracelets (bow tie's and cuffs) everything is complete, its amazing how a warm sunny Spring day can get you inspired and motivated to complete projects fast, easy and smoothly. Enjoy your weekend and start creating, xoxo Lisa

Adventure in Montclair

I grew up in Essex County, NJ, lived in Montclair when I was real little, onto West Orange for a bit and finally from age 9 years old til 27 years old I called Maplewood, NJ home. If you aren't familiar with these towns, Montclair and Maplewood are very similar, a few towns away from each other, ornate and fabulous architecture/historic homes, great cafes, boutiques and very, very artsy, just so much to see and do in these towns.

Montclair is perfect for exploring, so many nooks and grannies to search and photograph, we all know how much I love photographs, lol, so with that being said, Saturday was a perfect day to break out of the house and explore all the artsy goodness Montclair had to offer, with the warm weather, sun shining and make it a Saturday, I was off to explore.

First was a stroll into the Montclair Bookstore off Bloomfield Ave., which I love, love, love, so many great finds in this store, out of prints, rare, old, vintage and new, you could get lost in there with the different sections and floors inside, its like a Harry Potter bookstore right in modern day settings. Inside is filed from floor to ceiling with tons of books, mags and ephemera, if going allow at least an hour inside, my exploring buddy Dave lost me a few times inside, lol.

Then it was off to explore the rest of the stores, especially on Church Street, which over the years has played home to some of my favorite stores, sadly no longer there such as Cat's Pajamas, Toys in the Attic, British Tea Store and just down the road the funky vintage store: Boomerang, today its filled with equally fantastic stores, including the neighboring streets which have built up with boutiques and cafes as well, the even have an Anthropology store and Urban Outfitters. The starbucks is housed in the former Haynes Dept Store building which I visited often as a little girl, my communion dress came from there.
After a few hours of exploring, we were running out of steam, needed to eat, our first pick was Cuban Pete's but the wait would be over an hour, so we ventured out to Mcloone's Boat House overlooking the Turtle Back Res., in West Orange, such a great place, I recommend it for the view, especially Spring through Fall.

Next explore trip will be Art day at my former home town in Maplewood, NJ, the best hometown ever, so quaint and historic, also home to the fab store Perch Home.

P.S. All the photos in this post were taken from my Iphone 5 and the filters are Instagram, you can follow me there as well: moonfaires or type Lisa Kettell
xoxo
Lisa

New Cuffs on the Block

Finally here, the newest additions to the Original Sports Cuff Family: Bow Tie Baseball Cuffs, they are an upgrade of our original basic stitched style. These cuffs are made the same way but with handmade/hand stitched matching bow on the top of the cuff.

These cuffs come in 3 styles:
1. Basic stitch and bow
2. Basic stitch, bow and small rhinestone center
3. Basic stitch, bow and larger rhinestone center.

You can also choose a leather color and stitching color as well, so they don't have to be basic white.
In addition to the Bow Tie Baseball Cuff, we have smaller/thinny cuffs which are perfect for guys or girls who prefer a thinner width. We will also have baseball bow tie bracelets, more leather/rocker jewelry and various sport cuffs as well reflecting these new styles.

Here's a glimpse at the jeweled Volley Ball Sports Cuff:


All our cuffs are created from game played, game used, left over or new stock from various sporting organizations.

Here's a glimpse at our Football/Touchdown Sports Cuffs

I have just added Volley Ball Cuffs, Soccer Cuffs, Derby Cuffs, and Quiddich Cuffs to the line of sport cuffs. Football, Basketball, Softball, Tennis, Sailing, Nascar, Skating, Rugby, and various other sports are still available in the line, more styles coming weekly, including autograph cuffs.


Stay tuned for the Sideline Babe Blog Party this May, Sideline Babe/Original Sports Cuff Photo shoot, Baseball Cards, The Traveling Cuff Experiment, & Shopper Catalogs where you can host your own Sideline and Cuffs House Party w/incentives.

The Traveling Cuff Experiment: If you bought a cuff send me pic's w/you wearing it. I'll announce a call for individuals to get a cuff to wear at sport events/photograph them, etc. guidelines will be posted next week, need total of 12 people in various states!

Purchase your cuffs here:
http://sportscuffworld.weebly.com
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/MoonfairesWorld

Any questions, please reach out and thank you for supporting: The Original Sports Cuff!
xoxo
Lisa