Elizabeth House loses its gem!

For those of you who have had the pleasure of getting to know my right hand, right foot, and even left foot for that matter, Sharon, then you will understand my extreme sadness of seeing her leave the Elizabeth House family. Sharon has been working on developing her own online business, www.secretleaves.com. She is a very talented paper artist that designs and makes custom cards and journals. Her fine items are sold at Elizabeth House.

What is so ironic about her decision to work on her card business full time is that she told me it was my blog that inspired her to leave! After she read my "Dream, Plan, Do" posting, she told me decided right then that she needs to "shit or get off the pot" as my delicate little flower of an employee so colorfully said. She had been planning this venture for some time and now is the time to just "do it" as the phrase goes. So she is.

While I will miss her greatly, I am so very happy for her! I have no doubt that she will be a huge success along with her business partner, Anne. I might have lost a gem of an employee, but I gained so much more: a business collegue and the opportunity to have had some influence on a very talented woman taking a chance to live her passion. And that is what Elizabeth House is all about. To inspire others to step out and live their passion. And what a great honor to have inspired someone that I admire greatly. Because Lord knows, her guidance, counsel, and compassion have done more good than words can describe.

Sharon knows that no matter what, she always has a place within the Elizabeth House family. I hope she will be able to help out on special events, such as my annual Christmas Open House, held the first Friday of December. This photo was taken at our last open house, in which Sharon and I shared and celebrated with an entire bottle of pear wine, upstairs in my apartment, before we went down to the store to "do our thing" with our wonderful customers. I had champaigne punch during the open house, and by the time this photo was taken, we were happy!

So, that leaves me without a gem. Elizabeth House is in need of someone to at least attempt to fill Sharon's shoes. No one will really, but a close fit would make this business owner very happy. To see the job duties and requirements, please visit Craig's list at http://stlouis.craigslist.org/ret/196970559.html for details. If you know of anyone who may fit the bill, please pass along their name.

Sharon will be "sparkling" at EH until mid September or so. Stop by and wish her well. Oh, and get on her website and order some stuff...the woman is trying to make a living, dang it! And I already know that Sharon would want me to tell you all that the website is under construction and it "isn't the real thing yet." Yes, Sharon we get that. :-)

from my house to your house,

Elizabeth

www.elizabethhouse.us

Details, details, details! It is the details that make all the difference in my opinion. Here are more shots of my work in Chicago. There is a shot of the headboard pillow that I designed for the French bed - it is ironic...that design is my most requested pillow. And to think I designed it years ago when I had neck surgery and I had to wear a neck brace for almost 5 months. I had to sleep in the brace and I had to sleep sitting up practically. So, I came up with this design to help me sleep actually. My friends saw it and it just sort of took off from there.

The French Toddler Bed is my favorite! This solid iron piece with all original paint, is just to die for! I have had a lot of beautiful French youth beds before, but this one takes the cake. I had a very sturdy platform made so a big adult would be able to really use it and sit on it. The seat cushion and pillows are of humble fabrics and my simple design. I designed it so that it may be used in the center of a room and sat on from either side. Or, it may go against a wall with pillows backed up against the wall on which to lean. If I had room in my apartment, it would be there right now.

A detail shot of my little French chair (set of four) that I painted and had covered in silk. The bulap and ticking pillow is sold separately, but I thought how fun to put the two textures together. Sort of like wearing socks with ballet slippers. Not really done, but still interesting, and makes one stop and think a moment.

Those little tiny bags are housing my business cards. It is funny how that all came about. Way back when, like in 1998, when I first started my little antique booth in San Antonio, Texas, I use to print up my own cards with my little home printer. The ink and quality weren't so great and I found that if you touched the card a lot, the ink would eventually smear. So, I found these little bags to put them in to leave in my booth. Well, one day I finally could afford to have them printed professionally and no longer needed the little bags. Well, good grief, you'd think the world was coming to an end when my customers expressed their disappointment that my cards were no longer in the little bags! Little did I know that the ladies who visited my booth (I never worked in the booth, so I never heard their comments) complained loudly to the mall owner "what happened to the little bags!!!" The next time I went in to stock my space, I was quickly told by the employees that I had better get those little bags back! So, now that I am "big time" in Chicago (as a friend likes to say), my business cards are still very humbly housed in little bags. A nice reminder, actually, of my very humble beginnings.

Finally, yes, those are very old (1868) pages that I gleefully ripped out of an old book and shoved in places around the space. Why? Oh, I don't know, I just felt like it. Besides, I do freak out quite a few people when I will take something "so old!" and rip it to shreds. I like the texture. I like paper. Actually, I love old paper. And I like the color. I have paper all over the space. Glued on walls, in the glass cabinet, hung from the rafters, and shoved in little cracks in the brick wall - look carefully, you can see it in other photos.

So, even though not apparent, there is a method to my madness. I can't explain the method, but I can demonstrate my madness quite well. I do love what I do and I hope what I do inspires you to do what you love as well.

Thank you so much for your interest.

from my house to your house,
Elizabeth
www.elizabethhouse.us

More photos of my Chicago space!

I wish I could figure out how to move these photos into my copy for my postings. My friend, Debbie has emailed me how to do it, but my blogger home page is definitely different from hers and I have no idea why. My home page doesn't even allow me to post titles of my articles. It use to, but that option is no longer available on my page for some weird reason. If anyone out there can tell me how in the world to get my photos into my articles I would love it. I am computer literate believe it or not!
Anyway, these photos show you the gist of my space. The antique French bed is a queen. New side rails have been made to make it a queen. The original rails are still available though. The bedding is made of linen, chenille and taffeta. Those are windows/shutters from a home in France. There is a pair of them. They are both the same, I just flipped one around so customers could see both sides. That is a little French chair that I painted and covered in silk. There are four of those. In my next posting, I will put detail shots.
Thank you for looking!

from my house to your house,
Elizabeth
www.elizabethhouse.us