If Martha Says It's Hot......Is It (Really) Hot?

The truth is I still love Martha. Well maybe not looooveee...
 (I heard she is not very nice, and there is the whole lying thing) but I do respect her.

She built a HUGE company doing what I love to do. She succeeded.
 She made money doing what she loved.
(then she got so big she hired people to do the work but thats not what MY blog is about, my blog is about me and my little shop.....)

When Savannah was a baby she did everything before she was supposed to. She walked before 9 months....and barely spoke until she spoke sentences. It was funny, actually. Almost like she needed to sort it all out and get it right the first time.

She was not yet 3. I watched Martha at noon many days. One day we were in the grocery store and she announced "look mommy it's Martha Stewart" as she pointed to her Living magazine. I probably still have that magazine.

I read her magazine from cover to cover for many years. "Good Things" and the collecting article were always my favorites. I liked the cute ideas that were quick and well, different. (I still use some today) And the collecting ohhh ahhh....well one day when you are over I will show you my dishes. Now... I HAVE paired down quite a bit but I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I do own at least 9 sets of dishes. I do have other collections too, perhaps one day I will give my readers a peek.

And so, As a pottery, china and glass collector (and dealer) for the past...sheesh I don't know I started in about 1985...almost 30 years I still follow the trends.

one simple word....

 Jadite.

More specifically Anchor Hocking Fire King Jade-ite. Jadite is how it is more commonly known.

AHHHH Jadite.

Martha did a spread many years ago.Before and since I have bought and sold many pieces. And last month she did another article. 

So is it (really) hot? 

Yes, yes and yes. More so than I think in a lonnnnnggg time. 

So today I share with you my new display of Fire King Jade-ite. Most can be purchased during my regular business hours.

Jadite was first produced in the 30s by McKee Glass. Jeanette Glass was first to CALL it "Jadite" But Anchor Hocking produced the most Jade-ite (the most popular Fire King Line), and production went from the 40s into the 70s.
Fire King Jade-ite comes in many patterns. By far the most collectible today are the Charm pattern and restaurant wear. Charm is mostly unmarked (there were never any fakes produced to my knowledge) and recognizable by the square pattern. Restaurant wear is almost always marked and is very thick and heavy
There are some rare sets and other pieces that command very high prices.
Check out Living magazine last month for the spread.You will see a few pieces like the ones in the mag, in my shop. And rumor has it that the fabulous lady chef with southern twang also has collection.
As for me, the truth is Jade-ite has never been my favorite, so no collection for me.

 (But.. I have eaten many a meal on Jade-ite  as I amassed a set for Dean, and he just loves it!)

Art Walk 2011 and the little town that could.

Friday night our little town had it's Annual Art Walk. I have only had my business here for nearly 2 years so I am not quite sure how many "Art Walks" there have been....but this is the first I have heard of.

NOW, first things first....It was a HUGE success! Huge!
(which was quite the surprise to many all of the retailers who participated.)

For those of you who follow my new blog and have never actually been into my shop let me paint the picture (pun intended, wink) of Boonton "the little town that could" and my business.

I first came upon Boonton while driving right down Main Street to get to another town (Mountain Lakes). It was the most direct and easiest way to get to the park I was going to.

You see, I was training to run a marathon (yep 26.2 miles) in San Francisco (of all places) as my symbol of endurance to raise money to help fund the cure for cancer and Mountain Lakes was where my team trainings were. (running for 3, 4 and 5 hours alone is very NOT fun)

So over the course of 5 months most Saturday or Sunday mornings I would drive through Boonton and look at the Historic old buildings ohhing and ahhing saying things like "this town is so cute...it just needs more cool shops and it would be great.

Before that I had never heard of Boonton, in fact, I did not know that the plastic dinnerware from the 50s that I collected for yeeears called Boontonware was actually MADE IN BOONTON. Ha.

When it was time to make a business decision to either move my business or close up shop I decided to take a chance on Boonton. (the rents were cheap by NJ standards and for less money than I was paying I would have a storefront on Main St.)
I settled for a space that was large enough (and cheap enough) for me. I had my heart on a space in the "flat" part of town (Boonton along with it's Main St was built on hills  mountains.) but the landlords wanted rent that was not relative to "the going rate" for the town...so I passed on the Pink Victorian and moved "down the hill".
Great Move for me and Savannah and I quickly moved to Boonton and settled in.
The town like my business was and is struggling to create a name for itself and succeed as many small quaint destination towns do.
My lease was up, I checked on the "Pink Victorian" again (still vacant after 1.5 years.) and settled on a number and moved the business uptown.

Even better move for me as I am now 5 months into my lease and can actually see the possibility to create enough income to provide for myself and Savannah.
Since I have moved to 906 Main 2 new Art Galleries opened, and 2 new interior designers set up shop.

Most importantly, most of the business owners are working together to support each other and create the buzz needed for people to find us.

We all pitched in and talked up our Art Walk.
 The 5 Galleries, Skyclad Gallery, S.H.E Gallery, SpeakEasy Gallery, Compton Gallery and Broadfoot and Broadfoot held receptions with food and drinks.
The other shops like myself featured Art from the other galleries and had guest artists in house. (and also had lots of food and bubbly)
We created a brochure, (props to Nancy at S.H.E Gallery all her doing) Union Center Bank funded our advertising and we all had our place on the "walk".
Again we all pitched in and talked and facebooked and emailed our Art Walk.
We had lines out our doors, and met many many people we have never seen before in Boonton.
Many times during the night I heard "WOW" I never knew there were so many great shops in Boonton.
"OH my gosh I LOVEE this store"
All the business owners were filled with excitement  shock and awe at the turn out. hahaha.

So for today I am still excited over our Art Walk.
Our town is well on it's way to "destination recognition".
And for me, this is all more than I could even imagine.

Boonton, the little town that could is well on it's way to being the next Frenchtown, New Hope or Lambertville...........because we simply, unequivocally  won't give up, until it is.


I (heart) Boonton.

Is it Fall YEEEET?....

About this time every year I get a bit melancholy. Summer is over. That makes me sad. I love Summer. But I love Fall too. So eventually I get over it and get on with thoughts of apple picking and fires in the fireplace...and warm and cosy.

This year, Summer dragged on..First time ever. 

I am waiting patiently for Fall. I decided NOT to analyze this (for once) and to just accept and move forward.

So I am placing my orders with my artists to have enough inventory for the Holidays.

And Create. And Create. And Create.

I am trying to make some new, fun, recycled or repurposed things for gift giving.

I see so much possibility in things and want to try to make so much...

But this is what I have come up with so far....

 Dessert servers made from recycled Vintage China

And Pumpkins......

 Made from Vintage Chenille Bedspreads

And Recycled Sweaters 

Oh sooo Cute!

I am thrilled with the first bunch and I will be making more over the next few days.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint...At this point, it's a love hate thing..

The truth is I am having a love hate relationship with my new chalk paint. From what I read...it's the rage. The HOT thing, it's IN, it's NOW....I'm not sure why.

Whenever I think "OH I don't like that" I remember something Dean always says..."if I don't like it, it doesn't mean it's not good, it just means I don't understand it. :0/

HUMMM. Well, I still don't understand chalk paint. But I won't give up. I will continue to try new techniques. Because as I have witnessed, the plusses...are really great plusses. You can paint over anything. YEP anything. The paint takes. What does this mean..for someone who spends the majority of her days sanding and preping before painting...it means less work. So this is great! But the colors are limited to 25 or so. And they don't make Linen White, Old White is close...but different. And everyone just loves my Linen White.

So I need to learn new techniques, that work with the differences in this paint.It's hard. I am struggling.

As I continue to produce one of a kind custom orders for my very fabulous and loyal customers (who I secretly think are trying oh so hard to make sure I don't go under and become homeless) in Ben Moore linen White I search for inspiration to create....something...well different.

Stop by the shop and check out the pieces in my window. Let me know what you think.

Cause at this point I am just not sure if I've nailed it.

The Beginning

Many Many people come into Savannah Hope Vintage and say OHHH how fun it must be to live your dream. Now I'm not saying I hate what I do.....But MY DREAM? no, not really. What's the saying..."Necessity is the mother of all invention?" well THAT is me. Out of necessity I create.

So here's the story (an abridged version of course)

I have been creating for as long as I can remember. Making "Art" has always been a part of my every day. And yet I never had formal training and have never considered myself an "Artist"

While I have not painted (on canvas) or drawn in my sketch book in quite some time I still have the need to create.

My chosen profession just out of high school was Hair Styling. Yes, that is correct. I was a stylist in top salons in Fort Lee and Englewood for the majority of 20+ years. I created on a daily basis.

After Savannah was born, I realized (as a divorced mom with little family support) over time that my child, when she was sick, was far more important in THAT day, then 8 to 10 ladies haircuts. Sadly, my bosses did not agree and thus I decided to find another way to support us, so I could be the best mom I could be to Savannah.

The inbetween gets "sticky" and complicated sooo suffice it to say in 2008 a few things came together.

I opened Savannah Hope Vintage in an Antique Center in Midland Park (Bergen County). Now I wasn't refinishing furniture at that point. I was operating as an Antique Shop. As I will explain in another post, I have been a collector of American Pottery, China and Glass from the 1900s to the 60s for about 25 years.

After one year I realized I was not only going to be unable to pay my bills operating in that location, but barely paying my shop rent.

SO in December of 2009 I came to Boonton. All the really cool furniture sets from the 20s 30s and 40s were not selling so I thought hey, let me give "Shabby Chic" a try. And it happened.

The truth is...I really did not know what I was doing at first, but like most everything I know, I taught myself "the how tos".

I am still just "the light at the end of the tunnel" distance away from being able to support Savannah and I with my business. But every day, every week, every month, I try and improve and make SHV a cooler, cuter, and funner (lol) place to shop.

Welcome!

I have been tossing around the thought of having a blog about the shop for a while. I am nervous and excited at the same time.

I'm not much of a writer, yet I feel I have many stories that need (or that I waant) to be told.

I'm not going to start with much today, however I do hope you will follow along ....