Missouri Botanical Garden Green Art and Craft Show

This weekend, November 13 and 14, Secret Leaves will participate in the Garden Gate Shop Green Art and Craft Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The event will run Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the upper level of the Ridgway Visitor Center.

If you've never been, the Missouri Botanical Garden is a wonderful place--one of my favorite places in St. Louis. And the gift shop, the Garden Gate, lives up to the standards of the rest of the garden. Beautiful plants, books, stationery, bath and body items, home and garden decor and more, expertly curated with a garden theme.

At the Green Art and Craft Show, I am focusing on affordable items and lots of holiday goods: gift tags, gift wrapping accessories, gift boxes, gift bags, etc. Here are some of the items Secret Leaves will offer:


Christmas stamp cards


An assortment of gift tags


Muslin gift bags perfect for small gifts like jewelry, candles, soap, etc.


Vintage Paper key tags


Gift enclosures and place cards


Greeting cards, stationery, journals, notebooks and more...

My friend Jen from Angelina Accoutrements will be there too, offering her lovely recycled cashmere pieces:







Lots of other vendors will be plying their recycled and eco-friendly wares, including jewelry, sculpture, handbags and more. I hope to see you there!

Sharon

Ties to St. Louis. Who knew?

Last night I went to a symphony concert with my good friends, Cindy, Ann and Teresa.  It was a performance by the world-class Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra of music from Warner Bros.’ Merry Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons. Needless to say, watching Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote while listening to fabulous music was a good time. The show’s creator and conductor, George Daugherty, was a charming fellow and an excellent MC for the evening. From him we learned of some really interesting ties between St. Louis and the Warner Bros. cartoons. For example, we learned that Carl Stalling, the composer of most of the crazy musical pieces that accompanied the cartoons, was once the organist at the St. Louis Theatre—now Powell Symphony Hall, where the concert was taking place.



Powel Symphony Hall photo from here

Stalling also happens to have been born in Missouri. The first piece of music he composed was for an unknown animator named Walt Disney. Do you know where it was screened? In St. Louis. At the Fox Theatre. Across the street from Powell. And Warner Bros Symphony Orchestra conductor Felix Slatkin was born—can you guess where? St. Louis. And he is the father of famed former Saint Louis Symphony conductor, Leonard Slatkin! Who knew??!

Sharon

Periwinklebloom

Everything our good friend and fellow Willow, Tyler Stallings, does is beautiful and Periwinklebloom, her line of toddler clothing and letterpressed greetings is no exception.

Made of domestically grown, 100% organic cotton, Periwinklebloom's tiny togs are handcrafted by local artisans. She also reclaims vintage bits of fabric and notions to nurture the idea of hand-me-downs. Subdued hues,
roomy fit and lush textures echo the carefree nature of a child.

Sherpa hoodie and sherpa jacket




Bubble dress
Her letterpress greetings are printed by hand on lovingly restored Pearl and Kelsey presses. Thick cottony stock, 100% recycled and additive-free, comes from a century-old domestic mill that generates
enough clean energy via water to power the town. And she uses vegetable-based inks and non-toxic solvents, always keeping the environment in mind.

Tyler will be selling her wares this weekend at Ladue Chapel Holiday Mart in St. Louis, so we thought this would be a perfect moment to tell you about her wonderful line. Stop by her equally wonderful blog and say hello. Tell her Secret Leaves sent you!

Sharon

Recycled vintage cashmere scarf by Angelina Accoutrements

PS. Willow Jen Sertl of Angelina Accoutrements will be there too!

Handmade paper goods

Here are some more of our wares...
Write me a Letter single letter kit


Birds & Bees card bundle we will be selling at Unique Boutique. It is filled with beautiful blank cards, notes and gift enclosures with birds, flowers and bees on them.

Christmas stamp gift bags. These are lovely. Perfect for a small gift or gift card.

Map Albums

The vintage brads are so pretty.

Topographical Map Albums. My dad was a cave explorer in the fifties. These are the maps he used. They are simply gorgeous.

Be sure to enlarge to see the detail.

Sharon

Vintage Cashmere in Atlanta

A shout out to our dear friend and fellow Willows, Jen Sertl of Angelina Accoutrements, who has a trunk show at Mark Shale in Atlanta this weekend. Jen designs the most beautiful, sensual women's clothing and accessories, all repurposed from vintage cashmere.

To make her goods even more enticing, 10-20% of each purchase
from the current offerings page of her web site is donated to Amani ya Juu, a ministry that teaches sewing skills to refugee women in Nairobi, Kenya so that they can provide for themselves and their families.

Good luck in Atlanta Jen!

For more information, contact Jen here.

Sharon

Green for the Holidays

This Friday evening from 4 to 7, Secret Leaves will participate in an Artisan's Reception at Home Eco, St. Louis' first and only green general store. This is the second year we have participated and proprietors Terry Winkelmann and Phil Judd put on a really nice holiday event--festive atmosphere, lots of yummy organic sweets and treats, beautiful artisan-made items and plenty of eco-friendly products, from green cleaning supplies to solar panels to lovely and unusual eco-friendly gifts.

Photo Elizabeth Maxson

If you aren't doing anything, stop by and see us! We will be there selling our wares.

Sharon

PS. Thanks to our friend Elizabeth Maxson of Elizabeth House for the use of her photos.

More Unique Boutique

OK, Ann and I are participating in NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. You are supposed to post every day in the month of November. I have missed a couple of days since I started, including yesterday, so I am posting twice today to make up for it. Here are more Unique Boutique images:



This is our friend Cindy, on the left, and our friend Jen on the right. Cindy is an attorney. We are really proud of her, as the rest of our friends are hooligans and ne'er-do-wells. Cindy says she aspires to be a hooligan and a ne'er-do-well, but she hasn't quite mastered the art of it yet. Jen is the charming proprietor of Angelina Accoutrements. She makes beautiful sweaters, wraps, scarves and headbands out of vintage cashmere. She was instrumental in getting us into this show and we appreciate it! Her things are absolutely lovely. Here is a sweater and skirt combo she designed. Notice also the sumptious wraps hanging on the rack to the right. So fine. (That is Jen's handsome husband Greg on the left.)



Well, that's it for now. Leave us a comment...we would love to hear from you!

Sharon

Unique Boutique

Greetings all. I am finally getting around to posting about Unique Boutique, one of the shows Secret Leaves participated/is participating in this holiday season. The annual event is held at John Burroughs prep school in St. Louis and vendors are by invitation only. It was a good weekend for us: sales were brisk and it was extremely well-organized and well-run. Our thanks to organizer Bren Souers and all of the volunteers for a job well-done.

Our big sellers--as always--were Scrap Journals and Take Cover Journals. We also did quite well with a couple of new items: our Cigar Box Album Kit and our new Map Albums. We are still in the process of deciding whether to add these permanently to our offerings.

Unfortunately, my photos are not great, so you will have to trust me when I tell you that our display looked really good!

The letters draped across the front were printed on pages from an old book. It looked really cool, but the show was so crowded and the hallway so narrow, I don't think many people saw them. (The artwork on the back wall is not ours.)

Unique Boutique Teaser

Just a quick post with a sneak peek at our table at Unique Boutique this past weekend. More to come...

Sharon

Sharon and Ann's Excellent Chicago Adventure

A few weekends ago we ventured up north for the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago. With a sea of tented booths to go through we had trouble fitting it all into one afternoon. But we had fun trying. Below is just a smattering of what we saw.
Stay tuned for more of the story...


Journals by Tyler Bender Book Co. made from old library books. These were up there in our top five favorites of the day.


More beautiful journals. Unfortunately, I did not pick up their card. If anyone out there knows who fashioned these books please drop us a comment. We want to give them their props!
Sharon loved the cover designs so much she couldn't keep her hands off them.


Look at these! Letterpress, hand pulled fine papers from Golden Hen Press.


Fine soaps by Oliba Soaps.


Let's stop and take it all in, shall we?


Ok, back to the business at hand. These delicate saki and tea cups were stunning. Note the interesting shelf display. Identify the artist with a comment and you win a handshake and a kiss.



Ah, at last, we know who did these eye catching cards. Yee~Haw Industries. They have been making the world a prettier place for decades.


Here's some eye candy for you. Handmade lamps by Avec Mes Mains.

This was not even close to everything we saw that day. But it will give you an idea of what you can find at the Renegade Craft Fair. If it comes to a city near you check it out. You won't be sorry.

Ann