DO YOU LIKE TO SHOP?

What a question, right?

    So...if you like to shop, do you shop on-line? Do you know where to shop on line? 

    The latest twist to shopping on line are members-only online sales sites. They promote themselves as "invitation only" sites...but in reality all you have to do is register (yes, they want your email for their daily list). Some say they have a waiting list, if you haven't been "introduced" by a member, but I have never had trouble signing up and getting in right away. It may take a few hours, or even a day, but you too will become a member!

    Here are some of the most popular sites:

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1.      One King's Lane   It's been called "the ultimate shopping site"! Five days a week they have a sale of at least two designer lines (usually four or five). These sales are definitely "first come first served" as quantities are limited. We're talking goo......d stuff here: linens, bedding, tableware, candles, bags and the list goes on. With names like Vera Wang, Waverly, Reidl, April Cornell there will surely be something for you to want! Really, their things are great, and even if you don't buy, you will come away with lots of new ideas.

Here are some plates I bought about a month ago. Set of six, in a box. The 6" size is so hard to find these days, and these colors are just perfect for my Provencal dining room:

 

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2.    Gilt Groupe. I've had had my eye on this one for a while,  was put on the waiting list and in  approximately six hours  I was "accepted"!  They say they admit a few new members each day, unless you come recommended by an existing member. 

What they offer:

Categories of "Women, Men, Children, Home, Gifts and Jetsetter"

It's the last one, the "Jetsetter" that I find most amazing. The travel deals are wide ranging, all over the world and all at luxury hotels or resorts. Just browsing the offerings is a treat in itself! And, most of the offers are available for several months out. While I've never (to date) made a reservation here, I've heard via Twitter, that they  are dependable and what you see is what you get.

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3.  RueLaLa. Again, invitation only...but it took me about twenty four hours to make it "in". These sales go fast! Most are posted about 11 AM and last one day. These are daily offerings of both fashion and home furnishings. Some are really spectacular and offer huge....savings. Again, act quickly!

I just ordered, and am waiting for the delivery today, two pairs of Cole Haan air sandals: $49 each, down from I think $129?

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4.    Here's a variation on the theme: Shop It To Me. This site is purely fashion and accessories. When you sign up you also choose your favorite designers, your favorite shops, you state your size and they act as your "personal shopper". Your weekly email is tailored to you! Discounts abound, and I have found their selections to be right on.

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5.  Delight.com.   This is actually a daily email, but you link directly to the site and the blog. Tons of goodies featured everyday, with links to their site to purchase. These are definitely more of a quick, trendy look.

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Want to join one of these? If you use my name (email address of lwilkie@libbywilkiedesigns.com) you will "be accepted" faster, AND, it earns me a $$ credit with the site! 

Do you have any other sites we should all know about?

    

AS PROMISED: MY GUEST POST

Go on over to HueConsulting to see more of the story:

Guest post: The evolution of a product line

Today's guest blog post comes from Libby Wilkie. First, a bit about her fascinating line of work:

Other than being addicted to blogging (An Eye for Detail), what do I do? I earn a living by representing artists, surface designers specifically, and licensing their work to manufacturers of all sorts of home furnishings products. For many years before I became an artist’s rep, I painted and photoshopped many a product line for various manufacturers. I, too, am a surface designer, although I don’t have much time to design any more.

The evolution of a product line
By Libby Wilkie

read more here

please note:  the last line in the post refers to "snake plate"   NO, that should read: "snack plate"!!!!!

NEWS EVENTS

The latest blog/post news:

I have two newsworthy items to tell you all!

1.   Be sure to check in here on Monday, June 28th when....I will be a Guest Blogger over at Rachel Perl's HueConsulting blog. We have a great post for you: all about color and design and the evolution of a design collection! It was lots of fun, for me, to really focus on one story and to have it edited and then (we'll see on Monday) published on another blog. I have been a fan of Rachel's for a long time. I'm flattered to join her team while she is "on leave".

Remember, that's this coming Monday, June 28th.

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2. Here, at An Eye For Detail, I will be joined by a guest blogger in July! No names yet...but I will tell you she has been in the arts for many years, calls Europe home, loves color, and is a seasoned blogger.

Not sure of the final date, but her series will begin in July.

Hope you have a nice weekend!

FIVE MUST HAVES FOR TRAVEL

My travel essentials!

Renee at Cottage and Vine is having a fun party. She says: "The question is, if you are going away for the weekend and can only take five products, in your cosmetic bag, what would they be. "

Well, I couldn't resist. I travel a lot: some trips are short-weekenders and others are weeks-long-across-the-pond kinds of trips. Even for the short variety, if I am flying, I am NOT a carry-on gal. No, if I go somewhere I want to be prepared...

In the last year I have become totally enamored with this kind of suitcase:

the 26":

and for short trips, the 21":

And my makeup kit of choice, just found on line:

Five products....yikes.....help!.....which five? Hard to narrow it down, Renee, but here goes:

Absolutely essential: Bare Minerals makeup. I love it. Period.

Eye liner. My all time favorite is the French Bourjois in black. It's retractable and lasts forever.

Can I sneak this in? Assuming the hotel has a hair dryer, I need my straightener!

Then my moisturizer. I use Lac-Hydrn. Ever heard of it? Maybe not. Wonderful, wonderful for anyone with very dry skin, and I use it, and it alone, on my face and body.

And for my hair, a nice thick conditioner from Bumble and Bumble:

So, what would you pack in this essential kit??

WRITING FOR THE BLOGOSHPERE AND BEYOND

Writing, and commenting, on blogs. and an apology

I've been thinking a lot about all the blogs out there in the blogoshpere/blogland, and about all the wonderful people i have met. I have made so many friends. Sometimes it is overwhelming! And I still have trouble realizing that there are SO MANY of you out there who care about the same things I do, who are inspired by design and color and detail, who are active, every day, in searching out and presenting the world of design.

I, like so many others in design, work alone. I have a studio/office downtown. I worked from home for many years when my daughter was small, then made the big move to a real office. After ten years there I moved again (a fourth floor walk up was a pain in the-you-know-what, but also very lonely) and have been in my great studio in the Cunneen-Hackett building for five years. No stairs; parking right out the door; friends!; communal lunches.... it's great. But, there is no getting away from the fact that I DO work alone. And with the internet, the phone rarely rings.

Ah yes, the internet. I love it (x 10?). My husband would disagree! But for me, as for so many of you, it is what connects us. And now, with blogging, I feel part of such a large community. It's truly wonderful. Not to sound too corny....but it cheers me up each and every day. Don't laugh. Again, working alone, you need feedback and positive reinforcement.

Why am I writing this (and what's with that apology up in the top line?), you ask. My friend, Kathysue, at Good Life of Design, had a post last week that started me thinking. Her title was : "To Comment or Not to Comment?!" Go and take a look. For all of you who are bloggers, it will have a particular relevance. Why is it that some posts garner so many comments? Why do some bloggers always receive lots of comments, even on a post that is not particularly spectacular or even well researched? Why do some bloggers just not receive many comments? Is it the nature of the blog? or is the post? Kathysue is right when she says you can read a post that is so thoughtful and well researched and clearly means a lot to the author, and yet, no one who is reading it seems to care enough to comment.

So, back to my apology. I read so many blogs every day. Sometimes I consider myself a sort of hunter-gatherer: I collect blogs. Yes, just as other people collect maybe, books, I collect blogs. Do you? Do you also spend hours and hours and hours each day, looking, reading, filing away, subscribing, commenting on blogs? I subscribe, either in email, Yahoo reader, or RSS to about fifty (yes, that's 50) blogs every day.

However, in dealing with this phenomenon I have become very casual and even lazy about commenting on other blogs. I am sorry. I wonder if this is part of the process and evolution of becoming a sesoned blogger. We begin to take these posts for granted. But as a fellow blogger, we know just how much time goes into a well written post. And so again, I say to all my many friends out there, I apologize if I don't seem to comment often enough.

Some of my readers are SO wonderful and not only leave a comment, but email me personally, and I just LOVE IT! So, thank you. We all love comments; it's really what makes us want to go on to the next post. But it's also what keeps us connected. And that, after all, is what it's all about!

Thanks to each and every one of you for helping me to go well over the 100 subscriber mark!!

TRENDY MONDAY: COLOR FUCHSIA

It's summertime and the colors are bright and fun:

Pink...fuschia...magenta. Some of the colors of summer. So here, for the next Trendy Monday, are some finds.

I have been over and over all the images here and for some strange reason, can't get all of them to link to the sites; so you will not be able to click through. Well, at least I've given credit..

johnlewis.com

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Arial, sans-serif;font-size:medium;" > stylehive

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pillowdecor

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the rug market

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katherinerally.com

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paper plates from DesignDesign

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Card Case

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pantone

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Sparrow Wall Hook

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"Furious Fuschia" the newest car color to be unveiled later this week by Chrysler!

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And last, some great palettes. I love that top one: the purple/fuchsia mixed with red and great greens....

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Colour Lovers did a great post too, just last week:

"Interior Design Trends: Hot Pink"

And from my friend Kelly at Color Sizzle: how about the pink and magenta in these pictures.

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

Sharon, at My French Country Home, had this wonderful idea just a few days ago:

"A Water View Party"

telling us about your special watery spot, and how it fits into your "Lifescape".

So here are a few images I had stored on my computer, all from various places I have been. It was fun to go back in time, and then put them together...

from Lake Champlain, Vermont:

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from St. Michaels, Maryland:

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from Rockland, Maine:

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and from Avignon, France:

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And, this is where I am now: location as yet undisclosed (!) but, yes, it's tropical and hot here!

No matter where we go, water is there.

TRANSFORMATION!

My first "antique" piece.

So, here is the very first piece of antique furniture I ever bought. My pediatrician's wife had an antique shop..this had been an old dough trough and had been refinished in the Pennsylvania Dutch style (I grew up in Pennsylvania). It had been hanging around: first at my parents' house, and then in ours, for many, many years. Each year it looked sadder and sadder. Time to DO something about it.

 

 
 Here is what I did:

  

Problem still to be resolved : what to do with the interior. It had wall paper...very dated indeed. I (sort of) scraped. And now I don't know what to use.

 

 

As you can see, I use it to store bits of fabric. So what to do? Contact paper? Wall paper, again? That seems a little much; I mean, measuring all those sides and corners,  pasting, cutting, etc.

Suggestions, please, all you DIY'ers!

And, please, make it simple, yes?

I'm linking to the party at Room to Inspire! 

 
 
 

FLOWERS FROM THE GARDEN

Funny thing: my friend Kelly at Color Sizzle just posted a very similar picture!

Seems we're both into creating colorful flower "designs" from our garden.

This is the pitcher I had bought at Eddie Ross's-now-famous-yard-sale.

And the flowers I have included are Coreopsis, Lady's Mantle, Evening Primrose and that purple flower I have yet to identify.

Nice color combination, no?

Today I'm joining the party at A Southern Daydreamer:

OH! HOW FUN

Do you know Emersonmade?

Every once in a while I take a look here, and each time am amazed: at the product, the colors, the newness of it all, the freshness, and the attention to detail.

Each and every product is hand made in New Hampshire.

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Fun fun fun!

Each bloom is hand dyed and hand stitched and each "is one of a kind, varied, and has its own unique character and soul – your flower soulmate! just for you."

Perfect for summer wear...

THE iPAD: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

What is it with the iPad?

It's got lots of bells and whistles: email, web, photos, iTunes etc. etc. It's new, it's shiny, it's clever, it's hip!

But I just don't get it. I have an iPhone and I do love it...very much. I have a desktop Mac with a big 24" screen. And just this winter I got a MacBook. Goodbye to Windows.

Who are these people putting down $499 for an iPad? Are they already Mac users? Do they carry the iPad around, like a laptop? Or is it replacing their iPhone?

I had not actually seen and touched one until yesterday...I know, I've been very remiss in keeping up to date with this technology! But it just didn't interest me. At all. And you know what? After seeing and touching one, I am STILL not interested. My biggest problem, with the actual mechanics of it, is HOW do you type on one? It's too big to hold in one hand and type with the other (as in iPhone), and yet, it's too small to hold still and type comfortably as in laptop keyboard. I don't get it...sorry!

Anyone out there own one? I would love to hear what you have to say.

And then, there is the front page article in today's New York Times:

"Hooked on Gadgets, Paying a Price".

Go to "A Multitasker's Perspective" video, right in the center of the screen: it follows Kord Campbell's eye movement from a camera on his forehead. Scary. I got dizzy just looking at it....and yet... isn't that what I do too? Granted, I only have one monitor, but I'm constantly switching programs, looking up to the right at Twitter feeds, searching the web, going back to Photoshop etc. etc.

Really, it's a good article: take a look. and let me know what YOU think.

AND THE WINNER IS.......

We have a winner!

Elaine R is #17 and the winner of a gorgeous and unusual piece of jewelry from ...andsoiwhisper. Congratulations!

You had stated "I adore # 1,2 and 5". I need to know which one is your very first choice in order to send it to you!

Let me know and it will be mailed out this week!

And to everyone else: thank you for entering, and thanks to everyone for following the blog. I will be having another Giveaway later this summer: something totally different and exciting!

AN ADVENTURE BEGINS

The sign went up today....

              

    Yes, it's official: our house is on the market. And the most amazing part is that it has been ??? many years, to the very day, since we moved in. June 2nd. It is the only house our daughter has ever known.  Our dog is buried here (well, her ashes). I have made it mine.

    The house was built in 1923! And oh, have we done some work on it... Just preparing it for the sale was a major event: removing all the asbestos from the water pipes, taking out the unused-for-32-years oil tank, repairing cracks in walls and ceilings and repainting the entire room(s), new insulation, electrical work and the list goes on. It's ready now.

    One of the things I am most proud of, and really enjoy, are my gardens. Here are just a few shots taken recently. Does anyone know what the purple flower is? My neighbor gave me some two years ago and they are spreading like wild fire, but she hasn't any idea of what they are. Yes? Anyone? They're great with the yellow Evening Primrose!

                 

                

                 

    No, this one below was not taken this year... the Butterfly Bush won't be blooming     for another month. But it's one of my favorite shots of the back garden.

                
   
 It is time to move on.

As you can well imagine, this is going to be a lot of work! 

So, if I am AWOL, you will understand. 

 

AT THE BEACH IN PARIS

Have you ever been to the beach in Paris?

This is Paris Plage. I know, you may remember a similar post I did last summer...but for the uninitiated, do take a look! You can sun bathe, play volleyball, people watch, eat, and even swim ...by the side of the Seine. Remember, it can get HOT in Paris, and they definitely do NOT indulge in the amount of air conditioning we are used to here.

Watch the video below and relax at the beach, in Paris. It goes on for at least 8 minutes, but think of it as your short (very short!) vacation in Paris!

The city of Paris sets up and opens "beaches" by the Seine, for six weeks each summer! Complete with sand, chairs, pools, even water sports. Three different locations along the Right Bank. It's been, I think, eight years now. When this was first proposed it was considered by many too frivolous and, who would actually put on a bathing suit and sit in "imported" sand in the middle of Paris? Well, it now gets so crowded by noon that it's impossible to find a chair (you can bring you own...) and all ages have come to look forward to, and depend on, this summer experience.

I'm joining the party over at Le Chateau des Fleurs!