Roses coming your way: announcing the give-away winners!

WOW! Thank you so much for the amazing response to our give-away! We are happy to announce the winners of the rose print, - photographed by Matthew Mead, directly for the magazine - and soon on its way to the following lucky recipients:

Nancy at Couer D'Alene

Rosemary at Bits and Pieces

Martine in Canada

Laura at Arlecchina's Doves

Melaine at My Sweet Savannah

Peggie Russo-Millard

Jessica Busse at Jessica's Jewelry

Aimee Weaver at My Pink Life

Laurie at Bargain Hunting with Laurie

Also, Red Door Home is the winner of the grand prize: a rose print and a free one-month advertising spot (125x125) on Flea Market Style, to be installed on February 15th.

Please email us with your mailing addresses, and congrats!!

Everything's Coming Up Roses, and a Give-away!!

Tuesday was a very good day in "the hallowed halls" of Flea Market Style. The blue line copy landed in Matthew and Ki's hands and it was a relief to see that inserting the ads did not result in any significant cuts in the features we want to bring to you. Also, Matthew and Jenny's cover image they styled and shot in a last-minute frenzy earned the crown of "The Cover", and is an image that will draw you all in and promises what the inside delivers. Flea Market Style is truly a magazine that is beautiful on the inside and outside!

Because it was such a great day and we are so excited to share the magazine with you, we have decided a give-away is in order. Snapping to it, Matthew photographed the prize, a beautiful numbered and signed print of an image plucked straight from the magazine. Headlining the story on roses, produced by Matthew, the print is a beautiful souvenir of the magazine and the fresh take on vintage beauty we pride ourselves on delivering.

Now, giving one prize away is so not our style. Indeed, there are ten signed and numbered rose prints up for grabs. It will arrive to you in a 5x7 acrylic frame; or you can frame it in your favourite flea market frame! How to win? You know the drill: leave a comment to enter, and if you tweet (Twitter) or share the info on your Facebook page you earn a second entry. If you post about our give-away on your blog, you also earn a second entry, and are eligible to win our second prize: a 125x125 advertising spot in our sidebar (for your blog or business), installed on February 15th, just in time for all the readers of the newly launched magazine to see it. It will remain in place for thirty days and all you have to do is provide the image/blog button. So, post about the magazine and the give-away and you may win a print and advertising spot!

Enter to win!!

A Garden Getaway...Flea Market Style

Vintage pottery is filled with cut grasses. A jar of sea glass sets the hues for decorating. Whatever wasn't the right color in Sally's garden shed, got a lovely paint wash (technique is featured in the magazine).

"SALLY... SHE OPENS YOUR EYES" is an old theme song from the Sally Jesse Raphael television talk show that played in the 80's (and everyone within ear shot hears me sing it out when Sally is around). And you know, its true. My friend Sally McElroy spends a lot of time helping me to see new things. I met her at an antiques shop opening about two years ago. She had heard that I was appearing and knew my work from years at Country Home. We only live about an hour and forty five minutes from one another, so she and a friend came out to meet me. I meet a lot of people at these type of events and am always thrilled with their enthusiasm, but I also realize that people often offer their assisting services without realizing what a photo shoot entails. Indeed, Sally made a similar offer; and within weeks, I called her on it and she drove to NY to assist me on a Christmas photo shoot at photographer David Meredith's house. My eyes have been wide open ever since. Oh, and she laughs at my jokes, and that means everything to me.

Sally is the original...she lives the lifestyle. I really only capture it and write about it, but she is actually the living and breathing existence of it. Her gardens overflow with beautiful blooms, her kitchen is forever churning out delicious foods, and her keen eye at the flea market has yielded many special items that beautifully decorate her home. I long to show off her house and entertaining style in a magazine, but it won't happen until the return of HOLIDAY WITH MATTHEW MEAD (p.s. Linda of Restyled home and I are working on that and you will hear something soon). In any event, when it came time to fill the magazine with a fresh makeover, I remembered Sally's charming garden shed behind her house...and on one rainy day in July, we changed it up with colorful collectibles from her home and the flea market to create a tranquil and beautiful getaway.

Sally's rustic shed is set amongst a woodland paradise; and as you can see, it is filled with warm, natural light. The before shot shows all its charm and wonderfully worn interior.

 

Sally is easy going, and thank goodness! I broke a special plant pot while moving things around in the shed, put my foot through a floor board, and cut leaves and flowers from her garden (she had one tiny blue hydrangea blossom and we simply lopped it off when she wasn't looking. (I am exaggerating, I told her it broke off when I brushed against it). We spent less than an hour cleaning it - she got me a wet vac with a 2000 foot cord to eliminate the cob webs and dust (there wasn't much, Sally is a cleaning fanatic) - and after that, we simply filled it up with pretty things in sea-glass colors. It was a treat to say the least, and you will be able to enjoy every minute of it in the new Flea Market Style Magazine.

FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SALLY'S STYLE:

1. It is clean, fresh and distinctly SALLY. She has a kitchen book case of cookbooks but I'm not sure she needs them.


2. She has props that I covet, and you would too [a certain hexagon creamware plate that I would sell my cake stand collection for (not really)].


3. Sally knows how to work small spaces so they feel roomy and generous... THAT'S A TALENT!

4. She knows the correct pronunciation of Gouda cheese....GOWE DA.

5. She is a bona fide food SNOB, and she's not afraid to admit it.

An old wrought iron perch was already in place. We added a vintage Avon cold cream jar and that hydrangea I snipped from Sally's garden.. I bet you wish you could find these jars, huh?

Books are selected to mix monochromatically with all the other furnishings.. The top selection is a vintage volume on identifying shells... how appropriate.

Pottery in a shade of aqua is filled with starfish and seaside finds. SALLY SELLS SEASHELLS became a recurring theme.

Stacks of silver trays from Sally's collection feature the idea of mixing in some sophisticated vintage with more rustic pieces to create a bit of "push/pull". Candles mean you can stay after sunset for an evening cocktail.

To see the finished makeover, be sure to pick up the magazine. Watch for it after February 23!!

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(Blogged by Matthew Mead)

Worthy Accolades!

Congratulations to Matthew Mead! His book, Entertaining Simple, is being featured now and through spring at all Crate and Barrel stores. Watch for it and pick it up. It is a beautiful book that will serve to inspire (and organize) you for your every entertaining need.  Not handy to a Crate and Barrell? You can buy your copy here.

Congratulations Matthew!!  

Weighing In...

Do you want to have a say and get some complaints off your chest about the magazines that are left for the picking?

Head on over here and share your opinions on what you want magazines (present and future) to deliver.

Say you, say me!

SNEAK PEEK: FOREIGN INTRIGUE...

I have known Jocie Sineaur for about ten years. Jocie owns an amazing shop in Peterborough, New Hampshire called Red Chair, which is filled with her distinctive collecting and decorating style: sophisticated but approachable, studied and well edited, distinctive and decidedly European. Jocie and I became fast friends when we met and I have purchased many, many wonderful things from her shop over the years. When it came time to shoot Flea Market Style, she and her home were a natural feature for the magazine and I was so grateful that she agreed.

Jocie's feature is a whole house tour and, as you will see in the magazine, it is a home filled with treasures, great ideas to steal and a tranquil atmosphere that is really what every homeowner desires when decorating their space. Jenny and I shot the entire home in one day (all while my dog Oscar was in the animal hospital going through crucial tests). It was an energy packed day of shooting and worrying, and I am grateful to have had such a lovely escape on a day filled with nail biting drama.

These fabulous shots of Jocie's house, though out-takes, are an idea of what you will find in her whole house feature story:

Its all in the details... a bedside table is adorned with family photos, a spectacular alabaster lamp and a plaster mirror and frame that is like a sculptural work of art:

We didn't have space to feature her kitchen this time... but here is a glimpse of all its finally appointed accoutrements:

Ironstone in this house is shapely and pristine:

A cornerstone of Jocie's design... vintage buttons, ribbons and other special fashion notions:

Organization in the bath never looked so good:

The final story, written by Linda MacDonald, is lovely... really a tribute to Jocie - who she is, and how she lives her life - and I can't wait for you to see it all in its entirety!

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(blogged by Matthew Mead)

Re-Purpose, Re-used and Re-styled...!

I thought today that it would be fun to explore that blogroll of ours and find good examples of fellow Flea Marketeers doing the right thing (re-purposing) in a fun and stylish way. So many of you have such incredible ideas and resourcefulness that you simply deserve some recognition! So, today we shine the spotlight on a few of our friends. Check out their links; and if you haven't yet explored our blogroll, well there's no time like the present!

Make-your-own cake pedestals from A Little Bit of Pink Heaven

Over at Beach House Living, find ways to recycle boat sails.

Cute Stuff Inside offers up a neat way to repurpose a treasured teacup as a pincushion.

Like Pink? Then check out the unique way 52 Flea showcased these thrift shop finds. Adorable!

While you're at it, I offered up some suggestions on taking the bite out of winter and repurposing that wintry standard: the sweater.

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(blogged by Linda MacDonald)

New Years Eve and Onward...

Happy New Year one and all! As you can see from my Christmas card offering, I’ve been a little self-absorbed lately. We wrapped up the final touches on the magazine around the time I moved my family and all our collected junk. When Linda kindly asked me to scan my holiday card, I looked across the carpet of boxes in my office and tried to keep from snorting. Poor Linda! She had to make do with (and format!) my highly personal family note to try to accord with the other beautiful holiday images from everyone else. So sorry everyone! I’m pretty dense sometimes…especially when I’m overwhelmed by tasks on my To Do list.

So in keeping with the self-centered theme of my holiday note, I thought I’d offer this apology and blog. I’m taking stock of the year ahead, and the two things standing out are the 10-year wedding anniversary I’ll celebrate with the love of my life in September—and this magazine appearing on newsstands in February. Talk about a way to start off the year with a bang! It’s so pretty to look at and loaded with such good ideas, I hope you all love it as much as I have these many recent months I’ve been immersed in it.

That said, the final stretch wasn’t all wine and roses. As I was splitting fingertips packing box after box after box, I was also furiously typing out final stories, editing revisions to earlier stories, and trying to make Stacey’s life a little easier (not by much) by correcting typos and catching errors. It’s no understatement to say we crested a swell of layouts and copy pages as we careened into December. Bless Stacey’s heart, she rushed the final, proofed, polished pages to the local Kinko’s at 11:55 a.m. to FedEx them to New York City at noon on Saturday, December 5. And I won’t lie, we both let out a huge sigh of relief. It was echoed, I’m sure, by Ki in Minnesota and Matthew and Jenny in New Hampshire. Linda, of course, sees her work through into the New Year hosting this beautiful blog. And Heather, talented photographer/artist that she is, might have sighed along with us as we all moved on to other projects. For me, I turned my focus to setting up Christmas (be it a scaled down version, which I actually prefer) for my family. And, now that the holidays are nearly behind us, I’m looking a little more into the distance.

What is taking shape in the distance? The magazine, of course. I have a recurring daydream of being in the checkout lane of the local grocery store, when I spy the cover, shining brightly from the eye-level racks. It clearly glows with goodness. As I reach out my hand to grab it, someone snatches it away. Face radiant with joy, she turns to me and says, “Isn’t this the best magazine ever?!”

(As you can see, my daydreams have been heavily influenced by equal parts Hallmark channel holiday movies and repeated viewings of A Christmas Story.)

If I’m going to make sense of the other images appearing on the horizon, I better get back to work. The fingertips are mended; my mind is somewhat back on track; and now when Linda calls to ask me to scan something, at least I know what box the scanner is packed in.

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(blogged by Sarah Egge)

A new year for Flea Market Style...and a sneak peek!

In the spring of 2009 we took on the challenge of creating a magazine that would inspire, offer tips, tricks and ideas, and entertain flea market, collecting, and decorating enthusiasts across the country. It seemed 2010 was light years away. The pages of the magazine have been strewn on my table for a few weeks now as I proof, edit, and correct some of the inadvertent mistakes one makes when putting together 146 pages of a magazine. Sara was spelled with and without an h in the same story, a website was misspelled so the link didn't work properly, a flea market was placed in the wrong state (Yikes!), and a large nail was used in a how to instead of the awl mentioned in the tool list. Details! Yuck. I suspect something will get by the eagle eyes of the FMS team...hopefully it will be minor and no one will notice. Perfect imperfection is my motto. (Probably the reason I didn't become a surgeon or attorney.)

Happy New Year to all, 2010 is here! With the amazing efforts of a brilliant and tireless team, Flea Market Style is on its way to the printers. I can't wait to hold it in my hands! Now we will just have to wait....

Kick-off is scheduled for February 23.

** Ki **

Matthew's Christmas...