The Making of a Book

Check out our short film about the making of Treasured Notions - our new book with Chronicle - it's a peek inside of Tinsel Trading's metallic filled basement. We'll be heading back to New York in May for a book signing and a workshop at Tinsel. More details to come soon.

Spring is Here!

Which means summer is just around the corner. Which means I have three months before I will be sitting on the beach in San Sebastian. Yikes! Growing up in Southern California I was never a beach bum - although we lived a stone's throw from the beach - I always thought I was too white for the beach. I would get there, eat the picnic and be ready to head home. JZ's family is the opposite - they spend every day on the beach - "What? You don't want to spend five hours at the beach today ??" I always plan to work on a bit of a tan before we leave for the summer holiday - but it never really sinks in. I arrive on the Bay of Biscay - white as the morning light - and try to sit calmly on the beach - for at least the first day...then I am off to find the old souvenir store with a basement filled with turn of the last century stock....

Wonderful painting by Samantha French - see more of her beauties here.

Irish Tales My Mother Told Me

Growing up we were told stories of leprechauns and fairies; served green eggs and ham and always enjoyed a glass of green milk on St. Patrick's Day. Ever since Sofia was born, I have carried on this odd family tradition by getting up early and "turning" her St. Patrick's breakfast green. I still tell her about the time Molly saw a leprechaun at the school and how I am pretty sure I saw the McGinnis twin's dad turn into a leprechaun while gardening one sunny day. Luckily - I think - Sofia doesn't believe in green cows anymore, but I think she still looks for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and hopefully she will see a leprechaun any day now.

Luck of the Irish to you all!

Downtown Digging

Lately, I have been doing a lot of digging at my favorite downtown bead warehouse. I have been cleaning out this old shop since I was 17 - the age when I was allowed to drive on the freeway. I would take the old VW bus and head north on the 110 - exit downtown Los Angeles and head over to the east side of town. I must have found it accidentally - and thank goodness I did - I have been coming back ever since. At first I would just buy a few pieces here and there - deal with the ladies behind the counter - spending whatever money I had saved up from babysitting. I would ooh and ahh at the colors and the ideas - never knowing that one day I would end up in the same business!
It's gotten to the point now that when I walk in the front door, the manager greets me and says "Let's go to the back" - music to my ears.Once we are in the dusty, dark aisles of the warehouse, he points to a pile of things he has uncovered since I have been gone and says "I found this for you". After all my years of digging through junk, piles of boxes and dust - now someone, in this case the manager, is actually doing it for me. I think he must get a kick out of finding the old stuff, thinking I will like it and then presenting it to me - like - here it is - I too can find gold! I rifle through it quickly - not wanting to look too anxious or excited and after agreeing to a price, say "that will do" - inside I am usually jumping with excitement that someone has actually uncovered something I had never seen before - old pink silk wrapped fasteners? Why I need to buy the whole box - I will never know. Something about not wanting to leave anything behind. The last time I was there, the manager said to me "We are going to have to come to you to get the old stuff" and I thought yeah - basically we have just moved the contents of this old bead warehouse to my shop - it only took me 25 years!