Merry Christmas to all, 

and to all a Good Night.

"Here Comes Suzy Snowflake...."

Oh the weather outside's been frightful... holy snow Batman!  What a weekend it was.  The wee sister, that would be me... was without power for most of the weekend... so, sadly she was away from the the shop! But I had time to start making my list... and I checked it twice... to see just who's been naughty and nice.  Geez, I'm full of Christmas, and Halloween was only just yesterday... and we haven't had Thanksgiving yet... maybe I should sing "over the river and through the woods", instead!  Anyway - check out The Shop Sister's etsy shop for Thanksgiving products... and keep your eye out as Christmas starts showing up... word has it that a few elves snuck into the mix when we weren't looking!

Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing.

"Oh look! Over there! I see one! Oh no, you missed them again."

Ha, this is what my mother would say to us in the car to keep us awake, she had us looking for elves everywhere. She was a firm believer in the wee little folk. You see, her initials are "E.L.F." 

And we believe that set the tone for her love of fantasy, teaching we sisters to have a special affection for elves, yes...Mom was quite the imaginative play lady.


We grew up believing in elves, fairies, Jack Frost and Suzy Snowflake, although we never saw them, our mother always prompted us to keep the faith. I even remember setting my dolls up at night in certain positions, so that I could check them the next morning...to see if they moved during the night when they played!!


Come over to the Sisters Shop on etsy and see our silhouettes, we have started creating some fun items for the holidays. The Shop Sisters 

Oh no, don't go yet! Wait...I see one...look over there!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh rats, you just missed them, there were elves over there... really.

    

Well, we Shop Sisters, contrary to popular belief, do not just draw and snip away all day.  No, in fact we two "hate to exercise" girls are still at it - huffing and puffing our way through the early days of Fall. Though -- the lovely Lesley is sidelined for a day or two after stretching too far while measuring for window shades - I'm sure she'll be off and running... walking any day now.  And me... well... what was I thinking training for a half marathon... oh my.  I have 11 miles to do this weekend and several small runs starting with today's... and yet... ha, ha... I lied...  here I sit.. drawing and snipping away... hard not to play with these silhouette creations in The Shop Sisters "lab".    Stop by our etsy store and see how things are going.  We are very excited to have been open for two months now and have just hit a landmark for ourselves... our shop has been visited more than 1,000 times.  Halloween has always been our favorite holiday and we've had a blast filling the shop with witches and cats... bats and all manner of scary friends. On to Thanksgiving and Christmas... oh my, careful what you wish for... the leaves have yet to fall, and we're thinking about over the river and through the woods already!  Let's just stick with Happy Haunting for now! 

Well.  Here we are the day after 9/11.  How to be light and airy on a blog, I ask?  Well... it came to me as I walked up our street and saw the Statue of Liberty framed between buildings and flags... I do what I do every day... because I can.  That has been my motto since my first ferry ride back to work in Manhattan after that fateful day.  Because I can.  So here I sit, with my unfinished "Patriot Gang" of saluting kids.  I'm ready to seize the day and be lighthearted, ready to snip, snip here, snip, snip there and offer a couple of tra la la's... because I can.  

Too early for Halloween? NO!!!

Love, love, love Halloween colors and all the spooky characters.  We have been busy loading up the shop with our spooky silhouettes, having so much fun.  We have more ideas in the works.  This picture is one of my favorite silhouettes we have in our shop.  It is actually cut from a photo taken years ago of the wee younger half of this sisterhood.  This was taken when she truly was a wee one. Funny, she thought she was sooooooo scary, when really she just looked so sweet.  The pumpkins shown (they were in the photo too) were carved by my father, and the costume was made by my mother.  I am so pleased we can share it with you...if you aren't too afraid to look at her scary self.  Gee, I hope she doesn't read what I wrote, it will destroy her memory of being a frightful wicked witch.  Click here to see her really scary (ya...right) witch silhouette in the shop.  SCARY SISTER WITCH

Shop is Open

Finally, the shop is open, hear the bell ring when you walk in? It has been a slow start, but the shop is filling up with Halloween goodies...I know, I know, it is early, but you have to keep up with the Joneses.
Lots of cute tags, so fun to make, the best part is cutting out the silhouettes. The wee young sister has been off on a vacation...go figure, she leaves me here to clean the shop. Everyone knows that is why you have little sisters...they do the cleaning, right?!?  But, she is back now and will be filling the shop with more of her creations. More to come, not just tags. Our shop on Zazzle has a variety of things to see. Check it out!! ETSY SHOP

Mountains and Bridges

It's a family thing... heights.  So why we Sisters thought meeting in the middle of Mountainous Pennsylvania was a good idea, I'll never know!  You may have seen us going 40 miles an hour on the highway, or with a magazine held to the side of our face so we couldn't see the edge of the drop on the roadside.  Ha!  Scary as it was... we managed to have a great weekend!  We laughed, we cried, we hugged... ah sisterly love... nothing like it on the planet!  Saturday found us at the Central Pennsylvania Art Festival - what an amazing event!  We shopped and we crafted!  Sunday - hang on to your hats... we did a 5K!  We wore t-shirts emblazoned with one of Dad's WWII jacket art paintings (courtesy of our wonderbar nephew, JD).  A sight to behold we were... 90 degrees out... I'll leave it to your imagination.  Topping off the weekend was a visit with the Rutkowskis, our oldest neighbors from back in the day when we really were wee ones, living in Willoughby Hills, Ohio.  Great friends, great times.  Back to reality now.... we continue slaving at The Shop Sisters.... now affectionately referred to as SisterCo!

Birthday Adventure Eve

Well, here it is, Adventure Eve, wee young sister and I are meeting in the middle of the state to participate in a 5k race and to tweak our tweaks for the new Shopsister store. Our parents would be so proud of our new shop, even though it is online. We have so much planned for our 3 day get-a-way, but knowing us, we may just sit around and do nothing but play with our shop! We are also celerating our birthdays together, wee young one is the 27th and mine is the 28th...different years, of course. We are bringing our creations to the table, pooling our ideas and hope we can prepare a date for our grand opening. We will be wearing our shirts shown in the picture, the picture on the front is a copy of a painting our father painted on one of the World War II planes Dad maintained during the war. Some of our cutting tools we bring to the table were our mother's. They are our support system for now, although it is just in spirit. Well, of course, our husbands support us too, but they just look at the creative mess we make and shake their heads...I don't think they quite get what it is to be a creative freaking weird starving artist.   (well..forget the starving part, no problem there..but that is another story.)

So, we are off to the races!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The Wind in The Willows"

"Do you believe in spooks... I do , I do..." Last Friday, I, the younger half of this sister team, could not sleep!  I got up at 3:30 - poured a cup of coffee, and made a list.  Couple hours later, and another cupful, I found myself outside wandering around the neighborhood yards looking at what had grown overnight.  One neighbor had put some items on the tree lawn for reuse or to pitch.  Being the good antique dealer's daughter that I am... yes, I heard the call from Mom and Dad up above... I went to pick that pile clean.  But all I took was the first thing that caught my eye.  An old copy of "The Wind in the Willows."  Now, do you believe in signs....? Because I certainly do!  I have been wanting to read this book... never did as a child.  But oddly, I collect frogs and toads... and those that know the book... it's chock full of them!  Add to it that this particular copy was printed in the year of my birth.  Add to it that the illustrations are by Arthur Rackham... my all time favorite book illustrator. Add to it that he's quite famous for his silhouettes... and hey... it's all about the cutting with us these days... more to come later on that.  AND the handwritten inscription to the owner: "I expect you have been here before - but I think it is the only world to live in.  Bless you for your help."  -- Applies to we sisters in a freaky kind of way! So yes, Mom and Dad, we hear you... "You're out of the woods, You're out of the dark, You're out of the night...Step into the sun, Step into the light..."

Slowly I step, inch, by inch...

A project takes time.  Remember the line in "You've Got Mail" when Tom Hanks says... "I'm in the middle of a project that needs a little tweaking..."  We love that movie.  Though we take our shop's name from our parent's antique shop... we can't help but think of this movie when we say "The Shop Sisters" out loud.  Ha. We digress.  Our work continues to proceed in a very positive direction.  Let's just say... it involves a lot of cutting... scissors have become our friend... though, there have been some nicking accidents! Ha!  So for today... we continue to tweak.

Keep on truckin'

Well we're working on it.  You know it's sooooooo hard to contain your excitement when you start to play.  Whether you make something good or bad, there's always that rush that comes from posting it on ebay or etsy... or zazzle...whatever the outlet, it's a high when you get something up there.  We always admire creators and artists that persevere through thick and thin, never letting a dry spell get them down.  Dry spells are the worst, and we've been in one for too long.  So this week, with sleeves rolled up, we've been participating in creative brainstorming together instead of apart.  Two heads, especially sisterly, are better than one.  

In the beginning...

Well, we've stuck a foot out the door... a toe in the water... flapped our wings.  Oh my... here we go!  Shop fronts are done... now we just gotta fill the shelves!  Ruh ro!