Meet Ivy. Isn't she the cutest? Earlier this week she celebrated what would have been her sister Ava's 6th birthday in pink tea party fashion.
Ava flew to heaven before she had her first tea party, so her incredibly talented photographer mom,
Sheye, threw a tea party birthday for her. Do you recognize the
party hat and dress? I was so happy to have made a party hat and dress for Ivy in honor of Ava. Sheye and her family intended to have a small tea party at their house with close family and friends and make Ava's Tea Party a bigger event in the future, but after Sheye mentioned
Ava's upcoming birthday on
her blog, people all over the world celebrated with their own tea parties and wrote letters and sent pictures of their wee tea gatherings. When I get home I plan to make more vintage tablecloth dress and party hat sets and call them Ava's Tea Party sets and donate a percentage of the profits to
Paradise Kids, the organization that helped their family during an extremely difficult time. Maybe that red balloon I saw last night in the pink sky was on its way to Ava.
Photos by Sheye.
Today I went to James Smith & Sons umbrella shop. It was a rainy day--perfect for visiting a beautiful umbrella shop. I loved seeing this girl in front of the umbrella shop, with her rosy pink umbrella. Like me, she was admiring the shop and taking pictures, and just from the sidewalk I understood why. It's one of the many great specialty shops I've read about in my favorite book lately: The Traditional Shops and Restaurants of London by Eugenia Bell (published by The Little Bookroom, publishers one of my other favorite books: Paris Made by Hand). James Smith & Sons specializes in custom umbrellas and walking sticks. I was especially interested in the umbrellas, and the designs and fabrics were diverse and beautiful. While I was in the shop I saw the proprietor repairing an umbrella with care. Umbrella repair is not something I've ever thought of and it reminded me that things weren't always disposable. These umbrellas remind me of a time when people really took care of what they had instead of just throwing it away when it broke. I would love to have one of their umbrellas, but I will have to go back with Andrew to pick one out. He will like them a lot too.
