Darling LA locals, hauled a group of us around before the Downton Affaire began.
Cheryl and Andrea were kind to take us to visit Gilding the Lily, and the owner even accommodated us with an extra hour of time before the store opened. (photo by Tiffany)
The jewelry making side of our group really loaded up. There are vast amounts of charms, beads, dangles and doodads there.
And it is a charming place to shop.
I loved the props used for display!
And of course, the items that were on display too. Who can resist shiny stones?
Or piles of paper?
After, we were invited to the French General for a cute make and take plus shopping and lunch. All elements, including scissors and glue were provided, but I couldn't help shopping in the ephemera stashes and buying some special paper to cover my own box.
Lunch was perfectly wonderful. Kale salad with chopped cabbage, dried fruit and nuts, along with sandwiches and ginger cookies.
There were sweet little embossed name tags for the luncheon, and my pal, Hope, known for her world class journalling skills, wrote karla on mine. Since my handwriting is so bad that when I wrote one, it looked like Harla instead. (by the way, this photo was edited to leave out the sagging neck)
Normally, I'd have just left the name tag as I'd written it and pretended my name was Harla, but Hope was hosting a travel journal make and take at the Downton party and I wanted the name tag for the book.
My friend, Sherry, gave me this bit of ephemera that she found at the French General, it is going in the travel journal too.
A lot of our trip was spent eating. Lunches, and dinners out, many, many, many treats. I loaded up on goods at Louie's to share with everyone, then we were served a ton more at the dessert buffet during our party.
Good friends, good treats, shopping, and projects. And everything around us was simply much prettier than real life.
Just when I thought the trip couldn't be more perfect, it was time to meet Sugarwings to go to Disneyland. Yep, it was a fantastic week. I'll have some pics of that trip too, but for now will leave you with some more scenes from Downton
(that is my vendor night, lace fanny pack. I guess I should have taken it off for pictures, huh?)
This blog post is a beauty overload! Including you! I loves seeing all the frills and fuss… And you all looked so lovely! Sounds like a dream trip. What are those little colorful cookies? Lol… I would zero in on those! Hugs.
Looks like a wonderful trip! I love the wall of millinery flowers at the Lily – too much fabulousness in one tiny space!
Everything about that store was luscious!
Those cookies were amazing! From a very restaurant, Bottedga Louie. They are French and are macaroons, but not the coconut kind like we make in the USA. French is always fancier!
And thank you for the nice compliment, it felt good to have a reason to dress up for a few days, fix my hair a bit too. I was excited to get new clothes from the Victorian Trading Co. Outlet store. But sad to see that wearing white lace over red lace means pink armpits on the jacket at the end of the day.
Great pictures, Karla! It looks like a lot of fun!
It makes me smile, sitting here reading about your LA adventure. The French General visit is just as anticipated as the workshops, non? You and Beth and the Downton Ladies look lovely.
Everything about the trip was just wonderful. I cant wait for the next one.
Imagine me on the floor with Beth and that paer. Everything is so beautiful, so perfect and such fun! I just have a big grin on my face — and you all look terrific!
Oh, such loveliness! Great dresses — and I even like the lacy fanny pack look! I also really like the grey shirt you’re wearing in the sans saggy neck photo (LOL!)
Yea, I think that fanny pack is a keeper! One thing nice about it is that it was a comfy fit, not too tight. And so easy to carry around. I wish I could get rid of a purse and go all fanny pack all the time.