Scenting It Up and Refining My Style

The closest scent I have found to the heady fragrance of the rosa rugosas that grow along the shore here, is Yankee Candle's Fresh Cut Roses.   I adore this scent so much that I have been melting and hand-pouring these candles into vintage tea cups to sell in my shop.   It is the end of the season here for shop keepers, but I am still having loads of fun trying to further define and fine tune the style I envision my shop to have.

A few first time visitors have told me they had expectations of finding a 'tea room' when they first saw the name of my shop.  Since I had a late start for the season, I just wanted to open and get established this year and to test the waters to see how my shop would be received in a town of less than 300 year round people. In Sorrento, you can buy postage stamps and lobsters, and even enjoy a stay at a lovely B&B, but there was never any place that you could just stop in for a cup of coffee or tea while you visit or just browse around for a unique gift.

There are some days that I question my sanity of opening a gift shop that is housed in a gutted-out mobile home and located right next to a long forgotten cemetery.  Sounds pretty crazy when you put it that way.  Yet, there is something inexplicable, even to me, that keeps me focused on what is to come of it all.   In the meantime, I am testing out things like how long moss will survive when planted in our raku pottery.  Displayed on a vintage tea tray, my tiny container moss gardens are part of the local flora and fauna that are found right in our backyard.    

When I found this vintage silver plate and glass carafe a few years ago, I knew it would not get much use in my household, but even so, I just had to have it anyway. (My practical side rarely ever wins.)  And now I am thankful for that, as I have managed to come up with a lovely new use for it in my shop!  

It now holds a simmering brew of lemons, rosemary and vanilla extract.  Found on Pinterest, it is the signature scent that Williams-Sonoma uses in their stores.  I just love it.    

The scent is clean and somewhat subtle.  

Visually, I love the warmth it adds to my shop.  

There is so much more I would love to share with you about my shop.  We have had adventures, discoveries, and numerous 'coincidences' in the stories of a few of the people that have found their way here.  People who have found us by accident, as well as people whose visits have been planned.  There is one in particular that I would like to bring up in hopes that she will contact me when she returns home from her vacation.  It is a story that deserves it's own post and I need permission from her to share a couple of pictures I took of her and her daughter-in-law from that day.  

And I would be remiss if I did not mention how thankful I am for those of you that still find your way over to my blog in spite of my long absence in between posts and visits to all of you over on your blogs!  I look forward to catching up again with you all real soon.