Think Warm Thoughts....

As the temperature is supposed to creep up to 6 degrees this weekend, I'm thinking warm thoughts in hopes of SPRING. I've never been a snow bunny, even growing up with minus kajillion winters in Saskatchewan. I feel like I've done my time with cold weather, so by the end of February, I'm done! This is why I get a little wistful when I see things that remind me of warmer temperatures.....

Pour me a cold glass of sangria while I soak up the sun..............

Fine Dining

Chicken ala Tramp? Flaming Sword Dinners? Just a few of the tempting dinner suggestions in this 1953 menu from Nick Yanko's restaurant in Akron, Ohio. This is just a sampling of the HUGE collection of menus that I brought into the shop. I love the graphics inside and out!


This lovely from the New City Restaurant and Hotel in Georgetown, British Guiana is one of my favourites. It's a small menu, but the texture of the card stock and the cover image are sublime. Many holidays, many meals, and what a great souvenir from your travels. Plain paper printouts seem to be the norm these days, and if they put this much money into their menus you certainly wouldn't be allowed to take one home!





"All Fancy Dishes and Drinks Dispensed by Experienced Men" claims this menu from the Normandie in Quebec. Black Caviar on toast for a mere 75 cents, too!





Classic Trader Vic's. Swishy cocktail selections....





Dressed in your best, white linen tablecloths, the warm glow of tiny lamps on each table, AND a ceramic coconut for you to take home! Evenings out were such a classy affair.




















The Brown Derby. Old Hollywood Glam. I love it! Please, someone open a restaurant like this NOW!


The Painted Desert Room at the Desert Inn in fabulous Las Vegas! I have three different menus from the Painted Desert. They would reprint them regularly to change the cover image and to change the headline entertainment information inside.








Jimmy Durante was on stage Sept. 1st, 1958, following Ed Sullivan who made his appearance on July 1st.









The Desert Inn was opened April 24, 1950 after four years of construction and 6.5 million dollars. In 1966, Howard Hughes bought the Inn for 7 million dollars, after having lived on the ninth floor for many years. Fast forward to 2000 when Steve Wynn bought the Desert Inn for a whopping 275 million. The Desert Inn closed its doors at 2am on August 28, 2000 and I believe the property has since become a golf course.
Progress.






Frame the cover or the inside menu to create fantastic original artwork for a kitchen, hallway or powder room. A great gift for those who love to cook!

Bon Appetit!

Booty-Licious!

Oh Baby, look at these booties! Handmade by my mom out west and exclusive to Winkel. The cowboy booties are my favourite, but the roller booties and hockey booties are pretty swell, too.



Perfect for the future Gretzky or Roller Derby Queen!

Winter Wallpaper

I've got a thing for wallpaper. Groovy, colourful, vintage wallpaper. Flocked velveteen wallpaper-yummy! This winter I've been digging out all of my sample books and scraps to create different decorations for the shop. My latest venture is the wallpaper sample quilt that now adorns the front window wall. I used brass thumbtacks in each corner which sort of "studs" the whole wall. The samples are from a collection of 1970's designs, but some feel quite contemporary.

Winter projects carry on.....

Winkelbread House

Behold the Winkelbread House! Created for the shop by the lovely Linda of It's The Icing On The Cake, with windows illustrated by Marla, my valued employee. I have saved the facade and the miniature Hubble to be framed in a shadow box and kept for posterity.



December was very busy at the shop. Lots of holiday shoppers and many gift challenges solved. I wish all the friends of Winkel the best for the new year!

I've been hatching a few plans for special events at the shop this year. Coming up February 10 & 11th is the first Winkel Fabric Sale. I'm digging out all of my barkcloth, tablecloths, remnants and getting them ready to share with other textile addicts. Anyone looking for a groovy print to use in their winter projects is sure to find something.

Look for fresh and funny Valentine cards arriving at the shop in the next week or so, as well as new card selections from Bald Guy Greetings, Hello Lucky and Sidepony!

Time to go tend to the shop and watch the snow falling outside the window....

Holiday Craft Project

I found this roll of lovely 70's vinyl wallpaper around the corner from the shop on Caroline Avenue this past summer. "I can make something with this" was my immediate dumpster-diver reaction and I scooped the roll and took it home. Months passed and with the holiday shopping season approaching I needed some window dressing inspiration. I remembered the castaway wallpaper and decided to make it into my store Christmas tree. I cut the form out of a large cardboard box--2 triangles the same size, one with a slit cut from top to bottom and the other from bottom to top. There were moments of "what was I thinking!" as I cramped up cutting MANY triangles out of the wallpaper, but some gooey double-sided tape made the assembly much quicker and VOILA!



I later added some vintage Christmas cards as the ornaments on the tree. I love how the wallpaper curls up at the edges. Reminds me of those wispy birch bark trees that are all around this year. You just never know where you can find Christmas decor. See you on garbage night!

Dutch Kitsch

The beloved Dutch children recently featured in the Toronto Star have been the cause of much curiosity. Dutch people are calling to see what other Dutch kitsch we have at winkel, others are offering their Dutch items for sale. Who knew so many folks out there collected this stuff? These two adorable children will never be for sale, but I'll be sure to pick up the next pair that crosses my path.

Watch for a future photo exhibit of some fine Dutch kitsch!

Let's Get This Blog Started

While I slowly develop a proper website for the shop I will try to keep folks up to date on this blog. Check in for updates on new products and events at winkel.

It's been a very busy summer at winkel! Lots of great newspaper and magazine articles have brought many new visitors to the shop. It started in July with a lovely "Store of the Week" feature in NOW magazine which was very thrilling for me! Next, The National Post featured an article entitled "Go East" highlighting winkel and many other great independent shops along Queen Street East. More recently, The Toronto Star Shopping section featured Queen East as the "new Queen West". It was a very positive article about the variety of great little shops between Carlaw Avenue and Leslie Street and the response from the public has been fantastic. Many thanks to those journalists who support small business!

I've been expanding the card selection at winkel over the last month or so, and I'll be adding photos and links in the near future. My new favourite line of cards is from Bald Guy Greetings, a wickedly funny line of cards with Tim Burtonesque illustrations to match. Nightfire Press is another new card line at the shop. Sheena Kim makes lovely cards and coasters with vintage illustrations but the messages have a definitely modern twist. There's also lots more of the ever-popular Yee Haw Industries cards including some great new card sets with fruit and vegetable prints. I'm proud to say that winkel is the first shop in Toronto if not Canada to carry many of these cards, so if you're looking for a unique sentiment, we probably have that one-of-a-kind card to express it.