Vintage Kimono Hairclips by Annie Loto

Creatively Capture Hair

Check out these super cool hairclips made of vintage Kimono fabric designed by Annie Loto. Incredible saturation of colorful fabric on comfortable clips for accessorizing your hair. Many of us are are coming into winter hat season, and I think that these would be handy to keep around for those flyaway days! Annie donates 10% of her proceeds to the Red Cross in Japan, which in March suffered widespread destruction with the earthquake and following tsunami waves.

These great clips will make great gifts. Could be that perfect gift for a teacher, babysitter, or maybe tuck a couple into the Christmas stockings. Stork clips under $10, larger clips under $20.

You’re Invited to Gallery Night May 6

You’re Invited

MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART & MIDDLETON’S ART ON THE AVENUE

MAY 6 • 4-8 pm

Refreshments & Jewelry Trunk Show

Trunk Show featuring jewelry artist Leda Rawlins. Showcasing a fresh new selection of one-of-a-kind baubles.

Upscale vintage jewelry, relaxed designs with semi-precious stones, colorful hand-enameling set in comforting patinated brass.

Just in time for your Valentine

A plethora of new product this week in time for your Valentine.

My picks:

Millie Style Maruca

Maruca handbags, I love the Millie. Classic horizontal style means the contents stay organized and will be easy to find. Great fabrics, great design made in the USA!

Check out our latest mosaic jewelry collection from Ayala Bar. Luscious colors in Caribbean blue and sherbet orange and pink. Too many too pick a favorite, I personally want them all!

Texas General candles in two brand new scents, Peppermint Chocolate and Petunia Poppy. Burned Peppermint Chocolate at home already and love it! Husband says it smells like Andes mints, who doesn’t love that? Again, hand made in Texas.

Lastly, La Bella Vita offers complimentary gift wrapping as ususal. Make it a quick and easy gift shopping experience and get on with the rest of your day!

We love our customers and wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Not your average eyeglasses Bilancio

After complimenting several shoppers at La Bella Vita on their outstanding eyewear, I have registered the same response several times, “oh, thanks, they are from Bilancio in Fitchburg. Have you been there?”

It was finally time for my husband to update his prescription which meant an update in frames. Without further consideration we headed over to Bilancio. Lisa welcomed us in like we were long-lost friends. She was so pleasurable, with such zeal and ambition about her business, her customer, and her life. It isn’t hard to find frames that will be complimentary and stylish, but it is difficult to narrow them down! (that is my warning). However Lisa helped Mike and I slim the selection to the créme de la créme, which is helpful guidance when you want them all! Armani and Jhane Barnes were our final picks, and we went for it, and got both. However, we could have left with a frame for every day of the week.

The whole experience was fabulous. I suggest you take a moment to stop and meet Lisa and peruse her fantastic selection. You will be treated with unparalleled service and a diverse assemblage with this locally owned optical provider. Visit Bilancio and Lisa at BilancioEyewear.com

Bilancio Eyewear

Library Libations: Wine Tasting for Charity

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Library Libations

A

Wine Tasting Event

Barriques in Middleton

1901 Cayuga Street

Across from the Post Office

 

Sample wines of the Season, cheese, delicious hors d’oeuvres, and wonderful raffle prizes (including a lovely art glass bowl donated by La Bella Vita) while supporting

The Middleton Public Library

** Capital Brewery will host a beer tasting too for the non-wine drinkers

Stock up on wines for Thanksgiving, Holiday gifts, and New Years Eve and 10% of sales will go to the library.

Click for more info about tickets.

 

Attend the Art Zoobilee on October 22!

La Bella Vita is happy to support American Family Children’s Hospital and the Henry Vilas Zoo with their Art Zoobilee Silent and Live Auctions to raise funds.  Our glitzy ovine friend was decorated by Yvette Kindschi, owner of La Bella Vita, and will join the herd of many other animal sculptures from great to small, all available at the auction.

The event is October 22, 2010… get your tickets now!

Fall Events at La Bella Vita

As summer winds down and fall begins, the cool evenings serve as a reminder to stop, look, and enjoy the season as its beauty unfolds before us.  Fall is a time of transition, not only outside, but from the busy, booked summer to the even busier holidays. Fortunately, September and October often give a welcome respite between these more frenzied times of the year.  There’s a moment to breathe in crisp fall air and watch the leaves whorl off the trees, and time to plan ahead to make the holidays run smoothly.

We hope that in your free moments this fall, you will take time to enjoy the work of several of our talented artists joining us for Gallery Night (October 1, 2010) and our Holiday Open House (November 11 – 13, 2010).

Michelle Olson:  Michelle Olson is a talented artist in many mediums, and will be demonstrating some of her wood-carving skills during Gallery Night (Art on the Ave), October 1 from 5 – 8 pm.

Tonya Tubbs:  Tonya Tubbs is a more recent addition to our gallery.  She prints her original photography on metal, creating an unusual canvas that highlights her work in ways entirely different than traditional methods.  We look forward to having her and a wonderful selection of her work for Gallery Night on October 1 from 5 – 8 pm.  For more about Tonya, please see her website.

Leda Rawlins:  The talented Leda Rawlins, of Madison, will be joining us for a jewelry trunk show on November  13, from 10 am to 4 pm.  Her jewelry is romantic, vintage-inspired, intricate, and fascinating.  It’s easy to get lost in the beauty of her pendants.  See her jewelry on her website, and know that it is SO much more beautiful in person… you’ll have to come see.

We look forward to seeing you, and hope you will come enjoy!  Refreshments are served at all events, along with fantastic door prizes to entice you.

Happy fall!

Texas General Candles Scents – New for Fall!

Mmm… the warm scent of cinnamon, coffee, and orange in the colors of fall leaves.  It’s hard to believe that summer is coming to a close, yet again.  Make the seasonal transition with scents… add in some of our yummy new candles to your mix!

These are all 2″ x 2″ cubes, manufactured in Texas, and they are POTENT!  Our customers find these candles addicting… they are such fabulous scents, all very true and not artificial or fake-smelling.  Each has a burn-time of around 20 hours and they do need to be burned in a holder. We have a lot of people who order boxes of 25 candles at a time… this is a possibility and we are happy to order any scent that we don’t have in stock.  Or, you can see what we currently have in stock!

Homeward Bound

A fall and winter favorite for many years, this scentsational bright red cinnamon candle is easily mixed with many of the other candles in this line.  We particularly like combining Homeward Bound with Javaretto, Marzipan, Pumpkin Giving, Spice Island, Marmalade 1981, Monterey Pine, Blue Spruce… and so many more…!

Marmalade 1981

This is a wonderful year-round scent, and works especially well as a fall/holiday candle when paired with many of the same candles that work with Homeward Bound.  It is a mixture of orange spice… yum!  It reminds me of Orange Spice tea.

Twist & Spice

A fun striped candle, the top layer is orange and the bottom is cranberry.  It’s a delish candle that works very well with Pometini and Homeward Bound.

Sleeping on Snow

One of our most popular candles, Sleeping on Snow is a powder-white vanilla and is amazing by itself or with other friends.  The white is so pretty and pure.

Javaretto

Mmmm…. coffee!  And even better, coffee with orange.  This is a mix of amaretto and marmalade…. ooh-la-la!  The deep brown is also very pretty, and can be paired with either the cinnamon/spice scents or the citrus and berry scents to make an ever more delectable mix.

Marzipan

A vanilla cinnamon mix, Marzipan has been a very consistent seller in the fall and the winter.  It’s such a great scent to mix with Javaretto, Marmalade, and Homeward Bound!

Fifth Anniversary Celebration

August 7, 2010: 10 am – 5 pm

Garden Art, Ice Cream Sundaes & Live Music

Three Wisconsin artists come together to help us celebrate five years of delighting and decorating Madison! Enjoy Ice Cream Sundaes while perusing the Garden Art of Christina Wolf & 2D work by Hilary Berg and listen to the strummings of No Busfare Johnson.

View our flyer (PDF) or read more about No Busfare Johnson.

Enchanting, ornate jewelry by Leda Rawlins

Our most recent addition to our jewelry cases, local Madison artist Leda Rawlins, creates some of the most enchanting jewelry we’ve seen in quite a while!  Her pieces have a vintage feel, both in styling and in the colors she selects, yet work wonderfully with the modern wardrobe.  Fun fact: Leda used to work as a fashion consultant creating and freshening wardrobes.

Her pieces are all created with a high-quality, oil-rubbed, nickel-free brass that gains its wonderful patina through a meticulous chemical-free process.  The findings are beautifully constructed and have a very timeless feel.  Many of her pieces incorporate crystals, semi-precious gemstones, Italian resin, hand-carved ceramic, original enamel creations, carved wood and Czech glass.

We are so excited to have her here in the gallery, and in the meantime, you can explore her website.  Come on into the store to see how beautiful her jewelry is in person!  It truly sparkles and catches the eye in a way that photography cannot convey.