Getting off the Wheel to catch one's Breath.

Once, I was visiting my sister,and her roommate had a hamster, the dratted thing would arise at 5 am and proceed to run on his wheel, never stopping, around and around he ran. I am feeling like that hamster, running around in circles and getting nowhere, fast. So we'll be taking a break to catch our breath, and will reopen here at Camellia's on October 11th. 2012. 

Enjoy the fabulous colours of Fall, and take a deep breath ! Go for a long walk.

Belluz Farms 

Our view on Hacquoil Rd. 

We've been bundling Gomphrena , and making Wreaths like crazy. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! 

see you when we Reopen on Oct. 11th. 2012

p-807)475-3551

Camellia's From Nature to Home, Thunder Bay, On

Busy making Sleep Pillows with the Hops I grew this Summer. Hops are supposed to make you sleepy.

Sorry for the short post! Too many things to do, and not enough time to do everything.

Come Visit Camellia's! Open Wednesday through Sunday. Thursday 12-8, Fri. 11-6. Sat. 11-5. Sun. 12-5. p (807)475-3551

Harvest Market Event at The Camellia

HARVEST MARKET AT CAMELLIA'S. FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 11-5, SUNDAY NOON TO 5

We are lucky to have such great Fall Weather. Take advantage of it, and go for A Drive in the Country. You can park, Shop at The Camellia, and then go for a walk on a Country road. Visit the Cheese Farm, Belluz or Gammondale. Stop in at Window Light Photo Gallery on the way to the Cheese Farm.

Order a Fruit Harvest centerpiece for delivery to your favourite Family for Thankgiving. We Deliver in Thunder Bay. Call early for best selection.

If fresh flowers aren't your thing, choose a faux Pumpkin with a Rose wreath around the base.

You have to visit The Camellia to see our unusual Wreaths, this one is made from Lavender Hyssop, Oregano and barley which we grew in our Gardens this Summer.

Freshly-made Lavender Soap - a great treat for you. Try the Calendula & Oatmeal soap, great for healing, and exfoliating. All from Ontario grown lavender.

Jewellery to adorn you, in many styles and finishes. For that casual, dressed-up look.

For those of you who hate shopping with a purse, this wallet will hold all your essentials, with style.

Come in store to see a wonderful array of new purses for the Fall. They are oh-so-stylish, and will add an elegant look to your outfit, even if you are just running out in jeans and t-shirt to do errands. and this one is so affordable at $39.00 ( has organizer).

Vintage Mason Jar holder, part of the Opa Overmeer's Farm Goods line. These jars are great for collecting all the junk which may accumulate on the kitchen counter. You can add name tags for each member of the household.

What about a Vintage Shopping cart, lined with a bag made from old coffee sacks? Good for shopping at Antique shows and Craft Fairs.

Printed linens, anything printed with script is very in vogue at the moment. This fabric would fit into a Vintage decorating scheme, perfect for a Queen Anne's chair, or a footstool.

HARVEST MARKET on this weekend. Open Friday, and Saturday : 11-5.

Open Sunday: Noon-5.

Directions? South on Hwy. 61, Left On Hacquoil Rd. a mere 10 mins. from Thunder Bay Air-

port. Call 475-3551.

Oak leaf & Sunflowers at The Camellia

INspired by the Fall colours and our metal Artisan- made Garden Sunflowers, and the fact I picked Oak leaves a week ago, today 's project was a Fall Oak leaf Door swag. I'm sure the Oak leaves will dry nicely, this is a large, showy piece for your front door, and totally affordable at $55.00.

Nice to see all of you stopping by The Camellia, the leaves are turning beautiful shades of russet, caramel, and golden yellows. Nice weekend for Fall Drives. Looking for a quick colour change, try Pratt & Lambert( www.prattandlambert.com), Sturdy Table 8-21, a nice russet brown.

5 minute Fall centerpiece

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower" Albert Camus, Philosopher.

It's a wonderful Fall day in the Country, the leaves on the Sugar Maples on the mountain are turning from green into wonderful shades of gold and reds, and browns.

Have 5 minutes? grab a vintage mason jar, tie raffia around the neck, and place some maple leaves in the jar.

Voila! Instant centerpeice! so easy to bring Fall into your Home..!!

Sunflowers

Some late-blooming giant Sunflowers from the garden. Bright and colourful against a blue sky, sure to chase away anyone's blues!

You can incorporate cheery yellow into your colour scheme, by adding throw pillows, decorative vases, or some bright Faux Sunflowers in a vase. Yellow and Gray make a wonderful colour combination. What rooms in your house could benefit from a burst of colour? Come into The Camellia , and get inspired!

Fall, Firepits, & Warmth

SUMMER ended so abruptly. One minute we were having a hard time coping with the heat and high humidity, then Mother Nature flicked a switch, and we were shivering in the sudden cold. Our neighbours had their annual get-together this past weekend, and we finished the evening gathered around the firepit. Gathering around a crackling fire is one of my favourite activities in the Fall.

Come into The Camellia, and get a custom-designed candle centerpiece for your table. In this design, I used faux Maple leaves, sunflowers, roses, ranunculus, peaches, lemons, grape clusters, and wheat bundles grown here, from a nearby farm.

WARMTH - Wrap yourself in a vintage mohair throw - Hudson's Bay Company. Part of our Opa's Farm Goods line. Plaids never go out of style.

Brown & beige - always in style, goes with every outfit. Not too big, nice and compact, with lots of organizing compartments. And very affordable.




New this season, pleated pashminas in multicoloured hues. Perfect for those nippy Fall days.
$ 19.50.



Grey is the new neutral this Fall. Fashionable for everything, from walls to fashion. What about this purse, a great Fashion statement to give your fav Fall pieces added pizzazz. It even has another necessary element for this season, bling...

Colour Therapy

Want an instant Lift? Colour is all around you, in Nature. All you have to do is look. These photos were taken at St. Jacob's Farmers Markets.

Need help with choosing colours? We do in-home colour consultations, call us to book an appointment.

Watch for our Fall Open House, coming soon! Send us your email so we can inform you of Special Events, and new arrivals!

Flower Power

Never underestimate the power of flowers!

No, not the whole hippie movement, counter culture, Vietnam War flower power!

Literally the power of flowers.

Their colour and scent can lift you out of funk, lend an elegance and warmth to your space, and German scientists think their scent can help us to have sweet dreams (literally).

Take a moment and think back to the spring (I know it feels like winter for most of us)...close your eyes, take a deep breath, and picture it - your garden awash and alive in various bursts of colour, or your local farmer's market with buckets of gaily coloured flowers, all shapes and sizes. Slowly exhale.

Don't you feel better?

There it is...the power of flowers.

If you're still doubtful plan a trip to the Netherlands - they are the major supplier of flowers to Europe, North American, and South America. In fact, flowers and the flora culture industry generate over $3 billion dollars annually, making it the economic backbone of the country.

I'm lucky enough to have relatives there (yay for in-laws) so I've had the luxury of traveling there a couple of times and each time I land, it's the same feeling - that sense that no matter what, it's ok.

You land at the the airport in Schiphol and it feels like you've stepped into a fairytale, surrounded by gardens of flowers - tulips, carnations, camellias, and a host of other flowers. Airport display screens boast flowers; every store (apparel, restaurants, gift shops) has a gorgeous flower creation (it really is an art form) outside, enticing you to come in. Even the cleaning carts are adorned with tulips!

I find them such a a joy to behold but I've clients who've "confessed" to foregoing their fresh flowers and relegating their faux flowers to their closet because they don't think there's a place for them amidst clean, contemporary design. All the while, they may just need to be rearranged into cleaner lines, maybe a stunning glass vase.

If you love fresh flowers, but don’t like the mess and the work involved you may want to try our Faux Botanicals. They are incredibly life-like, and little is required of them except an occasional blow-dry on a cool setting.

On the off chance that you're ahead of the game (and if you are please tell me how you do it) and are considering Christmas presents (I'm shuddering just typing the word) a Gift certificate towards a Custom botanical arrangement would be an interesting option for all your hard to please giftees.

Well the weather forecast actually calls for sun this weekend so take a well-deserved break, go for a Fall drive and stop in and vist us on Hacquoil Rd. If you've the time, might I suggest meandering over to Belluz Farms and the Cheese Farm on Boundary Drive, as well as, the De Bruin’s Greenhouses for farm fresh Veggies.

See you soon.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving??? Seriously???

Do you remember as a kid the amount of time you’d just sit around, moaning about how bored you were, or how you couldn’t wait to be grown up?

Now that I’m all grown up I moan about never having enough time to do everything that needs to be done. The long, leisurely summer days of my childhood have long given way to to-do lists, lots of frantic racing around trying to get everything done, and constantly trying to stay one step ahead of this crazy thing we call life

So imagine my surprise when I get the phone call about “Who’s hosting Thanksgiving dinner?”

How is it possible for time to have whizzed by to the point where it’s Thanksgiving? Any chance someone made a mistake? Had their calendar been turned to the wrong month??

I often think that it would be better for Canadians to have Thanksgiving at the same time as Americans. It would buy us all a few more weeks to give some thought to the important stuff…like how to decorate your dinner table!

Have you given any thought to how you’re going to decorate your dinner table?

For those of you who have no time to shop (read most all of us), use what you have on hand – backyard foliage, fruit, and tea lights.

Step out into your backyard; take a deep breath and relax for moment as you look around at the explosion of colour. Then harvest as much of that colour as you can and bring it inside.

Place a runner down the middle of the table, grab whatever fruit you have in the house, along with some candles or tealites.

Gently lay your foliage down, then your fruit, and scatter your candles in holders in-between.

If you’d like something fragrant, try Aromatique's candles – Cinnamon Cider, Pumpkin Spice, or Creme Caramel – to add to the warmth of your home. Other ideas - teensy weensy pumpkins or acorns look fantastic in a glass vase with a battery-operated tealite.

Simple, yet quietly elegant, are our beautiful Fall wreaths – perfect to welcome your guests into your home.

For a bit of fun add our custom Hell’s Kitchen (my son’s favourite cooking show) tea towels.

Thanksgiving weekend hours are limited to Saturday October 10th from 11-5p. Please be in touch for any last-minute requests/emergencies/advice…

This year I'm not too worried about surviving Thanksgiving because (thankfully) I'm not hosting dinner. My personal survival tips:

• thaw your turkey a few days in advance (my sister learned this the hard way)
• do as much prep as you can the night before (chopping vegetables, etc)
• get everyone to bring a side dish (if there are different cultures present then bring a cultural dish)
• if things get tense at any point (just in case), relax and take hope in the fact that dinner is temporary...everyone is going to leave very soon!
  

This year I’m grateful for my family, my health, my life in general, and the fact that I’m not hosting Thanksgiving dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.