Merry Christmas!

Here's hoping you all had a wonderful holiday, full of sparkling lights and sugary treats and beautiful things! I know we sure did!

Holiday decorating in style!

Not vintage, but adorable! I'd love to hang this plushie owl ornament by OrdinaryMommy on my Christmas tree!!

I can't help it; I'm a photographer AND a vintage maven!

I love Polaroid cameras. I love SX-70 Polaroid cameras. I especially love the FOLDING SX-70 Polaroid cameras. So you can guess that I love this SX-70 Polaroid camera from elksme!

Vintage Repurposed -- The Mighty Mason Jar!

I love mason jars. I know I'm not alone, here. I don't personally have the time or the kitchen space to actually use mason jars to can preserves, so I don't buy them at antique stores/thrift shops...but I always eye 'em! I especially like the type with the slight blue tint to the glass.

Well, now, thanks to ModCloth's ModLife blog (and Martha Stewart for the original idea and photography) I now have a valid reason to actually purchase some vintage mason jars! I love this DIY idea for making snow globes out of mason jars and vintage Christmas/holiday themed knick-knacks!

(Image Source: www.marthastewart.com)

And, like the best DIY projects, it's simple, too! Basically, you just rough up the inside of the lid a bit and then use epoxy to attach your holiday figurine. Fill the jar with water, sparkly glitter, and a dash of glycerin to thicken it all up. Once the epoxy has dried, screw the lid back on and flip it over! Done! Homemade cheer! How fun!! Now all I need to do is run to the antique store for some old, mismatched holiday figurines and other knickknacks...and the jars, of course!

Vintage Style -- Rhinestone brooch

There are few kinds of vintage jewelry I love more than rhinestone brooches, the more sparkly and over the top the better. And oh, how I love love love this multi-colored vintage rhinestone brooch from DearGoldenVintage!

Etsy Shop Update

We've been updating our Etsy shop lately with a lot of fun finds! We don't have much Christmas-y stuff, but we do have some! I think that this vintage Lefton Christmas tree candy dish would be the perfect place to display all those minty treats!

Coldest day of the year so far!

Today is the coldest day out we've had so far this year, so I decided to search Etsy for some lovely vintage cold-weather gear! This adorable cream pom-pom hat from Thrush definitely fits the bill! Cute, but functional!

Style Icon -- Rizzo

Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee, lousy with virginity...! Okay, so we all know that little Miss Sunshine Sandy was the Nice Girl...but it was the dark-haired vixen Rizzo who really knew how to have fun! That short haircut, those red lips...the tight pencil skirts, high heels, pedal pushers, big dark glasses, and of course, the iconic Pink Ladies jacket...yeah, Rizzo was a gal who exuded sexy sizzle! But there was definitely a heart under all that attitude, too. She's the gal we all want to be like...or be liked by, at least! Luckily for us, the popularity of 50s style and rockabilly makes it easy to take some fashion hints from this vintage icon!


First thing's first...the perfect black pencil skirt!I thought this black leather number from SiftedVintage would make Miss Rizzo's heart skip a beat:

Then we need a sexy little black blouse to be tucked into the skirt. This embroidered blouse from FindMeVintage would work nicely!



Every 50s bombshell needs a kickin' pair of heels! I think that these red snakeskin heels from fancypantsvintage fit the bill! Pure sizzle!



Top things off with a big pair of over-the-top, over-sized sunglasses like this pair from BowTieVintage.



And that just leaves...you guessed it! The Pink Ladies jacket! This one gave me a bit more trouble...but I finally decided that this pink Members Only jacket from BelovedLight would have to fit the bill. Not quite the right era, but a lot of 80s fashion was directly inspired by 50s styles, so I'm calling it close enough!




And that's just for a casual look! Who could forget Rizzo's smokin' prom night look? If fancy dress is more your bag, I'd suggest this sexy pink cocktail dress from TimelessVixenVintage and these bright lights heels from DearGoldenVintage!

And there we have it! 1950s bad-girl style that wouldn't be out of place walking down a modern city street! Pencil skirts and heels never go out of style, nor should they! Nothing makes a lady feel more sexy than a skirt that hugs her curves and heels that make her legs a hundred miles long!

Holiday Entertaining, Vintage Style!

What I like most about these vintage reindeer tumblers from jollytimeone is that they're not TOO overtly Christmasy. In fact, I personally think they look more like gazelles than reindeer. And the colors...red and blue, instead of red and green...also help tone down the Xmas, making the tumblers appropriate for year-round use. They'd still be perfect for some holiday eggnog, though!

Vintage Reindeer

Oh, I love these white plastic reindeer from willislisa! My parents have one just like it, and it was always my favorite ornament. I'd always have to find the perfect branch to perch it on. I might have to consider adding these guys to my own ornament stable!

Photography in style!

Okay, so it's not vintage...but seriously, how cool is this?! I love this idea from peppersprouts! A laser-cut white acrylic brooch shaped like a Polaroid picture and meant to have a photo of your own slipped into it. Instant wearable Polaroid! How fun!

Vintage Style--The Holidays

Wouldn't this vintage enameled metal poinsettia brooch from The Water Fairy be perfect pinned to a holiday-party cardigan?





P.S.: We have something similar in our shop...not a true poinsettia, but a similarly-shaped enamel flower in all green.

Vintage Style Files-- 1970s Disco

My husband and I are going to a 70s-themed costume party/birthday party tonight...specifically, a 1979-themed party, since that's the year the birthday girl was born. After doing some digging to find out what was going on in pop culture in 1979 (is it more 70s disco? more early 80s punk? etc) we determined to work the disco angle. He's going very over-the-top Studio 54 glam...aren't I lucky to have a guy willing to dress up in skin-tight sparkly pants and a faux-fur vest? I think I am! My outfit is a little less shiny than his, but definitely still bright and colorful!

So, in honor of all the truly fantastically awful fashion I expect to see tonight, I thought it might be fun to search Etsy for some 70s style! Here's what I found!

Vintage 70s Platform Wood High Heels by PlanetClaireVintage



Sexy 70s cotton/polyester halter full skirt by ilikeyams



1970s Disco Platform Shoes by slapmefabulous



THE Jumpsuit 1970s Black Palazzo by tractordog




1970s Maxi Dress by Bill Blass for Neiman Marcus by FlanneryCrane




Vintage 1970s Button Front Print Halter by VintageEyeCandy



70s Navy Blue Suede Miniskirt Zippery by violet64



Vintage 1970s leather wedge platform oxford shoes by honeybeevintage

Weekend Run-Down

I had a very long work-week last week...7 days in a row, to be exact! So I was terribly excited to have a nice weekend. It was sunny and warm-ish both Saturday and Sunday...I don't remember too many other weekends in late November when I've been able to wander about in a dress, light-weight cardigan, tights, and boots without freezing my behind off! So that was nice. In addition to enjoying the weather, this weekend I:

*hauled around 3 cameras (two Polas and a digital) but didn't take a single photo outside the home
*met, with my husband, two of our friends for a lovely brunch
*took a vintage dress to the seamstress to be hemmed from ankle length to knee
*went to four estate sales and purchased several small lovely things for the vintage shop
*went to our local Japanese food market to stock up on my favorite thing ever, liliko'i (passion fruit) juice
*experimented with a new photo style for items listed in the vintage shop
*didn't cook even once
*decided I loved a set of two mini vintage owl figurines (seen above) far too much to sell them and let my husband talk me into keeping them (not that it was too hard to do!)
*rocked out to "Safety Dance" in the car
*wore cowboy boots one day and motorcycle harness boots the other
*dyed my hair, with my husband's kind assistance
*fell asleep watching cartoons on the couch with my husband and my kitty


Not bad for just two days, eh?

Big shop update!

After two days of running about to thrift shops and estate sales, we've found a lot more items for our shop! I'm really quite happy with a lot of our finds! Please, go check it out! Here's a small sampling of some of the new treasures you'll find:

Vintage Repurposed...Why I Love "Real Simple"

I just finished reading the current issue of Real Simple magazine, and, as usual, I have multiple dog-eared pages. Recipes I want to go back to, useful looking websites, helpful tips...all of these are the norm. But this month's issue also contains holiday recipes that look divine, a holiday gift guide (which I love in any magazine, but especially Real Simple!) and ideas for homemade gifts...DIY presents! What fun! Some of the DIY ideas were easier than others, but the one that really caught my attention was the Sugar-Bowl Candles project.

Image from Real Simple November 2009

It's simple enough. Just find some thrift-shop sugar bowls, buy soy candle wax, and follow the directions for making candles. And this simple project repurposes something lovely and makes it into a real one-of-a-kind gift. Orphaned sugar bowls are unlikely to be of much use to most people...unless you happen to find the one that matches and/or completes your vintage tea set. Not likely!

Keep in mind, too, that this is a versatile project. They show it with sugar bowls as an example...but you could just as easily apply it to orphaned creamers, or tea cups, or even tea pots! I frequently see lovely tea cups in thrift stores and antique shops and wish that there were at least 2 in the same pattern available so I could justify buying them. But now, here's a great use for all those times when you find just one!

Style Icon -- Sophia Petrillo

Picture it. My living room. This morning. An old episode of "The Golden Girls" is on TV. Blanche, that meddling flirt, has just completed a make-over on sassy Sicilian Sophia Petrillo, dolling her up in a tight red dress and making her take her glasses off. And a light bulb goes on over my head. Just what was so wrong with her style before the makeover, I wondered? The vintage wicker purse, the big glasses, the stylish cardigans and blouses and dresses, oh my! She may have been the oldest of the ladies living in that house, but her get-ups were generally much better than some of the crazy things Blanche and Dorothy came up with! (I recall a lot of shapeless blouses, often in metallic fabrics....)

So I decided to see how easily I could reconstruct the iconic Mrs. Petrillo using finds from Etsy! The wicker and bead purse being the most recognizable item, I started with that first. Sadly, I didn't find anything that was a near-exact replica, though I did find multiple wicker purses that were cute cute cute! Probably the closest I got was this beaded wicker purse from VivDelight:



I then went looking for a pair of those big framed glasses she wears so proudly. Those were a bit easier, with multiple options. Probably closest would be this pair from maijutzeler:



Shoes were next. I don't recall Sophia's shoes as well, so I opted for these gold snakeskin shoes by VintageEyeFashion...low heels with some cool detailing to them, but nothing crazy!



Then came the really fun part! The outfit itself! I paired a sweet pink-and-brown plaid skirt from Thrush with a pale pink tie-necked blouse from allencompanyinc, and topped it off with a lovely cream cardigan from prettylittleworld!



And there you have it! Sophia Petrillo, reconstructed! With the possible exception of the crazy-big glasses, all of the pieces would slot nicely into the average gal's modern wardrobe, either worn together or separately! And perhaps instead of big retro glasses, you could try big retro sunglasses!

Keep in mind, there were other options for this style icon reconstruction, of course! Multiple tie-necked blouses and dresses, other wicker purses, other cardigans...Etsy is just a treasure-trove of vintage finds!

A Gift Guide

I love the Gift Guide section on Etsy. It's so fun to browse through the items, many of which are related to each other only by the vaguest of themes, and see how they all fit together. (It's also a great way to find new shops!)

I decided to play a little game with our shop. None of our items are in the Gift Guides right now (which I know because of the lovely and terribly useful Gift Guide Search on Craftopolis), but I think a lot of them would slot nicely into place in some of the themes currently being showcased.

So, here's OUR Gift Guide, inspired by Etsy's!


For the Holiday Fashion Guide, how about this lovely green enamel brooch? It reminds me of a poinsettia and would look smashing pinned to your warm cashmere cardigan or the bust of your red dress!



For The Person Who Has Everything....I bet they don't have a creamer/sugar/salt/pepper set, shaped like a pair of grumpy owls!




When buying for The Fashionista, why not consider a lovely pocket watch pendant necklace? They've been all over the style blogs and the shops lately, but this one is the genuine vintage article, not a repro!




Any Home Chef is sure to need a big collection of trivets for their hot dishes. These cast iron elephant trivets will certainly add some personality to the cooking experience!



Got a Girlie Girl on your gift list this year? She's guaranteed to love this delicate pastel pink brooch!



And last but certainly not least...know any Gardeners, windowsill or otherwise? Then you know that one thing gardeners always need are planters! We have a wide variety of those on offer, but might I suggest this bright yellow Haeger planter? The holes provided to convert it into a hanging planter make it versatile and the color makes it cheerful!

So Very Happy

This is nothing to do with vintage, but I've always loved this print by dazeychic and thought it would make a nice thought for the weekend!




It's a bit goofy, but also so true, isn't it? Have you ever seen a bird with a french fry looking anything other than purely happy? I sure haven't! It can be hard to cultivate that sort of pure, visceral joy...the kind that has nothing to do with thinking and everything to do with feeling.

Vintage Resources....Sale Finders

It's pretty easy to find Salvation Army and Goodwill stores year-round, and garage sales are a dime a dozen in the summer time. But digging through all the plastic contemporary junk on the shelves at the Salvation Army and Goodwill can get tiresome, and garage sales are far less common in the colder months...with good reason! Why would anyone want to sit outside on their driveway shivering in the snow just to make 50 cents here and 10 cents there? So what is the intrepid thrifter to do once she's bored with the Goodwill and unable to garage sale-hop?

Why, visit flea markets and estate sales, of course! Both are (for the most part) inside, and (for the most part) year-round! Of course, finding estate sales in the winter isn't quite as easy as finding garage sales in the summer...driving slowly through random neighborhoods looking for signs is likely to be a waste of effort.

But never fear! That's where the intrepid thrifter can turn to a wee bit of research! CraigsList is your friend here, of course, but as with anything, we want to move beyond the most obvious site into the specialized ones. My favorite is the Estate Sale Network. It is a nation-wide listing of estate sales. The estate sale agents themselves list their sales, usually including pictures of the types of items available so you can tell if it is your sort of sale or not. Nothing worse than driving out to a sale only to find loads of junk...and not the good kind of junk, either!

There is a similar site, gslar.com, that includes garage sales as well as yard sales and estate sales. I've personally not used this one yet, but it seems useful as well and I'll definitely be checking it out to see what kind of listings are up during the winter months when garage sales are less common.


What are your favorite resources for finding the sales?

Vintage Collections: Cameras

I'm sure that the collecting instinct must be in the genes. My dad has huge collections of old fly reels and pocket knives. My mother...well, she has at one time or another collected tea pots (the uglier the better), Santa Claus figurines, Mr. Peanut memorabilia, polar bear figures, and McCoy pottery, among other things.

And I have my own collections growing. As I've aged, I've gone through different stages. I collected fossils. Then I went through a turtle figurine phase. Wade figures. Small silver-toned jewelry boxes. Vintage rhinestone brooches. Now I'm up to owl-shaped jewelry, ceramic squirrel wall-hangers, and vintage film cameras. (There are other things, such as skeleton keys, old wooden alphabet blocks, and interesting old hand-embroidery, that I always notice but have so far managed to resist purchasing, ha!)


I thought I might share some of my favorite things with you, since I have so many and they tend to just sit on shelves looking pretty for me and my husband. Today, it's cameras! Oddly enough, I think old cameras are terribly photogenic. I say oddly because, of course, cameras are supposed to TAKE the pictures, not be IN them, ha!

Three Kodaks...a Duaflex II, a Hawk Eye, and a Brownie.



A Polaroid Highlander 80a



A Kodak Duaflex I



My Duaflex II again, this time with some friends!



A (non-functional, sadly) Polaroid SX-70



And last but not least, my newest baby, a Yashica Mat 124G!

What sorts of things do you collect? I always love hearing about peoples' strange obsessions with ephemera from days past. Sometimes, people are totally in love with things I'd never even think to collect!