Hanky Panky

This morning I happened upon this great vintage DIY movie.  Now, I love a DIY, but a vintage DIY!? That's even better. This old movie is genius!  It might take me a few more viewings to figure out exactly what she is doing, but I love the concept!

Your probably not surprised that I have a vintage hanky collection.  I think I got most of them at an auction, once, but I love them so much, and actually use them when I have a runny nose etc.  Summer is the perfect time for hankies.  I will be toting one in my clutch to both weddings this summer(I get teary eyed at weddings), and keep one in my purse for when the heat just gets the better of me and I need the sweat wiped from my brow, or when my allergies are particularly bad and I can't stop sneezing! 
There are so many practical uses for them it makes me wonder why we still use paper tissues.  I love that they are environmentally friendly, but pretty too.  So many embroidered ones out there that could be put to use. Next time your thrifting pick up a few! Or even better make your own with fabric scraps or inexpensive linens...personalize them with an embroidered monogram, the possibilities are endless!

The Chosen One(s)

The Monday after a fun filled weekend is always hard, but so far so good.  We wrapped up look book photos on Saturday. We were even able to squeeze in the best picnic ever! ( note to self: have more picnics!)  I am over the moon with the pictures.  The whole experience has been so wonderful, and makes me wish I could be doing this full time.  Hopefully photos will be ready to share next week....

Yesterday I attended the cutest strawberry themed shower.  And I wore a vintage dress that had been tucked waaaay back in my closet. Here is where I get to the chosen ones!  I haven't done one of these posts in a while, I've been stuck in a horrible jeans and t-shirt rut.  So naturally dressing up yesterday was a thrill for me.  We all had to wear something red, and I chose this dress, for a few reasons one being the red stripes in it.  This dress has so much going for it.  It was so comfortable.  I could move in it bend, and not have to suck it in all day! The V neck was also a plus and the sleeves are perfect for me.  Summer gets tricky since I don't like to wear sleeveless things.  So short sleeves are a must. To continue with the red theme, I painted my nails, which I pointed out to Clayton today, that painted fingernails always make me feel like a lady... I don't paint them often since my hands are usually in everything and the polish chips almost instantly. But it is fun from time to time!

I paired the dress with these 70's inspired super chunky platforms sandals.  These are my new favourite summer shoes, and there's not much else I can say about them, cause they speak for themselves.... The bag is another chosen one item, since I had this for about 3 years now, and have never used it.  I liked it with this outfit because of it's shape and the metal circle details seemed to suit the squiggly lines in the dress.

So all in all this was a very fashion focused weekend, but now back to work in my jeans and t-shirt.  Hoping to do a shop update this week with a few housware items.  Stay tuned!

Friday's Most Wanted

It's been a gloomy (weather) day over here, and a sleepy one too!  Looking ahead at the weekend, it's going to be jam packed with fun, so maybe a good thing that today has been slow and uneventful.  I am happy to share with you some awesome etsy finds from this week tho!

  I'm loving this bird on a wire skirt.  I can't believe someone hasn't snapped it up yet! Found here

What a perfect summer top.  The colours are great and what girl doesn't love a vertical stripe! Found Here

      I'm a sucker for lunch pails.  This one is so pretty!  Love the matching thermos. Found Here

  Really wishing I had bigger feet!  These are platform perfection!  Found Here

  The colour on this dress is stunning!  This would make for an amazing bridesmaid dress.  Found Here

 This little purse is great for walks around the city in the summer.  Enough to hold your ice cream money in!Found Here

There you have it.  Never a shortage of pretty things!  Tomorrow is day 2 of our VR look book photo shoot.  I'm looking forward to a day outdoors with very pretty clothes! I'll be back next week to tell you all about it. Bon Weekend!

I Can Hear Those Bells Ringing

Summer is a wonderful time for so many reasons, one being weddings!  This year is a particularly wedding busy summer for Clayton and I.  I really do look forward to them.  They just seem to go hand in hand with summer time.  So this is a wedding inspired post, not only because of the upcoming season, but also because Saturday I found this gorgeous vintage wedding gown. 

My heart skips a beat when I come across and find like this, and I have had it on display ever since.  I seriously wish I could do it all over again (with the same man of course!) There were so many things I loved about our wedding, but there are always things you wish you had done differently.  And I would have loved to have worn a dress like this one.  It's perfectly practical, elegant, and beautiful. 

The bustle is removable and the sleeve length is perfect for a spring early summer wedding.  The beading and lace are not over done and the bow and buttons add such wonderful detail to the back of the dress.

This is the third wedding dress I have been able to add to The Vintage Ramble vintage collection, and all three will be added to the shop soon.  This one rounds out the trio perfectly, and I would be so excited to see a bride walk down the aisle in this special dress.  We shot one of the wedding dresses last weekend for the upcoming look book, and I'm dying to show you all, but I'll be good and wait until the look book is done... (sorry, I'm a jerk)

A Look At What's To Come

Today got off to a great start.  I was able to preview one of the photos from our first look book photo shoot we did over the weekend.  I am so totally thrilled with what was captured on Saturday, and can't wait to see more.  You all will have to wait a bit longer until the look book is complete, but let me just tell you... prepare to be amazed!  The photographer and model I am working with are incredible and I feel so lucky to able to be working with these outstanding gals! 

I'll be adding some great summer leather purses to the shop today, so I just dropped in to give you a little preview!  Check back this afternoon to see the rest :)

'Tis The Season To Be Sale'n

Happy Monday friends.  It's been a long weekend over here, so I've been away from the shackles of my computer all day. A seriously nice change of pace.  A pretty lazy day overall, but it felt so good not to have to sit in front of my computer all day.  Slowing down from an otherwise hectic weekend, filled with friends, photos and BBQ!

The weather was perfect on Saturday, so I partook in some garage saling.  It was the second weekend in a row that I was able to go.  A good start to the summer I would say.  I love garage sales when they are good, but otherwise I get really frustrated when driving around looking for stuff and the only thing that turns up time after time are kids toys, when rally what I'm looking for is guaranteed to be found at the thrift store.  So I will say that me and garage sales have a pretty dysfunctional relationship. 

These past two weekends however have been pretty fruitful.  Vintage tins have been popping up everywhere!  I love tins to display/use in the bathroom and kitchen.  They look great, and are handy for those little things. I love to store my tea bags in vintage tins. Tins in the bathroom are great for cotton balls, or makeup pads.  My collection consists now not only of vintage kitchen and bathroom products, but also school supplies, and I'll say lifestyle stuff like, the shoe polish tin or the tobacco tin.





In this picture there is a cocoa tin, a pepper tin, a cough drops tin, a tin for gin pills, shoe shine, cinnamon, tobacco and a protractor set!

I'm quite certain now, that I have amassed a pretty well rounded tin collection.  I went from almost none to about 10 in no time flat. Does anyone else collect tins? What do you use your vintage tins for?

Friday's Most Wanted

I'm looking forward to the long weekend today.  Lots of mxin' and relaxin' planned.  The one thing I'm most looking forward to is gardening.  The weather has been excessivly wet these days, and I am itching to get out there and plant a few things!  But, while I was stuck inside due to rain this week, Etsy kept me entertained, so here are this week's favourite items!

 I've had dreams about this bag all week.  Love the colour against the soft brown leather.

Found Here

Aren't these pair just the cutest thing!? A perfect addition to my plate wall. Found Here

I could think of about a hundred things in my closet that this necklace would look good with. Found Here

What better way to dress up a pair of cut offs?  This shirt would be perfect! Found Here

I'm still searching for the perfect mini dress this summer.  This one is perfectly adorable.  Found Here

The pop of colour in this belt makes me swoon.  Found Here.

Loving this shop's bakelite jewellery.  This one in particular caught my eye.  Found Here

Besides gardening this weekend, I look forward to hanging out with some gal pals and eating ice cream (but not too much) on Sunday, maybe catching a movie, or going to see some live music.... the long weekends hold so much promise, it's just too bad they go by so quickly!

DIY Flower Crown

I'm happy to share with you this super easy DIY today.  I know there are probably a million how to flower crown tutorials out there, but I had so much fun making this one, I wanted to show you all how I did it. 

This was pretty inexpensive, and only took about 10 minutes to make and unlike some I've seen doesn't involve florist tape/wire or pliers. Here is what you need.

-1 silk/plastic flower garland at least long enough to fit around your head.  The one I bought would probably make three crowns.  You can find these in most craft store's silk flower section.

-Silk flowers of any kind in any colour your little heart desires.  The amount you get and sizes you chose will all depend on how you want your crown to look, so get creative!

-Glue gun with about two sticks of glue.

First thing you want to do is pop the extra silk flowers off their stems. I saved my stems to use for another project ( I hate wasting).

Next thing you will want to do is measure the garland around your head and determine a comfortable length to cut the garland to so it will sit firmly on your head. Account for some overlapping of the stem.  Then cut the garland. The "stem" is just plastic so regular scissors will do. 

The garland should have two hoop ends, once you have cut the garland you will be left with one hoop end one straight stem end.  Thread the steam end through the hoop and pull it until you catch a flower through the hoop. This will anchor the crown in place and keep the crown from slipping.  Once you get gluing tho, the crown will be secured by glue.

At this point, your crown won't look like much but a pile of flowers, but you can see the circle formed a little bit in the picture.  Since the flowers are spread out every which way, the next thing you will have to do is glue down the flowers that are coming away from the stem/frame of your crown.  I simply put a couple dots of glue on the stem and gently pressed the flowers flat on them.  You should then end up with something like this....

At this point it is entirely up to you how you want to continue.  You could leave the crown as is with just white flowers.  If you are looking for a more sparse look, this should do it.  I wanted to add more colour to mine, so I took my loose silk flowers, and just filled in some of the empty spots.  I would start with a bigger flower then cluster the smaller ones around it.  I just kept adding until I felt the crown had enough colour added to it.

This is what the final product looks like. So I guess step 6 is wear your crown!  As you can see, the point where the two ends met is no longer visible, and I've plumped it up a bit by adding more flowers.  

I made this one in preparation for the upcoming photo shoot. I'm so excited to see some of the pieces in The Vintage Ramble collection come together in outfits. With accessories and such.  Our first fitting is tonight, and I'm excited to see this crown in action!  

Day Dreaming

Anna Sui is one of my all time favourite designers, so naturally when I need a little fashion inspiration looking at her clothes always gets me on the right track.  I have a confession though, ever since I moved out of my parent's place and stopped watching the fashion channel, I don't really keep up with much catwalk fashion.  You know, here and there on blogs and stuff, but I'm not nearly as plugged in as I use to be.  So I hadn't yet seen Anna Sui's summer 2011 collection until today.  It's very impressive, and definitely got me inspired.  All the things I am lusty over this summer were in her collection.  She has crochet, feathers, knits, cream colours, beads, boots, and lots of flowy shapes. 

I am starting to gather some ideas for a lookbook photo shoot featuring clothes from The Vintage Ramble.  I am so excited about this project. I'll be working with me very talented photographer friend, and we have lots of pretty things planned!  So I'll be sharing some of the details with you over the next little while.  Last night I went to check out this amazing location.  It's very impressive.  A forest floor covered in Trilliums, doesn't get much better than that! 

 

Friday's Most Wanted: The Great Blogger Crash Edition

Hello! I had been waiting yesterday to post this, but with the delays of blogger being restored and all, I ran out of time.  Have no fear, I still have many pretty things to show you.



Yep, this dress is gorgeous.  It's already sold, but you can find it HERE

Wouldn't these shoes look so pretty with a denim wrap circle skirt?  FOUND HERE

Love this scribbly drawing.  This grasshopper is so charming  FOUND HERE

I would very much like to own this necklace.  FOUND HERE

What a pretty summer dress. Found HERE

Loving everything in this shop.  Love this look.  FOUND HERE

And there you have it.  This week's favourite picks.  Looking forward to the rest of the weekend.  Some planning for a very pretty, very fun project ahead, and visiting with friends tonight, perhaps a movie date tomorrow night (bridesmaids) and some good old fashion R 'N R.  Ta ta for now. 



Plastered

It's been a long time since I've been really plastered, so I'm not going to be telling you a drunken tale today, but rather show you some of the vintage plaster casted pieces I've collected over the past while.  I've had these plaques hanging around for a while without a place on our walls, but I love them so much cause they are kitschy and have a great patina. 

My favourite one, I would have to say, is the "proverb" plaque about women (I keep it in my kitchen to remind myself of my purpose in life while I make my husband dinner).  It's a little offensive, a little true, and a lot funny.   It'd be cool to try and cast my own plaster something one day.  Maybe I'll give it a try on a rainy summer day.  The possibilities are endless! Has anyone ever come across any cool plaster cast items?