Friday's Most Wanted

It's been a few weeks since I've posted my favourites, so you can be sure there are a lot of great things in today's list. 

Aren't the layers on this dress so pretty? Found Here

The embroidery on this jacket is amazing.  Wouldn't this be a great piece to have in your closet? Found Here

Love the fog rolling down this mountain.  What a calming image.  Found Here

Sailor chic. I love this dress. Found Here

This little bank is adorable.  Found Here

Ladies with size 5 feet, why have you not bought these yet!!?!?!  I wish my feet were smaller... Found Here

Loving the colours in this dress. Found Here

A great belt.  Found Here

The perfect bag for fall.  Found Here

There you have it!  So many pretty things to be had!  Happy weekend :)

 

A Revelation

Don't ask me why, but it had not occurred to me until recently that flat front a-line skirts are the perfect go to summer garment.  Sometimes I find it challenging to dress my body type in a feminine way without looking to precious or overdressed in the summer. That being said, I don't want to wear jean cut offs and v- neck tshirts all season long either.  So trying to find middle ground has been challenging.  Which brings me to my revelation, that a flat front skirt can do wonders if you like to keep things casual but step it up a bit during the warmer months.  I find that I can still look feminine and wear my v-neck tshirts too.  Add an interesting bag, a couple bangles and my favourite sandals, and I'm all set!

Today I was in the mood to wear a skirt, but when I looked in my closet I had worn the two summer skirts that I have.  This means I need more skirts!  Here are a few favourites from around the web....

1,2,3,4,5,6

(click on the links to find out more about these great pieces)

Gallery Wall

(Photo Via simplygrove.com)

Perhaps some of you can relate when I say I'm a pinning junky.  I can't get enough of Pinterest.  It's so handy and has been a great source of inspiration, especially when it comes to decorating and cooking.   One of my recent  pins brought me the image seen above from simplygrove .  I had pinned a bunch of ideas for gallery walls, but this by far is my favourite....

I've been collecting art work for a while even though I haven't had a place to hang them.  But I think it's finally time to put together a gallery wall of my own.  We have one large empty wall left in our house, which will be perfect for this project. I want to make sure that the picture placement is right so we can display a balanced arrangement.

our empty wall

I liked simplygrove's wall not only because it's a great arrangement, but also because it mixed many different styles and mediums, and was made up of mostly vintage pieces, which is what I'm working with as well.  I'm excited to get started on our wall now.  If all goes well I'll be back to share some photos of all the great pieces I've been hoarding.... Has anyone else made a gallery wall in your home?  What are you tips to getting it right?  I'd love to hear!

Inspired By Midnight In Paris

Last night I had a date with myself, and went to see Midnight In Paris. Lately I've been really fond of all things Parisian.  I really miss living there and find myself day dreaming about my next trip to la belle ville.  A little wanderlust is healthy non?

I will admit that I'm not a huge Woody Allen fan (gasp!) but I really did enjoy this movie.  Maybe because it was so imaginative, or maybe it was the wonderful costumes and styling, or maybe it was just because the movie was about Paris.  Whatever the case may be, I would highly recommend seeing this film. It will inspire you and actually left me thinking about a lot of things other than how much I loved all the clothes the ladies wore.  These three outfits are inspired by the three main female characters, and I love each style equally. 

Has anyone else seen Midnight In Paris?  What did you think?

A Photo An Hour (a first attempt)

Since I'm trying to brush up on my photography, I thought this would be fun to try.  I've seen a couple other bloggers do it, and have always enjoyed seeing their pictures, so here is my first attempt at a photo an hour....

8am- starting the day

 

9 am- morning ritual

     10 am-hammering a nail with a meat tenderizer

                  aka I'm not good with real tools....                                  

11 am- just ironed

12 pm-mom trying out her new mac

1 pm- keeping cool at work

2 pm- framing a tea towel

 

3 pm-afternoon snack

4 pm- off to the post office

5 pm- relaxing by the record player

Sunny

Yesterday I decided to start making a dent in some of the vintage fabric I've been collecting. So  I made myself a mini dress with my favourite Built By Wendy pattern.  I used this mod silky fabric in sunny orange and yellow, perfect for a light weight summer dress.  The silhouette is simple but oh so easy to wear.  I'll probably make a couple more of these, and then have a closet full of the same dress...  I'm a one trick pony when it comes to sewing clothes.  This is really the only clothing I know how to sew, and I'm going to milk it, but maybe next time I'll some fabric flowers to the collar or something.

I'm off to dinner tonight with the lovely Mandy, and will be using my new wicker purse, and these sandals from Zara, topped of by my favourite vintage pair of YSL sunglasses... Hope you are all having a sunny hot day!

Put It To Good Use: Keeping Cool With Vintage Fans

Vintage fans are probably one of my favourite practical household items.  They made them in so many colours, and the great lines they have add instant interest to any room. 

The unrelenting heat has put these fans to good use in our house lately. This robin's egg blue one is my favourite. We have 5 vintage fans in total. Each living in a different room in our house, but this blue one is so bright and compact it's perfect in our
living room. 

A few things to consider with these fans... if you have kids, probably best to keep them up high since their little hands can fit in them really easily. We always have to put these away when little ones are around. Also make sure the electrical is all intact. The motors can get hot and you don't want to make it any hotter in your house than it already is!

Dorothy Would Approve...

This post is brought to you by my new found obsession with a pair of red Salt Water sandals.  I started thinking about all the outfits I could wear red sandals/shoes with this summer, all sorts of black and white combinations, tans and nautical stripes, bright blue and yellow.  Red shoes are definitely a MUST Must must for summer feet.  So these are just a few of my favourites.....

Shop News

Hello!  Just stopping in  to give you a quick update.  Today starts The Vintage Ramble summer sale in my Etsy shop.  Everything is 35% off.  Use the coupon code RAMBLER when you check out to get your discount! The sale will end in two weeks, so stop on by the etsy shop for lots of great finds.

A Special Day

Three years ago today....

The Italian sun was shining down on our special day, our family and friends were gathered, our wedding day was such a special time.  We had a small wedding high up in a small mountain village.  Townspeople came in their jeans and t-shirts, just to watch as the minister delivered his speech.  As a surprise, he even had a friend of his write a song for us! 

The best view, and a medieval church.

We held the ceremony beside a church built in the 1400's.  We peered over a ridge where you could see all the towns in the valley.  My dad, the handiest guy we know, built us an arbour out of an old barrel and two old ladders, then covered it in foliage.  We couldn't have asked for a better setting.

I wore my mom's wedding dress, and added a few accessories. My aunt made my bouquet out of some white roses growing in a friend's garden, and fresh wild lavender, and aren't the flowers girls so  cute??

Today I will be thinking back to three years ago, and all the fun we had, and the memories we made. We both have the day off today and will probably treat ourselves to a nice dinner somewhere. Glad I got to share some pictures with you from our day.  I don't look at these often, and it has brought back such happy feelings. 

Put It To Good Use: Vintage Pottery

Always wanting to improve my photography skills, I thought this would be a fun project to document with my camera. So let's see if I can stick with it, and share some useful/beautiful vintage things with you on a regular basis!

First up today is one of my many pieces of vintage pottery.  I try and pot all my houseplants in vintage W. German pots, and am always excited to be able to use my pottery vases when flowers are around. 

Since the garden is in full bloom, I snipped some flowers and put them in this wonderful chunky vase.  This vase was thrifted when Clayton and I got our first apartment and was one of the first in my collection.  I loved it for it's texture and colour combination.  It is a Blue Mountain Pottery piece.

This is useful because it's large enough to hold a big bunch of flowers, and it's beautiful because it adds visual interest,to our living room coffee table.

Feather Shoe Clip DIY

I'm following up my last DIY belt, with another feathery project.  Fun DIY's come in twos around here it seems (1,2). 

This one was inspired by a pair of sandals I recently saw and loved, but couldn't believe the price tag for something so simple.  So to save some pennies I tried it out myself, and went one step further a made shoe clips that could be added to any shoe...

If you want to try these out yourself, here is what you'll need:


-Assorted feathers.  I had left over peacock feathers so I used them along with some other feathers I had laying around

-Two hair clips


-Glue gun


This is quick and easy and if you have a pair of shoes in mind try to envision where you want the clip to sit on the shoe so you have a better idea of how to arrange your feathers.

First get your clip ready, and select your feathers.

 Next, take the feathers you have selected and arrange them on the clip.  I only glued my feathers to the top part of the clip so the rest was free to snap open and shut.

I started with the two longest feathers first and built on top of those.  In total i used 5 brown feathers and one peacock feather in the middle.  So I layered two short feathers beside the long feathers, and then one short feather across the top of the other four feathers.

Once I was happy with the arrangement, I started gluing.   Just a small bead of glue will work as you don't want it oozing out on top of your feather....

Just as I had arranged the feathers in step two, I glued them into place.  When all your feathers are glued on let it sit and dry for a moment, then your done! 

Since I made these with my sandals in mind I put them on these thong sandals first.....

Then I tried them on my favourite heels...  They look much better in person, these photos are a bit awkward, but I'm so excited with the end result. I hope you try them too! A fun way to change up your footwear.

Friday's Most Wanted

There seems to be a colour theme happening in today's list of items.  Perhaps it's a subconscious way of making my bad week brighter.....

The pattern and colour combination on this bag are really great. Found Here



A lovely red jacket.  Makes me want to dress for fall.... Found Here

Most likely my next Etsy purchase.  Can't get enough mini needle work. Found Here

More colour... Great dress! Found Here.

Wonderfully weird. Found Here

Come back and see a new feathery DIY this afternoon...