shop love 5: GRAND OPENING DAY!

Today's the day! Click the button below or in the sidebar to visit my shop. If you stop by, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

:-)

shop love 4: vintage patterns

Usually the patterns I find at thrift stores and garage sales are the absolutely ugly shoulder pad styles of the 80s and 90s. Gross! I always was looking for patterns from the 50s, 60s and 70s but never seemed to score them. Until... I finally found a box of antique and vintage patterns at a sale that I just happened to stop at (I almost didn't!) in the neighborhood. Oh, how I wish more sales held beauties like this!

Another way to enjoy vintage clothing (when you can't find the same or don't want to pay for them) is to make your own from old patterns like these.  Casey from Elegant Musings is one of those types of people. Oh, how I wish my sewing skills were better and time abounded! I'd be one elegant and vintage-inspired lady.

:-) But, for now, I'll do little by little and enjoy these patterns I happened upon one wonderful day...

shop love 3: vintage costume jewelry

I adore vintage jewelry.

Maybe part of me just wants to be little again and play dress-up. In second grade I distinctly remember finishing my schoolwork and going to the reading corner and reading one specific book over and over. It was about a little girl in the "olden days" and how she got dressed in the morning. Underthings, petticoats, dress, apron. I wanted to be her. I wanted to live back then. I wanted to dress like her.

I still see pictures of classy ladies, especially from the 40s and 50s, and wish I could live then and have easy access to the clothing they wore. What fun! However, it was commonplace then - not magical - and I, obviously, wasn't born in that era for a reason. Something I can't change. In 50 years, someone might think the same about our time now. Who knows.

But, I just enjoy vintage jewelry and clothing so much that I hope my collection (and shop) allows other people who enjoy the same to snatch a special piece and just have fun with the magical in it.

shop love 2: tiny little vintage-lovers

Well, "tiny little vintage lovers" isn't exactly accurate. To be truthful, the tiny ones have no choice, but mamas who love vintage tend to dress their little ones in vintage.

Interested in seeing other mamas who dress their kids in vintage?
See Smile and Wave,
Bleubird Vintage
or hart + sew.
cuz it's just so fun! (I'm sure there are lots of others, but those are some I read regularly.)

I think the thrill in vintage clothing, for me, is imagining its past life. Like when this polyester onesie was brand-new on the hanger. A new mommy tucking a tiny little baby boy into its mint-green goodness. His eyes staring up at her in contentment.

A little girl, wishing with all her might to don this hopscotch skirt and go to school with her big brother and sister. 

Whatever the real story behind the past life of previously loved items, the fact remains. Little vintage things are just so darn cute! That's why I'm including them in the shop. I'm excited to show you them all!

the "chevron" wristlet turned houndstooth

so i decided to try out a gift idea with my vintage (thrifted) houndstooth. boy am i ever glad i did!

how cute is this little wristlet!? i love the pop of orange inside and surprise (!) my handmade tags for my etsy shop. but i can't sell these wristlets because it's a pattern for personal use only. but, i did make it, so i'll put my tag in it, even if i can't sell them. :-)

i really wanted to make it a chevron wristlet but Hobby Lobby had NO striped cloth! Can you believe it!? appalling. Jo-Anns was too far a drive, so I went home to use the houndstooth.

oh well, i even tried my hand at putting a zipper in for the first time. (at least HL had those!)

not too bad if i say so myself!

shop love: the art of the handwritten note

this week, I'm going to feature some of my favorite items in my new shop with a little blurb every day leading up to GRAND OPENING day on Friday! (did I tell you I was excited?!)

Oh, I am.


************

the art of the handwritten note

I'm sure it isn't lost on you, but the art of the handwritten note is dying. a quick (yet rather painful to me) death to email, paperless billing, fb messages, the smart phone, the tablet ...


Oh, isn't there just something about receiving an unexpected note in the mail? If written with care, it tickles my heart and makes my day. And it doesn't happen very often, mind you. So, I try instead to be that person who sends. Not in order to get one in return (although I don't mind!), but just to make another's day. And to be a little different. Although, in honesty, I have to admit that since the events of 2010, the frequency of my random handwritten notes has lessened. However, I still highly value it.

As is evidenced by my love of antique and vintage things, I love to read old letters, find old cards and notes. The next generations won't be able to happen upon a stack of old love letters - they'll be hidden away somewhere in cyberspace in another's forgotten inbox. This, I think, is simply terrible.

True, I won't say there aren't any perks about keyboard and mouse communication.  It's wonderfully nice to get a email chock-full of news from your best friend or a sincerely written note over fb. I love those too. I even find that I can express myself better by typing fast while I'm thinking it rather than penning it slowly. Some days it's just easier and makes much more sense to just send a little note over the computer (especially when I have limited time because of a certain little lady). There are people I never would've kept up with or known about their lives if the age of technology hadn't made it so.

So, don't get me wrong, I appreciate that.

But, there is something almost inexplicably different about giving and receiving heartfelt, handwritten text. It's more human, more connecting, more tangible. You can literally feel the note, see from where it came, appreciate the effort and time it took to compose. That humanity is something that technology, no matter how wonderful, will never be able to duplicate.

So, as technology continues to trend in this direction, I hope to pass on this dying art to my child, even if it is only sometimes utilized and under-appreciated. For, perhaps, someone might be blessed and the tangible care of others might be instilled.

a vintage strawberry jumpsuit: updated

Remember this strawberry jumpsuit I got in the mail the other week?!

Well, it was missing some buttons. So I went strawberry button hunting. Sure these buttons would be too small, I got them home. Lo and behold, they were too big! Eh. So frustrating and sad. I really loved them. Perfect color, size, shape, not too modern, etc.

Then, a thought occurred to me: the belt serves no function, so why do the buttons need to!? So, I promptly sewed them right on. They are non-functional, but who cares!? They are so cute and the belt is now in tact.

One more item ready for the shop! If all goes well, the GRAND OPENING is set for next Friday, October 28! 

Ah! So excited. (And, if this one doesn't sell, I'm keeping it at the back of the girl's closet...)

Halloween onesie to tutu dress

So, like I said earlier this week, I'm not that into Halloween. I hate horror movies, and crazy masks and dark mazes freak me out. I like autumn and pumpkins and leaves and warm mugs of cider and snuggly blankets and romantic or intriguing movies.

But, dressing up is fun and I don't mind tasteful costuming for Halloween. ((Plus, who can say no to CANDY!)) There are some pretty fun and impressive costume ideas floating around the blogosphere like this, and this, and this!

This time, last year, Ladybug's auntie Jenn gave her a little Halloween onesie. She was supposed to come no later than October 30. She was a very naughty little girl and didn't come in time to wear it (sniff!) so I promised my sister that I'd do something with it for her first Halloween this year.

And, here it is! I cut off the bottom of the onesie. Luckily, it's a wide one, and she's still tiny, so it still fits her. Although the sleeves are transitionally 3/4 length now. And, if it's chilly, she'll just wear her cute little black shrug sweater with it.

Remember the NFL tutu? I just attached a lining and the onesie to another basic black tutu. Same tiered idea. Unfortunately, some of the layers didn't get caught in the main seams and I was up to my ears in frustration trying to get them all together.

It ended up WAY shorter than I intended, but she'll just wear black leggings underneath anyway. :-) 

(so cute! the little ghosts even glow in the dark)

(here I adjusted the lighting so you could see the black layers.)

Linking up:



 Despite the sewing frustrations, I live and learn. Especially with sewing.

{Birthday plans and posts coming soon!! Can't believe my little girl's gonna be 1!}

A new purse hanger.

So I've really needed an inside-the-door hanger since we moved in. Nothing felt right ... until Little Lady decided to start getting into everything. Love it how she motivates me!! Like when we got this. And when I made this.

So, diaper bag and purse pulled apart daily (well, almost), we're going to put up this:

The hangers I got at Hobby Lobby for 50% this week. (Score!) and even though the wood screws don't match their patina, I don't hate them as much as I thought I might. I used the colors and distressing technique I used for my sister's bachelorette sign (scroll to the bottom of the page to see the MADAME sign), but distressed almost all of the white off. And I love it! Even the weird wood filler part that I didn't know was there. It just brings a little character to it.

And, I'll let you know when we get it up.

LOVE!

Linking up at:

a mailed surprise

The mail lady came by the other day and stuck a manilla package in our mailbox. It wasn't the usual junkmail, guys ... it was these two great 1970s vintage outfits for my shop! My MIL's friend had cleaned our her daughter's clothes from the 70s and sent me these.

I especially love the wide-leg strawberry zip jumpsuit. If that isn't 70s, what is!? :-) Too bad our girl isn't in 4T, otherwise I'd stick her in it and make her wear it for days on end. ha!

Too fun. Thanks C!

my new best friend.

She is my new best friend.

Well, not really, but a friend let me borrow her to shoot my clothes for my Etsy shop (coming right along!!!!) and it's made all the difference. Photographing baby clothes 2D is okay, but for women's clothing you need some dimension! This dressform was a huge help. 

Mom, I've decided I need one. Christmas? ;-)

And, here is my $15 flea market find. You'd have to see it in person to get the full effect, but it's a quality material, lined heavily (brand new with tags) Richilene floor length gown from the 70s and I love her! Cinched at the waist, pleated beautifully with fun sleeves ... my only complaint is that you could've made drapes from the same print 40 years ago. But, I still think it's fun.

$400 retail price 40 years ago from a high end store here in KC called Woolf Brothers. I think the flea market man would've asked a lot more if he'd remembered the details. But, he didn't! Ha!

*sigh* Where's the formal parties when I need one to wear this to?

on death

my grandpa died 2-1/2 weeks ago. it was the day he came home from the hospital after having a scheduled open heart surgery (10 days before) to fix a fairly serious valve issue. that day my mom had called me to tell me she was out with her parents helping them settle in, that he looked puffy but she said, "I think he's gonna make it."

an hour later she called me to tell me that he'd collapsed and she had to do CPR on him. she didn't know if he was going to make it.


he didn't.


he was so strong and healthy. I mean, granted, he was almost 80, but he was energetic and still jogging and climbing ladders and on counters and gardening and always doing something. it was really sudden. i think that's why it was so hard to swallow.

and i didn't really want to go back home. to face the reality. not because i was particularly close to him but because i hate grief. and suffering. and pain. and death.

this is why i think that death wasn't supposed to be a part of the natural created order. sure, plants die, the ground winters over, and there's the food chain ... but i don't think that God created death. It's absolutely gut-wrenching to think about in any capacity and just seems so wrong. 

so wrong...

when a husband loses his wife.


when a son is killed in action.


when a baby is lost at 13 or 39 weeks gestation.


when a toddler is hit by a drive-by. 

You can't tell me this is "part of God's plan." Because I will never think it is. Because I don't think that life as it is is how He originally planned it. But, because of sin, we're stuck in this mess. And I don't think we're beyond redemption or that it's impossible to experience His goodness in the world, because that's not true either. But I don't think that death/grief/suffering is how he wanted His world to be.


but, we go on with our lives and deal with death in the best ways possible. feel what we need to feel, do what we need to do: cry, grieve, remember.

it was a nice funeral. (as "nice" as any funeral can be.) flowers were expedited from Hawaii as soon as their church found out.  See, G&G were Hawaiians 9 months out of the year, so they dressed him in a Hawaiian shirt and lei, played Hawaiian music at the visitation, and displayed the gorgeous Hawaiian flowers (see above pic).

we got to see the family. an aunt and uncle i haven't seen in 15 years. my brother and sister.

but, really, i would've waited 'til Christmas to see them to avoid a funeral.

alas, it wasn't to be.

so, pray for my mom and her family if you pray and you think of them. and, someday, I believe that redemption will come to the world and all this confusing and heart-wrenching death crap will come to an end.

Maranatha.

my shop

my shop is coming along! it is a lot of work to draft items to post on Etsy. I'm glad I started "early" although I wish I would've started sooner. Taking good photos, finding props, editing details, measuring, etc. takes a long time.

Anyone want to be my assistant? (Unfortunately Ladybug and Jackson aren't much help. So I do most of my work during naptime.)

My shop will feature mostly vintage baby clothing with a smattering of vintage housewares, vintage women's clothing and jewelry and a couple of handmade items.

My goal is to be up and running by the end of October ... my birthday (Nov) by the very latest.

I'll let you know when we're live!! So excited.

Vintage Hawaiian Dress Re-do

I found this dress at the Salvation Army for a couple bucks. It's definitely vintage (thick polyester lovin'!) - and the tag clearly states "Honolulu, Hawaii". It's not exactly Hawaiian in the sense that I think of now, but isn't it a little crazy and really great? And, for the record, quite comfy too.

I decided that the length was a little unflattering, so I altered it above the knee. Unfortunately, even after measuring twice, I still altered it a little too short for my long lady legs. Hopefully a shorter gal will enjoy this from my Etsy shop (opening soon!).

What do you think? Isn't it fun?



(dress look familiar? click HERE to see where I used the rest of this fabric.) 

avocados: messy

pretty sure she needed a bath after eating lunch the other day.

pretty sure I just scrubbed her off with a washcloth. (much to her dismay!)

happy wednesday!!

p.s. it's almost fall! so excited. the weather is finally cooling off here...

a little bathroom facelift: shower curtain

i decided that our bathroom needed a little help. our place is rented, the vent fan doesn't work well which means that the walls are slightly moldy. yuck, right?

well, we aren't going to put a bunch of money into fixing up our rented townhome, but i did decide that the decor needed help. first up, the shower curtain.

shower curtain: before

it was on our wedding registry 3 years ago. my first thought was: get a new one. but i don't have the money, don't need to spend the money and ours works just fine. the grommets are slightly rusty (why do they put metal on shower curtains? especially the liners? please, oh please, explain why.), it needs a good washing and just some pizazz added.

(insert: rosette tutorial.)

YES! Exactly what I needed. *sigh.

 

I had some extra linen that I re-used to make the rosettes. (I love the scrappy look of them. Linen unravels beautifully.) It previously was covering my vanity stool, but linen, because it stretches and wrinkles, is awful to use for upholstering. So I scored a new piece of great fabric for $1 and recovered my stool.

(Note to self: don't use linen for upholstering.)

I cut off those silly grommets and used the holes to mark out the spots to sew button holes.

This was the first time to use my automatic button-holer on my sewing machine and I LOVED it! I wanted to make button holes all day, but I tempered my desire and just made enough to rehang my curtain. It's a little shorter than it was... but...

I sewed on a ruffle to make up for some of the missing length. I love me some ruffles!! :-)
I actually hand-ruffled it and then sewed it on the wrong ways together. I had a ruffle mishap at the beginning that really wasn't working for me, so I went back to this way and it turned out so cute!

Shower curtain: After

(excuse the perspective - our bathroom is so tiny, it's almost impossible to photograph!)

More to come: Bathroom art!

fashion: Alexa Chung

my new fashion muse: Alexa Chung. have you heard of her? 

According to Wikipedia, she's an English tv presenter, model and contributing editor at British Vogue. And she's only 3 weeks older than me. If only my style matched hers ... I think I would be so satisfied with how I looked.

I'm generally not drawn to high fashion as it's not really accessible to the normal person ... me. I like to look, but that's about it. But, her style (at least in the InStyle shoot) is exactly what I love! A little vintage, a little funky, a little classic, a little modern. I can't explain it, but I heart her style! Click the link below to see more.

source

click HERE for more photos.

What do you think? Could I pull it off?

first floor: finally childproofed

hey all! i finally, finally got the first (main) floor of our townhome childproofed. my last and final task after getting a new entertainment center to contain all of its cords was to find a way to contain all of the plastic bags, which had been previously stuck in a gap between the counter and refrigerator. tiny ladies and very tempting plastic bags DON'T MIX.

thus, i looked online and found this tutorial and proceeded to make one during naptime one day last week. here is hers:

and here is mine (made from scraps):

finally, childproofing success (at least until she starts to pull herself up).

rejoice!

great post from a bad missionary

I *heart* Jamie The Very Worst Missionary. 

Okay, I heart her but I really don't know her. I just really love her post over there from yesterday.

Don't read it though. She cusses a little bit.



Unless that's okay.*

Then read it.

It just might lift you.








*thoughts related to reading A Scandalous Freedom by Steve Brown in Sunday School (compliments of my husband, the teacher.)

why I like Harry Potter

(taken from http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/features/why_my_family_adopted_harry_potter1)

 

Why We Adopted Harry Potter

by John Granger, http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/

I first read a Harry Potter novel so I could explain to my older daughter why we don’t read junk like that. As father to seven children whom we educate at home, I decided we wouldn’t have anything to do with Harry after a coworker had recommended these stories (with no little enthusiasm!) about an English boy who goes to a school to learn witchcraft and wizardry.

We don’t watch television, so I was unaware of the controversy about the books in the Christian community, but I didn’t need much guidance to figure this out. The title of the first book included the word sorcerer, and this seemed sufficient to me to keep it out of my home. Alas, our pediatrician (and Baptist mother of four) gave a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to Hannah, then 12, and I was obliged to read it or just a few pages in order to point out its failings as literature and edifying reading. I mean, advocating witchcraft … as a Christian, this seemed a no-brainer.

I sat down with the beat-up paperback when the children were finally in bed and expected to be in bed myself in a few minutes. Instead, I was up the better part of the night enjoying the best story I had read in many years. The next day I told Hannah she could read Harry — in fact, I told her to start reading the book that day. I bought the other books in the series, apologized to my co-worker for disregarding her recommendation, and read the first chapters of the first book aloud that night to my other children.

What caused my aboutface on Harry? First, there isn’t any sorcery or invocational magic in Harry Potter (the American publisher changed the original title, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, because he felt Americans would not buy a book with philosophy in the title). Objections to the witchcraft in Harry Potter are unfounded because the incantational magic of literature has nothing to do with the occult.

As important for me, though, was the depth and evidently Christian meaning of the stories. I didn’t know then what I have learned since — that the author, J.K. Rowling, has an honors degree in classics from the University of Exeter and is Church of Scotland in her faith (Presbyterian). The author’s faith, intelligence, and classical training come shining through her stories. In the best tradition of English literature, which until very recently has been Christian literature written by Christians for Christians, Rowling instructs while delighting and baptizes the imagination.

I confess to being more than a little surprised when I learned that other readers had trouble seeing past the title to enjoy the delightful characters and drama. I realized then that I was able to see what the author was doing because I look through the same prescription eye glasses she does. Like Rowling, I love the Great Books, have an honors degree in classics, and I grew up in the Anglican communion (the American Episcopal Church). I could see the literary spellwork she was performing in these adventure-mystery tales because I could understand the literary references and formulas, recognize the Christian imagery and symbols, and translate the Latin spells.

I explained this to friends who encouraged me to write a book they could share with other friends who loved or hated Harry. This book has been published as Looking for God in Harry Potter. In it, I describe how and explain why the books have become so popular; the human heart is made by Christ for Christ — and our hearts, hardened as they may be, resonate with the Christian themes, artistry, and meaning of these books, all of which echo the great story of Our Lord’s Incarnation and Resurrection. Each book, for example, ends with Harry’s confrontation with evil — and Harry loses every single time and dies a figurative death. He is saved from death by love and a traditional symbol of Christ, and, in case you miss the reference, in the first book he rises after three days!

The most interesting thing about these books for me, however, isn’t the artistry and faith of the author, though I find them remarkable, to say the least. Father Don Peter Fleetwood of the Pontifical Council for Culture and many other literate Catholics have noted the Christian meaning and goodness of these books. What stays with me is the salutary effect these books have had on my children.

C. S. Lewis once explained the bad behavior of one of his child characters as being the unhappy result of the boy’s “not having read the right books,” namely, stories about knights in shining armor slaying dragons and rescuing fair maidens. My children love King Arthur and Robin Hood (especially the Howard Pyle versions) and our yard often has several of them acting out their favorite stories from these books as well as Harry Potter. I think my neighbors know all the spells in the books from hearing the Granger kids yell them across the lawn. “Expecto Patronum!”

I didn’t think much about this until the day I had to leave some papers with an unpleasant business associate. My 10-year-old daughter Sophia was with me in the van on the way to her violin lesson, and she could tell when we pulled into the business’s parking lot that I was uncomfortable about the man I was going to see, however brief our meeting would be. She asked me why I looked upset and I explained that I was just nervous about my errand, but that I would be right out to take her to her lesson.

She got out of the van with me, I assumed to rollerblade around the empty parking lot. No, she was determined to come in with me and skated up to the door. “Of course, I’m coming with you,” she said. “You know, Daddy, just like Harry Potter; friends don’t let friends face danger by themselves.”

My children are reading the right books. Entering the building with my daughter and comrade-in-arms, I had to think that the Harry Potter novels are some of the best.

—John Granger is an author, speaker, and teacher of the Great Books. He is the Harry Potter professor at Barnes & Noble University, where he teaches a course on how to teach children literature using Harry Potter. He is the author of Looking for God in Harry Potter. This article originally appeared in the December 2004 issue of Catholic Digest and at CatholicDigest.com.