Thursday, July 29, 2010

✩ ✩ ✩ 20% off EVERYTHING SALE ✩ ✩ ✩

This is a pre-fall, pre-vacation sale. I want to make room for my fall stuff and will be putting the shop to rest for almost 2 weeks (8/2-814), so buy now!

We're headed off to Cape Cod from our anniversary in Chatham then to Dennisport with my family! Lots of fun pics and outfit posts when I return.

Newer item in shop:






































































Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Late Summer? Early Fall? OUTFIT

If you haven't been able to tell, I really love summer -- beaches, sailing, sundresses, barbeques, VACATION -- but I also really love Fall. Quite the dilemma. To make matters worse, I'm a teacher and we're supposed to live for summer and dread the fall -- but not me. As both a student and a teacher, I've always loved buying "new school clothes!"

Though this has been one of the best summers of recent years, I'm really excited about the fall mostly for fashion reasons. My personal fall closet is looking pretty fab, and my Etsy Fall line is looking even better (only if I could be an XS-XL all at once!).

Here are some of my early fall/later summer pieces plus some other pieces from Etsy and beyond that I'd style with them!

Late Summer:
















































(clockwise from top left)

1. Black and Cream embroidered wiggle dress from my shop
2. Striped Lacey Ankle Sock from Urban Outfitters
3. Calourette Horse Ring from Urban Outfitters
4. Architecture Handbag from Miss Farfalla's Vintage Clothing
5. Draping Gold Drops necklace from Lauren Haupt Jewelry
6. Vintage Two-tone oxfords from my shop




Monday, July 26, 2010

TAGS!

Coincidentally, Lauren of the super crush-worthy shop Dear Golden Vintage published a great blog post on vintage tags, I found a darling 40s sweater with these tags:





















I, too, often gush over vintage tags. And this is one of the most unique I've ever seen. The top tag, which I think is in Italian, is pretty clear. The bottom cloth tag says Ada Como. And the third cute little tag which is some sort of light aluminum or plastic says Ede Mark on one side and then has some initials or insignia on the other.

These tags are so cute but I'll be parting with them soon as this sweater is part of my soon-to-be listed pre-fall collection. I've been really slow on the listing as the weather has been so nice and I've been reporting to the beach almost every day.

Here are some of the Pretty Damn Cute items already in the shop that'll be great for the fall!





1940s Cream cut-out, button up blouse w/ rhinestones


















70s boho floral dress






















70s Velveteen Heels



















Lumberjack full-skirt


















50s STILL IN THE BOX suede wallet and key holder set!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

More things for you and for me!

I've had some crazy good shopping luck lately! I figured I'd share some of my score after reading this post from Liz of The Freelancer's Fashionblog.


In the past two days, I've acquired TWO new vintage dresses that are now among the best in my personal collection (I'll share those later, hopefully in outfit posts). But for now, I'll share two more of the cool housewares I've found. (I say "two more" as I wrote about my new necklace and fan here).

New phone (I was going to sell it buy my hubby wants to keep it! He's so funny at times).




















And this typewriter. It works and is so cute. I've wanted one for a while now and am very please (I paid $15 for it)!





















Not to mention that I've won not one but TWO giveaways recently as well: one from Leproust Vintage -- a bag, glasses, and gloves which is perfect as I'm heading off on vacation in 2 weeks, and the second a $25 gift certificate to Adore Vintage from The Vintage Mama! Woo-hoo!


Here's a peek of 1 item coming to the shop soon! Lots of great fall stuff coming after my
✩ ✩ ✩ 20% off EVERYTHING SALE ✩ ✩ ✩ that runs from today until Monday!!!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

★★★ 20% off sale tonight only ★★★

20% off everything in the store until 6 am EST! I MUST make room for FALL CLOTHES!!!

See shop announcement for details.

1950s sequin cardigan






















1950s Cutout heels

























NEW in shop! 50s Kelly Bag with mirror and change purse.
















Missoni Shirt dress



















Laura Ashley dress




















AND MORE!!!! It's all 20% until tomorrow morning.

Summertime, when the livin is easy

My hubby and I spontaneously went down to Cape Cod on Thursday (or The Cape, if you're from Massachusetts) to spend the day at the beach. We are both big beach people. He likes to swim, play paddle ball, go on rafts, nap and/or read. I like all of the above minus his dedication to swimming (he does it for exercise and swims a bunch; I like to play in the water or float) plus walking/people watching.

The night before, we packed the car and picked a beach: Coast Guard Beach in Eastham -- a new place to us. We had a great day of reading (I'm reading The Bee Season by Myra Goldberg and he's reading Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer.

The day was lovely though the water was a bit colder than I like or expect from the Cape and the waves/undertow were a bit too strong. But it was lovely to sit, relax, and be away from it all.



This photo shows the view to our right. To our left, the beach is rammed with people.














After the beach, we drove to our favorite Cape coffee & sweets shop, The Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans. Great coffee drinks, deserts, and chocolates.

Next, as we needed to make our 4 hour round-trip drive feel fully worthwhile, we went to Chatham for dinner. Chatham is special to us not only because it is lovely, but also because it is where we spent our honeymoon last August. LOVE!

We wandered around through some pretty shops including this one that had 3 or 4 rooms of antiques. The room below was my favorite as it is filled with lovely feminine things from the 1920s-40s including a few great lingerie pieces that you can see in the background here:






Now I am all for name dropping, but the prices here were nearing exorbitant even for a tourist trap plus one of the ladies was less than nice so I'm withholding them name. If you want to know, just email me.















Before heading home, we had dinner at The Chatham Squire. My husband loves food about as much as I love vintage, so he HAD to eat here. He doesn't like his food portentous just good (and lots of it), so the Squire is right down his alley. We went here once on our honeymoon and he ate just about everything possible included my prime rib end cut. It was all very, very hearty and good. This time around, things weren't as delicious but we plan to return to give it another try when were on our real vacation in August.

Lastly, I'll include "the best" of our outfit pics. Seriously, I think I'm going to have make him look at some blogs with me so he can get an idea of what an outfit post should look like. I, too, should considering staging photos rather than just looking like this (beach hair/ocean hair a la no shower, GREAT tan lines, and my necklaces spare chain is showing). But, we are TRYING:




-Necklace from Antique Alley in New Hampshire.

-Dress H&M last year (it's so cute and I wear it often so I'm sure there will be a better shot of it in the future).

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Not so Piteous Misadventures

The "plan" yesterday was to go to the beach. But, the weather did not cooperate: first fail.

Then, we decided to hike and drove to Ossipee, NH because my husband found a good sized mountain to climb there thanks to Google Maps (2 hour drive). We got there, with no address for trails to hike and couldn't find a trail nor a soul who could tell us where to find one (45 minutes).

So, we ended up at the sleeply little Ossipee Town Hall looking for guidance as many, if not most of the shops there were boarded up or closed for lunch. After waiting quite a while for the nice old lady who worked the desk to get off the phone -- "Yes, mmmhhmm...I'm the only one here. Yes...mmhhmm..that land is for sale. Well, land in Central Ossipee is $16.31 per thousand, West Ossipee is..." -- things started looking up when this sweet old man with a pompadour offered to help us. Though he couldn't tell us the location of any hiking trails per se, he did say we could hike on his property as he "owned a mountain." Hooray! Things were looking up. With our hand-drawn map in tow, we set out to find his land.

The map is great; we're there, parked, and strapping on our boots in under 5 minutes. Success! It's only a few minutes into our hike before we'd seen a great beaver damn, some interesting if not shocking animal scat, and, unfortunately lots and lots of flies. 5 minuets of swatting bugs was enough for my husband, who has little to no tolerance for bugs -- to give credit here, bugs love him as he is always hot yet they don't care for me as I am always cold. The little tiny flies were biting him incessantly, so our hike ends. Second, fail.

As we drive back south toward home, I sit quietly as my husband swears about bugs, Ossipee, and the day in general. I sit and scheme as I have an idea...

My idea isn't very revolutionary or original as it's the same idea I have about everyday: SHOPPING. Recently I was told about a place called Antique Alley in NH between Durham and Chichester.

After a bit of guesswork, we find Antique Alley. Of course, as this story goes, we get there at 4pm and all the shops close at 5pm. But, it's safe to say we're going back very soon. Here's a peek at our wares:

A large 1920s locket for me (early anniversary gift!):




















A 1930s Westinghouse fan that works really well!


























Finally, the day ended with a 1.5 hours sunset walk in Marblehead, MA:


Monday, July 19, 2010

A Vintage Lover's Dilemma

More often than not, there is no dilemma when deciding whether to sell or keep vintage; it fits and looks good (keep), it doesn’t fit or look good (sell). But other times, it can be a bit more complicated than that. Such is the case with one of my newest finds. An amazing 1950s Dior Chapeux.

Do I think this hat looks good on me…no. But the hat looks good. And it’s definitely a collector’s piece. So…to keep or not to keep? I think I’ll sit on this for a bit. For now, some vintage Dior eye candy:




















Vintage Turbans:









"My" Dior (late night goofy shoot pics...just for fun!)












I wasn't planning on posting the pics of myself. It was late and I was still in my beach gear, but I figured I'd practice sharing pics of me.

So, would you keep the hat even if you know you wouldn't wear it?


Friday, July 16, 2010

♥ Weekend DRESS Preview ♥

These are some of the things I hope to get listed this weekend....




























Here's a closeup of the first dress' print:














I'm off to the beach for now! Happy Friday to you all!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Giveaway winner & more....

I just want to say a BIG THANKS to all of my followers. As I've said, I'm new to this and learning as I go along.

Hopefully, the blog will evolve into one of your favorites over time. I've just started sifting through all of your favorite blogs...lots of great blogs in there. I'm really loving checking out all your favorite blogs (like is need more to follow {{sigh}}).

With no further ado, the winner of my first giveaway is STEPHANIE (#15 per Random.org) of DC Me's Giveaway Blog!


Here's what's new & upcoming....

New 40s top:











New dresses appearing in the shop over the next few days. Plus size 50s wiggle dress, 70s boho dress, 80s coral floral jumper, & more!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Mega Missoni Crush

Okay. So Missoni makes great prints and gorgeous dresses. Everybody knows that. As I was getting ready to do this post, I was looking hunting for pictures of vintage Missoni dresses (this, if you haven't already figured it out yet, was all inspired by the 70s Missoni dress I now have in the shop).

But that all changed once I stumbled upon the Missoni home collection. I'm a print and color girl and their stuff is amazing.I struggled to find downloadable pics of my very favs (the plaids mixed with florals make me swoon), but these image should give you an idea. I highly recommend checking out their catalog here.


Pictures are from Table Tonic & Missoni Home.


Here's the print of the 70s Missoni dress I have in the shop!



Last but not least...I'll be drawing the winner for MY GIVEAWAY for this cute purse tomorrow! It's not too late to enter.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Fruit Punch! {{weekend shop update & preview}}

I thought today's shop update was going to be one of my last summer listings -- but, no -- oh no! -- I happened upon some really great 40s summer tops, a 70s Missoni dress, and more!

But those will come later, for now it's PrettyDamnCute Fruit Punch!


Speaking of fruit punch...I must recommend Edy's Lemonade Frozen Fruit Bars for those who haven't tried them yet. They are really my savior this hott summer! Year round, I live off of the Coconut flavor, but lemonade has been really rocking my world as of late.

Okay, I should save this for tomorrow, but I just can't. Here's a sneak peak of things to come in the shop (please note they are wet and hanging to dry -- that's why they look odd)! Also, I like that you can only really see the tags and some of the fabric -- it's like a puzzle.


These items are all coming SOON!

[NOTE: If any of you lovelies know how to move or get rid of the giant "ShapeCollage.com", I'd love to be privy to that information. It started off small and uncentered but now it's dominating my collages ;( THANKS!]