Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Mysti Luxe is Hosting a Giveaway, So Go Check Her Out!

I hope everyone's week is going well. I'm still getting used to getting up at 4am to get the husband ready and on the way to work. It's flipping hard and I give props to anyone who can do this. Wow. I don't think I could  think  much less work that early in the day.We're getting through it some how.




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Anyways, enough about that. The reason for this  post is to let y'all know that Mysti Luxe from One Girls Love Affair with the 50s is hosting a giveaway. She is graciously giving away a $15 gift certificate for her store Sinister SweetHearts. Be sure to check out her blog for your chance to enter.

Hope everyone keeps having a great week.

Mari


Thursday, July 11, 2013

Curlers and Donkies

I hope all of my American readers had a great Fourth of July and I hope everyone  had a great weekend. We went to my husband's uncle's house and had carne asada. We were suppose to have ribs but hey it was still good. We had apple pie and ice cream which I am a huge fan of.  Such a big fan in fact that a few years ago all I wanted to eat was apple pie and ice cream. Nearly drove Jesse crazy.

No that FireFox isn't being a pain in the butt, I can let everyone know what I've been up too.  Almost a month ago I went to the biggest Rockabilly event in Northern Nevada. It's still in it's very ealry stages but has the potential to be great in a few more years. Last year, it was extremely hot and humid. This year it was hot and windy. Not a great situation when you happen to be wearing a light weight skirt. Good thing I always wear bloomers/biker shorts under my skirts.

Here's a few photos of me at the event. We didn't stay too long since I started to get a mean headache towars the later part of the day. Blouse: Bettie Page Clothing    Skirt: made by me  Hairflower: made by me
I got to wear out my new brown wedge shoes but forgot to take a photo. They were pretty comfy but squeaked a bit whenever I walked.


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 A couple of weeks before we went to visit the family and did the Rockabilly Riot I went in for a trim. I've been getting my hair trimmed and layered on a regular basis now. I like it shorter and it's much easier to roll in curlers. We went to our usual place and noticed the "hairdressers" were not on the ball. They were paying more attention to their conversation than the customer in their chairs. They were so distracted that Jesse was getting his hair cut without wearing a cape . He got COVERED in hair and then the lady had the balls to say to him "Why didn't you tell me?" Like it's his job to make sure she knows what she's doing. My hairdresser cut my hair way too short. I didn't notice at first since it as wet but once it dried up I was shocked. She cut it too short. Needless to say, we're not going back to them

I haven't been shopping all that much lately. It's been much too hot . We had a heat wave going were it was topping out at 100F everyday for a week. It was only getting down to the high 70's at night.  I did make a few purchases in the last few weeks. Anytime we're in Reno I make it a point to visit Junkie's. I've had great luck finding awesome vintage pieces. This time around I got a few bangles, a pair of Lucky Lou's carved wood shoes, and a vintage Malco Mode petticoat.

Here are my newest bangles top to bottom : Carved Bakelite $2 ,vintage plastic bangle $1.50 , Green Lucite bangle $3.00 I was super excited and happy to get my first piece of carved Bakelite. It's such a pretty brown color. They had a gorgeous 1950's beaded cardigan too bad it was a small. I doubt it would have even fit my sister who is on the petite side.

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The Lucky Lou shoes I'm going to sell on eBay. I was so excited when I found them. I have been wanting a pair of them for a while but I can't see spending $100 on one pair of shoes. They almost fitToo bad they are 2 sizes too small and a bit on the narrow side. If they had been a little wider, they would have been mine. All mine.  Here's a listing on eBay 


I went to the thrift dtore last week and they were having a 50% off entire store sale. Yay! I love those sales too bad I never get their calender to remind me when they are. I was able to buy a few things I bougt a bundle of terry cloth fabric. I buy this stuf ehnever I came across it since I make my own cleaning towels. I like being able to cut one up whnever I through out an old one. I also bought a vintage hat that I plan on selling, a cute ood donkey brooch and some vintage curlers.

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He may not be vintage but I love him. He looks like he has a bit of an attitude.


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I have never used vintage curlers so I diecided to give it a try. I used three of each of the types from the photo above. I figure that this would give me a better idea of how each curled. Here's where the trial and error take place . I really liked the way my hair looked in those green curlers. They were the easiest to sleep in.

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I really love the aluminum curlers. Some were made by Goody and the others are TipTop. I loved these curlers. They have a little clip to catch all of your ends and keep them in place. I have a hard time keeping my ends in whenever I do a wet set. They do not want to be tame and controlled.
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I slept in them over night. The aluminum ones were a lot harded to sleep in and can get very close to the scalp. In the morning I rolled them out and I got these awesome curls. They were super tight and tiny.
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This side is where I rolled the green rubber rollers. Not as defined. I did notice that since the body of the curler was square it really kinked the hair. It was like having a square curl if that makes any sense.
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You can see some of the kinkiness a lot better in this photo.
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Then came the brush out. I tried and tried for over 30 minutes to get some semblance of unity and uniformity but it just didn't work. I used pomade to try and tame it but nothing worked. At this point I did figure that tiny curlers arent for me. I get a bad perm look.
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I was able to roll the hair into some victory rolls. I do  love the way the top of the hair had a slight curl/wave to it. It makes the hair more interesting and cute.
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All-in-all, it was a great experience and experiment.  I loved the look of the vintage curlers themselves but I don't think they are for me. Maybe if I had shorted,thicker  hair it would have worked out better. I tried it and I'm glad I got to see what become of them.

I leave you with a photo of Ridley warming up in the corner of the dining room. It was during our mini heatwave when the daily highs were in the 100*F. I didn't let him go out for fear of burining his paws on the cement. He got let out in the evenings though harness and all.

I hope the rest of your week goes great and you have lots of fun.

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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Liebster Award for me? Why thank you.

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Hope everyone is having a fine day and getting along marvelously. I've been in a bit of a funk the last couple of weeks. I think it's this darn hot weather. I was pleasently surprised when Sean from The Fictionista
nominated me for the Lieber Award. Thanks Sean. So without much further ado, here are the eleven questions I have to answer
  1. Besides what you blog is dedicated to, what are some of your other interests?  Well as you know I really love sewing knitting, cooking, baking and crafting in general. I also really love to play video games and watching movies. My husband always says that I have a knack for liking B movies. What can I say campy movies are the best.
  2. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? Wow that is a great question. After paying taxes (boo) I would first pay off our credit cards, car loan, hubby's student loan, and any other debt we may have. I'd then buy my mom a nice little house where she could do whatever she wanted. I'd give my younger siblings a nice college fund (willing they only spend it on college). I'd love to build a nice house with a couple of acres and a beautiful green house. I'd make some donations to charities and possible set up a scholarship or too. Of course it goes without saying that I would go on a HUGE spending spree. Lol. I love to shop.
  3. What made you want to start a blog? Pretty lame but to keep track of my thoughts. It's also a place where I can have the positive aspects of my life in print. It makes me feel good that I see progress in things that I love to do.
  4. What took you on the journey to embrace vintage? I've always liked "old" stuff ass I used to call it as a kid. I grew up loving the Batman show, I'd buy old tea sets from the thrifts stores and I loved my long whirly twirly skirts. As I got older I never really felt that "modern" clothes fit my personality all that well. I still feel more feminine in skirts and blouses then I do in a pair of shorts and tee shirt. I love my casual wear but sometimes it's not enough.
  5. Have you met any kindred spirits through the world of blogging? I've met a lot of wonderful people in the blogosphere. It's so great that we can connect to people around the world. I love it that more women and men are enjoying the beauty of yesteryear.
  6. What does your SO/family think of your vintage lifestyle/blogging? My family loves it. Especially my mom. She's always telling me that she loves that I dress up and do my hair. She also tells me I look like an Old Hollywood actress. Lol, my mom's funny like that. My husband likes it too. Although he says I should show more cleavage.
  7. Do you have a favorite decade in fashion and/or history {or both}? I love the Victorian era and 1950s the best. I love the Romanticism behind the Victorian bustle and corsets. Although I'm pretty sure I would never be able to dress the part. I do like to breathe after all. The 1950s fashion tends to fit my body type better. I love the mounds of petticoats, beautiful dresses and accessories. Not to mention it was one of the most influential eras for music. Elvis, Johnny Cash and Little Richard just to name a few.
  8. Who is your biggest inspiration and why? My mom. She is one of those women that other men/women were envious of. She's a great cook, a great mom and a great wife.Since I can remember, my mother has always dressed nice. She always wore nice clothes even if she was doing errands around the house. She doesn't even own a pair of sweats. I hope that I can be a lot like her in every respect.
  9. Dresses or separates? I love dresses but tend to wear more separates. I tend to wear separates more simply because I don't have as many dresses as I want. 
  10. Your favorite item currently {does not have to be vintage}? Hmm this is a toughie. Lately I've been favoring vintage tooled leather shoulder bag. It goes with everything and makes sure that I don't carry too much in my purse. It hurts my shoulder if I do.
  11. What is your favorite quote?My favorite quote was from my grandmother "Solo los locos le hacen caso a otros locos." Translated "Only the crazy people listen to other crazy people." In other words ignore people who sounds crazy or you'll end up just as crazy.  My grandmother had a lot of wisdom and awesome stories. Too bad I didn't record them when she was alive.


Remember that if you are nominated you have to answer the 11 questions, nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and make up your own 11 questions. Have fun!

Now here are my nominees:

http://artdecogirls.blogspot.com/
http://mystiluxe.blogspot.com/
http://stitchingpurpleblooms.blogspot.com/
http://tunabake.blogspot.com/
http://fortiesknitter.blogspot.com/
http://petticoatsandpeplums.blogspot.com/
http://incendiaryblonde.blogspot.com/
http://opshopmama.blogspot.com/
http://rascalkosher.blogspot.com/
http://vintagebirdgirl.blogspot.com/
http://dollybowtest.blogspot.com/

And my eleven questions are:

  1. What type of weather do you like?
  2. What's one of your hidden talents? 
  3. Is there a go to outfit that you love to wear when you don't know what to wear?
  4. Do you have any pets?How many?
  5. Do you still write handwritten letters? 
  6. What is one of your proudest moments/achievements?
  7. If given infite money, where would you travel and what would you do?
  8. Have you every had any supernatural experiences? (Ghosts, UFOs, things that you couldn't explain)
  9. Can you drive a car?
  10. What's one thing one your bucket list?
  11.  What's your favorite book?









    Saturday, June 29, 2013

    Just In Case

     Not sure if Google Reader disappearing is going to affect me but I guess it doesn't hurt to have a back up. So if you have a second be sure to add me to your bloglovin' list. Thanks.


    Follow my blog with Bloglovin

    Friday, May 31, 2013

    Still here and there

    It's been a while. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the weather. I decided to take a small break from blogging. I still read and commented on blogs I follow. I felt that my everyday life isn't as exciting or interesting as some of you out there. My day-to-day isn't all that different. Chores, breakfast, feeding Ridley and working on some project. I don't usually go thrifting unless I have something else to do in town. No point in wasting gas just so I can go shopping. I try to do several errands whenever I have the truck.

    Over the last few weeks, I've been working my hand at altering a vintage pattern, mending and fixing the waistbands of a few skirts, altering and fixing sweaters. I had a few successes and a few failures. I had great luck finding  sweaters for the colder months.

    I was able to find my first vintage Pendleton sweater. A nice Navy blue wool sweater. I'll probably need to wear a camisole underneath it since most wool makes me itchy.

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    I also found this awesome red wool sweater by St. Croix. I thinks it's vintage from the looks of the label. I love the bright red color. It also had these awesome armpit gussets. It has a few tiny tears but I fixed them and it looks fantastic.

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    I bought this beauty on the same trip as the Pendleton. I almost passed it up thinking it was a small but (woo-hoo!) it was a large. It fits me beautifully.  I love that the color combo isn't totally whore-y. It's muted and classy. I can't wait to wear this in with winter with a nice wool skirt.

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    The last few trips to the thrift stores have proved fruitful. I've gotten a lot of wool fabric. I have three very vintage friendly colors that will be turned into winter skirts. Now if only I would find a cute pair of winter boots.



    Whenever I go out to thrift stores I always keep my eye out for vintage notions: buttons, zippers,that sort of thing. I went shopping in one of the bigger thrift stores in Carson when I cam across a giant metal cookie box. I love looking through them because you never know what you will find. It was full of vintage buttons. These were the ones that I could used and weren't super tiny. Like for baby's clothes.

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    I love looking for belts that I can remake myself. I got this lovely belt for 50 cents. It was half off. It's so cool even Jess liked it. I'm going to change the belt to an elastic one.
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    These are my Sputnik earrings. I found these at the Carson Goodwill. They were hidden in a plastic tub of crappy broken jewelry. The base of them is made out of cork. I've never seen anything like that. I love them.
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    I bought a few other things but right now I can't really remember what. Last week I got the crazy knitting bug again. I started and redid these gloves a good 3 or 4 times. I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I kept undoing my work. I fianlly found a pattern I liked but it didn't have a thumb gusset so I tried my hand at altering the pattern. It wasn't hard. I followed the directions on one of my favorite patterns. it turned out pretty well. I used some yarn I'd had for years. My grandma Ines sent it to me years ago since she knew I liked making things.

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    Since the hubby and I havent gone out a lot lately, I haven't done my hair all that much. We went out for Cinco de Mayo and I did my hair and wore my South of the Border skirt. Unfortunately I didn't get an outfit pic (like usual). I really like curling my hair with a wet set. The curls last a lot longer and you can manipulate them easier than with a curling iron.


    Day 1
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    Day 2: I brushed it out. I still had curl left so I made a bumper bang and put the rest up in a pin curl look.
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    I'm sure I left something out but I just wanted to let everyone Im alive and doing well. I have a few projects to finich before packing to visit the families back in California. We're taking a mini-vacation and visiting the family. It'll be a nice break from our routine.

    I leave with Ridley. Cuddling in his momma's wool sweater.


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    Thursday, April 25, 2013

    Bedspread? Done.

    Well it's been a  couple of weeks since I last blog. Again. I've was busy. I mean, really busy. I was finally able to finish making all of the squares for my bedspread. Then I proceeded to join the squares into row and then those rows into a bedspread. But now it's done. Yay! Hooray! I did have to make one final run to Wal-Mart for some yarn to finish joining the squared and add a final edge. I'm happy to be done with this project. The bedspread is heavy; it easily weighs 10 pounds. The heaviness lends to it staying in place until we go to bed.

    Well, here she is in all her colorful glory. I was really worried about how she would turn out. Every time I start  a major project, I always feel that it looks, well, bad. It really doesn't look good, to me, until it's all said and done.Every knitting or crochet project pretty much goes like this.

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    A couple of months ago, Jess and I finally got around to put our pin up girls well up. There aren't original prints or anything. I don;t think we could afford an original print unless I happen to find it at a thrift store. Most of our prints are by Olivia. We love her art style and tasteful nudity.I really want to sand and re-stain the night stands and my dresser but Jess says to leave it alone and keep the old varnish. Jess likes the original stain on most furniture.



    A few weeks ago, I bought a couple pairs of shoes. I'm always on the look out for vintage-inspired shoes. Unfortunately, my feet are  "too big" for vintage shoes. "Big" being a US size 9.5  Whenever I'm bored, I will look through Amerimark's website and check out there shoes. They are mostly "old lady" shoes and clothing. However, a lot of the shoes have a vintage feel and look to them. I came across these shoes in the clearance section. Heck yeah. $6 a pair? Don't mind if I do. I bought a pair in Bone and Brown.

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    These shoes are very 1940's to me. They actually look like some of the shoes I've seen on vintage ads.  I love the wedge heel and the elastic on the top of the foot. These are really easy and comfy to wear.  I just wish I'de been able to buy another pair in black. I need a good,solid pair of black shoes. I would LOVE to get a pair these beauties. I just can't bring myself to spend that much on a pair of shoes. I mean, if I had endless amounts of money sure but that's more than half our car payment. Maybe one day.



    I think my jewelry box is getting a bit crowded. I've been keeping my eye out for another one. I've come across a few but they're either in bad condition or too expensive. I'll wait. Garage sale season is starting up again and I'm gonna be looking for new additions.

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    I've had the green, the oranges, and the rainbow spiral earrings  for almost ten years. Back before thrifting was a popular, mainstream  pastime. I've found some great items since moving out here but in California items are scarce.
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    I bought this straw purse last summer when my sister was visiting. I love me a good straw purse. I lined the purse with some fabric my mother-in-law gave me and didn't really do anything else with it. I later bought a dead stock plastic floral ring and didn't do anything with that either. The other day I was on Etsy and it hit me. I can use the plastic flowers to make my purse more summery! So what do y'all think? This is how I have them arranged for now. I haven't glued them down or anything because it always takes me a while to figure out how I want things.
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    I've been sewing up a storm lately. I'm in the middle of finishing a circle skirt and plan on starting a new dress either today or tomorrow. I realized that I don't have a lot of blouses to pair with my many skirts. I also want to make a couple of pairs of trousers for Fall and Winter time. I know it seems insane to thing of Fall and Winter so early into Spring but around here Winter lasts the longest.

    Here's a pic of Ridley patiently waiting for his Momma to finish sewing. He does love petticoats. He likes to play with them and sleep with them. Luckily, this one is a bit sturdier than more petticoats. I converted it from a bridal petticoat I bought a few years ago. The netting is thick and very stiff.

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    On a side note, I've finally reached 50+ followers! Yay! Thanks to everyone who reads and comments on my posts. I love hearing from everyone and seeing what they think. In order to celebrate my first blogging landmark, I plan on hosting a giveaway. These a few items I need to get together but once I do I will post it and let everyone know.  : D

    I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. Have lots of fun, great food, and spend it with those you love.


















    Tuesday, April 9, 2013

    Bex is holding a Giveaway

    Hope everyone is having a pleasant Tuesday. Just wanted to make a quick, short post.

    Wanted y'all to know that the lovely Bex over at Subversive Lesbian Anarchic Femme! is having a marvelous giveaway to celebrate the launch of her new line Historical Stitches. So be sure to check out her blog and her Etsy store. She has some great vintage knitting, crocheting, and sewing patterns.