DIY Mason Jar Gift Idea - Fill with Dried Fruit

Pretty, fun and yummy, don't you think? (Bottom up: cranberries, kiwi, strawberries and pineapple)

Happy Wednesday!

a *new* old Junior tricycle

Our little someone is obsessed with bikes (she can spot one from a mile away!) and got a vintage trike for Christmas from my parents. They waited until spring to bring it down to her and it's already gotten a lot of use.

She loves her "'wed' bike!" She's not able to get momentum going to be able to actually ride it yet, but she makes do and gets around just fine. It won't be long before she's zooming away!

I would probably date it to the 70s - it's a sturdy piece of metal with only a few rust spots on the handle bars. It even has white and red tassels! Woot!

Have a great weekend!

a few vintage dresses for me - part 3

This mustardy gold dress may not be the best color for my skin tone, but it's my first thrifted dress find that dates pre-70s! (Most of the time it's gross 90s dresses at the thrift store with lots of fabric, big shoulder pads and bad prints. If you are lucky there may be a 70s gem in the bunch, but not very often...)

The zipper is metal and chunky like my 50s dresses but I'd guess by the style that this dress is 60s. Upside: the fabric is stretchy and is very comfortable, downside: the neck is so tight it almost chokes! I have to have good posture wearing this dress - or maybe I just have a big neck? :-)

I paired this thrifted dress with a bright red Harold's cape coat - Lawrence Antique Mall (Lawrence, KS), gold scarf - from my sister's stash, brown woven belt - Target, patterned brown tights - Target and Tsubo ankle boots like these. 

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And finally, my "fancy" dress. (I just need somewhere to wear this to... someone, quick, get married!)

Isn't the waistline gorgeous?! I'm guessing 60s because of the fitted skirt although I just ran across a bunch of mid-50s dresses with a very similar bodice. What do you think?

dress: Wild Man Vintage, vintage cream/gold scarf: sister hand-me-down, beaded vintage Belgian clutch: gift, bronze strappy heels (not shown): Germany

 Isn't the clutch gorgeous?! Look at all that beading! And to think it came from a garage sale... (thanks S)!


That wraps up my vintage dress posts this week - thanks for following along! I had fun.

See vintage dress intro, part 1, part 2.

a few vintage dresses for me - part 2

This black and white dress is made from a material that is hard to describe (polyester? swishy? rayon? viscose?) ... and even harder to iron. I thought I might've ruined it after I washed it, but I did end up ironing the wrinkles out (and I won't be washing it again anytime soon!).

My book club had a Night Circus discussion in January and Jeremy snapped a few pictures of my outfit before I left. I went all out (black, grey or white with a touch of red for the rêveurs - followers of the Night Circus) and finally found a use for my crazy feather clip.

Super fun.  

dress: Wild Man Vintage clearance, sweater and belt: LOFT, scarf: scarlet knit scrap, red tights, and boots: Nine West.

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And you've seen this dress before. Probably my favorite of the bunch - it's super comfortable, fits well and can go dressy or casual.

After seeing construct of my grandma's veggie dress (exact same side zipper), I think this one falls into the same 5-10 years, so I'm calling it my 50s housewife dress. And it looks handmade. And I love it.

Stay tuned for 2 more dresses tomorrow!

See vintage dress intro, part 1.

a few vintage dresses for me - part 1

This first one is special - it came from my grandmother's closet. This was a dress she wore in the 1950s when she was a junior in high school! It's snug in the top, but I decided if it fit I was keeping it.

So I did.

(Someone always manages to sneak into the photos ...)

It is actually a vegetable print with tones of cream, yellow, green and purple. The skirt is amazing and I think I need a petticoat. It still has its belt (many, many vintage dresses do not) and it's double rope-like belt that I just tied around my sweater.

I wore this one to church one day and got several compliments. On a vegetable dress, I know!

dress: Grandma, sweater: thrifted, cream tights: Target, brown shoes (not shown): JCP.

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This one is a handmade, crazy pink, 70s print polyester maxi dress that seems to have seen better hippietastic days. I thrifted this one and decided I'd try a dress re-do (you can't get good at sewing if you never try!) - so I snapped a few "before" pictures and then cut it up.

The skirt was a crazy wide bell and the sleeves had elastic cuffs (yuck) so I...

... cut off the skirt length
... narrowed the skirt bell
... narrowed the waist (then took it out again and gave myself a little more wiggle room)
... cut off the sleeves in favor of a cap sleeve
... then shortened the neckline ties.

Probably my least favorite of all of my vintage dresses (first time's a charm!?) - mostly because of the crazy print and because it doesn't flatter my figure at all ... I look straight all the way down! But I still am proud of my first attempt.

dress: thrifted and altered, necklace: my MIL's 80s closet, belt: LOFT, white lace leggings: Khol's clearance, clutch: Korea, black peeptoes: my closet.

a few vintage dresses for me! (*week series*)

This week I'm featuring some of my "new" vintage dresses! One of my goals of 2012 was to "continue to develop my personal style" - which included acquiring several vintage dresses.

This was the first one. Remember this post?

Looking forward to some fun posts showing off my recent finds!! :-) 

vintage thrifting finds! {shop update!}

Just when I said that estate sales were my new thrifting, I scored at the thrift store! And, mind you, I'm not writing off thrift stores in the least, and most definitely not now...

Stop by the shop to check out the rest!

estate sale finds

The day after the last snowstorm (last week - we've had another since!) I asked Jeremy to help dig out the car so I could go to an estate sale in town. I'm on an email list for a certain company and usually they are in the surrounding towns ... but this was was only a couple of miles away. Score!

I arrived about 10 minutes after it opened and what I wanted to find (skeleton keys) were gone in the first few minutes. Two lessons learned: 1) if you want something, get there when they open and 2) ask right away where something is located. I hunted around for about 20 minutes and then asked, but they were gone.

Oh well. In the meantime, I found ...

...this beautiful vintage suitcase!

It's not perfect (it's used, duh!) on the outside but inside is still in wonderful shape. One of the best I've seen! The elastic is still in tip-top shape, no rips, tears or fading. And (amazingly enough!) it has no musty smell - awesome!

A couple of vintage pieces for the shop:

They had a bunch more clothes but most were very, very stained. Something I have to watch out for when buying! Otherwise I might've gone crazy...

And some amazing metal letters with great chippy patinas... also for the shop!

Estate sale hunting is now the new thrifting! At least in my book. Last time they featured a 70% off and I got 30 baby clothing pieces for $9. Amazing. This was full price, but still worth it. Still less than thrift store pricing.

Find anything vintagely amazing lately!? Do share!

Reclaimed Lumber Shelf

A DIY on the reclaimed wood shelf in the living room makeover...

So I was driving to my last piano lesson of the day one Monday evening and I spotted some fence boards on the side of the road. On my way back home, I stopped to pick them up. It was obvious that they had been replaced because of some defect, but I chose boards that were salvageable.

The next day I hammered out all of the nails (duh).

Measured a 38-in shelf...

Then broke in my trusty handsaw and cut the boards to the same length.

Then I took a wire brush to get any dirt, splinters, etc from them. I wanted to keep the rustic, weather-worn look, so I didn't sand, etc. I knew it would also be up high enough from wandering toddler fingers that I didn't really need to worry about getting it super smooth. (Dusting it, however, is a challenge...)

I cut two small support boards from the leftover wood and nailed/screwed them all into place.

We screwed the decorative shelf brackets (found at Hobby Lobby clearance - $4 ea - a couple years ago) into two studs and then screwed the shelf from beneath.

And, here she is! Even after some decorating friend consultation, I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but I'm working on it. I know you saw it yesterday, but to complete the post - here she is!