I promise, no turkey pictures this week!
I'm really looking forward to Spring now, I'm tired of dressing in jeans and pajama bottoms and worn out pilly t-shirts. I want to shave my legs and start wearing some dresses and fun stuff. I don't wear much vintage in the Winter, because I am usually just working around the house. Not that I go out much more in the Summer, but nicer weather calls for a little more thought in my dressing. Now that I live closer to the shore, I want to expand my Summer wardrobe, tropical prints, capri pants, fun sandals. I haven't made much progress on that yet.







I spotted Barbie in this cute outfit and thought it was fun, it's a special edition designed by Lilly Pulitzer. That maxi gown looks good on Barbie, and I love her purse! This is how I want to dress this Summer, maybe not in a maxi gown though. Lilly is a little bright for my taste though. You have to be very happy to wear bright colors like that, and I'm usually crabby. But you get the idea, Summery, fun, headed to the beach.







I've kept several cute handbags from the vintage lots that I bought just before Christmas. I usually don't keep alot of stuff for myself (my closet is not overbrimming with vintage, as you might imagine) But sometimes I cannot resist! Here are a few keepers -

It's a bit of a squeeze to get my wallet in these first two little guys, but so cute!














Ahh, Summer, when will Summer be here! You can never have too many big straw bags.















That turquoise one is a little wild for me, but I'm going to give it a try (If I end up thinking that it's a little too bold for me, you'll see it up for sale on the website!)


















Project Runway & Project Jay - I finally saw a repeat of the two shows this weekend. The first airing is usually a little too late at night for me, so I have to wait for the repeat showings. So, the reunion show for Project Runway, who is more bizarro Lupe or Zulima? Lupe seemed like she had a few too many drinks before the show and Zulima was going on about her alter ego, who she says comes out whenever anyone gets in her way. Please, let some of the air out of your inflated ego and be for real. Saying that you have an 'alter ego' is no excuse to be rude and cruel to people.
And the Project Jay show, was about last year's winner. I really like Jay, he seems like a cool guy, a little biting sometimes, but funny and down to Earth. I think hearing the comment from his father about him being a sissy may give some insite to his life and why he bites sometimes. He turned down the 100K prize to try to start his clothing line on his own terms. It seems that whoever gives out the 100K has alot of control over the designs and the business, and I imagine that they take some of the profit too. So apprarently Jay didn't like the control factor and wants to do it on his own. It seems like he is struggling though, but maybe Project Runway wanted the show to look that way, kind of 'you'll get nowhere without us' I hope he succeeeds.

I finished the 2 page layout for my first altered book! The theme was 'It's a Lucy Thing' and here it is -



I did a black lace background with a little ruffle down one edge. Then I did kind of a mosaic with an early photo of Lucy. Then accented it with some little purple flowers and pink sequins. The quote is “Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't.” and the quote is printed on a photo of Lucy that I made negative in Adobe editor. That's hard to see because of the glare of the flash. Click the image for a larger view.

Hey, this blog is kind of fun if I actually put some time into it! Well, back to work, non-paying work, I have to move my Strathmere website to a larger space. Then I have the boring task of scanning some old photos to upload to that website. I bought this great scrapbook from 1932, of a girl's school that spent the Summer in Strathmere. It has some great old photos.

Bye for now, Carol




Must do something non-work related online . . .

I try not to spend all of my time online working, and I do occasionally look around for some fun and weird stuff online, and there's alot of it out there. My interests usually come and go in trends, depending on what's currently on my mind.
My latest interest is in laughing at celebrities. I don't know why, I generally find famous people very annoying and very inflated with their own self-importance in the world. But lately I scan blogs for gossip and yeah, paparazzi photos. 'The couple took a private moment for themselves' - yeah, in view of the camera crew to see them and get a few snaps. Anyway, here are some of the sites that I check out -
http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/
http://www.justjared.com/


Have you ever seen those personality or best mate quiz things? I like those too. Here's the results of a few that I did (yes, I am a dork)

I'm Mrs. Sirius Black
The HP Male Marriage Quiz made by Sapphire.


This is very flattering, but really, really untrue!

You are Betty Grable!

You're Betty Grable!
What Classic Pin-Up Are You?
brought to you by
Quizilla



OK, I have to talk about the turkeys! Maybe most people find having wild turkeys come into your yard boring, but I think it's pretty cool! One morning last week, we had 18 of them in the backyard! They kick leaves and dirt all over the place looking for bugs or something to eat. We throw corn from the feedstore out for them each morning too. We haven't seen any deer since one that wandered into the yard last Fall. But something is coming into the yard at night eating the corn that we put out for the turkeys. The thieves could be deer, but it's so dark out there at night, you cannot see. Anyway, here are some pictures of the turkeys, 16 of them, on the front yard. Right in front of our house is a large clearing bordered by magnolia trees and rhododendrun bushes, then the rest of the front yard is thick with laurel, oaks, pine and holly trees out to the street. So this front yard area cannot be seen from the road, it's very private for a turkey party - no paparazzzi here (except for me) click on the images for larger views -




I received my first book for the Vintage Clothing Altered Book project that I joined (see post below) I'm excited to get it started. I have until March 15th to finish it, but I'm ready to go now! I have 2 ideas laid out and I'm thinking, looking and tweaking them each time I walk by. The theme for the first book is 'It's a Lucy Thing' I'm going to do a Glamorous Lucy, from before Desi and the TV shows. Did you know, that when she was teenager, Lucille Ball modeled for Hattie Carnegie? I didn't know that, until I found it online. She modeled from about 1928 to 1933, here's one of her photos for Hattie -


Here are some quotes from Lucy that I saw and liked too -

- "I don't do T & A very well because I haven't got much of either'"
- “I'm not funny. What I am is brave.”
- “Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't.”



Bye for now, Carol




Vintage Clothing Altered Book round robin

I joined up for this project that looks like it is going to be alot of fun. Have you ever heard of Altered Books? You take a regular book and do art projects within the pages - paint, glue, cut, stencil, stamp whatever. A project was started on the ebay vintage clothing board for an altered book project about vintage clothing, so I signed up too. There are 13 people in the group, each person chooses the theme for their own book. You do a few pages in your book, then send your book to the next person on the mailing list, and then you receive someone else's book, and you decorate a few pages in their book using their theme. Then you mail that book to the next person, and you receive another book to do. Get it? 1 month is given for each book to allow time to work on it and to mail it to the next person. So the project will take a year to do, until you finally get your book back, after it has been worked on by everyone in the group.
My theme is 'Lingerie & Summer wear from the 1920-40s'

Here are a few photos - First is the inner cover. I used an old orderform from a Bellas Hess catalog for each person to sign in. It's hard to see the dimensions of the book in a flat photo, but I also used part of a hanky, black ribbon, a silk flower and some lace and rhinestone appliques from a long disintegrated 1920s dress. Oh, and of course I had to sneak a picture of the big hurley-burley Boris in there - Click imges for larger views.
















Next is the first two page layout called 'Dainty Things' part of it was copied from a 1920s fashion magazine, the bedroom image is from Victorian magazine. They were glued over some old lace with tiny organza flowers and a snippet of tulle and an old card with a few buttons on it. Covered with a sealer that has a very fine glitter in it.


















Bye for now, Carol

This blog sux, I know

Hi,
Well it's been nearly another month since my last post. I had wanted to keep the blog updated regularly with vintage stuff, but I'm so busy with working that I don't even think of the blog. I'm going to try to keep it more updated with vintage related items, and some other little junk too. Anyone who actually checks out this blog is probably tired of hearing about birds, and squirrels and turkeys out in our yard, so I won't talk about them in this post.


I'm taking a short break from ebay, because it is becoming a little frustrating selling vintage there. The vintage clothing categories are flooded with repros and new junk that have no business being listed there. You have to wade through new and repro stuff to try to find true vintage clothing. It's very frustrating for buyers, including myself. I don't buy as much as I use to on ebay because of this and I know other vintage buyers have given up there too. A few people from the vintage clothing community on ebay are working with category managers from ebay to try to enforce listing policies in regard to true vintage clothing and other muck. I think the new rules will start in March.
That's just one reason why I am taking a break from ebay though. I really want to get back to focusing on my website. I'd much rather list my stock on my site and build it up, and only list occasional specialty items on ebay. For example, I have some nice mens hats that I will probably list in a few weeks. Why give my best stuff to ebay when it could go up on my website? The vintage market has changed so much over the past few years, so I have to change the way that I do business. I'm still plowing my way through the backstock that I bought back in Nov/Dec. That's going to keep me busy for many months to come.


Now, I am a super sappy sucker when it comes to sentimental doggie stories. I love dogs and stories about dogs saving people lives, or dogs trained to take care of people with special needs or dogs that visit hospitals, or are lost and find their way home. I loves those stories. Last night on Animal Planet, I saw a show about a gal, she lived a very hard life. She had no family, was homeless and on drugs. But the love of a dog turned her life around, and she then devoted her life to saving dogs. Now, I have great admiration for people who devote their lives to helping animals. I enjoyed the show and she seemed pretty cool and the dogs were so sweet. So I checked out her website and made a little donation this morning - Rocket Dog Rescue


Project Runway - I was voting for Nick and I do still like him. But now I'd like Daniel to win, he gets better each week. Heidi Klum - beautiful girl - horrible dresser. And it's not because she is pregnant this season, because she wore horrible clothing last year too.


Now for something un-vintage related. File this story under 'She really is retarded isn't she?' It's about Britney Spears. She does alot of stupid things and this has to really top it all. And her excuse of being chased by photographers and fearing for her baby's life is stupid. Why didn't the bodyguard drive while she could have gotten in the backseat to put the baby in the car seat? - Baby on Board