Check out my Clecktion!

Holly from Lucitebox - http://www.lucitebox.com/ - does a special feature on her blog about what people collect. The feature is called 'Clecktions' and my green kitchen stuff is featured in this month's Clecktion's post. Check me out - http://www.lucitebox.com/blog/?p=55


***Hey! Do you collect stuff? Holly is looking for more people to feature in her Clecktions. So contact her about your stuff and you could be featured too!


Also, check out a cute pair of shoes being worn by a Dandelion Vintage customer on her blog -
http://www.thehavingfunclub.org/blog/?p=214
She gets a discount on her next order for mentioning my site, and posting a cool photo of her purchase. Another gal who purchased a dress this morning let me know that she found me through the blog link. Cool!

The ugliest purses ever

I was flipping channels last night, and caught site of these bags on the Home Shopping channel. First off, what do they go with? They're very busy and 'crafty' looking. There's just alot going on with these bags. I could see someone, somewhere liking them though, so I really shouldn't call them ugly. But for $300-$400, they ain't pretty.
I'm anti-designer-expensive bags, $25 is my limit on a purse and it's got to be really fabulous for me to even pay that much.



New work space

For the past two years, my room has been out over the garage that we added onto the house. Nice big room, all my stuff spread out, bed area, livingroom area, craft area. Meanwhile, my business stuff was spread out over 3 small rooms in the main house.
A bathroom was supposed to be put out here in my big room, but somehow that never happened. After two years of struggling without having a bathroom nearby to use in the middle of the night, and realizing that the need for one is only going to get stronger as I get older, I decided to give up my big bedroom and switch back to the original bedroom that I had when we first moved in here - one with a bathroom very close by.
In turn, I moved my computer, my website stock and all of my backstock out to the big room over the garage. Now I'm wondering why I didn't just set up my workroom out here 2 years ago when the room was built, because it is perfect. Finally after 10 years in my own business, I have everything organized in one big room, just the way I like it. Plus, I have to say that I am happy in a smaller bedroom and little livingroom area too, and the close bathroom is very comforting.
So here are some photos of Dandelion Vintage headquarters -

My mantle and chaise lounge will now be the backdrop for my photos. I left alot of my stuff there because it looks so nice on the mantle. The chaise was too heavy to move over to the bedroom, so it's staying right there.




Computer areas never look very pretty, but I love my aqua kitchen table/desk, which is actually bigger in person than it looks in this photo. I need a more comfortable chair, don't you think?




Here's the view out the window from my desk. I saw a turkey sneak through the yard yesterday.



A very large laundry rack covered in barkcloth acts as a room divider. I can even hang different fabric over it if I want to to photos with a solid background.



The other side of the laundry rack - super tall for hanging long gowns from it.




My pretty shipping department. The top surface is nice for packing, and I have my boxes and other packing supplies stored on each side of it. I painted that dresser myself several years ago. That hanging drawer pull refuses to stay fixed.




The back corner has stacked boxes of backstock. This is stock that has been cleaned and sorted, waiting to be prepped for the website. I still have about 6 more boxes to haul over here. My ironing board is in this area too, but you don't want to see a photo of that.



I have 3 racks of hanging stock. This is all stuff that is already listed on the website. The tall rack is flat on the wall, and the other two divide the room in half. It took me 3 days to move over everything in this room.




The craft/sewing area. This was here in my old room, and it stayed here since it goes with the vintage anyway. That is the back of the clothing racks on the right. This area is still kind of messy right now. My real sewing machine will go on that desk. That's my other mannequin, her job lately has been to hold the trash bag.



Near the front of the room are the boxes of stock that has already been listed on the website. This is mainly lingerie, purses, hats, skirts, linens etc.



Finally the front corner of my room still has my wardrobe that displays some of my favorite vintage lingerie pieces and other goodies on top. To the left of this is the only escape exit and then you are back to the chaise and mantle.

shhhhhhhhh, sleeping wolf

Shhhh, the alpha wolf is sleeping in her wolf den




Don't wake her! She will pounce into action and attack you!




Oh well, maybe she'll get you after her nap.

Interesting purchase - Lofties by Lawrence set with some extras


I made a small purchase of vintage clothing at a local barn sale this weekend, and this was one of the items that I bought. It's a pretty, light blue knit sweater and skirt set from 'Lofties by Lawrence' - I love these sweater sets and I've had a few made by Lofties. This one was a cool find because it was still in the original Lofties box, along with the paper hang tag and an envelope with 3 extra buttons still inside of the box too.




But wait, it gets cooler - also in the box, which I found very interesting, was an envelope, a postcard and invoice from the Joseph Berg Co. - The Berg Co, located in Cleveland OH, specialized in shortening knitwear.


From the postcard - 'Attention Knitted Sportswear Buyer, We specialize in shortening one and two piece Knit Dresses to the exact length required by our customer. Our method of shortening is to take the excess off from the bottom of the skirt and finish it by hand. The charge is $3.50 per skirt. We also specialize in shortening blouses and sleeves, mending, repairs etc. Prices will be furnished upon request. 2-3 days service is guaranteed after receipt of garment . . . '


So Mrs. K from Millville NJ sent her skirt to Ohio to be shortened by the Berg Co., and the fee on the invoice was $3.50 and it is dated 4/5/55. I thought it was very interesting to have the paperwork with the set still. The piece that they cut from the bottom of the skirt is still in the box too. The bottom of the skirt is very neatly finished. I can only guess that she never wore it.

I'm going to keep the set for a while, think about how cool it is, and then maybe sell it later on. But once I saw how cute it was on my mannequin, I'm tempted to keep it for myself (it will depend on how the knit skirt stretches across my behind!)

Vote for Maggie/denisebrain


I'm sure you've seen her auction on ebay, and I featured an interview with her on the Vintage Bulletin a little while back. She is one of my longtime favorite vintage sellers. She models her own vintage (one of the first to do so on ebay) and she always looks like she's having fun doing it.

Maggie is in a contest sponsored by More magazine - Re-defining the F-word. Maggie's F-word is Finery:

I was right when I was 6... Playing dress up makes you happy! Now 47, I've made a second career of vintage clothing and I never tire of the finery!

Maggie is one of the 25 finalists in the contest, and now they are doing an elimination round. The top five vote-getters will be considered for the prize of $1000.

You can vote every day from now through September 15. So visit the site and vote!

Yard Sale purchases

We went to a good yard sale this morning. It was people who usually have several sales each Summer. They are dealers who buy/hoard lots of good stuff. I bought my fabulous desk from them earlier this Summer. She was holding two boxes of vintage clothing for me, and I ended up with a bunch of cute 1960s tops, some linens and other things to resell.

Of course I grabbed a few things for myself. You won't believe these goodies. You know that I love green kitchen stuff right? Well check out these green goodies, along with a pink piece and a yellow piece. Each item has some chips and the yellow pitcher is cracked, so they were only a $1 each. They are still perfect for display, which is only what I use them for anyway, no I don't squeeze my own orange juice with those dishes. The yellow and pink pieces have pretty designs on them.



The rolling pin was $5 and the very cool spatula was $3. When you squeeze the handle, it turns to flip over your item. Plus I got this really pretty turquoise tablecloth with gold highlights.

Harlow vs Madison

It's Princess Madison Rose vs Harlow the Junkyard Bombshell in a battle of Good (Maddie) vs Naughty (Harlow)
Maddie is about twice as tall as Harlow, but that doesn't intimidate Harlow, she's a toughie.
Fun was had by all, and Harlow didn't hump Maddie's head this time, although that one photo looks like she was getting ready to!