Vintage Flair

To my husband's dismay.....

  

Yesterday I scored really big at an antique shop and I found a vintage mannequin form for $30.00....pretty good uh?  So, now my husband has to walk past this every time he wants to use the master bath.  He says he is a bit creeped out by it because she has no head.  What ever....I was so excited to find it and she is ripped and aged perfectly and the price was right.  I think I am going to make her a beauty pageant sash with some of my vintage trimmings.  She needs to be a bit more fussed up but for now, it is perfect to display all of the jewelry I have been making.

  

A few things

 

I am sitting here ever so patiently waiting for my husband to get back from the golf course so I can meet some of my girlfriend's for drinks.  He is a half hour late which make me late.....very annoying.  I thought to keep my mind free of annoying thoughts, I would do a quick post.  So, here we go....above  is what I made when I was visiting with Karla and now she sits on top of some vintage luggage.  Also, at lunch I popped in an antique store I haven't been in for a long time and I bought this wire locker basket.  It is a perfect place to store some of my vintage ledgers.  I also bought a few other things and I will show you those in my next post.  I am off to tuck my girls in bed and hopefully leave very soon...have a great night.

 

Afternoon in heaven {Warning...Lots of eye candy}

 

Oh my....that is all I can say about "the Karla Nathan."  My head is still spinning thinking about all of the AMAZING treasures she has in her home and not to mention her oh so fabulous art studio.  I told my husband that I just spent and afternoon in heaven and he gave me that look.  You know what I am talking about.  Anyway, I had trouble looking at Karla when she wastalking to me because I kept looking at all of her fabulous stuff.  I didn't want to miss anything.  Karla had a get together for the local Bella's (Nora, Carol and Jamie) that wanted to meet and get together to craft and just hang out. Julie (from Chicago) and I crashed the party since we were from other states.  I am bummed that I didn't get a group shot of all of us and I can't link them to my post because they don't have blogs.  I look forward to seeing them at Silver Bella.  Karla served the best lunch and look at this amazing table we ate at.  I think I am going to step up my game for Thanksgiving.

 
 
  

She gave a cuff bracelet to each of us.  I picked one out with a cream vintage millinery flower....ya, of course I would pick that.  I have to say Karla truly lives a vintage inspired life in every way.  Her house is amazing and every little nook and cranny is elegantly decorated and embellished.  OK I will give you an example...I took a photo of her dish towel laying in the kitchen sink.  I would of bought it and ripped off the trim on the bottom and used the embroidery in a journal but Karla said "oh, Lori you know how cheap I buy those, I just use them as rags...."  Another example, I took a peek at her restroom and I looked down and saw all of her hand painting on the floor.  Her bathroom was just as pretty as the rest of the house.  
 
 
These photos do not need any explanation....they are just photos taken here, there and everywhere in her home and studio.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
Can you believe it?  I took more photos but I am getting tired of inserting all of them! I will leave you with a few photos of Karla, Carol and I.

  
 
 
Karla thanks again for a great afternoon, I had a ball!

 

 

Couple new creations

 
Here are a few of the necklaces that I made while I was on vacation.  I made two more but I will have to share those with you later.   The locket above has a different image of a woman on the other side.  I wonder who these women were?  I wore it to work and someone asked who the woman was and I just said my Grandmother, it was easier to just say that vs. tell the truth and get a really weird stair.  Sorry about not getting a close up but I had lucy pulling on the necklace besides me while I tried to photograph it and this is as good as it is going to get!

 
I have been wearing this one a lot lately....it is just an easy piece that matches everything.

 
Off to lay on the sofa and watch a movie....have a good night.

Hidden Gem

There is nothing better than finding a ziploc bag that is filled with vintage lace that is crammed in the corner of an antique shop booth.  It was waiting for me to find it and all of the other passer byes just thought it was an ugly old dusty bag of junk but I knew what looks terrible on the outside can be beautiful in the in inside.  You just need to stop and discover those hidden gems.

 

 
  

Don't ya just love her?

I bought this when I was back in MI and I bought it from the cutest place in Romeo called the Urban Merchant.  It was their grand opening and if you live in the area, go check it out.  They also had this below and I would LOVE to have it.  OH MY!  (The photo is not the best...I took it with my cell phone.  But you get the idea.)  Basically it is a reproduction of an old theater and there are paper dolls in the inside.  Well, technically they are not paper but they are backed on foam core I think.  I can't remember.  If you look on the shelf above the the theater, you can see some of the paper dolls that came with it.  You can't see because the photo is so blurry but the shop owners cut out vintage paper in the shapes as flowers and spread that on the bottom.  I flipped out when I saw it.  I wish I had my own studio because I would of bought it in the heart beat.  Gees, if I put that in my craft closet, there would be no room!

 

P.S. 

Bay City fun

 
Whenever I go back to MI, I make my husband stop at Bay City.  It is one of my favorite cities and the antique shops are great.  When we were driving through the main street of the town, the bridal shop (that has been there for a long time) had vintage wedding gowns in their front windows and of course I had to stop by and take a peek.  It was so much fun to look at the windows because they had the names of the women who wore the gowns, how much they paid and their photos from their wedding.  How fun is that?  I think many of the gowns were all purchased from the bridal store. Here are a few photos.

Now here are a few photos from one of my favorite antique boots....you are almost guaranteed to find something wonderful.  I was chasing Lucy around the store and please forgive some of my photos......I was sweating like a pig chasing after Lucy.  My girl knows her way around an antique store and knock on wood....she hasn't broken anything.

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The one bag challenge

I am back from vacation and I had a great time!  I did a little relaxing in Northern MI, antiquing in Bay City,  a wedding at the Grosse Point Yacht Club, went to the Romeo Peach festival and visited family in Fraser.  I wish I could of stayed longer but now it is back to the daily grind of life.  Usually, when I go to our cottage in Houghton Lake I bring one bag filled with random craft supplies and my sewing machine (Well, it is Olivia's Hello Kitty sewing machine....I just temporarily borrow it) and when the kids go to sleep, I pull out my bag and challenge myself to create something with only the supplies that I brought.  So here it is, my little journal that I created while I was away.   I also made a ton of necklaces and I will share those later with you. I had these fun photo booth photos with my girls and I that we took quite some time ago modeling our favorite vintage hats.  Yes, the people in the mall thought we were crazy with this huge bag of hats that kept spilling out of the booth.  We giggled the whole time and that is why I wanted to keep them in a special place to remember my fun loving giggling little girls.  I think my favorite part is the front cover, I just love the lace and the yummy vintage millinery flowers.

Here are the pages in order....