Good fortune: A thrift & gift haul

It has been a hard week for a few reasons I won't be blogging about, but this is a little high point of the week (gotta think positive). I found a few things of my own, which we'll look at first, but the real gems are the items my mom found for me (read on!).

First exhibit: vintage bathing suit that looks freaking awesome on, thrifted at Value Village.
How often do you find a bathing suit and think "OH MAN I LOOK SOOOO GOOD IN THIS"? Case closed.



Exhibit Two: Vintage white wicker nautical box bag. Yes. 

Exhibit Three: Roots leggings, in perfect condition, complete with marled grey (favourite) and worksock hems (other favourite)

Exhibit Four: Mid-century-style hand carved wooden candle holder, made in Nova Scotia

But here is the really good stuff.

Mom and Dad went to an auction the other night and my thoughtful mother found these (in a larger lot of stuff) for me. Three pairs of fancy antique 1930s round glasses, a 1960s-to-1980s pair of sunglasses, and a fffaaaabbbulous pair of 1950s Bausch & Lomb horn-rimmed glasses with mother of pearl inlay (which I am definitely getting refitted with lenses).  

  

My favourites!

So much fun stuff! Will share a few more finds soon!

More sea glass things

Still finding new and different ways to stick sea glass to stuff. Weeeee



Ring with amber glass and copper Sharpie



Just some glass I drew on, and stuck to a barrette

Stud earrings with turquoise and pearls

Three barrettes, all gussied up with metallic Sharpie. The bottom one is also painted pale blue, but you can't tell in this photo...

Green and amber glass studded ring

Amber and gold ring

Three "mermaid crown" headbands

There is so much more, oh man. I should stop... but I have so much sea glass left to use... and want to pick more all summer. Barrettes for everyone!

Pastels, please

Just a snapshot of favourites from my Polyvore account - add me if you're on!

Uninsightful Fashion Tip!

I read a lot of fashion magazines, and one thing I tend not to enjoy is when there is an article on "remixing your wardrobe" or "shopping your closet" or "get more out of your outfits!" because usually all the tips are the same and most are, for lack of a better word, like DUH. Yeah yeah, wear a blazer "for night" instead of for day. Wear a t-shirt for a fancy thing. Wear a scarf as a belt. Groundbreaking! (Actually, irrelevant - like, all those tips are from 2003 but I still see them in these articles - and condescending.)

I find it is usually tips from fashion designers that are the most condescending. I'm pretty sure I once read Tory Burch recommend wearing things inside out - if you're such a poor plebeian that you can't afford her $800 tunics in order to mix things up, well, jeeze, I dunno, maybe show off all the seams and tags of that Old Navy t-shirt, that will be so tasteful!

(On second thought, it might've been Isabel Marant, but I could see her actually doing that so it's not as condescending. Or it might have been Kelly Wearstler and that is pretty much the same as Tory Burch.)

Anyway...

I do have one of those tips that I just needlessly ranted about. I found this 90's dress at work and thought it was just so almost cute, but not quite what I'm looking for... until I turned it around! The front is just a little too My So-Called Life, but the back is kind of dreamy fifties, no?

 Could it work? Well, let's take that Dalmy's tag off first and find out...

Verdict: yes, it works. A lot dressier than wearing it the conventional way - as Pete says, good for a wedding reception!

I love the high boat-neck neckline and the 1/2 sleeves, and even the little shoulder pads. Plus, the back is now a deep-v with lace, and it buttons all the way down. Kind of blah as a front, but quite pretty as a back! 

And finish it off with a little belt (found at Ardene) 

Remixing is fun! Looking forward to an occasion to wear this dress!

Playing around with Sea Glass

I've been enjoying making jewellery for myself a lot lately, and naturally I have begun to look for new tools and materials for such exploits. As I have noted before, I am a huge fan of Dreamboat Lucy's sea glass jewellery, and I will totally buy some, when I am ready to decide which pair to get! To tide myself over until then, I tried making some very low-rent versions, and for all intents and purposes, they're kinda pretty.

Like I said, low-rent, but the effect (green, shiny, glowy, natural) is there. Might make a few more... and before I know it, I can buy the real ones! Even better, I'm using up this huge bag of sea glass I've been collecting for no reason. Win win!

Off to more crafting! xo

Upcycled m&a earrings on Etsy!

Added four new items to Etsy today: my handmade upcycled vintage earrings. Check 'em out!

Mint-grey silk, coral, pearl

Gold & turquoise

Silver, coral, turquoise

Antique gold, turquoise, antique faux-pearl

I can always make different permutations of what you see here too, as long as the bits and pieces are around! Get in touch if you're interested in any of them, or something similar!

Etsy Shop You Need to See: The Sparkling Sparrow

Oh man, guys. I know as much as anybody that there is a lot of awesome stuff for sale on Etsy, but sometimes I get pretty excited about it. This is one of those times. The Sparkling Sparrow, in Appleton, Wisconsin, offers these amazing hair clips, hair combs, and more fashioned out of vintage and reclaimed jewellery. I feel like I stumbled into a diamond mine.

I always pictured I would have a hairpiece like this for my eventual wedding, made out of all the sentimental (but maybe broken or mismatched) jewellery I've been saving. Looking at these lets me know that it is very much possible, and will look stunning. Yay!

Here are some favourites, but check out the shop yourself - I'm drawn to a particular look but there are more varied, interesting pieces too.



The first one I found - stunning!



Pale blues and gold, fave combo

White & gold botanical, beautiful

A little bit mid-century, a little bit Grecian, a little Edwardian. Love it!

White, ivory, cream, blush, rose, gold. So pretty and feminine.

Something blue :)

I might just need to stop drooling and buy one of these!

I made some earrings 2: The Reckoning

Here's a bunch of earrings I made. Some were posted last time, some are new. Thinkin' real hard about putting a few of these suckers on Etsy (the nice ones, naturally).





The three pairs at the top are using recycled vintage silk, pearls from a damaged tank top bound for the garbage at work, and pink plastic beads from a thrifted vintage necklace.

 

Lots of broken and antique things here... and leather! Lots of leather.

Lots of vintage leather and suede up in here, drawn on with gold and copper Sharpies. The dangly gold pair have antique gold-plated bracelet links and chains from a broken vintage necklace.

(Pictured throughout, a thrifted embroidery circle with vintage bed sheet fabric.)

The mess!

I made some earrings

For my birthday, my mom got me a bunch of jewellery-making supplies and I have been going at it for a few days - things are pretty simple so far but it's been great to put some of my salvaged broken and mismatched jewellery to good use. I've fixed a bunch of pairs of earrings, but here's some of the new pieces I made:

Broken brooch pieces made into stud earrings

Blue glass cabochon clip-ons with salvaged light green beads 

My favourite vintage daisy earrings were totally wrecked (they were super fragile) - so I took bits and pieces and made them into small stud earrings.

Brooch made into stud earrings

Broken-off pieces of vintage clip-ons to stud earrings

Sea glass pieces into stud earrings

Remixed coral cabochons

Broken vintage necklace into stud earrings

Broken bracelet pieces, vintage leather scraps & gold Sharpie stud earrings

Bracelet pieces into drop earrings

Broken vintage gold bracelet pieces, antique pearls, and salvaged turquoise

Antique beads into earrings, on gold wire

Vintage teardrop pearls, remixed

Salvaged turquoise and vintage & antique gold-plated beads

Vintage navy and gold beads from a broken necklace

Vintage necklace and bracelet beads, pieces of vintage leather

Vintage leather scraps and salvaged bracelet beads

More vintage leather scraps and salvaged bracelet beads

Vintage leather scraps, cut into fringe, with black & silver Sharpie

Vintage broken bracelet pieces and beads

Antique plastic beads and pearls

 Looking forward to attempting more difficult and complex earrings! Stay tuned!