Sweet and Simple

I haven't worn this dress in ages! For some reason it always gets passed over in my closet.

It's a great dress though, very comfortable and not too dressy for day.

The heat wave in Winnipeg continues, so I'm keeping it simple today: Shoes, Dress, bracelets. Nothing constricting or too fancy. I'm just going to work after all.

Speaking of work, I've got less than a month left at Harlequin before I start Stage Managing again! Woo Hoo! Can't wait! I am literally counting down the days.

50's/60's Purple Print dress (altered by me): Ragpickers.

Silver Bracelets: Gift from The Boy's Mom

Purple Mary Janes: Naturalizer

Lisa.xo

Grandma's Glasses

I am in possession of nearly all of my late Grandma Cotton's glasses, from the late 50's to the 80's.
Some of them are pretty bad and I can't seem to bring myself to get rid of them.

I have a few pairs that are pretty awesome though. So awesome that I'm thinking about have my prescription put into one of them and the other made into sunglasses.

They are, of course, the oldest pairs. Here they are:

Now you'd probably think I'd be making the dark pair into sunglasses, but you'd be wrong. This is the pair I'd like to put my prescription into. I'd like to make the lighter pair into rose tinted sunglasses. Right now they still have Grandma's bi-focal prescription in them and it's pretty hard to see through them! lol!

Everything is about this fuzzy through the bi-focals!

What do you think? Good idea? Do I look silly? Or cute?

Lisa.xo

Birthday Celebration

Not mine of course...as you know, mine was last month. August is my brother Matt's birthday month! (you may remember Matt's party from last year)

I always buy Matt vintage for any gift, birthday, Christmas, whatever. And this year is no exception.

Matt loves sweater vests. This one had his name written all over it.

I especially love the 40's clip on bow tie. (Both bought at Vintage Glory!)

I also picked up a little something for myself. Vintage Glory is undergoing a bit of a transformation right now. Two lovely ladies have taken over the ladies clothing. And the whole works will be moving next door in about a months time. Stay tuned for a post dedicated to this in September!

But back to the goodies...this lovely enamel brooch is from the girls at Oh So Lovely. Look at the pretty little box it came in! Love it! :)

The Boy also had his first foray into the world of vintage. He looked great in this blue western style shirt! I can't believe he bought it! I think it's my good influence on him. ;)

At any rate...here are a few photos from the party last night.

My brothers and I horsing around! We're so rarely all in the same place...it was nice.

The night ended with a nerfball fight. It was funny...and fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT! Love you!

Lisa.xo

I'm Spoiled!

Is anyone else geeking out about Banana Republic's Mad Men Collection? I am!

Normally I only get to ogle these kinds of things online and I only dream about owning them. But not this time!!

The Boy just finished ordering me the Begonia Print dress in Blue! I can't wait to get it! :)

I figured, I'm a big girl. It's not that expensive. Granted, I rarely spend this much on the vintage which ends up in my closet, but I deserve something special once in a while. I love Mad Men and I want a piece of this collection.
I can't wait to wear this dress!

You know there will be photos when it gets here!

What's your favorite piece in the collection? Have you ordered anything?

Lisa.xo

Wishlist: Bathing Suit

After posting my pasty bikini clad self the other day my Mom and I got to talking about bathing suits.

Some of you may be wondering why I don't own a vintage inspired bathing suit. I have The Boy to blame for that one. He picked out and bought my current bathing suit for me. He liked it so much...what was a good girlfriend to do?

My next suit will be vintage inspired for sure. I really love these ones:

You know how much I love anything nautical!!

Pieces for this suit are sold seperatly at Pinup Girl Clothing

You also know my weakness for Polkadots!

This one is from ModCloth

I found this next one via Vanilla Dreams. Anyone know which designer this beauty hails from?

Another one I love and found at My Style Pill. So cute! Love the Ruffles. Don't know where this is from either...help?

I'm not sure a new suit is in the cards for this year, but next year I'll be sporting a beautiful suit like one of these.

Do you have a retro inspired suit? Any reccomendations?

Lisa.xo

Where Have I Been?

At the lake!!!

The Boy, Dave and I have been spending a lot of time at the lake in the last few weeks. The weather in Manitoba has been exeptionally warm and wonderful and we just couldn't stay at home!!

Dave is turning out to be quite the swimmer!

We never end up with any photos of me...I'm always the one behind the camera...hence the self portraits...

I lived in this hat out at the lake 

He's so cute! I can't resist adding more photos!  

I'm either brave or crazy for including this pasty bikini clad photo of myself! lol!

What fun summer things have you been up to?

Lisa.xo

Amazing Fluffy Find

Once again my Thrifting Spidey Sense (I think it's earned capitalization...) has struck again.

This time while driving past my local Goodwill. Upon walking in, one of the very friendly staff told me there was a vintage crinoline for sale. She also told me that in two days they were having a 25% off sale and if I came early it still might be there.

This of course would not do. With or without the discount I was taking home that crinoline.

Want to know the best part? When I went to pay for my new pretty treasure, the staff member gave me
25% off that day!

The moral of the story: it pays to frequent your local thrift store and get to know the staff. :)

Lisa.xo

Wishlist: Pocket Watch Necklace

Pocket watch necklaces are nothing new. There have been many kinds, repro, new and vintage floating around the blogosphere for many years.

I don't have one and still want one.

I love these beauties. All on Etsy.

This cutie is from GeluguAccessories.

 

I love the delicate cover on this one from Beadix

This one from J2hike is classic. Can't go wrong!

The numbers on this one, also from J2hike are great.

As much as I like the ease of buying a pocket watch necklace...I really love the idea of buying a watch, adding a chain and making my own necklace.
Maybe once I'm back to Stage Managing in the fall.

Lisa.xo

Tutorial: How to Get the Smell of Mothballs out of Vintage Clothes (Eco-Friendly/Green Method)

I bought a dress at Ruby Slipper not long ago. Yeah! Right? No. I didn't realize until I got it home that it REEKED of mothballs. By some stroke of luck in all the years of vintage and thrift shopping I have under my belt I have never bought anything that smelled of mothballs.

Here's the dress in question. You might remember it from my outfit-a-day challenge in June. So cute right? I was bummed.

So I set to work researching how to get rid of the stink. I was very determined to find a method to clean the dress without resorting to more stinky chemicals. Green and Eco-Friendly was the word of the day. And so until that time this dress hung in the far corner of my basement so I didn't have to look at its cute stinky self. Sorry dress.

I tried several methods. I'm not sure if it was the last one that actually worked, or the combination of several stratagies that finally un-stinkafied this dress.

Number One: A Wash in White Vinegar

First I tried washing it in white vinegar. Gentle cycle on my front load washer. Now I wouldn't recommend washing all vintage in your washing machine, but this dress felt like cotton or poly cotton blend. And it stunk, so I figured I couldn't hurt it anymore that it already had been.
I actually washed it twice this way. To little effect. It stunk less, but was still rank. So I hung it back up in the corner of the basement and did some more research.

Number Two: Air Dry Outside

I only did this for about an hour. The site I visited recommended that the garment be left out for as long as possible. I am paranoid and was worried about sun-fading as well as someone swiping my dress. Not that that would happen, my neighbourhood is so safe and I have to, on occasion, have to remind myself that not everyone considers vintage clothing to be the equivalent of large diamond necklaces.

Dress: 2. Lisa: 0

Number Three: Soak in White Vinegar

I didn't read this anywhere (at least I think I didn't). I just thought that maybe test number 1 didn't work because the vinegar was too dilluted in the wash to be effective. Vinegar is cheap, so I thought "What the hell! Let's give it a try." I filled up my utility sink with some vinegar, enough to cover and tossed in the 'ole stink dress. And I let it sit. For an hour.

After an hour, I drained the sink and put the dress into my washing machine on the Rinse Cycle. Then hung it to dry.

I am happy to report that the smell had faded a little! But I could still smell mothballs.

Number Four:  Vodka Spray

I'm sure this is the one that worked the most effectively. I will go straight to this method in the future (if such an occasion arises).

It's simple. you'll need: a spray bottle, vodka and the stinky item in question. I also used a funnel because it ensures that all the vodka gets into the sprayer without a mess. (I bought a set of four funnels in different sizes at the dollar store)

Once you've got your vodka in the sprayer you may want to mix yourself a drink. I made a Screwdriver. For this you will need OJ, ice and a glass! :)

Spray your dress (or other stinky item). I sprayed it in and out as this dress has a lining. I also made sure that it was damp. This was no light spritz. It wasn't dripping wet, just saturated.

Then I hung the dress to dry. (now is a good time to drink your cocktail!) The vodka dries without leaving a residual smell. I did not wash the dress afterwards. It has been washed enough I thought.

This seemed to work wonders! The dress no longer smells! I was thrilled! Plus it is a method you could use on Dry Clean Only items.

And couldn't wait to pass on this information to you all!

Here are a few links to the sites I found most helpful while researching:

Answers.com 

How to Get Rid of Stuff.com - this site also explains what mothballs are and how they work

eHow.com

Lisa.xo