Seeking Everyday Beauty & Velvet Strawberries

My Vintage Passion

George, the boys and I spent Sunday afternoon walking through the streets of downtown Fredericksburg. It was such a beautiful day to casually stroll through town together. I forgot my camera though. Darnit, I keep doing that! We had lunch at one of our favorite spots in town. It's locally-owned and fresh, fresh, fresh. They bake their own bread for sandwiches and squeeze fresh lemons to make lemonade. Simple things that make all the difference in the world. We asked each other the same question we always ask when we go there. "Why isn't this place more crowded? Why would people rather go to a chain restaurant or grab fast food?" A mystery, indeed.

Our downtown area is laced with antique shops and interesting little boutiques that beckon from the street. George waited so patiently (thank you, darling!) while I popped into a few of them. I found several old hats and trimmings for a song. Couldn't pass those up! I did pass up a lot of other things that I would have probably grabbed in the past. I'm trying to really be selective with my vintage purchases. Asking myself, Do I really love this? Do I have a place for it? Does it go with my aesthetic?  Does anyone else find themselves doing this lately? How much stuff do we really need? Clearing out the clutter is a wonderful feeling, but it seems there's no point in doing it if we're just going to turn around and fill the house again. When is enough enough? This is the way I've been feeling lately. Being selective. Choosing only that which I truly believe is useful or beautiful.

I'm going to bet that my husband doesn't think old hats are useful or beautiful, but I sure do! Since high school, millinery hats and trims have been one of my passions (purses and jewelry being the other two big ones). I always scoop them up when they're priced right. I can pass up a lot of cool old things, but millinery is not one of them! So, what about you? Are you feeling the need to be more selective lately? Do you tend to seek out specific vintage items when you're treasure hunting? What's your vintage passion?

Necessary Strawberries

For some reason, I feel it is my duty to let you know when a new velvet strawberry-related treasure makes its way into my world. I mean, after all, as the name of this blog suggests, I am seeking them. So it's only right that I share what I have sought (and found or otherwise received) with you, my dear readers.

This glorious purse was a gift, actually, from someone very special.  I was pleased as punch, as you can well imagine! I needed a black one. Really, I did. As much as I adore pastels and muted colors in general, I do wear an awful lot of black. It just looks better on me with my dark hair and olive skin. So, this was a necessary addition to the collection. (note to husband: Really, George, it was necessary.)

Oh, you don't know how badly I want to snip all of these berries off and use them in some other way, somewhere around the house or in an artful creation of some sort. I would never do it though. And how about the fabulous pea pods? Come on. I'd like to meet the very patient person that made this purse and hand sewed every last seed pearl onto these berries. I would hire her (or him) to make some just for me. Hundreds of them. I would pay darn good money! I just reread this paragraph. Gosh, I sound like a lunatic, but I do love this purse.

{missing memory card status: still missing.  I have begun re-shooting pictures of the sweets and hope to have them on-line by Monday at the latest.

A Hat Parade

I've been trying to carve out a path in my studio/craft room/dungeon so I can at least walk to my computer and back. It's gotten bad in there, girls. It's borderline dangerous. Things are falling from shelves and hitting me in the head. There are mountains of boxes, packing peanuts, tulle, paperwork (by the grace of God I got my taxes done this year), seam binding and far too many millinery flowers. I've got to get it cleaned and organized before George comes home from work and finds me stuck behind a fallen tower of Priority Mail boxes one of these days.

 

This weekend I took the first step. Well, the first step is admitting I have a problem. (and I do.) The second step is picking a place to start and actually starting. So, I started with the hats. I have old hats everywhere and still want to get them hung on the wall to free up precious shelf space. As I piled them all on the kitchen counter, I figured I might as well snap some photos to share with you here. They look so much prettier when they're not in amongst a disaster area! I placed each one on a cake plate since they remind me of fancy frou frou cakes.

 

Velvet berries are always a good thing (and I've actually got some berries to list in the shop soon).

 

Bought this one for $5.

 

Velvet strawberries. A favorite, of course. $10...no kidding! And I would've paid $80!

 

These enormous blooms are just begging to be taken off and used in art or shared with friends.

 

More scrumptious velvet berries.

 

I don't usually do too much blue, but I liked this one a lot. Nice floppy roses.

 

Pretty in white.

Tons of roses with velvet petals here.

Delicate strawberries. Lovely.

It's hard to resist pink velvet ribbon this wide!

Fun, flirty carnations.

Soft pretty whites.

More velvet berries.....this time in blue.

A very sweet hat that probably belonged to a young girl. My mom said older women wouldn't have usually worn a hat like this. I can't believe she didn't keep any of her flowered hats from the 60s!

Tattered and lovely.

Velvet pansies. This was one of the first hats I ever bought. I got it at the big flea market on 27th Street in NYC when I was in college. Sadly, I heard that flea is no longer there. It was fabulous.

This is loaded with miniature flowers studded with faux rhinestones.

The floppiest and most ready-to-fall-apart hat in the collection. One of my very favorites.

This elegant cloche hat was my Grandma's. I found it at the top of her closet when I was over there visiting last year. (note to my Grandma, who really does read my blog: Hi Grandma! Thank you again for the lovely hat. I will cherish it because I know you once wore it. Got anymore hiding in that house? Love to you and Grandpa. See you soon! ~ Andrea)

And finally, white flowers and puff balls. I keep this one in the foyer up on a bookshelf with some other white ones.

That concludes the hat parade! Hope you enjoyed the show. Sadly, they are all still sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm trying to figure out a proper way to display such lovely relics. Any suggestions?

On a different note, thank you for all the love on my previous post. You guys know how to cheer a girl right up. Thank you for your support. I am feeling much better and now I don't have to make a voodoo doll of the evil commenter and stick it with corsage pins. It's all good.

Oh, and One More Thing.....

.....I wanted to show you. I  found this pretty little thing during my craft store spree last weekend. It is a glass-front curio/shadow box case with a hinged door and glass knob. It's intended to be hung on a wall, but I knew as soon as I saw it that it would make a fabulous jewelry box! I bought two.....one sits on my dresser in the bedroom and this one is in my studio sorting out vintage jewelry that will be re-created into pieces for my Found Object jewelry and Bundles of Baubles. (goodies coming in April!)

With a glass top and divided sections, it makes perfect sense as a storage case, don't you think? You can see it all at a glance, yet it won't get dusty from being uncovered.

Here are some pieces up close. Onyx Beauties and Pearly Girls.

Sparkly Bits.

Old Buckles.

Pretty Favorites.

Shining Strands.

Functional and beautiful......I needed that.

Sorry about the glare from the glass here. I couldn't get a shot without it, but I wanted you to see the cabinet in it's entirety.

The box is at Michael's and is still 40% off girls!

Tokens of Love

On this most romantic of all holidays, I thought I would share some little tokens of love that I've gathered along the way. Such a timesless symbol, I've always liked the shape of a heart, but never had all these items in the same place as a collection.

They have impact as a collection, and I think I'll pin them to a board somewhere, all together as one big happy heart family. These old earrings, brooches, scatter pins, pendants, barrettes and shoe clips can be found pretty readily at flea markets. I didn't realize I had so many until I went scrounging around in my jewelry boxes. The large yummy beige pearl one is my favorite!

A old gem of an evening bag. Aren't the colors and the beadwork beautiful? And the unusual oval shape. This one sits in a box on my dresser.

I found these vintage Valentine tags at a local antique mall. The scalloped edge, silk cord, soft colors and beautiful script are all very much "me". I was drawn to it and didn't mind paying a little more for such a treasure with a sweet sentiment.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! I wish you as much love as your heart can possibly hold! Until it overflows. Not just today but everyday in this life. Make the moments count. You can't get them back. Make someone happy. Be nice. Share your love. Open your heart. Pass it on.

xo Andrea

Bits of Beauty

I've had a rough couple of days. Nothing major and certainly nothing that most mothers don't go through at some point. Just a major lack of sleep and not knowing if Sam is getting enough to eat and wondering why he seems to cry 24/7. I have so much to do and the days seem to slip by. Am I doing something wrong? I'm not sure. I could cry at any given moment and feel like soaking in a bubble bath for a week straight. No phones, no computer, no cooking, no obligations. Just quiet stillness.

So, to cheer myself up a bit, I walked around the house and started snapping pictures of my favorite little bits. My everyday beauty. I don't do this often enough. I love our home and all of the little things inside of it. These small things make me smile. As I sifted through the pictures I took, I found that most of them had flowers in them. My eye is just drawn in that direction I guess. I'm certainly ready for Spring flowers. This non-daylight savings crap is for the birds! I need sunshine and light and longer days.

This is an old mirror on the wall in the foyer. My mom and I never visit each other empty handed. She brought this for me when she came out in October for Sam's birth. It's one of my very favorites.

The picture above was random luck. I was rearranging things on some nearby shelves and had set everything on the buffet while I dusted the shelves off. I glanced over at the buffet and thought to myself, "this looks like a table at a flea market." I loved this vignette I had created purely by accident. I almost didn't want to put everything away!

This is my mom as a child. And some old barrettes I've gathered along the way.

Just a beautiful old corsage. The faded colors are to die for.

This old aqua hatbox was found hiding at the top of my grandma's closet when I visited her last summer. She always asks me to come over and go through her things and take whatever I'd like. There are some really cool old things hiding in that house. She also gave me most of these old beaded cocktail rings (below). They sit on this porcelain hand on my dresser.

So, there you have the nickel tour of some of my favorite things. There are lots more, maybe for another rainy day. Thanks for "listening" to my ramblings. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a better one. So, does anyone want to come over and cook dinner?

Merry and Bright

It's definitely beginning to look like Christmas around here. Boxes are scattered around my kitchen and family room, and I am enjoying peeking into each one and remembering the various ornaments and decorations I have been given, purchased or made. The picture above shows some of my flea markets finds. Almost all of these were purchased at my favorite flea market near my parents' house in Ohio. And none were more than $1 a piece.

 

I don't use red in my Christmas decorating (you're not surprised are you?) so it's sometimes a challenge to find ornaments and decorations that suit my preferred palette. That is one of the reasons I am drawn to these vintage glass bulbs. The soft colors and chipped patina combine to make them feel almost magical. So shiny and reflective and, well, old. I just love old.

There's a lot of glass glitter being scattered around here as well. Here is an old feather tree on a glittered pedestal. And below is a corner of a banner that I made from a kit Pam Garrison sold last year. It's tucked in the tree. The sign says "Buon Natale", which is "Merry Christmas" in Italian. I'll have to take a better picture once the tree is complete.

A simple wreath hanging on an old window that I covered in ledger paper. You don't have to go over the top to make it festive. In fact, I think the unexpected little details can be so special.

And last but not least, a sweet baby ornament that I just bought for Sam's first Christmas. I thought it was too precious to resist.

Well, I'd better get back to unpacking before the baby wakes up.....I took this picture an hour ago, and he hasn't moved an inch since I snapped the photo!

Giving & Receiving

Hi everyone. Yes, I'm still here! Just having a bit of a rough week, physically speaking. The car ride to Ohio and back was torture on my poor legs. They are throbbing. And lots of other pregnancy-related pains seem to be presenting themselves on a daily basis. On top of that, I am no longer sleeping. Some nights I sleep an hour or two. Some nights not at all. I'm running on empty! Oh, well, I guess it's just all normal pregnancy stuff. I just didn't have these issues with my first pregnancy, so it has caught me by surprise.

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a nice long weekend. We enjoyed the company of family and change of scenery. Mario and his cousins ran around the yard like maniacs and had a ball playing together. My new niece was baptized, and I'm so glad we were there for that special day. My mom and I hit the flea market (another reason my legs hurt......shame on me.) and found some treasures. The picture at the top is a glimpse of some old jewelry I found. I'll finally be able to get the Flea Market section of the website up and running with some Bundles of Baubles and Bundles of Buttons! I hope you like them. I'll let you know when they are listed. I also found some vintage ornaments in my colors to add to the tree this year. I hoping to finally get around to making a wreath out of these.

And now, without further ado, the winner of the 100th post Sparkling Glass Glitter Giveaway is Dede!!!!!! Congratulations Dede! I'll be sending you an email to get your mailing address and shipping your two bottles of glitter out this week! I hope you enjoy them!

For any of you who may be interested, the 2 new glitter colors will be for sale in the shop on Saturday. I'll post again to let you know exactly when.

Speaking of giving things to people, so many sweet and thoughtful gifts have come my way lately. I just wanted to share a few of them with you.

This is a gift from Wendy, a sweet woman who I've kind of gotten to know through my blog. She wanted to share some of her vintage lace collection with me. Lucky me! The box arrived covered in vintage wallpaper, and I hated to have to tear it open. I love how she covered this container and embellished it with tags and lace and an old rhinestone jewel. Pink and brown......she's got my number for sure. Just look at all of the lovely aged lace. Yum.

My friend Pam made this special journal and brought it over to my house the day before I launched One Hundred Wishes. I use it to record my thoughts and plans and milestones for the business. I know I'll enjoy looking back through this journal in years to come to see how things have evolved and to remember the beginning stages of One Hundred Wishes.

Pam also made this! It's a vintage wooden spool that she crafted into a vase of sorts to hold all of the "flowers" she tucked inside. It sits happily on a shelf in my studio. I really enjoy surrounding myself with art made by friends and fellow crafters. It makes me feel that I'm a teeny tiny part of a creative web of wonderful, generous women.

This was given to me by my friend Dana. A tablet of stationery covered in floral paper with an "A" on top. And this little old stork! She knows I fall for anything vintage-baby related. How cute is this stork? I just love it! Can't wait to find the perfect little nook for it in the nursery.

Those are just a few bits of generosity that have come my way lately. It's fun to get surprises and just as fun to give them to others. George says I do so many giveaways, I'll never make any money! I don't care......it's fun!

The weekend is almost here. I can't wait. I'll be back (I promise) with a shop update this Saturday (or sooner). My foyer looks like a warehouse. Lots of shipments arriving and newness to share with all of you, including new ribbons, garlands, and some velvet surprises!

Have a lovely day!

The Ones I Can't Cut Up

I generally seek old hats with the intention of cutting the flowers off and using them in art or incorporating them in a gift's wrapping. But there are just some hats I can't bring myself to disassemble. Just can't do it. So, they become decorations in the studio or sit atop a lampshade in the bedroom. Here are some of the chosen few.....

 

Purses: vintage wicker & velvet yums!

After the last post, I thought I should show you some of my favorite old purses. I always love to see the collections that other women accumulate. I've got a thing for accessories (don't we all?), but especially vintage ones. There's an entire drawer in my dresser devoted to vintage head scarves. I used to wear them in my hair fairly often, as headbands. Not so much anymore. Maybe I'll have to go digging through that drawer and pull a few out. Then there's the box of beaded change purses and old compact mirrors. How much of this stuff do I need, I ask you? Seriously people. Crazy. I've been accumulating these things for years and years. I was the girl in high school with the unusual purses from flea markets, when everyone else had the latest designer bag. I never wanted to see other people with the same clothes and accessories as myself. Even then, I wanted old things. They have a special quality I can't explain. But I'm pretty sure a lot of you get it. So, anyway, here are a few of my favorites from the wicker with velvet strawberries or roses genre.

You may recognize this one from my very first post on this blog, back in February. And she's also a part of my banner.

This red one is the latest addition. Bought it for a song. It's even got little pearl-filled pea pods nestled in between the strawberries.

Then there's this aqua one with just a few dangling berries. But still cute I think. It looks like someone made the top part and added it to the purse. It is probably just cardboard stitched between two layers of aqua felt with a pinked edge.

This one is not velvet, but is wicker and has some sweet flowers atop...so I thought it was photo worthy.

And then these 2 with the most wonderful color combination I have ever seen. I love how the velvet has been twirled around to make the roses. These are sitting on my dresser in the bedroom because I just love to look at them. Our bedroom is sadly neglected and will probably be the last room we redo....one of these days. So, at least I've got some pretty things sitting around to offset the hideous ceiling fan and furniture!

So, there you have a little sampling of my favorites..... now don't you all head over to ebay and start bidding on these! Tee-hee. Just kidding. I'm willing to share the velvet love!

I'll do another post someday to show you some others......in the meantime, I've got to finish making more goodies for the shop!