*Sorry if it is blurry, still waiting for my camera to get fixed!
This ornament and cute stamped card were sent to me by Dyan Whyte at Dyanwhyte.com. She is a beautiful and artist and has a great website. Check it out.
This ornament was sent in this charming, little tin.
When opened, it revealed an upcycled bottle cap ornament.
View of the back of the ornament.I hope that I will be able to catch another one of the Creative Color Challenges. It was really fun!
I love me some thrift shopping! I came across thethriftshopper.com, You type in your address and it guides you to thrift stores in your area! I feel some road trip planning coming on!!! *Focus, Steph, Focus!* Well, once in awhile when I go, I find a certain item of clothing that I think is just too cute to pass up. Even if I know I will not wear it more than once, I still keep it in my closet for another date or just to admire again. I wore one of these finds to a wedding this past weekend, and I got a lot of compliments on it. More than I expected! A good friend of mine was saying "Hey, you have a lot of these types of dresses in your closet. You should really think about selling them or having a vintage store." She got the light bulb in my head to go off with that comment!
I have always wanted to have my own thrift store. I feel like I have an eye for certain clothes and maybe there are people out there who would buy those clothes from my store and I would be doing something I love. In my mind, I was thinking more of an actual "store". But after browsing the vintage part of etsy.com, I think I might just be able to do this! If you don't already know what Etsy.com is, it is a place to buy and sell handmade items, vintage, and supplies. I am recruiting two of my vintage divas and we are going to work on starting our first vintage online store! I am pretty excited!
But before I just dove in head first, I needed to do some research. Etsy had tons of information on starting an online store. And Great information on starting a vintage store! First things first, I learned that you need to do some background checks on your vintage items. I was never really a label checker before reading this, but every resource I looked into said this is the best place to start. I am still working on a few items, but it was so interesting seeing when these items were made! A few of my dresses are 30 years old! For an item to be considered vintage on Etsy, it must be at least 20 years old. Which means I have a good start on an etsy store!
The internet has very few resources for looking up labels, but one I found was TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System). They do disclose that they are not 100% exact on a lot of the items, but it really gave me a good place to start.
I also found a lot of information on different types of labels from Ebay member ikwewe. I actually found an International Ladie's Garment Worker's Union tag. A label I have never seen before. After doing some research, I found out that this Union was made up mostly of woman and started in 1900. It went thru many ups and downs from a major strike that almost shut it down, support from woman such as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont-a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the women's suffrage movement, a fire that killed most of it's union workers, years of internal struggles, The Great Depression, and in 1995 it was sold to form UNITE. The tag on my dress looks like this:
Thanks to funkoma for this image from an 80s glittery prom dress.
In 1974, ILGWU decided to change the colors of its label to red, white and blue. This is recorded in the records of the 35th annual convention, archived at the Kheel Center at Cornell. The Report of the General Executive Board to the 35th convention in Miami Beach, Florida, May 31, 1974 mentions the change in colors to "an all-American red-white-blue and the addition of the line 'Made in USA'" on page 79. (emphasis added) They explain it in part as a result of the need to support the fight against the competition from low-wage imports, particularly to strengthen the nation-wide anti-imports campaign. All label material prepared in conjunction with the campaign used the slogan: "Buy American: The Job You Save May Be Your Own."
Thanks to never*ending*search and Patrizia Sione, Reference archivist, Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation & Archives for this key information
All of that information on one label on one dress sparked a fire! It was so interesting. I definitely have to do more research as to how they should be priced and more exact origins. I hope to go to the library and look for some books to help me on my journey. I will keep you updated as to when our store will open! Hopefully it will be soon!
For my party this weekend we are going to our local skating rink to bring back some fun memories of days of old! But we are bad-assing it up and wearing Roller Derby Outfits! *I LOVE dress up parties!* The above outfit is a sneak peak as to what me and my girls will be wearing Saturday! Well, you can't be a roller derby girl without a roller derby name! Find yours at Rollergirl Name Generator. Mine is
Olive N. Kickin'!
I came upon the website galadarling.com. This the creator of the website above. Isn't she well...darling? Her website has such a variety of content in it that I could look for days and still not be full! Some of things that caught my eye are:
She dresses excitingly, speaks her mind, and isn't afraid to be herself. Who doesn't love that?!
P.S. As I am writing to you, my husband and I are watching a movie that some of you might not know about.
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.
Now, I know this isn't an ultimate classic, but there aren't many movies I can watch over and over again. This is one that I don't get sick of watching over and over. It is so hilarious! I grew up watching Martin, and Martin Lawrence is the main character in this movie. Monique, Mike Epps, and James Earl Jones are also in the movie. If you have a chill night and see it on I suggest maybe check it out.
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