Style Sunday - Sinatra Sweetie

   I was born in the wrong era.  That's a given.  I want to dine at a club with a full band. I want sway in arms of a gentleman while a crooner sings about love.  I want to wear a dress and heels and head downtown to shop.
   If I am in a mellow mood, I will put on my Sinatra album (yes, I said album...Sinatra should only be heard on vinyl.)  When I was in high school, very few if any of my classmates shared my passion for the oldies.  But college.....that was a different story.  I knew multiple people who not only knew who Sinatra was, but appreciated his genius.  One night we decided to kick back a few decades and celebrate the era when old blue eyes topped the charts.  I wore a dress I found several years ago in a vintage clothing store. 

   It is kind of hard to see, but the back dips into this great V.  So classy, so elegant, a dress for a real broad..

   I am not sure what the ukulele has to do with anything....but don't guys look great dressed up as well?

    By the way I paid $12 for the dress...probably what it cost new.  The night was a real gas!  A ring-a-ding-ding.

Thrift Chick

P.S.  When Mama Thrift was 17, she saw "old blue eyes" in concert.  She was attending a Girl's State Leadership Conference and all the attendees were taken to the concert.  She said she thought he was old and stuffy and was bored for most of the concert.  Scandalous I tell you!  These old people....they didn't appreciate what they had.

The Birdcage Revisited.

   This past Christmas I finally did something with the vintage handkerchiefs I have been collecting.  I loved the end result. (See it here)  I was tempted to leave the tree up all year long, but decided against it.  When I took it down, I really didn't want to fold and out away the handkerchiefs.  So I decided to try something else with them.  What do you think?

    When I bought the bird cage at an estate sale, I had planned to use it hold my scarves, but I have way too many.  I think I like this look.  I still get to see the pretty pieces and the birdcage...and if I sneeze in bed, I just have to reach over and grab a handkerchief. (Although I am quite positive I could never really use one of these beautiful squares.  I know at one time these were very functional accessories, but to me they are just too pretty to soil.)

Thrift Chick

Style Sunday - Bollywood Rocks

   Thrifting for clothes can be a real cultural experience.  Sure the racks tend to be full of eighties and nineties castoffs.  If you are patient, you can find some real oddities hidden among the shoulder pads.  This sari top was in the dress section.  I fell in love with the color.  Even Mama Thrift could see its possibilities (well, she didn't roll her eyes anyway.)  It was only $4...well worth it.

    The jacket is every thrifter's dream find.  I found it in a Goodwill a few years ago.  It is heavy leather and was in the coat section which means it was $8.  I almost passed it by.  When you are only paying $2 and $3 for things, $8 seems steep.  Fortunately, I came to my senses and saw it for what it was...a leather motorcycle jacket for $8!  (Sometimes, my cheap side tries to take control.)

   The boots are Charlotte Russe.  My brother calls them my Amelia Earhart boots.  I see a lot of great footwear at thrift stores....just never in size 10.  This is one of those outfits that can be casual dressy or funky casual.  I love it

Thrift Chick
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For Vintage's Sake

   Sometimes you come across vintage pieces that are so full of history that you could sit on gaze on their patina for hours.  Such was the case for these little pieces from my mother's life. 
   My mom was born in 1933.  By the time she she finished high school in the early 50's, girls pursued one of three professions....secretary, teacher or nurse.  My mom came from a family of four girls.  Three became nurses and one a secretary.  That is just how it was.
   These are a few relics from my mom's early nursing career.

 The watch is a basic no nonsense nurse's watch.  Thrift Chick loves its simple retro feel.  She often wears it.

 

   The name tag is gorgeous.  It is a mother of pearl base with her name engraved in black.  No lanyard, no plastic sleeve.  This is a piece of jewelry, not a name tag.

 

   Check out her nursing board scores.  She was one smart cookie.  If she had been born thirty years later, she would have been the CEO of a Fortune 500 company..  Her organization skills are scary.  This is a woman who when she threw a party,  set up days ahead and labeled where everything would go.  My college roommate got married three years after I did.  She called my mom to ask about the florist I used.  My mom still had her notebook that listed every wedding detail.   After my father finished dental school, she only worked occasionally.  However, she always got requests from non profit organizations to serve as treasurer.  She would have raked Uncle Billy over the coals and whipped George Bailey's Building and Loan into a multinational corporation.

   Here's to the women you came before us.  We should revere the things of their past.

Mama Thrift

A Touch of Blue

   Winter decor obviously means white.  I felt like I was drowning in a sea of white.  I thought I should add a touch of color.  However, I wanted it to still have that icy winter feel.  I really wanted some aqua glass balls. With Christmas over, I knew my chances of finding any at a reasonable price were slim.  I decided to try tinting glass.  I had these glass bulbs I found at the Goodwill for $1.

   Working from a tutorial I found here at Momtastic, I began by mixing up food coloring and a tiny bit of water to get the icy blue I wanted.  I then mixed in about 1/2 C of Mod Podge.  It looked like this when I was finished which made me a little nervous because that was definitely not icy blue.

   I then poured a little in each bulb.  I turned and twisted and turned and twisted until every inch was covered.  I then poured out the extra and put them upside down in the box for about 30 minutes.  I did learn it is key to get the excess out or you will end up with darker splotches.

   I then put the upside down on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet in a my oven at 250 degrees.  After 15 minutes, I turned them over and left them in the oven for another 30-45 minutes.  The results were amazing.

   Now Thrift Chick and I are eying anything we see that is plain glass.  The possibilities are endless!


Mama Thrift

 I am linking to:

Style Sunday -Mumu Glam

   Are you adventuresome in your clothes?  Are you willing to wear things that fit your style, but maybe not the style of those around you?  I am and I make no apologies.  I am quite used to comments like, "Oh I wish I could pull off outfits like you do."  I am still not sure if that is a compliment or a polite way of saying, "What the heck are you wearing?"  I am even used to my mother's doubtful look when I show her something I am thinking of buying.  However, when I showed her this tribal mumu in a thrift shop, she didn't give me a doubtful look.  Oh no, she flat out told me I was crazy.  I told her I had a vision.  Here is my vision.   Here is how a girl today wears a mumu.

 
    First the particulars: The mumu was $2.50 at a Salvation Army.  The scarf was a lost and found score. (I worked at a camp for three summers.  At the end of the summer, we raided the unclaimed lost and found items)  The boots were a $10 clearance item at Walmart. Mama Thrift says there is probably not a lot of shoppers out there dying to find a pair of purple suede boots.  Their loss, my gain.
    When I got home.  I took the mumu and chopped off about three feet of it.  I wear it paired with a belt and leggings.

   I love this outfit.  It is so comfortable.  I wear it everywhere.  Now my college roommates loved to have me wear it too.  They loved to see it without the belt in all its mumu glory.  Here is an example of the sheer volume.  You probably could fit three of me in it.  Looks kind of like a citizen of Whoville, doesn't it.

 

       So now all of you can run right out to your nearest thrift store and grab your own mumu.  I am telling you, you won't be sorry.

ThriftChick

Knockoff Try Number 2

  This is a reality blog.  We pledge to show you our good, our bad and our so-so.   So in the interest of honesty, I bring you my second attempt with a knock off decor item.
     I saw these wooden balls on the West Elm site.  Unusual, weathered and looked to be quite simple.

West Elm's weathered wood sphere

However, $34 for the large and $19 for the small seemed a bit steep for wood sticks in a ball.  I thought  I could duplicate it using sticks and a Styrofoam ball.

   I saw these balsa wood sticks at Hobby Lobby on sale for .60 cents each.  I thought I could cut them, stain them and stick them in the ball and tah dah...a weathered sphere.  Well it started out all right.

   Then when I started to put the cut sticks in the ball, the ball just fell apart as more and more sticks went in.  So on to Plan B...hot gluing them together.  It was messy and time consuming and very painful.

  

   The final product looks nothing like the inspiration.  I like the unusual shape and the dark wood quality, but you can see the hot glue.  My son suggested I spray paint it.  I may do that after my burned fingers stop smarting.

   Maybe sometime in the future I will have evolved to the level of the crafters at Knock Off Decor.  In the meantime I will continue to treat you to my attempts.  maybe they will inspire you...or make you smile... or make you feel better about your failures. (Not that I am saying you have failure....maybe I should say less than desired outcomes.  Do you have "less than desired outcomes"?)

Mama Thrift