Into the closet: favorite and recent vintage dress finds

I cleaned out my closet…

And it felt so nice! I grouped things by color, print and/or accent color, organized all my blazers and skirts, and "dumped" two garbage bags of ill-fitting, outdated or non-functional clothing! Thank you, SPRING BREAK!

What a perfect time to pull out some of my favorite and most recent vintage dress finds! You'll see each dress has its tag/designer in the corner. Vintage hunting tip: check the tag. I can spot true vintage from across the room; however, if you're not sure--check the tag! Vintage type-fonts and embroidered tags (or NO tags at all!) are the telltale sign of true vintage.

Don't pay a million dollars on Etsy...roll your sleeves up and dig a bit! You can find great vintage at your local thrift store. No dress on this page cost more than three dollars and 4 out of 6 were only $1.59.

Vintage Toni Todd

I love this piece. So pretty and the rhinestone buttons and belt accents just knock it out of the park for me! Pretty and glam spring pastels...

Vintage Willow Ridge

I love this little blue and purple paisley shirt dress. Get lots of compliments on it whenever I wear it. Right when I went to snap the pic the wind picked up and the dress began to dance for me! :)

Vintage Miss Shaheen

How awesome is this mod peacock print dress? Hot.

Vintage Stuart Alan

I like the fringy cowl neck on this super soft knit vintage. Great piece for layering in fall and winter with belts and sweaters!

Vintage Leslie Fay

I love the idea of perking up this hot pink 80's short sleeved shirt dress with slammin' red heels and long, wavy curls...great summer look!

Vintage Schrader Sport

Late 70's nautical/sporty striped shirt dress! I love the collar pop with super bright red. Should have pressed the wrinkles out before snapping the pic...oops! This outfit would look great with red heels as well..possibly with a cute red knit cap or beret or tight curls.

Thanks for looking today and let me know what you think!

Which of these dresses would you like to see in an outfit?

Tea Time: Ideas to upcycle thrifted teacups!

Upcycled Teacup Fun!

I LOVE teacups and dishes. It's so hard for me to walk away from them in the thrift store--even in incomplete sets! I always think of gifts, tea for one, or crafting projects! The good news is that you don't have to feel guilty about a teacup purchase if it was only 99 cents at a thrift store. They make an adorable gift and you can feel great about recycling something that would otherwise end up collecting dust on a shelf somewhere...

The picture above is a gift for a friend that I made, and the first idea for vintage or upycled teacups in my blog today, which features ideas from other blogs or websites that I discovered!

As you can see, I made a Teacup Planter ( shown above). The delicate little yellow rose teacup and matching saucer was a 1.49 at a local thrift store, and I potted a baby Petunia that was a cutting from a larger plant. I have many babies going from parent plants in my house for just such occasions! Read on to discover some other ideas for vintage china that are not only creative for the tea fanatic but just plain cute for anyone!

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Teacup Bird Feeder

How darling! Check the tutorial here from www.IntimateWeddings.com

Upcycled Teacup and Teapot Lamp

I'd love to try this. How cute for a kitchen, library, or den. Instructions here from www.CopyCatCrafts.com.

Cupcake in a Teacup Pincushion

Oh dear...how CUTE! What a nice gift for a seamstress. My mind starts to wander as to what else you could stick in there...and what about a real cupcake with a candle for the tealover? Maybe something special like a bergamot cupcake...oh yes....

Tutorial here from Instructables.com.

Upcycled Teacup Candle

These are so precious. I'm not one for candlemaking, but I have an idea on how I could actually do this craft with pre-made candles melted down, using the same base and wick. I will update you...going to try it soon!

Tutorial here from www.Blog.Nature.org

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OTHER IDEAS NOT PICTURED HERE:

-Teacup and saucer as a jewelry container for rings or small earrings

-Broken or smashed china and teacups for use in mosaic art

-Teacup as a candy dish (nice gift--fill with Bergamot French candy?)

-Chandeliers and even bracelet bangles (anyone ever try that? I'd like to know how!)

--Fill with coffee beans and stick decorative pens or pencils for the coffee lover's desk at work!

Have other ideas? I’d love to hear them—leave a comment!

DIY: Address book into ipod/iphone Carrier!

Here’s what happened…

I saw this super cute embroidered fabric address book on a thrifting trip today. It was small and fit inside the adorable little case shown. My mind immediately went to a Pinterest pin I had seen for a large book as a Kindle case, and I thought..why not turn this into a fun craft project to house my iPod touch?

After all...who really uses address books anymore?

I honestly can't tell you the last time I didn't store this information ON MY IPOD. I know, I know...it's so "1984" of me. But it's true! And the little address books are the perfect size for most smart phones or iPods, so why not turn them into cute hard cases?

OF COURSE I use thrifted items for my craft projects...c'mon! They are more unique items and usually cheaper!PLUS you are doing something kind for the Earth in recycling and upcycling items... Just do it! I found this at Lakeshore Rescue Mission Thrift in Grand Haven, MI today along with THREE Marushka prints to add to my collection! Stop by the Thrift Trick Facebook page and check them out!

I love the iridescent blue and embroidered dragonflies on this!

Here’s how I did it…

I delicately cut out the address book from the binding. I will use these small papers for scrap--I try not to ever waste paper.

Once I had the bare book, I used my scissors to "drill" two holes in the binding, but you could make a more precise hole with a nail and hammer, or just about any other method you could think of...

Then I threaded through this elastic cord and tied it on the outside of the binding. You could slide the knots around to the inside after if you want to hide them! I put mine on the outside for now.

After I did this on the top and bottom (very taut cords) I had the finished project. Ta-da! My ipod slid right in and the elastic holds it right into place. Positioned right, it is easy to use the ipod right inside the case, without even removing it!

AND, it slides right back into the cute yellow hard case.

Oops!

Oh boy. You'd think that after 15 years of webmastering, graphic design and in general, bumming around the internet that I'd know to take a close look at my blog's comment settings. DOH! It wasn't until today, on my 76th blog entry, that I realized a few of my settings were not really facilitating ease for my readers and for that I apologize! It all started when Megan Tintari from Love Maegan mentioned she wasn't able to leave a comment on my blog the other day from a faulty captcha box. What a bummer, considering I love her fashion blog so much, and would have loved a comment on the blog she was viewing (I used her tutorial to try and create "affro curls" in this post). C'est la vie!

But, to add insult to injury, I noticed my settings were only allowing blogspot users to leave comments--and who wants to sign into a blogger account (if they even have one) to leave a comment?

The moral of the story is that I've adjusted for all these problems and I hope to see my subscribers commenting a little more now. Thank you so much for reading my blog and subscribing via feedburner, google, blogspot and other methods. I am grateful for your interest. :)

I'm looking forward to hearing from you next week when I have a fun upcycled jewelry contest based on blog comments for entry. If you get a moment, check it out, and let me know that you are able to say "hello".

Hope your week starts off on a great note...

Chantal

Thrift Trick

Saturday Thrift Finds

Saturday Thrift Session!

My total spending yesterday was $16.92, and there has been nary a day where under $17 could bring me as much satisfaction. I love stretching a (thrifty) dollar or two...Went with my friend Kate, and she found some great stuff as well!

Love all the vintage clip-ons I found, and not pictured here are the adorable dresses, vintage blouses and sharp Houndstoth blazer I scored. More on those for outfit posts, later on!

Vintage 3-piece tin!

Collapsing Vintage Wind Up Clock

Vintage Rhinestones (a reason to live...)

...and all of this cute jewelry!

I try and leave items behind as a sacrifical, karmic offering to the Thrift Gods. Next time I blog a thrift session, I'll show you some of the things I left on the rack for you, the next lucky person that might come along...

A Heather-y print Sherri Lynn and Curls

Vintage Sherri Lynn

I really love this vintage print...it's heather-y, pretty reds, purples and blues, and it's comfy as heck. The bonus, of course, is that I picked it up for $1.59! I paired it with my favorite brown belt and those cognac Lei boots that I wear ALL the time (are you tired of seeing them yet?)

Also pictured is a statement ring I made, shown in my Hitting The New Year with New Purpose post and a thrifted plastic and gold bangle. No earrings with this outfit because I liked the simple flower and curls in my hair.

This is the story of my crazy curls…

I used sponge rollers--30 of them--to try and achieve this fabulous look from Love Maegan's Affro Curl Tutorial. Besides LOVING her look, I really wanted to have a super curly fro for my band, Chantron, and our next gig, which is St. Patty's day at West Side Inn in Muskegon. We are doing a 70's theme for a video we are shooting and I thought it would be perfect!

Whoops! Wrong Decade.

Instead of getting that fabulous '70s curly fro, I ended up in the wrong decade, looking like a whitebread version of Rick James in the '80s. Or like a guitarist from Cinderella. LUCKILY, a little styling and pinning with an updo took these curls from Def Leppard to a super cute hairstyle. Back to the drawing board with more (and smaller!) sponge rollers!

Jenna's Finds and Grand Rapids Highlights

Oh, hey Sgt. Pepper!

No, they do not sell cute dogs like Jenna's Pepper at thrift stores, generally. But you CAN usually get all kinds of cute clothes, accessories, household items and more! Remember the Besties in G-Rap thrifting session? I thought you might want to see a few of the things Jenna picked up and hear about some of our thrifting spots. Enjoy!

Cute little mosaic teapot…

Vintage Pendleton Wool Plaid Blazer, vintage Nancy Drew and a cute red clutch!

Another teapot! Sense a theme?

Trying to avoid more teapots and mugs is the bane of my existence, and I share that with my friend. :) Neither of us can resist a good vintage blazer...though a voicemail from Jenna reported to me the other day that since becoming thrift obsessed she is hoarding just about every vintage tweed to be found on the racks of Grand Rapids thrift stores, haha! Not pictured here are the mega blinged out rhinestone bead clip-ons I talked Jenna into picking up...it was my good deed for the day...you know mama likey that kinda stuff....

Here are a few locations we visited that I would recommend:

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SALVATION ARMY: 1491 S. Division Grand Rapids, MI, 49507

GOODWILL: 200 S, Division Grand Rapids, MI, 49507

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL's: 1314 S. Division Grand Rapids, MI, 49507

A perfect trifecta if you are looking to pack a punch in a quick Grand Rapids, MI thrifting jaunt. You can finish up with some lunch or dinner at ROCKWELL's REPUBLIC like we did. They had house cilantro infused vodka and a bloody mary bar...it was awesome. So was the Turkey Reuben and sushi we had for lunch!

Within walking distance to Goodwill!

THREE DIY Necklaces: 100% upcycled

Three DIY necklaces--including one that is a "modifiable" or "interchangeable" bib--and you guessed right, 100% recycled, upcycled, and thrifted materials!

It was so nice to wedge in a bit of crafting time yesterday, amidst the chaos of child rearing, full time college, and homemaking. After a full day of work, tidying up, cooking a pot roast dinner and taking care of every single pet in the house (from turtles to guinea pigs there are EIGHT total!), I had a tiny slice of "me" time!

The inspiration started on Pinterest (sounds familiar, right? I mean, who ISN'T cracking out on Pinterest lately? Follow my board here.) I was looking at DIY jewelry and found lots of ideas and inspiration which turned into new ideas and...well...three DIY necklaces!

I think my favorite is the pearl necklace shown above, but all of them turned out so cute!

The mess in the kitchen started with: A glue gun, scissors, scraps of fabric, and tons of recycled jewelry bits that I had been hoarding.

ALL of the jewelry I used was thrifted and recycled. Some parts were broken or missing pieces, others just repurposed.

I knew I wanted a big statement, "bib" type approach for the flat collar style strand I bought at Hope's Outlet in Grand Haven, MI the other day for .49.

That very same day I bought a baby food jar filled with different size faux pearl beads for .99. Craft time!

Also shown above is a cute elephant brooch I saved (broken) and two matching earrings whose posts had long since broken off. I decided a clever idea would be to actually make a bib style cut out that could simply slide on/off my necklace base (one point for a Chantal, not Pinterest!). I'll be creating new pieces to wear with this strand that is interchangeable! I used hot glue to decorate the fabric I used for the main piece--it is actually white vinyl with felt backing, just like tablecloth material! Flexible and light. You could easily sew the beads on and be much fancier, more patient, and smarter.

The scarf necklace was a TOTAL Pinterest scavenge! See the inspiration I pinned HERE. I used decorations from upcycled vintage earrings and a special Catholic patron saint medal that belonged to my grandmother. I affixed them to the "danglies" on an old gold necklace I no longer wear. Simply tied this thing together. Too easy--it only took 5 minutes to make.

I'm looking forward to doing more of these for my "Project Gift" AND I think I'll be giving one of my creations away to blog readers! YAY!

I love the twisted bead style necklaces I see around so I figured these .99 thrifted yellow plastic beads and a .49 chain (both from Hope's Outlet in G.H.) would do well to be tied and twisted together. I actually sewed the clusters to keep their shape. Then I fixed each end to the leftover strands of the necklace I took apart for the scarf based project above. Now each side clasps together on a normal chain. Easy peasy!

So there you have it! Three completely recycled, totally fabulous DIY necklace approaches. I will try to work at least two of these into outfit posts very soon. How much fun it is to repurpose old jewelry and sad little lost parts.

Go forth, and make new!