Plaid Pendleton Skirt - 2 Ways

I've always been frugal when it comes to clothes shopping. I grew up that way. We had to be able to stretch a dollar to make it week to week. I rarely buy anything full price and buy a lot of off season stuff that is marked way down. Of course, my main clothing supply comes from thrift stores and yard sales. That is where I always get the best deals and find the best stuff. My wardrobe is built on thrift store finds and it's pretty damn stylish, if I do say so myself. One of the best ways that I've learned to get the most from my wardrobe is to make each piece work in several different ways.

There are the basic wardrobe staples that are perfect for this. For example you can make a pair of jeans look casual or super fancy. The black pencil skirt (that should be in every woman's closet) goes with anything. Beyond the basic wardrobe essentials, I try to make each piece work in several different ways. Basically, I will style a plaid western shirt in as many different ways as I can. So, I've been working on incorporating more of that in my etsy listings and I thought, "why not do a blog post series about it too?" 

The weather has been just right for finally getting out the plaid flannels and sweaters. It's my favorite time of year in Arizona.

 The Plaid Pendleton Skirt

Two Ways

Vintage Owl Lamp Upcycle

A couple of years ago, I found this awesome ceramic owl lamp at a yard sale. I was so stoked about it, that I put it in my living room and took pics before I even fixed the lampshade. The owls were in decent shape, except there were a few minor chips on it. There was also one pretty bad chip on the owl's brow, but I loved it anyway. I thought about painting it to cover up these chips, but since I'm mostly a vintage purist, I thought it would be a bad idea.

Normally, I don't condone painting anything that is genuine vintage. Vintage wood furniture should almost never be painted. Anything collectible shouldn't be painted, if painting an item will diminish the value, don't paint it, etc, etc,.. You get the point. So, I never wanted to paint this baby, until now.

I've got to say that I DO NOT recommend buying one of these lamps and immediately painting it. If you find one and it's in great shape, you probably shouldn't paint it. I only painted this one after long and careful consideration and because there were some significant chips on it. Please don't go around painting up all of these beauties. If you love the look and really want to have one like it, I'm working on a cheap and easy DIY, knock off version. So, check back before you go paint one of these beauties.

See the AFTER version after the jump

Vintage T-Shirt Of The Month Club

I've always liked the idea of the various "of the month clubs." There are jelly of the month clubs, book of the month clubs, wine of the month clubs, etc... It's always such a nice surprise to get something in the mail other than bills.

"Of the month clubs" have gotten sort of a bad rap since that famous scene from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation when Clark gets a jelly of the month club in lieau of his annual Christmas bonus.
You know the scene. It should have got Chevy Chase an Oscar. Here it is, in case you forgot:

Truth be told, I would actually love to get a jelly of the month club subscription as a gift. 

I sell vintage clothes and love to dig through every single shirt at the thrift shop. Seriously, Every. Single. Shirt. I thought I would offer up my own version, with a vintage t-shirt of the month club.

Once a month for 6 or 12 months, you will receive a short sleeve, unique, vintage, unisex t-shirt in the size of your choosing. The styles may vary from funny to animal to weird to concert tees. Only the dopest of t-shirts will be selected for the club. Each of these shirts will be carefully chosen to guarantee radness and laundered to guarantee freshness.

Worm Food

Once upon a time, I bought these three colored pencil portraits at a yard sale. I felt like they had a story.

 This is it....

He was a heart throb. His parents and all of their friends knew he would grow up to be one. Whenever his mother had the ladies over for bridge, they would all say, "He's going to be a heart breaker when he grows up." They were right.

The girls all chased him on the playground in elementary school. He was the first boy in his class to get a kiss from a girl in junior high. He didn't have to do much to convince her. The girls were practically lined up around the block for their first kiss with him.

He enjoyed the attention he got from all of the girls, but it never went to his head. He was never arrogant or boastful about it and that just added to his charm and made him even more desirable. He also never got too serious with any girl, even when he got older and went to high school. This was something that made his mother very happy.