Vintage Round-up: Red Plaid

Nothing says fall like red plaid. Here are some great finds that will keep you warm this fall!



Men's red plaid Pendleton short sleeve wool shirt, by retromanvintage on Etsy, $24



50s red plaid shirtwaist dress by Soubrettevintage on Etsy, $58



1960s red plaid Pendleton hat (Yes, I have a thing for Pendleton), by Rustology on Etsy, $24



Vintage red plaid (you guessed it) Pendleton ladies fall coat, by Bathhousevintage on Etsy, $48

Happy shopping!

Save the world: at the thrift store

Last night I got sucked in to the documentary about No Impact Man, the guy from New York who tried to live for one year making the smallest environmental impact he and his family possibly could. At the time, a lot of people basically poked fun at how he and his family could go with out essentials like toilet paper. One of the components of his "experiment" was to not buy anything new. As I watched, I thought about how shopping at the thrift store (or garage sale, estate sale, etc.) instead of the "regular" store can help us all make a smaller environmental impact.

Here are my ideas for how an average person make a smaller environmental impact without having to go without toilet paper:

Buy cloth napkins and stop buying paper ones

These ones I found on Esty are cute. We only use paper for parties, so we have about 20 - 30 cloth napkins for our family of 4 (so we don't have to do laundry all the time).

Get some great kids toys that are washable and have lots of life left

These building blocks are a great example. They are cleanable, cute, and at least with my little ones are sure to get years of play.

Dishes

When I worked at the thrift store in high school (name is opposite of Badwill), dishes that didn't get purchased after a certain amount of time ended up in the trash. Broken, filling up landfills. It's really hearbreaking to see all those dishes get trashed when I know people go out every day and buy brand new stuff at Crate and Barrel or wherever. Why? The thrifty stuff has character, is cheaper, and works just as well.

Books, books, and more books

Okay, so you probably won't (although you may) find the latest bestseller at the thrift store, you can find tons of great books -- cookbooks, fiction, kid's books, gardening, etc. -- at the thrift store for cheap. The library is great, too, but if you find books at the thrift store you can always see if your library wants them (or your friends/coworkers) when you're done. Or, donate them to an organization who needs them.

Clothes, duh

I buy almost all of my clothes secondhand. I can't tell you how many expensive brand-name items I've picked up this way. Banana Republic, Dansko, J Crew, you name it. I also find great kid's clothes with fancy brand names like Hannah Anderson, too. If you can't get out and about, I was just introduced to ThredUp.com, which is an online kid's consignment store. Kids often outgrow stuff before they wear it out, so this is a genius way to trade your kid's old stuff for some "new" stuff that fits. There is an adult version (or lots of them) called SwapStyle.com, but it is truly a swap (rather than a buy/sell deal) so for me I would rather just hit the thrift store than deal with it.

What else could you get from a thrift store, and thus avoid buying new? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Our shop is overflowing!

And it's about to get even fuller. We've been picking up some great stuff this summer but have been too busy to list a lot of it. I'm telling you, LOTS of cool stuff is coming up. We have stockpiles of Christmas holiday vintage goodies that we haven't even sorted through yet. So as fall gets into full swing, expect lots of new stuff arriving daily at the vintage stuff shop.

Hope you had a wonderful summer and a great Labor Day weekend!

Collecting Garfield Stuff

Oh, how I loved Garfield as a kid. He was just the right amount of smarmy and sarcastic and I loved how he treated that dopey dog, Odie. Like most cartoons, I loved the holiday specials the most. The one I remember most was the Garfield Halloween show. Enjoy!


When we recently bumped in to someone's insane Garfield collection at a thrift store, we had to pick up a few things to resell in our Etsy shop. But it got us thinking: are there Garfield collectors still out there. Yes. What do they collect? Everything. Are certain things more desirable? Yes. As with most things, the more rare it is, the more valuable. For example, a quick search on Ebay found that the Garfield arcade kiddie ride and the standing Garfield with the serving tray (3 feet tall!) got the top bids recently.

If you're interested in collecting Garfield, here are a couple more things I found:

A friend in need

Over a month ago my cousin was in a major vehicle rollover accident that has left him paralyzed from the waist down. He's at the Mayo clinic getting speech and occupational therapy. I'm hoping to help raise some money for the myriad of stuff that might make his new life a little more comfortable.

Me blowing out the candles on my birthday cake. My cousin is the one with the party hat. 

He looks ready to party! 

If you have birthday or shower gifts to buy, please check out my other Etsy shop, Pumpkin Girl. For the foreseeable future I'll be selling everything at a discounted price and all proceeds will go to my cousin and his medical needs. My tie tee shirts are made with real men's vintage ties and I sew them all myself. I also have a few cute things for girls, like a clothesline bodysuit with little vintage clothes hanging on the line.

Thanks for taking a look!

Freaky Tiki

Tiki bars. Tropical drinks with an umbrella tucked in. What says hot summer nights better than this? We recently stumbled across a huge matching set of black tiki mugs, and I kind of got to thinking about the tiki culture. I know there are tons of people out there who collect the stuff. And I've seen shows about people who have turned their entire house tiki. But what's up in my neighborhood  -- the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area -- as far as the tiki scene goes?

Here are some cool finds you may want to check out:

Foundation Tiki Bar, Milwaukee
At Random (not really a tiki bar, but of the same era), Milwaukee
Tiki Tuesday Boat Tour (haven't done it but sounds fun

If you can afford to travel, the Tiki Oasis in San Diego appears to be where it's at.

And if I were going to Tiki Oasis, here's what I'd wear:

Tiki turtle dress by Rococo Vintage



White carved Hawaiian shoes by 1Susanfunk1




Basket purse by CuriousFawnVintage



Tortoise bracelet by MekealohaClassic

Are you tiki crazy? Do you collect anything? I'd love to hear about your tiki obsession!