Locket Lundi

Today's locket is a solid 10K gold, mid century heart locket set with a diamond chip. You can find it here in the shop. Happy Locket Monday!

Hyacinth necklace

I bought this necklace for myself on ebay a while back. I love 1920s lariat necklaces and I had never seen one with glass ornaments like this one. Usually they terminate with briolette or trumpet-shaped crystals, like this one or this one.  I knew it reminded me of something but I couldn't put my finger on just what. Then I was out walking earlier this spring and I saw purple grape hyacinths in our neighborhood and I realized - That's it! That's what they remind me of. Don't you agree?

The best barrettes in the world

I have a bunch of these pretty barrettes from Jane Tran and I love 'em. I am declaring them the best barrettes/bobby pins in the world.

Images courtesy of Jane Tran

Alkemie

The jewelry line Alkemie is made of 100% reclaimed metals by a husband/wife duo in LA. I am in love with this lavender cuff, although all of their figural jewelry is pretty awesome. You can find a nice selection of their jewels over at Juno & Jove (super fun site) or visit their entire collection.

Images courtesy of Juno & Jove

Locket lundi

Happy Locket Monday! These two beauties are headed to the shop today. Do you know anyone named Audrae? If you do, you should tell her about this locket.

16 weeks old!

I figure a check in with a photo of the lad about once a month is good, non? Well, our last photo was at about the three month mark and here we are now - almost four months old! Severen is getting so big. He is wearing six month clothing and has almost outgrown his changing table and co-sleeper. I'm not sure how much he weighs but I'm guessing around 18#. And dude - his head is like 3/4 the size of mine?! I love his little chickie hair, too.

He is super fun to play with these days. He likes to reach for things, grasp at them and - if all goes according to his plan - shove them into his mouth. He is also getting more interested in food. He watches me like a little puppy when I am eating, kicking his legs and licking his lips. I've been giving him little licks of pears, strawberries, etc. and he loves it. The best thing, though, is his baby vocabulary. He makes a wide array of clucks, blurbbles (yep I made that word up), and coos. Damned if it isn't the best sounding stuff I've ever heard. I'll probably pass out the first time he actually says a word.

My big realization these last few weeks: life as a mom is a lot more enjoyable if you can include your baby in as much of your daily routine as possible. That means that it isn't always one-on-one, let's-stare-into-each-other's-eyes playtime at our house (although we do a lot of that, too!) Sometimes he rides in the Moby while I do laundry. Sometimes he plays on the floor in the kitchen while I chop vegetables or eat handfuls of cookies. Sometimes he chills out in his stroller at the post office while I ship packages. I used to feel guilty about having him do all that stuff with me but then I think - hey, maybe he sort of likes it?  For all I know, he might think that going to the grocery store is like a trip to Paris! Or that the kitchen floor is as fun as a carnival! What I do know is that when I include him in whatever I am doing, our day together goes much faster and usually smoother. And because we accomplish more when he is awake, my free time is truly my own when he is sleeping. Hellloooo yoga. Helllooo shop updates. It's a good thing.

Springtime update

We are right smack-dab in the middle of Spring, which means that some days it is 70 degrees and windy and other days it is 48 degrees and raining. It's a mixed bag, Spring. This update is shooting for something in the middle - maybe 65 degrees and sunny? Yeah. These pieces are available in the shop (listings linked below)!

vintage crystal briolette necklace / 1930s / WADING IN

vintage Peking glass bracelet / 1930s / LIMEADE

vintage gold fill locket / 1950s / FORSYTHIA

vintage Mexican silver enamel brooch / 1940s / MAY DAY

vintage glass sautoir / 1940s / SHERBET

vintage New England Glass Works earrings / 1930s / WILD BUD

Around the neighborhood

There are so many pretty blossoming trees and bushes in my neighborhood right now. And the trees that normally flower for only a few days are going on three weeks of blooming, thanks to the early warm weather we had in March. I think this is the prettiest Spring I can remember!

A pretty girl with a hair comb - what more could you ask for?

    

Do you remember this hair comb? Well, it recently found a new home with a sweet gal named Ellen. I wonder how many pretty young ladies have worn this comb over the last 100 years? I bet it has had a wonderful, glamorous life. It makes me so happy to see it out and about in the world again as part of Ellen's fabulous outfit!  

On the topic of girls and Jean Jean Vintage jewels, if you have a photo of yourself wearing something from the shop I would love to see it. It would be fun to have "A pretty girl with . . . " series here on the blog. Please contact me if you have a photo to share!

P.S. Here's a lovely lady wearing a Jean Jean locket.

P.S. Those of you with long locks will enjoy Ellen's excellent hair tutorials.

Locket Lundi

Hey everyone it is Locket Lundi! So clever, I know - what does it mean? Well, starting today I will be listing at least two new lockets in the shop every Monday. I've been a bit stingy with the lockets lately and this is my way of making sure I get these pretties in the shop. Here are the listings coming up today!

Severen's Family Tree

I ordered this family tree for Severen a couple months ago and I am so pleased with it. It comes from the Evajuliet Atelier, a shop based out of Montreal. I looked around for lots of customizable trees and this was by far the sweetest. Lots of them are sort of cartoony (no thanks). I think that I might put some family photos around the tree so that Severen has faces to put with the names as he grows up. It occurred to me the other day that he won't know who his great-grandparents are, or even his grandpa (my dad), unless I talk about them and make them a part of his life. It feels like a big responsibility to introduce him to his ancestors, but I'm his Momma and that's my job. I hope someday he will tell his kids stories about my mom, my brother . . . maybe me. Don't we all hope to be remembered by the people we love?

Diana Sudyka

I really like these self-contained paintings from Diana Sudyka. You can check out her gallery on Poster Cabaret or visit her Etsy shop.

Images courtesy of Diana Sudyka

Togetherness

I just stocked these two beauties in the shop. Czech Peking and Dragon's Egg glass is always the brightest green, which is perfect for spring. And those little enameled accents, which are a signature 1920s-1930s Czech jewelry design, are my absolute favorite. Indeed, brass/glass/enamel is a jewelry combination that I dearly, dearly love. Here are a few more examples of that great trio from the Jean Jean Vintage archives!

Whipped Honey bracelet ✦ Cara Cara necklace ✦ Liatris necklace ✦ Bittersweet brooch

My ears like this

I found out about the album Chinoiseries by Onra from my friend Tom. He has the absolute best taste in music, at least to my ears. Speaking of ears, do you ever wonder why you like the sounds/music you do? Personally, I feel like I have no control over my musical taste. It feels instinctual, like all the other senses. I mean you can't train your nose to love a perfume, can you? You either like it or you don't on the first sniff. So take a sniff/listen here and see what you think.

Happy Easter!

It seems like just yesterday that I was writing this Easter post about my dad, but it was a year ago! A lot has happened since then, including the arrival of sweet Severen. Although he is too bitty to hunt for chocolate eggs this year, when he does get around to celebrating Easter I hope that he has as much fun as Mr. Jean Jean and I did when we were tots. Actually, it looks like Mr. Jean Jean is having lots more fun than me (just look at that little face!) But my sweater is better, non?

So for all of you who plan to enjoy a plastic egg full of jelly beans or a pink foil-wrapped chocolate egg this weekend, Happy Easter! Tonight also marks the start of Passover, so Chag Pesach Sameach to those celebrating the festival!

Tree line

I first saw these photos by Zander Olsen over at Butter & Brass and knew I wanted to share them here with you. This series, Tree Line, is ongoing and includes photos from 2004-2010. I enjoy landscape installations (à la Christo et Jeanne-Claude) and this one seems especially clever and moving.

Photographs courtesy of Zander Olsen

The story of these brassy balls

Happiness is a chunky, vintage brass necklace. Like this one. I bought it over the phone after seeing a blurry image of it in a photograph. I had asked the shopkeeper to take photos of her cases and send them to me so that I could shop with her from a distance (she is in another state). I expected her to say, "Are you crazy woman? I don't have time for that!" But to my delight, she was game! The only catch? She didn't have a camera, so she would have to buy a disposable, print the photos and send them to me via snail mail. That was fine by me.

When the photos arrived, I was crestfallen. Most of them were very blurry or there was light reflected off the glass. But I did my best and found a few things that I thought might be good for the shop. Then I picked up the phone and called her. We spent almost an hour going through the photos one by one, me trying to describe a pin or a bracelet and her saying, "Ok, I think I know which one you are talking about," then putting the phone down (land line) to go and check the price for me. It was not very efficient, but it was kind of fun.

Anyway, the photograph of the necklace display was really, really terrible. I passed it up the first time but then, right before we hung up I spotted something that looked interesting. Here is how our conversation went:

Me: Ok, just one more thing. Now I am looking at photo #5.
Shopkeeper: Photo #5 . . . yes, the one with the necklaces?
Me: Yes, um there is a necklace hanging about four in from the right. Next to a red beady thing. It looks brassy with filigree balls. It looks old, is it?
Shopkeeper: I think so.
Me: Ok, well how much is it?
Shopkeeper: Let me go check (pause, pause, pause). That one is . . .  $18.
Me. *Long pause. Armpits sweating.* Um, yes please add that to my pile.

Which leads me to this observation: I will never cease to be amazed at how unpredictable pricing is in the vintage/antique world. I've seen junk priced at $300 and pieces like this one - 1930s perfection - going for the price of two pints of fancy ice cream. I've even seen the same piece sold by two different vendors at the same antiques fair (Alameda, in California) priced very differently. Sometimes it just feels like a free for all out there. Other vintage sellers/shoppers, what do you think?