Batty about it

The whole point of this outfit post is to show you this bat locket. Bats! A full moon! Spooky clouds! I spent a pretty penny on it but it was worth it. Happy Halloween! What is your favorite Halloween candy? I am a Baby Ruth girl.

P.S. I bought my first tube of lipstick a couple weeks ago (wearing it here!) I am 31-years-old. Yup. A late make-up bloomer. Thanks to Maria of Adelaide's Homesewn for the encouragement. 

Three Birds, blues and greens

Ten new pieces for the shop today. All the images are linked. Enjoy!

Babble, babble

I got a bit of good news right about this time last week. I found out that I was selected as one of Babble's Top 50 Etsy Parents! I'm #19 on the list and ranked #2 in the Vintage category. I did about 10 seconds of maaaaajoor fist pumping at my desk and then 2 minutes of good old-fashioned crying. I've considered closing the shop so many times this year. I even have a blog post announcing the shop's last day all drafted and ready to go. But every time I got ready to hit Publish (which was about five times in the last ten months) something held me back. Mostly stubbornness, I think. Anyway, this little recognition is a vote of confidence in the direction of toughing it out and staying in the game. And I'm grateful for that.

I know a lot of moms - not included in this list - who are working hard to raise children full-time and also keep a shop going. I am planning to nominate a few of my favorite mom-run Etsy shops to be considered for next years contest. If you have a favorite, here's how you can throw their hat in the ring.

Dorothy and her friends

I was tempted to try to find four lockets in addition to the "Dorothy" locket and then name them after the Wizard of Oz characters. But I thought I might lose a few followers if I pulled that stunt. These three are available in the locket drawer now. The bottom two are teeny tiny!

New duds

Hey, hey! I found this dress (um, $16) and these shoes (a wee bit more than $16) last week while we were in Kansas and I wore them together the other day. I felt quite spiffy.

little 20s pin | can't recall
dress | thrift shop
1920s ring | antique shop
tights | welovecolors
shoes | bought 'em at Foxtrot

Blushing

I added two gorgeous 1920s/30s necklaces to the shop this morning. You can find them here!

Valentino 2012

   

       

I've been away for a few days! We traveled to Kansas to visit family and friends. It was a fantastic trip with lots of real-life meet ups almost zero screen-time, hence the silence here and in the shop. I got to do a bit of shopping and I have an outfit post I'm fixin' to share with you here next week. I also scored some gorgeous jewelry at one of my favorite antique spots in Kansas City, including two 1920s necklaces that are going to leave you weak in the knees . . .

Until then, feast your eyes upon these pieces from Valentino's Fall 2012 collection. I know next to nothing about fashion (which is why I don't blog about it . . . usually) but I know perfection when I see it. Those pantsuits? (Portia de Rossi wore the sheer one to the Emmys). The leather paneling on the dresses and coats? Black/red/white/nude? So elegant and so feminine.

Images via Vogue

For your wrists

I'm stocking several new bracelets today, 1920s-1950s. I'm slow, so it will probably take the rest of the afternoon. But they are coming - and they are great! You will be able to find them in the bracelet drawer of the shop.

Halley's Comet jewelry

Looking for something to start collecting? How about Halley's Comet jewelry? Yes, please.

I had no idea this kind of collectible, commemorative jewelry existed until I spotted a curious, tiny pin at my local antique shop. The design seemed unusual to me, with such a large stone set way at the end of a delicate frame. I had never seen anything like it before, not even in my books.

I didn't buy it but I couldn't stop thinking about it. About a week later, while searching for something else online, I came across an Art of Mourning post about comet jewelry. "That's it! That's got to be it!" I thought to myself. As it turns out, Halley's Comet jewelry was quite trendy around the 1835 and 1910 sightings (the 1986 sighting didn't produce anything noteworthy). Victorian and Edwardian jewelers were inspired by the comet and produced a style of pin set with a single stone trailed by a metal "tail."

I immediately went back to buy it. Can you blame me?

Here are two more gorgeous examples from the Morning Glory Victorian information page.

To see all kinds of cool antique comet ephemera, check out this page. To see more Halley's Comet jewelry, visit here.

New lockets

There are six new lockets in the shop today, including this beauty.

And the winner is . . .

Thanks to everyone who suggested songs for the owl locket to play yesterday. It was super fun to listen to all of them!

As I thought about which one to choose I realized that the job should really go to my new office mate and Cuteness Maker in Chief, Severen Paul Anderson.

So, I set him up to draw a winner and he listened carefully (ha!) as we reviewed the instructions for the drawing.

He picked the theme song to Rosemary's Baby, which was a Facebook entry. Have you heard it? It is absolutely haunting. Mia Farrow does the vocals. Shiver.

On a lighter note, do you remember the singing Halloween houses from last year? I think they are worth a second (or third, or fourth) look.

☾ Spooky owl locket ☽

So, I thought that I had found the coolest locket ever when I found this. But then I saw this owl locket and I felt like my eyes were melting, in the best possible sense of "eyes melting."

Let's review the checklist of awesome things about this piece, shall we?

✓ It's Victorian.
✓ It's a locket.
✓ It's black and gold.
✓ There's a f*#king owl on it!!
✓ It's bog oak.
✓ The beak and feet are done in silver enamel.
✓ So actually, it is black, gold and silver. Even better.
✓ The owl is chilling out on a spooky, twisted gold branch.
✓ The owl is simultaneously cute and totally diabolical.
✓ It's OLD! Like, 1870s old.

The only thing that could make this locket better is if it played a song when you opened it. So let me ask you: What song do you think it would play? The person with the best answer (judged according to no rules whatsoever) will win a little Jean Jean goodie.

Happy October!

Images courtesy of James Alfredson