Grandma’s attic

 

On my way home from work yesterday I felt a familiar calling. It whispered, more like nagged me to take a little diversion to a nearby town.  I pulled off the highway, drove through several stops lights, down a residential street, over the railroad tracks and into a little parking lot.  The sky was overcast and  grey after a full day of rain but no matter, the place I was going didn’t have any windows, just stuff, wall to wall stuff. 

A little town a few miles to the north-east of my home is over-run with tiny antique shops, where you can find almost anything your heart desires- if you’re willing to pay for it. I quite often go just to browse, live in the moment of yesterday and hope that something I can’t live without jumps out at me, for the right price, of course.

When I first entered the shop I didn’t feel anything , no nostalgia, no excitement, no lust. I thought this trip was going to be a bust so I turned toward the door in an attempt to make it home and have dinner made before my hubby arrived. I made it halfway before I was stopped dead in my tracks by a case of vintage jewels, my biggest weakness. It was then that I felt that feeling of nostalgia, want, lust. The memories of grandma and her dresser in the attic filled with sparkly brooches, vintage hats and scarves, things I covet today.

The sales girl came over and offered to open the case. I knew once she did that it was all over for me but that tiny voice that came from an eight year old girl dying to play with her grandma’s jewels said “yes please.” Well I guess there isn’t too much else to say except I love the cameo brooch, the millenary flowers and the salvaged rosary chain that I spent three hours assembling last night. It looks great and I think if I can find the strength to part with it I’ll put it up for sale in my Etsy shop next week.

Have a wonderful weekend. I’m headed up-north to hunt for moral mushrooms-yum!

xo-jj

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Got a vintage itch I can’t scratch

I didn’t win the dress. The auction ended with it going for over $87.00, I couldn’t dig that deep. It was gorgeous but I wasn’t even sure it would fit. sigh…

 This time of year always puts me in the mood to go junktiquing, (sp???) I have a few haunts that I like to peruse for treasures.

 I don’t really have the time or the money to persue this hobby right now but if I did I’d be on the look out for something like this…

or maybe something like this…

I suddenly have the itch to paint all my wood furniture in a shabby chic kind of  way. But then there’s Mr. Java who hates shabby chic. I can see his head shaking right now, no, no, no.

 

A couple of years ago I talked him into helping me do this to an old dresser that I’d picked up at a garage sale. Not his style but I like it’s cottage charm. It stays in my office, which is very whimsical, well actually it’s a whimsical mess right now It needs an over-haul and a good cleaning.

That’s all for now back to real life. Take care and enjoy your weekend.

xo-jj

Things that inspire me, today

So feminine and  fabulous in a boho kind of way. As you know I love boho.  This dress is drop dead gorgeous and I must confess that I put a bid on it. Not sure it will fit me  but I think I could hang it on my closet door and be inspired,  no words except love , love!

Vintage fashion is so classy and inspiring.

Once again I’m in love with this look, the crisp white accented by those dramatic black beads. Found this image at junebug weddings, fabulous!

This little number from posh24 is so flirty and fun, let’s do lunch!

Drum roll, please, the most inspiring thing of the day is…

My little princess babies.  Ahhhh, okay I’m ready to start my day!

BTW the company, Stella & Dot, is launching a new jewelry line for little girls, it’s available April 26th.

 Won’t my baby girls look amazing in these? I can’t wait!

Oh and wish me luck on the bid for the dress.

xo-jj

Vintage inspired

There is something so special and  romantic about vintage  fashion. I have long been a fan and collector of  vintage jewelry and I admire vintage hats. But this little beauty takes my breath away. It’s so elegant and timeless. Oh and the scarf-very sexy.

 This years big hunt for the perfect swim suit ended a few weeks ago before I saw this.

I would pair this suit up with a beachy necklace it’s vintage inspired, from Stella & Dot

 I like the suit I choose but if I had seen this one first there wouldn’t have been  a dilema- no contest this suit was perfect.

Until I saw this one…

I love, love the flirty little skirt and the ruffles on the top, it’s so me. This suit doesn’t require a necklace but a silk wrap with silver charms from Stella & Dot would be the  perfect companion.

This pic is hard to see. It’s is my daughters wrist with 2 wraps, one for each baby girl, birth stones, letter charms and hearts to represent her love for them- it’s awesome.

 Unfortunately I discovered these suits a bit too late. My Garnet Hill catalog didn’t arrive until a couple days ago. Oh well I’ll keep them in mind for next year.

This is what I’m wearing today, the necklace on the left. I love the new Palm Beach line- it leaves me inspired.

Enjoy your day….

xo-jj

A little chit chat on a slow Thursday

I’m thinking about making a change with a pallet of  seaside colors. My house is painted in Tuscan hues and it suits me well but lately I’ve contemplated  somthing a little more Zen for my master bedroom and bath, colors that resembles a spa-like atmosphere.  A hint of sand and a whisper of turquoise might do the trick but I don’t want it to stick out like a  chicken with lips. It has to blend with the rest of the house. That might be tricky.

The little vintage chair in the picture above is my inspiration for the room. I found it at a garage sale for 3 bucks. It has been partly stripped which left fabulous layers of ocean blues and sea greens over a base of sandy  brown. The shift in colors are subtle and light and just perfect. I bought it and left it as is. I’ve paired it with a creamy white vanity, accented with a green vase of peacock feathers. I love the look but not so sure I can fit it into my decor on a larger scale, any ideas?

If I were to go on a total splurge I’d buy a new bedroom set in creamy white and paint my walls in the lightest sky blue, new paintings, new duvet cover,etc. $$$  I don’t see that happening any time too soon.

No matter…. it’s the people and pets that make a house a home, right?

On that note I thought I would update you on the beautiful Manx cat I dreamt about before he showed up on my door step and adopted me. Ricky-Bobby has gone from a frequent visitor to a full-time resident. He still spends much of his time in the woods and meadow that surround the house but comes inside to eat and sleep and kill my Canary but that’s a whole other story. I needed a new pet like I needed a new hole in my head but I’m a sucker for a sad face and somebody out there knows it.

The other kitties (only 2 left)  that followed him here are still wild but we spent the time and money to capture and neuter them. Mr. Java has the bite marks to prove it. They peek in the windows and sneak through the doggy door to sleep in the garage when it gets too cold. Remember how Mr. Java had such a fit because I was feeding them? Guess who feeds them now, he caved.

Well, thats all for a slow thursday. Hey Deb guess what? The suns out. Thanks for sending it my way. Now how about those lemons? he hee…

xo-jj

She’s a little quirky but I’m keeping her

 

Several years ago while on a vintage treasure hunt I came across an old chair. It was simple and sturdy but what I found most intriguing was the chippy paint and delicate details.  I didn’t have a plan for it, so there it sat in my office, lonely and bare, until a few months ago when I decided to give it a purpose and adorned it with a quirky vignette in pink. The hat was found at a vintage clothing shop and the umbrella was used for a recent photo shoot but the shoes are special. They are seldom worn and aren’t the easiest things to walk in but when I do, I become a princess. Why you ask? Well, it could be the silky fabric or maybe it’s the ruffle detail and perfect craftmanship. They are beautiful but I think it’s the way they delicately grace my foot and come to the perfect little point that make them special. It takes me back to a time when I was a little girl playing dress-up in grandma’s closet. 

There is a part of me that desperately wants to de-clutter this place and live in a house of clean lines and open spaces but then that other girl with her quirky style comes out and leaves her trinkets and treasures all over the house. There are days when she really gets on my nerves but at other times she makes me smile and reminds me of the little girl living inside this woman in the mirror.

xo-jj

Gosh, I Love days like this

I had a rather unusual day yesterday. It started out the same as most; too much coffee, time in the garden, new items added to my store, time here with you but when I went to the mail box I discovered that my “To write love on her arms” tee-shirt arrived. Yahoo, I love it!  After I slipped it over my head, I set out to run a few errands but got side tracked by a sign that read old cameras for sale. Well it’s no guess what I did or a big surprise when my car veered off it’s path in the direction of oz. You know I had to at least take a peek at what they had to offer. The sale was held in a dirty garage attached to a very run down house by a nice woman and her grown sons. I started my investigation of the merchandise right away. By this time my heart was somewhere in my throat- old Polaroids! There were so many to choose from. They weren’t a bargain, someone had done their homework. Despite the fact that the price wasn’t right and the fact that these cameras had belonged to a relative, so the sellers knew nothing about them or even if they were in working order- I bought three. Call me crazy I don’t care, I was on cloud nine. Two of the cameras are Polaroids one from the seventies and one from the fifties. The third camera is an old Kodak instamatic from the sixties with  range finder focus and guess what it has a half used roll of film in it. Part of me is so excited to see what’s on the roll and the other feels a little funny to be in possession of something so personal. Then there is this little voice that says who knows what you’ll find, it might be something you don’t want to see. Uh huh, I have a pretty vivid imagination.

I will be taking a trip to the camera shop very soon to pick up N batteries and see if they can give me any insight on how it works. The Polaroid land camera from the fifties will take a lot more looking in to.

On the ride home I passed a house with some rather unusual yard art. I couldn’t really get a good shot of it from across the road and I could only hold up traffic for so long. Yeah, people swear at me sometimes. After my adventure and my head totally occupied by old cameras and yard art most of what I fully intended to take care of went right out the window.

 

 Notice all the little statues in the car and the tikki torches wrapped in x-mas garland on each end. There are solar lights positioned as head lights and plastic flowers everywhere.. You probably can’t see most of the glass looking figures but look at the deer on the back and owl in the garland. It gave me a giggle.

Gosh I love days like this!

Have a happy, happy and totally safe 4th of July weekend.

xo-jj

Rainy Day Dreamers

The princess sporting her tu tu in the park.

I think my love for dress-up and all things girlie started long ago in grandma’s attic. As a little girl I just loved to sneak up to the attic at grandma and grandpa’s and peek at the fancy hankies and cutesy aprons tucked away in a curvy old dresser. The dresser had an adjustible mirror that was perfect to get a look-see at my reflection in grandma’s church hats. They were kept in the stacks and stacks of boxes in every corner of the room. The treasures were endless as my imagination took root and  sprouted wings in that little attic space.  Even now I love to play dress up and have an incurable fascination with vintage jewelry and fancy hats.

Ang enjoying a day dream during the heat of the day.

I wish I had realized then how precious those things would be to me today and asked for a keepsake or two. I was a young girl when my grandparents passed and didn’t hang on to old mementos. I wish now that I had some of those attic treasures to tuck away for a day just like today. The house is quiet and dark on this rainy day; the perfect time to play a little dress up with my girls.

Ms. D and her purse named Fancy.

I usually don’t like the rain, it’s dark and depressing but for some reason today I don’t mind. It’s a good day for thoughts and reminiscing about treasures found on rainy days in grandma’s attic.

Wishing you many lovely day-dreams on this rainy Wednesday.

xo-jj

You, me and everyone in-between

Shhhhh! Are we alone? I hope so because I am about to reveal a secret that’s meant to stay just between you and me. I have a secret longing or obsession you might call it. It’s not anything dirty and no I’m not a serial killer. But it is kind of weird and lately it has been driving me crazy. It involves my insane curiosity and a love of vintage bubbles and old weathered buildings. This fetish has caused me to engage in several drive-by shootings. I’ve been caught lurking while on foot in the past and told that I can’t photograph this place. As strange as this sounds, the words “you can’t” only makes me want to do it all the more.

The weathered red doors and thick wavy glass call my name. It beckons my car to drive across the old cobbled bricks and take it’s picture and then this quiver takes over my body and I yearn for so much more.

 

What I really want- is to see what lies beyond those antique doors and rusted panes. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of old chairs and vintage light fixtures hanging from the old wooden beams. My heart beats out of control and it’s all I can do to keep myself from pulling over and running for an unlocked door. Hell I’d even climb in a window if I thought I wouldn’t get caught. Just this afternoon as I drove past the crumbling bricks, covered in ivy, I saw something that tempted me beyond restraint. I quickly pulled my car to a halt and began to unbuckle so I could take advantage of just the moment I had been waiting for. It was an open door. I had to beat on my chest to bring back my own breath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you see inside the door? I know there are treasures just waiting to be seen and they lay just beyond that door. The lofty architecture  of old buildings makes my head spin and the thought of vintage furnishings left untouched sends me over the top. I slipped on my darkest sunglasses and wrapped a scarf around my head but before I could open the car door, it happened. That damn landlord came poking his head out and started toward me. You can bet I started her up and put my foot on the gas. I pulled away as quick as I could and never made eye contact.

Why do I do this? It’s not a crime to drive down that cobble path. Some of the old mill has small business tenants. Why can’t I simply ask for a tour? The very same thing that draws me to this place also makes me reluctant to ask for a deeper look. This place makes me crazy and I am desperate to know what lies behind her walls. It’s an obsession that grows stronger with every year. I think I remember entering the front building  for a furniture sale when I was a young child but I can’t be sure. I vaguely recall huge cement steps that were hard for me to climb.  Maybe I saw something that intrigued me then or perhaps I am afraid to dismantle the fantasy- of me in all my glory- finding weathered treasures and vintage bubbles left behind. I have even dreamed about it. Maybe I just know deep down that this ridiculously crazy fetish needs to be laid to rest, once and for all.

Do you see what I mean about the shadows that are cast just inside the windows? Are you intrigued? Am I  the only one who has crazy obsessions or do any of you have secret desires that pull you in like a magnet, for no apparent reason? Do you think I am a bit strange or is there more to this calling? Leave me your thoughts on this- I need to know!

jj