Links, Life, Love: June 4, 2016

Summer is approaching, fast and powerfully, its air a fragrant blend of thunder storms, honeysuckle, sandy shores, and the first locally grown tree ripened stone fruits in nearly a year. A lively month fills our days now and before we know it, the next season really and truly will be upon us.

Nearly two months have passed now since I launched a new periodically occurring post series called Links, Life, Love here and it seems, now that we're into June, like high time for the second installment of such.



Links:

Thoughts on Modern Vintage Style: I greatly enjoyed and appreciated Bonita's heartfelt look at this topic and how it relates to her own life and wardrobe. It's something that I think many of us will be nodding up a storm as we read and I really commend her on tackling this important vintage style related subject.


My Favourite Instagram Accounts for 1920s Style Inspiration: Searching for some of the best and most arrestingly chic jazz era fashion wearers to follow on Instagram? Look no further than this curated and entirely fantastic list that Jessica from Zella Maybe recent put together. Le swoon!


Spring & Summer Vintage Accessory Essentials: Bianca rounds up several of favourite must-have warm weather vintage accessories, from high heeled sandals to pretty parasols, and highlights them care of some seriously soon worthy yesteryear images in this fun spring + summer fashion post.


The Lifesaving Powers of Vintage Turbans: You'll want to run, not walk, to your scarf collection the moment you read this terrific piece from Nicole at The Artyologst, and then proceed to spend the whole summer sporting the most glamorous vintage style turbans imaginable.


Why I don’t like capsule wardrobes: Personally, I'm quite neutral when it comes to capsule wardrobes and have zero against them personally, but I did find this post on why its author, Christina Fleming, isn't a fan to be a thought provoking, interesting read.


Edwardian Pomade Recipe: Kate's super simple and very natural recipe - complete with a great how-to video - for such will have you running to the local health food or holistic related shop and then your kitchen in a heartbeat.


Flea Market 101: A Beginner’s Guide: Jackie of the always enjoyable blog, Let's Go Thrifting, dishes out some super handy, and very detailed advice, on what to know/do/take with you/expect when you go flea market shopping. This post is a great read for all outdoor second hand market fans, be they newbies, veterans, or anywhere in between.


A Man Took Hundreds of Photobooth Self-Portraits From Between the 1930s and 1960s. But No One Knows Who He Is and Why?: Tell me this doesn't intrigue you something fierce!


5 Keys for Mid-Century (Decor) Style: A quintet of fun, easy ways to inject more of the mid-century awesomeness we so adore into our home decor care of Sabrina over at the delightful blog, Inky Notions.




Life:

In many respects, I feel like I've already shared most of the highlights that have filled our days lately, including our wonderful little trip to the Kootenays, but that doesn't mean that other things haven't been happening behind the scenes, too.

Tony recently returned home from his latest work trip to the States, which saw him touch down for a few days in Denver, Colorado. Save for the airport there, he'd never been to Denver before and really enjoyed his time in this beautiful state, which geographically speaking, share many points (mountains! evergreen trees! vast expanses of wilderness!) in common with our own province of British Columbia.

Much as with Austin, Texas in April, he adored getting to explore more of America and is looking forward to wherever his company may opt to send him to next, be it in America, Canada, or even further afield.

And speaking of Tony, both he and I have birthday coming down the pipeline in the not-too-far-off future. Mine will roll into town on July 10th (I'll be 32) and his appears again on August 6th (he'll be 36). We've always adored that we're both "summer babies" and while we don't have any mega plans in the works for either day yet, are certainly looking forward to celebrating them together.






In fact, we're genuinely psyched to be spending the summer as a whole in one another's company, after being apart while he was in San Francisco (for work) for nearly the whole duration of last summer.

Though we both fared well during that time apart and stayed in constant contact online, it truly wasn't the same letting the most stunning, sunny and light filled (aka, prime outdoor photo taking season) chapter of the year go by without each other's companionship and we feel very fortunate to have this summer together again.

We're also excited about Canada Day on July 1st (it's one of only two days each year - the other being New Year's Eve - when our town puts on a small fireworks show), the prospect of a summertime road trip or two, the return of cherry + peach + apricot + plum + nectarine season, days of weather so stunning it almost makes you weep, and making plans on various fronts for the second half of 2016.


Love:

-Muted colours, as I blogged about recently in this post, are something that I simply can't get enough of at the moment. I recently ordered a fab new fifties dress in these earthy, goes-with-everything shades for fall and am already planning an outfit for October around it.

-And speaking of thinking ahead when it comes to my ensembles (ahh, the life of a full-time fashion blogger), a recent Etsy search for "Christmas pudding brooch" lead me to discover the most delightfully cool handmade fruit and veg themed jewelry shop on Etsy called By the Shed, and I'm not even joking when I say that I want every single thing that they're selling. If I receive some birthday money this year, I uber want to put a portion of it towards my first purchase from this awesome shop.

-Wearing all the vintage straw hats and carrying all the vintage straw/bamboo/raffia handbags. Hands down one of my favourite elements about summertime fashion is this point right here and I've wasted no time this year in putting my straw (et al) accessories to good use!

-Shopping my own closet, so to speak. As evidenced by some of the comments that I received on this  post last year (and various others, too), I know that many of are firm fans of putting existing wardrobe pieces to continued use in new and exciting ways, and that's something that I greatly enjoy and make a point of doing as well.

There is, objectively, relatively little I truly *need* when it comes to clothing and the older I get, the more I want to keep enjoying and experimenting with my existing wardrobe, which naturally means blogging many such outfits here with all of you.

-Kailey Flyte, better known to many online as Mermaiden's, cuter-than-cute collection of cell phone cases that she designed in collaboration with Casetify.

-Magnum Double Raspberry Ice Cream Bars: Oh my stars, are these things amazing! Tony and I just discovered this particular Magnum offering last month and to we're both beyond addicted to them now. Hands down these Double Raspberry Bars are in my top five favourite store bought ice cream products of all time. If you love the taste of raspberries, I seriously can't recommend them highly enough!




-Nestling our camping chairs into the sand down at one of the local beaches here and watching the sky transform from butter yellow to tangerine, coral, lilac and amber as the ever-hotter sun sets over either Okanagan or Skaha Lake.

-This adorable elderly British couple who finally tied the knot after dating for 42 years (aww!).

-When my wonderful Etsy customers blog about their purchases, such as Sara from In a Nutshell, Sarah (with an "h" :)) from Sew Characteristically You, as well as Jessica from Zella Maybe , and Elizabeth from Gloriously Vintage have all done did in recent weeks.

Thank you wonderful ladies each so much, I truly appreciate it! (Check out snaps from each of their awesome posts below, in order from top to bottom: Jessica, Sarah H., Elizabeth, and Sarah.)

{To learn more about a specific image used in today's post, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.} 

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What are your plans for this first Saturday of June, my dear friends? Recently my awesome sister, who lives in the nearby city of Kelowna, caught wind of a brand new vintage sale called the Okanagan Vintage Fair, which is holding its first ever event today, and rushed to tell me about it (isn't she the best!).

I didn't feel that I found out about it far enough in advance to attend as a seller (I usually need, due to my health, several weeks to prepare for an in person selling event, which then, there's never any guarantee that I'll be feeling well enough to attend; thus selling online via my Etsy shop, as I do, works so much better for me!), but I am hoping to bop up to Kelowna this weekend and attend as customer, if possible.

We have exceedingly few vintage related events, let alone sales, in this corner of the province and I really like to support as many of them that do exist as I realistically can (interestingly, a few days after my sister texted me about this event, the organizer - who I'd not interacted with before - contacted me via Facebook to invite me to attend, which was so sweet and thoughtful of her to do).

I know some of the folks who will be selling there and look forward to meeting others who are new to me, as well as to attend the premier occasion of this fun sale. Hopefully I'll return with a vintage treasure or two enrich my wardrobe and/or home with!

Aside from that, we're keeping things nice and on-the-fly this weekend, with few set plans and even less of a desire to be rushed or overly busy. These warm, gorgeous months are all too brief and one should savour them at a leisurely pace as often as possible (even if that means for just a few hours on the weekends or after work).

Have a stellar, delightfully fun - and hopefully relaxing - weekend, everyone!

Vintage Link Love for February 2015

It's fascinating, isn't it, how the shortest month can sometimes feel like the longest due to the lingering winter weather? (A point that I touched on recently in this post.) February was an interesting month. Objectively, I wouldn't say it felt that long this time around (January seemed much more so to me), but as with its predecessor that kicked off the year, it was a heavily mixed bag with no shortage of stress and curveballs (although, yes, I readily acknowledge, that's often just life in general!).

One of the better points for me was when I hit the point of having 400+ items listed in my Etsy shop at once for the first time ever (if you haven't stopped by in a while, why not do so today and checkout the plethora of great new offerings there!). As you may recall from last month's edition of Vintage Link Love, I'd set the goal of doing so by the end of March, so I was delighted to beat that date by more than a full month. My next big shop related goal is to reach 500+ listings by my shop's first birthday in early May.

In the midst of icy rain showers, Valentine's Day, an auction on the 15th in Vernon (which I came home empty handed from - but still had a blast at), listing up a storm, thrifting, and beginning my spring cleaning, I found time to enjoy some online reading and amongst the stories that have really jumped out at me lately, I hope you'll have a blast delving into this month's list of twelve exciting, informative, inspiring, or just plain fun selection of vintage related posts.

♥ Make a 1940s flower brooch: As part of Brittany's awesome 1940s fashion calendar for 2015, she recently shared this fantastic old school inspired flower pin how-to that will have you reaching for your felt stash and a needle faster than you can say "vintage accessory!" (and be sure to check out Bonita's beautiful version that she made and shared on her blog, too).


♥  Tips for taking photos in cold weather: Though winter might (finally!) be nearing an end, this is subject all outfit bloggers who live in climates that get chilly at any point in the year can definitely relate to and are bound to enjoy and appreciate the tips in this lovely post from A Beautiful Mess on how to still land great shots even when the mercury is shivering.


♥ Aristocrats of Fashion - circa 1940 Educational Film: Ready to have your vintage fashion loving knees turn to jelly at the speed of light? Watch the delightful c. 1940 colour video below and prepare to be dazzled from start to finish!







♥ Easy art deco nails with Scotch tape: Whether you consider yourself to be a master of nail are or are the newest of newcomers to the field, chances are you'll be able to not only pull off, but seriously nail, this awesome art deco inspired look that Bianca from The Closet Historian recently shared. It's chic, fun, and very Gatsby themed party worthy!


♥  Vintage Hairstyle Trick to Hide Bangs: Whether you call them fringe or bangs, they’re no denying that most women who opt to cover part (or all) of their forehead with an attractive length of hair end up having something of a love-hate relationship with said bangs at least every once in a while. If you’re not feeling your fringe at the moment and/or are in the process of growing yours out or simply want to learn how to do a classic rolled bang, than this excellent step-by-step, photo rich post from Tasha is sure to help banish those bangs blues in a heartbeat!


♥ 10 Reasons Your Grandparents Were Already Cooler Than You: To those of us who life a vintage filled life, this list might seem a tad obvious, while also including many things that we ourselves continue to do in the 21st century, but I still found it to be a fun, though admittedly somewhat over simplistic (for example, with #1, there has been processed food since at least the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, though I do certainly agree that eating locally sourced offerings used to be far more common and constitute a larger percentage of one's daily diet than it does for many in the 21st century), look at some of the things that really did make our foremothers and fathers so awesome.






♥ Darling, Can You Spare a Dime? How Victorians Fell in Love With Pocket Change: I've long adored, and even one a piece of Victorian etched coin jewelry (with one of my nicknames/variations of my name, Essie, on it), so when I saw a whole (wonderful!) post on the subject of 17th to early 20th century examples of love tokens appear on Collector's Weekly recently, my eyes lit up like shiny silver dollars.


♥ Top tips to working at home: One of these days, I suspect I'll pen a post on this topic myself, too, but in the meantime, be sure to check out Olivia's handy, helpful, practical advice for those who also call their abode their office.


♥ A Wonderfully Nostalgic Compilation of 1980s Teen Movies Seamlessly Set to the Song ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’: For all those, like me, who will always leave a massive part of their heart in the excellent eighties, this memorable montage is for you.






♥ 10 ways to get a bigger profit when selling your vintage: From Trish Hunter's recently launched, and truly excellent website, The Vintage Post, comes this splendid list of ten tips that will help you up your profits when selling vintage, be it the occasional item on eBay or Facebook or full time on Etsy or anywhere else. Definitely one for all vintage buyers and sellers to bookmark.


♥ Class Style Icon: Audrey Hepburn: Bethany, aka The Glamorous Housewife, serves up some currently available, timelessly lovely wardrobe options that will help you capture and convey Audrey Hepburn's elegantly youthful style in this fun fashion filled post.


♥ Vintage Dance Cards: Liz's terrific photo filled look at this one commonplace, but now nearly forgotten (outside of the vintage realm at least) item is sure to put you in the mood to cut a rug, dance card firmly in hand, natch! :)

{All images throughout the list of links above come by way of the post that they are displayed directly beneath the write up of here. Please follow the links provided to learn more about these images.}

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Tomorrow we'll bound into March with the energy of an adorable baby bunny and I couldn't be happier about that point. March is a great transitional month. It ushers in spring and also houses the anniversary of when Tony and I met for the first time (2015 will mark eleven years since that truly life changing date occurred back in 2004). In addition, we start thinking about the next crop of holidays, such as Easter, Mother's Day, Victoria Day (here in Canada), and Father's Day that will greet us in the coming months, as well as the simple pleasures and immense joys of the season alike.

As winter slowly melts away, I've got vintage fashion on the brain (okay, I know, I've always vintage on the brain, but still! :D) and will be blogging about everything from an ode to one of my favourite colours ever (and how to wear it in a vintage context) to some awesome 50s warm weather looks that have been setting my heart a flutter this year to my final set of outfit photos from our trip to Vancouver Island last autumn, all in the coming month.

With every ounce my heart, I wish you each a magnificent, sun kissed and very beautiful March and hope that the third month of the year is as sweet to you as the first strawberries of spring!

Vintage Link Love: January 2014

For much of this January, I pondered over what to call this new series (announced here at the end of December) in which, throughout each month of 2014 (and likely beyond) I'll be corralling a selection of interesting, informative, though provoking, beautiful, or otherwise engaging links that have caught my eye recently.

Then, on Monday night, the name "Vintage link love" popped into my head and I absolutely adored it (it trumped anything else I'd come up with so far this month). However, a mere second later I was hit with the distinct feeling that I'd heard or seen that term somewhere before. A Google search quickly revealed where: my lovely British friend Catherine Beck has used the term before on her blog, Vintage Frills (such as for the title of this post). It's an excellent term for a post of this nature, so with Catherine's full blessing, I'm going to be adopting it here for my new link roundup of series as well.

January might not have all the glitz and glitter of December, brimming as it is with holidays, but that certainly doesn't mean there wasn't plenty of wonderfully exciting things going on in the blogosphere throughout the first month of the year. On the contrary! I bookmarked so many stories for possible inclusion in today's post that I'll have to save a few to use in future editions, or else this one might stretch on longer than a Canadian winter! :)

♥ Hudson Bay Point Blanket Coats: A Bit of History: Speaking of my fine country and the chilly half of the year, my wonderful friend and fellow Canuck, Lisa, of Butterflies and Daisys Vintage, recently shared a thoroughly detailed and wonderfully imaged filled post all about the history of one of the absolute most famous Canadian outwear pieces, the iconic Hudson Bay Point Blanket, which has been keeping folks roasty, toasty from coast-to-coast for many a year now.


♥ Memorable Hollywood movie star quotes: Straight from one of Netherlands' most beautiful and engaging vintage bloggers, Lindsay Lane, comes a lovely assortment of photos of vintage Hollywood starts and starlets partnered with a notable quote for each one featured. I'm especially fond of the one she shared from Ginger Rogers who said, "When two people love each other, they don't look at each other, they look in the same direction." Wise and very true words indeed.


♥ Premier edition of Judy's Affordable Digest: No one, and I mean no one, does vintage fairs better - or in greater abundance - than the UK. From top to bottom, the country is filled with a vast array, many of which are organized by way of Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair, a leading vintage fair production company which has hosted events in 30 cities across Britain. To further reach a wider audience of buyers, sellers and vintage aficionados alike, Judy's has recently launched a fabulous online magazine, the first edition of which just came out a few weeks ago, and is a thoroughly enjoyable read for vintage fans the world over.






♥ Symbols of hope and love: WWII Sweetheart collectables: Earlier this week, in my most recent vintage outfit post, I featured a gorgeous gold plated 1940s WW2 sweetheart bracelet that I received from stellar etsy seller Maejean Vintage. It's the first of its kinds that I own, but not my first piece of sweetheart jewelry, of which I also have a small collection of brooches and a pendant. I've long been enamored with these powerful tokens of adoration and hope that women sported to honour their loved ones who were embroiled in the war, and was delighted to see Queens of Vintage shine the spotlight on the vast and highly collectible market that is sweetheart jewelry, gifts and souvenirs this month.


♥ Novelty plastic fruit brooch tutorial: Even if you don't fancy yourself much of a crafter, this super cool - and super easy - vintage style plastic novelty brooch project from Technicolor Cutie is one that you're going to be champing at the bite to make a whole lot sooner than later.


♥ Taking Vintage to the Office: Vintage blogging newcomer Jennifer Rainey from Singing Bird Vintage delves into a topic that many a vintage fashion enthusiast the world over can relate to: what, and what not, to wear to work when it comes sporting vintage clothing on the job.





♥ 10 Styles of Vintage 1940s Dresses to Wear Again: From the classic shirtwaist to the youthful pinafore, chic peplum to the darling sailor inspired frock, this terrific post from the The Vintage Dancer highlights ten of the most popular dress styles of the 1940s (partnered with reproduction sources for each), all of which still find great favour with fans of the era's fashions to this day.


♥ What mannequins say about us: Collector's Weekly, always a true treasure trove of excellent information about myriad yesteryear topics, many of which pertain to vintage fashion, takes an in depth look at the history of fashion mannequins, including the role they've played in marketing and how they've evolved - right along side our sartorial tastes and the types of female figures that were most revered at the time - over the years.


♥ Leopard print: No matter if you prefer just a wee touch (say, in the form of a silk scarf or fun belt), a full length winter coat or anywhere in between, if you're a fan of vintage leopard print fashions, this lovely assortment of images featuring this most iconic of animal furs that Johanna Öst put together is sure to whet your fashion appetite.





♥ Women’s 1940s Hairstyles: An Overview: For those who are new to 1940s hairstyles, looking to further their knowledge, or just want a quick refresher course, this fabulous imaged filled introduction to the topic from Hair and Makeup Artist Handbook is sure to inspire, help and delight.


♥ 10 Nail Polish Storage Solutions: Whether your collection can fit in a soup bowl or takes up the whole surface of your kitchen table, if you're a fan of nail polish, chances are you have at least a few different bottles and may be on the prowl for a great way to efficiently store them. This handy post from Your Put It On rounds up ten great ideas, for spaces ranging in size from a small box to the whole length of the side of a bookshelf.


♥ Simply leap frog: We end today's mixed bag assortment of links with one that is nothing short of just plain, smile inducing fun! A rather good sized collection, including the example below of vintage photographs over on Avax News of people - kids, men and women alike - playing the classic childhood game of leap frog.





{All images throughout the list of links above come by way of the post that they are displayed directly beneath the write up of here. Please follow the links provided to learn more about these images.}

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I will readily admit that after a year (2013) of wrapping up the month by recounting the bulk of the posts I'd shared here during said month that had just transpired, it is a touch strange to break from habit and embark on this new way of concluding each month. Change is good though, in fact, I'm all about change (for the better, new opportunities, thinking outside of the box, etc) for 2014, more powerfully than I've been for quite some time now (which certainly helped spur me on in my recent hunt for a new blog design).

Loving, wearing, studying and being more than a little bit obsessed with various elements of the past doesn't mean that we can't look towards the future, make big plans and embrace newness in our worlds, especially if the daily grind has been getting especially ho-hum recently. I wouldn't say my life is dull in the slightest, but as my 30th birthday approaches later this year - another big change unto itself - I'm more psyched to create and embrace new things than ever before.

One can only guess what the remaining eleven months of 2014 will hold in store for any of us, but if what I've experienced already in January is any indication, this is most definitely going be a year of fabulous new beginnings, including this, the inaugural edition of Vintage Link Love.

Here's to an awesome February ahead, filled with countless things that you love and oodles of plans you're excited to see unfold!