Friday, February 19, 2010

A Little Touch of Handiwork

This is just a bit of the jewelry I made for my bridesmaids. I will carry the clay flower jewelry in our store as soon as I get more made. The twins and I made every piece for our bridesmaids jewelry petal by petal in all original designs. If you see something in particular you like or would like to see, send me an e-mail

Thursday, February 18, 2010

How the love of vintage came to be

Christian Dior did me in, I was hooked. Growing up in a household of 9, we loved estate and garage sales from an early age . While out bee-bopping in my teen years one day I came across an estate sale and something jumped out at me and I HAD TO HAVE IT! At the time, I had no idea what I was looking at except that it was fabulous and was screaming my name! The woman who owned it said it was "vintage" and said I could have it for $15. I also bought a great pair of heels and a few purses, but the main piece that hooked me was the suit.

Get this...It was a Christian Dior 1940's wool suit with shirred chiffon lapel, fitted waist (24") with a little kick at the hip on the blazer. The skirt was straight pencil with a kick-pleat back in a neutral tan color. It fit perfect and was in MINT condition. It wasn't until years later after a house flood I realized how precious that suit was to me. To cry over clothes may seem strange to some, but to see the flood had ruined my fabulous first suit I had ever bought, my prized vintage collection piece was heartbreaking.

Now I can't help but search high and low for more fabulous finds hoping one will dull the pinch in my heart from that one. I've got a few, but none will ever be like my first Christian Dior suit!

ReUpCycleVintage's First Blog Post

Well, I suppose I should tell you how I came up with the name ReUpCyCleVintage...... It's a blend of Recycle, Upcycle and Vintage. Which basically means you can find all things n our site:o)

We have a mix of unique vintage items, handmade jewelry made from new and recycled materials and my fav custom items upcycled from old clothes. I absolutely love taking something that others would discard and turn it into something One Of A Kind and super fabulous!

You will hear me talk now and then about I, we or our, that's because my daughters are a big help on ideas and love to learn new techniques. In fact my youngest daughter Ashley loves to sit on my lap when I'm sewing and bead with me. Our oldest daughter will be helping keep up with this blog as she is learning about the business aspect of loving vintage and remaking things too!

So that's about it, we've got lots to add, stories to tell and pics to post, expect more in the near future.