Marcel irons

Does anyone else have a Marcel iron like this and if so have you tried it out on your hair? I got this Marcel iron several years ago from an auction, I got it at the same time that I got my 1920s vanity table, who knows it may have even belonged to the same person. I have been wanting to try this thing out in my hair for sometime now however when I mentioned it to my mom she said don't do that you might fry your hair! So I was hoping for some feed back from others.

Merci

xo

Brooksie

When the roses bloom

Photo from pdxhistory.com
Portland (my home town) is known as the city of roses because our climate is one of the most ideal for growing roses plus there are many rose gardens around our city. Every year we have a big rose festival and parade that dates back to 1904. The festival used to be the first week in June, now it starts out on the last Friday in May and goes until the second Sunday in June. To learn more about the history of the festival and to see more beautiful pics like the one above go to: pdxhistory.com

Roses are one of my favorite flowers so I thought I would make a little display of rose themed items: Vintage  PJ's and bloomers with rosebud print (thrifted several years ago), rose and ribbon bedspread (garage sale), red silk hair flower (online), ivory hair flower (I made), rose soap and fabulous rose gift box it came in (gift from a past coworker) when I get highly scented soaps for I gift I put them in my dresser drawers to make things smell nice. I have other rose themed items but I decided to keep the photo styling simple and to focus on just a few key pieces. 

Brooch Collection

I promised you all that I would share pictures of my brooch collection so here it is, this pillow was from a friend that was just going to throw it in the garbage but I took it about 6 years ago, put my brooch collection on it and have had most of them on here ever since. I have been collection vintage brooches since I was 9 that was when my grandma passed away so I inherited a bunch from her, my mom gave me some, friends give me brooches as gifts because they know I collect them and I have collected more along the way. Some are not on the pillow some are in a box and I have a few that are broken that I want to have fixed. I would say I have around 50 or 60 in all, I have not counted lately so I do not really know but I would say that is a really good guess. My favorite broaches are the two Art Deco bows (one is rhinestones and the other is marcasite) and the 1930s spider after that I would have to say the enamel moth and the enamel butterfly (which I mentioned in my last post)

Outfit for today plus my latest acquisition!

Adorable enamel butterfly pin from Lulu's Vintage.

Today's outfit:

Hat - Free from a naked lady clothing exchange party.
1930s Dress - Free, I got it from a store called Helping Hands (no longer open) that helped out people who are jobless (which I was a couple of years ago and I am yet again) they would let you take home 8 items a week. They had mostly modern day stuff however I found and took home some other vintage items (seamed stockings, gloves, hat, purse etc...)
Red slip under dress - Gifted
Waist sash/pure silk ribbon - oblationpapers
Knee socks - lilleboutique
1940's dance shoes - lulusvintage Ann is the owner of Lulu's vintage (her nick name is Lulu and is a friend of mine). She has a store not to far from where I live, I was in the neighborhood so I stopped in to say hi. Lulu took some pictures of me in her store today in my vintage outfit, I am sure I will end up over in her blog and when I do I will post the pics.

Also while I was there I picked up this super cute enamel butterfly pin, I already have one enamel pin that I got about a year ago at a different place. It is a moth and is a very pretty brownish wine color with yellowy gold highlights in the wings. Ever since I bought it I have been in love with enamel vintage jewelry and I told myself if I found another moth or butterfly I would buy it, so home it came with me. I bought that one from a gal who said it belonged to her grandma in the 1940s, which I assume this pin is from the 1940s too. If I remember correctly the gal I bought it from said her grandma was from Hungry and this is where the pin came from. I have a very large brooch/pin collection (over 50!) I inherited many from my grandma and my mom gave me several, then I started adding to the collection myself. I will be doing a post of my brooch collection soon (that way you all can see the enamel moth pin plus more).

1920s Summer Fashion Forecast

1920's Summer Fashion Forecast - Dreaming of flappers in soft sweet pastels!

Gifts!

I had surgery on Friday and my sweet sister in law brought me some gifts!

A very pretty bouquet!

Quite a lovely velvet scarf.

Another scarf which is light & sheer and will be nice to tie on like a head band.

Amazing old time transportation!

Check out these really interesting but strange vehicles:

Pirate Fashion Part Two

I finally found the pirate or gypsy inspired editorial that I had been looking for a while back when I did my original pirate fashion post: pirate-fashion. This editorial is from Elle Magazine 2001. I know it is not vintage but it is does have an other worldly old time look which is inspiring and fun to look at none the less.

Here is some close ups of my favorite photos:

Creating with objects found

I love to create beautiful things with objects I found and things around the house:

Old skeleton key, sterling chain and Czechoslovakian glass beads combined with seed beads. When I make jewelry I normally gravitate towards bright colors but this time I wanted pale muted colors for this piece.

Outfit for today

This is what I wore to work today:

Beaded cardigan sweater - Consignment shop.
Sheer blouse - Goodwill (It is the color of Key Lime pie, never have seen one like it before).
Skirt - From a 24 hour yard sale a few years ago (I bought 3 super cute skirts for a dollar and this is one of them).
Pink pearl bracelet - Gift from my boss Diane.
Shoes - Goodwill (from Saturday's shopping trip with Joyce).
Purse - Thrifted (from Saturday's shopping trip also).

More treasures

I went thrifting yesterday with my sister in law Joyce and here are my finds:

Set of 4 Coca Cola glasses in red and turquoise - they match my kitchen perfectly!

Pink glass spice jar and Art Deco white glass salt shaker (the red  glass dish in the back was  a thrifting score from another day).

 Turquoise ring and Mahjong tile earrings plus the maple leaf ceramic dish originally was handmade in Canada.

Super cute ring with little flowers on it (I had been needing a ring with red in it for a while now).

I saved the best for last - the most darling purse - of course I love it because of the bird!


I also got a pair of really cute shoes but I forgot to take a picture of them but I will wear them tomorrow and I will do an outfit post so y'all can see them. 

Spats

Yes, I own a pair of vintage spats and I love them. I wore them today because it was raining cats and dogs here this morning in Portland. I wore them non stop during the winter and I am putting them to good use with all of this rain we have been having this spring. I recommend them for all vintage lovers that live in wet cold places (they keep your feet very warm and dry) plus they look stylish, they are well worth the money. Also I have seen spats in the Fall & Winter 1924/1925 National Cloak and Suit Co. catalog (of which I have a copy of).   They call them ankle gators and they were selling them back then for .95 cents a pair!

Inspired by nature

I find inspiration for creative ideas everywhere. I went for a little walk the other day and found these beautiful blossom trees, so I took some blossoms home with me and I created a still life in my kitchen window. The vase on the right is a Estee Lauder piece, I had no idea Estee Lauder had vases/planters and such. I found it at Goodwill, it looks vintage and it is robins egg blue which is one of my favorite colors plus it goes very well in my red, white and turquoise kitchen.