Dia De Los Muertos

The real Frida didn't smile this much :-)

That was me, last night, dressed up for the West Hollywood Halloween Carnavale. What a madhouse! I was worried that no-one would know who I "was", and man was I surprised! I guess I know a little bit of what it's like to be a celebrity, with all the people wanting to take pics with me & shouting out "Frida!"
It was really fun...I love to do elaborate costumes for Halloween, but I've never gotten such a response before. As an artist & former art teacher, it warms my heart to know that so many people love Frida Kahlo. I guess there is hope for the human race, after all...

It seems that every Halloween has a big trend or two, and last night's seemed to be the "Dia De Los Muertos" costume with flowery skeleton makeup...I saw a ton of gorgeous examples last night, and would you believe that I took ZERO pictures of them? I completely forgot! Derp, lerp....

 Anyway, the traditional Mexican festival of Dia De Los Muertos is becoming a really big thing here in So Cal...
 I love the idea of having a special day to honor your loved ones that have passed away, and I think it caps off the Halloween season in a nice way.
I've been a fan of the sugar skull motif for a long time.

Don't know if you all have seen these, but along with my vintage clothing store I also sell my hand-painted bags (sometimes shoes & other things, too) in my Etsy shop MoMosMadness

Here are a few recent creations:

Love the two-tone...these bags are hard to find!

a petite one

my fave so far...

in-progress

The last one there should've been finished weeks ago and up in my shop for sale, but...life happens. And by "life" I mean looking at Pinterest and watching The Walking Dead.

Oh well...Feliz Dia De Los Muertos!!

Haul: Vintage Fashion Expo Santa Monica

I've been to the Vintage Fashion Expo in Santa Monica at least five times in the last couple years, and honestly, I'm a little over it...the crazy parking fee ($10), the super-high priced vendors, the attitude, the crappy snack bar...it all adds up to a less-than stellar experience. Every time, though, I do find a few things that keep me coming back!

 Here's what I got this time:

cute cotton apron...love the print!!!

more vintage fabrics for my stash (like I need more)

petite size "souvenir" pillowslip...mint condition!

Sweet, isn't it?

cute graphics

All the stuff above is from one of my fave vendors, can't remember the name but they are from Santa Barbara and they sell mostly vintage fabric, drapes, dishtowels, scarves, and stuff like that. Their prices are fantastic and I think they are the only vendors that I buy from literally every single time.


Another of my faves is Meow, where I got this awesome Darlene cardigan:

I'm ridiculously obsessed with Darlene sweaters

This sweater is so fab...the picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice!
Meow has fun merchandise and reasonable prices. They also have a store in Long Beach that I never miss when I'm down that way.

Every once in a while there is a new vendor, and when you go a lot, you really notice a new vendor. From this lovely lady, who's name is Bliss,

Bliss and her heavenly handbags

I got this charming petit point bracelet.

Whoa! Macro mode! The tiniest stitches...seriously.

It's honestly not completely my style, but the petit-point reminds me of my Mom, and I've never seen a bracelet like this one...I think mixed up with some of my other bangles & bracelets, "arm-party" style, I'll wear it a lot.

Bliss specializes in needlepoint and petit-point handbags. I've always loved this type of bag. She had a couple with longer straps, that someone had converted from handbags. After-market mods, you might say...I think this is such a fabulous idea!
Her business is called
Heavenly Handbags
What a truly nice person! Her enthusiasm is infectious and her products are the creme-de-la-creme. Bliss said that she just moved here to L.A. from New York...what a change! I wish her much success!

Here are some hints if you'd like to go to the next Vintage Fashion Expo, which is in February.
~I've heard that you can find free street parking if you search, and that meters are free on Sunday in that   neighborhood. I can't say for sure if that's true, but I'll sure check it out next time!
~dress in layers, because they seem to have a hard time keeping the temperature comfortable in the building. Every time I've gone it's either freezing or sweltering. Maybe they keep it so cold, cause they're hoping you'll buy a sweater or jacket just to keep from turning into an icicle!
~bring your own snacks, or eat first...the snack bar is pretty weak.
~bring cash. Now they have an ATM, but it has a $3.50 service charge. Some vendors don't take cards.

Have any of you been to this show? What do you think? What other vintage shows do you go to/like? I'd love to hear!

How To Turn Clip Earrings Into Post Earrings

If you're like me, and you think the old-school style clip-on earrings are a torture device right up there with the Iron Maiden and the Rack, then you might like this post. It's very easy to change clip-on earrings to posts, and I'll show you how!!

First, gather your supplies.

You'll need some rubbing alcohol and cotton balls, a pair of wire cutters, some craft glue that says it's for gluing metal (easy to find at Michael's or similar craft store), some post earring backs with a flat surface for attaching things (find at a bead store or the aforementioned Michael's) and your clip-on earrings. I also have a paper clip, bent open,  and some of those things that go on the back of your post earrings to give them more support. These are optional.

Here are my earrings:

I LOVE GLITTER

 They are late 50's or early 60's, with multicolored glitter pieces encased in Lucite. I got them at a flea market for 10 bucks :-)

Here's what the backs look like:

The next thing you'll do is cut off the whole "clip" mechanism, right where it attaches to the back of the earring. Use your wire cutters for this. Depending on the age & type of metal, sometimes it cuts like butter and other times you need to put some serious muscle into it. The ones above were tough! I had to have my Hubby do it :-) Your goal is a perfectly flat surface upon which to glue your new post backs.

Once you've cut off the clippy thing, hopefully you'll be left with a back that's nice & smooth, like the ones above. If you're left with a little ragged bit of metal, try to clip it off as close as possible to the back of the earrings, and if necessary you can smooth any rough edges with a nail file.

Next, you want to clean the backs of the earrings with rubbing alcohol to create a good surface for the glue to stick to.

Once the alcohol has dried (which just takes a couple seconds) get ready to glue. The glue I'm using is called "Industrial Strength E6000" and it came in a little set with three other different types of craft glue.

To make the tightest bond, you'll want to put a bit of glue on the flat part of the new post attachments, and a bit on the earring back itself. I use a paper clip for this. Then join the two together and hold it tight for a minute so it sets.

You can see in the pic above that I didn't glue my backs on dead-center, but instead more towards one side. This was actually a bit of an experiment, to make the earrings hang a bit lower on my ears. I didn't love the results, so I recommend that you glue them right smack in the middle. Whatever you do, just make sure you do both earrings the same!

Read the instructions for your particular brand of glue to see how long the glue needs to dry thoroughly. I usually let mine dry overnight.

Voila!  Non-torturing earrings!!

Just a tip:  this works best on lightweight, or fairly lightweight earrings. If they're really heavy they'll hang down at a funny angle.
I have not yet tried this technique on any screw-back earrings, but I don't know why it couldn't work just as well...I'll update when I try it out!

My Summertime Scores

September 21st is supposed to be the first day of Autumn, right? Well, apparently Southern California didn't get the memo, because it's now heading toward October and it's still summer-hot around here! This has been the hottest summer I can remember in So Cal. Just sweltering. Forgive me if I just can't get into a Fall frame of mind! The photos of fuzzy wool sweaters and knee high boots in all the mags just make my brain sweat.
There's something really wrong about shopping for Halloween decorations in shorts, flip-flops, and a tank top!

So if we're going to stick to summer for a while, I thought you all might like to see a few things I nabbed for myself over the last couple months...(it's never too hot to shop, right?)

This first one is a cotton sundress I got on eBay for 25 bucks. It was one of those auctions where the photos were kind of lame and the description was totally lacking in info. That, plus it's (totally fixable) condition issues made the price way lower...just right for my budget!

50's sundress by "Fritzi of California"

It had a flaw, which is that the elastic shirring on the back was about 75% dead. Replacing the elastic seemed like way more than I could handle, so I came up with a fix that I think worked out pretty well.
I just took it in and added a (vintage) zipper! Whenever I see vintage sewing notions at an estate sale, I try to grab all the vintage zippers. That way if I have to replace a zip on a vintage garment, I can replace it with a metal or nylon zip, sometimes almost exactly the same as the one I'm replacing!

the back, with new zipper

Now it fits really well and since it still has a bit of elastic left it's really comfy.

Here's a cute floral shirt that I bought for those days when it's really hot and I'm just working around the house. It looks really cute with my beloved yellow 60's wicker & pearly Lucite handbag.

I actually did a little alteration on it as well...I took in the sides so it wasn't quite so boxy. You can't quite tell in the pic but it's a really nice lightweight cotton. I got it on Etsy.

Here are some things that I got from the Pickwick Gardens Vintage Clothing Show in Burbank:

I love this skirt so much! I had actually seen it the previous time I went to that show, and was so sorry I hadn't bought it. I was super stoked to see it still hanging there! No way it was going to get away this time!
It's actually a bit tight in the waist, so the question is...lose a few pounds or alter the waist? Hmmm......I see a sewing machine in my future :-)

This beautiful 40's dress, thankfully, fits me just as-is (miracle!)

Again, the photo does it no justice...the fabric is so pretty...it has a fabulous texture almost like seersucker and it's incredibly lightweight, and yet not so sheer that you need a slip underneath. The only problem is that I have no shoes that look good with it at all! I spent the whole summer looking for a pair of white non-leather sandals with a vintage look and found bupkis. PPbbbbthht :-P

Finally, I also got this fun Hawaiian shirt:

It's like a tea-timer, with the cap sleeves and square hem with vents, but the collar is a traditional shirt collar.
It looks cute with white shorts!

That's about it for vintage clothes over the summer...I didn't get a lot because I pretty much blew my budget on these sunglasses:

They are real, genuine, Christian Dior Mohotani's, from the Les Marquises collection, not vintage, but vintage-inspired. This was a huge splurge for me...the "nicest" sunglasses I've ever owned, before this point, were Ray-Bans.
I love them so much!

Look! You can tell this was at the beginning of the summer, before the sun decided to land on So Cal, because I don't have my bangs pinned off my face and I'm actually wearing a long-sleeved shirt!

Is anyone out there actually enjoying a cool, crisp Fall? With sweaters? And apple picking? Oh, please do share with me...I have to live vicariously through you :-)