Vintage Renewal: Kasbah Mod Typewriters

Vintage typewriters are pretty cute on their own, but I like the looks of these revamped ones from Kasbah Mod. These "rejuvenated" typewriters are fully-functional and professionally restored to their original working condition, with a little kick to freshen their look: Color block two-toned typewriters, chrome/gold/metallic plated typewriters and artist prints turn each typewriter into a work of art:





If the $800+ price point is a little high, maybe it could be a fun DIY project for a rainy day?

(spotted on sale over at Fab this morning)

Shop Preview: Fall Fling

Coming to the shop this week ....warm jackets, fancy fall dresses and more:













Follow us on Twitter to know exactly when we post them!

Estate Sale Finds: Foldaway Paper Fan

I'm always a fan of old packaging, and got a kick out of the command printed on the box that this lovely paper fan came in:



Keep cool and be gay!

I know that gay had a different connotation back in the day, but I still think it is a funny admonition from a fan - the keeping cool part I can understand, but the command to go forth and be happy with nothing more than a small fan suggests powerful things from this little paper treasure.

Estate Sale Finds: Pattern Frenzy

I've been really interested in the trend of mixing a lot of prints and patterns lately, so I was delighted to find a number of shirts at an estate sale last week that push the boundaries of colors/patterns that I might normally wear.


I already had some fun mixing a bright floral blouse with a simple high waisted black and white striped skirt, and am interested to experiment with some of the other wild patterns in those blouses.



You can check out some outfit inspiration I've been pinning over at Pinterest - lots of bold patterns and bright colors.

Animal Head Art: New AHV Mascots

I always love picking up beautiful old portraits of discarded ancestors at estate sales or flea markets and have been plotting a few crafts with them so that they aren't relegated to the shoebox where I keep them currently.

I'm no photoshop expert, but I know my way around the program well enough to have a little fun. These are some new mascots I created for the shop and blog from some photos I picked up in Detroit a few weeks back. I think these two would have made quite a pair:

Shop Preview: Feathers, sailors and more

We've been (finally) putting some new stuff in the shop, and you can expect to see some of these gems this week!

There are some feathers....





Some sailor backs:





And a few other coats, shirts and more





Follow us on twitter to know exactly when we list em.

Friday Estate Find: Vintage Pink Bathroom Scale

I've said it before, but one of my favorite things about estate sales is getting to check out the interior of someone else's house and get a sense for how they lived and what their style was. Some people you feel like you would have liked alot, based soley on their choice of wallpaper and couches.

This week I walked into a pretty nondescript estate sale. Nothing in the house would have made you suspect that there was anything but a normal, slightly boring, neutral color loving couple that lived there. That is, until I stepped into the upstairs bathrooom and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of pink that had been amassed in such a small tiled space. It looked like Barbie had been throwing a Pepto Bismol party. Pink, pink, pink from floor to ceiling.

Suddenly my idea of the couple that had lived there changed. Maybe the husband had been insistent on a neutral color palatte throughout the house, despite living there through more colorful decades like the 70s. I imagined the woman, muttering under her breath things like "so you think pink should just be an "accent" color, do you?" as she carefully placed the pink shag bathmat underneath the pink porcelain toilet bowl.



The one thing I salvaged from the place was this pink scale for our neutral gray and white bathroom. I swear, husband, its just an accent piece.

DIY: Vintage Tins as Fridge Magnets

Another cute way to repurpose vintage tins - turn them into magnets and stick them on the fridge to hold pencils or other doodads:


Full tutorial to be found at Creature Comforts.

Dancing through the Decades

Just watched this video capturing 100 years of East London style in 100 seconds, Sept 13th 1911 - Sept 13th 2011. I like watching the style/dance moves evolve, and though I obviously love the old 20s, 50s, 60s stuff, the 80s and 90s are kind of amusing as well:




(found via A Cup of Jo)

DIY Tutorials: Vintage Record Bunting and Cake Plates

Maybe you'll remember that we participated in our first ever pop-up shop awhile back!

When selling in person you have to think much more about decor and presentation, so I came up with a few vintage-inspired pieces of decor to liven my space up.

I made some cute bunting out of old Vintage 45 Record Sleeves, and some display plates out of old records:



Here they were in action at the shop:




The decor was perfect for the shop, but I think they would also work if you were throwing a vintage or music themed party as well.

We've posted instructions on how to make your own over on Oh Happy Day:

DIY Record Sleeve Bunting

DIY Vintage Record Cake Plates

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All Photos by Robyn Kessler of Verité Photography.

The Help

Go see 'The Help'. It's a really great movie in every way. In addition to loving the entire thing, we of course were smitten by the costumes. Good thing we know where you can find similar looks...

Outfit Inspiration: Vintage Slip as a Dress

I saw this outfit post last week on a Beautiful Mess, and fell in love with the vintage-slip-as-a-dress look she perfected. Seriously, some of the lacy vintage wonders that I come across seem too pretty to hide under dresses and inside bedrooms, and I'm glad to see this one worn outside for the world to see in such perfection.


We've got a few pretty slips coming to AHV this week too. Sneak peek for you:

Estate Sale Finds: Matching Undies

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Pop-up Shop over the weekend! We made some new friends and had a grand old time getting to see all of our dresses hanging up and being looked at in person.

I'll have some photos to share of the event, but in the meantime, I had to share my favorite estate find of last week. I stumbled upon the home of a woman who loved pretty slips and square dancing. I had to bring home this matching set - a big poofy crinoline for optimal skirt volume, and the matching ruffled undies for when she did that move where you get pulled through your partners legs and then do a flip. You know the one.

Pop-Up Shop - ceramics sneak peek

No, seriously, San Francisco. You want to come to our first ever Pop-Up Shop.

As proof, I provide a peek at one of Amanda Smith's designs to the left. She is a fabulous ceramics artists, and paints these devious little girls on everything. For sales like this one, she has a line of one-of-a-kind vintage dishes (plates, bowls, platters, etc) that she has produced with her girls on them, and priced really affordably.

Come get your hands on some:

Saturday, June 18
10:00am - 2:00pm
The Ferney Art Studio
766 Valencia Street, SF

Pop-Up Shop - San Francisco

I don't really sell vintage in-person, so this is something new for me:



Two of my favorite artists and friends are moving and selling some of their art before they go, so we decided to hold a one day Pop-Up Shop in San Francisco. They'll be selling their artwork, and I'll be there with a big pile of vintage clothing.

Please come by and check it out! I'll have lots of stuff that hasn't made it to the shop yet, and a big bargain bin full of other ferociously fine goodies to paw through.

Saturday, June 18
10:00am - 2:00pm
The Ferney Art Studio
766 Valencia Street
San Francisco, California

*****

Participants:


Animal Head Vintage, by yours truly, with a smörgåsbord of vintage fashions to peruse.



Ceramics by Amanda Smith (she's got lots of vintage plates and cups with her cute and cunning girls gracing the sides that she made for the sale - to die for!) *



Paintings, drawings, and collages by Casey Jex Smith *

* (older work pictured here for reference)

Vintage Wedding Dresses

I've been meaning to share some of the vintage details of my wedding here on this blog. I tried to incorporate vintage touches wherever I could in the wedding, so I'm sure I'll have a few posts to share.

For now, I want to talk about my dress - I already knew I wanted a vintage dress, so when I stumbled upon the perfect ruffled knee-length white dress, I bought it immediately (even though technically I wasn't even engaged yet - it was too good to let go):


(dress : Timeless Vixen | shoes : jrenee | belt: club monaco)

I'm a huge fan of the short wedding dress trend, but mostly just like that people seem to be doing whatever they want to with their dresses these days. Long, short, plain or colorful - its all okay, as long as the dress just screams "you". The dress I bought wasn't technically a "wedding" dress - I think it was a 50s prom number, but it worked.

if you want to go vintage for your wedding, we've got some fun vintage wedding-ish dresses hitting the shop this week:








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Looking for a vintage wedding dress, or want to design your own? These are some of my favorite other Vintage Wedding Dress Resources:

Posh Girl Vintage - Vintage wedding dresses to die for (lots of short 50's/60's wedding dresses)
Timeless Vixen Vintage - a well selected bunch of fancy-wear, wedding or not.
Dolly Couture - Reproduction/Vintage-inspired wedding dresses
Your Fairytale Wedding - Custom/Vintage-inspired wedding dresses
Angels Bridal Boutique - Custom Wedding Dresses