Winter Wedding!

Yowza!! I didn't mean to be MIA for so long! But when you are planning a wedding in only 4 short months (give or take a few weeks) you get kinda busy ;) Yes, that's right. Jon and I decided to get married this December 28th. We only got engaged at the end of August (see this post for the story) so that obviously hasn't given us a ton of time to plan.
We decided to marry so quickly mainly because both his brother and sister are getting married next year and we didn't really want to wait until 2014. Besides....we are in LOVE and there really is no reason to wait!! :) Luckily our families have been very supportive and helpful in everything and it is all coming together quite nicely. It IS possible to plan a wedding in only 3 months! Once things settle down some (probably AFTER the wedding) I will share some of the DIY's we did and other details.
But for right now I thought I would share some of the inspiration I've found online and on Pinterest. I am going to be trying - or have already tried - some of these.

                                      Ideas for Centerpieces

                                                                                   Source: soc.li via Hollie on Pinterest

                                                                     Source: twotwenty-one.com via Hollie on Pinterest

            Ideas for Favors - little pine trees or cinnamon and sugar covered almonds??

                                                                     Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Hollie on Pinterest

                                                                       Source: onecharmingparty.com via Hollie on Pinterest

                     

I have been collecting vintage pins for awhile and already started putting together my bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets. They look pretty similar to the one below.

                                                                    Source: zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com via Hollie on Pinterest

                                       

    I think this 'guest book' is super cute and my sister is working on making me something similar

                                                                                     Source: etsy.com via Hollie on Pinterest

           And I think we are going to put up a sign like the one below....such a sweet sentiment!

                                                                       Source: rusticweddingchic.com via Hollie on Pinterest

I look forward to eventually sharing photos from our special day and posting all the little DIYs we accomplished. It is such an exciting time and I am looking forward to becoming Mrs. Swope ;)

Bunting DIY

Today I wanted to share this super easy DIY Fabric Bunting I made a few weekends ago. Believe me...if I can make it...it is super easy! :) AND super cute! All you need is some fabric, scissors and rope!

I am a sucker for any sort of bunting or garland so when I came across this pretty idea on Pinterest (below) I knew I had to give it a try. I have been collecting vintage fabric (and some non-vintage) for awhile now and, not knowing how to sew, was never really sure what I was going to do with it. Once I saw this required no sewing I knew it was right up my alley :)

                              Source: intimateweddings.com via Hollie on Pinterest

                                                

Since I am not much of a DIYer, you might want to check out the link above for more complete instructions. But make sure you keep scrolling down to see my finished product!!

This was the beginning of the process. My sisters, mom and I were having a crafty afternoon so that is why the work space is such a mess. The fabric below isn't vintage but it is one of 5 that I added to the bunting. I measured the fabric to be about 22 inches long and then cut slits in the fabric edge about 2 inches apart.

The fun part is then ripping the fabric into 2 inch strips. You just tear at those slits you just made and the fabric tears pretty nice and evenly!

Once you have torn all the fabric you need, start tying it onto the rope at the midpoint of the fabric. Make sure you leave enough space at the end of end of the rope if you will be tying the rope to something.

I decided to tie my bunting to the bed. I have a canopy style bed and love to find different ways to spruce it up (as you can in this previous post).

I just love the results. I keep thinking up other places in the house that would benefit from a little bunting :) And even an upcoming wedding that it would be perfect for.... ;)

  

A very memorable vacation

Hello again! It has been a busy few weeks but I am finally getting back in to the groove of things. I wanted to check in real quick to share the news that I got engaged two weeks ago!! Jon and I left for vacation on August 24th. We were headed for Myrtle Beach for a week with my family but made plans to stop in Asheville, NC for a night to check out the Biltmore Estate. We arrived in Asheville late Friday afternoon to a beautiful Bed & Breakfast Jon had booked. When we walked in to our room there were roses, wine and chocolate covered strawberries waiting. He pulled a ring from his pocket and proposed!!

I said yes, of course! :) We are both very excited about this time in our lives and I look forward to sharing our future plans...of which we haven't really decided much yet.

I am so glad I decided this year to try and document our vacation a little each day since it turned out to be extra special! I bought a Smash journal by K & Company and some cute extras to make the process easier each day. I also made sure I had plenty of film for my Instax so I could take an instant photo every day to add. I didn't end up using the Instax as much as I had hoped but I am pretty happy with how it all turned out. I need to add a few finishing touches to it but hope to share the finished product here soon! Have any of you used a Smash journal before? I think it is a great idea for quicker scrapbooking and capturing more of the everyday with a more 'journal' type feel. I really enjoyed it and plan on using one again for our next adventure!

My favorite Flea!

I have lived in Oakmont, PA for a few years now and just love it! The little town is just so quaint with its brick paved streets and great shops/restaurants.... I don't think I could be happier with another town!
One of the things I love most about living in Oakmont is the festival that one of the churches has each year. The Saint Irenaeus Catholic Church has a festival once a year at the beginning of August...and the best part of it is the FLEA MARKET! :) I will never forget the first time I stumbled upon the festival. My friend and I had walked from our townhomes down the hill in to town for dinner at one of Oakmont's yummy restaurants and on the way home we walked past the festival happening in the church parking lot. My friend, having lived in Oakmont a lot longer than me, told me it was something they did every year and that they had great food. Having just eaten, I wasn't that impressed but we walked through anyway just to look around...and that is when I saw the sign pointing to the flea market!

It was more than I could have hoped for! :) A multi-room, 2 story flea market open on a Friday night until 10pm! I was just in heaven (my friend is such a sweetheart. She followed along but these kinds of things really don't interest her) and probably could have stayed and searched for hours. But because we had walked there I told myself not to get too excited because I didn't really want to buy a bunch of things and lug them up the hill. So I took a quick look around and decided to come back first thing the next day. 

And I have gone back each summer since! This year they put all the clothes in a whole separate building so I had 2 buildings & multiple rooms to look through. Below are a few things I picked up this year. They always have a pre-sale the Wednesday before the festival starts so I went there straight after work that night. I got a few things but most of it I got Sunday morning when they slash the prices.

I got this cool Santa. I believe he is from the 50s. He does have a tag on him but it is pretty worn. I believe it says the Stufflo company? Anyone know anything about him??

I also bought this amazing fondue set still in the original box and the writing is all in French! The only sad thing is that the people running the flea market wrote on the box! Ugh... but I just couldn't pass it up when it went half off.

And I got this pretty olive green and white chenille bedspread! I am pretty sure I had been eyeing it up last year as well but didn't buy it. This year I just couldn't leave it again! I don't have a bed to put it on right now but it is in excellent condition and it WILL one day be on a spare bed in my home :)

 

So - the moral of this story is to definitely check out the St. Ireneaus festival and flea market next August if you live in the Pittsburgh area! .... or don't... More for me! ;)

Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer & 100th Post!!

2 weeks ago Sunday (yeah, I am slow when it comes to blogging) my mom and I participated in the first ever Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer. It was a great event and I was proud to be a part of it. There were many great vendors and the atmosphere was so fun. There was a DJ, bar and even a hot dog food truck outside! There was a great turn out and I was extremely happy with what I sold. Below are some photos from the event. 

This was our space. I kind of panicked before hand trying to make sure everything would fit but it all turned out alright. Not sure why, but in in most of the pictures the 'W' is missing from my sign!

Some of the items that we had displayed on the floor. Tried to pretty some of it up by using vintage/industrial baskets.

Mom working the booth (her Etsy store is called In Times Past. Mine is Hollie Would Vintage)

The last 3 photos were taken by other sellers/vendors. I got these photos from the Vintage Mixer Facebook page.

The event took place at the New Hazlett Theater which is on the North Side of Pittsburgh. It was a cool venue, which you can tell by the photo! The gorgeous building was built in 1889 as the Carnegie Musical Hall and was dedicated by President Benjamin Harrison.

I really liked this picture of my mom and I (minus the 'W' mysteriously missing again!). Selling vintage is a great thing that she and I share and it is nice to have these memories.

A nice view of the space.

I think it was quite a success for it being the first year. And now I have a better understanding of what people are looking for (the clothes I took sold very well) and will be even more confident selling at a 'show' in the future. Here's hoping for another Vintage Mixer soon! :)

OH! And Happy 100th Post to me!! I really enjoy blogging and sharing my vintage adventures. It is something I am continuing to work on and trying to become better at. I hope you enjoy my posts as much as I enjoying posting them! ;)

Wheezy Wednesday

Wheez is BACK!  It has been awhile since I have posted her pretty mug on the blog. Wheezy has many nicknames in my house, one of which is Wheezosaurus Rex. I think this picture is a good example as to why that is one of her names :)

Pinterest Pursuits

I am sure by now that everyone is pretty familiar with Pinterest..... and how addicting it can be! What a great source of inspiration! You can definitely lose many hours exploring that site, which I have!! But for the most part I was just 'pinning' and not taking or finding the time to actually try some of those new recipes or DIYs. Well, a few weekends ago I decided it was time to try some delicious looking recipes from many pins ago!
Jon (the BF) is fan of Stuffed Peppers so I tried a Southwest stuffed pepper recipe. And I am a fan of cookies :) so I also made Oreo Pudding Cookie recipe. The first two photos are my finished product. They both turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself! :) Jon was a fan as well. The last two photos are recipes found on Pinterest and the links to them. Give them a try!

CLICK HERE

  

CLICK HERE

 

I think I am going to try to make this a reacurring feature. I am hoping it will get me to start actually trying more of the recipes, DIYs, etc... that I have been pinning!

Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer!

I am excited to share that I will be vending at the first ever Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer!! My mom (In Times Past) and I will be sharing a table and are super excited. Neither of us have sold our vintage goodies in a public or retail setting before so this will be a new and exciting experience. The Mixer will take place from 9am-3pm on Sunday, July 29th at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side.
This is the first year for the event and it was put together by the lovely Bess Dunlevy (and Jason and Michael) of Red Pop Shop Vintage .
Check out the Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer Facebook page and/or Twitter for more details on who else is vending (links below)....looks like a great group of people and local stores!! The closer it gets to the day and the more I see posted on their FB page...the more excited I get!!
There will be Cocktails, Refreshments, a DJ and even a Taco Truck!!
 I am super happy to be a part of the first ever Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer! Hope you are able to come out to show your support of vintage in the Pittsburgh area! It is sure to be a blast :)

Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer Facebook - click here!
Twitter account - click here!

I even got fancy and ordered business cards for the event :) First time I have ordered business cards and I am pretty excited about them..lol.
Side Note: I used the word 'excited' 5 times in this post so you MUST know it's true ;)

This Weekend....

As I was doing my usual search on Thursday for the local estate and garage sales I would be attending, I came across a listing on Craigslist for an old sewing factory that would be having a close out sale. Apparently, they closed long ago and are finally cleaning out so that the building can be sold. The sale was an hour and a half from where I live....normally I would have completely overlooked it but it sounded like it could be promising..... and an adventure of sorts. I got the BF to agree to go with me. So off we went on Saturday morning.

It was a pretty big place and I got excited immediately upon walking through the doors. They had been open for a few hours the evening before and we got there only about 2 hours before they were going to be done, so I am not sure (and don't like to think about) what treasures I missed out on.... but I feel like a came away with some pretty good stuff that made the longer drive totally worth it!

The building was really cool and the people were very nice. And best of all, the prices were great!! I walked away with about 25 Deadstock dresses/housecoats...of which I am ttttoootttalllyyy excited! :)

Check out the photo below to see a quick (not very quality) photo of 3 of the dresses. 

There were tons of buttons! I didn't end up with any for myself because I always buy them at estate/garage sales and never end up doing anything with them. But I did fill a bag with buttons for only 50 cents for my sister who has been doing some really lovely paper quilling & using buttons as the middle of the flower.

I am super excited about these pieces! I have been collecting a lot of great dresses for the shop and hope to get some of them up for sale pretty soon!

Plenty O Purses!

I dedicated a lot of the day yesterday to taking pictures for Hollie Would Vintage. I have so many things that need photographed that it can be quite overwhelming sometimes. So yesterday I decided to sort of stick to taking photos of only purses....of which I have many! The photos below are only a selection of them.... but I wanted to give a little sneak peek. Watch for these in the shop pretty soon!

Ms. Batista was helping photograph the purses too :)

I kinda love this clutch...gonna be hard to list...:)

This tooled leather purse is pretty and fun. Under the flap it says 'JOAN"

And this crocheted purse is perfect for your summertime outfits!!

If you're in the market for a new purse then be sure to check out my shop often for new additions!!

Hollie Would Vintage