Art Paperdolls...'Lydia, Oh Lydia'

Ooooooooh...

Lydia, oh Lydia,

Have you met Lydia,

Lydia The Tattooed Lady.

She has eyes that folks adore so,

And a torso, even more so.

Oh Lydia oh Lydia,

Say have you met Lydia,

Oh Lydia the Tattooed Lady,

When her muscles start relaxin,

Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson.

I just love the idea of 'Upstairs Downstairs' & the secrets of servants

of the Victorian era. 'Albert Nobbs' was a wonderful movie from last

years Academy Award season, that tragically told this tale. Lydia's

story isn't quite so sad...she simply ran away from home as a young

girl & joined the circus. After a tiring day of duty & service to her

wealthy employers, she goes to her tiny room, locking the door

behind her. She takes her uniform off & sitting on the edge of her

bed, she takes out her few treasured mementos. She looks into

the mirror at her tattoos & is transported to faraway places

& a life of adventure. I wonder why Lydia had to quit

the circus & become a maid?? I have my ideas... ;)

Lydia can be found HERE on my ETSY for $5.00!!!

XOXO

vintagesusie

Art Paperdolls...'There Was A Little Girl'

Happy November 1st Sweeties!!!

Well, I've made a rash decision...

I'm bypassing Thanksgiving & going straight into Christmas.

Enough pumpkins for me, I'm READY for Pine Trees & Pine Cones.

Merry Christmas Friends!!

{I know, don't die hard people like me just make you sick, lol}

AnyWho...

Here's another little friend I've made to add to my

Art Paperdoll Collage Sheet Collection,

'There Was A Little Girl, Who Had A Little Curl'. Isn't she a doll?

She's my 'NOT so well behaved' lady's daughter & she loves

dolls too! You can find her at my ETSY Shop for $5.00.

You will receive a digital download to your computer,

ready for you to print as many as you'd like.

More FUN to Come, I'm just SURE of it!!!

XOXO

vintagesusie

I LOVE Art Paperdolls...'Well Behaved Women'

Greetings Friends...

I don't know about you, but I LOVE paperdolls!!!

I have ever since I was a child. I couldn't wait for my Mommy's

McCalls magazine to come in the mail every month, so I could get

the one page I ADORED...Betsy McCall.

Over the years, I have made my own Art Paperdolls & sold them at

my shop or given them as gifts. I LOVE giving my dolls as a card

rather then a traditional card. I think a card is looked at, appreciated,

saved for a couple of weeks & then tossed, where a paperdoll is

enjoyed, displayed & considered as a work of art.

{my finished doll}

This Christmas I decided I'm going to make paperdolls for my family &

loved ones & use them as the gift tag. Believe it or not, a lot of digital

work goes into making these little Sweeties! Searching the internet for

just the right images, sizing & coloring all the images, days spent on

Photoshop getting everything as perfect as possible, for ONE doll. 

{havin a little bubbly, while undressing...naughty}

This Naughty & Nice, Victorian Beauty is called...

'Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History'.

How very true, right & she turned out so darn CUTE!!!

Sooooooo, I thought maybe it would be fun to share my one of a kind

creations on ETSY for everyone to enjoy. These are fun & easy to make,

just like when you were a kid. Instead of cutting & pasting, this time

your cutting & brading!! {adding brads} LOL

I will be listing them on ETSY for $5.00 as I design them. You will

receive a digital download, that you can download right to your own

computer & print from home & then Let The Fun Begin!!!

Hope you like them...there will be many more to come.

XOXO

vintagesusie

The Ugly Truth...

Hope y'all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

I had a 3 day Yard Sale, which kept me busy & made me some

extra $$$. What a great combination, right!

With a title like 'The Ugly Truth', you must be expecting some juicy

morsels of scandal or at the very least some torrid trouble that I've

gotten myself into, but what I'm going to share with you is a little

bit of movie TRIVIA. My brother & sister-in-law live in the 1930

apartment that Katherine Heigl lived in the movie, 'The Ugly Truth'!

This cracks me up...I found this picture on the internet of a random girl

standing in front of their apartments under the title,

I am NOT a STALKER. lol

Now, their apartment is not just one of the apartments in this

quint, California bungalow style, courtyard setting...

it is THE apartment they filmed 'The Ugly Truth' in.

Kinda CoooooL, right!  ;)

Sooo, since I'm their family & you're my friends...

you get a personal tour of this awesome little jewel, with all the charm

& character that only a 1930, Los Feliz home could have.

This is Pichu, catching some of the rays of light filtering

in through the gorgeous leaded windows.

{can you see my brother's reflection in the window?}

OK, leaded, stained & bayed windows... Aweeeeeeeee.

I have to go to a post office to get my mail, not only is this mail box

awesomely vintage, the mail lands on their floor...must be nice!

Their view into the courtyard, no wonder Pichu loves sitting here.

A Peek~A~Boo window in the front door, too cute.

This architectural detail goes all the way around the living room,

absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

What was once a phone box, see the shelf below for the phone book?

Here it is in the background of a scene with Gerard Butler & Kathrine Heigl.

The dining room is through the arch behind them...

& the corner cabinet built~ins & old windows in there are to die for.

The original old ice box that is tiled into the kitchen,

how cool is that?

The kitchen is completely tiled with soft yellow tiles & has a built~in

mirror/medicine cabinet & a little space to put your sponge.

I forgot to get a picture of the tiny milk bottle door,

where the milkman would leave your milk.

Those were the days!

The huge downstairs bathroom window.

A gorgeous upstairs nook with a built~in linen closet...love this!

This is the subtle design that goes around the walls of the

master bedroom. All the little added details that

no one takes the time to make anymore.

The base of the built~in vanity. I didn't want to include the top, as it

had personal items on it, but it is AMAZING. It has a vintage

round mirror, with great drawers & cabinets. I would love

to get ready for my day sitting here.

The Spanish style baloney over looking their courtyard &

gorgeous bougainvillea, a California staple. 

The view looking down into the courtyard...

not too shabby!!!

I love this sweet baptismal font, or maybe it's just

a bird bath, but it's perfect.

Headin down the Famous Stairs, which were featured in the movie...

yeah, I was standin there a minute ago. I think I was taking

up a little more space then Katherine, but I was standin right there! lol

Well, that's 'The Ugly Truth' friends.
The Ugly Truth is that I ADORE my brother & sister~in~laws new
apartment & think I need to live in one of the units right across from
theirs. Wouldn't that be so fun? It could be my CITY crib.
Enjoy...

XOXO
vintagesusie

Officer, CUFF Me...Please!

Sew...I DO have some good stories about thinkin I'd be cuffed by
an officer on my cross country trek to Texas,
but I'll save that for another time.  ;)

I must say though, I have been obsessing about cuffs. A much
softer & much more beautiful kind of a cuff...
a Gorgeous Fabric Cuff Bracelet.

I've been wanting to make one for ever sew long. I love the one's made of
Leather & Lace & always think of the Stevie Nicks & Don Henley song
when I hear those two words together, but since I had no leather
mine would be made of scraps of fabric & lace.

Looking through my Jewelry Love Board on Pinterest, I saw a sweet
& simple cuff tutorial by Vintiquites Workshop & it inspired
me to get all my tiny bits & pieces of vintage love out
& try something new.

Here's the lovely cuff made by Thespoena McLaughlin & her awesome
TUTORIAL. Thank you SEW much for sharing this with us, your words
were just what I needed to guide me through these uncharted waters.

What I loved about her method was that all that it takes is some
scraps & a needle & thread. I also used some fabric glue
just to secure any loose frays of fabric.

I ADORE the way my cuff turned out & enjoyed making it so much,
I'm sure this will be my NEW jewelry craze for the moment!

Sew, like I said...Officer CUFF me, PLEASE!!! LOL

XOXO
vintagesusie

The Old Barn Antiques in San Juan Capistrano

Happy TGIF Friends...

I hope you all have had a great week filled with creativity & fun!

I wanted to share with you one more of my favorite places to go

when I'm in San Juan Capistrano...I ADORE,

The Old Barn Antiques Mall!!

First of all...it's HUGE & I LOVE that!!!

Secondly...the prices are usually really quite reasonable, with many vendors

running sales of 10% ~ 40% off their booth.

And Thirdly...being across the street from the mission, they have some

really awesome Vintage Religious Icons, which I am also in love with!

These were just a few pics of some of my favorites...

I need to go back & get some more of the holy cards.

Beautiful Art Nouveau Silver Vanity Set...

I wanted that!!!

Old Vintage Barkcloth to die for...

& of course, colorful Feistaware. I was so excited...I had a wedding
last weekend for a young couple & one of things that was on the bride's
registry was aqua, reproduction Feistaware. So you can imagine how
excited I was to find this cute salt & pepper set for her. I took them
back to my Dad's & cleaned them all up, but 2 old corks were stuck
inside both of them. My Dad & I must have spent a hour trying to get
those things out. It was nearly impossible!! ;)

There was a lovely old photo album there...

probably given for Christmas to

Frederick Henry Hawkins in 1887.

It always makes me sad when I find something like this. I think about family
members like me, who would cherish forever a family heirloom filled with
so much history. Where is this family? Why did they ever let this go?
Is there someone out there that would cry for joy to have it? I am soooo
serious about this, that I actually have reunited a baby book I bought at
an antique shop with it's 62 year old BABY...but that's another story!!!

XOXO
vintagesusie