On Vintage Question and Answer Tag Fun

Over the past month, I’ve seen several bloggers playing this fun game of vintage question and answer tag and I thought I’d join in, so here it goes…

1.       Who are your style icons?  Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, and people in old family photos.

2.      What is your favorite way to get inspired? Looking at old family photos, vintage magazines, pattern envelops, watching old movies, vintage books, and by reading vintage blogs.

3.      What's your most-used hair tool? Hair pins, the “U” shaped ones not bobby pins.

4.      What's your favorite hair tool? Once again, hair pins.

5.      Updo, down, or half-and-half? Having long hair I usually prefer an updo, although I frequently wear it down too. I definitely need more practice in doing half-and-half styles.

6.      Is vintage something you do every day, on weekends, or for special occasions? It’s an occasional thing for me to dress completely vintage due to reasons of practicality. However, I’m usually wearing at least one piece of vintage jewelry or have some sort of accessory that is.

7.      What's your favorite blush and lipstick? Don’t use blush and very infrequently use lipstick, so I don’t really have a favorite.

8.      Dress, skirt, or pants? Heels or flats? I like all three!  Definitely flats.

9.      Off-the-rack or homemade? Both. In the last year I really started focusing on homemade, though, as I was given quite a few vintage patterns. There’s also the advantage of being able to pick fabrics and to make size adjustments.

 

10.   Do you swing dance? Nope. I enjoy watching, though. :)

11.    Extreme vintage or subtle touches? Usually subtle touches.

12.   Favorite perfume? Either Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Alice or The Queen of Hearts.

13.   Favorite skincare product? Soap and water.

14.   What does your family think of your style? All sorts of positive things, from that it’s amusing to that it’s fun.

15.   Favorite accessory? This really depends on my mood and what type of accessory is being referred to. I love wearing pins and brooches and if hair accessories are included a clip on bow tie that belonged to my grandpa.

16.   Do you find the vintage community welcoming or snobby? Very welcoming, as far as the bloggers I follow go.

17.   What drew you to vintage style? I really don’t remember anything exact. It was probably any number of things ranging from having used 1950’s/1960’s Christmas decorations from a very early age, time spent looking at family photos, my love for old books, and a decision made some time during high school that I was only going to watch old movies (versus new movies).

18.   Favorite places to shop vintage? Usually a thrift store that is right around the corner from where I live.

19.   What vintage eras are your favorites? Without a doubt, the 1940’s and 1950’s!  

20.   Most glamorous film stars?  I think that any number of stars could fit this and I presume this isn’t just meant to refer to them in their movies, but it real life too, so to name a few Grace Kelly, Maureen O’Hara (even when being kidnapped in The Black Swan) and Cyd Charisse .   

21.   Favorite vintage object that you own?  Finding this a very unfair question I shall list several things in no particular order…a 1940’s dictionary, a wooden music box, various pieces of jewelry, any number of Christmas decorations ranging from elves to ornaments,  a cloth sewing measuring tape (see  photo at #9), just about every black and white family photo, a mouse pin cushion (see  photo at #9), a giant pocket watch, three playing card wind chimes, my grandma’s china, a set of 1950’s tart tins, a set of mismatched spoons, a salt and pepper shaker set,  the Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton books that belonged to my grandma and great aunts, a box of buttons that I’ve been playing with since I was little,…Okay, so that was more than several, but once again this is a very unfair question and how can I pick just one thing!?!

 

My dictionary, salt and pepper shakers, and a few pins.

 

 And there you have it my answers to this lovely game of vintage question and answer tag! ♥

On Wishing Everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my lovely readers! ♥

 

On Decorating with Paper Hearts

While, unlike other holidays, Valentine’s Day does not bring about the same degree of decorating, it certainly is not one to be skipped over either. And while there are any number of things that can be made to decorate the home or workplace for this holiday, foremost among them are paper hearts.

Now when it comes to making paper hearts one can go about it in several ways. First there’s the method of just taking the paper and going at it with the scissors. In many cases this method will result in some rather uniquely shaped hearts. One will also probably succumb to the urge of wanting to even out these hearts, which, in turn, will often bring about a growing pile of oddly little shaped triangular figures.

Then there is the method of folding the paper in half, drawing half a heart, and cutting it out. While this is an easy way to get a symmetrical heart, there is always the matter of making sure that the half heart drawn on the paper is not going to result in a somewhat squat and oblong heart that looks like it could be a paper butterfly wing. When making them this way there is also the additional downside that the otherwise perfect heart will have a crease down the center. However, the crease could also prove to be beneficial if one where planning to make something three-dimensional like a mobile.

And finally (at least in the case of this post), there are always the options of using a stencil or drawing templates for oneself. Not only does this provide beautiful hearts instead of weird vaguely heart shaped cut outs, but multitude of similarly sized and shaped ones. It also allows for the convenience, provided the paper is thin enough, of tracing them onto just one sheet of paper, placing several additional pieces under it, and then cutting through several layers at once.




 

(Some authors I love...Lewis Carroll, Mervyn Peake, & Rumer Godden)


No matter the method used, before one knows it one will have a small handful of hearts (or maybe about eighty or so), which can then be decorated, taped, hung with thread or string, or displayed in whatever way one wishes for Valentine's Day! ♥