if i were stranded on a desert island.....

no, this isn't a post about LOST, however, it is coming on TONIGHT!!!! yipee! been waiting a long time for that! but, if i were stranded on a desert island, i would want this product over anything else.... it is "control paste," by aveda. it is heavenly. it's great for short, messy type hair, and it smells DIVINE!!! what product do you absolutely love?? do you buy any products from ETSY? if so, what? fill a sister in!!

deconstruction/reconstruction....

this is the first deconstruction/reconstruction piece i've done. i think it turned out quite nice. i took a men's style button up shirt that i thrifted, and found this lace camisole top, also thrifted, and transformed them into one piece! i added some cameo buttons as well, to make for a very feminine, victorian style look. i really love the way this piece turned out. i just need to finish off the inside so i can list it in my shop. i hope to be able to do more pieces like this... it's just finding the time... oh, where does the time go anyway???

wardrobe remix and the storque!!

i've been a member of wardrobe remix for a little over a year now. at first, i was posting every day, and now i'm lucky if i'm able to post once a week. just too busy sometimes. anyway, today, i was reading the blog of tricia royal, bitsandbobbins, who is the founder of WR, where she announced she was featured in the storque! so cool! i love it.

i really love thrifting, and incorporating that into my wardrobe. i'm usually half thrifted/half new. some days i'm 100 percent thrifted. and there's a group for that too on flickr here.

so what would you say your fashion style is? does it change? are you stuck in a rut? do you like to thrift, mall shop? do you shop on etsy? if so, what are some of your favorite clothing shops?? have you ever done ebay for shopping?

i really think it's amazing how creative and fun people can be with their wardrobes, and it's been fun making new friends on flickr through similar fashion interests.

don't forget to check out the storque!! i'll be honest and say, i always forget to look at it!!! i'm glad tricia blogged about it, because i might have missed it. proof that i need to check it more!

skirt love

i really love skirts. they are SO very feminine, and flirty and sweet. i made this one last summer, with the help of my mom. i haven't quite gotten down zippers!! but it's something i'd like to work on. i would love to incorporate some handmade skirts into my shop. that would be FUN!

front page of etsy!!!

and what a better follow up to my first post, where i ended with the jacket i am SO proud of.... that it ended up on the front page!!!!!! awesome! i LOVE etsy!!

in the beginning....

it's been five months since i joined up to start my own shop on etsy. i can still remember my first sale.... it was this bright orange vintage tunic top!! (please keep reading - i promise it gets better!! with better pictures as well!! hee hee)

it really all started because i love to thrift and shop for unique and fun items that most people would walk by every day. i just don't like to "fit in," and be like everyone else. there were some days while thrifting that i would find such cute items, but they didn't fit me or weren't quite my style, but i KNEW that i couldn't leave them in the store. so i started my collection. i told a friend about this, who had just opened a shop a few weeks before, modernmama, and she said, hey, you should start your own shop! so theVintageZoo was created.

now, i know there has been quite a bit of controversy over vintage on etsy, some love it, some hate it. but over the past five months, i have seen my store morph into something totally different. i look at this picture above, and it makes me laugh outloud. what was i thinking wearing that bright orange tunic with those bright orange 80s heels?? eek! i had some VERY lovely people offer me suggestions on how to better my store, i.e., taking better pictures - after all presentation is KEY on etsy. those same lovely people encouraged me to create something - to find what it was that i liked to do, and DO IT! and so started my love for appliquing. i always watched my mother sew, and never really was interested, until this past year. my mom bought me a sewing machine for my birthday, and i haven't been the same since.



here is my latest listing

wow - what a change from the bright orange top!! i am SO proud of this latest creation, and have also started making magnets, rings from vintage clip-ons, and trying to be more selective of what type of vintage items i put in my shop. no more bright orange things!!

a month or so ago, i was contacted by another vintage seller who asked me to take a look at her shop and give her advice. i took about 30 minutes, browsing through her shop and taking notes. i convo'd her back, listing all the things that i thought she could improve on, and guess what? she totally took my advice and did those things! i just wanted to give back some of what was given to me. i look forward to seeing how her shops progresses.

i love etsy and am looking every day at ways to improve my skills, my shop, and ways to help others! it is such a wonderful place, isn't it???