NEW TO ME: My latest used purchases

This year has been quite challenging in my attempt to not buy anything new (see this post), on the plus side I have found A LOT of fantastic used things!  The following items I bought over the last few weeks and I am just thrilled about them.  This post is in lieu of an outfit post, because I don't think anyone would be interested in seeing the jeans and sweatshirt I have been wearing all week...it's been crazy around here getting ready for the Unique LA show and decorating for Christmas.

1. Development cape via Rose Bowl Flea Market 2. Bag via one of my vintage dealers 3. Frye wedges via Buffalo Exchange 4. 1950's dictionary via The Assistance League Thrift Store

Musical Muse: sheet music from 1898 meets a dress 1940's

Last weekend I was at a local thrift store with Ruby and I saw a box of old sheet music for 95 cents each.  They had the most beautiful designs and lettering and turned out to be half off so I bought a few even though I'm not sure what I will do with them yet.  This one from 1898 especially caught my eye because it reminded me of a dress that been hanging on the "fix-it" rack for a couple days (actually days turn into weeks pretty quickly around here). I though it would be fun to share these "friends" and hopefully this 1940's dress will be in the shop soon!

This post is inspired by Oh Joy's "this & that" series.

SNEAK PEAK: Items coming to the SHOP this week!

Shop Salvage Life at Unique LA

If you live in the Southern California area, you are in for a treat on the weekend of the Dec. 11th and 12th.  Salvage Life is only selling at one holiday show this season and Unique LA is it!  We will have loads of clothing, accessories, bags, wallets, jewelry and more at discounted prices.  The $10 trunk will be there, as always...and I have a lot of great stuff to add to it, my office is overflowing!  

 Unique LA is such a professional show with lots of great vendor and free drinks!  

For more information about Unique LA, click here.

 

It seems everyone in my family is getting married lately, which means I get to throw lots of parties!  Over the weekend I hosted a Bridal Shower for my cousin Amanda.  Her wedding colors are black, white and green, so I thought I would make that the theme of the shower.  Since I already have black and white wallpaper, I was two thirds of the way there without buying anything.  I found myself inspired by the shades of green in some of my favorite vegetables: brussel sprouts, broccoli, artichokes and basil, so I made arrangements out of them.  Last night I roasted the brussel sprouts, and I plan to cook up the rest of the vegetables throughout the week.  I think I was able to waste a lot less with these edible arrangements. 

Drinks were easy, I just bought everything with green labels: Sparkling cider, Limeade and Lambrusco.  Sliced some limes, added a vintage ice bucket, black and white vintage tray and a pitcher of water. 

All my aunts brought a dish and I provided the fixings for sandwiches.  To make it interesting I put the spreads in recycled glass jars with handwritten labels to make it seem like they were homemade...haha.  I did make the pesto mayo, but that is pretty easy. 

Pesto from Trader Joe's + Mayo = Pesto Mayo

 

 I used my trusty bulletin board for a little creative activity.  Using the program Poladroid, I transformed some photos of the happy couple to look like polaroids.  I had a little sign that told guests to help Amanda finish her photo album by writing captions on the pictures. 

I had to get creative with favors once again.  Considering that it is the holiday season, I put together a gift wrap station.  Each guest got a bag to fill with pre-cut rolls of vintage wallpaper, old photos and tags made from vintage book pages.  In the front I had spools of vintage ribbon and string and allowed guests to cut them to their desired lengths. 

It was a great day!  I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

What I am Thankful for...

Yesterday I stopped by a vintage store on a very busy street.  While attempting to park quickly, I swiped the side of a parked car.  I was sooo bummed.  After asking around inside the store, I found the owner.  He came outside and looked at the car, after mulling over it for a minute he said "you know what, don't worry about it, Happy Holidays" and gave me a hug.  And I was able to wipe of the mark on my car with the sleeve of my sweater.  That brings me to the first thing that I am thankful for: good things that happen when you don't expect them and kind people in the world.

Other things I'm thankful for:

1. My handsome husband and beautiful daughter, without whom my life would be incomplete.

2. My friends and extended family who keep me sane and let me ramble on about things.

3. Salvage Life-my experiment, my dream, my creative outlet, my baby.

4. The people I've met through Salvage Life, through this blog, on Twitter. The internet allows you to connect with the neatest that I would never have had the opportunity to meet if I had lived during the time the clothes I sell were made. 

I could probably go on and on because I am so blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I made a little Thanksgiving Day collage below from some of my favorite items in the SHOP.

Be sure to tune in for the Taylor Swift Special on NBC tonight at 8/7c, she'll be wearing some Salvage Life jewelry!

5 Minute Flower Arrangements

I have a lot of grandiose ideas for gift giving, cooking and decorating, but the only things that ever get accomplished in a timely manner around here are ideas that can be executed in a matter of minutes.   

Last week I had a friend who lost her Grandmother and another friend who finalized the adoption of her son.  I picked up a large bouquet of wildflowers and split it in two.  It was actually kind of strange to think about how we give flowers for mourning and celebration.  Taking the flowers from the same bouquet got me thinking of how our lives bring both joy and sorrow, sometimes simultaneously, and it is ok to rejoice in the midst of mourning.   

This is one of my favorite ways to throw together a quick bouquet.  I always keep simple glass jars around.  You know, the ones that sauces, jams, olives and dressings come in?  I have a box in my laundry room full of them.  You can find spools of twine at estate sales or hardware stores or you can use a scrap of fabric from around the house, a piece of ribbon or just whatever you have.  The arrangement on the left (below) I tied with a scrap piece of leather from a purse I made.  When you use wildflowers, you don't have to do much to arrange them, they are supposed to look messy. Easy enough?

SPECIAL NOTE: BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR EMAIL LIST (in the sidebar to the right or click here),WE WILL BE SENDING OUT A COUPON CODE FOR OUR THANKSGIVING SALE!

Reincarnated Remnants ~ Dresses to Wallets

I love recycling and I especially love it when it's a team effort!  For years I have been saving bags of fabric remnants from dresses I have hemmed to more flattering lengths and recently after cleaning out my garage, I passed them onto a crafty friend.  Last weekend after having dinner, Jeff and I were browsing around Blue Windows on 2nd St. in Long Beach and all of a sudden I spotted some really familiar fabric.  Heather Davidson, the friend I passed the fabric onto, had made all of these beautiful wallets from the pieces I had given her.  After digging through my sold items I was able to find the two dresses that contributed to these beautiful wallets.

Salvaged Halloween Get-Up

Things have been so crazy around here!  As I'm sure you have noticed, we have this lovely new website and blog,  THANK YOU Rachel, of Ironwood Design Studio, for doing a fantastic job and meeting my every little request to my exact specifications.   We are also transitioning to a white background for photos, still working out the kinks on that,  Our clothing and jewelry was featured last week in People Magazine and Taylor Swift has been seen around town in our necklaces.  We've got something bigger coming at the end of the week, hopefully I can tell you soon!

In the midst of all of this, Halloween happened, and somehow I was able to pull off a last minute costume for Ruby and I.  That's the beauty of having a vintage shop and way too many things collected over the years.  Ruby wore my vintage sailor dress from when I was her age and I wore a nautical 40's inspired dress from the 80's, which will soon be available in the shop.  I found some red shoe clips that I added to some pin-up style shoes I had.  Ruby's hat was thrifted and mine was given to me by a sailor many years ago. :) Here are some of my inspirations and photos of us. 

Inspiration photos from here and here.

Salvage Life on the Front Page of Etsy!

I was so excited to learn that Salvage Life was on the front page of Etsy last night.  See the pretty bow skirt in the second photo, that's one of our redesigned vintage skirts!

These skirts have been such a hit at shows, I can barely keep up with the demand.  I take what I would call old lady skirts from the 80's or so, and shorten them.  The extra fabric is then used to make a pretty bow which sits at the side of the waist.  They start out with great colors and prints, but just need a little help with the length and styling...a few simple fixes and they are completely fresh and modern!  The elastic waist ones, can even double as a top ~ see the last photo. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sally Jane Vintage

Recently I have been making friends with some of the other wonderful online vintage sellers.  Someone was asking me the other day how I can be friends with the competition?  I explained to them that vintage is one of a kind, so we really aren't competing and we can appreciate the items that another seller has in their shop.  We connect on the plain fact that we think vintage is great and we all are trying to make a living selling what we love! This week Salvage Life has a little collaboration with Sally Jane Vintage, a great vintage blog that we sponsor.  We sent some of our favorite pieces from the shop to Jennifer of SJV and she sent us some lovely photos of her wearing them.  To see more beautiful photos, click over to Sally Jane Vintage.   If you are interested in purchasing any of the items shown you can find them here: yellow printed dress, blue printed dress, edwardian blouse, clay circle skirt.

 

photos by Tom B.

Salvage Life at UniqueLA...

We had a great time at the show last weekend! Our booth was packed with shoppers the whole time. I quickly snapped these photos right before it started on Saturday morning. People wanted to shop, so these aren't the best, but if you couldn't make it, you can get an idea of what it was like. We had a lot of clothing from the online shop plus some new ones, lots of jewelry made from recycled vintage pieces, embellished vintage bags, bow tie headbands, sunglasses and the $10 trunk! Big thanks to my trusty helper Camille. :)

Taylor Swift shops at Salvage Life

Just when you thought you could keep our little vintage shop a secret so no one would know where you got all of your fabulous one of a kind clothes...

If Joseph Cassell, Taylor Swift's amazing stylist found us, your friends will too! Taylor is wearing THIS vintage dress from our shop in her current Fearless concert tour. She wears it while singing White Horse, Tim McGraw, Hey Stephen and Fifteen. I found these photos from fans at her Philadelphia, PA and Charlottesville, VA concerts.

Hurry and head over to the SHOP to snag yourself a one of a kind dress before they are all gone!





photos: here, here, here and here