romantic lace...

This newest find is oh so romantic. A vintage white slip with lots of unique lace and feminine details. The hemline is stunning with its vine and circle designed lace. So, so sweet.

In the shop [here]

It has been a few days...

I was away for a few days, spending some time on the beach in Avalon, New Jersey. It was so very nice and relaxing. My skin is golden brown and I feel like summer is rapidly coming to an end. August always has that bittersweetness to it. The days are still in full summer mode, but you can notice little differences in the sunlight and the days getting shorter.

I was hoping around on some new blogs this morning and found a great DIY Lace Embellished Tank Top Tutorial @ Blue Bird Lucy's blog. It is super simple, super cute. I have oodles of lace that I organized last winter which I am always looking for new and creative uses for it. I used some of it on this project a few weeks ago. I would love to try this tank top embellishment out too...or a skirt hem...something romantic!

See the step by step instructions [here]

summer sewing...

last summer I used this tutorial for making a market bag from a pillow case. This summer, after realizing that I never used it, I wanted to turn it into something else. I had this ugly little green pillow on my guest bed for ages. Lo and behold! I shoved the pillow in the bag and it fit perfectly! So I trimmed off the "handles" of the market bag and sewed the pillow right in. 5 minute face lift for a sad, sad looking pillow!

new banner...

Another vintage fabric banner in the shop. This one is made out of vintage fabric squares. I usually make the banners from triangles of fabric, but I decided to try something new. Gatherings of vintage lace, doilies and buttons also decorate the bunting.

I love the sunshine and happiness it brings! [here]

Oh Deer

Aren't they sweet? Nab them now! [here]

I also saw this dress on Solanah's blog. Oh my my. I wish I could bring myself to spend the 117.00! Its so beautiful!

I have been inspired by..

Maybe its the sudden chill in the air, maybe its students going back to school, maybe its my new love for the television show True Blood, but I have been inspired by everything "southern gothic"Dark moon pendant-Jorgensenstudio $48.00 [here]

Halloween Tags- Brandywine $9.50 [here]

Lace Kimono- $250.00 Bayousalvage [here]

Notre Dame KCWGallery- $20.00 [here]

Wallpaper

Le sigh. I love this wallpaper from Hygge & West. I would love to change my entire bedroom just for it! Right after we moved into our home, my husband and I wallpapered one wall in our bedroom. I thought the concept was fairly wild, but now I love it! I want to do it in every room! This is a photo of our bedroom. I would love to get some new lampshades and some more pillows for the bed. As for the wallpaper, I am still in love with it.The lamp shade I covet most is one from Tif Fussell's home, creator of DottieAngel, who makes the most inspiring crafts. Here is a photo of it. You can also enjoy a flickr album of her home.

ItsBella Update

Lately my vintage lingerie shop, Its Bella, has been evolving. I have been discovering some new items for the shop that are not lingerie, but equally as romantic. I am falling in love with vintage baby doll tops and sectary blouses. The ruffles, the lace, oh my!

Here are a few of the most recent listings:

Packaging

I think that creating product packaging can be a very fulfilling and fun! This is my step by step process for packaging my vintage clothing and lingerie from my shop. I start with a hand tea stained tag, add Its Bella in vintage type writer letters and glue on a piece of tattered lace. After the tag is finished, I take vintage sewing pattern paper and carefully wrap the garment. After wrapping, I add a gathering of vintage green sewing thread in a pretty bow. Add the tag and its done!

More Flea Market Finds..

I found this lovely little stack of vintage diner ware plates at a flea market this morning! They are made by Syracuse and I am researching the name of the pattern. I have found a few on ebay calling it "black lace"
These were spotted at a vendor's booth that was spilling over with diner ware. He was such a friendly guy, telling me how he hates winter and is enjoying the early arrival of summer. [It was over 80 degrees in Eastern Pa. this morning!] He and his "buddy" practically bought an entire diner's worth of dishes, so he was willing to bargain. I only wish that he had the dinner sized plates. These are the desert size. All in all, they are a great find, which I may have a hard time letting go of and putting into my shop!

Easter...Eggs...

In honor of Easter, I thought I would pass along this photo from Martha Stewart's latest magazine edition. These eggs are the most lovely shade of blue and I just adore, simply adore the lace/doily inspiration.
I would also like to try to plant some wheat grass or some herbs in an egg shell. I think the look is just simply peaceful. I bet that the grass doesn't last long, at least it wouldn't in my house, because a cat would nibble on it, for sure.

New bags & fabric & lace. Oh My!

The shop will be full of new vintage bags in the next few days! Here is a sneak peak at my favorite!
Also in the shop are some great bags of vintage lace I have put together. Each bag it about 3 ounces and has at least 10 pieces of vintage lace. Each piece is about a yard long, some longer. Grab them up now, there are only three! $12.00/a pieceThere is even vintage fabric in the shop too. These were a lot of fun to create! I took a gathering of 30 different vintage fabric scraps and stuffed them into clear bags. I then added a closure of 1960s magazine paper and a hand stamped tag.

Cupcake Foo Foo

Another Before and After Creation Photo. This cami is so feminine and full of ruffles and lace! I added a vintage doily [which we all know I love] and a posy of vintage feed sack fabric in the center of it, she is in the [shop] right now.

Feeling Inspired.

Staring at my lace and vintage fabric scraps today I became very inspired. I paged through the slips in my closet and chose this lovely number to embellish. It is not hard to create something so beautiful with a great base color, like this slip! The aqua is so bright and lovely and looks just down right sweet with the touches of pink lace.

I have been so inspired lately by vintage lace doilies. [As you can tell by my previous post about lace on old army canvas] I spied there amazing doily lights, made by Nice, months ago and I have seen them featured on countless blogs as well. It was only a matter of time before I posted about them on here. You can buy her lovely items on etsy.

I secretly want to meet this creative gal! I think she and I would be two peas in a pod. She seems to love the same kind of vintage items as myself and is also a doily lover! I adore her hanging lamp shades because they remind me of a project I tried to do in high school. We were batiking fabric [pretty cool thing to do it h.s.] and we had to create an animal from it. I wanted to make a hanging bumble bee with translucent wings that lit up. What an idea. I still have the sketches.

Anyway, I think Nice has done a great job bringing the past into the present in a creative way.

Here are some bright and cheerful inspirations for my recent lace/doily obsession.
1. Coasters- studiowonjun 2. Pillow- missmosh 3. Chocker-Uloni 4. Doily Hoop TheUrbanThimble

Forest Bound Lace & Military Bags

I discovered this shop on etsy a few weeks ago, it is called ForestBound. The shop is quite a smashing success and its no surprise. The bags and pouches made at ForestBound are constructed from salvaged materials, like vintage Vietnam duffel bags and then are embellished in a simplistic way using tattered and torn lace doilies. I imagine the violent past of these vintage fabrics meeting the refined feminine lace. Its a true juxtaposition. I love them.

Alice Saunders has a lovely interview at Hearth and Made Blog which you can read here.

After viewing these, it reminded me of the movie A Very Long Engagement. I adore this movie and the intertwining of a military and love story. It really mirrors the same effect of Alice's shop. If you have not seen A Very Long Engagement, I highly recommend it. [a wonderful story and a superb visual experience] and I love Audrey Tautou as well as Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Le sigh.

New Flower Pin Brooch

New brooch in the shop. I am loving lace lately. I really like the way these pins are coming out too. I wish that I had more hot glue sticks, because there would be like three more in the shop if I hadn't run out! doh.

I hope to do some of these for weddings. I can just picture them on a set of bridesmaids. All of them would have the same lace but slightly different centers, mirroring that each bridesmaid has an individual personality.

Snow, Snow, Snow.

Well, here I am again on a snow day! [last one before we have to start going into our summer vacation] At least this will give me a day to catch up on my etsy shops as well as blogging and crafting. I am so full of ideas lately, its just getting them to come out of my hands is the challenge.

I wore my lace flower brooch/pin yesterday at school and had many compliments on it! I hope to make more today, as I finally bought some pin backs to sew on.

I am also listening to the Amelie soundtrack, trying to get motivated and wishing that there was more sunlight today for photos. I have things as close to the window as I can possibly get, sigh.

There is a new vintage nightie in the shop. It is too adorable. This may be my most favorite piece.

Also completed today and two frames for my other shop. The first one looks like fall to me. It was a recent thrift store find. Its an amazing frame that I painted black. [it was a horrible gold tone before] It once again is filled with one of my favorite illustrator's work. [Evaline Ness] The second one, as bright and cheery as it is, reminds me of winter. I guess its the cool blue and black and white image. The illustration is from a 1960s science book!

xo.