Black Friday / Small Business Saturday SALE

The entire shop (including sale items) are 25% now until Monday, December 2nd!

Shop the SALE

Sorry, no layaways or reserves during the sale.  Sale prices do not apply to layaway payments or items already under reserve.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my USA readers!  

Enjoy all the delicious food and fun times with family and friends!

And for those of you already shopping the sales, the shop is already on sale for the weekend!  Official details tomorrow.

Early Bird Special! Coupon Code!

I'm offering a special blog readers only coupon code to cash in on the holiday sale before it goes live to the general public!

Use the code EARLYBIRDHOLIDAY to receive 20% off your total order.

May not be used in combination with any other offers.  Not valid on reserves or laways.  No reserves or layaways during sale.  Code good until midnight EST.

Shop Small this Weekend

When American Express came up with Small Business Saturday three years ago I was beyond elated.  I am huge believer in voting with your dollar by shopping at small, independent businesses and what better time of the year to promote this idea than when everyone is rushing out to the big box stores for the biggest shopping weekend of the year?   

Sure, I like a good deal on just about anything and occasionally do enjoy venturing out into the chaos known as Black Friday, but the benefits that come with shopping small far exceeds the bargain basement prices of Black Friday.  When you shop small 52% of what you spend goes back into that very same community.  Can that be said of Walmart, Macys, or Sears?  I highly doubt that.

While some critics say that this campaign has done more for American Express than the small businesses themselves, I still think the exposure this idea gets reaches far beyond the money that American Express makes off of its cardholders on SBS.  I love that this caught on and I hope that it inspires people to shop small and not just that one day a year they are asked to.  

Small businesses are not just found on Main Street.  Majority of etsy sellers are independent business owners, supporting themselves through the platform of etsy.  When someone buys a vintage dress from me that money not only goes to my living expenses, but also to local Detroit farmers at Eastern Market, to local charities run by the Salvation Army, to my independent health food store, and many of the other small, independent businesses I shop at on a daily basis.

So I urge you to get out to Main Street or Etsy this Saturday and support these businesses!

 

Vintage Christmas Mood Board 2013

| vintage christmas mood board |

This week I am starting to decorate for Christmas and I put together a little mood board via pinterest to get me into the holiday spirit.  Stuffed reindeer, mercury glass, bottle brush items, aluminum trees, blow molds -- these are just a few of the items I am really lusting for this year.

I fell in love with this light bulb wreath over the summer and I finally found the last items on my supply list; so I will be putting this together this week as well.

What vintage christmas items are you falling for this year?

Holiday Card Exchange

When I saw Leilani's call for addresses for a holiday card exchange on Tuesday, I knew instantly that that was something I wanted to do too!  What a great idea -- kudos to Leilani!!

I've always loved Christmas cards.  I remember as a little girl going with my mom to pick out our cards for that given year.  Always one of my favorite traditions of the season and one that seems to have lost popularity, at least with my generation.  Let's bring it back!

Want to get in on the action too?  Let's exchange cards this Holiday Season!

Send me an emil with your address and I will send you a vintage or retro Christmas card.  

Want to send me one too? I'd love it if you did!

Click the contact me button below and I'll email you my address.

Vintage Thanksgiving Menu - Splurgin' in 1952

Welcome back for the last menu in the series of menus for all price points as found in a 1952 Woman's Day magazine.  If you missed the first two, see the "cutting costs" Thanksgiving menu and the "moderate" Thanksgiving menu for more Thanksgiving menu ideas.  This final menu in the trio is for the lady who wants to splurge this holiday season!

The "Splurge" menu includes:

-oysters on half shell with cocktail sauce

-oyster crackers

-cheese sticks

-clear mushroom soup with whipped cream

-celery hearts

-stuffed olives

-black olives

-whole cranberry sauce

-cranberry jelly

-roast turkey

-giblet gravy

-wild rice stuffing

-sherried yams

-brussels sprouts

-orange filled avocado halves on escarole with french dressing

-double corn sticks

-butter balls

-frozen nesselrode pudding

-almond macaroons

-salted pecans

-mints

-coffee  

In 1952 this cost about $2.45 per person, which would be $21.65 in today's money according to an inflation calculator.

I hope you have enjoyed these three as much as I have!  It's always so interesting to see how people ate and menu planned back in the day.  Now onto planning my contributions to the Thanksgiving feasts I am heading to this year.  Only one week to go!

Vintage Detroit | America's Thanksgiving Parade

| Detroit, 1962 |

 Ever since I was a little girl, starting off Thanksgiving morning would not be complete without plopping myself in front of the tv to watch the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade, also known as America's Thanksgiving Parade.

| Detroit, undated |

Detroit's Thanksgiving parade was started in 1924 by the J. L. Hudson company.  Charles Wendel, Hudon's display director, got the idea after seeing the success of Toronto's Eaton's Santa Claus Parade.

| Detroit, 1973 |

Wendel also is responsible for one of the most iconic elements of the Detroit parade, large paper mache heads; which were inspired by those he had seen on a trip to Europe.

| Detroit, 1935 |

America's Thanksgiving Parade is the second oldest in the States, tied with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

| Detroit, 1940s |

While the parade is now shown nationally to over 100 million viewers, it was first televised in 1948 to local viewers.

Which Thanksgiving Day parade do you watch?

Etsy Shopper Survey | General Results and Giveaway Winner

Two weeks ago, I teamed up with Brittany from Va Voom Vintage to bring you the Etsy Shopper Survey, a questionnaire about how you use etsy to shop for vintage.  112 of you took the time to take this survey and the results were interesting!  

A HUGE thank you to everyone that participated!  It was extremely helpful and will be used to create some informative posts about buying and selling vintage on etsy after the new year.

Until then, I thought I would share just a few of the questions and results. 

Want to see more? You can also download the entire report.

Etsy Shopper Survey Results

And, the winner of the $25 store credit to Livin' Vintage Shop is......

Jessica from Chronically Vintage

Jessica, please contact me for the details on your prize.  Thank you so much to everyone who took the survey, you guys really helped A LOT!

Lately | Kitschmas Edition

A few weeks ago, the thrift stores started to put out all their holiday items and so started the hunt for new-to-me treasures for my holiday decorating.  Above is the first Christmas purchases of the season!  The spaghetti santa is in rough shape; both of his feet have been glued back on and some of his paint has rubbed off; but he was only $1 and I plan to make one of THESE with him.  I got the candles for the bulbs, aren't they neat?

I took advantage of the Veteran's Day sale Joann Fabrics was having to stock up on some holiday fabric.  The poinsettia and candy cane fabrics are going to be made into Christmas Swirl dresses, which I am SO excited about!  There was only one yard left of the sweet deer fabric, so I got it anyway and am putting it away for now.  I think it would make an adorable little girls dress, don you?  The brown print is what I am making my Thanksgiving dress out of.  See more of that soon!

   

Aren't these deer ornaments cute?  And oh so retro!  I found them at Target, which by the way, has quite a few retro Christmas items this year.  The aqua one is being used in a craft project I will be sharing next month on the blog and the brown one will make its way to my tree.

I just picked up these bottle brush trees yesterday at the Royal Oak Flea Market for $5 total.  The taller one has a lot of little embellishments in it, like mercury glass ornaments and mini reflectors.  The smaller one is tiered and haven't ever seen one like it before, so I had to get it for my collection.  I think I might finally have enough to start THIS kind of display.

I thrifted this little guy last week and was so thrilled to have pulled it out of the bottom of a basket of ornaments at the thrift.  I had been eyeing similar ones online.

What have you been finding?

Lets follow each other!  @livinvintage on instagram

Also, today is the last day to take the Etsy Shopper Survey!  Take it now for a chance to win $25 to Livin' Vintage Shop

Make a Turkey | a vintage craft for the kids

Jack and Jill, 1963

I recently acquired some vintage Jack and Jill magazines and this little gem was among them.  It's a perfect craft to keep the kids busy on Thanksgiving morning while you are busy in the kitchen!  And, as the mini blurb above suggests, you can decorate the Thanksgiving table with your kids' creations.

There's still time to take the Etsy Shopper Survey and have a chance to win $25 to Livin' Vintage Shop!

Vintage Thanksgiving Menu - Cost Cutting in 1952

Last week, I shared the "moderate" priced Thanksgiving menu.  Next up is the "cost cutting" menu as seen in a 1952 Woman's Day magazine.

All the menus are built around a traditional turkey roast and gravy.

This menu includes:

-grapefruit and orange cocktail

-cream of asparagus, croutons

-celery sticks

-carrot curls

-whole cranberry sauce

-roast turkey

-giblet gravy

-sage stuffing

-candied sweet potatoes

-turnip cubes in mashed potato nests

-spinach with egg

-lettuce wedges with chili sauce mayonnaise

-hot biscuits, margarine

-lattice topped mince pie

-tea

-candy corn

In 1952 this cost about $0.95, which would be about $8.39 in today's money according to an inflation calculator.

Stay tunned for the "splurge" menu next week!

Also, don't forget to take the etsy shopper survey for a chance to win $25 to Livin' Vintage Shop! 

How to Jazz Up Your Cranberry Jelly This Thanksgiving

When I saw this idea in a 1950 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I just knew I had to share it with you all.  How genius is this?!  It's such a simple way to make the Thanksgiving meal more fancy/festive.  Plus, I bet this would really go over big with the kids table! 

Don't forget to take the etsy shopper survey for a chance to win $25 to Livin' Vintage Shop!

5 Recipes for Canned Pumpkin

Libby's introduced its now famous canned pumpkin in 1929.  Since then, cans of Libby's canned pumpkin starts to fly off the shelves of grocery stores this time of year.  While pumpkin pie is a traditional take on canned pumpkin, I thought it would fun to take a look at five different vintage/retro recipes that utilize this seasonal goody. 

Frozen Pumpkin Parfait Squares

This sounds so delicious!  And it would be really easy to veganize too!  Just swap out the butter for shortening and the ice cream for a soy or coconut milk based ice cream.



Pumpkin Dream Pie

I think this pie would be a nice twist on the usual pumpkin pie that so many of us enjoy on Thanksgiving.  Plus, it's an ice box pie, so there's no cooking involved!

Cloud O'Pumpkin Pie

This is another twist on the pumpkin pie.  One pie I really do enjoy is coconut cream pie and this pie seems to be a hybrid between a pumpkin dream pie and a coconut cream pie.  This might be my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner!

Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups flour                              1 cup quick oats

1 teaspoon baking soda                   1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt                         1 cup soften butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar      1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg slightly beaten                              1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup Libby's solid pack pumpkin

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (or nuts, raisins, etc)

Preheat over to 350F.  Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Cream butter; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; mix well.  Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in morsels.  For each cookies, drop 1/4 cup dough balls onto lightly greased cooked sheet; spread into pumpkin shape.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Yields 19-20 cookies.  

 Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Lemon Icing / Pumpkin Nut Bread

These cookies with the lemon icing sounds interesting!  If anyone tries them, I'd love to know how they turn out!

Have you entered the giveaway for $25 to Livin' Vintage Shop?  Check out this post to find out more!

Saving Style | Happy Veterans Day

In honor of Veteran's Day, I am sharing some of my photos with soldiers/men in uniform.  Like many vintage lovers, I have a soft spot for WWII photos, especially those that depict a man in uniform standing next to a pretty gal.

It's always fun to speculate who the woman is to the man.  His wife? Sister? Friend?  I'm willing to bet most of them are wives/girl friends or sisters.

This photo above looks like the couple just got married.  The woman is wearing a really nice suit, corsage, and a veiled hat.  Maybe a leave nuptials?  Regardless, they sure look happy!

What I find most charming about this photo is how the man is holding the purse and how the woman is looking down at the baby -- so sweet!  Plus check out that gal's shoes!

Free Pattern Friday

This month's free pattern is for the man in your life.  I really love this style of tie!  I am offering, for FREE, the pattern to make the tie on the far left.  Would make quick and sweet Christmas present.

Download 1952 Crocheted Tie

Pattern is formatted to fit on a 8.5" x 11" paper.  Feel free to link to this pattern, pin on pinterest, or send your friends here.  This pattern may NOT be reproduced for sale or reposted/redistributed in any form.  The tie MAY be made for sale from this pattern, but please give credit to Livin' Vintage for the use of the pattern.

Have you taken the etsy shopper survey yet?  Take it and be entered for a chance to win $25 to Livin' Vintage Shop!