My Chapeau!

So - I had all these glorious pics of my hattie in the construction phase to share with you, but they were accidentally erased to make room for this adorable video of Beckett walking for the first time!  Look at him go, go, go!

We had bets as to if he would be walking by his 1st Birthday.  Now that he has legs, we will need to make sure he doesn't go for the Gramophone or heaven forbid, the fine china!

Anyhoo - as you may recall from my previous postings, my goal was to take a generic $5.00 hat from the flea market & turn it into a head-turner.  A little Rit Dye (thanks Thommy) & vintage findings later, I am quite pleased with the results :D  

Side view - Loving the scalloped texture

Front view 

Back view - Poke style brim will compliment my chignon.

Can't wait to debut this hattie at the picnic!

xox - KB-D

Final Days

Hello!

Well, it certainly has been busy here at the studio. We had our second and final tent set up rehearsal this weekend and it went swimmingly. We are all very excited to debut our tent on the ninth. We also have been busy with fittings. Thom, KBD and I are all orchestrating the outfits for our friends.

This weekend Thom and picked up a few more items for the picnic. Above is a picture of our basket horde that we've been amassing since June. We were planning on bringing in everything containers that would reflect the era, but practicality will probably make way for a canvas bag or two. These aren't even all the baskets we have. KBD has a few stored at her place as well.

Talk to you soon,
-HWC

Magic Carpet Ride

Hello!

Well, the thrift store gods and garage sale deities have been most generous when it comes to carpets. Below is the selection we're going to have for the tent (sorry for the dark pic, it was taken on our garage).

The large neutral rug on the bottom I had posted about a couple of weeks ago; the round red rug is the one found at the Alameda Point Antiques Faire. It was a good deal even though a bit on the smallish side, but it's perfect for the area we have planned for it. The rectangular blue one Thom and I found at a yard sale about two weeks ago. This nice family had it tucked under their vending table wrapped in a sheet. I'm glad we asked about it. We managed to haggle them down to $25.00. It's a nice old-ish handwoven one from India with a deep pile. There is a fourth rug we encountered in our sale travels, but this particular one now lives in my living room. :)

I'll try to post in the next couple of days the pair of knickers/plus fours I'm making for my BFF and the vest I have in the works.

-HWC

The Grounds

Hello!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, everything is coming to a head in the shop as we get closer to September. KBD, Thom, and I have been busy putting our costumes together. Thom and I are fortunate enough to have access to our own costume closet so a lot of our planning was putting together items we already have. But that doesn't mean we did not need to put thread to needle. KBD is going to get busy putting her hat together which I'm sure she will post an entry about.

I want to be the guy on the right

Hey girl...

I'll be wearing a more sporty look inspired by the first photo while Thom is going for the adventurer/world traveler look. I'll let KBD post about her outfit.

The main house

However, we did find time to go and visit the Dunsmuir House and grounds. Oddly enough, being long time residents of the bay area, we've never been there! I got excited when I saw the main house because this is the mansion used in the 80's James Bond movie A View to a Kill; which happens to be my favorite Bond movie not just because it takes place in the bay area, but also because of my love of Grace Jones.

Wild turkeys on the grounds

The grounds, not super large are quite beautiful. There's lots of green grass and clusters of shady trees here and there. Though you can hear the nearby freeway in spots, it's still a very magical place.

There was a neat grotto on the other side of this tresseled walkway

Unique flora

Palm trees! (it is California after all)

An orange tree (again, it is California after all)

The sprawling lawn

Ducks by the pond

We had a lovely time walking around. Made me wish we brought a picnic lunch with us! More posts tomorrow. It's been a very productive few weeks on the estate/garage sale front.

-HWC

Fridays are for Bargains

Hello!

Well, today has been full of unexpected bargains!

On a whim I decided to check out a church rummage sale here in town. Their Craigslist ad was touting magazines for sale from the late 1800's to the 1960's. I'm always on the lookout for vintage ephemera for myself and others. Thinking that there would be mostly old magazines at the sale, I was surprised to find an actual full rummage sale full of donated stuff from parish members. The prices were to die for! I walked out of there with all of the above for only $15.00! It's not often you find quality stuff for 10 cents each. Suffice it to say our Gatsby "horde" is coming to a head. Well, maybe just a few more baskets. As for the magazines, they were a bit on the pricey side. Obviously someone researched them and wanted eBay prices. No thanks.

Today's second bargain was found at our local Salvation Army store. We actually already have a rug in our possession that I found a the flea market but it's only a 6'x8' and we were hoping to find a larger one to cover more of the ground in our tent. Lo and behold this magical 9'x12' rug appears at 40% off! The price for the quality was just right.

Thom and I will head out tomorrow again in search of more items, but we're pretty much complete at this point. Now we'll need to focus on our costumes since we'll need to make a couple of pieces.

-HWC

Get to The Point Already!

Hello!

It was a whirlwind Sunday for KBD, Terra (one of my other besties), and I as we challenged ourselves by walking the whole Alameda Point Antiques Fair with Beckett (KBD's baby boy). KBD and I go to the fair maybe twice a year. It's not really our cup of tea because we love bargains. We go to the fair if we need to look for something specific or in our case yesterday for some exercise. But we were to be incorrect in our assumptions on both accounts.

The Chairman and the back of KBD's head

Firstly all the gourmet food trucks were there today along with the usual staples of gyros, kettle Corn, and sausage vendors. The Chairman has the best crispy pork tacos. They are VERY tasty and it's possible to eat four in one sitting. Although I find them a bit pricey they are worth the wait in line. We basically ate our way around the fair.

Plays cylinders instead of flat records

If you've never been to "The Point" know this one thing. Everything is good there. There's no real rummaging to find a jewel in the garbage. They are all jewels and you'll pay a premium for someone else doing the dirty work. Above is a beautiful Edison Talking Machine with horn. I had to snap a pic of it. Though we already have our replica gramophone for the picnic, this vintage piece is definitely a show stopper. I didn't ask for the price since I was on a budget.

Let your spirit animal be your guide

Cha-ching!

We saw a pair of one armed bandits yesterday. Kim wanted a photo with Ronald McDonald since he's her spirit animal and Terra found a dark knight in shining armor willing to take her money.

As Beckett slept, bargains slowly began to accumulate on his mode of transport

As for the deals, we actually found some! I don't have pics of everything, but we found a beautiful Indian brass table with base for only $25 (bargained down from $35), a round oriental run for $15 (talked down from $20), a picnic basket for $10 (bargained down from $15) and a couple more 78 RPM records for the gramophone for 50 cents each. All and all good items for the Gatsby picnic at great prices. Who knows, maybe the overcast weather was making vendors pliable to offers.

Well, I'm going to soak my sore muscles and try to find more space to store some of this new stuff!

-HWC

It's Already August!

Hello!

Whew! Today just totally exhausted me. Thom and have been busy with putting together the last details of the tent. We had a set up rehearsal and it went swimmingly. I've also been busy completing the travel bar I've been sprucing up (new Travel Bar entry coming soon).

Today was a great garage sale day. Thom and I ran around town like usual gathering up a little bit of everything for all the facets of our life. Thom found some great costume and jewelry pieces for his clients (www.thomasogden.com), I found some great books to add to my library, and we found some more pieces for the Gatsby event. We found more 78 RPM records for the gramophone and I found a pair of vintage specs that I was contemplating wearing to the picnic. Funny I ran into these great glasses since I was going to go to the Alameda Point Antiques Fair tomorrow in search of something similar. There is a great vendor that sells there with decades and decades of vintage eyewear. Thom got his glasses there and looks quite dashing in them. I think KBD and I will still go to "The Point" for a stroll and for a Lockeford Sausage.

Thom and I also found a great oriental rug, but I currently don't have a pic of it. It's perfect and matches the other rug we bought a couple of months ago. Will get a pic and put it up as soon as I can. I think I'm going to turn in early tonight!

-HWC