Violet Vintage of Fargo

Waaaaaay back in June, while we were on vacation, we peeked into an adorable vintage clothing and accessory store in downtown Fargo called Violet Vintage.  It took us awhile to find it as it is no longer located in the Black Building on Broadway. 
It has moved to this cute little shop at  1-1/2 S 8th St.

Violet Vintage looks very small on the outside but don't let that fool you.  While the store building is quite narrow looking it is also quite LONG. 

 

 

The store building itself has oodles of vintage character and I wish I had taken a photograph of the inside!  If I remember correctly, it had hardwood floors, original high ceilings and an old heater/fan hanging from the ceiling.  I got the vibe that it could have been, at one time, a little candy store or a little bakery (I mean what else could be in a store so small?)  Or maybe a haberdashery or barber shop?  Who knows, but it is fun to think about its past history.  If only walls really could talk. 
 

The lady working there was super friendly!  She let us browse in peace, but was always close by if we needed help.  

There were racks and racks of vintage clothing, unfortunately, I found nothing that I really loved that was in my size. There were many vintage purses, gloves, necklaces, earrings, and SHOES.  They had actual, vintage shoes!  I didn't buy any shoes, but I did purchase this cute little navy blue purse and some enamel earrings.

 

 

 

The little enamel, daisy, clip earrings are a favorite of mine, and even though I don't have an outfit to accompany them, you can never go wrong with red, white, and blue.

 

And I carried it all home in this cute little bag with filled with violet colored tissue paper.

 

 

All in all, Violet's Vintage was a fun little store and I can't wait to visit there again!

 

That's all for today, but until another time, have a happy vintage day!

 

The All Electric Kitchen

Today I stumbled upon another fun 1952 movie created by Edison Electric Institute to promote all of their wonderful new electric appliances. It's actually more like the 1950s form of an infomercial.

The show is pert-near a half hour.  If you watch it you'll get your daily allowance of corn...the dialogue is pretty lame, but I like kitchy, corny things from the early 50s so I look past that and drink in the set designs and clothing. 

The girl's black and white checkered dress is ADORABLE!  And I love the saddle shoes she wears at the beginning.  The house is modern for the 1950s.  The family even has a dishwasher.  I just about fell out of my chair when I saw the stove.  It had a built in pot in which the mother was cooking stew.  I looked up "stove with built-in pot" on line and found one...a Kelvinator.  (Sorry I don't know who the picture is from and it's not the greatest quality.)

Any way, on with the "show".

 

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy vintage day. 

Ocean Snack

Pinterest is a wonderful thing sometimes!  I think the original maker of these snacks is from a blog called thefirstyearblog.  But I'm not positive (that's the not-so-fun thing about Pinterest, I never know who should get credit for the original idea). 

Anyway, these super easy snacks were a big hit during our Ocean/Beach theme weeks.

 

You start by making some blue frosting.  I just use powdered sugar, a tiny bit of milk, some vanilla for flavor and a few drops of blue food coloring.

 

Graham crackers!

 



Frost the graham crackers with the blue icing.

 



 

Put a graham cracker into a baggie and smash it to bits with something.

 

 

Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs onto the bottom of the cracker to create a beach, or the ocean floor.

 

 

Add some goldfish crackers to your ocean and some tiny white sprinkles (bubbles).

 

 

Eat and enjoy!!

 

 

The daycare kids loved them!

 

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy, snacky day!

 



Mr. Seahorse and Beach Day--Books and Crafts

Every summer we spend two daycare weeks on an Ocean/Beach theme. 

This year we read Beach Day by Karen Roosa Illustrated by Maggie Smith. 

We also read Mr. Seahorse by well know author/illustrator, Eric Carle. 

 

Our first craft was making a Mr. Seahorse.  Each child was given a piece of cardstock with a Mr. Seahorse drawn onto it in permanent marker.  They were invited to mist their seahorse with water then paint with watercolor paints.  The misting creates a "tie dyed" effect.

 

 

We also water color painted these cool fish.  You cut a triangle out of the paper plate to create the mouth and tail.

 

 

 Later in the week, we read Beach Day and did some beach coloring pages.

 

 

And had a beach snack!

 

 

 I'll post details of the snack next time!

Have a happy day!

 



Hi, I'm The Dog--Makes Me Laugh!

We found this video yesterday, someone had posted to Face Book.  Thank you to its creator.  I laughed SO HARD!  Not sure why, but it brightened my day.

 

 

 

The weatherman says it's going to hit 102 degrees today!  With heat like that, I think I'll stay inside tonight and do some embroidering.

Until another time, have a silly kind of day!

Our Gardens

Our gardens have been a work in progress for a few years now.  I think we finally have them the way we want them.

 

This is a step-by-step look at our progress.

 

2010  We called this "Spider Haven"  it was insane how many nasty little spiders we had living in those rocks.  Some were nice, Spindella types--Orb weaving garden spiders.  Some were nasty black and brown ones with jointed legs and teeth. (I swear they had teeth).

2012 we moved the rocks over to create a sidewalk. Unfortunately, those large bricks you see off to the right, broke apart the next year, from the ice melt we'd used in the winter. 

2013 we did it AGAIN.  This time with a sand base and smaller bricks.

My first attempt at a flower garden.  The soil was an unfortunate mixture of clay and sand and was NOT ideal for planting flowers.

2015  This year we ruffled up the soil and planted sod instead!

And here it is today.  The sod has been planted and flower pots put into place.

 

 

We also went from having one tree....

 

 

To having two trees in a kidney bean shaped rock garden. We call this "The Kidney Stone" 

 

 

We call the back garden "The North Garden".  That always makes Autumn chuckle.  She thinks it sounds quite fancy, like we own a Manor in 18th century England or something. 

 

The North Garden in 2012

2012

The North Garden got ignored for a year or two, but this year has been revived.  A new pump has been put into the fountain and the little flower bed (that was overrun by weeds) is now covered over with rocks.

 

 

 

Those are our gardens.  They bring us much joy during the three months they are actually flourishing (the summer is just too short around here.)

 

 That's all for today. Until another time have a happy sunshiny day!

Antique Embroidery Patterns

Wow!  While helping my mother prepare for a garage sale, I stumbled upon a grocery bag full of antique embroidery patterns she had recently bought at (you guessed it) a garage sale.

 

Into my car and down the road to my house they went. (Don't worry, I didn't steal them, I'm only borrowing them).  Each one has been carefully unfolded, laid out on my vintage table and photographed.  Most of them are uncut and on large sheets of paper, so I'm not sure how I am going to scan them.  There are so many that I won't be able to scan them all.  I've picked out a few of my favorites and will spend some time this month scanning them into the computer so that they can be printed and used.

 

 

This is my favorite pattern! 

 

 

 

 

 

This one, I will do my best to scan....and embroider!

 

That's all for today!  Until another time, have a happy stitching day!

Hellmann's Mayonnaise Jar

A couple Saturdays ago, I stopped into Vintage City just because I hadn't been in there for awhile and it's always fun to find something little for my collection, and talk to the owners.

 

One of the first things I saw as I walked in was this cute little jar.  It spoke to me because of it's oval sides and cute blue lid.  I have a soft spot for jars, especially ones with neat little lids, labels, or graphics.

 

After I got home, I placed the jar on my shelf and went on with my week.

On Monday evening I grabbed one of my vintage magazines to glance through, and I saw this ad on the very last page.  Something looked familiar!

 

 

My cute little jar!

 

 

It was a Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise Jar!

 

 

I'm so tickled!  And I wasn't even looking for the ad, it just appeared!

 

 

The Hellmann's ad is in a 1943 McCall's, and from that connection, I could deduce that my little jar is from the early 1940s as well.

 

 

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy vintage day!