Do-nothing-day & Good, good mail

Yesterday's do-nothingness could be best summed up by these facts:

1.) I stayed in my slip all day. And my vintage candy-colored slip happened to match (in a way that the photography doesn't want to show off!) the cupcake that made up the majority of my food intake yesterday.
2.) I read A Very Long Engagement all afternoon, and finally managed to snap up one of Jenn's incredible bears. Again, I had that lottery-winning-feeling.

3.) Then, amazing mail! Amazing.
This Passenger Pigeon dress (which I have been coveting ever since I saw it in the shop) came from the lovely Erin at Sodafine:

The second image is mine, the first is snatched from the Passenger Pigeon website. The dress is just perfect...beautifully made, with a chartreuse silk lining. I'm going to wear this baby alot. Alot.

Some other lovely mail from the wonderful  Mary, designer for Contrary, some of which were top-secret Christmasy things, but I also snapped up a couple of her antique spoon hooks (not just like the one shown, but similar) and also a new skeleton key necklace (again, not exactly like that one). I love Contrary. I mean, I think I'm a certifiable junkie at this point. There are not too many Etsy shops that I buy things from consistently and am really interested in, but Mary's is one of a tiny handful. Her things are just my speed.
Also in the mail, a little packet from Ms. Posie herself. And, I just have to say, the woman must be stopped! Her packaging skills put us all to shame...I mean, it's a couple (albeit, very adorable) vintage plastic deer, and take a look at this gorgeous packaging:

The woman is a freak. And I mean that in the sweetest and most loving way possible. Also, check out the little pink melamine bowl and peppermint striped mini-tray in the photo...both Target finds (!) from last night (the bowls are in that little "dollar store" section they have, and also come in mint, and the trays are from the holiday "napkin-y" area). Perfect for serving small things or for serving things to small people.

Last, I've been wanting to share this idea with you for a while, but I kept forgetting. This wee project is super easy and charming and SO useful:

 Vintage buttons, simply hot-glued to regular old plastic thumbtacks (the longer kind, not the flat disc kind). The buttons need to have flat(ish) backs so that they'll bond evenly with the tack.
Voila! Perfect little adorable hooks for your necklaces, your potholders, your stockings (I used a whole line of red ones for my sweater-stockings!) etc. Or, for your inspiration board.

Make a whole batch of them in similar colors/shapes and package them up prettily for an easy and useful little Christmas gift. If you don't trust hot glue, you can use E600 or some industrial strength stuff, but I've found the hot glue bond between thumbtack and button to be surprisingly sturdy (even through repeated moves and repositionings).

Happy Tuesday, dears!

Comments

[hummmlan]

That is sooo cool!

[cynthia korzekwa]

great idea

[Olive]

Love the button idea! I'm going to have to try that!

[Heather]

Great little project! Thanks for sharing this!

[Lotta]

Lovely dress! I did this in my nursery. Hot glued vintage buttons to nail heads and then hung pictures from them. Love any ideas having to do with vintage buttons as they are like candy to me.

[Amanda]

those pins are fabulous! And I love your slip, too!!!

[Mellers2]

Hi!

I love the button idea! I'll be sticking my fingers together later on no doubt!

Also, loving the slip - you reminded me that I had a blue one lurking around in one of my suitcases of fabric. It used to belong to my Granny, but now it's MINE! Mine I tell you! Tomorrow I plan to spend all day in it. And if the supermarket checkout girls don't like it, tough.

All the best
Mel
(and cupcakes go with everything, I find)

[Anne Sheridan]

Help us fight a battle! Please check over on ETSY. I haven't been able to login and neither has TONS of other people (check the help section & tech problems) They changed something yesterday and it's preventing people to buy anything by popping up a "cookies" warning!!! They want us to completely reduce our computer protections to nothing in order to login to ETSY!! This just isn't practical for people...can you help us? :(

[crafty champloo]

Love the button idea and the color of your slip! Gorgeous!

[Shell]

Great idea with the button pins! They look great in the photo. Oh, and that dress is awesome - you lucky girl! I'm loving cupcakes too lately - yum! :)

[Anita]

that dress...that dress...

[blair]

aren't we all a bunch of just the cutest creative freaks ever? Especially you in those mentioned unmentionables : )

[Malin]

Lovely things, as always.

[sulu-design]

Lovely - supporting two of my favorite shop owners! Erin at Sodafine is too awesome - so genuine, so friendly, so driven. And Mary is a machine! I can't believe how producitive she is. Ah, good feelings abound!

[Mary Contrary]

Aw you just made my whole night!! Thank you for your kind words and I am so happy you liked the package!

BTW...I LOVE your button idea...I think they would make a great addition to your etsy shop...not that you need any more work on your plate!!

Thanks again, you made me feel great!

[Miss Dot]

button brilliance! I love it.

[Teresa Sheeley]

Love the button idea! I just got stuff in the mail yesteday too! Love it! You snatched up some pretty cool things. And yeah, I got something for Posie this week too and her packaging is wonderful!

[Casey]

What a lovely, lovely post! I really like that dress you posted about; I can see me wearing something like that with a black turtleneck and tights (because I wear too much black! ;). Hmm... shall have to keep that in mind...

The buttons/tack idea is brilliant!! I've been searching all over for a creative and visually pleasing (and not too expensive) way to hang all my necklaces. I think I have found it, thanks to your creative mind! :)

[ambika]

Love the spoon hooks and have added Contrary to my favorites simply because everything in the shop looked very cool.

Also, I will be using this button idea for my necklaces. The collections getting a bit out of control since I started making my own and they're getting all tangled up in my hectic little jewelry box.

[ggsuperhero]

That dress is soooo hot! I want one too!

[elizabeth]

this blog deserves an a+ for both entertainment and practical reasons.
1. that dress is sooooo awesome.
2. spoon hooks are very cool and i'm always a fan of skeleton keys
3. that button idea is genius!
out of all the emily's in the world, you're my favorite emily.

[Nora]

Beautiful dress... And thanks for the button idea. x

[risa]

i love the button idea. and i'm jealous that you own that passenger pigeon dress! i've been drooling over it for months.

[Marilyn]

I swear sometimes it seems like you have the life! Cupcakes, pretty dresses, goodies in the mail! All I get are credit card offers. =/

[Tiffany]

Awsome ideas!!! Thanks!