Marco...

Polo...
Jess and I have been very remiss in writing posts lately. We are very sorry, we've been super busy. As you may (or may not know) we are in the process of opening our first store. We both fell in love with this location, and luckily it happened to meet our needs. It also happened to be a bit of a fixer upper.
The first week was slightly daunting, there seemed to be a never ending list of fixes to be made.

seriously

But with the help of my dad Chuck, Matt, Steve and Nick. We seem to be getting s*!t done. 

Ok so here are some progress photos.....

Front room.

Door to second room prior to destruction. 

Tearing things up...we really wanted to knock the wall down but settled for the less extensive widening.

Wreck it Ralph, I mean Steve destroying the previous tenants counter. It was soooo wonky.

Aerial of the pretty new cash wrap Dad and Matt put in.

So that's all you can see for now, we're in the process of painting walls and floors. You'll have to come to our Grand Opening, April 6th to see the end results. Check out our facebook page for event details. 

xoxo

Caiti & Jess 

As always we had a four legged supervisor on duty. 

Appliqué Tote Bag

I love doing early morning crafts, I try to pick something easy that I can do in about one to one and a half hours. This mornings project was an appliqué tote. Now I'm not promising a quick DIY but a rather easy and neat looking one. 

Supplies:

• Fabric for tote or a tote bag.
• Fabric for appliqué.
• Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-on Adhesive.
• Iron
• Fray-check (optional)

Lets begin...

If you hoard fabric like me and enjoy sewing I say make yourself a tote. I used this tutorial to make mine. DIY tote. It was soooo easy, I changed my dimensions a bit, mine is 16x16.

Ok, once you've made the tote we must make the appliqué. Follow the directions on the Heat'n Bond package. I simply cut a 10x10 square of fabric and a 10x10 square of Heat'n Bond then ironed them together. I then put them through my Cricut cutter to cut out my design. If you don't have a Cricut go on ebay and buy one, they rock, but also trace and cut your design. Now that it's cut you have the option to apply fray-check to the edge of your design following package directions. I chose to skip this part.

Peel the back off the appliqué and position it however your heart desires. Again refer to the directions on the package, iron that baby on.

And whoala, you're done. So easy! Now if you wanted to take the time, which i didn't, you could line your bag and use fray check around the edge of your appliqué. That would give your tote a very professional feel. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out without those added steps. 

Have fun,

~Caiti 

(Obligatory supervisors photo.)

just a teeny thought for the day

something to ponder on, brought to you by Edwin Land, creator of the Polaroid camera.  I'll certainly be pondering it, as I take on my manifestly important and nearly impossible projects...  they're really the best kind of projects, aren't they?

xoxo,

Jess

we go cuckoo for vintage

A big part of our job is shopping.  Lots.. and LOTS of shopping.  In order to bring you lots and lots of rad vintage we spend a lot of time at auctions, antique malls, thrift stores, people's basements... basically anywhere that we think we can sniff out something cool.  It's pretty amazing.  But honestly, it gets kind of tiring sometimes.  Not tiring in the sense that we want to stop, but tiring like we get a little punch drunk.  okay, maybe a LOT punch drunk.  I wanted to share some evidence of this from some Instagram pics we took last week during one of our all day shopping extravaganzas.

Stuff like this happens:

and then this...

so... yeah.

if you happen to be an aspiring vintage store owner reading this blog, just know that you have to be a little bit nutty to be cut out for this business.  also know that you have to take pictures like these on the sly, because the people at the antique malls will frown at you once they realize you're not actually going to BUY the items you're playing with. LOOSEN UP, GUYS!

I really wanted the pretzel though. sigh.

xo,

Jess & Caiti

PS.  Are you following us on Instagram yet? We're shoplucilles - what's your name on there?

weekly wantsies

Our internet browsing got derailed a bit by big exciting plans (official news soon!), and we missed last week's Weekly Wantsies post, but fear not... we've got some new fun things for you to ogle over with us!

Here's what Jess has fallen in love with this week...

1. Every fabric ever on Spoonflower. But specifically, this fabric, which is adorned in fine leather bound books. I bet it smells like mahogany.  Also, it's titled "Monsieur Fancypantaloon's Instant Library" - how could you EVER resist something so delightful?

2.  This tote from Wunderkammer Culture. I can't resist a deer, or a canvas tote, so it's a win/win.

3.  Green. Scalloped. Flats.  HELLO, SPRING!  Also, why have I never looked at Lulu's until now? Why didn't someone tell me it's fabulous? So many good shoes!

4.  An octopus tea cup! I've been meaning to start drinking more tea, and this would obviously make a fantastical companion to my tea drinking endeavors.

What Caiti is coveting this week...

1. I bought this jersey knit gold mini skirt with black polka dots and pretty much everything revolves around wearing that thing. These boots would look amazing with it. 

2. I've been feeling nesty lately. This print belongs in my bathroom I think.

3. I'm a crazy cat lady, what can I say.

4. These probably wouldn't go with my polka dot skirt but they fulfil my Peter Pan fetish.

xoxo,

Jess & Caiti

Glitter Stenciled Sweatshirt

My Pinterest feed was all a flutter with hearts, glitter and Ryan Gosling this past Valentines day. I was inspired by two of the three to do this DIY. I saw a post for a glitter heart children's tee that got my brain chugging...Why not combine three of my favorite things, the macabre, glitter, and sweatshirts. Here it is, glitter stenciled sweatshirt.  

Supplies: 

• sweatshirt
• stencil cut out of contact paper. I used my Cricut to cut the rib-cage  but you could easily trace and cut with an exacto knife. 
• Tacky Glue or Mod Podge Fabric glue.
• Paint brush, I ended up using a smaller junk paint brush.
• GLITTER.
• Workspace

Lets begin...

After you've cut your stencil and set up your work space you can begin the jerky task of getting that stencil on the sweatshirt. I found that putting painters tape on the front of the design before you peel the back off worked the best. 

After the front is covered with painters tape, peel off the back and adhere to where you'd like your design. Give it a good rub down and begin to peel the tape off. You may have to hold the contact paper edges down but it shouldn't stick to the tape. If that makes any sense at all...

Now start painting the glue on. I would paint a bit then sprinkle the glitter on, working in sections until it was covered in gluey, glittery mess.

Then let it dry. I gave it about one Arrested Development episodes worth and carefully shook off the excess glitter.

When it no longer feels wet, peel off the contact paper. I used a little lint brush roller to get the stray glitter. Your done. I'm not sure how this will wash so I will err on the side of caution and say hand wash this lovely. 

Im interested to see how you fare. Have fun.

~Caiti

Oh and thank you to my Supervisor(s).

The Wild One....

 Wintry cold days always end in movie a marathon for me and it sure has been wintry around here lately.

When choosing a movie I tend to base my decision on the movie's costuming. If it's got fabulous dresses I'm watching it, i.e The Aviator. I especially love movies that have such unique costuming they set fashion trends, hellooo Annie Hall...

In the movie The Wild One, Marlon Brando is the epitome of cool and his leather jacket is nothing but iconic gold. That makes it a shoe in for my top five fashion influential films. 

Cat's pajamas, am I right...

Sure the story may have been based on a riot that never really happened. Giving way to America's notion of  the big, bad, drunkard, "biker". But the iconic "cult classic" had a wide range of influence. The Wild One can be attributed to being one of the first movies to pave the way for many teenage rebellion films, uhhh Rebel Without a Cause. Marlon Brando had a way of creating cultural icons, giving real bikers a romantic "rebel outlaw" identity. The Wild One became a model for newly organised clubs, bringing them a flood of new members and popularizing the Triumph and Harley Bikes. Ohhh and lets not forget the FASHION.

Brando rode his OWN bike, a Triumph Thunderbird 650cc. 

The jacket Brando wore in the film is an iconic piece of clothing to say the least. Men and women alike have followed suit in a rockabilly surge later turned punk leather jacket craze. When filming ensued the budget was limited and Brando had to provide his own clothing for the “Johnny Strabler” character. Brando being the consummate method actor studied bikers, gangs, and their fashion incorporating the gruff, dark style to his own. Boy did that start a trend. Sideburns, leather, cuffed denim, Oh my. And that iconic jacket was a Schott Perfecto 618 which is still available for purchase.   

Here are a few other items that complete the look, maybe I should say attitude. 

  

a SKELETON with ANGEL WINGS...

Cuffed jeans

and finish it off the boots.

And for the ladies might I suggest....

hand me my leather

Paired with this...

can never go wrong with polka dots.

So, What are you rebelling against?

Caiti & Jess