Happy Anniversary Little Shoppe


This weekend marks the 1st anniversary of our little shoppe!  Last year we decided to open our own little place where we live and it has been an adventure.  Anyone who tells you that it is easy to open your own business is either lying or has a large bank account to help it along.  Since I tend to not lie or have a large bank account, I will tell you it has been hard work.  But, it is work I enjoy and I have a very patient and wonderful little family.  We have made many friends through our shoppe being open... people we may not have met without this wonderful thing of *vintage love* binding us together.  I have been asked several times if I would do it again.  If I would open my own little shoppe... and the answer is yes.  Yes, I would.  Even knowing all the work and running around it would entail.  I honestly worked harder for myself than any job I have ever worked... and I am a hard worker.... I get that from my momma.  I think that opening your own shoppe not only requires physical work hours, but mental work hours.  Sometimes there are so many ideas that I want to work on that I never get anything accomplished.  It is hard to focus on the big picture when you are wanting to focus on something small.

And, I think that opening your own shoppe/restaurant/boutique/salon takes a bit of bravery.  I am not saying that to say... oh I am SO brave.  But, when you put yourself out there (like in blogland) you put yourself up on display and are open to criticism amongst other things.

We wouldn't be here today if we didn't have such great support from our customers.  If you have ever been to our store, you know how very tiny it is.  You get to know people. And, I think that is worth all the hard work over the past year.  Having my own little shoppe has been a dream of mine for a very long time... I can't even remember how long.  I know that it is other people's dreams too since I get emails and comments asking shoppekeeping questions. I do try very hard to answer those questions, but I am sure I have missed some of you from time to time.  So, if you leave a comment on this post  I will try my very hardest to put together a post answering questions next week.

AND, most importantly, to say thank you to all of you near and far that have supported my little dream from day one or by a comment you left yesterday, here is a coupon for you!


Here is the link to print it out if you are local.  And, since many of you are far, far away, I also added my first ever coupon code to my etsy shoppe: HAPPYANN1 The sale is good until Sunday evening.

thank you, thank you, thank you!  you are simply the bestest!

bye for now~

Feeling Crafty



Hello all~  I realized what a blog slacker I have been lately and I totally blame that on 2 men... baby hughes and Don Draper.  baby hughes has left behind his naptime and started going to sleep a bit earlier which leaves me time to catch up on the seasons of Mad Men that I have missed since we got rid of cable.  That time was normally filled with blog time and I replaced it with Peggy and Betty and Joan.  I have been busy doing *stuff* just not blogging about it.

This time of year always has me feeling particularly *crafty* I have made some things for us and for the shoppe and for boxes of happy.





If you follow me on instagram (thevintagejunky) then you have probably already seen some of these late night crafty pursuits.

We are still shaking up the house and possibly making some progress.... it is always darkest before the dawn right?!  Things that were upstairs have found their way downstairs and vice versa.

be back soon with a sort of diy from yours truly (so terribly bad at diy s !)

bye for now~

Happy Belated Halloween


Hello there!  It is a little late to say it, but Happy Halloween! We have had a great week.  We had a family photo shoot on a chilly, windy night and I can't wait to see the photos!  Then, we worked together to make our little man a robot.


I was inspired by Jordan's costume from Oh Happy Day.  I found some random stuff to add for buttons and dials and we came up with this....


It is covered in foil, but the genius that the Mr is covered it in clear packing tape earlier that day... we knew that it would be taken off a few times for photos and bathroom breaks.


We decided to change the location of our normal Halloween photo spot to something more... powerful. I muttered aloud that it needed to be more industrial and the Mr. thought of this place on the way.



baby hughes and I mainly collaborated on the design (he wanted to be a *happy* robot) We actually had the dryer vent tubing leftover from his party.  I had the Mr. make the key and attach it.



He was able to peek out of the mouth  or the eyes, but he still wanted us to take the head off in between houses.  This year was so fun! Not that previous years weren't, but this year it really clicked and he had a great time and didn't want to stop.  He complimented other kids on their costumes which was so very sweet. 


I hope you made as many sweet memories as we did (if Halloween is your sort of thing!)  I will be back soon with some crafty types of projects... things have been shaken and stirred at our house and there is much to share if I could just get the place clean!

have a lovely weekend~

bye for now~


to see previous years' homemade costumes click here and here