Pajama party!

Last night was the annual pajama party at the Fab Gabs house. Julie invites all the vintage lovers she knows and we all wear out best pajamas, nightgowns, and robes, drink cocktails, eat snacks, and of course chat it up! 
Oh and there is also a white elephant gift exchange, where everyone brings a little vintage gift, like books, aprons, or inflatable rain hats. 
I even met a girl who was my camera twin, and she showed me some cool settings I didn't know about, and my friend Cassandra and I had the same slippers! What are the odds :)
See you all in the new year!
xoxo
Nightgown-Antique store
Robe-Estate sale

1940s autumn suit

Photos by Josh
Hey everyone I did a guest post on Casey's Elegant Musings!
....two months ago....
Better late than never I suppose? Well, check it out, it features the suit which my jacket came from in this post, and a kitty, so what's not to love? 
Suit and gloves-Estate sale
Shoes-Chie Mihara at a yard sale 
Hat-Re-Runs Vintage 
Brooch-Gift from my grandma

Credit all the things.

Ok you guys. Time for a little lesson on crediting sources.

In school it was made very, very clear how important it is to credit sources that are not yours. A quote? Credit it. A photo? Credit it. Even factual information that was used to inspire your own composition? Credit it. In college, you could get into a lot of trouble for not crediting someone else's work.

So I figured it was just common sense, something everyone knew. If you present work that is not yours, you credit the person who created it.

But more and more I have been seeing my own photos, and fellow bloggers photos floating around blogs, and especially Tumblr, completely uncredited.

I'm not sure if people just don't know it's what you're supposed to do, or if they just don't know how.

So if you're confused, here's a good way to credit someones work. Example: 
Disneyland via Vixen Vintage

That's it. "Disneyland" links to the post which it came from, "Vixen Vintage" links to the homepage.
Here's how to make the text link to a webpage:
If there is an HTML option, click it. Blogger has it, as does Tumblr. 
Follow the directions in this tutorial (The bit titled "HTML Link Syntax" and the "Example" below). 

With the photo above, lets say you want to post it on Tumblr. Instead of crediting as Via Vixen Vintage, you'll want to credit the original source as well:
Bird dress from Twila Jean, found via Vixen Vintage
This mainly credits Twila Jean, as it originally came from her site, and is her photo, but as you found it here, it's polite to also credit where you first found it. But it's not essential. 
I've seen a lot of photos that people post from their personal inspiration folders, but don't remember the source. Please don't do this. 
If you can't recall the source, don't post it publicly. 
Even when asking "where is this from, I forgot?" can lead to someone taking the photo, publishing it elsewhere, and never going back to see if the original source was found. 
It can be so easy to just take a photo from the internet, they're all over the place after all! Especially on Tumblr, where you re-publish the photo with the click of a button.
But please credit all work from it's original source, or do your best to do so. 
This website, like many other bloggers, artists, and crafters is my way of life. This is my source of income, and it's insulting to see my work thought of as someone else's. 
Please credit all sources. It's so very easy!  
{Later edit}I have been informed the phrase "___ all the things" originated from the painfully hilarious blog Hyperbole and a Half. And here I thought it was something everyone just said on Pinterest! Now we know. 

Willard Asylum Suitcases

Browsing one of my favorite blogs Foxtail + Fern, I came across a post about a suitcase project by photographer Jon Crispin.
He has been photographing suitcases, and their contents from Willard Psychiatric Center in Willard, NY. 
"The cases were put into storage when their owners were admitted to Willard sometime between 1910 and the 1960s. And since the facility was set up to help people with chronic mental illness, these folks never left.  An exhibit of a small selection of the cases was produced by the Museum and was on display in Albany in 2003."
It's fascinating seeing the varied contents of these unassuming suitcases. And of course a bit sad, because these were some of the only personal possessions the psychiatric patients had. Some have delicate clothing, some have crafting supplies, one even has a fine perfume bottle. And unless I overlooked something, I don't see any personal photographs, which is kind of even more tragic.
But Mr. Crispin does so well capturing all the little details, it really must be thrilling to unwrap the tissue paper, pop the locks, and open up the musty old cases to see what might be inside. 
More photos of the project are being chronicled on the blog. 
More info on the project can be found here.
{Later edit}

A reader has brought another site to my attention about the asylum and it's patients here. 

Christmas with Sherlock

Christmas day we joined my mother and her husband and saw the new Sherlock Holmes film, and I loved it just as much as the first one. My brother had given me this perfectly mini doctors bag for Christmas that I had seen in Astoria months ago, so I thought it was fitting we dressed appropriately for the viewing ;)




~Me~ 
 Jacket-Estate sale 
 Pants-Estate sale 
 Vest-Sams, Urban Eccentric Vintage 
 Boots-Urban Eccentric Vintage 
 Hat-Gift from Sam's dad
 Bag-Gift from my brother
 ~Sam~
 Jacket-Urban Eccentric Vintage 
 Vest-Magpie 
Scarf-Made by me
 Pants-Urban Eccentric Vintage 
 Tie-J. Crew 
 Shoes-Rays Ragtime
 Hat-Goorin Bros

Merry Christmas from Vixen Vintage!

Photos by Ruth 
 Christmas at our house means pink trees (big and little), gold pants, blue puppies, and brown paper packages tied up in string. 
Also, since I did all the Christmas shopping, I bought myself a little present too ;)
Makes sense, right? 
Merry Christmas everyone! 
1950s/60s gold pants-Elsewhere Vintage
1960s angora sweater and leopard belt-Urban Eccentric Vintage
1960s pink velvet turban and shoes-Flashbacks Vintage
Bracelet-Juicy Couture 

Old Town Orange

Sunday before we left sunny California (it's easy to forget Christmas is this week when it's bright and cheery out), we spent some time in old town Orange. 
We made stops at both the womens and mens shops by Elsewhere Vintage, and I easily could have spent all day, and a small fortune at the womens shop! I stopped myself from looking at everything after I found some gold lame' cigarette pants, and a fur beret. Fabulous much? 
Highly recommend both if you're ever in the area, they storekeepers were nice, and helpful, and the selection is fantastic! 
We also went to Heavenly Hostess, a boutique based around the fantastic vintage style aprons, I wear mine nearly everyday, as you can see in this post. It was a bridal shower gift, and I really adore it! 
So imagine how giddy I was when I asked if the women who makes the aprons lives in the area, and was told "Yes, she's standing right next to me!". So I got to meet Cynthia Wadell, and tell her how much I love my apron, which I though was pretty exciting :)
We lunched at The Fillling Station (Yum!), and browsed antique malls the lined the plaza. It was a fun afternoon! 
Turban tutorial can be found here. 
1960s Angora sweater and scarf-Urban Eccentric Vintage
1960s black pants-Fab Gabs
Pink 49er-Antique show
Shoes-Nordstrom
Bracelet-Juicy Couture 
Purse-Michael Kors
Sunglasses-Anthropologie

Disneyland!

This weekend I was in Disneyland! 
My mother and her husband got my cousin Ruth and I tickets to "The Happiest Place on Earth" for Christmas, so we spend all day Saturday riding rides, and avoiding about a million strollers. 
I love Disneyland at Christmas time because it's decorated so festively, the castle was especially pretty. 
My all time favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean, but I was sad that my other favorite ride, The Haunted Mansion, was completely different :( 
We didn't see too many characters (seriously, busier than I've ever seen it), but I did spot a few stormtroopers patrolling Tomorrowland which was pretty cool. 
We also spent a little time in the California Adventure park, and Downtown Disney, there's so much to do everywhere! Of course waiting in lines can take a bit of time, every time we were waiting, we wished we had brought snacks ;)
All in all it was a lot of fun, hope you enjoyed your weekend as well! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1960s Angora sweater and scarf-Urban Eccentric Vintage
1960s pink pants-Fab Gabs
Pink 49er-Antique show
Shoes-Thrifted
Bracelet-Juicy Couture 
Purse-Michael Kors