Thursday, September 22, 2016

Fashion Post and a Thought



This is an Instagram post from today. Fashion post. I still love lace. I still love Steve Madden boots. Some things never change. Actually the dress was a little short so I added more lace trim.

In other news, live in the moment. I have not been eating the best for me lately. Too much late-night ice cream. Too many days where I don't get enough clean pure water. The thought is I soon have to do better. But that always leaves a door open for me to keep being bad for a little bit longer. And I often am bad for a little bit longer. And it can apply to so many things!! If I truly live in the moment and heed the things I want for myself, in the moment, I will become who I want to be.

#liveinthemoment #skeletonkey #keyjewelry

A photo posted by Lynn Hasty (@lynnhasty) on

Monday, September 12, 2016

Awww. Angel the Visitor

Look who popped into the shop Saturday!!


A photo posted by Lynn Hasty (@lynnhasty) on

What a little angel this sweet dog is! And she was named Angel because she was discovered in the road, in not the best of shape, and rescued by a woman who had just lost her pet poodle of many years. She said this little dog felt like an angel to comfort her grieving spirit. Angel is always dressed up, has many outfits and even a stroller that she gets pushed around in.

Enjoy this day!
Lynn

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Acrylic Painting Faces, Daughter Growing Up, Photo Editing Fun

I will dive right in.  My girl has grown up!  Oh how I remember the sweet homeschool days and how my princess helped with the children younger than herself.

michaela FIAR homeschool

Fast forward to our recent beach trip.

michaela and mom 2016

My sweet girl is still my princess, but she has grown up! She is ever fun-loving, ever fun, and I love her so much! She is my heart. I cannot even put into words the emotions that have been involved in getting us from her wonderful birth to where we are today. We have walked some rough places together, but here we are! How did I get such a firecracker of a girl! Oh yes. I am her mom.

Now, not much to say about the following photos individually. I just wanted to share with you some of the most recent awesome vintage hats I've acquired for the shop!

 red vintage Henry Pollak

The red hat is a vintage Henry Pollack of New York (Glenover vintage hat).

 Vintage golf hat

How about a vintage Crosby golf hat!

And it's fake, the best way to have it, but how about a coon skin cap?

coon skin cap

And be still my heart! This next hat was gorgeous! I knew it would not last long. And it didn't!

 lovely pink hat

In other news, I often scan photos before I sell them. My first thought is that I might put information on line and connect families to their ancestors. However, as is the case with this photo, sometimes there is no real information to record. Just faces. Are they not sweet? This photo sold to a local doll artist. "For inspiration," she cheerfully told me. I know the photo is in good hands.

vintage children

If you are bored to tears at this point you may click away, but I wanted to show you a recent painting if you are up for it.  It is so cool, to me, to look back at versions of paintings.  I think a canvas will sort of unfold as it should once you get the basic thought on there.  Or even just the color of paint that is talking to you!  I started with a girl's face.


caged early

Looking back, maybe there is more life in the rougher draft than the final cut! I don't know. There is indeed life in her face, but not enough, in my opinion. And her eyes looks a little off. I kept painting. Finally, either I just had enough or she declared herself done, and I found a really cool frame to put her in. I call her CAGED, because there is something very sad and oppressed about her.

Do names for her come to mind? Do you see a different person in the first photo than in the second one? 
 caged finished

That's all for now! Thank you for bearing with me! Thanks for visiting!
Enjoy this day!
Lynn

Monday, August 29, 2016

Converted Evening Gown to Prom Dress or Steampunk Gown

Dear Dress Lovers,

Recently I had an idea.  I saw a long, plain, black evening gown for a few dollars.  The skirt on the dress was just straight, but had some fullness, and it was a nice satiny material.  As-is it was, uh, boring, but it had good "bones," so to speak, especially the way the top laced up in the back, giving it a corseted look.  I bought it. 

When I got it home, I worked on the lower part of the gown, tucking and stitching in various places to give this full, gathered-up look.  The dress had some netting that was torn in several places and had come loose on one side.  First I mended all the holes.  Hey!  A stitched-up look is only more goth!  I reattached the loose side of netting.  It was okay, but it looked too intact.  Too neat.  So I picked up the scissors, held my breath, and began cutting.  I sliced up through the netting from bottom to top in several places.  I trimmed pieces that looked too long.  Ahh, now this time it was perfect to me!  

Jason was kind enough to take some pictures for me to use for the store and ads.  So here are a few of the photos.  We both have several photo editing programs that we use to get various effects.

I hope to one day design an album cover.  He is helping me with a CD of my original songs, but that is another post for another time.  And actually it is HIS music that needs to be out there for the world to hear!


image

Photo editor used to make the netting a glorious purple but give the rest a black and white look.

image

A meme!


 image


image

You have seen this one already...

image

I love this one!

image

I love that you can see part of the yard that I have been playing in. We call it Lynnwood. The huge group of mushrooms came from The Scrap Exchange. Love it! I will share soon about how I want to do the yard. I love the trees and how it feels like a magical forest. Reminds me of where I grew up!

  image

That is all for now.  I do expect to do more of these dresses.  I am ALWAYS shopping for the shop.  I scout around.  I am a picker.  I look for what has the vibe of my shop.  People have heard of me now and they bring me things to buy or to have for the shop.  People cleaning out estates have heard of me.   They bring me lots to offer a price on.  Oh, the joy of buying 100 pieces at a time and sitting in the shop going through it all!

I have performers coming in, and I try to buy what I would want to wear if I worked in front of people.  I love modest things, but I love edgy things.  I think these converted gowns would make awesome prom dresses.  They are fun and attractive but not too revealing.  I just know that I am doing what I love, what truly makes my heart sing.  Add to that our music, and I am very fulfilled right now.  I have to work on continuing to heal.  A quarter of a century is a lot to let go of.  I am learning to keep very close to me the things that were beautiful, and to love myself for being strong enough to leave and build a new life.

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Remembering The Little Wild Garden

First let me remind us all that there is a difference in a wild little garden and a little wild garden.  You know me.  The garden was cultivated but I had a hard time saying no to anything that wanted to grow there.  The mix was marvelous.  Let's remember...


rose

Roses are a must.

birdbath

Lilies towered over a mosaic birdbath that I made.

 garden2010

Neighborhood kitties felt like our yard was the place to be, and more than one litter of kittens was born in the thick cover of my perennials and wildflowers.

 first goldfish pond

A yearning for water in the garden had me installing this first, small goldfish pond. But I wanted bigger, and bigger it got!

 2010 new goldfish pond

This was right after the new, large goldfish pond went in. I did every ounce of work myself. And it grew into something that has become a selling point for the house.

Oh how it hurts to see these photos! Jason is a dear friend to mourn over it all with me. He has offered me his yard as a landscape in which to play. Be still my heart. For now, I am in the apartment, so a place to play is a welcome thing. I long to have a garden like this again. I wonder if it will ever be. Actually, I don't think there will ever be another garden like The Little Wild Garden. I hope it blesses the new owner beyond her wildest imagination, with creatures and blooms and days in the sun.  And goldfish.

 garden 2010

This is a view from one end of the front yard, looking on an early fall landscape of Clara Curtis mums to the left and a potted mum on the front step.  Going forward, where ever I am, I will work with the land.  I am a different person.  The landscape is different.


image
This last picture is taken in my new place to garden. My friend's yard. I have spent time bonding with this area as a place to play. I know not if I will ever end up here permanently. For now, I enjoy the freedom to plant and rake and make birdbaths again. It is a process. I am doing the same things but everything turns out in a new way.

By the way, the dress I am wearing was a plain black evening dress, thrifted for a few dollars. I turned it into a steampunk dress or prom dress. Take your pick. I can see doing more of these. I altered the skirt and the netting. It is a lovely dress! Jason was kind to take some photos for my shop. 

Enjoy this day!
Lynn

It Feels So Right

Dear Friends,

I am in shock at how good this feels! For so long I have tried to blog on the iPad, with wavering success. It becomes so cumbersome to try and get pictures published, I give up. Really, the design and layout and template functions are hard to work with. I give up. But over the past week, Jason has transferred literally thousands of photos from CDs and thumb drives onto an external storage drive for my use! I am using his desktop to blog right now, but I am so very hopeful that soon I can purchase a Macbook or Mac Air with a keyboard! On this big screen, I can see everything! I am able to drag photos from here to there. With a mouse! Going down memory lane this evening, I found this.

 Christmas 2007

From Christmas 2007. My princess of the universe looks so tiny! That was nearly 9 years ago. She is now 18. I was carrying on, pushing as hard as I could for the life I wanted for myself and my children. It was a lonely road, but I loved (love) my children so dearly and so much! They were a very bright fire that kept me going. Daniel is in this photo as well. What a hard few years, as things got worse. If I had known that only a few years down the road from this I'd finally implode and leave my home, I may have cried. But I might have felt overwhelming hope. Unless you have walked in the shoes of despair and loneliness and grief and, dare I say, abuse, you will never know the ache to be somewhere other than where you are!

 Christmas 2007

I walked with my mom around their pond. My sister was probably somewhere nearby. I always love going out and looking at plants. Taking pictures. I was probably thinking of my work day the following day. And lesson plans! And food! It was Christmastime, after all, and my mom always has a spread of delicious food for the holidays. Fast forward...

  Grandma Lynn with Addie and Leighton

Life is so different now.  So full.  I think most of my discontent, when it is present, comes from agonizing over what things should be.  I have to remind myself that for me, this is what things should be.  I am exactly where I should be.  I am healing and being a parent and a grandmother, making the best choices I can day by day.



Greyson 20160826

I could post so much more right now, but I will stop. It is getting late, and I have not even had dinner yet! I won't even tell you how late it is, because most people don't eat this late! I also would like to pick up the Martin and strum a bit. And tomorrow will, Lord willing, be another day in my sweet caboose, Sidetracked, so I better get off of here. I do want to share just one more photos. A scan from the shop today. This one is by William Shew. You can google him to find out more, but seems he read about photography in the early part of the 1800s, took off to learn about it, his brothers in tow, studied under Morse, and finally ended up in San Francisco with a photography studio. He was obviously very good at what he did.
  William Shew photo circa 1870

Isn't she just lovely!  I would love to know her name, but it is a mystery.  She knows her name.  God knows her name.  Ah well.  I love old photos!

Enjoy this day,
Lynn

Friday, August 5, 2016

Marie Corinne Streck

I really hope that someone researching the Streck family comes across this photograph. Look at the curls! And that sweet inquisitive face! On the back of the photo it is written three years five months. photographer is Rojas & Conner at 1007 Canal Street in New Orleans.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

A Way Cool Hat

One of the things I love most about the shop and selling vintage clothes and hats is meeting the customers. Yesterday I met a very fun person, someone whose boyfriend is a musician, and we hit it off immediately in our feelings about how clothes add to a gig or performance. The dressing up can totally affect how you feel about playing. Anyway, it was while she was in the shop and we were talking clothes that I made the decision to go ahead and pull this hat from the shelf to keep for myself. It is just amazing the way it fits and sits. Yep, I said that. I will wear it out when the weather gets cooler.

This hat is just talking to me right now. And I gotta listen. ;)



Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Pretty Old Bracelet

Pretty little things make me happy. I have never been a big jewelry wearer. I wore a wedding ring when I was married. But bracelets and necklaces not so much. That said, I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with jewelry. I guess my reasoning was always to be modestly adorned or to try and just be adorned with a beautiful spirit. That said, I do love vintage things. Found this the other day. It is in the shop. I may have to wear it once or twice before it sells! You know, to test it out.
Enjoy this day. Lynn

Friday, July 15, 2016

Vintage Flapper and Coin Purses

Good morning!

I just had to share a gorgeous collection of purses I acquired yesterday. They are so lovely!! I was not planning to buy anymore for the shop for a couple of weeks as it is full to the brim with treasures, but who could say no??



Top left is a flapper purse that hangs over the belt. It is made a bit like a sock on each end, with an opening in the fabric to drop coins in. It is closed by pulling the rings down.

Top right is vintage rhinestone purse from Czecho-Slovakia.

Bottom left is a penny purse that pins to clothing.



Top left handmade beaded purse Belgium.

Bottom center sterling.

Bottom right 1920s Mandalian mesh purse.



Top center metal mesh purse with 1911 engraved in front.

Bottom center Whiting and Davis mesh purse.



Top left is a souvenir coin purse with Pittsburgh Expo painted on back.

Are they not beautiful!?

Enjoy The is day!

Lynn

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Lydia Corinne Handmade Clay Art Doll

My dear friends,

I just had to share. A delightful beautiful customer (with long gorgeous hair, I might add) purchased one of my handmade clay dolls. She sent the sweetest note and photo of Lydia in her new home. And she gave me permission to share!

Hi Lynn, Hope you are doing well. Thought you might enjoy seeing Lydia Corinne in her new home. Her feet cushioned on a bit of moss, and with her hat and parasol beside her, Lydia Corinne takes a break from herb gathering and rests on her woodland bench. A dove coos nearby; a well is at hand for a refreshing drink of water, and her rabbit friend sits up on his haunches, hopeful of something green to nibble. So much fun to put this together from things in my collection which needed a more permanent home! Enjoy! Feel free to post if you want. All the very best, Virginia



Enjoy this day! (And follow your passion!)

Lynn

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Potatoes. Yum.

Dear peeps,

How else to title this post?


I know the drill about white potatoes. But boy do I know how I love cooked potatoes sliced thin and browned in an iron skillet in olive oil with some camp seasoning. Yes ma'am.



Some of you might remember this picture from my lost blog. My feet as I walk through the garden. I love this photo.



Jason and I took our guitars to see a friend in the hospital. We played a few songs for him. It was good to make him smile. He is a dear friend of ours who had a stroke, was working to recover, and then almost exactly a year after the stroke he fell and broke his hip and femur. My heart just breaks for those who are sick and suffering. There is so much more that I can and should do for others.

Well I gotta go eat my potatoes. Was just waiting for the chicken to get ready!

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Compost: pile up yard debris for garden composting

Dear peeps,

I have been playing outside again and having so much fun! I love having a compost pile in the yard to make rich black soil for gardening with. On the edge of Jason's property was a tree that had been cut. It was one of those things that was right on the property line, but new neighbors and a new fence had the cut tree and huge tree logs ending up on Jason's side of things.

One of my hobbies now is turning his woods into "Lynnwoods," a magical walk through the trees, so I rolled the logs and stood them in a semicircle. I am coming up with a composting scheme that I will share as I work it out.



This picture was taken after the woods were getting dark, so I will plan to take a better photo tomorrow.

Lynn

Saturday, July 2, 2016

What Stress

It sure has been tense around here lately. Amelia has been a student for awhile at Strayer University and has been studying commewnications. We have been supportive of this, because she is very smart, but now she is talking about transferring to ITT Tech or University of Phoenix next semeowster.



We worry that she may try and reinvent herself too many times. She needs to have focus. You know?

And then there is Mars. When I saw the picture of Amelia at Strayer, I asked why in the world Mars took that box with him! Come to find out, he can't think outside the box.

Musically, though, Mars is really into his keyboards. He's got a couple of albums out right now.



I really thought he was done after the first one but then he did the London Sessions.



It has been critically well received I think.

Enjoy this day. And keep an eye on your cats. The meowfia is more pervasive than you may think. Our neighbor Pouncy is constantly talking to Mars and Amelia through the screen on the back porch. I think he has even offered them cigarettes. Lynn

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Working on a painting...

Dear Peeps,

I love working with acrylic paints! I love discovering what one tiny brush stroke of white can add to a painting. I am currently working on a painting, experimenting more with colors, sometimes using a very narrow palette and recently experimenting with bright colors. This painting is not finished but I am liking the way Mr. Guitar Man is turning out. I have never had any art lessons, and I definitely consider myself an amateur painter, but I am just in love with the process of trying to put depth and light and shadow on a flat surface. I will share this painting again when it is finished.



Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Scanning Vintage

Bon Ami ad 1927

My dear friends,

I started the task yesterday of laminating a 1938 catalog page by page. You might ask why I would do that, wondering if it is ruining a perfectly good catalog, but the pages have reached the point where they are literally crumbling when you touch them. This seems to be the only way to preserve the pages so that I can use them as reference in my shop. Anyway, it got me to looking at other old magazines I have. Here are a few images from yesterday.





All of these pages are from Needlecraft April 1927. The outfits are just fun. I think of the roaring 20s! The cloche is a particularly fun hat, I think. They sell pretty quickly, that's for sure!

Quality is such an elusive thing. It is a costly thing! The vintage items I have seem to be so much sturdier than things currently made, unless the current items are expensive and more tailored. Some of the items I have are very old, standing the test of time and lots of wear and tear.

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Sunday, June 26, 2016

A Lovely Face From Long Ago

My dear friends,

Suddenly, I am me. I just am not sure how to even say it, but it is like there is light. I have many areas in my life where I need to improve, including the amount of quiet time I spend with God, but I have such a sense of "everything is okay." Finally.

I have acquired over the last few months literally dozens and dozens of old photos. Many of the ones I have purchased lately are from the 1800s. Small photos. The faces seem to have so much to tell, but they are mostly somber. The attire looks stiff and hot, but very proud and modest. I found a tiny photo the other day, and the girl's face was so faded, you almost could not even make it out, but I scanned it and applied an effect or two in a photo editing app.



Isn't it amazing? If only her name had been written on the back. I wonder, oh I wonder who she was!

The next photo is not old, as I am sure you will instantly know. I wore one of the vintage hats for awhile in the shop on Saturday. It was a fun thing to do, and a hit! I sold 11 hats over the weekend! I rolled my hair up in the back and rocked a pillbox hat.



Isn't it cute?

That is all for now. Jason and I are about to practice our guitars. I have not really practiced in days. Ugh. I should be practicing 5 hours a day to get to 10,000 hours!! You know they say 10,000 hours means mastery!

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Walk With Me

Remember when we used to walk together through the garden? That was fun. Now let's walk outside the shop and look at something sweet.



We are back in the dressing room in the caboose. We can see out towards the door.



Look! I have been collecting letters randomly, intending to say VINTAGE. My collection is complete and hanging over the doorway in the center of the caboose. It is for safety as much as anything. Tall people need to watch their heads in the caboose.



I love this new hat. I have recently acquired a lot of hats from an estate. This is like a bonnet, and it reminds me of Little House on the Prairie.





That is a heavy, heavy door latch! I keep a sign outside letting people know that they have to turn the doorknob really hard to come inside.



My little "sink" and garden area. I have an old Watts pottery bowl that I use to wash my hands. And I have garden supplies. And a few of the items are for sale!

Now, look at this!



Look out over the railing from the platform. It's the trolley next door.

The caboose used to be a vital part of the train, allowing crew a place to look out in front of and behind the train. My caboose is a standard cupola. There would have been high seating for the crew to see out the windows in the cupola. Anyway, there is an old trolley next to my caboose. Uh, it looks like someone had tea in there and left their teacup behind.





Come on and let's go down the steps. I want to show you something. On the way down, we pass by my flower box attached to the railing. And be careful on the steps.

Look what I found.



When I peered down over the railing this morning I saw a yellow bloom. It's a sunflower in my garden. And I did not plant it. Life is like that. There are sometimes really sweet things in places we don't expect.

Enjoy this day!

Lynn