Decor, vintage style.

about the only thing I really miss about having a shop ....is...display !

It's all junk...old boxes, milk crates and old books...leaves, acorns, sticks, cookie cutters,vintage photos, bones...just  making displays with my junk and the things of the daily life..... My kids will back me up on this...I love the old wood crates! I never "moved on" and bought new furniture except for a new couch from time to time and mattresses....I love using what I find on walks, and finding free stuff and shopping the yard sales and junk shops.

"If it ain't junk, it ain't much" 
the display started like this... and then it grew...

The light up snowman  seems pretty rare in the holiday blow-mold light-up universe.
Here's a flickr stream of lovely wacky blow molds....I'm far from the the only one who loves them like crazy.....

Union Products of  Leominster, Massachusetts, was known as the "Plastics City", hired Don Featherstone to create fun blow mold decorations starting right after his graduation from Worcester Art  Museum’s art school, in the mid-50s. We know him best as the creator of The Pink Flamingo in 1957. Union Products closed in 2007, and the flamingo molds were bought by HMC International LLC and are now made in New York.
Polaron, Union, Bayshore and Empire were some of the best known American companies that made the weird and wonderful light up blow mold decorations.
Reaching its hey-dey in the 60s and 70s, the blow mold decorations were in every middle class home. Easter bunnies, Santa, snowmen, angels, and the rare Candlesticks...a pair of which I had at the shop. This faded Santa was a fancy part of my "Jews in Miami Beach" theme I used in my 2009 xmas display in the shop on Broadway, and now sits in my front yard ....
I never wanted you to mistake FunkomaVintage for an ordinary boring store....I like to say " I'm a dinner and a show!"

here's how he started life...

2 light up toy soldiers....from my shop display....

crazy Easter bunny...and also from a shop display....

and of course, my pride ! Dracula by Don Featherstone....

and 2 Don Featherstone pink flamingos ...flamingii....

 and an Empire Pumpkin and cat.....

Using my stacked crates, I keep the few cookbooks I use, a few gardening books, and my bird identification book, with binoculars handy. There's a stack of Polaroids, a Mercedes hood ornament I found in the yard when I was digging a patch for sunflowers last spring.....maybe the whole car is buried in back yard!

The old canning jar was a beach find...it's covered in sea dirt and tiny barnacles. The white ironstone bowl is full of beach glass and other sandy finds, with a square of old barkcloth.
There's a Santa I made about 15 years ago.....and I think 2012 will find me making dolls again. Rolled up is a length of rustic canvas punched with grommets and cords.......I'm pretty sure it was used to cover a furled sail on a boat's boom. Helms alee !

Button Up Your Overcoat

it's cold....so button up your overcoat...or your jacket...or zip it !
The song Button Up Your Overcoat,  was written in 1928, a singing  lady makes a plea for her fella to stay warm and healthy!
"Button up your overcoat,
When the wind is free,
Oh, take good care of yourself,
You belong to me! "

It was recorded early in 1929 by singer Helen Kane. Kane's little girl voice was the inspiration for the voice of cartoon character Betty Boop, who used Kane's famous catchphrase Boop Boop a Doop !

I bet these girls have cold legs...don't forget to wear pants !

whether you like wool, plaid, twill, denim, a letter jacket, or a wool sport coat....I can hook you up!

2 classic 50s jackets, in a red/black twill, and a zipper front Black Bear shadow plaid....

'74 Letter jacket...

Sears 70s denim with a fake sheepskin lining....

 vintage Harris Tweed

50s fleck tweed wool jacket....

and for the ladies... A black wool cape with a long pointy elf hood & ...

...this beautiful 60s mohair and mouton ivory wool and fur coat from Roos-Atkins, a very high-end California department store.

Silky black real fox, a 40s jacket, a very glam noir classic...

a vintage 60s red wool coat, a sweet basic that can be dressed up with a big fluffy muffler, or a tie-on fur collar....

And now, a little Hard To believe...tap-dancing to Button Up Your Overcoat.



BUTTON UP YOUR OVERCOAT
(DeSylva / Brown / Henderson)
Helen Kane


Listen, big boy,
Now that you got me made,
Goodness, but I'm afraid,
Somethin's gonna happen to you!
Listen, big boy,
You gotta be hooked, and how,
I would die if I should lose you now!

Button up your overcoat,
When the wind is free,
Oh, take good care of yourself,
You belong to me!

Eat an apple every day,
Get to bed by three,
Oh, take good care of yourself,
You belong to me!

Be careful crossing streets, ooh-ooh,
Cut out sweets, ooh-ooh,
Lay off meat, ooh-ooh,
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum!

Wear your flannel underwear,
When you climb a tree,
Oh, take good care of yourself,
You belong to me!

Button up your overcoat,
When the wind is free,
Oh, take good care of yourself,
You belong to me!

When you sass a traffic cop,
Use diplomacy;
Just take good care of yourself,
You belong to me!

Beware of frozen funds, ooh-ooh,
Stocks and bonds, ooh-ooh,
Dockside thugs, ooh-ooh,
You'll get a pain and ruin your bankroll!

Keep the spoon out of your cup,
When you're drinking tea,
Oh, take good care of yourself,
You belong to me!

Don't sit on hornet's tails, ooh-ooh!
Or on nails, ooh-ooh!
Or third rails, ooh-ooh!
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum!

Keep away from bootleg hooch
When you're on a spree,
Oh, take good care of yourself,
You belong to me!


*****

you gotta fight for your rights....

While this picture has fired up the righteous outrage over US police brutality....and rightly so...I confess that I was also quite transfixed by the poor protesting girl wearing Levi's and LL Bean Boots.... and now, maybe it will be the Go-To wardrobe choice for protesting in America when one is expecting rough anti-Constitution conditions, or hunting in the woods....or anywhere the words "Don't worry, I'm going to spray these kids down." may be spoken with a lackadasial air....this combo is a standard in my wardrobe.
infamous/famous photo credit: Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.


"Introduced in 1912 for navigating the wet, muddy Maine woods, these boots have been appreciated for over 99 years." So says the most current catalog of  LL Bean, and shipping is free!

Made in America, In Maine, the Maine Hunting Shoe by L.L.Bean Inc. of Freeport,ME.
LLBean is one of the many labels I always buy......because I'm trying to raise the level of usability and do it with style........
You can change the world if you refuse to buy CRAP. If you buy things that are quality to begin with, you tred lighter on the earth.  Quality will last. And refusing to fall for every stupid fast-fashion 3rd world manufactured crap....you can create a serious style, based in ethics and smartness.....
The Pacific Northwest, the West Coast has its own style....mostly rugged, but not afraid to be stylish and fun....
Oh sure these boots are from Maine...but Levi's are San Francisco, California, USA. Born, bred, designed, invented, and until 2002, sewn there too.....  I only deal in the Made in USA Levi's...because I only deal in quality.
The back pockets of Levi's have the trademarked arcurate stitching...which looks like the pocket stitching (I think) on the butt of the poor unfortunate protester girl.

...and to show that indeed I do have a Sense of Humor....here's a great little article about the history of Levis in San Francisco, otherwise and sometimes knows as Baghdad By The Bay....(I ooze irony and satire)... in the Wall Street Journal.....the Wall Street, those kids are all kinds of pissed off about...a little movement we revolutionaries like to call OWS.  The kids in the UCDavis protest had more to do with a crazy tuition increase, but it is all connected...the destruction of the American economy trashed the budget of California....leading to, (maybe) a huge tuition increase at public universities....or they could have taxed rich people more....

The beloved Levi's jeans....and a staple of covering my butt sartorially since the 50s....
"Levi Strauss & Co. has been innovating since 1873, the year we created and patented the world’s first blue jeans. And while that patent has long since expired, our commitment to innovation continues. Throughout our long history we’ve inspired change in the marketplace, the workplace and the world. We invite you to take a look at our proud heritage."


Why LL Bean? Why Levis? Quality. Longevity. No Fads. No Trends.



If it has leather and a buckle I'm
probably wearing it......
I have worn out a few pairs of LL Bean boots...a few pair of lace-up calf high boots, and most recently ..a pair of LLBean mocs that I wore for the few years I gardened pro-style on the water for the Rich People.
I just passed them on to a thrift, so the next person could buy them for a couple of dollars and have the rubber replaced for about 25 bucks. Yes, these are items that are Fixed. Repaired. To wear again.


This is a weird concept in the throw-away culture that has boomed in the last 25 years. I'm glad I'm old enough to know what life used to be like...and I'm thrilled to see the very beginning of a turn-back to the ways of buying quality and not spending every penny on crap clothing.
Of course, giving you excellent quality things is what funkoma vintage is all about. I don't deal in the stupid fast fashion......Every item I deal in ...has to be something good.

I'm a classic-sturdy-quality-tomboy clothes nerd.
I love rubber, and stitching and leather, and canvas, and rawhide, and denim and wool, and tweed and corduroy....
So can you imagine my delight when I found these last year?
a LLBean boot with a belted buckle across the vamp.






I love them better than the lace up kind or the mocs...and I lurve them....
I don't know exactly how old this style is...that resembles an Engineer or motorcycle boot....I'm gonna guess 80s or 90s tho.
And that's the deal with The Classics.

Because the style changes very little over time, it can be hard to date.
At the very bottom of this post is a little video to watch of the real LLBean factory right here in the USA.


Here's more more more on the Pepper Spraying Cop and the 'shopped photos that ruled the internetz for a few days, and has its own tumbler....

rustic and then we move right to the plaid

take a beat-up old license plate and make something of it!

Vintage Wyoming License plate clock

It's recycled....a vintage license plate that once rode on the bumper of a Wyoming truck.
Love that bucking bronco and the cowboy with his hat in the air. A perfect clock for the Wyoming native, the man cave, or the cowboy who lives in a condo.
Deep gold metal vintage license plate, brown cowboy and horse, with a new clock movement. It's in rustic condition.
**********
It runs on one AA battery. You can hang it from the hook on the back or thread a rope thru the holes in the plate, that once were for screws....
I have a few other plates that I'll make a clock with if you'd rather have....
Maine, Montana, Arizona, Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Washington state.

more handmade goodies....
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thatyountvillegirl

Clock Lobster

Rather have Arizona? I can do it!

Lots of Levis coming this week....One pair of new old stock....

 

Plaid...

and another US Navy pea coat...

and now...a delighful poem...

Mambo Cadillac

by Barbara Hamby

Drive me to the edge in your Mambo Cadillac,
turn left at the graveyard and gas that baby, the black

night ringing with its holy roller scream. I'll clock
you on the highway at three a.m., brother, amen, smack

the road as hard as we can, because I'm gonna crack
the world in two, make a hoodoo soup with chicken necks,

a gumbo with plutonium roux, a little snack
before the dirt-and-jalapeño stew that will shuck
the skin right off your slinky hips, Mr. I'm-not-stuck

in-a-middle-class-prison-with-someone-I-hate sack
of blues. Put on your high-wire shoes, Mr. Right, and stick

with me. I'm going nowhere fast, the burlesque
queen of this dim scene, I want to feel the wind, the Glock

in my mouth, going south, down-by-the-riverside shock
of the view. Take me to Shingles Fried Chicken Shack

in your Mambo Cadillac. I was gone, but I'm back
for good this time. I've taken a shine to daylight. Crank

up that radio, baby, put on some dance music
and shake your moneymaker, doll, rev it up to Mach
2, I'm talking to you, Mr. Magoo. Sit up, check

out that blonde with the leopard print tattoo. O she'll lick
the sugar right off your doughnut and bill you, too, speak

French while she do the do. Parlez-vous français? So, pick
me up tonight at ten in your Mambo Cadillac

Chile, Argentina, Peru. Take some time off work;
we're gonna be a lot longer than a week

or two. Is this D-day or Waterloo? White or black—

it's up to you. We'll be in Mexico tonight. Pack
a razor, pack some glue. Things fall apart off the track,

and that's where we'll be, baby, in our Mambo Cadillac,
cause you're looking for love, but I'm looking for a wreck.

"Mambo Cadillac" by Barbara Hamby, from All-Night Lingo Tango. © University of Pittsburg Press, 2009.

Random Message

Pug pillow, from Nicola Rowlands, see him here on etsy

Print cute stuff ,from mibostudio , see them here on etsy

Octopus in the wine, from Dellamorteco   see them here on etsy

Keep your head warm in Valkyrie style, from Everett Washington etsy seller, FairlyEnchanted 

Vintage Black sparkly silver knit gloves from Sydney's Vintage Clothing


Favorite video of the Day...