From One Fashion Diva to the Next....

Scrumpdiddly Designs was born after my Mom's most recent trip to Denver.  We have been hitting up thrift stores and consignments together for years, and it is always exciting when you experience "The Find".  My most memorable "Find" is from a consignment store in Naples, FL called Audrey's Attic.  One day, several years ago, we happened upon the most gorgeous vintage camel colored leather coat that fit me like a glove, and it was only $40.  It was like winning the lottery.

During the Denver visit, after spending a couple days thrifting, we started saying "we could totally do this.  We could open a vintage clothing store" and so we did, starting online on my most favorite website ever, Etsy.com.  Etsy is an amazing community of artists and creatives and serves as a reminder to shop small, be original and live outside the box... and for me, that is the only way to live this life.

One of our greatest contributions to the Scrumpdiddly inventory is from a dear friend, Darlene Miller. She heard about our venture and decided to part ways with a large portion of her wardrobe that she has been saving for decades, mostly for sentimental reasons.

I can empathize with Darlene, I hate to part with my clothes.  I spend good money on clothing, I enjoy putting an outfit together, and I love to express myself through fashion.  For those of us who truly love our closets, purging can be an absolute nightmare if it even happens at all.  But I think for Darlene, this was the best case scenario, she could pass on her most treasured items to somebody who will appreciate them, love them, and hopefully find an amazing new home for them where they will continue to be treasured.

While in Naples over the Thanksgiving holiday, we spent an afternoon with Darlene and what a beautiful person she is, both inside and out.  She is a model, she is an actor, she loves dressing up in handmade costumes and she is a genius at photo editing....among a million other things.  She is witty, funny, gorgeous, engaging and just a blast to be around!

Here are some of her modeling photos from 1960 (What a Diva!).  What I found most interesting is that she pulled outfits from her own closet for her modeling shoots.

The 1970's is easily my favorite fashion decade and luckily for us, the fashion trends of the 70's are making a comeback.  You can find chevron patterns, crop tops, flared pants and retro looks in all of today's fashion.  But owning a piece that is actually from that era is, to me, priceless.

This is from In Style magazine January 2015.  We can expect a 70's revival.  I'm in heaven.

Some of my favorite Darlene contributions included two 1970's vintage outfits, both in hues of orange that included halter tops, maxi skirts and palazzo pants.  Here are some photos of her rockin' one of my favorites in 1982.  How fun is that?!

Words cannot express what a priceless gift Darlene has handed over to us.  It was like Christmas morning going through the stacks of treasures from her closet.  My vision is that her fashion gems will become somebody else's next big "Find".  From one Fashion Diva to the next....

Here are some of my favorite Darlene items available at our Etsy shop.  We will also be adding more of her items in the coming months.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/212935024/vintage-1970s-orange-jonathan-logan-maxi?ref=shop_home_active_2

https://www.etsy.com/listing/213107013/vintage-womens-1970s-halter-top-high?ref=shop_home_active_17

https://www.etsy.com/listing/212751749/vintage-1980s-womens-flared-silk-and?ref=shop_home_active_24

https://www.etsy.com/listing/213103571/vintage-womens-grey-silk-maxi-skirt-with?ref=shop_home_active_19


I leave you with a final photo of my Mom and Darlene...two beautiful, inspiring Women who are my favorite Fashion Divas.

Turkey Beignets?

No, not Turkey Beignets....Beignets and Turkey.  Thanksgiving traditions!

My husband and I were fortunate enough to travel to Florida this year to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  Along with the Holiday, we were also there to celebrate my niece Maddie's First Birthday party with the entire family!

One of my all time favorite family traditions is waking up and watching the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade in my pajamas while eating beignets and sipping on mimosas.  I'm not sure when this tradition started but I'm guessing sometime when I was in college.  I have fond memories of my best friend Katie belting out show tunes with my Mom...so I'm guessing circa 2001, and it has continued ever since.

Now, if you have never experienced a beignet, you are really missing out.  It's a light, airy, golden fried square of sweet heaven covered in powdered sugar.  The perfect way to start a Holiday that is focused around food.  If you are ever in New Orleans, make sure to head to Cafe Du Monde to experience the real deal.

Maddie is a little foodie (how can she not be with our family?!) and loved her beignet (or four)! Unfortunately my Grandparents were caught feeding her too many...the powdered sugar trail ruins everything fun!  It was amazing to share the tradition with our newest little member of the family.

This was a very special year with all of the family together.  Justin and I came from Denver, Colorado and my Grandparents traveled from Boise, Idaho.  Four generations together!

Being in Florida was the first time my Mom and I have been together since starting up this little thing called Scrumpdiddly Designs just a few months ago.  We were blessed with a large personal inventory of vintage items from her wonderful friend Darlene (the focus of my next blog entry). Many days were spent going through inventory, taking pictures and doing listings....and the excitement for our new venture continued!  For the entire week, every time I sat down at the computer, my Grandfather would shout out "The shop is opened"... and I'm still unsure if he knows it is open 24 hours a day on this crazy thing we call the Interwebs.

I will leave you with a picture of the Princess Maddie at her first birthday party.  She absolutely stole the show, as she should have!  I hope she continues to grow up into our family traditions surrounded by love, smiles and a little crazy (the good kind of course).  We have so very much to be thankful for.

The Start of Scrumpdiddly

My Mom and I officially launched our online Etsy store, Scrumpdiddly Designs, this week.  To go along with the store, I have decided to start an online blog that will highlight our lives, our inspirations, our love, our family....because without all of these things, without our passions, Scrumpdiddly simply would cease to exist.

My husband Justin once said to me, right before my Mom was coming out to Colorado for a visit, "I love your Mom, she is like a grown-up version of you!".  It was such a simple, endearing, and lovely comment to hear.  And it is so very true.

Scrumpdiddly Designs wasn't born overnight.  It wasn't created in two months.  It has been a lifetime of growing up as my Mother's daughter, and falling in love with everything she has taught me and instilled in me.  It stems from creativity, imagination, passion and even failures.

My goal of this blog is to highlight our inspirations behind the items in our Etsy store.  The stories behind the items we find, the reasons why they inspired us, the passion that goes into a homemade project and the love that we hope these treasures can bring to another someday.

I want our customers to be able to know us outside of our online store.  To have a connection that will hopefully create a relationship in life.  There is something amazing about shopping small and treasuring something that somebody loved and put love into making.  It is the opposite of materialism, of greed, of "things" that make up the World around us;  it is simply just unique and special.

Vintage items have a story and a past, they are unique and one of a kind.  They hold a connection to lost loved ones and past lives in a way that few things can.  We hope that our customers will cherish that as much as we do.  This is one of the reasons behind our Dinosaur logo; a vintage piece is mystical, special and awe-inspiring just like those giant beasts which roamed the Earth before us.

We look forward to sharing our lives, our traditions, our recipes and our stories with you through this blog and through Scrumpdiddly Designs.