THEY LIVE! Vintage Monster Movie Horror Movie Posters Frankenstein Dracula Wolfman Mummy Travel Coffee Mug - $13.00

Just finished up these lil' beauties! I am super stoked on this one and am rocking it as my daily mug now!

This mug features from classic monster movies of the 1950's and 1960's!



"Son of Dracula"

"The Fly"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"Dracula"

"The Wolfman"

and more....



The travel mugs hold 16oz. of any liquid you like, hot or cold.

The mug is insulated to keep things hot OR cold.



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New Project in the Works. Frederick's of Hollywood/Vintage Pattern Globe Light

I tend to keep incomplete patterns, wondering what I could use them for. I had an idea. I used the pieces to cover a paper lantern globe light. But it needed more. So I cut out models from the Frederick's of Hollywood catalogs and put them on there too. This is still a work in progress but I am liking how it's looking.

Keep tuned for the finished product!

Also, come by and see us at the King of Clubs Car Show at Barona Speedway, July 27 and 28th! Antique drags, music, vendors, hot rods, and more!

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Scored some rad fabric

I am in love with the flower fabric and can't wait to get started on some new projects!   JoAnn Fabric is having a super sale plus my 50% off coupon; saved $44 today!!  Wooooo hoooooo!

The Shifters Car Show Corona, California 2012

We hit the road yesterday to The Shifters 20th Anniversary Car Show in Corona, California.

Nice ride up there.  I had the Ford Flex packed full of kids.  But I also had AIR CONDITIONING.  Fair enough trade off.

It took about 2 hours to get up there.  We met Marty and Nicole near Oceanside. 

Here are The Spares parked together.  From left to right:  Marty, Jimmy, Kooter & Aaron.  

It got up to about 90 degrees and there didn't seem to be enough shade to keep me cool.  Nice venue, mellow crowd, decent bands and some really nice cars.  I got to see an old car of mine.  1955 Buick Special.  I sold her in 1996 to a guy that completely changed and fixed her up.  She is covered in flames now.  

The End.

New Mug Designs Coming SOON! Frederick's of Hollywood!!!!

I am COMPLETELY in love with the vintage Frederick's of Hollywood catalogs from the 1950's and early 1960's.  I have purchased a few within the last few weeks.  I love the illustrations, as unbelievable as they are!

I decided to do some copy, cut and paste magic to bring you two new designs in my travel mug!!

Here are the prototypes.  First one is a collections of full color dress designs:

The second is all Frederick's of Hollywood bra styles!

Hope you like them!  Let me know!  They should be available as early as next week on my Etsy store!

kooterandflos.com

Thanks for checking it out and have a super rad weekend!

~Brin

Mid Century Modern Chair Restoration!

I have had this amazing mid-century modern reclining chair and ottoman for awhile now.  It is made by Shield Chair Company of California.  There are straps on the bottom seat area and the ottoman.  The original straps gave out and crumbled.  They were made out of some sort of linen that was coated with wax or rubber.  They finally shredded at the metal hooks.

I ordered a repair kit from Miller Upholstery on Etsy (www.etsy.com/shop/millerupholstering).  They provided a practice piece of the strap material and a metal clip, as well as, detailed instructions and all!  I wish I would have known how easy it was going to be because I would have done it sooner!  I bought it in December 2011....it's May 2012.

I went to Upholstery Fabric Outlet down in National City and found some really nice creamy, white fabric for the cushions.  I sent the cushions out to my guy and he was finished in no time.  Next it was my turn on the strap replacement.

Here it is before:

The back of the chair has some cool rubber wrapped wire that snakes up the entire area.  Very comfy!

I started with the ottoman and did one strap at a time:

Until every one was cut and installed.  I was seriously impressed with my handy work!

Next came the chair bottom section!

And here they are together!

But the final product was the most amazing to me!  If only I had a picture of the HIDEOUS Southwestern fabric the cushions were made out of before - ACK!  It was bad.  

And her she is reclined...

But now I have had it for so long that it doesn't match or fit in our house anymore.  She went up on eBay today and I am hoping she'll find a new home where someone will love her as much as I did!!

Here she is for sale:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180895276486&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123#ht_898wt_1187

New patterns coming right up

Just scored some super cute stuff!  Coming son to Etsy!

Love/Hate Bangs Dye Job Part 2

I dyed the bang hair pieces again tonight in hopes of succeeding and being able to try them out.  Paid special attention to the bright red under hairs.   The process picture ain't pretty.

But here they are, definitely black, and drying.  Human tests to follow.

So excited about all the new patterns!!!

Here's a little sneak peek at what will be going up in the next week or so.  It's the descriptions that have been cracking me up though.

Here's a factory folded Susie Stephens Original from Butterick.  Amazing condition!  Bust 31.

This one says:  A gay casual that helps you make the rounds on your busy date circuit.  The neckline's a sweetheart.  Skirt has a delightful swinging air. (A) Neckline armseye, waistline and skirt seams are trimmed with bias tape.

This lil' beauty is also from Butterick and is still in it's original factory folds as well.  Just adorable.  LOVE the  pyramid shaped midriff!  If only I was a Bust 32... 

"The dress that keeps busy as a bee all day long!"

Back to scanning, descriptions and listing!  Have a super rad Thursday people!!

~Brin 

The Pallet Garden Project

I saw the raddest idea on  http://pinterest.com/ about a month or so ago.  A pallet garden.  They used free pallets from behind your local home improvement/garden store (Lowe's was my choice).  The green on the sides was a total BONUS!

I grabbed as many as I could fit into the car - three.  I also bought organic soil and some plants.

The main thing was figuring out what we were going to eat and really use.  Vegetables, as a whole, are pretty easy to grow if you have space and water the shit.  I have grown tons of stuff in the past and I couldn't eat it fast enough or the kids didn't like it, etc.  In the end I chose green bell pepper, spicy basil, rosemary, cilantro and jumbo jalapenos called MUCHO NACHO!  I couldn't help myself.

I also had three yellow pear tomato plants, that were a result of last years garden, some strawberries and an Anaheim Chile plant that were in the existing "garden" area.  Not that it was really a garden, more like a cat litter box.  Yeah, it's true.

Another reason that the pallet garden appealed to me.  The wood slates would provide more soil coverage and less open, inviting dirt for the cats.  Add some dry red pepper flakes and no more litter box.

I decided to make the first row two pallets high; the second row one pallet high.  I had some shade cloth/screen/mesh that I found in the trailer, under the seats.  I wasn't going to use it for anything so why not reuse it?  I used a staple gun and closed up the ends of each section of the pallets so that the dirt would stay in but it would get good drainage.  Here is the first row using two pallets.

Here it is without the soil.  I kept the two greens that matched together and placed them with the more open spaced slates towards the top.

I bought three cubic yards of soil for two section garden I configured.  Make sure to use your hands and really push the dirt down between the slates of the first pallet into the space of the second/bottom pallet, if you stack them two high.  No matter how you stack them, pay special attention to the space under the pallet sides.  That area holds a lot of dirt but needs to be manually filled and packed.   Here it is with dirt.

I planted all the new and already maturing plants, gave them a good, slow water and now came the hard part.  Waiting.

To be honest, I only really waited a couple days until I went right back to Lowe's and brought home four more pallets, more soil and more plants.  But that's for next time.  

Thanks for reading and have a rad day!

~Brin

Here's the link.  You can do these vertical, horizon and more!
http://pinterest.com/pin/146015212888809127/

Next up....Aunt Jemima and Uncle Moses RARE Ceramic Salt and Pepper Shakers Black Americana

This is another lovely set from my collection of Black Americana items.

This lovely set of Aunt Jemima and Uncles Moses Salt and Pepper Shakers would be a wonderful addition to any collection of black americana collectibles.



All the others that I see for sale are made out of plastic. These are ceramic and much nicer. Great for daily use or display!



These stand at approximately 4 1/2" tall, are in great condition and have stoppers on both of them. A...

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Selling some of my personal Black Americana collection...

Just listed some stuff from my personal collection. When I lived in Ocean Beach I had a couple pieces. When I moved to Oakland I started to collect more and people got me more from all over the US!

One of my personal favorites is this large cookie/biscuit jar! It was purchased for me as a gift in St. Louis. She was found in a vintage shop by my ex-mother-in-law. She\'s a beauty. The jar, not the ex-mother-in-law! :)


Large Aunt Jemima Cookie and Biscuit Jar!

This amazing piece is in excellent shape!



The entire jar stands 10" tall and measures 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" at the base. The base alone is 6 3/4" tall.



This piece would be a wonderful addition to any collection of Black Americana and any retro or vintage kitchen! Great for cookies, biscuits, dog biscuits or any other trea...

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1971 Cardinal Travel Trailer...the newest project

We recently purchased a 1971 Cardinal Travel Trailer.  It's 14' long and is super rad.  We knew going into it it was going to need some work.  Here's a few photos of it before we did anything but tow it home.

Exterior 

Entrance area

Interior.  Previous owner started to remove wall panels and insulation.

Interior.  The green thing is an icebox.

Last interior shot, the dining room table that turns into a bed.

The first thing we did was decide how bad the wall and ceiling panels were.  The kitchen area looked pretty good and we decided to leave it alone.  I kept the overhead cabinets in as well, I figure we can paint and panel around those.  

It took about half a day but I ripped out all the wood paneling and remaining insulation on the walls and ceiling.  

We found rotted wood at both back corners and around the windows. 

I knew this was out of our range of experience so I called in an expert.  Our friends came down for a couple days and we pulled out the windows, replaced the wood and reattached the metal skin with new stainless steel screws with built-in rubber gaskets.  Radness.

The crazy thing was figuring out that they build these things from the inside out.  All of the nails were facing in.  They were nailed from the outside.  First comes the framing, next the flooring, the walls and cabinets, insulation and finally they cover the interior and its guts with metal skin.  So removing and replacing the wood frame wasn't super hard, just different than usual stuff like this.  Made ya use yer brain!

We caulked around all the windows before re-installing.  Then a good couple tubes of foam to seal the cracks and nooks and crannies.

The electrical was mostly working.  Our friend came over and rewired it so that everything works now.  Tail lights and brake lights were a high priority for me.

Next stop, Discount Fabric on Morena Blvd.  The lady there was AMAZING!!!  I ended up buying four pieces of 76" x 27" foam pieces, 2" thick and 3" thick (realized now that I need two more!), fabric, notions, etc.

My girlfriend, who is a master at upholstery, taught me how to do the bottom cushions and we rocked those out!  Here's the finished product in the trailer.  

I thought it would go well with the avocado green appliances....work with it, not against it!  So that's the progress so far.  

Our next step is making sure she's water tight so we can do the new insulation and put wood on the walls!  We are hoping to at least get it road-ready for a lil' camping trip!

Until next time, happy trails!

~Brin

Thanks to the Vintage Cardinal Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vintagecardinal/

and Vintage Camper Trailers on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vintagecampertrailers

The Love / Hate Bang Relationship Ends...Part Two of ???

Washed the hair pieces out and laid them to dry.  They are real hair.  They should keep the shape they dry in.  So I combed one straight to make into the straight bang and combed one to the side for the swoop bang.

As I combed them I noticed something.  Not all of the hair was dyed.  The underhairs are still reddish.  

Ok, so I should have combed them out with the dye in them...lesson learned.  One more box of dye coming up later.  For now, they dry.  

I will report back later to let you all know how they turned out once they were dry.  Thanks for reading! ~Brin 

The Love / Hate Bang Relationship Ends...

I have forever gone back and forth between bangs and no bangs.  Something about my brain doesn't let me remember what a pain in the ass it is to have bangs with curly hair.  It's a pain in the ass.

Each morning I would take a shower, load up on product, plug in the flat iron, blow dry the bangs and then flat iron the bangs.  Betty Page bangs, sweep bangs, whatever - time consuming!

Then each day, all day, my "Bangs OCD" is on full alert.  Are they even?  Are they straight?  Are they frizzy?  UGH!

I grow them out.  Thinking that I have left the bang desire behind me, once and for all.

Then I see some hot chick with black hair and bangs.  Suddenly I want them back.  I browse old pics of myself with cute bangs; adding fuel to the fire.

I give in.  I cut them again.  Immediately; regret.

Well, no MORE!  "NO MORE!", I say.  Thanks to Micheline Pitt, stylist, make-up artist, designer, artist, awesomeness.  She made a video for YouTube about fake bangs.  WHAT DID SHE SAY?!?!  Fake Bangs?!?!  Oh, yeah she did.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7KJFc6FjXk Part 1 of 2 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBjMPnhfQI&feature=relmfu Part 2 of 2.

She also goes into making fake bangs out of your own hair using a shaper and all too.  I don't have the patience or skill for that one.

She walks you through the process of procuring, dying and styling your fake hair to have any kind of bang you want.  I AM IN AWE.  Why didn't I know about this?

I immediately run to the nearest Sally Beauty Supply during lunch.  I buy two fake bang hair pieces, both in red because they only offer two colors; blonde and red.  Not only are they in stock, they are on CLEARANCE!!!!  I plan on cutting one into a Betty Page bang and leaving the other in a nice swoop bang.

Next stop, Vons, for hair dye.  I choose L'Oreal Excellence Cream Color in Natural Black.  That's what I use normally and I wanted the closet match possible to hide any distinction between the real hair and the real hair piece.  I bought two boxes since I have a shit ton of thick hair.

I put the two pieces into a Pyrex glass baking dish so that it didn't stain anything.  I put the dye into my hair first and dyed the pieces next.  I spread the dye on like frosting on cinnamon rolls.  

Make sure you turn the pieces over to get the back and clip area.  When I finished they looked like crappy pieces of bloody meat or bloody pelts, neither very ascetically pleasing. 

And wait thirty minutes. 

Stay tuned for Part 2~Brin

Vintage Laredo Filter Cigarette Maker by Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation in Louisville, KY - $10.00

Vintage Filter Cigarette Maker Laredo by Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation in Louisville, KY



A brown color plastic cigarette maker. Marked Laredo, Brown Williamson Filter Cigarette Maker, Patent Pending.



I think this may be from the 1960's - 1970's. Seems to be in working condition. No broken or missing parts that I can see.



Measures approximately 2 7/8"...

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Vintage Fighting Rooster Salt and Pepper Shakers Ranch Country Kitchen - $13.00

These matching fighting red and white and black rooster salt and pepper shakers are in good condition. There are a few imperfections - please enlarge pictures!



They are made out of ceramic and glazed red, white and black. There are no corks in the bottom.



A great addition to any ranch, farm, country or retro house or kitchen! Clean and ready to use!



Please email us ...

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Vintage 1950s Red and Gold Ceramic Rooster Planter Pitcher Kitchen Home Decor - $25.00

This gorgeous piece of pottery looks like it was intended to be a planter but when I cleaned it out I noticed that the opening at the beak goes all the way through. Made a ceramic and glazed red with gold accents, this piece would be a great addition to any collection.



It stands at approximately 10" tall x 11" long and 7" at the widest part of the bottom. The artist's signature app...

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For One of My Favorite People...Missy.

Today my girlfriend Missy has started a new job.  But not only that, this week she handled a bunch of shit, took care of things and did a fine job of it.  She is an amazing woman and she deserves the best.  One of the funny things about Missy is if you invite her over to your house, you just might get a pineapple.  Birthdays, housewarming parties, Mother's Day, whatever...pineapple!

So to celebrate all her raddness this week I created a Treasury on Etsy for her.  Here it is!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTE0ODY1MTd8MjUxODUwNDg1MA/pineapple-pineapple-pineapplethis-one-is

It's all PINEAPPLES!!!!

Go check it out and while you are there, go over and check out her awesome shop too!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dragstripdolly 

Thank you and have a lovely day!  I know Missy is!!!!!