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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