Long time no see.

I was a bit surprised to check in on my blog and see that I hadn't written since August 10th. That's almost half a year. I had just taken a little blogger break because I had wanted to adjust the width of my blog and wasn't sure how to do it and somehow it's five months later and I'm just getting around to adjusting it now. (Procrastination is not the best means of accomplishing things, by the way.)

My resolution for 2011 is simple: Stop being lazy. Basic enough that I can apply it to every aspect of my life, and trust me on this, my life needs a serious kick in the pants. More on that another day.

I just wanted to get a start on my blogging by saying a big thank you to Jamie from A Forest Frolic for letting me use her beautiful photograph for my header image. I knew as soon as I saw this picture that it would be perfect for my blog. I found her using the Creative Commons on Flickr which is something else I want to talk about another day. Best tool ever.

So here's to 2011. Let it be productive and happy, safe and successful for us all. (And let's hope that I actually blog more than twice this year.)

ps: Mr Boots says Hi!

Trying Something New - Vintage Inspired Clutches

I've been doing a little more designing and experimenting with my shop. Nothing too drastic of course, I'm not a terribly fashion forward kind of gal. In fact I usually joke that I'm "fashion backwards" because my style is so firmly rooted in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

Last month one of Randys coworkers asked me to come up with a gift for her 6 bridesmaids. She wanted something using her wedding colours and she wanted each item to be personalized. Oh and I had a really strict budget. Panic! I had no idea what I was going to do. I took a day to think about it and came up with the perfect idea that night while I was falling asleep - which is incidentally the time when I do my best designing.

The next morning I got up & excitedly emailed my idea to her - 6 simple clutches done up in navy blue with blush pink lining, each with it's own special button. She loved the idea and I started drafting a few different patterns to find the best shape. I also got hooked on clutches and have now made 10 of them, these little purses are addictive!

The final clutch design, one of the bridesmaid gifts.

These are my first two patterns. I love how both of them turned out and am really pleased to be able to offer some new bags to my shop. I've got a few more to be listed in the next few days, including solid coloured bags for those of you who aren't as pattern obsessed as I am!

Yoko Japanese Fabric Clutch

Ida Vintage Barkcloth Clutch

Learning to Live with my Fears

Stuff No One Told Me #22 By Alex Noriega

When I first saw this drawing by Alex Noriega I probably said something like Holy Shit! It couldn't have been more perfect if he had drawn it just for me. It looks like me, I drink tea alllll day and I am pushing myself out of a deep anxiety rut.

A few yeas ago I went to see a new age therapist while I was working through some childhood issues. It wasn't anxiety based but we did touch on it, since it's such a large part of my life. Agoraphobia is like a scar. You can definitely get better and function normally but there's always a part of your brain that won't forget.. especially if you keep picking at it.

I remember one session she had me sit on the floor with my shoes off and draw on a huge pad of paper with those fat Crayola markers. She would tell me to draw abstract things like where I see myself in 5 years or what would be inside a gift box that I gave to myself. I think I gave myself a ball of glowing light that would give me energy. (I should have given myself a car or a mortgage-free house.)

Most of the things she asked me to draw were simple and didn't require too much thought, until she asked me to draw my anxiety. I remember just sitting there looking at the ceiling trying to visualize what my panic disorder would look like if I could get it down on paper. It was huge, looming, scary. Evil.

I took the purple marker and drew a big giant blob the size of the paper, with a messy, jagged edge. I added horns, to make it more evil. My therapist was asking me about it while I was drawing it and I remember saying that it was just a really, really, big menacing monster. After looking at it for a while I decided to draw on eyes and a mouth, to give it a face. This ended up making me laugh instead of scaring me. My anxiety was adorable! He had googley eyes and a little grin, like he was in on the joke with me. I added little stick arms and legs and that was that. I couldn't believe I had been so afraid of this guy. He was a big scary monster sure, but he was easy to tame.

After that things actually did get easier. When I felt the shadow of panic creeping over me I would picture the monster behind me, tapping me on the shoulder and running away. It still sucked (and sucks) but it would at least make me smile for a moment when I thought I would go out of my mind with panic.

He's been coming back to bother me lately, but instead of worrying about him I think I'll just offer him some tea. I don't think he's going anywhere so we might as well get reacquainted.

DIY Hang Tags (on a budget!)

I have been brainstorming ideas for making professional looking hang tags to use locally during the upcoming craft show season. Up until now I had been using a business card with a regular hole punch, but the cards are big and get in the way and it just seemed a bit too amateur. Using items I already had, a little graphic design work & elbow grease I was able to come up with a classy hang tag that I think looks pretty sweet!



You will need two craft punches for making your hang tags. I used the "Extra Jumbo Marvy" 1.5" scalloped circle for the tag and a quarter sized hole punch for the string. Both were purchased from Michaels using the weekly 50% off coupons. These go on sale all the time too - don't pay full price for them! You can use whatever shape or size you like as long as it is no bigger than 1.75" wide and 2" tall.


Here's where the graphic design comes in. I used Vista Print and waited for a premium business card sale with free uploads. Trust me, if you sign up for their mailing list you won't have to wait very long! I get multiple free offers from them every week.

I used the "design your own business card" option, uploaded the background image from my blog and laid out the text boxes so I had two identical graphics on each side of the card. You will need to play around with this a bit - and it helps to have a business card in front of you with the holes punched out so you will have an idea where your borders will be. I was a bit worried that my 6 pt font would be too small to read but it turned out beautifully.

Of course you can use any printing company that you like but you can't go wrong with 250 cards for free + $10 shipping. That's 500 hang tags! Just be careful during your check out that you don't select any of their optional add ons. It ends up being cheaper to wait and order more items from their next promotional email.


And then the elbow grease. This is the least fun part of making your own hang tags but it's also kind of satisfying. I removed the plastic bottom from my Marvy stamp at first so I could make sure I was punching each card in the correct spot. After a while I was able to tell just by looking at the side of the stamp if the card was lined up in the correct spot.


Once my cards were stamped out I used my mini hole punch on them. A regular sized punch would work too but the smaller size looks cleaner to me.

Finally, I used embroidery floss to hang the tags from my purses. Floss comes in hundreds of colors so you can pick out the perfect shade to compliment your hang tags or your items.

I'm still not sure yet if I'm going to attach them to the inside of my purses with little safety pins or if I should just loop them around the buttons and snaps of my items. What do you think?

I'd love to see your tags if you try this method - if you already use the method - or if you purchase premade tags!

Oh Yoko

Yoko Green 7 Pocket Wallet With Change Purse

Yoko Pink 7 Pocket Wallet with Change Purse

Yoko Pink 7 Pocket Wallet with Change Purse

The Oh So Retro bifold wallet has 6 deep, staggered pockets for easy organization and massive amounts of storage! Keep all your business cards, bank cards, rewards cards, coupons and cash organized in one place.

Features:
- 6 inside pockets, 3 on each side.
- 3.5" zipper pocket on the back to hold a ton of change.
- Secure tab with metal snap closure keeps everything in it's right place.
- Measures 4.5" wide x 8" long (4" folded.)
- Interfaced for strength and stability.

Available in a pink or green version. Made with authentic Japanese fabric featuring large dots and patterns on green cotton. Lined in a matching print textured cotton with solid accent fabric.

Visit my shop for more wallets - or custom order one with your own choice of fabric and options!

Flashback Friday #4 Hello, Goodbye

The day he was born was a rough one for me. I actually hung up on my mom when she called to tell me that I had a baby brother. It never occurred to me that you might be a boy, I was sure I was going to have a little sister named Sarah. Instead I had a stinky brother named Michael. This was my first taste of disappointment.



It didn't take me long to warm up to you. We shared the second bedroom in our small house and I can remember standing beside the crib, looking in through the bars and holding his little feet. Who knew finger nails could ever be that small. I loved to hug and squish him.



When Michael was 3 years old he was diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor and given one month to live without immediate surgery. My parents flew to Toronto with him and I lived with my grandparents. The doctors prepared us for possible paralysis and we excepted him to come home in a wheelchair. (He ran off the airplane to meet us at the airport.) At the time I didn't understand the seriousness of this event. I still can't fully understand it.



(Further proof that I am the smart one.) Christmas was the best. Having someone to share that excitement with.. the moment before our parents would give us the go ahead when we both sat shaking with excitement before the tree, counting presents and seeing who got the biggest one. Michael would rip his presents open one after the other and then sit and watch as I meticulously unwrapped my gifts.


There's a big gap without pictures of us because there's a big gap where we hated each other. Hated. Now I realize what a waste of time that was. I carry that regret with me even though my brother has forgiven me for how I treated him. (We're not just talking sibling rivalry here.)

It's taken years but I consider my brother one of my best friends. He's moving to Montreal tomorrow to start his new career at Aerospace as an Engineer and I am SO proud of him! I am going to miss him something fierce and will probably be making the same face that I am in the first photo but I'm excited to see what he's going to accomplish in his life.

The sky is yours Michael, one step at a time.

Thrift Shop Finds

I love books. I love books more than I love fabric. Well maybe not quite that much, but they're a close second.

Actually let me restate that: I love second hand books. I love hunting through a heavy shelf in a thrift shop for well loved books, finding a forgotten bookmark treasure or vintage library card. One of these had tickets for a draw to be held in December 1989. I guess they didn't win.

This week I found these books at my local Goodwill - a great find. My high school had the entire collection of New Canadian (NC) paperbacks, these same editions from the 1970s with abstract paintings on the front.

Margaret Lawrence is an amazing Canadian author, if you haven't read her yet I strongly recommend "A Bird in the House" and "The Stone Angel". I haven't read "A Jest of God" yet but it's next on my list.

The Margaret Atwood "You Are Happy" book of poetry was my absolute favourite in high school. Some of the poems I had read so much that I was able to recite them from memory as I was reading them. I was so excited to find a first edition, and one in great shape too.

Anais Nin is of course classic and the Stephen Leacock book - well I just liked the design. Sometimes you just have to buy a book if it's going to look good on your shelf.

As cool as I think the e-readers are, I will never own one because they don't come with the dusty library smell, you can't sit and look at the titles and they won't make for very fun thrifting in the future.

Reintroducing...

It's been a long time coming but I am finally ready to restart Oh So Retro Accessories up full time. I'm really excited to be designing & creating again after a two year hiatus in which OSR was put into bare bones mode. I'm feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, inspired and ready to get back to work!

I'm hoping to put up at least one brand new item a day in my Etsy shop until it's nice and full for the upcoming season. I will also be taking wholesale and custom orders. You can email me at ohsoretro@gmail.com if you have any inquiries.

As always you can follow me on twitter or add OSR on facebook. You can add my personal facebook too if you want more me, less spam.

Thanks to everyone for your support over the last two years -- it means a lot to me to know so many people are still excited to see what I'm up to in the sewing room.

Vivian Vintage Inspired Purse in Jacobean Linen $52


Maybelle Vintage Inspired Purse in Polka Dot Canvas $42

A few thoughts before we get on with it.

I've recently discovered that the problem with depression isn't the painful sadness or the intense apathy, the lack of hygiene and nutrition and sunshine and friends...

It's the fact that being depressed takes up a lot of time. Weeks, months, years go by in a haze and before you know it one morning you're waking up (exhausted) and looking at a calendar unable to recognize the date. 2010? How the hell did that happen?

Coming out of a depression is really like coming out of a coma.

The really sad thing is that I didn't even know I was depressed until I started to come out of it. I've been living life at a dull hum, not really doing anything except the bare minimum needed to get by. I have no excuses for this. I'm tired of making excuses.

I don't want to waste another minute of life! I've been making some small changes over the past month, getting out more, being with people more, taking photos and sewing and drawing. Getting dressed, showering, eating. The simple things. The things I used to enjoy doing. The things that make me "me".

So that's it. No more excuses, no more bullshit. It's time for me to get on my way.

Introducing... Hair Bows & Headbands!

When I was a little girl (waaaay back in the 1980s) I loved to draw and design my own clothing. I had an empty school notebook that I used to fill up with pictures of impossibly proportioned girls in ill fitting clothing; mostly tiered skirts with strapless bustiers all covered in giant bows. I was obsessed! Hair bows, sock bows, front bows & bum bows, bows on shoes and ramdomly placed all over dresses. I was kind of like the kid in Superbad, except with bows.

So when I noticed the resurgence of the bow I was really excited & decided to bring my childhood drawings to life. I wanted something that would suit everyone. Some of my drawings featured giant upright bows (think Lady Gaga's hair bow) and others were more feminine and laid flat over the ear. After some tweeking I was able to come up with a bow that does both - in fact it can be worn any way, any where on the plastic headband that it comes with. The secret is the fabric band that keeps it in place while it's being worn.



Because the bow is not permanently attached to the headband you can not only change it's style but you can remove it completely to swap it with one of eight other bows in this custom listing. The extra bows can also be used on their own to sew onto bags, jackets, shoes, pet collars, necklaces, bracelets... anything you can think of really. Because everything looks better with a big bow!



Check out my new Hair Bow section on Etsy! New fabrics & sizes coming soon. Wholesale & custom orders available.

As a special offer, FREE SHIPPING in North America is available on all bows & headbands in my shop from now until July 1st!