changes to the vintage gig

Hey friends.

So, for about a year now I've had this little shop on Etsy called Clementine & Nellie. I started selling some of my own vintage stuff there back September 2011, and over the year have grown the shop from being a small hodge podge of vintage things to having about 200 items in my inventory, the majority of which is now clothing - half of which has never ever been posted on Etsy. Vintage clothing has been a long-time interest of mine and to say that I get a little weak in the knees when I come into contact with these lost treasures, well, it's an understatement.

For many months I have been trying to find ways to increase my revenues from the shop by improving the quality and volume of my inventory. However, to do this at this point in my life as a working mother has been a challenge and required a lot of late nights and early mornings just to photograph, measure, and list items. My friend Monica recently started her own vintage shop with it's primary storefront being in a booth at a large, local antiques showroom. She told me about it and emphatically encouraged me to bring some of my stuff in to the shop... Further conversation led to us decided to full-on partner and create the vintage store of your dreams. Monica's got a knack for finding the creme de la creme of vintage (ie: designer labels) along with many other awesome every day items. My passion is daily-wear vintage... jeans, t-shirts, pants, day dresses, etc. We both have a strong inventory of kids items and some brick-a-brack and small housewares. So, needless to say, putting all of our stuff together in one place pretty much results in a killer vintage shop. 

And that's what we did. 

Going forward, Clementine and Nellie will be put to the side as I work with Monica under her established shop, Ann's Armoire. Our shop is located at 425 Market Place Antiques in the old Call of the Wild building (imagine that) which is pretty much between Holcomb Bridge Road and Market Place Boulevard and Grimes Bridge Road in Roswell. We are sooo excited and already have plans to expand our shop into the neighboring booth, which means we'll have over 200 square feet of store space. 

We'd love for you to come by and shop if you live in the area. We also plan to post a good number of the items for sale on the Ann of Some Sort website. Some of our items are already for sale there now. 

Also, in a week or so we will be featuring a hearty inventory of bags created by the oh-so talented Paige Maitland of Lightnest Collective... if you've seen the bag I carry around and love it, or have wanted to see Paige's bags in person, we'll have them as a standard item in our shop. Paige makes many of her bags with vintage fabrics. I carry one every day and it is hands down the BEST bag I have ever owned in quality and style. It is just perfect for me as a busy mom... carries more than I could ever have imagined and I am complimented on it all the time! The bag pictured below is the same fabric my bag is made of. I love it and can't wait to get ANOTHER one!

c/o Lightnest Collective // photo by Paige Maitland

I can't tell you how excited I am for this new venture! I really hope it goes well and both Monica and I would appreciate your support and your dollars! :)

the things I do for love.

When I go out of town and step out of my typical daily routine, I find that I develop this repulsion to anything and everything internet based or blogging related. The compulsion that I feel to constantly document my life via Twitter and now Instagram or Facebook updates actually begins to feel more like a stressor, and is the first thing I find myself avoiding once I am removed from my typical day to day scene. I have an iPhone now, and I thought I would be Instagrammin' it up during my trip, but honestly, my phone sat away, secluded in the far away upstairs bedroom while I lingered on the front porch in the rocking chair or waded through the big creek with my kids. I think I checked it three times in three days.

This weekend we went out of town into the ridge/valley system of Tennessee with my mom's family. We had a great time playing in the river and eating well. I'll be back tomorrow with a post about our trip. But for today my return to the blogosphere is happening in full force. 

This week I am doing not one but TWO giveaways and features on two lovely ladies' blogs...

NUMERO UNO: Skunkboy Blog is featuring my blog and my vintage shop, Clementine and Nellie in a giveaway of a $35 shop credit! This giveaway ends June 1st and you must be a follower of my blog to enter. 

NUMERO DOS: One of the most beautiful ladies I know, Laura Mazurek of Violet Bella // Roots and Feathers fame is featuring a post I've written about the importance of time in nature in my life (in fact I need to take my own advice right about now) as well as a $25 shop credit giveaway! Visit Laura's blog to read the article, and enter the giveaway. This giveaway ends June 7th.

PS: I was featured on Laura's blog back in December as well - you can read my interview here!

Welcome to all of my new followers, and I wish you all the best of luck in the giveaway!

Love Brooke

hey y'all - here's a pic from this weekend.

new vintage items sneak peak

Hey everyone! I've been doing LOTS of treasure hunting lately and have come up with some fabulous items for my shop. I'd love for you to check them out! Here are a few things that I've added recently, and some that are about to go up! Those that are currently available are noted with a price and link to that item. Those that will be added soon are marked as such. If you're interested in anything here that might not be listed, just email me and I will mark it as reserved once it's live. Thanks so much for your support! :)

Visit Clementine and Nellie Vintage  for more fabulous vintage finds of all kinds! 

vintage yellow maxi formal dress - $45

vintage lace/buttery yellow maxi formal - $50

1990s color block bodycon mini dress - $18 (coming soon)

vintage Norwegian hand knit zig zag sweater - $20 (coming soon)

vintage blue/purple/teal shirt dress - $20

vintage yellow lattice sun dress - $20 (coming soon)

original vintage 1980s JAMS shirt - $15 (coming soon)

vintage handmade crochet skirt/dress - $15 (coming soon)

vintage 1990s southwest/geometric inspired vest - $12 (coming soon)

vintage keyhole blue disco dress - $18 (coming soon)

vintage 2-piece tailor made outfit - $20 (coming soon)

vintage maxi garden print cotton dress - $18 (coming soon)

vintage white eyelet lace maxi dress - $30 (coming soon)

vintage stiff-side floral pattern bag - $12 (coming soon)

vintage 1980s southwestern woven natural fiber bag (lined) - $18 (coming soon)

vintage tailor made 2-piece outfit - $20 (coming soon)

vintage baby mocassins, size 3 w/ fringe - $25

vintage yellow embroidered 2-piece baby outfit - $20 (coming soon)

new items in the shop!

PHEW!! I just finished two and a half days of photographing, measuring and posting over thirty new items to  Clementine & Nellie, my vintage shop on Etsy! I would love it if you would stop by and check out the new stuff, and maybe some of the old stuff, and maybe, ya know, buy something you like! I am hoping to sell a good bit of my stock to reinvest back into inventory and continue to grow Clementine & Nellie! 

I also have added SEVERAL vintage maternity items - relatively rare to find on Etsy, so if you're expecting and are looking for something fun and retro for your wardrobe, you might find it here!

Also, if you would, please "like" my shop on on Facebook!

Thanks for your support!

new items in the shop! 25% off NOW!

Hey everyone - I just added a few new items to the shop and my 25% off sale is going on this week only! The coupon code is SPRING25... so get shopping before it's over! I am trying to raise funds to travel to the NC blogger meet up next weekend so would you mind spreading the word?

Here are the items I posted tonight! Click on the descriptions below each item to shop. :o)

vintage Robbie Bee trapeze dress: $20

vintage Malia of Honolulu coral  1960s sundress: $40

vintage Spiegel lace top: $15

vintage black lace top: $15

vintage purple velvet blazer: $20

vintage children's mushroom print bell bottom overalls: $30

Happy shopping! :o)

shop sale and house news

Hey everyone! Just a quick note to let you know that I am trying to raise money to go to the North Carolina blogger meet up (even though I am a GA gal) to meet some folks I've become acquainted with via the blogging world. I have a sale going on for 25% OFF EVERYTHING in my vintage shop! There are some great vintage finds for the home as well as some great clothing as well. I am also going to add a few new items today to go into the sale! I hope you will find something you love! The coupon code is SPRING25!

SHOP NOW!

Also, I just wanted to let you all know that we closed on the house yesterday - it sold!!

It has been a long and arduous process, but it's finally over... no more threat of foreclosure looming over our heads, no more worry... it's done. If it wasn't for our amazing and wonderful realtor Cara Caldwell, we would have lost our home. You can look here and see some more history on this process. But we are thankful to have a somewhat clean slate now and hope that we can move forward and make the most of this time here at the townhouse to get on our feet and start over!

Goodbye house. You were good to us. <3 We will miss you.

house tour part 1: the babies' room

Hey y'all! I am so excited to share our "new" home with you, room by room!

Soooo... we moved in December. December 21st - to be exact - was our first night in the townhouse. New readers might want to look back on some posts under the "transitioning" tag to learn more about the WHY of our move...

And since we're on that topic of the house, I am so thrilled to report that of the two offers we got on the house within two weeks of changing our Realtor, the second one seems to be a go and we have a closing date scheduled for March 3rd! Add to that great news that we will benefit from relocation assistance funds which will buy us time as Jason prepares to enter a little bit of a different field in the insurance world. He should be able to start training in March and the money we get will hold us over until he starts making money from that. *fingers crossed and praying*

Also, God has provided carpentry work for Jason to do in the meantime via his BFF Sam, and we are so thankful. It's sporadic but provides and it's better than the alternative, by far!!

Anyways, here are some photographs of Shiloh and Noah Bear's room :). Room sharing is going fine... had a few rocky starts but we are in a groove with naps and bedtime now and all is well.

I plan to share a tutorial on how I made the pennant banners... I made these originally for Noah's first birthday party. Super easy and inexpensive to make!

I couldn't afford curtains, so I just reused these pennant banners from Noah's birthday party.

This Noah's Ark was built by my Granddaddy for my aunts in the 70s. My Grandmama sewed and stuffed the animals. This is a true treasure to me! When we had Noah, my aunt and Grandmama gave it to us. 

Shiloh's quilt is a vintage find from Keepsake Designs . The down quilt on the end of her bed is a vintage family quilt that we brought back from Chicago this past June. Until then it had been stored under the eaves of the family home for years and years.

Noah's toy "center". The collage on the wall is something I made originally for Shiloh's room, and the rocking chair Shiloh is sitting in is vintage from the 1950s and was originally my mother in laws, also brought back from Chicago.

and this is funny... just thought I'd share... 

This is Shiloh's toy "center". Pendant lamp is vintage from the 70s. The bride porcelain doll and lamb were both mine as a child. :o)

Many treasures in this photo. To name a few - upper shelf, sock doll is from Chickabidee baby - you can find them on Etsy here. The mouse is my "miskit" (my way of saying "music") mouse from when I was a baby. On lower shelf, books were all my sisters when she was a kid passed down to me, the multi-colored toy was Jason's baby toy, the car was Dakota's Pinewood Derby car and the little teenie doll sitting with Raggedy Andy was on Jason's mobile as a baby.

These are "Octopuss" dolls custom made by my friend Jen Jarrell for Noah and Shiloh. Dakota has one too. I don't know if she is still making them but you can visit her website here.

We hung these from the ceiling above the kids' beds. I made these for Jason the first birthday (of his) that we were together. I snuck into his bedroom and decorated it with Christmas lights and hung these all from the ceiling. We are reusing them now and so glad!

The needlework above was made by my Mom when my sister was a baby and reframed for Shiloh when she was born. The bottom piece I made for Shiloh when I was decorating her nursery. 

Next stop... our bedroom! :) Stay tuned!

Much love,

Brooke

FIRST GIVEAWAY!! Feather clip and earrings from SONGBIRD GLORY!

Y'all, I am so excited to announce my FIRST GIVEAWAY!! 

I am so happy to introduce you all to the stunningly beautiful and immensely talented Jessica Inman, the crafty lady behind Songbird Glory! Lucky for me, she agreed to help me out with my first giveaway! I am a big fan and a repeat customer and am so excited to share her and her work with you all!

Meet Jessica! See that gorgeous turquoise feather hair fancy? Yep, that's her work!

YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN THIS BEAUTIFUL FEATHER HAIR CLIP and CHRYSANTHEMUM EARRINGS!

A handmade hair clip with brown, cream, and tan feathers, with a brown button accent.  The mix of classic, neutral colors is flattering in all hair colors.  Perfect for adding a little interest to a casual outfit, or for a night out on the town!

15mm grey resin mum earrings. The stainless steel posts are both lead and nickel-free.  These cuties are both feminine and modern and are a great accent to any outfit!

 If you live in the Atlanta area and were to visit Rebirth Boutique in Decatur, Shine Salon in Woodstock, or Tryst Salon in Alpharetta, you'd pay $30 for this lovely pair!

Jessica also has a shop on Etsy (which she asked that I note is a little bare at the moment as she is busy preparing for upcoming holiday craft shows) where you can purchase her unique items, but she also accepts custom orders (I know, she has custom made almost everything I've bought from her)! :o) Or if you live in the South, she will be showing at several upcoming craft shows... you can contact her for details at info@songbirdglory.com!

I absolutely adore Jessica's work so much that I have purchased several items from her - mostly for myself, but also for my daughter. Jessica custom-made three sweet felt and button hair pieces for my daughter that are our favorite go-to hair things today (and they're durable too with excellent quality felt!). The peacock feather earrings I'm wearing in the header of my blog? She made those for me too. And when I cut all my hair off, and needed an excuse to buy her lovely earrings, well, she brought a wide assortment to my house and waited patiently while I chose four pair that I loved. She does such beautiful work, and was so sweet to bring her shop to me!

Here are a few pairs of earrings I own ... they are my go-to everyday wear earrings.

And Jessica is so sweet. I am thankful to have gotten to know her a little bit more over the last year or so. She and I have known each other for a loooong time, but never really talked, except to connect over doing or wanting to do courses with Clayton College of Natural Health over the coffee bar at church. :o) Now we are back in community together at the same church where we met and I look forward to more great talks! You can meet her too - she recently started blogging about her adventures with Songbird Glory and about the most recent announcement that she and her husband Brad have decided to begin the process of adopting a baby! I am privileged to know this precious couple and to be in community with them and to watch their journey. 

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY - do these things:

1: Follow my blog - from under His feathers

2: Follow Jessica's blog @ Songbird Stories

3: "Like" Songbird Glory on Facebook

4: Leave a comment below and please include your email address! (so I know you've entered and can contact you if you win!)

Want to increase your chances of winning? Get an additional entry (be sure to leave an additional comment) - TWEET about this giveaway and mention me @brookehammel

GOOD LUCK!! Giveaway winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 6th!