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!

eight days in chi-town (photo journal)

Hey friends. 

Well, we're back. We drove home all day Monday - left Chicago around 7AM Central time and arrived home at 8PM Eastern time... so I guess it was a 12 hour drive, including about three stops or so. The kids were agreeable and well behaved, and the weather was perfect. The drive couldn't have gone more smoothly. Kentucky and Tennessee are just breathtaking to drive through.

Each day of our trip went something like this: wake up, feed and dress the kids and then ourselves, load up into three cars in Palos Park (Pookie and Scott's house) and drive 30 minutes to La Grange Park to work in The House* all day until about 6PM when we call it a day, load up again, go out to eat somewhere and try to beat the kids' meltdowns, drive back to Palos Park, rush to get the kids in bed, sit on the couch, watch TV and pass out. Repeat that process about seven times and that was our trip. 

*The House was built by Jason's grandfather (he passed away in his forties in 1966). Jason's mother grew up in The House. His grandmother lived in The House until Jason and his mom moved her (or rather, sneaked her) down to Georgia where she lived for the last eleven months of her life. She passed away four years ago today - April 11th, 2008. She was buried on April 17th, 2008, three years to the day that her second husband of forty or so years, Jason's Poppy, passed away. La Grange Park was only carved by dirt roads when The House was built. It was one of the first built by Jason's grandfather, Jerome Chrastek, who later became a successful commercial and residential real estate developer in the Chicagoland area... the son and daughter of immigrants from what is now the Czech Republic, Jason's grandparents were full blooded Czech and their life here was the quintessential picture of the American Dream fulfilled... Jason's grandfather fought at Okinawa in WWII, went to Purdue on the GI Bill and became an engineer, and as a a result of his successes in real estate development, the Chrasteks lived a very comfortable life. 

The purpose of our trip was to continue the process of going through everything in the house, box up what needs to come back to Georgia, get rid of trash and sell what could be sold. I talk about our trip as if it were monotonous... but the contrary is true. During our first trip so many mind-blowing historical treasures were recovered (see my last post for a few pics)... I remained in a state of awe as each item surfaced. The house is like a time capsule for the last eighty years... antiques toys, gadgets and gizmos, photos, and all sorts of vintage collectibles literally came out of the woodwork. This trip was equally as amazing. We spent this trip working on the basement, which at one time was a bar and entertainment area of the home, and later turned into a storage area.

The family enjoyed access to the latest and greatest toys and technologies of the day... a beautiful Rockola jukebox still sits in the basement corner... thousands of records were boxed up... all types of cameras and movie cameras, projectors, a Recordio to record voice, kitchen gadgets like an ElectroMatic food slicer, JuiceoMat, beautiful art-deco styled roaster, old blenders and ice crushers from the bar from the 50s and 60s still in perfect working condition... and then there were the vintage linens, dishes, barware, furniture, endless numbers of percolators and pots and pans, and clothing... it was truly a delight to not only see and touch those items but to be able to take some along with us. 

We stayed until Easter when we decided to take the day off and celebrate. We went to Greater Chicago Church which is about the best party time I've had with Jesus in a looong time. The church building itself was built in the 20s in Oak Park, IL which is where Frank Lloyd Wright lived and built several homes... it is absolutely breathtaking inside. The service was so sweet... the front was filled with worshippers and dancers, and a prophetic artist as well. At one point the folks up front broke out in a spontaneous session of the Electric Slide during worship! It was beautiful... truly refreshing after a hard week.

Here are some photos from the week.  I hope you enjoy them. 

at the Westchester Inn... eating Bohemian food

at Alex and Aldo's... best Creamy Garlic Dressing!

eating Spumoni

The House

Aunt Pookie