The House Of Hearts | Travel, Design and Good Living » Thrifting and Vintage

Much Love Monday

Crystal — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:33:23 +0000

This morning I’m LOVING:

♥This amazing thrifted mug I found with coaster, it really is the perfect way to start the day off on the right foot.
♥That my cousin moves into her new condo today! She is now 20 minutes away which means ladies nights & dinner parties.
♥I found out that I might be able to take a full course load next semester, which means I will be done school sooner. And can apply to interest relief on my current student loan from Business school.
♥That we have running water, since we didn’t have it for 2 days last week. It’s crazy how much you rely on running water to live your life.
♥That Paul & I ordered new business cards and a bunch of promo stuff for himself from Moo. I can’t wait to get my hands on these goodies.

How are you starting your week off right?

Need a little more lovin’ to kick start your day? Check out Anna’s Much Love Post for hearts galore.

Until we meet again. Much ♥,

Do you believe in the thrifting gods?

Crystal — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:38:30 +0000

Ha ha that sounds like I am a bit crazy if you are not a thrifter but if you are a thrifter you know just what I am talking about. And of course I have a story for you on how I finally found the perfect vintage buffet delivered right to my door.

When I left for school I saw these beautiful vintage handles on these drawers but no dresser or anything to put these drawers into. So when I came back from school 3 hours later to find this beautiful buffet outside my door I had to have it but there was no way I could carry it up the stairs myself. Usually when I get back from school Paul is long gone and since he pulled an all nighter the night before I thought for sure he would be asleep and this buffet would not be mine. Ending it’s life in the back of the dump truck in the morning. But when I came up the stairs and heard ‘My love!’ I knew I was in luck and he was still up! He eagerly helped me carry this wonder up the stairs as he could see how excited I was about this new item to join our household.

Now it is missing 2 drawers but I am thinking of creating a book shelf in the middle two shelfs since I have an abundance of books around my studio. And the little drawer missing on the left hand side is going to be converted into a little kitty bed since when I was cleaning it they kept going in there. When I have some more time on my hands I would like to re-paint her and maybe add some artistic details of my own, but one thing at a time.

I have wanted a vintage buffet like this for my studio for some time but didn’t want to pay the bucks for it and right after I put on my November Wishes that I want to re-design my studio, there was my new vintage buffet right infront of my door. It is the kick in the pants I need to fully make over my studio which is always a good way to ring in a new year and chapter in life.

What have you found thifting these days that you have been longing for? I’d love to see! Leave a comment with a link to a post or photos!

Until we meet again. Much ♥,

August Break – Thrifted Red

Crystal — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:20:06 +0000

Bright Red Thrifted Jumper $1.
Yup, this is my favourite outfit but I usually wear black hightop chucks.
Let’s see what my sister Amanda thrifted lately.
After that get off the computer and get outside!

Until we meet again. Much ♥,

Fill my recipe box!

Crystal — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:58:37 +0000

Summer time and blogging for me don’t always work well together but awhile back my sister Amanda and I started to share with each other our thrifting finds on our blogs on Wednesdays since we live about 5,000+ KMS {3,000+ Miles} away from each other . The past few days in Montreal have been cooler and made me want to start cooking and baking again. Hence my vintage recipe box which was $1. Now this pretty little thing is in pretty good shape but for the rust going on under neither her but that’s just a sign that she was put to good use in her life time {or that is what I think anyway}. She came with the dividers inside of her and a nice stack of recipe cards.

That’s where you come in! I would love to fill up my pretty recipe box with yummy recipes and thought you could help. Since most of you gals & guys are from all over the world this is very exciting for me! Mixing in my love of mail I thought I could mail you one of my hand written or typed {with my typewriter} recipes, along with a blank recipe card where you can write/type your favourite recipe and mail it to me. Sounds like fun right? And no one is left empty handed!

Well if you would like to swap recipes with me {which I suggest you do!} then send me your address through my contact form with the subject ‘Recipe Swap’. It is safe and I WILL NOT share your address. If you are a vegetarian or vegan please let me know because I would hate to send you something that requires an animal product when I have lots of favourite recipes that don’t.

Living in Montreal with all of my friends moving away this is really a way to connect with people and sharing our love for cooking, culture and mail. With that being said please do not send computer printed recipe cards I love recipes but I also love feeling like someone put some time to create something just for me. Even if it is just hand writing, there is just something precious about it. I will be sharing all the recipes that come in so if you have a blog or shop make sure to add it on the recipe card and I will make sure to link to you!

Until We Meet Again. Much ♥,

P.S. This swap will be open until my recipe box is full so share the ♥!

Thrifty House: 1st Day of Summer Edition

Crystal — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:45:17 +0000

I have a special thrifty house for you this week because both items I have received/purchased have really great stories behind them. Part of my June wishes list was to get a bike, but I got more then I bargained for.

This is Mary my new bicycle. Now Mary belonged to a dear friend of mine, Clare who moved back to Australia in February {I miss her dearly} so yesterday when her man friend brought Mary over to our house I was ecstatic! He said ‘This is a gift from Clare. I know she wants you to have her.’ I teared up I won’t lie! Clare and I meet in summer French class and would stand infront of Mary for hours after class just talking about life. You know when you meet someone that gets you on every level and shares so many of the same view points as you? Like the universe crossed your path for a purpose? Well that is what I have with Clare, she is my soul sister if you will. She also loves to write long letters and I receive a nice 12 to 20 page letter from her each week and I send her the same. So having Mary is like having a little piece of Clare here with me, I know that sounds cheesy but I am HUGELY sentimental.

Now what do you do on the first day of summer with a new bike? You take a freakin’ bike ride! Now I didn’t get many photos as I was just enjoying the ride, but here are a few things that caught my attention as I biked down the canal.Proudly walking home with my beautiful red train case in hand, I took a different route home past all the antique stops because they always have wonderful window displays and I was in no hurry. A British man on a vintage bike with his basket full of flowers stopped to talk with me about my train case. He said he was looking at it in the morning and was very close to buying it but thought he already had enough in his collection of 8. I thanked him for not purchasing it as this was better than any train case I could imagen owning and I have wanted one forever. We chatted about how it use to be to travel and how elegant everything once was. We parted ways as he said he was happy to see the case go to such a great home. Ahh… it’s moments like that I love living in Montreal!

This happened last week (other wise I would of been riding a bike too) and today our paths crossed again at my local thrift shop. I don’t have much of a social life so these personal connections are special to me. I have a feeling I will be running into this gentlemen again, and I should really ask him his name.

I hope you are all having a wonderful first day of summer and I can’t wait to share some more of my thrifted finds with you. If you have posted some of your thrifted finds let me know I always LOVE looking at the great treasures people find.

Much Love,

Thrifty House

Crystal — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:24:50 +0000

My sister Amanda and I share the love of a good deal and thrifting falls right into that. Whenever we Skype we usually show each other our new found treasures since we live 5,000+ kms apart we can’t thrift together but we can share! After all sharing is caring. We thought it would be fun for us to both post our findings for our own documentation (which of course you will benefit from!) I hope you enjoy my finds and make sure to go and check out Amanda’s Finds.

I picked up a nice stack of these great 1960′s Mechanix Illustrated Magazine’s for my altered art project and they are amazing!!! But with doing some spring cleaning I have realized I have so many books it is started to get out of control! So I have put 5 of these books up for sale on Etsy I will sell these bad boys for less if you want to do the transaction OFF Etsy. Just message me.

Now this Marconi Six Transistor colour was way to beautiful for me to pass up. I don’t know if this little guy works or not but it made me so happy when I found it and made me think that some old couple in love owned it and would spend their evening on their patio listening to talk radio. Maybe that is the history of this Transistor or maybe it lived a different life, either way it makes me dream!

I hope you liked my finds. I have a beautiful train case that I am just cleaning up and I will show it in all it wonderfulness next week. I hope that sun is shining down on you wherever you are in the world today.

Much Love,

P.S. This afternoon we had an old man ring our buzzer asking to see our home because he lived here in the 1950′s and always dreamed of coming back and seeing it. It was so sweet!

Vintage Cereal Box Collection

Crystal — Fri, 20 May 2011 01:50:55 +0000

I just came across this massive collection of vintage cereal boxes on Dieline and just had to share my favourites with you. What’s yours?

I also changed my font. I think it’s pretty but feel it is to light and hard to read. What do you think?

Much Love,

Some Art Work

Crystal — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 02:07:07 +0000

If you have been checking out my mail art lately then you know I have be playing around with printmaking and lino cuts. But haven’t shown you all the goodies yet. So here are some photos of my newest creations. I have never shown anyone but Paul my sketchbook so when he gave me that little push to create more with my characters I took the challenge. So please be kind!

My first lino cut. It was really interesting cutting for the first time.

A look into my sketchbook.

Little Bear.

Funny Bunny!

The newest addition to my camera collection.

Caramel on the hunt.

A font I sketched out and would like to create digitally. Just need to polish up my Illustrator skills a bit more.

Another random font I seem to use in my mail art quite often and would like to create it digitally as well.

Oh and I made bread for the first time this past week. It turned out pretty well.

Layered roasted red pepper bread. If your interested in the recipe let me know and I will post it.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Giveaway at Love Charles Vintage

Crystal — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 02:13:02 +0000

With a new season in full swing I thought it would be a perfect time to do a little giveaway. So when Lily of Love Charles Vintage asked me to do one on her blog I was all in!

What is up for grabs in this giveaway is a beautifully vibrant red heart scarf by Mary Ann for Hallmark Cards Circa 1978 and a nautical navy woven shoulder bag with large gold bead and fringe. Valued at $40. This giveaway is open to everyone!

So go check out Love Charles Vintage to enter the giveaway and check out her great vintage blog.

Rust Belt Threads Giveaway

Crystal — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:41:46 +0000

One of my favorite vintage stores Rust Belt Threads is having a giveaway and I don’t want anyone to miss out.

Amanda is a sweetie and she has an amazing collection of vintage cocktail wear in her shop, make sure to check it out.

Want to get in on this great giveaway? Well then held over to Mouse Vox Vintage blog for all the details.