shop update

Red Plaid Double Collar Dress//Red Paisley Dress

 Green Striped Mod Dress//Red Dress with Green Flowers

Blue + Green Gingham Dress//Red Floral Smocked Dress

I updated the shop with some cute Christmas-y dresses for older girls. You can see them all here. Thanks! 

stuff and things

This tiny tree is the little bit of Christmas spirit I have brought out for the girls so far... If I get my Christmas wish (there is such a thing, right?) we will be unpacking the big tree along with all of the other decorations in our new house. Which would be perfect because we won't have much else to fill it with at first.

I am feeling pretty antsy about that fact. That we won't have everything we need to make our home feel like home. We have been working so hard on cosmetics, but now that stage is coming to an end I find myself focusing more and more on the filling part. I am trying my best not to feel like I need everything now, but this nesting that has been building inside of me the last few years is telling me I need stuff.

Like curtains, and rugs, and towels, and dishes, and artwork, and pillows, and things.

And typing that out makes me feel silly and shallow but it's true. So I am going to be working a lot on my patience and frugality, and keep reminding myself (and that pesky nesting bug) that it's not the stuff that really matters in our home, it's our family. It's our love for each other. And if we keep focused on what's most important, our home will be filled to the brim.

home stretch

Oh, hi there. I blinked and it was next week.

We are still deep into house projects around here. Living and breathing to-do lists that somehow seem to get longer rather than shorter even though we are checking things off left and right. It's the little finishing things that add up (and sooooo much painting). But, we are starting to see all of our hard work pay off and it is some kind of awesome. We are doing this and it is starting to look like a normal-put-back-together-livable-waaaaaay-better-than-it-used-to-be house. I know no one else will realize just how much sweat and tears we put into this place, but we know and we are so proud.

I can't wait to show you more of our progress, but more often than not I am there late at night after the girls are asleep (my dad stays home with them in case they wake up) and it's too dark for pictures. It will look much better after we give it a nice deep clean anyway - ooh, that's going to be nice!

Thanks for sticking around while I put all of my creative energy into painting baseboards.

giving thanks

We are making a last BIG push to get our house ready enough to move in, hopefully before Christmas. That means Husband has been going from his day job to what has become his second job at the house almost daily, and I am pulling solo-parenting duty. I know a lot of you can relate to how draining taking care of kids with no break can be...it's just harder, so I haven't had much time for this space lately. Nor have I had time for much creativity. I don't want to sound ungrateful though! We are surviving just fine and I can handle some loneliness knowing this short life phase will bring us a HOME. Good grief, I have everything to be grateful for, really. 

And YOU are a part of what I have to be thankful for.... I appreciate every single comment and friendship I have made through this space. You are all awesome, really, truly!

I wanted to let you know that this weekend I am running a 25% off sale in the shop with the code BLACK25. All proceeds will be donated to The Children's Justice Center, an organization devoted to helping abused children feel safe and loved. Also, today is the last day to enter the $50 shop giveaway, on the blog or instagram. I will be announcing the winner on that post later today.

Have a lovely weekend!

shop update: holiday collection 2012 + a GIVEAWAY (closed)

The 2012 Holiday Collection is in the shop! I am proud to offer many darling options to dress your little one this holiday season... and as a THANK YOU for your support and all around awesomeness I am offering a $50 shop credit to one of you! For a chance to win simply repost the picture above on your blog and leave a comment here with a link, or on your instagram with the hashtag #hsvintageholiday. If you follow me on instagram (@stacyhartsew) I will be posting the picture there, so you can take a screenshot. The winner will be announced on Black Friday. Good luck!

UPDATE: Congratulations to @katiesgrasso, winner of the $50 shop credit! Thanks to everyone who entered.

In the meantime, you can use coupon code: HSVINTAGEHOLIDAY for 15% off! 

Oh, and also somewhere in the middle of those pictures down there is, ahem... underwear. Yep, the dreaded vintage underwear. It was bound to happen eventually, right? I thought I may as well throw them in for the holidays. I promise they were not, shall we say, well used - they really are cute! ha ha... Sometimes I don't even know how I end up with these things ;)

White + Red Pointelle Dress//Mod Plaid Dress

Gold Button Jumper//Large Collar Plaid Dress

Bird Romper//Red + Black Plaid Pants

 Plaid Blouse//Red Peter Pan Collar Dress

Candy Stripe Dress//Lace Yoke Dress

 Navy Blue Velvet Romper//Flower Corduroy Jumper

 Green Plaid Smocked Dress//Red Floral Dress

 Red Hearts Dress//Strawberry Dress

Maroon Velvet Dress//Red Lace Nightgown

Bloomer Lot 1//Bloomer Lot 2

Undies Lot 1//Undies Lot 2 

Petticoat 1//Brown Plaid Dress

Petticoat 2//Petticoat 3

Red Striped Flannel Pajamas//Red Blue Plaid Dress

 Plaid Romper//Red Overalls

 Rick Rack Plaid Dress//Red Velvet Jumper

Leaf Pointelle Sweater//Red Polka Dot Dress

Soldier Outfit//Green Plaid Eyelet Lace Dress

Happy Holidays!!!

coming soon...

I am coming up for air to give you a sneak peek at the big holiday 2012 collection I have been busily working on all week. There is a lot of good stuff here, folks. It will all be ready to go on Monday, so make sure to check back and also find out how you can snag yourself some store credit. See you then!

happy halloweeeeen!

We found a spooky black cat and a little garden gnome in a field and decided to bring them home for Halloween this year. After all, they were pretty cute.

Or, maybe we just stopped to take pictures in a field next to dad's work before any candy-induced crankiness set in... ;) 

My goal this year was to spend as little money as possible on their costumes, so we kept them simple and the only part I ended up having to buy was the black cat tail. We already had the cat ears from the animal ear headbands I made a couple of years ago (although they are not pictured in that post because I hadn't glued them onto a headband yet), and I borrowed the cute gnome hat from my friend Danielle. Everything else we had in our closets or costume box, including my very last minute pirate duds. I made the dress Lark wore when LM was Little Red Riding Hood, and I discovered that sweet red Swiss dirndl in my stash. Around Halloween it really pays off to be a collector/seller (hoarder) of vintage children's clothing!

The girls loved trick-or-treating and we have all been eating too much candy... Happy Halloween!!! And, Happy Weekend!

picking pumpkins

We almost didn't make it to a pumpkin patch this year. I feel like I have been saying this a lot lately, but life is busy! I guess that is what happens when you are renovating a house and it is the holidays. But, we did finally manage to squeeze in a short trip to walk around the corn maze and pick out some nice round pumpkins. It was freezing cold, but the girls still had fun and I am glad the tradition went on... See past pumpkin patch trips here, here, and here!

our favorite children's books

Choosing a favorite children's book is a hard task, I discovered. There are so many books filled not only with wonderful stories and illustrations, but with nostalgia and happy memories from my childhood to the time I was a new mother with a fresh baby in my arms. After going through our entire library, I was able to narrow it down to the five most requested titles in our house for a guest post over at Apartment Therapy. We love each one of these books!

We spent one of our usual afternoon reading times with the camera set up on a tripod to take some pictures, and I let the girls take turns pressing the remote (which can be quite entertaining when you look through the pictures later). It was a nice excuse to capture this everyday scene of me with my two girls by my side and a big pile of books on the floor.

I love reading with them. It helps ground us. It makes us stop what we are doing and brings us together, and lets me at least forget about the laundry and all of the little or big messes around the house. It lets me snuggle with my always on-the-go girls, and if our day is going south sitting down to read books is the best reset button for us.

If you had to pick, what is your favorite children's book? I would love to know.

shop update

Kitties Circle Skirt//Pink Corduroy Outfit Set

Houndstooth Coat and Bonnet//Yellow Plaid Cape

Maroon Floral Print Dress//Pink Floral Hearts Dress

 Pink Wool Snowsuit Set//Pink + Black Triangles Snowsuit

Maroon Smocked Dress//Navy Peter Pan Collar Dress

 Orange Polka Dot Blouse//Yellow + Green Hoodie

A new shop update was added today with some really great winter items. Does it snow where you live? We got our first little snowstorm yesterday and another bigger one today, so I have snow boots and mittens on my mind - the two winter items the girls are in need of this year. I ordered myself a pair of snow boots (sale ends today) knowing I will be more willing to take the girls outside to play if I have a warm comfy pair of boots to throw on... and I have to say, looking forward to a cute new pair of shoes makes this cold snowy weather rolling in just a little more welcome :)

 Check out the shop, or click on the links above to go directly to your favorite piece. Thanks!