Vintage Indie

Spelling City Winner!

We have a winner for the Spelling City giveaway! 

 

Congratulations to 

Tammy F. who said...

We already use the free part of Spelling City, and would love to try out the membership. We home school and use it to study our spelling words. We think it's a great program. Thanks for chance to try the membership part of it for free. 
Tammy. 

 

Tammy look for an email from me with directions on how to claim your prize! 

A special thanks to Spelling City for sponsoring this giveaway! 

Have a great Friday everyone! 

xoxo Gabreial

Design & Style: Graham & Brown Vintage Wallpaper

If you haven't heard, apparently wallpaper has made its way back into main stream design and style. The latest from Graham & Brown are these designs by Hemingway Design.  Classic lines and patterns tout vintage ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s. 

 

Deco Diamond 

Do the Stretch

 

Grid: Rock in Mink by Hemingway 


Loopy Lines Rock-A-Billy Blue

If these vintage styles aren't your flavor, Graham & Brown houses Damask, and Amy Butler designs! 

Sponsor Vintage Indie for your Website, Online Shop, Etsy Store, Blog or Brick & Mortar!

Can you believe that the holidays are right around the corner? Now is the perfect time to boost sales for your Website, On-line Shop, Etsy Store, Blog or Brick & Mortar Store. Our new media kit is ready and waiting for you. We would love the opportunity to work with you on a successful holiday selling season. 

For more information and for our digital media kit, please email me directly. Editor, Gabreial Wyatt. 

 

I look forward to hearing from you! 

Design & Style: Kelly Swallow Patchwork Chairs

 

 

Chairs with reinvented vintage style from Kelly Swallow.  Each one is put together by hand using designer and vintage fabrics! 

Visit Kelly Swallow for these chairs and her vintage Hungarian Mangle Cloth chairs for more subtle color. 

Design & Style: Pfeifer Studio

 

Modern, earth friendly, and fair trade are a few of the words that describe Pfeifer Studio. 

If you're looking for different home decor and accessories, then Pfeifer Studio is just the place to find design and style like nowhere else. You can also find many one-of-a-kind items at their website. 

 

Shop in person; Pfeifer Studio

4022 Rio Grande NW

Albuquerque, NM 87107

 

Swanky Swag Giveaway: Spelling City One Year Premium Membership!

Swanky Swag Giveaway to VocabularySpellingCity.com! 

Vintage Indie is excited to be offering a ONE year PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP to one of our fabulous readers.  1 Family Membership (this will grant you 5 licenses for your students).

VocabularySpellingCity.com helps students study word lists using 25 different learning activities such as Crossword Puzzle, HangMan, and Handwriting Worksheets.  Parents can create their own spelling lists, find published lists already available on the site, or use any of dozens of  free teaching resources such as sound-alike words, and contractions. 

To enter, just leave a comment below. How would you use Spelling City in your home with this premium membership? The winner will be randomly chosen and notified by email. Entries will close at 9:00 p.m. EST, Wednesday, September 28, 2011.

For up to 2 extra entries, post this giveaway to your Facebook or Twitter, come back here and post the link to where you posted in the comments section below for each additional post. 

 

Spelling City Provided this giveaway to Vintage Indie, free of charge. 

 

Family Friendly Destination Panama City Beach: Treasure Island Vacation Rental, a Review

 

There comes a time in your life when the ocean calls your name, at least if you've been there before. If not, then maybe you don't know what I'm talking about and a trip to the ocean is in order. Either way, the ocean has called my name many times before. The warmth of the sun, sand between my toes and the smell of that sweet and salty ocean is incomparable to anything else. Every few years (and more if I can) I have to fill that need, and have placed a love for the ocean in my children's hearts as well. Memories of endless sandcastle building and boogie boarding until your belly can't handle anymore are things my children will never forget. 

Here in landlocked Kentucky there aren't any oceans nearby so we have a few options as to where to travel. Keeping in mind mileage and time spent in the car, you can head south to the Gulf of Mexico to Florida beaches or head to the Atlantic on the East Coast. For this Family Friendly Travel destination, we chose the Gulf's white beaches for our family vacation, more specifically Panama City Beach.

Budget Friendly Tip: For our family, finding a place that offers a full kitchen much like a home is often more budget friendly. We shop our local grocery and pack coolers of food before we travel. Stores seem to be a lot pricier in Florida.

Looking from the Beach Up! 

We chose the Treasure Island Condominium complex. The location was absolutely fabulous and the condo provided everything we needed to feel like home in paradise for a week. 

Full Kitchen

People say the heart of the home is the kitchen, and I couldn't agree more. Having a full sized kitchen is a bonus during a family vacation. This condo provided plenty of pots, pans and dishes to serve our family of four, but could serve more. Serving your family while looking at the ocean certainly has its perks, and makes these everyday type tasks not seem as laborious. I'm very picky when it comes to kitchen items and the cleanliness of appliances. The coffee maker wasn't as clean as I would have liked it, so we picked up a cheap "travel" coffee maker to take with us when we go on vacation.  

 Budget Friendly Tip: Plan on cooking most meals while on vacation and keep eating-out to only special "lunches".  If you're looking to try some of the local dives (more on those later) try lunch menus as they seem to be less expensive than their full dinner offerings.

 

Master Bedroom that looks out over the ocean. 

2nd Bedroom 

Of course, a proper vacation means somewhere to rest your head. The rooms provided to be comfortable, including a television (if you choose to add a little TV downtime) and drawers for your clothing.   My favorite part was waking up to the gorgeous ocean just by looking out of the balcony window from the bed. 

A double sink master bathroom with a dual head shower is featured as well as a full walk in closet. There is also another toilet room to the left. 

The living room/den overlooking the ocean view. The view from here and the balcony is breathtaking. Really, it is perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better view. 

The couch is a sofa sleeper that will be replaced soon as we were told from the owner. We didn't need this sleeping room, but agree that it could be replaced if you were to need it for someone to sleep on. 

Another view of the living area. 

The condo offers a lovely kitchen dining set that seats six, but to be honest I spent almost every meal on that balcony just taking in the sight of the ocean.

 

A view of the pool, zoomed in from our very high balcony. 

The pool from ground level right before the sun set. 

I have to admit we are total beach bums, but we truly enjoyed this pool in the evening. It was very clean, plenty of seating for everyone and one of the largest pools I have ever been in. The grounds crew at Treasure Island seems to be on the ball because we saw no garbage in or around the pool or beach area in front of the condo. It was very well maintained. 

I also loved the short walk to the beach just past the pool area. 

Covered parking garage in front of the lobby for loading and unloading your car. Luggage carts and large elevators made it easy to unload our car and head up to the condo in one trip! Bonus for hubby! 

Sunset photo taken from the pool area. 

View from our balcony. 

Riding the waves! 

All in all this was a great vacation had by our entire family. We would absolutely travel back to the Treasure Island Vacation Rentals in Panama City Beach. The complex was wonderful, this specific condo catered to our needs and we can't wait to go back again soon. 

If your family is planning a trip for next summer, book early with Mr. Steve Carr, owner of this vacation rental. Working with him was a breeze and he was much more personable and accommodating than working with the complex directly or with a travel agent. Mr. Carr truly cares that you have a wonderful experience and wants to be sure you're happy with your stay. You can't find many rental places that you can say the same about, most of them are just concerned with numbers in and numbers out. 

Visit Treasure Island Vacation Rental 361426 for further details about this condo. 

Stay tuned for more from our trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. We have some must eat places to share with you! 

Truth in Review: The owner of this condo, provided us with a discounted rate in exchange for our review.  We were not paid for any contents of our review or required any certain text within the review. We speak truly from our hearts and hope that you and your family will gain trust from Vintage Indie Family Travels Column so that you may enjoy your vacations, and find the right place for you and your family to stay.  All reviews posted by me are truthful in content and not bought. Gabreial Wyatt, Editor in chief. 

Visit our Disclaimer/Disclosure Page for more info

 

Handmade Crush: Hit the Road Pendant

 

Hit the Road Pendant by Silentgoddess

Jewelry & Accessories: Ordinary Mommy

Odinary Mommy is no ordinary shop. I find her jewelry and accessories quite charming.

 

Those little buntings are so sweet, but I'm goo goo over the rain cloud necklace! 

House & Home: Vintage Blankets for Fall

As much as I hate to admit it, the weather is cooling down here in the East coast and it will soon be time for blankets. At least in the evenings around here. 

You can find all of these at Luna Park Foundry as well as some other swell vintage goodies. 

The Daily Swank: A Vintage Chinese Store

Today's Daily Swank comes to you from TheBig8s. 

 

I must have a thing for pencil sharpeners, check out those squirrels. 

The Daily Swank: Trinkets & Treasures

Swanky vintage finds from MademoiselleChipotte

 

I am so digging that retro pencil sharpener! 

Vintage Indie Kids: The Raggedys'

I know, I know! I've been all whiny about summer ending, but then I saw these adorable babies in these charming hats and I thought, summer ending with adorable babies in charming handmade creations like these, well it isn't that bad. 

"the Raggedys'" 

seriously, stinking adorable! 

You can find all of these original creations at sweetpeatoad

All Photos Copyright © 2009-2011 by sweetpeatoad

Handmade Crush: Vintage Modern Quilt Pillow Cover

Shop WarmNFuzzies for this pillow cover!

Through the Lens:

{ Through the Lens } { Independent Photography }

 { Holding on to the Last Days of Summer}

All of these gorgeous photos can be purchased through ByTheWinter.

Copyright © 2011 Tamara Lee. All Rights Reserved.

Teach Me: Nancy Larson Science, A Quarterly Review: Part 1

Good afternoon everyone!

I wanted to tell you about a new venture that I'm diving into with my children here at Vintage Indie. We are starting a new to us science curriculum this year by Nancy Larson Science. It is my goal to make this review a quarterly editorial so that you can see our progression, as well as hear of any pros/cons throughout our process.

I hope this in-depth look will better help those  who are looking for a new science curriculum make a (often times costly) decision based on "real-life" experience. 

Although I know each child learns differently, it is important to see how educational materials look in real-life situations. You'll be hearing from both my children and me throughout this process. I want to thank Nancy Larson Science in advance for working with Vintage Indie to provide these materials. 

Part 1: Overview of Nancy Larson Science 2 

"Nancy Larson Publishers is proud to bring you Nancy Larson^® Science 2. It is a comprehensive and creative approach to elementary science where sophisticated topics are explored in age-appropriate ways" 

Comprehensive, hands-on and everything is in a kit! "Sold!" Just kidding, but it is true, it was the "everything in a kit"  that was the spark that ignited my (non-creative) flame. When I first heard those words, I didn't truly believe everything was included, but along with the Teacher's Manual comes the Student Materials and Resource Materials, all together in one box! After visiting their website further I read over the teacher's manual samples fully. Let's face it, if I can't get it from a sample, how will my kids understand it?

So this is the story of our journey on Nancy Larson Science 2. If you're a non "hands-on" kind of mom/teacher like me, hopefully you'll have a better understanding of how hands on this curriculum is and how it works. Personally, I'm very excited to get started and I truly enjoy teaching most when my children are enthusiastic about learning.  

Box Day: 

How many of you like getting packages in the mail? Truly I can't be the only one! The day had come when our kit arrived. Everything we needed for this year's science was in the box. The kids could hardly wait to get started. 

 

 

 

Teacher's View: I only have pros so far. I really love that everything is together, shipping was fast and I don't have to prep hardly anything at all. At least in the first couple of lessons. I've started to read through the teacher's manual and find the wording and explanation, even the dialogue to use with the children very easy, and thorough. The kit comes with a CD to print out needed worksheets or the children have the option of copying the information onto copy paper. You can also make a photocopy of the worksheets from the Teacher's Manual if you need to. 

Student's View Grade 2: 

We haven't done very much in our science yet, but my youngest loves it so far and asks to do science every day. 

 

Student's View Grade 5: 

We're using the same curriculum for both children. So far only a few pages in, this is very easy for my 5th grader. He's OK with it and he has learned some new vocabulary so, we'll see. He also asks if we can do science every day. 

Until next time, head over to Nancy Larson Science if you would like more information. 

 

 

 

Truth in Review: Nancy Larson Science did provide us with the curriculum in exchange for our review.  We were not paid for any contents of our review or required any certain text within the review. We speak truly from our hearts and hope that you and your family will gain trust from Vintage Indie reviews so that you may enjoy learning opportunities like this one and more.  All reviews posted by me are truthful in content and not bought. Gabreial Wyatt, editor in chief. 

Visit our Disclaimer/Disclosure Page for more info.

 

Would you be a dear? Reader Survey

Hello loves! Would you be a dear and take our reader survey? I would truly appreciate it! 

It should only take you a few short moments! 

 

xoxo Gabreial 

VI Headliner: An interview with Dahlphotog

 

 Vintage Indie would like to welcome our sponsor Dahlphotog's owner and  photographer Kristofor Dahl along with Lauren Agresti Principal Photographer. 

 

Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started as a photographer? 

Lauren and I (Kris) both have art degrees. I have a Studio Art degree in ceramics/sculpture and I learned photography so I could take film slides of my work for gallery shows. Lauren has a B.F.A. in photography and comes from a long line of photographers in her family. Lauren tells a great story of her dad giving her a Pentax K1000 when she was 10 yrs old then teaching her how to make darkroom color prints from film around the same age. From film to digital, we have come a long way in the photography world. Now we are finding that many customers love the vintage style film packages we offer, so are are happy to have that solid background in film photography. 

Where are you located? Do you travel for shoots?

We are located in Orange County California but we travel all over the country for weddings and other events. For example, we are going to both San Francisco and Detroit to shoot weddings this year.

What makes you different than other photographers?

I think that we are both real artists. We choose to occupy our lives with art in all of its forms. We have our own artistic endeavors and projects we constantly work on outside the wedding and event industry. We shoot commercial and lifestyle/magazine work in addition to the fine art and wedding business. As a couple we share the experiences and joy of being photographers in a very real sense. We have an aesthetic, we work at it all day. As an artist you know when you have a good aesthetic and you go through the growing pains of developing your work into something beautiful. I think that really comes through in the weddings we shoot.

How do you make wedding and engagement sessions different?

We try to stay away from the boring overly traditional posing and allow the client's personalities to shine through in the photos. In every shot we attempt to use dynamic ideas and lighting to achieve something that is in and of itself beautiful. We use a mix of film and digital and whatever else we can to make each image tell a story. We try very hard to not over edit and over work an image in the computer, allowing the image to come alive with minimal post-processing.

Is supporting independent businesses like yours important to you, and if so, why?

Yes, that is where the best artists are! In every aspect of life, the people making things for self-expression their own way everyday -- these people have always been the innovators of the world.

What types of photography do you offer?

Our services include wedding photography, children/family/maternity portraits, commercial work, and photos for print or web. You name it, we shoot it -- as long as it is based in art!

A special thanks to Kristofor Dahl for supporting Vintage Indie and for sharing your passion for your independent business. Please visit Dahlphotog for pricing and more of their gorgeous photography! 

 

Teach Me: Science on the Road: Eagle Ray

Sometimes our best home schooling moments are found on the road while traveling. Coming up, I have a great Family Friendly Destination full of reviews, restaurants, and must see stops in Panama City Beach Florida. We hope our reviews become a resource for you when looking to take your family on vacation. 

But first, I wanted to share this video with you. This was taken from our 19th floor condo balcony. Imagine how big this Eagle Ray would be if we would have seen him from the water!

 

Learning Resources for many types of Rays:

Enchanted Learning

Manta Ray also at Enchanted Learning 

Spotted Eagle Ray Exhibit at Virgina Aquarium 

Florida Museum of Natural History 

Encylopedia Eagle Ray

Florida Fish & Wildlife 

 

What have you learned from "the road"?

 

Handmade Crush: H E L K A T D E S I G N

Cushions and pillows are something a lot of us can't seem to get enough of. They are so versatile in accessorizing your home. I adore these handmade cushions. They're crated to give a vintage look and feel with their natural and vintage linens. 

Shop  H E L K A T D E S I G N 

Vintage Indie Weddings: Bridesmaids Tea Dresses

I've featured Sohomode here at VI before, but I couldn't help to do it once again. Thinking about weddings, and different styles, I love how Sohomode creates a vintage style with her tea dresses. 

Shop Sohomode. 

Vintage Fashion Forward: For Him

It's not often that I feature guy stuff here at VI, but I do have a sweet hubby who would look rather swanky in any one of these. 

Of course, if your man is stylin' he needs some accessories to go with those swanky suits! 

You can find all of these items at CarnivalOfTheManiac over at Etsy! 

Happy shopping!