PresentPast Collection

New Shop Goodies

Here are some new items available in the shop today! These gorgeous ID Card Cases come in a variety of styles and jewels! They are the perfect size for your business cards, credit cards, those adorable Moo cards and some extra cash. Truly Modern Vintage Style!

There are 3 new apron styles to choose from. They are so colorful and cheery, and are sure to make any household chore more delightful!

Also new to the shop are sterling silver Heart Fleur de Lis Charms and the popular Royal Majesty Crown Charms have been restocked.

And finally, the Chocolate Linen Pillows have been replenished. I have so many shipments coming in this next week and I'll be updating the shop with new inventory in the weeks ahead.

For those of you who have emailed regarding the Vintage Trinkettes, they will be restocked as soon as possible. It just takes a little more time to gather the perfect items for those little gems!

Would anyone care to know that my car told me today at 12:34pm that the temperature was 108? Thank you car. Then at 7:08pm my car told me that the temperature was 104. Thank you car. I wish my car would keep it's mouth shut and mind it's own business. I know it's HOT, reminding me only makes me more miserable. Maybe I should disconnect the battery....no...then the air conditioning wouldn't work. Wishing you blessings of cool weather and light ocean breezes! Oh Fall, where are you?

Rustique Fantastique

I had a chance to slip away to my favorite La Maison Rustique Barn Sale out in Temecula Wine Country over the weekend to visit my friends and pick up a few new treasures. This monthly sale attracts so many shoppers in search of unique home accessories, gifts and antiques and the atmosphere is absolutely fantastic!

The displays are amazing, with a mix of new and vintage. Right up my alley!

There are antiques to please any decorating theme. Beautiful pastels, primitives, rusty iron, chippy white, you name it they have it.

This is the lower floor of the barn, only one side of it, I might add!

This is a charming bath, vanity display. I love the glamor girl and chandelier against the rustic wood backdrop of the barn.

This is just a small sampling of what is in store for shoppers. I didn't even show you the photos of the outdoor garden area, the loft section and the other patio section filled with more furniture and goodies.

Next month, PresentPast Collection will be a dealer at La Maison Rustique and I'm very excited to bring some of our signature wares! I'll announce the date, time and directions very soon. Hope you enjoyed seeing this beautiful shopping venue. So unique!

My Creative Space

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I had some time to clean and organize my studio office space. After it was all spruced up and everything was put back in an orderly state, I thought I would shoot some photos for you all to see. It's the only room in the house with any pink and it has a very vintage feminine feel. I find it to be very comfortable and relaxing and that makes my work more enjoyable!

This is my favorite tin with it's peeling green paint and rusty spots, perfect! And it's extra large size is great for unique storage.

This big tufted reading chair is everyone's favorite spot. It makes my guests feel right at Home.

If you'd like to see more, I created a Photo Album link on my right hand sidebar. Just click on the My Studio Office to take a peek. I believe there are over 60 different photos to view. I hope you enjoy seeing where I attend to my daily work and creative play. Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Sharing Some Blog Love

There is so much beauty to be seen on Flickr.  Bright colors, summer fruit, delicious pastries, vintage tidbits and more.  You can take a peek at my current favorites here.

I thought I'd also share a few blogs I love to visit.  There may be some familiar favorites but hopefully you will be introduced to some new ones!

Ciel D'Orage-I have no idea what she's saying because my French is absolutely hopeless. But her pictures always make me feel as though I just had a chance to visit a French farmhouse.  Even her simple breakfast table of croissants and jam look more scrumptious than any breakfast I have.

Curious Sofa Diaries-Style maven extraordinaire, Debbie Dusenberry, transforms her brick and mortar store with unbelievable displays and vintage touches. Creative, inspiring and always unique!

Chez Fifi-My sweet French friend who has the most amazing little Floridian cottage full of glitz & glamor and chic vintage style.  On top of all this she has the most amazing job writing about other beautiful places and people. Fabulous Fifi, that's for sure!

Nicol Sayre-This talented artist makes precious, much coveted and well sought after dolls that seem to have the timeless beauty of past lives.  Her creations always have a sweet air of innocence and her love of vintage materials is evident in her work and life.

A Walk Through Durham-Photographer Kathleen Connally takes the most gorgeous photos of rural farm life in Durham, Pennsylvania.  Her photoblog is updated periodically and I am always touched by what she chooses to share with the world.  Simple beauty, whether it be a stone garage, a fresh crop of hay, a lightning filled sky or a freshly plowed field, I promise you will love viewing her photos and will come away feeling so proud to be American. What a beautiful country we have!

I'm going to be taking a few days off for a blogging break. I have so many things that need my attention such as photographing new shop items, finishing a few projects I hope to announce soon, and tending to my home and garden. I hadn't mentioned it before but during the week I launched my website, we had major water damage to our entire downstairs wood flooring that was only installed in December. We had to have it all torn out and replaced with stone flooring and I've had contractors here for nearly 17 days straight and my home is in shambles now that they are done. The entire contents of all my cabinets, sideboards, and buffets from downstairs had to be packed up and now unpacked!  It's time for nesting, grocery shopping, gardening, cooking a real meal, and just having a little quiet time.  I'll be back early next week with lots of updates and progress! 

Back To School Do's

Sweet Girl and I have been playing with some back to school hairstyles.  We thought we'd show you a few using our vintage goodies.  Here's a messy bun with vintage crochet lace wrapped around and pinned with a rhinestone and pearl brooch. I think this would be so cute with a summer dress or jeans and a t-shirt.

Here we loosely pulled some hair back and weaved it through a rhinestone buckle.  To keep it in place we used bobby pins. I love this style, it's so feminine and romantic!

We used vintage shank style buttons in various styles and attached them with bobby pins around my pony tail.  Such a fun way to dress up an everyday hairstyle.

Lastly, we used a regal military button attached again with a bobby pin to add a little glamor to loose curls.  These are some styles you won't see everywhere even at a school with close to 3,000 students!  I hope you all are enjoying the last tidbits of summer.  Tomorrow we're off to do some back to school shopping.  Don't you just love new pencils, notebooks and binders?

Tale of the Diamond

Last year I went to an antique show in Costa Mesa with my Mom to look for some furniture for my home.  This is a big show and is not to be confused with a flea market.  There are dealers from all across the country and some from abroad who come to sell their best wares.  I'm sure they have spent countless hours combing estate sales, tag sales, and their own local markets to find the cream of the crop.  When you shop an antique show, expect the dealers to know exactly what they have and be prepared to pay top dollar. 

I remember picking up a few things for myself while there but the most memorable item was this diamond ring.  While strolling the aisles with my Mom, we noticed a dealer had a table piled high with costume jewelry and women swarming around it like an entire hive on one flower!  I said, "No way, let's come back. It's too crowded."  Off we went to look for other treasures.  Before leaving for the day, we noticed that the hive had thinned out and we could actually see the table.  So I made my way over to take a peek.  All the pieces were $1 which explained the gigantic swarm!  I sorted though the mass and picked up a piece here and there, one of which was this ring.  I paid the dealer for my small handful of items and headed home.

While on the drive my Mom took all the jewelry items out of the bag and we started looking at them more closely, you know, just for fun.  She handed me the ring and I slipped it on next to my wedding ring.  We were both so surprised how much it glistened in the sunlight and projected a beautiful rainbow all over my car. Hmmm. We laughed, this thing looks so real! We laughed again! Then we both thought, oh my!  This thing could be real!? We got the bright idea to stop by my jeweler on the way home. He had made my wedding ring and I knew he would be more than happy to look at it.

First thing my jeweler said was, "Where did you get this"? 

Me: "Ummm, at an antique show, in a giant pile of costume jewelry".

Jeweler: "Do you know what this is? It's a 3/4 carat Old Mine Cut diamond. They don't even cut diamonds like this anymore."

Me and my Mom: Laughing, laughing laughing. "It's REAL"?

Jeweler: "Yes! How much did you pay for it"?

Me: "A buck"!

Jeweler: "It's worth $1,300".

Me and my Mom: "OH MY GOSH"!  Not laughing. 

We still get the biggest kick out of this story. It's one of those that will go down in the record books. We could shop for years and never come across something like this again. Seems like when I'm with my Mom we always have crazy adventures and usually laugh our pants off the whole time.  This time I suppose I was laughing all the way to the bank!

I'll be gone on a buying trip for the next few days.  The shop is looking empty and I need to replenish. I hope I can find a few diamonds in the rough for you too! 

Wriskey Girl

I've been wanting to share with you my new Wriskey given to me by my friend Tara.  She was so kind to send one for me and one for Sweet Girl and I'm not kidding when I say I LOVE this thing! I won't ever have to struggle to find my keys again. When they slip to the bottom of my over sized tote bag I can easily pick them out without all that digging.  And when I'm running quick errands the loop slips over my wrist.

And look how adorable they come to you? All packaged up beautifully with her pink polka dot drawstring pouches and sweet handmade tags.  Such special touches.

My Mom saw them and immediately wanted one too.  Guess I'll have to surprise her (pretend you didn't read that part Mom).  I think they would also make great teacher's gifts or for anyone with a big handbag! ; )

Tara also sent me the most beautiful bouquet of pink roses and a bottle of Vera Wang perfume to celebrate my Grand Opening! Tell me that's not the sweetest surprise a girl could get?  And of course, everything was in her signature color: Pink!  There's a photo of them in my previous post. Together we've been planning a few very special upcoming projects and it's been such a pleasure getting to know her. Somehow though, I think I may have gotten the better deal this week!  Guess I'm up to bat! 

We Have A Winner

We have a winner from the Grand Opening Celebration Giveaway and by using Violets Are Blue's random number generator, the lucky number was 84.  Angie from Casa Mia is the winner! You win your choice of a PresentPast Collection t-shirt. Just send me an email of your choice and size and I will send it off to you! Congratulations!

If you can believe it, I went to the flea market on Sunday! I know, crazy! But The Man woke me up and said, "Let's go, you need more stuff"! So I drug my tired, worn out old body out of bed and headed off for a couple hours. I'm glad I did because I found more vintage paper millinery flowers.

There are new multi colors, white, lavender, and yellow in addition to the coral pink and blue.  You can see them here. They are all new old stock, meaning they have never been opened or used and are in excellent vintage condition. 

Well, I'm off to work on some things I've been meaning to share with you. Lots of things have been going on, and I need to take some photos for you! And, I really need to catch up on my blog reading, sure have missed seeing what's happening with everyone!

Overwhelmed with Joy!

Usually when I say I'm overwhelmed, it conjures up images of stress.  But this whirlwind of a weekend was so overwhelmingly delightful!  Thank you, each and everyone of you who have stopped by the new website and taken the time to wish me luck here on the blog.  In the first 24 hours of my business opening, my website received over 51,000 hits! I don't know if that's a lot, but it felt enormous to me!  And today, I am busy working on restocking all those "Sold Outs"!

This is what the calm before the storm looked like:

Wasn't I a good Girl Scout? Very prepared, or so I thought.  I should have remembered to take a picture of the aftermath. It looked somewhat less.........photogenic. I had 5 people help me with packing and shipping.  They are the true champions because I had underestimated the amount of orders I would receive.  My dedicated (read free) staff included my Sister, my Mom, Sweet Girl, The Man and myself! Boxing, making bows, working the tape gun, practically non-stop for 3 days! 

This is one side of the stockroom, the other side looked the same, as well as every available nook and cranny. The mail carrier came twice on Saturday to pick up boxes and is coming again twice on Monday. You should have seen her face when I opened the doors to show her what needed to be picked up, Priceless!

I'll pick a winner from the Grand Opening Celebration comments tonight and post it tomorrow. Thanks again everyone! I am so grateful for the kind spirits and friendships that have made so many of my days bright! See you tomorrow! xo, Heather

Grand Opening Celebration!

The day has finally arrived! I can hardly believe it. It's so exciting for me to launch my website after working on it for so long! You can visit it by going to ThePresentPast or Heather Bullard. And, like a newborn baby, expect to see fresh new things and future growth!

Thank you dear blog readers for your support and kind comments throughout this process. It wouldn't be possible without you!  To celebrate, just leave a comment about my new shop and on Monday, I'll pick a winner to receive something special from The PresentPast Collection!  Enjoy and Thank You, TRULY!