and the winner is.....

the winner of the giveaway is lucy of dear fish!!!!!! yay!!!

so the offerings for the giveaway are a vintage clutch bag that looks black but is really a very dark navy and a set of 4 handmade christmas cards. lucy, i hope you love these and that the cards can get you started on your gift giving this year :)

thanks to you ladies who have joined me in the pledge. i think it's pretty cool. and even if you didn't join us in time for the giveaway, i hope that you'll consider making the pledge this year anyway. for no other reason than it makes finding presents for family a lot more fun. it's the thrill of the hunt, right?

nothin' lasts forever

song of the day: 'november rain' by guns n' roses

k, so i am obvs super obsessed with this headband. i wear it all the time. it works to corral my hair when it's a bit unruly. and with the drizzly rain out, my hair can go ca-razy.

this blazer was part of a suit that i had in my shop (and in my etsy store). someone bought it and then once she received it, realized it didn't quite fit so she asked to send it back. since i have a secret love for the blazer, i said sure. now it's mine :)

i plan to do the drawing for the giveaway this afternoon. i just want to post the list first to see if i maybe missed someone. here's who i have participating so far in the christmas pledge:

archives

modest typewriter vintage

a simple life

snappy Q

toil & trouble

dear fish

belove it or believe it

if i missed you, please let me know in the next couple hours!! i will announce the winner soon and post what you've won. i think you'll like!

details:

dress-h&m

blazer-vintage

socks-i don't know

loafers-dexter, thrifted

only cares for joyful giving

song of the day: 'heal the world' by michael jackson

i managed to make the pledge button last night!!!!! when it comes to html, i am pretty much an idiot so there was a lot of frustrated hair pulling and irritated whining when things didn't go right, but i am fairly proud of myself for getting it done. so please please please consider making the pledge with me! just grab the code from over in my side bar. if you do, leave me a comment so i know who you are. i'd love to make a list of participants. and this may be a giveaway opportunity. ooohhh, what a good idea! sometimes i'm like so smart and stuff. yes, if you decide to join me in this, leave a comment and what not and by next monday the 15th i'll randomly draw a name and the winner will get a little gift from me. handcrafted or secondhand, of course :)

but, this was a very good weekend for amandromeda (my shop). i had so much traffic on saturday that i even stayed open later and the holiday open house yesterday was awesome. we had tons of people come through and some great sales. it's pretty exciting. all the time i get brand new customers who've never been in before but i also have those people that come in every couple weeks that i'm getting to know by name. as much as i love having an etsy shop, there's nothing like seeing people try on my clothes and fall in love with my store. i know i've said it a thousand times (seemingly), but if you've been thinking of opening up a brick and mortar to compliment your etsy, you totally should!!! it's pretty rewarding.

so i didn't wear my awesome sequin sweater because we had a bit of a warm up over the weekend and it ended up being 70 degrees. much too balmy for a lambswool sweater. i will bring it out soon though. promise.

details:

dress-vintage, from my shop

sleeveless top-vintage

boots-vintage

accessories, vintage (except for sunglasses, those are from cato)

soon the bells will start

song of the day: 'it's beginning to look a lot like christmas'

i am so happy that it's friday. even though i'll be at my shop all weekend, there's just something about friday that washes me with relief. maybe i'll get to sleep in a little bit! here's hoping anyway.

we're having our holiday open house on sunday afternoon. i can't believe it's that time of year again! the city has already strung up the lights across broadway and it really is beginning to look a lot like christmas. but i am excited to wear this crazy sequined sweater on sunday that i bought at the thrift. i've been holding on to it for a couple months waiting ever so patiently for the holidays to pull it out. it's really quite spectacular.

but this kind of brings me to something i've been thinking about for this gift giving season. the last couple years, i've made it a goal to buy only hand crafted and second hand gifts for my family and friends. i plan to do that again this year. i also want to advertise that for my shop, especially with the open house coming up. it's something that's very important to me. i know merl has mentioned something similar on her blog recently and was wondering if there are more of us out there who would want to make that pledge. i know i have seen a pledge button on other blogs about buying handmade, but i'd like there to be something that includes vintage/second hand. would anyone be interested in putting a button like that on their blog and also pledge to buy more responsibly this year? i could put my wonderful husband on the job of designing something for us (or if any of you are so inclined that would work too. i am not so creative that way). so let me know if you guys are interested. and really, even if you're not, i might have one on here just for fun. :)

have a great weekend!

details:

coat-charlotte russe, given to me

scarf-yarn over movement, christmas gift last year

flannel-thrifted, stolen from matt

jeans-topshop

boots-vintage, ebay