Designing Mighty Swell

Our summer sale has been announced! Mighty Swell has been such a fun venture in so many ways, and one of the best parts for me is designing our collateral for every sale. I'm particularly happy with the direction of our most recent stuff (website, postcard, window dressings, etc.)

Our goal was summery, bright, colorful and a bit whimsical. Meghan and I had been pouring through pics online and off and found so much inspiration. After a brief stock photo search, I realized that I was never going to find what I was looking for online. So off to the beach I went, vintage tote, sandals and purse in tow. Our theme is 'Summer in the City'... and what is more unique to a Minneapolis summer than our many wonderful beaches? So a very large iced tea and 60 photos later, I got the perfect shot.

The back gets a little trickier. I knew what I was going for; a retro "day at the beach" feel, but that's a lot of info to organize in a 7x5 space. After a lot of messing around with the color palette, funky shapes and our usual fonts, I got it! I've always loved those little diamond details on 5os era packaging and advertisements, so I jumped at the chance to throw them in there. The blue "lakes" were a good way to separate some important info, and the little birdie has been with us since the beginning so I kept him too :)

Now we start working on the windows! This was definitely the most exciting part of getting our own space (besides, ya know, not having to move EVERYTHING after each sale). Our beautiful bay storefront windows mean endless possibilities. And heck, who knows, maybe it will help me get that dream visual merchandising job someday!

Treasure Rescue: 002

Since it's been forever and a year since I posted my thrifty finds, these are just a handful of the treasures I've scored over the past couple of months...

1) Dancing bunny planter. I'm obsessed with all things bunny.
2) State Patches. All 50 states are not represented, but I thought this was a pretty good score for under 3 bucks.
3) Deer scene on slice of tree. Doesn't get much more Minnesotan than this.
4) Black beauties. These ceramic horse heads are the perfect combo of pretty/creepy.
5) Peacock wall art. What's not to love?
6) Fuzzy red doe with gold glitter ears. I ran across this at an estate sale and got SO excited. She's the prettiest. And while I believe it's meant as holiday decor, you better believe I'm keeping this out year round. That little gem next to her is a carnival glass doe dish. Picked this up antiquing on a long weekend in Duluth.
7) Various tins/containers/planters. I've been snatching up every cute container I see since I stumbled across this tutorial on making candles out of vintage tins. Meghan and I are going to have a craft day soon and do just that.
8) Cross stitch. Since Eric gets to veto anything that's "too girly", I'm going to pass this one onto Meghan. It'll be a perfect fit for the Mighty Swell headquarters, which is now under renovation.
9) Vintage Books. My plan for these is to read them and then design jackets for them. Sooooo, I'll just add that one to my list of good intentions.
10) 3 Dimensional Horse Head. This doesn't need much explanation. It's amazing.
11) Set of Skeleton Keys. Originally I thought these would be used to make necklaces... but I kind of like them all bundled together. We'll see. Brass Bunny. Once again, bunny obsessed.

Now, I can't keep all of this stuff... so keep an eye out for us to announce the date of the next Mighty Swell Pop-up Shop where you can find some of these things and soooo much more.

Mighty Swell! {takin' it to the streets}

As you all know, I love treasure hunting (thrifting, garage sales, estate sales, etc). It is one of my favorite things/greatest escapes. But it gets to a point where you just can’t justify owning SO MUCH STUFF. As a remedy, I’ve always had garage sales, clothing swaps and the like. Last year I decided that my eye for seeking out good stuff among a sea of “junk” was a true talent and I should start making a gig out of it. My Etsy shop, Bourbon and Lace, was born. While Etsy is a truly amazing resource, I have found myself yearning for the face-to-face transactions. I guess it’s the former-retail employee in me. I like making people happy in person. There is also the growing frustration with how much work Etsy is. Finding, cleaning, photographing, listing, describing, pricing – whew! All of this leads to a mark up in price to make it worth your time.

So, long story short, we devised a solution. Meghan (from the Minneapolis based blog High Plains Thrifter) and I are opening our very own vintage pop-up shop - Mighty Swell. The plan: We get a few other treasure hunters together, gather all of our goods and set up a real-life vintage store (one weekend only!) in a friend’s gallery space, promote the heck out of it and hopefully make it a quarterly event! Our Mission: A blink-and-you-miss it vintage shopping extravaganza, showcasing an edited collection of clothing, accessories and home decor. Why? Because affordable vintage is Mighty Swell.

Stay tuned for sneak peeks, vendor interviews and a look at the whole process start to finish. Don't forget to frequent Meg's blog - she'll be doing a lot of the updates! YAY!

In the mean time follow us on twitter @mightyswell and become a fan on facebook!