Thompson Family-Life

Vintage Kiddo Style: Mr. Campbell

Oh my goodness, I love this little man. He is just too much most days. He will be turning *five* in May (no! my baby!) so I'm trying to savor the moments with him where he's still holding onto that "baby" inside him. I'll take it. He will be my last one, so I'm holding onto it for dear life! He is still the MOST incredibly affectionate child, and yes, he's still very much a Mama's boy. I'll take that, too.

He still holds my ear lobes (they are his security blanket and when he's tired, he'll reach for them especially fast. Even if we're in the car and he's in the back seat, he's like "Mommy, I need your ears.") He showers me with hugs and kisses all day long and he tells me how beautiful I am (he's nice to have around). I've actually had to explain to him that, no, he can't marry me, because I'm his Mommy and I'm already married to Daddy. Boys are funny this way, right? They truly hold their Moms up on that pedestal! I assured him that there will be plenty of girls from who he can choose to marry when he gets older. ; )

He is much more girl crazy than Cooper ever was, even at four! He is very musical which is pretty exciting because Ethan and I are neither very musical. He can pick up a tune from a song playing on TV or wherever, and he'll sing it hours later, exactly as it is with correct words and melody.

What He Wore: Hat - Vintage from Lishyloo // Vest - Vintage, unknown // Shirt - random, from Target probably // Pants - Vintage, gifted to me by Heather // Shoes - thrifted

He's doing very well in Pre-K which is always a relief. (ha) He also loves drawing and is very into Lego NinjaGo and The Power Rangers. And as you can see from some of these shots, he's very much enjoying his Taekwando classes! We've only enrolled him in one other sport, Soccer, before this and it didn't go well at all (we pulled him out.) He seems to be much more of an individual sport kid unlike his brother who's a team sport guy all the way.

He's a good sport about donning my silly vintage outfits. He's at an age where he really doesn't care and quite likes them actually. He wanted to wear the vest to school! I would say he could probably wear the whole outfit, minus the hat (the hat was a bit unruly, still a bit big on him!), to school and it wouldn't look too out-of-place-retro. In the area I live, families are pretty conservative in their dress, which can be boring, but it's also a relief because there's no pressure to dress a certain way! People are very laid back and down-to-Earth which is very important to us.

But sometimes I do wish I had more motivation to dress up every once in a while. I'm sure if I lived in a cool city like San Francisco, or New York, or wherever else, I might have more motiviation. And my kids could get away with wearing vintage more, i.e. I could be more creative with their outfits.

But when it comes down to it, I let my kids wear what they want! Especially when they get old enough to have their own opinions. Do I hope Campbell shuns the athletic-wear that Cooper always wants to wear? Sure. Maybe Campbell could be my more artsy kid? Who knows. But, whoever he becomes, I'll embrace it! Not matter what. : )

But for now, I can dress him up like he's a hip little European kid, right? ; )

New Business Cards

It would not be an exaggeration to say designing business cards for my blog has been on my to-do list for years! *Years!* When I'm out around town or traveling across the country (or world!) I often find shops, restaurants and other cool places that I want to photograph. I almost always ask permission first, always mentioning my blog and how I will be using the photos, but I never have a business card to back things up! I'm sure they would like the benefit of checking me out before they say "yes". It's just the professional thing to do.

And sometimes people will ask me what I do and having a business card would be a much easier way of explaining things quickly (not to mention it helps me avoid the awkward explanation of what it is to be a blogger. ha.) It's also a great way to connect with people and introduce them to my other work (design, crafts, etc.)

It's a no brainer having business cards!

I knew I wanted some sort of illustration of myself. The last illustration I commissioned was by the fabulous Danny Brito, but I had longer hair back then so I needed one to reflect my new 'do.

I stumbled onto Rachele's work randomly a while ago and was instantly smitten! I loved the watercolor-y look she utilized and apparently all created digitally - which is awesome. (She has secretly inspired me to one day get more familiar with drawing digitally myself.) I knew I wanted to commission her to do the illustration. I fiiiinally took the time to take some new photos of myself so she'd have something to work from and this is what she came up with!

(front of the card on the right, back of the card on the left)

I of course created the card design, but her illustration just totally makes it. I'm so thrilled with it and really enjoyed working with her. For the back, I wanted to share a couple of photos that would be a good representation of what I share on my blog. I had them printed at OvernightPrints.com (I always use them). They came out great.

Here's some of Rachele's fabulous work:

I love Bea! And you must check out Rachele's gorgeous tattoos! Her chest piece is stunning. Be sure to check out her shop and follow her on Twitter. And her blog is pure eye candy! Here are some adorable illustrations she created for some posts:

Amazing right?! GAH. the cute.

Since I've been a print designer most of my adulthood, I truly miss designing things for print. These business cards scratched that itch for me in a small way. Sometimes I try to find things I can have printed, just because. Most of my design these days is for the web, but here are some print products that I'd love to make some designs for one day:

- Pinhole Press (very cute products, although mostly photography based)

- Moo stickers (!!!)

- Although this doesn't end up in print, the layout is essentially publication design. I would love to create an Issuu book one day.

What other print products do you love?

P.S. Here's the original illustration so you can see it better. I adore how she created the plaid pattern on my shirt!

Illustrated: Spanish Artist Concha Matamoros

As I mentioned last week, we are going to the Netherlands this summer, so I've been immersing myself in all things Dutch lately. I've always been drawn to vintage Dutch patterns and fabrics as well as children's book illustrations. I've often seen illustrations of children and adults in a similar or exact style as the ones in this book of mine (of which I bought at Atlanta Vintage Books!) donning all kinds of products offered in online Dutch shops - whether it be in the vintage section on Etsy or other independant online shops I've found.

This really sweet face style I've always associated with the Dutch because they always seem to be the ones selling these items. But to my surprise when I was researching this particular illustrator, Concha Matamoros, (I'm assuming female? Help me out Spanish readers?) she is actually based out of Spain not the Netherlands! And of course when I looked closely to find the illustrator's name, it was obvious she wasn't Dutch.

I think the young girls depicted also seem very Dutch, or Scandinavian, or even German with their often very blonde hair and blue eyes. I think that threw me off as well. I see that my book was actually printed in Belgium, so maybe she worked around that area and was influenced by the people? Not sure. I couldn't find out much about her online, sadly.

Aren't these illustrations just beautiful? I just can't get enough of them. There are some pages missing from my book unfortunately, but you get the gist of the story. I also love that the book has been diecut into a unique shape.

Sadly, the cover is a little damaged, but the back is in good condition. SO cute.

Most of the books I've found online illustrated by Matamoros seem to have been printed in the '60's. While doing my research, I found a bunch more items illustrated by her, mostly on a Spanish auction site. How beautiful are these Madonna and Child pieces? I think they are brochures or cards of some kind. I'm am so in love with them.

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How fabulous is this little girl with her mod dress, checkered shoes and little camera!?

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More brochures or cards.

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And more books that look like they family with my book, having a similar diecut and subject matter.

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Do you have, or have you seen any books or other products illustrated by this artist?

You can find more posts from this Illustrated series here.

Vintage Avon Gift... x2

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you are familiar with my love for Disney's It's a Small World. I've also professed my desire to have the entire vintage It's a Small World Bath Collection from Avon. Well, when everyone was asking me what I wanted for Christmas last year, I pointed them to a listing on Etsy that had most of the collection available for sale.

Fast forward a month or so and I see that the listing has been bought, I was sure not by anyone I knew. I just knew it. About this time my sister was asking me what I wanted, so I pointed her to another listing containing most of the collection, this time on Ebay.

Well, you know what happened. ; ) I received BOTH collections for Christmas: one from Ethan and one from my sister. Oh boy.

Luckily, between the two I think I have most of the collection of the liquid bottles (there are other parts of the collection like cosmetics, etc). But I now have duplicates! I actually have THREE of Swiss Heidi - one I found thrifting a long time ago. So I'll be selling the duplicates in my Online Yard Sale soon, along with some other new items.

I've been holding off on photographing them (or even taking them out of their packaging!) until I could find a cute shelf for them to sit on, but I've had no luck so far. So I took them out today. I'm so smitten with them! Wendi the Cowgirl is missing her hat. I hope I didn't throw it away with the packaging. I'll commence rummaging through the trash soon.

Now to find the perfect shelf for them to sit. In the powder room of course!

Have a great weekend!

Palm Springs Vacation: Mid-Century Modern Architecture

I've been thinking a lot about my trip out West last summer to visit the incredible city of Palm Springs, California and to see my friends Heather and Holly. It was a trip to remember! I had planned on going back this year, but tickets kept getting more and more expensive (yeesh, I could fly to Europe for that!) so I decided to put it off til next year in February when they have their annual Modernism Week (eek!). Heather and Holly are going as well and I'm already counting down the months.

The weather should be really nice then (it got up to 110+ while we were there in July, HOT HOT HOT!) and attending all of the tours and events during Modernism Week will make the cost of the airfare worth it.

I featured a ton of photos from that trip in these posts, but I actually have many that I never blogged! I'm sharing those with you here and I also have another pretty fun post up my sleeve.

Sadly Holly had to go back  home a day early, but Heather and I took some time to just drive around Palm Springs, checking out as many neighborhoods as we could. And of course, these gorgeous Mid-Century Modern homes were the perfect backdrop to take photos of our Blythes (and my Licca doll)! So, yeh, we did a little bit of trespassing all in the name of awesome pictures. ; )

Heather made that fabulous dress for my platinum blonde there. SO CUTE. Luckily, Palm Springs residents are probably used to tourists taking photos of their homes, so we didn't get any angry people running us off.

It was so much fun taking in all of the details of the pristinely preserved architecture, from the beautiful cut-out shapes in the partitions, to the colors of the front doors. There was lots of ocean blue, red orange and lemon yellow we noticed over and over again.

We even got to poke our heads over the fence to one of Frank Sinatra's old homes.

We visited the Parker Hotel while we were there and I remember Holly kept saying how it's her "Happy Place". I think the entire city is my Happy Place and I can't wait to go back.

P.S. Be sure to check out Holly's husband's amazing website and design work.

Have you been to Palm Springs? Do you love it?