Dallas antique shop is going out of business

Sales!
Clearance!
Discounts!

Some of my favorite words, ya know.

So..... there's a local antique shop that's going out of business. I'm really sad that I'm just now learning about it. I went there earlier this week and a few hours later I emerged blinking in the bright Texas sun with my arms loaded up with goodies. I found so much stuff!!! I loaded up mainly on vintage clothing and accessories on this trip. It was incredibly hard to steer clear of the jewelry boxes. Very hard!! But, as always, I try very hard to keep my prices low so I wanted to wait until their prices drop a bit lower until I start digging for the jewelry. But even when I went this week most of the items in this shop were discounted at 75% off. Tell me those numbers don't make your wallets giggle in excitement.

The details...

The Boulevard Emporium
1010 N. Industrial Blvd
Dallas, Texas 75207
Hours 10 - 5
214-748-1960

They are closing shop on July 31st, so make sure to get in there before then!

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Photoshoot Maddness

Told you I was going to be busy! This Sunday I'll be heading out with a car packed to the brim with goodies.

It's Photoshoot Madness!!!
*jazz hands*

A little while back I was contacted by a local gal who had her pretty eyes on my items and was curious to see if she could model some of my creations. Well who am I to say no to such a sweet girl? It's for the good of mankind, you know. So she got the ball rolling on pulling together a photographer and a couple of other models for a day of fun.






So this here is Bondi Holly who I've been in contact with. In this photo she is modeling with the photographer of the day, Katie Decarlo. These girls have some awesome work and I'm thrilled to be working with them. Wish us luck, can't wait to see how the shots come out!!

My to-do list is jam packed in preparation of this shoot. I only have 2 days! Luckily, most of my fascinators are all packed up in their carrying boxes. But I also promised to bring along a bunch of my vintage clothing and accessories for the gals to wear. That'll be fun trying to collect everything together in one place. Where's my tylenol.... Even though it'll be a ton of hard work, I have high hopes that these awesome girls are going to rock this shoot.

Loves it!

Etsy is fabulous, new item for sale!

The Official Decadent Dame Designs Etsy page

So you may remember Amanda, the girl that went down to Austin with me to help out with the Texas Burlesque Festival. She really is quite the talented gal! I wanted to shoot some new photos of my items so I can put them up on Etsy. She jumped at the chance to play dress up and be my model for the day. This is her very first time modeling commercially. Granted, she is usually the first to jump in view if there is a camera within 50 yards... But she has never been given the job of being the model for a specific purpose. How did she do? See for yourself.




I personally think she did a spiffy job, she really is the cat's meow! I don't think I did so bad myself either though. I styled her wardrobe, did the job of hair stylist and makeup artist, photographer, and editor. It takes team work! We were shooting in Downtown Fort Worth, TX during the day. It was 98*F that day!!! She makes it look easy, doesn't she? You can hardly tell we were cooking on a hot May day in Texas.




I just put this item up on my etsy page on Friday night. I've already gotten some wonderful feedback! It hasn't sold yet, so if you just happen to HAVE to have this... get it fast! You can find it Here. This is a one of a kind item, I only have one more matching earring and it will be going on a totally different fascinator.




This earring centerpiece comes with history! I bought it at a living estate in Lewisville, Texas. It was previously owned by a woman named Ina W., who's family was one of the original inhabitants in Lewisville, the Walker family. She was an avid painter in both acrylics and pastels, her lovely home was covered in her original art. She left her home so that she could be closer to loved ones, and the longtime family friend I talked with had a wonderful message. She wanted to remind me and those I know that it is extremely important to check in on our elderly loved ones, that they need all of our love and attentions in their later years.

New estate items! Memorial day weekend

Oops, I seem to be a little tardy on uploading new photos from recent estate sales. And since I'll be going out again in the morning I don't want to be extra double behind in posting. Enjoy!


I love these appliques! I have at least 30 of them now. Seems that I keep adding things to my mental checklist of items to look for, and appliques are new on the list. And so damn pretty! All kinds of sparkly and colorful, all the good things that a design girl like myself drools over. Too much fun. Oh, and the polka dot background? That's an old blouse that I picked up so I can use it to form the disk pad basses of my new fascinators. I love getting to reuse cloth!



Jewelry!!! Oh I am so in love with these items. They mostly came from the very artsy craftsy household that I got most of my appliques from. The gold matching pieces on the left are actually very old belt buckles, and so intricate. So much fun to be had with these items. I'm considering adding the black and gray necklace in with a fascinator I make out of one of the earrings. Matching jewelry is always a must for a lovely Dame.

Shopping.... Decadent Dame style

I usually spend at least one day a weekend running around town hitting up sales to try to find my jewelry and what other vintage bits catch my eye. It's an exhausting ordeal every time. But so totally worth it when I get home and lay everything out to go over what I bought. Going to try and make it a tradition to post images of my finds. They're my treasures, I always try to find out the back story on interesting bits or at least a time period that they're from. It's like taking a walk through history, though sad to say that many of the items come from estate sales so everything I hear is at least second hand knowledge. I hope the people who owned my items before me are happy that I put a lot of care into making their old belongings anew, creating something beautiful and new with them.


So here's a couple shots of the items I found this past weekend. I spent most of my sunday afternoon at an antique fair, where I found all of my items. I tried a couple other stops around town but was sadly unable to find anything of value to me.

This first group here is a variety of buttons. I really like the beaded ones that just sparkle and catch the light. But the soft and simple mother of pearl buttons are just simple and elegant. The old looking military button is something I need to find out a little more about. My father, a marine man, says that it looks like a very old army button.



I was on the look out for some Steampunk themed items on Sunday. Found some!! Though I'm thinking it might be wise to update my tetanus shot.... These little gears are sharp! Digging through a big bin full of them was fun but a little worrisome due to the sharp edges. Not sure how I'll be putting these together, but I'm excited to play around with them.



Seems I was really lucky on finding Cameos! They can be really hard to find in good condition for reasonable prices. I try very hard to keep my prices reasonable, I know that at this point in time not that many people can afford to pay high prices for a fascinator, as much as they may want to. So even though I see a fabulous item of jewelry, I have to hold my self back if it's too expensive. I've often had to pass on lovely items for just that reason. I don't want to have to pass on those expenses to my buyers, so I put in the extra effort to find good items for good prices. I'm also the queen of getting discounts. You never know unless you ask! The sparkly item in the top right corner is actually about 1/2 of a vintage brooch, it was broken who knows how long ago. But I plan on fixing it up enough that later on no one will know. The teeny tiny cameo at the bottom in the middle is actually from a ring! The ring band was broken off just outside of the design, but I know I can still put it to work.


A little fact for ya... Back when cameo's were very popular, people would wear the black on black cameo for mourning. Have to stay fashionable even after the passing of a loved one.

So that's what I found this past weekend, I think I did fairly well. Can't wait to see what comes out of it!