Wednesday, July 28, 2010

trash you up 1st BLOG GIVEAWAY!

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i told myself i would hold a giveaway when my blog reached 100 followers. as you can see, i am a total slacker. to make up for my laziness, i am going to attempt to make this giveaway (my 1st ever!) a really intense one! first up, the goodies:

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here's what you will win...
-an awesome red&white striped vintage shirt with a nautical design. size M or S.
-vintage mouse paint by number
-vintage eden mini big-eyed girl print
-"my so-called life" vhs with 2 episodes
-"do you remember?" book full of pop-culture images
-pack of vintage "it's a boy!" notecards
-a mix cd of total jams made by yours truly! includes genres like garage, soul, powerpop and more!
-3 handmade magnets (zack and screech from "saved by the bell," elvis, and a cute vintage girl)
-handmade button ring (seen in my other shop, FRENZY!)
-pick your own 5x7 print from swamp rat photography! you don't have to choose rat fink, that was just my prop. maybe you like carnival stuff? or creepy cemeteries? or rock'n'roll legends? i'd like to think i have something for everyone :)
-plus a few little surprises thrown in

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what's that? you want MORE? you bet!

how about an adorable mini poloroid necklace from one of my favorite etsy sellers of all time?!

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my friend phoebe is a wonderful artist who especially likes to take photos. lucky for us, she has found a way to share the beautiful things she sees in life by creating these awesome poloroid necklaces out of her own photography. i chose a carnival one for you to win, although you can always visit her shop xxo phoebemarie and see the different ones she is creating! i own 4 of these necklaces and i can't seem to curb the urge to buy more every time she comes out with a new series ; )

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GIVEAWAY RULES:

1. anyone can enter. you don't have to have a blog to do so. you don't have to follow mine to enter. if you don't have a blog or your contact information isn't easily found on your blog, please include an email address when you sign up so that i can contact you if you win!

2. to enter, visit swamp rat photography on etsy. then come back here and tell me what your favorite print is in a comment. that's it!

3. for an extra entry, you can follow my blog. if you already are, please let me know!

4. for yet another entry, you can become a friend of swamp rat photography on facebook. the url is http://www.facebook.com/swampratphotography.

4. the winner will randomly be drawn one week from today on wednesday, august 4th.

GOOD LUCK! tell your friends!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

photo dump + something to look forward to...

i've been in a funk all week. this mood has included not leaving the house much, missing a bunch of shows i wanted to go see, and not updating this blog. luckily i am feeling better, but that doesn't leave much room for interesting things to update about since all i've been doing is reading books and playing "kirby" on nintendo.

here's a photo dump of stuff i never posted.

also, be sure to check back on wednesday (july 28th) for my first ever BLOG GIVEAWAY. i meant to do one a while ago and i'm just now getting around to it.

on with the photos...

i realized i never posted pictures from the motherload of all estate sales i went to about a month ago. i came home with several boxes of junk and one garbage bag full of vintage clothes. i'm still going through stuff and deciding what to keep and what i don't need, so some of this stuff may end up in the shop after all! everything was vintage. it came from an old lady's house and her daughter told us that she was an honest-to-goodness hoarder. i seriously should have taken a picture of the living room that was FULL of picture frames. stacks and boxes of them everywhere you tried to walk. it was insane.

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the haul

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christmas decorations

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halloween table cloths

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asian knick knacks

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hula girl for my tiki collection

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by this point, we were just throwing stuff in a box. need a sleeping ceramic pig or an owl thermometer magnet? WHY, SURE!

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toys from an old comic strip, stamped 1969

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fabulous 80s toys from my childhood! including my little ponies, a snugglebum, care bears, and more.

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kewpies!

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cute vintage dolls

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more toys, and a bag of colorful eyeballs to make something awesome with

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CREEPY rubber-face stuffed animal..very collectible!

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awesome 70s tennis shoes

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more creepy dolls

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signs and plaques

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more pictures

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vintage frames

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cards and stationary

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mountain of vintage clothes!


pretty intense, huh? as i was taking inventory of my clothes mound, pogo decided to tunnel her way inside and hide out.

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cats are so silly.

here she is again, thinking she is hiding in this paper bag:

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and here is lemmy, cramming his fat self into the bathroom sink for a nap:

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and finally, here is one of my favorite recent junk scores: A MONSTOR!

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i saw this sitting in a pile at a junk warehouse and i HAD to have it. it only sweetened the deal when i was charged a measly $5 for it. josh and i researched this beast online and found out that they were used in the 80s to fit around gumball machines. it is currently hanging on our wall as a monster-shelf. awesome!

check back on wednesday and make sure you sign up for the giveaway! here's a hint: there may be a thing or two from my vintage haul included as a prize!!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

hot fun in the summertime

i haven't been around much, mostly because josh and i have been hosting some out of town (and out of the country!) house guests. our friends from the band poppets came all the way from sweden to tour with our other pals, the sweet sixteens. all of us got to spend two days/nights hanging out around bonfires, drinking beer, listening to rock'n'roll and laughing our asses off.

things started with a daytime show at now that's class. i set up the show along with a bbq/flea market, and while the soaring temperatures kept a lot of people away there was still much fun to be had. i mean, how can you NOT have fun when there is party bands in their underwear involved?

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the sweet sixteens

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the sweet sixteens

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dancin to the sweet sixteens!

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more dancin, plus our friends ben and melanie!

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poppets

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lina

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magnus

our friends melanie and ben (of hoarder of awesome fame!) came all the way from michigan to set up with art and vintage goodies for sale. i'll give you one guess where all my money went that day.

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josh and i are practically going to have a ben lyon exhibit in our house by the time we hang up all the art we bought (not to mention the painting i already had prior to the flea market!)

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i also got some neat stuff from my other friend ben who used to run a label/zine called rock'n'roll purgatory, and a cool cramps magnet made by my friends ap and stella.

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josh and i sold a few things, but mostly we blew our money on everyone else's junk.

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i took a few videos during the day. magnus and lina (poppets) are my favorite rock'n'roll couple ever -- they're the cutest! we sat around talking about how we know we're getting old but there are all these things we want to do before we settle down and have kids. lina offered to bring me along on tour when she and magnus have a baby so i can be their rock'n'roll nanny and they can still keep touring as a band :D haha!









we had a bonfire after the show, where we taught magnus and lina how to make their first s'mores ever. magnus insisted he was going to start making them "IMMEDIATELY!" when he got back home. he ate two, then remarked that he would probably be waking up with diabetes in the morning.

both bands are some of my favorite house guests ever and i was sad to see everyone go. if the tour stops in your city, i highly recommend you check it out! give them a place to crash and tell them hot trash sent you.

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my favorite quotes from the weekend:

"he's up there pooping his pants in the sky now!" -ben
"how'd all these young boys end up in my crawl space? BUMMER!" -scooter, pretending to be an innocent john wayne gacy
"you don't go slapping a hells angel on the ass, ya know?" -josh