I have a serious love for all things 50s – the wacky kitchen appliances, the slang and of course – the clothes! Don’t worry, this isn’t a fashion post – I’m doing a 50s themed Window Shopping Wednesday today! There are so many fun 50s themed shops online to get lost in! Today, I’m going to gush about; Kooties Closet, Sugar Pie Chic, Lady Jane Designs, Bumbershoot Supplies, and Our Retro Toybox.

Kooties Corner, some seriously sweet stuff. Store sections include; gift tags, address labels, retro graphic jewelry, pocket mirrors and other vintage goodies! Four things that immediately had me drooling; vintage car gift tags, 50s graphic pin, address labels, and my personal favorite – the mini atomic notebook! So rad!

Sugar Pie Chic is home to some very, very cool vintage inspired aprons and also some pretty embroidered pen and ink birds. I’m a sucker for cute dish cloths, and these aprons are delicious!

It’s not just cute retro kitchen gear that gets me excited! This tote bag and the best hair bow of all time, from Lady Jane Designs make me pretty happy too! Just look at the bow – look at it!! I am in love.

Then there’s the gear needed to make fun retro creations! This is often my favorite kinds of shopping! First up, four goodies from Bumbershoot Supplies!

Here is another Etsy shop that totally blew me over recently, Our Retro Toybox has way too much fun finds to list them all here. I could write an entire post about this place. This flour canister is at the top of my Christmas list and I *really* hope my husband machine buys it for me. Endlessly happy with this on my counter. 😀

This shop has a lot of nice vintage kitchen gear, but it also has sweet toys you may remember playing with as a child (hello original Sesame Street!), old book and more! Here, the best orange juice pitcher I’ve ever seen and a hilariously girly dictionary!

Aside from the amazing aprons and fun craft supplies, there are some other crafters out there who have made some pretty cute gear! Here are some of my favorite finds from last night while looking through aprons and patterns.

When I finally plunked down to decide on the cotton for our diapers, I headed first to Etsy, and then to eBay where I found Tonic Living, the shop where I picked up all of the cotton flannel I used for the diapers. Along the way I came across so many cute crafty things I instinctively felt that I ‘needed’. Naturally, as much as I’d love to say that I have a legitimate use for 20 Colourful Hello Kitty Shank Buttons, I just don’t. So until I come up with ideas for all of these supplies, I’ll have to just drool over them here. I’m posting photos of my finds with links to the shop, if the exact item has sold, poke around to see what else they have listed!

My *fave* Etsy shop is Rainbow Fabrics! It’s one of those places that I lose all track of time when I go there. So many fun and vibrant fabrics to pick from, I got 14 different fabrics (fat quarters and half yards) and I already have a long wish list again! This set of apple fabric I want to use to make some school gear for wee one #2, she started kindergarten this fall and is crafty-minded. I wonder where she gets it from. Ha! Would have been a cute a first day of school dress with apples? That’s not too cheesy, is it? Sometimes I have to hold myself back from the uber cheesy, so I can’t always tell. If it’s not flamed as lame, I’ll do it up next year. Or maybe a crayon case?

 
Alexander Henry Perfect Pattern Pair, Japanese Elephants and Mushrooms with Glitter

 
Michael Miller Apple Dot Set, Kitties, Birdies, Buggies and Flowers

I was looking for Hello Kitty fabric and came across a shop based in Japan called This and That From Japan, with fabric, ribbons, stamps and other neat stuff. The only issue is the shipping (most items are $4.50 in shipping, $2.75 if shipped with another item), but that depends on both where you are and how much you love the item. I love this fabric because you can find Hello Kitty on fabric here, but I’ve never seen her apple picking before!

Japanese Fabric – Hello Kitty Picking Apples – Half Yard

Of course I have to add in the Kero fabric I found when I found the Hello Kitty stuff. Soooo cute! I have no idea what I’d use this for. Maybe a dress for one of my girls? Maybe a wee little tote for myself? When I get better at it, I’d really love to make some kind of sweet/creepy Japanese cartoon quilt, but I’m not going to collect pieces for it until my quilting skills are better.

Japanese Fabric – Kerokerokeroppi and Friends – Blue – Half Yard

All this neat baking gear can be found at Cupcake Social. I will readily admit it’s the shop’s name that had me clicking the link and I’m glad it did because its packed full of really cute baking supplies! I’ve mentioned before that 2010 will be Cake and Cupcake Year, I’m so looking forward to using some of this neat gear.

 
Mini Assorted Animal Print Cupcake Liners, Pretty in Pink and Black Cupcake or Muffins Baking Liners

Creepy Crawly Sugar Bug Layons

Then, of course, are the botton shops. It is so easy to get sucked into the button shops! This one, Forsythe Company Store has a lot of sweet treasures.

 
One Inch Plaid Scottie Dog Buttons, Sweet Turquoise Summer T-shirt Buttons

These four gems were found at Delish Beads.

 
17mm Purple Bunny Buttons, 15mm White Teddy Bear Cabochons

 
25mm Fuzzy Skull Appliques, 45mm Big Pink Star Pendants

Buttons and beads for sure are the worst for me, because I literally never make anything from them, but they are shiny and pretty and I’m such a sucker!! I want to, and I hope to, but at the moment I don’t have any projects planned with beads. I’d use the bunny buttons on a sweater for one of the girls, and I’d love the fuzzy skulls on something for me. One thing at a time though!

I aim to continue with this series! Send me links to neat crafty supplies!