Hello! I hope you’re doing well. Here I am with an update on the “Weekly Creative Challenge” that I’ve set for myself for 2023 (as introduced in this post).
To recap, I finally began using Instagram on January 1st. (My account is Loulou Vintage Home.)
Although I’d looked at other people’s photos on the site in the past, when I created my own account I had no idea that there was such a robust and active vintage community there. So far, I have found 114 accounts of like-minded vintage enthusiasts to follow. The people, for the most part, have been very friendly and welcoming, and, my goodness, the stunning pieces and collections I’ve seen photos of this past month have made my jaw drop. I’ve also felt quite the urge to go shopping, which is a bit of a downside, haha. So far, I’ve fought that, but, dang, there sure are a lot of cute things out there.
One thing this group does a lot of, which I’ve found to be really fun, is they post photos based on particular themes. It’s neat to see what everyone does to meet those themes, with what they have in their own collections. Some themes, (or hashtags), are ongoing and you can post to them anytime you have a photo that meets the particular criteria and others are for a time period, as in “this week we’re asking you to show us your (fill in the blank) “. Some of the asks are pretty straight forward and some of them make you really think about what you have, that will fit. And, of course, since this is a visual medium, you want to present the items in an interesting way, and take good photos. Also, part of the fun are the clever written captions that go along with the posts. I have found myself laughing out loud at some of them.
This past week, I jumped in and posted four different vignettes, for these themed challenges : Note: photos on Instagram are square so users don’t see the black bars on the left and right of the images.
1) The hashtag was #colorfulvintagegirls and participants were asked to post photos of a vintage footstool.
My caption : “There’s no place to put my feet up with owl this stuff on the footstool!”
My Description : I received this cool curvy footstool years ago from a friend who had reupholstered it himself. The cocktail jug was found in a dusty backroom of a secondhand store in Toronto’s Kensington Market and the green owl is a thrifted find from Value Village.
2) This one suited two hashtags – one was #vintagetoytime, for which people were asked to post their pink and red toys, and the other was #vintagehashie, where they wanted to see luggage.
My caption : “Francie has packed her suitcase for a visit to her cousin Barbie’s place. “
My Description : Francie was introduced as Barbie’s modern cousin in 1966. I received her in recent years, along with an assortment of great clothes, as a gift from a friend. The book was a prize I won at school in 1st grade for best Halloween costume. Although my mother made the costume I’ve always been particularly proud of that win!
3) This one suited three hashtags (my new online friends were impressed!) – one was #mypunyvintagevalentine where we were asked to post a pun related to Valentine’s Day. The second was #collectionsbytheletter where we were to post a collection that began with the letter B. The third was #objectheartchallenge which asked that we arrange objects into the shape of a heart.
My caption : “I must “brooch” the subject, will you be my Valentine?”
4) The hashtag was #virtualvintagehunt where we were asked to post pictures that included items from a list. This week those were : – A Heart, a Chocolate Box, a Love Letter or something handwritten, Cupid, an Old photo and a Jewelry box.
My caption : “I went on a scavenger hunt around the house today, gathering what I needed for the virtual vintage hunt.”
My Description : “My something handwritten was the page from my journal on the day my love and I got married, over 23 years ago. The photo is of him. The plaster cupid was, coincidentally, a wedding gift. The silver tray was thrifted and the jewelry box was given to me by a friend’s mom, way back when. The doilies and fabric hearts are things I made recently, the hearts made from a worn vintage Texmade pillow case.”
Aside : Little baby Nick in that photo makes my heart melt.
Thank you for reading. Wishing you a good week. xo Loulou
