Mama Maven & Mini Maven in pin curls & bows. #LOVEx3

Perhaps the most merry & zippy thing you have to play with, and accessorize with, is your hair. And if you *really* want to replicate the retro look, that’s truly the best place to start. It might just be the most convincing of all the elements in turning out the retro or rockabilly look. I, personally, LOVE rockin’ the pin curls, finger waves, & Atomic rolls. Having groovy retro hair seals the look like rubber cement (and sometimes you need enough Aqua Net that it feels like you used it!). It can be quite time-consuming when you’re first trying to perfect these hair styles, but once you get the knack of it, it’s easy breezy lemon squeezy! I can throw up Atomic Rolls in my sleep (and I sleep like a blasted cadaver).

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I was a single mother for 6 years before I met Darling Hotbuns (and let me tell you, he is THE BEST — there’s nothing sexier than a good daddy #hubbahubba). Back then, I never received regular or sufficient child support, and Mini Maven was only a toddler, so I was paying for childcare and things were reeeally tight. I worked for Duke University at the time, but most often we were barely breaking even. Because of this, I learned to become *very* inventive!

In the beginning, I started picking up furniture off the side of the road — in other words, trash. I would bring it home, sand it down with my palm sander, and refurbish it or simply paint it. It was just the Mini Maven & I, so our abode was like a kaleidoscope! (Every color of the rainbow was in that little house. It was a complete girly playground, and the children in the neighborhood treated it like Romper Room. I was DEFINITELY the Kool Aid mom on the block. I would have 9 children in an 825 square foot house, regularly!) I painted everything in bold, zany colors and patterns. I made them as lively and fun as I could with what I had. Almost everything inside of our house came to us in this way, sitting on a curb waiting to be loved or landfill-ed.
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That’s right, darlings, What’s Ravin’, Maven? NOW has it’s own STORE and we’re open for business starting TODAY! Best part? You don’t even need to get out of your fuzzy slippers & go out into the cold!

This store is going to grow slowly with chichi, flirtatious & unique purchase items & finds of all kinds. WRM will be featuring one new jazzy listing to the Ravin’ Maven Mall at the start of every week on Maven Mall Mondays. So, every Monday check in here at the official website, Facebook, Twitter, OR Etsy to see what we have to offer you & your fabulously original, fun self! All purchases will be made through Paypal via The Ravin’ Maven Mall, and please feel free to contact me personally if you have any further curiosities. Until then, here is today’s featured Maven Mall Monday piece — you’re going to LOVE it like whoa!

My Mini Maven is QUITE the neck model, don’t ya think?! This necklace has all the classic elements of a punky chic, but it is also smashingly feminine with all  the glitz & glamour girl touches.

Yes, THIS deliciously Day of the Dead inspired choker/necklace  is a Vera Wang! ::thud:: #awesomesauce

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Cardboard coffee shop photo via apartmenttherapy.com ~ LOVE!

Sometime last week, I posted this far-fetched, remarkable & dishy diorama made from recycled cardboard on my WRM Facebook fanpage. Talk about patience, skill, & mad talent! This little miniature coffee shop is just out-of-control cool! It made me start thinking about trying to build one FOR REAL. #lightbulb

I’ve never really set forth to make a diorama for the sake of making a diorama (other than when it was an assignment). Yet, in RETROspect, I have realized that I’ve been making them for as long as I can remember, maybe just not always in the exact definition of a diorama. I was always making my own houses for my small playthings. I was mildly, if not maniacally, obsessed with the cartoon The Littles. I used to imagine that I was only a couple inches tall, and then I would look at EVERY thing; from a thimble to a toothpick, and wonder what it could be in a home (id est: barstool… stripper pole… You know, the first things needed when just moving in. #stopbeingafuddy-duddy #that’sfunny #admitit #it’sokaytolaugh #joking). This was just how my egghead & imagination has always worked (creatively, not contortedly ::chuckle::).

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(A new blog post will be up tomorrow. Today is all play & no work! Gros bisous, Mavens! <3 ~ Angelika Frangelico)

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