A visit with Katie from Le Petite Oiseau

Katie and her family visiting Niagara Falls

Hey all, my name is Katie and my Etsy shop is Le Petit Oiseau. I'm mama to Lyla, my sweet 15 month old who is the reason for my shop! I've been a frequenter of thrift stores since high school, sometimes more than others, and when pregnant, I started to search for vintage baby dresses. I would always come across other vintage kids clothes and be sad that I couldn't "save" them and I tried to convince myself I couldn't hoard the bigger sizes. Soon thrifting became a bit of an obsession and my search led me to ebay and Etsy. One day it was like a lightbulb clicked on in my head and I thought, "I could do this!" and Le Petit Oiseau was created.

 Lyla poses in vintage on Great-Grandma's suitcase

I'm still always drawn to vintage baby dresses, and sunsuits that will fit my daughter are like the holy grail. I'm always looking for vintage Fisher Price Little People too! I'm not gonna lie, some of the things I pick up, I personally don't like at all, but in several cases I've been surprised by customer photos and can't believe how cute something looks on. I also love to find old globes (I have 5), old books and old maps. My favorite vintage things are a set of suitcases I inherited from my Grandma that were my Great-Grandma's honeymoon set.

Fall color in central NY

The only thrift stores around here, aside from a few antique malls, are the Salvation Army. I frequent 3 different ones, occasionally making a trip to Syracuse, NY, 45 minutes away, for a change of scenery. Home, for my little family, is an old factory town along the Erie Canal in central NY. I've lived here most of my life and we just bought a home here. It's not a fancy place to live, but the thrifting is good, and somewhat surprisingly, so is the food. We're one of the top refugee resettlement cities in the US, so there is plenty of diversity just a short drive away. And really, it's a beautiful place with the Adirondack Mountains and several beautiful lakes just short drives away in every direction.

 

Lyla loves her vintage Fisher price toys!

My husband Josh & I have been married for 4 years and he tolerates my endless thrifting and hoarding with good humor, even making post office runs for me sometimes (true love)! Lyla is my thrifting partner and she charms the women at the particular Salvation Army we go to all the time (they recognize her and say hi - that's when you know you thrift a lot).








I love the vintage kiddo community on Etsy and feel so honored to be a part of the group that inspired me in the first place!

A sampling of the goodies for sale at Le Petit Oiseau:

It's T Time!!

Yay for warm weather, it's T shirt time again ! Your little one will be the star of the playground in these vintage goodies from VKC shops.

from KidletVintage

 from humanachievement

from LaDiDottie

from OliversForest

 from BugandBearVintage

 from thelittlemonsters

 

from lishyloo

from babyshapes

from SweetShopVintage

from toadstoolvintage

from lepetitoiseaushop

from petitbonhommevintage

A Visit With Corie from Fun Finds Vintage

My name is Corie and I own the Etsy shop Fun Finds Vintage. I live in Holland, Michigan, am married to my high school sweetheart and have two children, a 10 year old daughter and an 8 year old son. 

I'm actually super busy right now because it's Tulip Time! I do alumni Dutch Dance and my daughter, who is 10, is doing Kinder Dance for the first time. We both spent January through April perfecting our dance. It's a lot of fun to dress up in your Dutch costume, do your dance, talk to tourists, etc.




I even spent my summers in high school working at one of our local tourist attractions,Windmill Island. There is an actual windmill there that was brought over from the Netherlands in 1965. We Dutch Danced and gave tours of the windmill- a super fun job!








The other great thing about Holland is living right on the shores of Lake Michigan. At my
home, I can hear the waves when they are big. I work part time at Camp Geneva in Holland as the Special Programs Registrar and from my desk I can see Lake Michigan! I love it!

Besides working at the camp, I also volunteer with my church as a middle school youth leader. Reading is my favorite pasttime, I love the color purple, and my favorite food is cereal:)





I got into selling vintage because of my sister Amber, who is also a VKC member with shop Toadstool Vintage. I thrifted a lot anyway so I told her I'd help find things and she said, "Why not open your own shop?" So I did! Within a few days, I'd made my first sale and I was hooked! It's a great "part-time job" that I enjoy doing. It's such a thrill to hunt treasures. Sometimes I have to make myself drive PAST the thrift store! I don't need anymore inventory!

I find most of my stuff at thrift stores, my favorite being Bibles for Missions where I've found many of my quickest selling items, and many of the items in my own home! I'd have to say my best vintage find is a wool Pendelton blanket, a gorgeous blue and green plaid. My kids hate it because it's wool, and therefore scratchy, but I adore it. And it was only $3!






 Here are a few of the fabulous vintage finds at Corie's shop Fun Finds Vintage

It's a Jungle Out There!

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Take a walk on the wild side with these adorable VKC finds.

 

from thelittleplum

 from twinkletotsVintage

from SweetShopVintage

 from lepetiteoiseaushop

 from passtheparcelvintage

from AttysSproutVintage

 from Apearsvintagegoodies

from FunFindsVintage

from WonderlandToys

from OliversForest

 from toadstoolvintage

 from LittleBlueHouseMod

 from tinyyellowbird

 

 from beeprettyvintage

from TwoRedSuitcases

In My Flying Machine...

Your pint sized pilot will flip for these aviation themed VKC finds.

 from LillysLuckyPenny

from SweetShopVintage

 from 1SweetDreamVintage

from KidsCornerVintage

from LindasTimeCompass

from twinkletotsVintage

 from PourToujours

 from squarebearwears

 from toysofthepast

from PeppermintandCocoa

from udaskids

from babyshapes

from brookaloo

 from OnceUponABookshop

from LittleBlueHouseMod

from WonderlandToys