Coffee Cup Gift Guide 2010

You can pretty much find a Black Flag song for every topic. Keep that in mind will ya.

In case you didn't catch it, Jayson and I are competing again with blog posts. We haven't decided on what the winner wins, but I'm not gonna be the loser. Show your support for team Morgan by posting horribly inappropriate comments on Jayson's posts.

Anyways, coffee is swell beyond description, and every serious drinker has a favorite cup. Maybe it was a gift, has a pleasant shape, or some lol phrase on the side; you want that cup every morning. Hey I get it. I'm in between two cups myself. For a good two years I stayed faithful to a cheap restaurant-style cup. Plain white, nothing spectacular. Then Tami thrifted this cool "history of the telephone" coffee cup from the 80s that has really got my attention. It has all the noteworthy telephone designs listed with the years, it's cool beans, and it's bigger. Ah, decisions.

So here are a handful of coffee cups off Etsy. We are pretty much down to the wire with any guarantees of arrival by Christmas, so act fast. Just contact the seller after purchase and tell them you'll bring their shop to the ground if you don't receive it by Christmas. Trust me, it'll work.

1) Skull and Bones Diner Mug. I met this seller at the Winter Renegade couple weeks ago. I'd love an entire serving set with this design.

2) Vintage Tupperware Coffee Cups. I'm a sucker for these. I grew up with these as our cups, I love them. I found a vintage Tupperware kitchen canister set last year at the thrift store, bought it , came home glowing, and Tami's like, "why did you come home with this ugly crap?". I was like, "shut up, I like them". Cool story, uh?

3) Born to Shop Coffee Mug. For the woman in your life that spends all your money. But would you want it any other way?

4) Vintage Ribbed Metal Thermos. Ok, so not a cup or mug, but holds coffee. I'm in the market for a Thermos for when I go on 1st shift at work, email me for my address. ; ) Isn't this picture great?

5) Vintage Federal Explosive Coffee Cup. Company swag is usually lame to the extreme, this thankfully, is not.

Well there you go. Thank the good Lord for coffee. Praise Him.

No Comments

Categories: Uncategorized.

Tags: Black Flag, coffee, etsy

By Morgan

—December 17, 2010 at 10:00 am

Have I gone too far?

Heck no! I've languished without art in my life for far too long. While I'm not gonna be holing myself in my attic with my oil paints anytime soon, Manly Vintage's Etsy shop will be pulling no punches. Personally, I need to try and have the best pictures on Etsy. If taking pictures of one typewriter takes 3 hours, so be it. Good art always takes a long time.

I've always been competitive. I was a jock up until high school, when my competitive nature in a team setting hit a brick wall in an indoor soccer league sophomore year. When I started drawing and painting vigorously Junior year, I regularly destroyed my past work cause it didn't add up with whatever artist I was obsessing with at the moment.

Then my stint in college, forget about it. I took over the painting studio, spending literally open till close, putting thick layers of paint on just about everything in the 20' radius of my canvas. What finally tamed this monster? The love of a good women. I got married, dropped all my classes, pack my supplies in storage, got a job, had three kids. Do I have regrets? Hm, no. But man, every time I see my easel just sitting there, I want to put my fist through a wall. I have a feeling holing up in the attic with my oil paints may just happen in the near future after all.

In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy my pictures.

2 Comments

Categories: Moment of Manly Zen, Morgan best of.

Tags: 1940s, amateur photography, art, etsy, vintage typewriter

By Morgan

—October 11, 2010 at 12:32 pm

Manly Vintage Relaunch!

A lot of talking and no action has finally evolved into a shift of epic proportions. Manly Vintage's Etsy shop is finally open!

Manly Vintage is a combination of our vintage shops Vintageonthemake and Chicagoish. There will be some similarities, but bigger and better is name of the game this time around. As our tastes and decor sensibilities have matured, we have come to loathe a lot of the vintage we sold in the past. Manly Vintage will be refined, masculine, and leaning towards higher-end items.

Refined: We don't want to sell individual items, we want to sell our own decor aspirations to an adoring public. Each piece should fit into a larger picture of how your home should look.

Masculine: No more pyrex. No more owls. No more kitschy crap. While not everything has to be dripping with testosterone, we will lean towards vintage and antiques that graced the poker room, the study, the warehouse, and the auto body shop of bygone eras.

Higher-end: We are both done cluster f-ing our homes and shops with smalls and misc. We hope you do the same. Our focus will be serious pieces for serious decorators. This will also include refurbished and (hopefully) handmade furniture.

So basically, think 80s DC hardcore, you got Minor Threat and Rites of Spring; life changing bands on their own. Life happens and those bands end, but outta that, comes Fugazi. Manly Vintage is Fugazi. Well... maybe not that epic. We did add Chicago at the end to help in the epic department. You know like, "wait, is there a Manly Vintage London too?" Ha. More like Manly Vintage Joliet.

What do you guys think of our newish layout and banner? Here's our thought evolution.

We wanted black and white, and our first font choice made us think Russian propaganda poster.

Maybe black background? Hmm, we decided the font wasn't readable enough.

Here's what we went with, using a bastardized Helvetica. A nod to another 80s punk great, Black Flag, and our beloved Chicago skyline.

And finally the avatar to match. Check out our new shop here. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for shop/blog updates and random nonsense.

1 Comment

Categories: Moment of Manly Zen.

Tags: Chicago, etsy, mantiques, vintage

By Morgan

—October 9, 2010 at 3:43 pm

Manly Vintage is popping on men’s clothing

After the Vintage Heaven sale in Wicker Park Jayson and I did some serious evaluating of our friendship up to this point, you know like; do you like my new glasses? You owe me twenty dollars? I can’t stop thinking about your wife, is this going to be a problem? Do you think we should start selling clothes?

Well the answer to the last question is yes, Manly Vintage will start having men’s clothes available, at least at the next Vintage Heaven and Vintage Bazaar. Nothing against chicks selling men’s clothing if done right, but from what I’ve seen it has been poor selection and quality; we had one seller admit at Vintage Heaven she literally grabs stuff for guys without even looking. You know, and damn it, those fashion obsessed male hipsters deserve better than that.

I don’t know what will happen in our individual online shops, and I have tried to sell some clothes before with little success, there are some guidelines I’m going to stick to. Like modeling the clothes myself, or one of the other hot married dudes I know. Also to never look like those virgin douche bags modeling men’s clothes on sites like Etsy…I guess that’s it. So lets review 1) model the clothes, no shirt on a hanger, on a wall 2) model in a way that does not suggest I go home at night to a bottle of lotion, but to a wife who has dinner ready when I get home.

Thoughts anyone? Let the wild rumpus begin!

2 Comments

Categories: Estate Sale Hunting, Moment of Manly Zen.

Tags: Chicago, estate sale find, etsy, thevintagebazaar

By Morgan

—July 18, 2010 at 10:30 am

I just want to get to know her

I think I'm in love. Beside the obvious; the long legs, flowing hair, and a butt that doesn't quit, I think she just gets me.

We started out just as friends, hanging out when I'd sneak down to the basement for a smoke, but something has changed.

I think I'm in love, I think she just gets me.

1 Comment

Categories: Uncategorized.

Tags: ashtray, babes, cigar, cigarettes, etsy, sweet vintage goods

By Morgan

—July 12, 2010 at 7:22 am

Thank You Katherine Raz

BackGarage's Etsy shop has been off the chain of late. I strongly recommend you check it out.

The good stuff moves fast, like this vintage Don Post Studios werewolf mask.

I've already put it to some good use. here. here.

1 Comment

Categories: Moment of Manly Zen, Uncategorized.

Tags: Backgarage, Chicago, etsy, flannel, photography, werewolf

By Morgan

—April 6, 2010 at 5:30 pm

Vintage Euphoria

I’ve grown to be pretty mechanical in my buying and selling of vintage merchandise; I’ll make a swift walk in, assess the situation, narrow in on what catches my eye, acquire it, get the pictures completed, list it, and stockpile it in the many places around the apartment or in storage.

Also thanks to this blog and the painful art of listing, my knack for some creative writing is slowly returning. Listing on Etsy has become a cinch, and lately I’ll have an entire post in my head as early as walking up to check the price tag on something. This whole process just happened this past Saturday at a church flea market in Lyons when I spotted this 1950’s-60’s typewriter.

“Mid-Century typewriter- excellent condition. Only $5, would be an easy flip.”

Then I saw the “Made in Bulgaria”, which gave me all I needed for my ridiculous one-liners that have been accompanying my Etsy listings. “1950’s Bulgaria. Commies. The perfect typewriter to hole up in your attic and write some subversive literature- Yeah that’ll work. Easy $40 or more”

Then at home while taking measurements, weight, and checking for any flaws worth mentioning I came across this sheet of paper located in the convenient paper slot inside the typewriter case . (ink is faint, click to super size!)

Then this.

“Oh man Laura Neumann you communist SOB.”

Then. Vintage Euphoria.

Occasionally an item itself will floor you, but often it’s the weird things; the receipts, to do lists, the notes to themselves or their children. While you would never purchase these little things themselves, when found become far more valuable than the purchase or even the resale value of the item. The things they would never want anyone, especially the FBI, to see.

This is why I go through other peoples crap on my free time. Priceless.

Now is the time for for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

UPDATE!!!: Well it turns out the phrase above was a popular typing phrase alongside “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. It originated in 1867 in some podunk town in Wisconsin. Still interesting...and...Laura Neumann is still a communist SOB.

Ask the Readers – A Schlitzy Blog Poll

Jayson and I had just got off the phone discussing trying to push the blog into something useful for our readers and not just Etsy shop nonsense when this wonderful idea popped into my head: lets have the readers pick my next item title.

What a more perfect item and LOL funny then this vintage Schlitz beer pitcher. Let the voting BEGIN!

Loading ...

UPDATE!!!: Listing is up

5 Comments

Categories: Ask the Readers.

Tags: barware, beer, booze, etsy, retro, Schlitz, sweet vintage goods, vintage

By Morgan

—March 4, 2010 at 9:00 am

Dad are you selling my toys?

Whenever I head into the kids room and grab some toys my oldest gets suspicious because I may or may not have sold a couple of her Fisher-Price toys at some point. I mean, who’s keeping track of all these toys?

Today her and her sister picked the lock on their door (j/k) and came out wondering what I was doing with her computer and dolly. Only props my dear…so far.

A bit of a picture overload but if you have a beating heart in your chest you’ll find one you just love. I think I might include one with Lucy (the youngest) in the Etsy listing, if all goes over well this might be the beginning of some sort of Etsy stage-parenting disaster.