Last week, Marjorie made a post about the launch of a new website called Shop Vintage Portland. I talked with the creator, Anne Weiland, about her new website, as well as her other vintage clothing blog LuLu’s Vintage, and the Artist Trading Card Swaps she and her husband, Chris Weiland, organize every month here in Portland. You can check out my interview with Miss Weiland after the jump.

MERCURY: Tell me about your new blog, Shop Vintage Portland.

ANNE WEILAND: With ShopVintagePortland.com, I am combining my love and knowledge of Portland and everything vintage to share with the public an unprecedented guide to the city and all the vintage things that it has to offer.

The blog features posts on all the vintage stores in town, vintage expos, fashion shows and nightlife. Interviews with local store owners and vintage enthusiasts are also featured, and listings of store sales and vintage related classifieds will be coming soon.

So, if someone wants to buy or sell a vintage item I will post about it on my website for free. I am also looking for people to participate in the Portland Style Council. Readers can contact me at shopvintageportland@yahoo.com.

You also have an online vintage clothing store/vintage clothing blog collectively called Lulu's Vintage. Tell me about that website, and what made you start up that endeavor.

On Lulu's Vintage online store, I sell items from my vintage collection such as sewing patterns, hats, ties and clothing. On Lulu's Vintage blog I act as a vintage shopping editor, scouring the internet and picking out what I feel are the best vintage clothing, accessories and housewares to share with my readers. I will often give some history or background about the particular type of item that I am writing about.

Mondays I have a theme for my posts called Manly Mondays, and I post only about men's vintage clothing and accessories. Fridays are what I call Fashion Fridays, because I feature new clothing and accessories that have been influenced by old clothing and accessories. So much of what is being designed today is based on vintage clothing.

The whole idea for Lulu's Vintage blog came about when my brother was designing my website and suggested that I have a blog about vintage. I did research and found that no such blog existed. I had fun starting the blog from scratch and enjoyed creating the format for the blog posts and what they were about.

In addition to all your work with vintage clothing, you and your husband run monthly Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swaps. Tell me a little bit about what ATCs are, exactly, and what people can expect to find at the swaps.

Artist Trading Cards are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" works of art that are produced to trade with other artists at swaps. ATCs can be drawn, painted, sculpted, collaged, stamped, sewn, beaded, welded, etc. You can use photographs or almost anything that you can think of to create them.

At the swaps we gather together to trade cards with one another. A lot of ATC regulars put their cards in baseball card sleeves inside of a notebook and pass them around for people to select cards from. This isn't necessary, but it can make swapping easier.

For those readers who are interested in coming to an ATC swap, what information do they need to know?

The Portland ATC swaps take place monthly. We are currently experimenting with the time and location of our meetings. Our next meeting is taking place on Sunday, February 17th from 5 pm to 7 pm at the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) located at 917 S.W. Oak Street #218 in downtown Portland. People of all ages and skill levels are invited to come and join us.

To view some of the Artist Trading Cards that we have made and for more information, check out our website or email us at atcpdx@yahoo.com.