Pickin With My Honey

It is one of those weekends where my wonderful in-laws have taken the kids to spoil them rotten and my husband and I have some time to ourselves. We enjoyed a fire with some wine, a show at the Strand-Capital, a drive in the country...and yes, I did drag him to two thrift store...I know, I know, not romantic.

My husband is not a natural picker, but he will tolerate it, especially if there is a chance of stray stereo equipment - for about two-minutes, then he's done. This weekend, though, he was the winner, not of stereo equipment, but more practical things like a rolling garment bag he needs for his business travels and a winter vest for when he's doing manly things like chopping wood and shoveling the driveway. He was happy.

Me, only mildly so. I am ready for spring and yard sales and garage sales, thrift stores are not yielding the treasures I would like. I did find two things I bought to put in my etsy.com shop, a bun warmer - I know, bun warmer? it appealed to me, what can I say -- and a little blue bag.







Although no great deals were discovered on our search, I did enjoy a few hours having my husband all to myself as we searched the dusty shelves and corners of the shops. I take my treasures where I can find them.

Goodwill Hunting

Saturday was a family hunt at the local Goodwill stores...I know, you can probably think of a few other things your family would like to do on a Saturday morning. But, one member of my family, my sister-in-law Corey, works for Goodwill Inc and once a year she gets 50% off coupons she is good enough to share with us.

So Corey, her sister, my boys (who thought they might find something really great they had to have, their allowance burning a hole in their pockets), my husband (who is convinced one day he'll come across an Eames chair and a McIntosh stereo system lying around the housewares department) and I loaded into the Suburban and made the rounds of the local Goodwill stores.

The stores were crowded - other employees taking advantage of the discount -- and the shelves did not yeild any great treasures (certainly no Eames chairs lurking in a forgotten corner), but I did find some nice mid-century china...
And my son, Will, spotted a 1960's globe, so he bought it and I put it in the etsy shop for him.

And my oldest son, Evan, found this great vintage glass decanter and bought it for me to put in the shop as well - they will probably both make more money than me this week!

Etsy Community

I love the etsy.com community, and that is weirdly what it feels like sometimes. Even though you rarely meet the people you are selling with, buying from or selling too (I did meet one woman who bought a tea-pot from me and lives in the same county, so we met at a Starbucks - that's why I say "rarely"), yet connections are made on-line.

I've had other sellers on etsy contact me to ask me to look out for certain things when I'm at yard sales and thrift stores, so they can buy them from me to use in their own creations.

A writer for In-Style Magazine's on-line zine noticed a brooch I made and had in my etsy shop, she ended up including it in an article (see link to the right) she was doing on how brooches are coming back into style.

And now, a fellow etsy seller who has a great shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/blimpcat
has included this retro-clock I have on my site in her current blog about decorating and designing with vintage items...
http://www.blimpcat.blogspot.com/
It really is fun watching where things you either found in a garage sale, or you created in your craft room, will end up in this cyber-world of etsy.com.

Bits of This and That

On Monday I wrote in my blog about the bags of jewelry Linda and I bought at a community yard sale on Saturday...just bits and pieces of this and that, mismatched earrings, broken necklaces and charms. I've been playing with them all week and having a lot of fun creating Steampunk jewelry.

For those not familiar with the term, here's Wikipedia's definition...

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; in other words, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne or real technologies like the computer but developed earlier in an alternate history.

Here are a few of the creations that emerged from the $1 bags...










The one below was popular in my etsy shop and sold a few hours after I put it on-line.

















This was once and earring I turned into a brooch and added the watch gear.



Growing up loving both Star Trek and Victorian era novels (yes, I was a geek) and now being a Dr. Who fan (my husband introduced me - grown-up geek) I'm finding this a super-fun genre to exlore.

Playing with Words

I love words.

I love writing them in stories and creating characters, dialog, places, relationships. They are my paintbrush.

Since I have decided to give that part of me - the author, writing part of my brain -- a sabbatical, I find it funny that even as I try a new creative outlet in jewelry making, I still come back to words.

Here are a few pieces I made last night and put up on my etsy.com shop tonight...

Words, words, words...it always comes back to words.

A Firehouse and Bags of Broken Jewelry

I was at the curb in front of my house waiting for the van with the other blond to pull up at 7:15AM Saturday morning, our destination was to first get my aunt Joan and then head to a firehouse in a small town having a community yard sale. All of these things are exactly how I like to start a weekend.

The drive to the firehouse was beautiful, over hill-n-dale - also how I like to start an early Saturday morning -- light playing off the fields with cows and horses grazing, stone and wood farm houses dotting the countryside. The firehouse was over two sets of bumpy railroad tracks at the edge of a quiet little town.

Inside we found mostly vendors, so the majority of the merchandise for sale was already priced too high to make a profit, but also provides a nice quality and variety of items to look at.
I found this great vintage radio shaped like an owl, which I ended up selling on my etsy site soon after I put it on-line.

We spent about an hour poking around, each of us with a few things in our bags, and were on our way out when Joan spotted a box on the floor under a vendors table selling a nice variety of vintage jewelry. We all rummaged through the box and found several zip-lock baggies full of bits of old jewelry for a dollar. Goody-bags for the creatively-minded - little bit of shiny...oooh, I can do something with those...not sure what...but I know I can...

We went back to Joan's and dumped our booty out on the table as we sipped coffee and thought of all the fun things that could be made with eighties jewelry left-overs. Linda modeled a lovely pair of giant-dangly earrings.
We came up with several ideas for all this great stuff and decided it really is more fun to play with broken jewelry than do our Saturday chores.











All things come to an end and the coffee cups were emptied and the jewelry put back in their bags for future craft projects...laundry, child chauffeuring and cleaning called. But for a little while, we felt like little kids playing dress-up in our mother's jewelry box.

Back in the Saddle Again

Today the two blonds climbed into the old suburban and headed for our favorite thrift stores, the first time since the holiday craziness began.

To make it even more fun, Linda's Mom, Lee and her wonderful friend Kay (also the mom of another great friend of mine and all around awesome lady) joined us as we braved the cold and snow to poke through some old stuff.

Although the company was great, the picking was so-so...where is all the cool old stuff people should be cleaning out of their houses after the holidays?!

I did, however, find a fun circular plant stand...
And this little mid-century mod glass pitcher is a cutie too...
It' a new year and a the blonds are ready to find some more great stuff...now where the heck is it!?

Now?....Now?...Did I sell something now?

Hello, my name is Heather and I am addicted...to checking my etsy.com shop.

I am sure there has been some study done somewhere, sometime, with rats, where they step on a button and a food pellet is released into their cage. One rodent steps on it and every time a pellet comes shooting out at them, while a different rat in the next cage steps on it and only randomly does a food pellet appear.

If I had to guess, the rat that always received the food whenever it stepped on the button would just step on it when he, or she, was hungry, with calm certainly that each time they would be rewarded...not obsessively, like the rat who is randomly given the food, I bet that rat hits that damn button every chance it gets thinking that this time...no, this time...no, this time...ahhh...the *&%*?! pellet will shoot out.

Sometimes I feel like the rat with the random rewards. There are times when it seems that I have the right stuff in my shop and I sell one, maybe two, items in a day. This makes me feel on the right track with what I'm selling and that I'm not wasting my time or my life -- and I am rewarded by the food pellet gods.

Other times, I can go several days without a sale, and each day that ticks by, I notice the amount of time between when I check the etsy site becomes shorter and shorter. Did I sell something now...now...now... (where are the darn food pellets!)

New Appreciation for and Old Art

I never thought much about embroidery before. It was something my grandmother had done occasionally, a few framed pieces from an antique store hung in my aunt's house, and I would see them from time to time at yard sales...just things around.

Lately, I have started to notice them more, not all, but a few nice pieces, and they are really quite pretty. The one above was part of a set of two matching framed embroidery that caught my eye at a sale at a retirement home. I liked them so much I almost hung them in my bedroom instead of putting them in my etsy shop...but I was good and added them to my inventory, and sold them fairly quickly.

A few weeks ago I came across this one at a Thrift store and thought it was so cute. Love the color and the little blue bird.
And this one I bought at a Salvation Army this week.

I think I'm going to need an embroidered bird intervention.

Getting Closer

I took another stab at participating at an auction yesterday, got a little closer to actually buying something. I did register for a number and I stayed for a few hours to observe the ritual of the auction house, kind of like an anthropologist studying a unique society...and that is not far off.

Although I didn't buy anything I did get to have a cup of homemade ham and bean soup with my aunt Joan and cousin Gail...which made it worth the trip anyway...then poked through the offerings and watched, observed and studied, making mental notes.

Mental note number one: When in the room where box lots are being auctioned off, stay near the box you're interested in and don't move. There are about 20 people all huddled around the auctioneer and unless you are right there, you can not even see what is up for bid. I was so jealous when I saw a man walk off with arm-fulls of beautiful Pyrex bowls he bought for a $1, but I just couldn't get close enough to jump into the bidding.

Mental note number two: Take a little notebook (a suggestion from Joan) so you can make a note of which items you are interested in and how high you are willing to bid. The auction moves fast, so you want to make sure you're bidding on the right thing and you're not getting caught up in the action and go over what you wanted to pay for something.

Mental note number three: Mostly just for me...don"t get so caught up in the extraordinarily good people watching that you miss bidding on anything.

To understand better why I find this process a little intimidating and fast-paced, here's a little sample from yesterday's auction...

My Office

I had to laugh yesterday as I poked around one of my favorite thrift stores while I talked to my husband on the cellphone, he was speaking to me from his nice office in a glass and marble building...I was not. I was moving dusty nick nacks around on a metal shelf and avoiding tripping over a Formica-topped table and plaid covered couch.

I, too, once had a nice office - back before the dinosaurs, and two little baby boys -- it had a door and a window and everything. I reminisced on this as I looked around, and I had to smile at the strange twists and turns in life, choices made, some made for you, priorities changing, and for me, my journey at the moment bringing me to places where people discard the debris of their lives. I sort through it to see if there is anything someone else might like to have; quite a different vocation from the one I had envisioned for myself all those years ago sitting at my desk and looking out my office window.

Yet, this is not a tale of woe. I am actually excited when I wake up in the morning and think how I can arrange my day to fit in a trip to a thrift store, yard sale or auction. Or plan a few hours to photograph whatever I found the day before and add it to my etsy shop.

So for now, this is my office....

Winter Makes Me Feel Crafty

And not in the "crafty" way of being clever either...just in the way that I like to sit on a cold, gray day by the fire with a bunch of old buttons, glue, jewelry findings and falling apart children's books...ooh, how romantic.

I know there are probably people who would rather be skiing (actually, that does sound good), or snuggled up with their honeys with a cup of hot cocoa (oh, that sounds good too), but I love to spend a nice winter's afternoon, like yesterday, with scissors and pliers - don't ask, had a brain storm about using old electronic boards to make steam punk jewelry, still working the bugs out on that idea -- and made a few rings, necklaces and a brooch.

Here are a few of my creations...

Oh, I hope its a long winter, I've got a lot of ideas!

Out with the Old, In with the Old

Whew! The holiday's are winding down. I spent yesterday going through my storage area and craft room where I keep the items I find for my etsy shop and do my jewelry making.

It took me five-hours but I sorted through the items on my shelves and weeded out the things that had been sitting for awhile and didn't seem to be selling, they went to Goodwill (which ironically may have been where I got them).

My craft supplies and table were cleaned and organized, which even inspired me to make a few new pieces.

It was nice standing back when I was done and looking at my nice neat shelves, but it was also fun looking over some of the things I had recently found at a thrift store and hadn't had a chance to clean up and put in the shop yet. Like this set of Fire King mixing bowls with hand-painted roosters.
And I love these little owl salt-n-pepper shakers too...can't help it, so cute!
So it is 2011 and time for a fresh start - I am a sucker for the start of a new year -- and I got rid of some old stuff, and then made room for some new, old stuff.