A Goddess, Seattle and a Lamp

Just a quick catch up on some things that have been going on in my etsy shop this week...

I sold a statuette of the goddess Kwan Yin (that I completely wanted to keep for myself but was a good little etsy shop owner and put up for sale instead - and someone bought it, damn!) I found her a few months ago at a church sale hidden behind a pile of Tupperware.So glad I did and that she is on her way to Texas to be appreciated again.

And a lovely lady in Portland bought this pendant I made with a piece of vintage atlas of the great city of Seattle. I've never been there but I want to go really, really bad. Although, I love rainy days so much, I'm a little scared that if I did go I'd never come back.

 And this mid century Tensor desk lamp was one of the coolest things in my shop and will be leaving via Priority mail tomorrow for...wait for it...Brooklyn, New York. Yes, currently the coolest place in the known universe. Wish I could tag along with the lamp.

   But it might be a little awkward, I'm not that cool.

And They Were Good

On Friday I went to not one, but two, fundraiser sales at two different retirement communities. This caused me some consternation because these - next to church fundraisers -- are my favorite kinds of sales and don't come around very often, so I don't usually have to decide which to go to first. This is important because the best items are nabbed early.

I flipped a coin.

I arrived at the first sale just as the doors opened and then had to make more decisions as there where six separate rooms of items...and I wanted to go to all of them simultaneously...I have yet to figure out how to do this. Would be such a handy skill.

I chose the room with kitchenware and was happy I did. I found this unusual vintage stainless steel Revere Ware pan with a Sea Horse design. Never saw one of these before.

And then spotted this great set of 6 matching mid century high ball glasses.
The next room had electronics...found this cute Tensor lamp.And another room had linens...found this fantastic Eames era linen towel with cocktail recipes.

When I had picked through each room, twice, I decided I'd go to the other sale just to see if there was anything left.

There was...not much, but enough.

The best find was this Bates bedspread in perfect condition, like it was never used.
The picker Gods were smiling that day and my cup runneth over.

Ahhhh...its the Carrot People

This was once a normal couple that lived down the street from me and then they went on Weight Watchers and found out carrots were zero points and ate so many they turned into Carrot People.

Sorry, feeling a little silly today. And hungry...I'm on Weight Watchers too.

Can't wait for not one, but two retirement village sales tomorrow bright and early. Hoping they will distract me from wanting to eat Ring Dings instead of carrots.

No offense Carrot People.

Broken Bindings

I am not going to talk about my vintage stuff, my teenage sons or my writing (lack of) career today.

Not even going to show you any weird stuff I found on the thrift store shelves (even though I saw a ceramic angel this week with huge nipples - but the picture didn't come out very well, so no one would believe anyway how disturbing it was to see an angelic little cherub with giant headlights).

After a snowy pre-Halloween weekend where I was grounded from all yard saling, I'm going to write instead about my second shop on etsy.com that I opened a little over a month ago, Broken Bindings.

After a slow start I was losing all hope that any of my handmade jewelry from old children's books, atlases and dictionaries would sell, and then five pieces went in the last few weeks - and that just makes me happy.

This Sacred pendant made with a piece of antique dictionary was the one to break the ice. Felt like a spiritual blessing of the shop as its first sale.

 The next two sales to leave my worktable, made their way to the same customer. One is made from an old reading primer, See Pat Go, and a silver vintage Sarah Coventry bracelet.

The other is this fun set of a ring and earrings made from an old Lets Go to the Circus children's book. These are both some of my favorites that were sitting unnoticed in my other shop for quite awhile, so I was extra happy to see them make their way out into the word. 

I almost kept this one for myself, but decided to put it in the shop as well, and glad I did as it sold next. A little Yoga and Yogi definitions from an old dictionary, now a necklace.

And last (hopefully just for now) is a piece of vintage atlas of Key West I put under a glass cabochon and mounted on a silver-toned pendant setting with little flowers around it. Kind of wanted to keep this one for myself too, but I was a good shopkeeper and sold it to a lovely lady in Alabama.

My sales in Broken Bindings are not near those in my vintage shop Found Things, but there are only 17 pieces in total for sale (vs. 250 in the vintage shop) and it has just started so doesn't have the same exposure, but I'm good with that. Just enjoy making these pieces from old paper and hope someone else will enjoy wearing them...although certainly an added bonus to make a little extra money doing something I enjoy so much.

More pretty

In my last blog I gave a little taste of some of the more...unusual...things that turn up on the thrift store shelves that sometimes make me pause and think, Oh, my. Someone actually bought that on purpose, at some point, and put it in their home for decoration, or...holy crap...gave it to someone as a gift.

Today at another thrift store I was struck with the same thought, and here's why...

The photo isn't even doing justice to the matching girl and guy with the livestock, their outfits are florescent orange. The cow to the right looks friendly though, more so than the spray-tanned blond with the holes in her skirt.She looks a little pissy, her bow is probably too tight.

Although today there were some things on the shelves that reminded me of why I do look for - and often find -- some more desirable old thingies.

This 1950's tea pot made in Japan was on the thrift store shelf at 10:00AM this morning, in my etsy shop at 12:45 and sold to someone in North Carolina by 1:00...now that's how I like it!

And this mid century magazine rack may be hard to part with, looks so cool next to my husband's favorite chair (which also came from an estate sale - just an irrelevant fun-fact).

 I do get a kick out of wading through the weirdness at the thrift stores and estate sales to unearth the cooler old collectibles and atomic ranch decor. Sometimes I'm not sure which I like better.

Oh yeah...its the cooler stuff.

Lifting the Doldrums

Fall is upon us and the spontaneous, and occasionally lazy, days of summer have been replaced with a rigid schedule of 7:00AM bus pick-up, football practice, soccer practice,Boy Scout events,Sunday school and back-to-school nights - and anything else the universe can throw our way.

Is it June yet?

And I have decided to make my way back into the working world so that we may continue to feed two always-hungry teenage boys and somehow, someday (someway) pay for them to go to college. So my once flexible daily schedule will also soon be handed over to a boss (hopefully a benevolent boss). I can sympathize with the boys as they hang their heads over their cereal bowls and moan while hoisting their overstuffed backpacks onto their shoulders.

This change in schedule, and life in general, has put me in a bit of a funk - the "doldrums" seems a fitting word. This is not a place I like to be, so to give myself a little lift, I headed to my favorite thrift store yesterday with the other blond and her mom. What we found put a smile back on my face. Most of the merchandise was 50% off as the store tries to clear space on the shelves for fresh items for Christmas.

Yay.

Linda and I had the most fun at the counter where they keep items that are a little more valuable; there you have to ask an attendant if you want to see the merchandise. I have bought several pieces from this area of the store in the past, they are usually still reasonably priced. But there are other things that were just a little too rich for my blood.

Until 50% off day. That made several things just the right price.

I've had my eye on this PA Dutch teapot for ages, it was the first thing I pointed to on the shelf.
Linda directed the attendant's attention to a great 70's picnic basket/ice chest and quickly put that in her cart.Just as I was about to leave, I spotted these two stainless and enamel Reed and Barton bowls on the counter and quickly stashed them in my basket like a kid in a candy store (who's just found out half the candy is free).
So as more meetings, structure, dinners crammed in on the run and becoming a responsible adult all loom, yesterday was still a day to run amok in my favorite candy - I mean, thrift- store.

Doldrums, what doldrums.

Blog to Blog

I took a trip to my favorite thrift store this morning and had a fairly good hunt for stuff for my etsy.com shop.

The theme was definitely 70's today with this hand-embroidered picture for a child's room...
This Otagiri ceramic spoon rest with the cute little owls...

Joan Walsh Anglund stationary from 1973...

And a classic 70's coffee maker...

When I came home to put these little goodies in my etsy shop, I had an email from another blogger who has a great site on interior decorating and featured one of my upcycled mirrors.

Fun.

http://decoratinginsanity.com/2011/06/21/bright-colored-mirrors/

All in all, a good day in the world of etsy.com





twoblondsandavan.com/

A Little of This and a Little of That

When the other blond and I go out to yard sales or thrift stores, we are always looking for that really great find that we can list for forty-plus dollars and will sell the same day because its so beautiful and rare.

Those things do come along every week or so, but they are usually accompanied by a lot of other little this-es and thats that may only be worth 10-plus dollars and appeal to a smaller range of buyers. But these things do add up and are part of making the bottom-line come out black instead of red.

This past Friday was a perfect example of a day that turned up lots of these smaller and less-expansive items, rather than one or more really choice pieces.

Linda and I - along with our combined three boys -- headed to a nearby town having a town-wide yard sale, which is always nice because you can basically park the car and explore the town on foot rather than driving from place to place.

It was a sunny, summer morning and the boys were happy to run off with a few dollars in their pockets to see what treasure they could find. My youngest son found some things for himself, like a remote for his Play Station.

My older son decided he wanted to find some things for me to put on etsy for him, and he didn't do too badly. He found this hand-carved tray originally made for deviled eggs, but would be great for sorting beads or jewelry findings.

And I found a couple smaller items like this 1950's View Master... And a pretty bar set with and ice-bucket and matching snack bowls...
So no silver-spoons from Tiffany or Quezal glass lurked among the housewares at the yard sales we went to, but a few pretty things were found none-the-less. Not to mention a nice couple of hours walking around a quaint Pennsylvania town on a sunny, summer morning.

Vacation, Cake Stands and Letting Go

My husband, two sons and both my in-laws all loaded up in the old Suburban on the last day of school and got the heck out of Dodge...or rather, south-eastern Pennsylvania...and headed for sights southward.

We went to Monticello and marveled at one of the founding father's homesteads, and we drove along Skyline Drive and oohed and ahhed at the Blue Ridge Mountains. We went far underground and walked through Luray Caverns, listening to an organ that actually uses stalagmites to make music.



We ate wonderful food on patios built on the cobblestone streets that saw soldiers from both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars march down them.

And we even slept one night in a Yurt...yes, a Yurt - a round, semi-permanent structure made with wood and canvas -- in the Shenandoah Valley

So, with all this activity you'd think I would put aside any thoughts of finding things for my etsy.com shop...you must know me better than that by now.

We were traveling down a back road on Saturday morning - leaving the Yurt and heading towards Skyline Drive -- when, at forty-miles-per-hour, I spotted a glass cake stand with dome sitting on a folding table at a yard sale on the side of the road. I yelled for my husband to stop and we all were flung forward in our seats as my husband slammed on the brakes and then made a u-turn.

I love him.So among our baggage rattling around in the back of the Suburban was this cake stand and dome that somehow made it back home without being damaged...there was also the additional baggage of my back-and-forth internal dialog of what to do about opening a shop.

Any quiet time on the trip, and since we got back (and already took a another trip back to New Jersey - but that's another story), my mind was preoccupied with deciding whether or not to take the plunge into store ownership. The other blond has been wrestling with the same thoughts.

I would love to write here the answer that would make for a good story, that even though we have a million bureaucratic hoops to jump through, fees to pay, a store to renovate and supply with merchandise, that we were going to forge ahead anyway...but this is not a story, this is our lives.

Both blonds came to the same conclusion...although we can both picture this cute little shop filled with wonderful things, the complications, overhead, hours and expense of opening and running it is not something we have to deal with in our virtual shops. And we decided to keep it that way.

So with heavy hearts we closed the door on the dream of a brick and mortar store, but feel a renewed thankfulness for the opportunities our etsy.com shops have given us.

I have traveled a lot of miles this last week, and not all of them were in the Suburban.

New Record

The fastest thing I ever sold on etsy.com was a set of silver salt-and-pepper shakers shaped like owls. My son, actually, was the one who found them and I put them on the site for him. He was thrilled when they sold in three-minutes flat.

The second place winner was a Cosco child's booster seat from the fifties, very mid-century modern. It sold to a man in Italy in ten-minutes.

But yesterday, there was a new winner that supplanted the salt-and-pepper shaker, shaving more than a full minute off the best time and pushing the Cosco chair into third-place. And the winner is...Ta da...this approximately 40-plus year-old metal storage shelf from a garage sale. Sold one-minute after I put it on the etsy shop. I had a feeling it would go quickly, such a great rustic piece and still very useful. The industrial look is very hot right now, and one I like myself.

Ah, rust and dents, big sellers...quick ones too.

Two Blonds and Several Brunettes

It doesn't get much better than this morning...70 degrees, sunny, a church sale on the horizon and the Suburban filled with some of my favorite people...ahhh.

The free community newspaper gave us the heads-up on a church fundraiser in the lovely area of Seven Valleys on this Thursday morning. So, I picked up Linda and her mom Lee, and then headed to my aunt Joan's to pick her and her daughter Gail (my most awesome of cousins) up too for the twenty-minute trip northward.

We arrived just as the doors were opening and the long, long line of our fellow pickers shuffled in to see what the church ladies were offering. The space was large, open and spread out in three areas. When I first walked in I got the same overwhelmed, and slightly confused, feeling I often get at these things. There are so many people and so many directions to go in, I become a little like a deer in headlights.

Eventually, I shook off the feeling and headed towards the jewelry section. I didn't find any jewelry and was beginning to despair that I'd find anything I wanted, when I looked under one of the tables - my heart got a little lighter. I saw this old GE Show-n-Tell player. I had one of these as a kid and loved it. Had to have it!
As I stood up with this find, I glanced up on a shelf in front of me and saw one of the coolest old metal, tub radios I've ever come across. I snagged the radio too and then worried I was spending $10 on only two items, and then I shook that feeling off too and headed for the check out.Once I'd paid for these bulky items, I deposited them in the Suburban and then headed back inside to see if there was anything else I had to have. I ran into Linda with a joyful look on her face, she'd found one of her favorite things, a vintage clown costume (everyone's got their thing).
Blonds and brunettes alike had a successful day at Grace United, as you can see from the back of the Suburban.











I reversed my trip and deposited everyone back at their homes with their treasures.

By 10:00 the Suburban was empty and I was home and putting my finds on etsy.com, hoping for another morning just exactly like this one in my near future.


twoblondsandavan.blogspot.com/

On the Road Again

Oh how I love spring with the fresh scent of yard sale signs in the air...ahh, the long, cold winter of only auctions and thrift store shopping is over.

This morning Linda, her mom Lee and I were out and about in the big, blue van and didn't know which way to go first. There were multi-family yard sales, and estate sales and garage sales in every direction. We settled on heading fifteen-minutes north to an area that listed several multi-family yard sales, hoping we could have as many sales as possible in close proximity.

Of course, we didn't even make it out of town without spotting one that looked too good to pass up...so we didn't. And I'm glad. I found a couple really neat things, like this 60's mod picnic basket. Only 9" x 6" and it holds complete place settings, bowls, cups and utensils for four - and just so funky looking.








When we got to Jacobus, we found a development having a community sale, but there wasn't much but newer, plastic items, or over-priced antiques.

Then we found a few more in the area and our luck changed. I bought a whole box of blue-glass mason jars that someone might like to buy from my etsy.com site as vases for their outside wedding (this is becoming popular).
After several more stops, it started to get late and our purses were getting depleted, but we decided to stop at one last sale. And we were all glad we did, especially Lee, who we decided was the "winner" for the day with this great 50's drink mixer she found for $2.
Tomorrow morning, two church sales...oh I do love the spring.

Two Steps Forward and Three Steps Back - A Rant

Linda and I want to open a little shop to sell books, vintage and antique items and handmade gifts...that's all. We don't want to open a brothel, or a business that creates loud noise or pollution.

And we would like to make this little low-key venture in a building that was created over a hundred-years ago for the express purpose of being a store front in the business district also created expressly for small businesses.

So you would think, given this information, that it would be a fairly painless process in our small Pennsylvania burg to set about opening our shop and start the, not inconsiderable, process of fixing up the place and stocking it with merchandise...but you would be wrong.

Just to start the process requires zoning reviews and plot plans and parking waivers and Planning Board approval meetings...ahhh. And seriously, that is just the first step. So this is my rant...OK, now I'm done.

Tomorrow morning the other blond and I are going to set out early to a few local yard sales and do what we love, hunt for stuff other people are looking to buy. I am remembering why having virtual store is a whole lot less complicated than a real one. No Planning Board meetings or plot plans required.

Where to Begin

Now that Linda and I have moved from "kinda sure" we want to open a used book/vintage/handmade store into "yes, let's do this" territory, I am feeling a little overwhelmed with where to begin.

I have written a list...ok, five...of what has to get done to start on the road to business ownership, and its a long one. Tax ID numbers, should we be a LLC or Inc. and how where do we even start on the paperwork we need to get approved by the town? Haven't even gotten into insurance and remodeling...ugh.

I'm going to try to take this one line item on our list....lists...at a time. First is to meet tomorrow with the guy from the township who steers us to the forms and committees needed to start the approval process. Fun times.

I am looking forward to the point when we dig into sheet rock, paint, shelves and inventory, this I have control over. Finding inventory and getting my hands dirty is my thing, committees and forms, not so much.

At least tomorrow morning I can check off the first item on our list...only twenty-eight more to go.

twoblondsandavan.blogspot.com/

A Grand Opening and a Little Panic

My Aunt Joan and I got an early start this morning to go to the grand opening of a new thrift store, we knew there would be a line - we weren't wrong.

Luckily it wasn't too terribly long and we waited about thirty-people back from the front door for twenty-minutes, having a lovely conversation with the woman behind us about gardening and flea markets. Not a bad way to pass a few minutes in the morning.

Then the magical moment came when the manager came out to address the crowd, a minister blessed the store and a red ribbon was cut, and then the crowd stampeded to see what cra...used items they had on their shelves.

Turns out not a tremendous amount. Joan didn't even leave with anything and I found just a few things, although I do like them. There is this pair of embroidered yellow birds. I sold another pair just like these a few months ago, hopefully I will again.

And this is just a plain old pretty cake pedestal.
Once the things I bought were photographed and put on-line in my etsy.com shop, my mind turned to the matter of opening a "for real" shop in our little town of New Freedom. Eeek! So excited, so scared, so excited, so scared.

Tomorrow Linda and I are going to put a deposit down on the rental property and the craziness will begin...stay tuned.

Song Birds, Bowls and Burn Out

I have been remiss in my blog entries lately, and somewhat in my hunt for merchandise for my etsy.com shop. Life with two boys winding down their school year has gotten in the way, but I also experienced a little burn out. A saturation of "stuff" accumulating in my basement has curbed my appetite for hunting down more treasures.

I am not a collector by nature, although I love looking for interesting, old, forgotten things and bringing them out into the world for those that do. But business has slowed - spring is here and people are more interested in being outside than ordering online (as it should be). Plus, I had a bad experience with a buyer that cost me some money and soured me on the etsy experience somewhat...but the good news is I went to my favorite retirement village fundraiser sale Friday and the old enjoyment is back!

There was the gorgeous mid century carafe...

And this sweet pair of ceramic songbird salt-and-pepper shakers...And this gold-embossed bowl...
How can I not want to go out wherever I can and find these pretty things? Can't. Have to. Want to.

And to solve my clutter-phobia, having a yard sale on Saturday to clean out my own accumulations. Of course, had to schedule it so it didn't conflict with a church sale I want to go to.

twoblondsandavan.blogspot.com/

Floating Vintage

This past Easter weekend I was lucky enough to spend in one of my favorite places on the planet, in Maryland at my aunt and uncle's farm near Chestertown. I love it so much, it is the inspiration for my first published novel Lake Meade.

My weekend was filled with egg dying, catching up with family and too much ham and mashed potatoes, so any thoughts of going to yard sales or thrift stores was put on hold. Ironically, I stayed in a house filled with beautiful antiques, passed down for generations, so thinking about buying and selling vintage items was put aside only with some difficulty.Easter morning my family and I went for a walk around a local marina, taking in the scenery and the mix of new and old boats moored to the warping, wooden piers. My husband and I fantasized about how nice it would be to have a boat to go out on the Chesapeake, and true to form, we liked the old ones more than the shiny new ones. The one pictured above was for sale...but we didn't call to ask how much, because we also realized boats require a lot more disposable income than we've got in the old piggy bank.But it was still fun to dream about taking one of these lovely old ladies to explore the bay and drift away a sunny afternoon.So whether china, linens, glassware...or even boats...I love the older things with charater and charm. Things that look like they have some stories to tell and have weathered a few storms. Come to think of it, the same qualities I enjoy in people, too :-)

twoblondsandavan.blogspot.com/