Abbotstown with Joan

A large part of my days are spent in solitary pursuits: food shopping, writing, laundry, putting inventory on-line in my etsy shop, packing purchased items to be shipped off, housecleaning...you get the picture. And this is not a complaint, this suits me just fine. But it does make for a pleasant change of pace when I get to go with someone on one of my searches for inventory to a yard sale or church fundraiser. Pickin's more fun with a friend...I should make that into a bumper sticker.

Which means, I was more than happy when my Aunt Joan told me she'd found a few ads for church fundraisers north of us in the Abbotstown and Hanover areas, and would I like to check them out with her. So, right after the kids got on the bus Friday morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to her house - about 10-minutes from my own-- we jumped in her Yaris and made our way to the first sale, which was held in a picnic grove.

There were a lot of nice things, but many of them were priced too high for me to make any kind of profit. But I did find a couple cute items. My favorites are this owl coffee canister and a set of chenille bedspreads.

The next stop was a church fundraiser which had the opposite problems as the first, great prices but not much left on the tables. We didn't get there until 9:00 and the sale started at 7:00 - so it was picked pretty clean by the time we got there.









After a few more stops at a rummage sale (VERY picked over) and a yard sale (mostly newer plastic kid's toys), we went to a great book store/ cafe in Hanover - interestingly, also in an old church -- for lunch.

So Friday was both successful for my shop and I got the bonus of enjoying a morning out on a beautiful spring day in the company of my aunt, doing what seems to be in our blood.

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It's a Stampede!

My Aunt Joan, Linda and my son Evan (that's the top of his head in his British flag hat in the picture below) all decided to get an early start to the day and headed to a church having a fund raising sale. We arrived 10-minutes before they opened to find a line that stretched clear across the parking lot.

At exactly 8:00AM the doors opened and............ahhhhhh!

Now I'm not saying there wasn't some good old stuff there - there was -- or that I haven't been jostled around at a sale before - I have -- but this was a bit crazy. I really had trouble even focusing there were so many tables of things and people elbowing their way around the floor.

Linda was able to gather her whits and focus on the task at hand - finding cool old stuff -- and did well, scoring a vintage set of Raggedy-Ann and Andy lamps, some beautiful tea-towels and a hand-carved owl.
As I squeezed my way closer to some tables, I watched a woman by the furniture area. I envied her, she was composed enough in all the chaos to grab a volunteer working at the sale and buy some really beautiful pieces before I'd even picked up my first piece of pottery and turned it over.

Finally, I was able to get my hands on a couple cute things, and one really stunning old bible. This sold the next day in my etsy.com shop.Linda and I left the sale to continue on with our day, each running some errands, but by lunchtime both of us wanted to take another stab at it after the crowds had died down. So we picked up her mom and headed back. We found only a few people milling around and were able to poke around at a more leisurely pace, and each of us actually did find several nice things even after the crowds had scoured the tables.

Plus, we each enjoyed a hot dog with saukraut...that was worth the trip back in itself.

Owls at the Retirement Community

On Friday, the other blond and her mom took a ride with me to a retirement community having a sale - next to a church sale, my favorite venue for finding great vintage things.

And this morning didn't disappoint, not quite as many finds as the last time this lovely place had a sale, but still fun. My favorite items came in the form of the old vintage standard...owls.

Here is a cute little toothpick holder I grabbed off a "This-n'That" table...

And an bright-yellow, enameled metal ring...just have to smile with this on your finger...
But it wasn't all owls, I found
two great old typewriters too...

Owls

A classic icon of the 60's and 70's, the owl.
This wise-old-bird decorates everything from pot holders to jewelry to salt-and-pepper shakers and has proven to be a popular item in the retro world.

I don't think it's just nostalgia that draws people to this nocturnal bird, but that it represents quiet dignity and wisdom in this chaotic world...plus they're just cool looking.

The pictures in today's blog are of items either currently in my etsy.com shop or have already sold.

The set of silver owl-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers below still hold the record for my quickest sale at just five-minutes on the site before they were bought by someone in Texas.

My own memories of the 1970s include a collection of ceramic owls on a window shelf, a macrame owl hung in a patio-room, and a silvery-pendant with turquoise-eyes hanging from my mother's neck.
In my first 20 sales in my etsy.com shop, five of them were owl-inspired items, including this great umbrella stand...so a quarter of my first sales were owls, and that statistic hasn't fluctuated that much.

Whether majestic or kitschy cute, we love our owls!

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.

Vintage Jingle

Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way,
Should I get my cousin Pam
some perfume or a tray
hey!



Jingle bells,
Batman smells,
Robin laid an egg
A coffee pot for Bobby,
And maybe one for Meg
Hey!


A day or two ago,
I thought I'd take a ride,
To the local thrift shop,
to find something for Clide.

I thought a new bread box,
or maybe a pair of socks,
But would he rather have a towel,
or maybe a ceramic owl?
Hey


jingle bells
jingle bells...

Nostalgia

Since I have embarked on this new adventure of finding old stuff, determining if I think this old stuff is something other people would like to buy...and then trying to sell it to them...I have been surprised at some of the things people want - a beat up Thermos, a cookie jar shaped like a mushroom, or green plastic spoon rest in the shape of an owl.

Some of the things people buy I remember wearing when in high school, or maybe its something my grandmother put her leftovers in, or a brooch my Aunt Mary wore. Things that at one time seemed old and dated. But now, they're appreciated all over again, many times because of the feelings they evoke, remembered feelings of home and childhood, and even a little innocence. Things that you want around you again to remind you of when life was a bit more simple, grounded. Even things that just made you laugh. I love that my job now is to find these pieces of the past that make us smile, or feel pretty, or just look super cool in our renovated ranch houses.

This all became clearer to me this weekend when I returned to the far off and mystical land of my birth - New Jersey -- to be surrounded by the people of my youth - my family, in all its messy, loud, wonderfulness. I treasure these times more than all the vintage thermos, spoon rests and beaded brooches in this great big world.

So, as I like to put pictures here on the blog of either my "favorite" thing I discovered that day or the "strangest," I will give you both in one picture from this weekend... granddaddy playing with my nephew's Mind Flex game in full headgear.
I wonder if thirty years from now someone will be on etsy.com trying to buy one of those old Mind Flex games, they'll remember when their grandfather put it on at a party and acted silly...