Merry and Happy

and Joy to the World. Peace and love and all of it. Christmas is a time for family and I am blessed with an abundance of awesome people in my life! I'm very lucky.

Just a Few Things

Things are crazy. I guess I say that a lot.
We moved some items from the library into a little room with a couple of laptops, and we're trying to have a little something open for the public. It may be a short time or a long time before things get back to normal, and I can't wait for that to happen. In the meantime, we're trying to make it work.
I've been trying to clean the house, and fix a lot of things, and decorate my pop's house for xmas. I'm sort of a grinch, but I'm trying to keep a happy face, because it means so much to him. I did stop for a couple of things yesterday, at the special Only0Open On Sunday Store:

I can never resist a tin. I love the graphics on this, and it's pretty clean inside!

A USA planter, cabbage-design. I never met a planter I didn't like!

A California pottery bowl, I have to look up more about it.

 

And these, Santa pants! They're about the size of a stocking. One of my best friends lost all of her awesome collectibles in the flood. I'm giving her this, which is spectacular, with a set of tiny doll-size kitchen cannisters that I got from Ebay, and a voucher for an out-of-town antiquing trip!
It's been a weekend of good news and bad news, and I'm hoping the week gets a little better for everyone.

In Which I Ask You a Favor

I knit a lot. I love knitting. I've tried to crochet, but I just don't get it. I can't make it work out.
As you know, the town I grew up in has been pretty devestated by Hurricane Sandy. There are people who still don't have power (30+ days)!
My good friend Shannon is putting together a special project - Operation Sandy Claus, where she and her crew will put together stockings with treats and hygiene products. She reached out to me to see if we could mobilize the fiber artists to make scarves for these awesome giveaways!
I have a few beautiful scarves that I have made for craft fairs, and I'm in the process of making more. Do you have any you could spare? They are looking for gender neutral scarves for adults and kids. We would be grateful for any knit/crocheted scarf you could send our way!
We need the scarves by December 20. You can send them to: 6 Watts Place, Valley Stream, NY 11581.
Thanks, if you're able to help. If you can't knit or crochet, nag your bestie who can. or your mom. or your bestie's mom.

In Which it is The Pinnacle of Selling and I am Unprepared

I showed at another craft fair. Andy says no more. I work really hard to get everything together, and Long Island doesn't appear to be my place to sell things. I do okay online.
Everything's crazy. Hurricane Sandy cleanup at the library is really hard. It's still a lot of physical work and my poor little out-of-shape librarian's body is unhappy about the whole thing.We're starting on the fifth week of all of this stuff, and everything's off. Andy's schedule is kind of back to normal, and I'm working 9-5s, which is unusual for me, as I used to work different times almost every day.
Now, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone and I didn't have time to really get myself together for it. So, I'm afraid I won't sell as much as I wanted to.
Some recent additions:

Shiny Brite Ornaments

Vintage polish ornaments

An awesome Murano glass bowl. It's beautiful and it has its sticker! I don't know a ton about glass - I've just picked up things I think are pretty. But it's definitely something worth looking in to. I listed the bowl on Ebay, hoping it will make someone the perfect present (and right quick!)

 

Now, for something completely different:

A long time ago (months), I bought this tumbler/vase. It is white ceramic and it has deers in a forest on it. I thought I found some answers about its maker, but I cannot find the info again! Anyone know anything? It was made in Germany (from the partial sticker at the bottom) and it has a mark I haven't been able to match.

Thanks for any help you are able to provide, friends!

Also, use the coupon code SWEETDEALS for 10% off anything in my shop - vintage or handmade!



So

This hurricane was the pits. We have power, but many of our friends are devestated. The amount of water and trees and power lines is unbelievable. The amount of garbage and sewage and fall-leafy-crap is astounding. The gas lines, the crankiness, the food shortages, the un-powered - it makes it spooky and weird.
My family is safe. My friends are safe. We have many friends who are homeless, staying here until things start to even out. My papa comes for the day, but goes home for sleeping in his own bed. We have four dogs here, and I'm getting used to them all following me around like I'm their shepherd or something.
The library, where I work, is soggy, and has no power, so it may stay soggy for a while. It's sad to see so many people who I see every day, patrons or friends or neighbors, who are having such devestating life problems. The businesses were water damaged. The schools were severely water damaged. So many facets of people's lives are ruined, and it's hard to conceive.
Sometimes you feel like, "well, at least my job's okay" or "at least I have my home" or "at least there is running water". Well, a lot of people don't have any of these things - and kids who would've escaped the sadness around them at school, can't, because their school is a mess. It really stinks.
I'm lucky. I have my home, and am lucky enough to be able to open it up for anyone who needs it. I worry a lot, because my husband and one of our friends work for utilities, and so they are working really long hours in dangerous conditions (and to top it off, people seem to be mad at them!) I try to make sure that they have food when they come home, and clean clothes and stuff. I don't feel in control of anything, and my life is good, so I can only imagine the stress of people who are in trouble. My biggest hope is that gas gets here soon, because it seems to be the thing that people are getting craziest about, and I'm extra grateful for all of the people- utility workers, policemen, firemen - who are trying to keep everyone safe (even from themselves)

In Which I'm Running Out of Time

Some weekends are lazy, I hear. But I haven't had a lazy weekend where I wasn't on the floor with the flu in a long long long time. I was running running running, but I did get to one estate sale on Friday and the ever-famous Only Open Sunday Afternoon store on Sunday.

I scored these angels:

They are tiny and like an all-blond choir-y spice girls.

 

 This rocking Royal Haegar vase is pretty awesome. It's a drip vase, and it is a very bright chartreuse:

 

 These ornaments were made in Poland and pretty much sold as soon as I posted them:

 I listed these bottle brush trees this morning and they already sold! I have to list the REST of my bottle brush trees. But I love them so! Maybe I'll keep a set...but I'd really want to keep about 100, and I only have, like, 20.

I think this picture is really adorable. Something about its tinyness makes me want to squee.

Happy week. I'm getting sick. This weekend I'm getting an amazing haircut, so I guess I'll see you next week when I look like a glamorous movie star...

In Which I Don't Have a Lot of Pictures of Stuff, But I have Some Pictures of People

I'm a little stressed out. Things are moving at quite a fast pace for me. I like to be busy, but I don't like to be busy and cranky, and lately I've been feeling that way - like I don't have enough time to enjoy what I'm doing, and instead I'm trying to force in all of these things I don't want to do. And things are hectic at my house, with schedule changes and trying to eat better (not going great) and trying to hang out and get a billion things done. But, it is what it is.
I went to the Goodwill Pound Store. Are you familiar with this? Van had mentioned it, and I knew I had to find one in our area. And there is one in Sunnyside! Queens! Pay by the pound! yayyayayayyyay! I was on my way on Friday, and my steering wheel was a little shake-and-bakey and I ended up driving to the mechanic instead for some costly repairs. Katie came with me on Saturday, though, so I had a partner!
There's etiquette there, special etiquette, and Katie and I had to spend some time to figure it out. You get a shopping cart, and then, if you are walking away from it, you drape a sheet or something over it, so people won't look through it! We violated this when we came in, and were a little bit outcasted for a while. They have some housewares ( I got a few ball jars), some bags ( I got 3! of the above flight bags from the British Overseas Airway Corporation), I got some clutch clutches, and a Guess dress, a couple of Brooks Brothers sport jackets (anyone a 42?) ties, and some pants. All of the clothes are unsorted, so you have to take your time and go through each bin. Then, all of a sudden, a dude says "Everybody to the front of the store" and you have to wait behind a red line while they put out new bins. Then, everybody runs towards them, grabs whatever they can, and brings their stuff back to their carts to go through. It was madness. And we loved it.
The night before we celebrated my Pop's birthday.

There were babies to kiss

Candles to blow out!

A human Jungle Gym (jungle andy?)

A fort to play in (a.k.a. under the dining room table)

And a birthday song!

Happy Birthday, Papa!!!

In Which We Learned a Lesson

So, though I didn't tank at my first antiques show, I didn't do great either. There were a lot of people there, but no one seemed to be buying much (not just from me, but from all of the vendors). It was a beautiful day, and so it certainly wasn't the weather.
One thing that was a wake up call for me : packing everything back up to bring back home. It was a long and sad process. I sold just enough to cover the price of the table, but they were all very tiny things, so I didn't reduce my inventory (and the space it takes up). Oh, boy.
So, now I have to make sure that I have everything listed on line. I have to go back to the things that aren't selling and take better pictures! I have to get my stuff in order. And it is way less fun than buying stuff.
So, things that I am listing this week, that I bought previously, but you haven't seen before:

Awesome Leather cuff

Orange enamel bowl, made in Poland

Very awesome, but scratched-up tin made in Great Britain

USA Turquoise vase - so adorable!

So, I've set a goal to list 5 things this week. When I sell a bunch of items (I'm trying for 10+, monetary gain not as important as space gain) I will reevaluate my system.

Etsy announced its Holiday Boot Camp, which is my cue to start listing all of the ornaments I've been hoarding, and the brush trees, and now I have to make decisions on what to keep for myself (though I may not want to chance Sophie eating them...)

In Which We have a PlayDate

On Saturday, I went to Gail's and we had a playdate! And I brought my camera, because Baby Joe has been totally gyped in the picture department!

Here he is! He is a very smiley baby!

Quinn directed this part of the photo time. He didn't want to sit on Gail's lap, said "No", so we figured it was over. Then he moved and sat next to Baby Joey on the other side and started smiling! He had his own ideas about what would make a great picture of his brothers!

We played outside!

James picked me flowers.

Our morning was super fun, and I just love the stuffing out of these guys!

Gearing Up for a SHOW!

I will be selling at a show this Sunday with real live antique-y people, and I'm super psyched! I think I'll be able to unload some stuff I haven't looked forward to posting, because it will be heavy to ship. Because I have to get inventory priced and packed up, I only went to a couple of tiny estate sales on Saturday morning, and tried to get through a long list of to-do's.

I dyed this bag:

When I bought it, I could tell it was really well-made. It had no tags, but the crochet and all the seams were tight, and it was stained and discolored with age. There weren't any rips or anything. So I got out my big giant dying pot, and bought some navy dye. Besides the bag, I threw in a white (ish) tshirt, tank, and one of my husband's white (ish) tees, figuring we'd be no worse off if it didn't work out. Everything came out great, including this bag, which I will be showing off at the show this weekend!

I bought this giant light, specifically with the show in mind. I'd never buy this normally, it's too big and I'm not really into craigslist or people coming to pick things up...but it's awesome. It's like, a foot and a half tall! The inside cylinder is glass, and the outside is metal. Sprayed a hot color? Awesome!

I also bought this little lamp, also only because I have the show. I do like it though, and if it doesn't sell, perhaps I'll have a new bedside lamp!

I also bought some cheap frames to spray paint, because it is my favorite. As my anniversary gift, I got a couple of new colors (I have an array already!), and I certainly like that more than jewelry or flowers!

One Year Ago Today

Andy and I got married!

 

 

And it was awesome. I made a lot of the decorations, including the bouquets for Gail and I (well, to be truthful, Gail put them together fully, and many of the guest contributed vintage brooches and earrings for the bouquets!)

And there was a FLASHMOB! Set to Michael Jackson's THRILLER!

And that was amazing!!!
And it was at a biergarten with awesome beers and brat burgers on soft pretzel rolls and cupcakes and dancing and, most of all, I got to marry Andrew!

Most of these images are courtesy of D. Hendricks Photography

My Favorite Find of ALL TIME!

IMG_7614, originally uploaded by feathermar.

Oh, my. What's this? It's my NEEDLEPOINT MONA LISA! Someone made her, and bound her and framed her! She is amazing!
One of the women I was with in Brimfield couldn't understand how awesome this was, and thought I was being funny or joking or something.
But I wasn't.

And there were some people who were jealous.
And it's okay if you're one of them.
This is one of those things that I just can't sell. It's too awesome. too too too AWESOME.
AWESOME.
Fin.

In Which We go To Brimfield

We've gone before, and we'll go again, but never with a tornado looming (just the warning, though, but still scary and a little sad to think of all of those tents, full of treasures). Brimfield is not a place for great deals (not like garage sale-y deals) but it is a place to see everything there is to see! We always learn a lot, and ask people about things that they are selling that we've seen before. It's a great place to find out about prices, and I usually find some kitschy stuff that I can resell on Etsy that isn't worth much to the hardcore "antiquers".

Most of the things I bought, I can't take great pictures of in the current twilight. But I got this AWESOME orange rubber-covered egg basket:

We saw these weird and interesting dolls:

They scared me at first, but now they are growing on me. And this is the lady who makes 'em:

And I didn't buy this guy, but I wanted to sooo badly. Man oh man, I wanted to buy him. He was pretty big, though, and we have a tiny car.

I did buy this duck, though, and got a non-fuzzy picture (with a lot of crap in the background-apologies). It's certainly handmade, and it walks. It's blue and red.

 I'll try and post my other finds this week, as I photograph them.

Oh, Spray Paint, How I Love Thee

 

So, I had put aside a few projects to do in the garage if our Saturday garage sale pace slowed down. There was a lot to spray paint, which always makes me happy!

Here is a necklace that I probably bought from Target or Claires, many moons ago:

And I just spray painted the whole thing a turquoise-y slate-y blue:

 

Chain and all! I think it looks way better!!!

This Weekend

We had a garage sale of our own on Saturday, to get rid of some of the treasures our home came with. On Sunday, we went to one estate sale, to a lady who had passed that had collected lots and lots.

 

 

Two chicken egg cups, that say Fanny Farmer

This awesome cuckoo clock

Bambi planter

Can that would hold borax? I think?

I also got a gorgeous wire egg basket with handles and some Christmas stuff,

plus a couple of tins.

My To-Do List

This birthday year (August 2 - August 1, 2013) I want to: 1.build a piece of furniture 2.retool the stools in our house. 3.Do something (sell, find a place for, get rid of)all of the treasures that came with our house      we are having a garage sale this Saturday!!! 4.Make curtains for the bathroom 5.Make curtains for the kitchen 6.Make Baxter a bed 7.Make Sophie a bed 8.Treat our roll-down shades in our bedroom (maybe fabric, maybe paint?) 9.Buy a bookshelf for the bedroom 10.Hang art on the walls in the guest room/office 11.Paint one wall in the dining room      We did it, Andy picked the color and taped it off, and I did the actual painting... 12.Curate the living room shelves 13.Find an awesome place for my bust (it's a bust of a lady, and I own it...it's not my bust.) 14.Create a packaging table in the basement 15.Create a painting table in the basement 16. Paint the walls in the basement a nice bright white and re-seal the walls. 17.Create some kind of window treatment for the basement's tiny windows 18.Set up a small table by the laundry area for folding (maybe under the stairs?) 19.get new pipes and faucets on the slop sink. 20.Repaint both basement wooden chairs 21. Hang up a wall of pegs to hang totes on - maybe going up the stairs for now? Project totes too. 22. Find a metal or iron bench for under the tree in the back yard. 23. Deep clean carpet in living room and hallway. 24. Weave baskets for the shelving unit in Living room 25. create backings for some of the cubes in the living room 26. Make a table runner for the dining room table 27. build a farmhouse table? 28. Find a place for all of my beautiful craft books 29. Create a peg board, place to hang things in the basement 30. Spray the brass birdcage for the dining room 31. Find a display for fiesta ware for the dining room.      We have sort of found a book case for some of my fiesta ware. 32. Create a list of 30 meals that we both know how to make that we both like to eat. 33. Decoupage the folding chairs in the basement. 34. Make an amazing wood-art wall in the bedroom, different colors of salvaged wood, like I'm always pinning on Pinterest.   That's it. 34 things for my year of being 34. Nothing too hard, just need some time to do it...

In Which I am On a Diet

I can't buy so much. I don't have time to list it. So, this weekend we bought:

These Naaman candlesticks - Two ladies - Naaman is a porcelain company in Israel - hand caste.

 

 

This maroon patent leather clutch, that has a hinged little handle!

 This tea tin.

 

Brass duck!

I also bought a couple of things to dye - which I'll take pictures of when I get a move on the dyeing part. I'm trying to list as much as possible, and we are hoping to have a garage sale on Saturday, so I'll have major moola for Brimfield!!!

Also, I have been watching repeats of Clean House and that guy Alan from Storage Hunters? He was the yard sale dude and had some crazy hair sometimes!!! It makes me happy!