Another Etsy First!

I received an email today from an Etsy seller, silkwormvintage, who was including one of my shop items, the vintage strawberry tin tray, in a treasury she created (I Love Strawberries for Christmas). I'm really pleased (and excited) to be included!

What's an Etsy Treasury? Etsy defines it as an "ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery comprised of lists of items" and it's usually based on a theme or their favorite items. Any member can create a Treasury list and edit it as often as they like. Members can use treasuries as a great way to shop (for example, by search of 'strawberries'), click through to the items and leave comments. The number of views your list receives as well as the number of clicks the items featured in your list receive are displayed in the list's Stats section. The cool thing is that Etsy then features some treasuries on the home page!

When my life slows down a little (when will THAT be?), I plan to create a list or two myself!

Popcorn!

A while ago, I got a bee in my bonnet to get a vintage popcorn popper (and use it, of course). What fun is it to have old stuff if you don't use it?

Well, we had our first old-school popcorn (no bag, no microwave) this past week and it was pretty good, too. It would have been better if I hadn't put in too much popcorn -- there were lots of unpopped kernels. Next time I'll follow the directions -- and, yes, there really were directions!

Am I the only one out there using vintage small appliances?

Fresh Pickings!

I know that there are people who won't sink to picking things out of the trash, but I'm not one of them! Yesterday, I went south on our road instead of north (which is my normal route) and saw this little table sitting at the curb under a tree. It had obviously been there a few days -- water from the recent rains had pooled on the top and the veneer on the cutwork sides (what was left of them) was all separated.

It's nice and heavy and has good old bones, though. It just needs a little love. . . okay, and a little veneer -- and cutwork added to the sides -- and paint -- or stripper and stain and varnish. I'll post pictures when I'm finished working on it!

A Tale of Three Sales

Sale #1
My friend Bargain Hunter and I went to a local sale at lunchtime on Wednesday. It was at the home of a former librarian and there were books in every room (which I was really looking forward to), but I think most of the really good stuff went out the door early that morning. I did manage to get a few things:

2 small pie or tart plates -- one Pyrex & one Fireking
A vintage Christmas tin

A turquoise Melmac serving bowl & 2 mugs

Sale #2 - A real Frog
Bargain Hunter and I have a standing joke-- she gets so excited about yard sales advertising things like "60 years of accumulated treasures" and I finish the sentence with "all on 3 card tables". This sale was actually just that! It was advertised as an estate sale with household, kitchen and some antiques. It was literally a long table & 2 card tables in a garage with the saddest (smallest) assortment of junk I've seen in a long time. Oh, well. As Bargain Hunter says, "you have have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince."

Sale #3
The next sale I went to was billed as a "Pickers' Sale". I got there 10 minutes after they began giving out numbers and I was already #39! There was one man there (#1) who had arrived at 10 last night and slept in his truck in order to be first. It was, indeed, a picker's sale, but was nothing exciting, either -- everyone picked through plenty of junk! I did get a few things, though:

9 old hankies -- we'll see how they look when they're washed & ironed!

2 pretty funny photos -- A New Year's baby from 1951
and
'Bertha and her friends' from 1957
A small yellow hemstitched tablecloth with 4 napkins,
a glass sugar bowl (a criss-cross look-alike)

and 4 green striped napkinsAll in all, this week's purchases aren't bad for less than $10 total!

First Etsy Sale!

I posted my first two items in my Etsy shop last night and one of them sold before I could even get the other one up! That told me that I'd absolutely priced my item too low. It's okay, though -- it was a good learning experience and now my 'opening night jitters' are behind me. It's odd to be so intimidated by all the great things I see on Etsy, because I've sold so much on Ebay.

I also didn't charge enough for shipping. Rather than allowing the buyer to calculate the exact shipping cost from my location to theirs, Etsy forces the seller to charge a set amount. That can be a real bargain to a buyer in California if I only charge enough to send it Ohio, but if the buyer's in Ohio and I charge enough to send the item to California, that's not fair either! I wish Etsy had a 'calculate shipping' option like Ebay's -- it's SO much better all around!

I worked it out by offering to refund any overage in shipping that comes to more than $1. As a Christian, I can't allow people to pay more than it costs and that system seems fair to me.

I'll keep you all posted on how the sales are going. . .

Opening the Shop Soon!

I spent most of the day photographing, wrapping and boxing up items for Ebay and my Etsy shop. I had so much fun going to estate sales and flea markets with my friend Bargain Hunter all summer, but all the treasures I found have to go somewhere. One of my son's friends, when he came to our house, walked down the basement steps and said, "Wow! This looks like an episode from 'Hoarders -- Buried Alive'!" Personally, I think he was exaggerating, but nonetheless, I got the message.

A Capri Cream & Sugar Set

A light blue Lu Ray Creamer

It's HARD to get rid of things! I always have a hard time at sales buying things I don't particularly like but know will sell well, so most of what I buy, I'd love to keep. These are just a few of the items I'll be listing soon -- you'll be able to actually SEE something when you click on the link to my Etsy shop!

A Holt Howard Cat Salt & Pepper Set

Shafford Black Cat Redware Cookie Jar
Tin Strawberry Tray

I'm getting into the selling spirit, though and have been reading lots of great blogs about how to display, how to photograph and how to wrap items for my shop. I have to admit that it's really intimidating -- there are some truly creative and interesting people out there in the blogosphere and on Etsy! I don't think I'll ever be one of them, but my creative muse has been awakened.

First things first -- the hoarder's pile must go. Then I can start making some things I've had on the drawing board from the vintage fabric, findings & buttons I've been collecting. I think these days 'they' (whoever 'they' are) call a person's second career the 'encore' job. Well, maybe this is my encore -- an it should be a fun adventure!

The weird and the bizarre. . .

Have you ever wanted to see the world's largest chair?
Or wondered where the world's largest horseshoe crab is? If you think this is by the ocean, guess again!
Or just had to visit the world's largest strawberry?
Or the world's largest teapot? (I've actually seen this one and it doesn't look this good in actuality.) All this can be yours at the Roadside America website!

I was looking for something on the internet and found this gem of a website. I got so entranced by the bunny-trails it took me down that I have absolutely no idea what I was looking for in the first place! If you like road trips and odd local attractions as much as I do, you'll find a treasure trove of minutia there. You can enter a state name and find all of it's weird & bizarre claims to fame (or not). Visit it and have some fun!