Gathering Dust

Spring Booth Re Do at the Antique Mall

I love having a booth at the antique mall. It gives me an excuse to shop estate sales and auctions, it's a place to for me to unload sell things I don't need anymore; and I make a little money at it.  When I stop at the antique mall to restock or rearrange, I always find friends, other dealers and customers to chat with, so it's a social thing, too.

 

But sometimes, the merchandizing, the rearranging, the styling, is boring.  I don't like things to be in my booth for very long, and I don't like them to stay in the same place.  I find myself moving the same stuff around together, just putting it on a different shelf.  Not very creative.

Karla is very creative, but she hates pulling together her business records for tax time.  But for me, working with numbers and spreadsheets is second nature.  So, we decided on a swap.  Karla would redo my booth, I'd sort and add up her expenses.

And I got a bonus.  Karla CLEANED my booth and went up on the ladder.

The ladder was needed to hang this fab and rusty garden chandelier- one of my favorite recent finds. 

I used to climb ladders, hang stuff from the ceiling, make interesting wall displays, but because of creaky bones and laziness, I don't do it as much as I used to.

My cubby got a complete make over.  Does it make you want to rummage around in it?

Some of these pieces have been around for a while, but Karla gave them a brand new look when she combined the blues with silver and clear glass.

So, while Karla was doing all this (and more that I didn't get pictures of), I hung a map on the wall.  That's it, that was my contribution to the re-do. That's why I'm smiling here, thrilled with the new look of my booth.

(Thanks Ms Patty)
Our friend Patty was at the mall, so we asked her to take our picture together. Pattie kept telling us to lean in, shoulders together, arms on hips, but we weren't cut out to follow instructions.

It's Not Too Early for Christmas (Is it?)

The antique mall where I have my booth is having their annual holiday open house on Saturday, so I've been pulling together the stuff I've been collecting all year, and getting it ready to sell.

Without a doubt, my favorite items are things still in their original boxes.  They're getting harder and harder to find. I also love the gift wrapped boxes from department stores.  Does anyone else remember Dayton's in Minneapolis?  Their logo is on one of the boxes in the top picture.

These Santa candle rings are still in their original poinsetta covered container- their friends "E" and "L" are still in the box.

A more mod grouping of ornaments- bubble lights and plastic mirrored ornaments.

And still pretty....the little bits and pieces I found at the bottom of the box.

What a Great Idea- Fun Displays from Bottom's Up

A trip to the Bottom's Up monthly antique show always inspires me.  The displays and merchandise are just incredible.

These pictures are just a tiny peek- I was so busy ohhing and ahhing that I forgot to get my camera out.  Karla and I made it a quick trip- we were probably only there a couple hours, but you could easily spend the whole day.

Love this rustic display.

But what really caught my eye was how they used newspaper as a tablecloth.

(I think it's vintage newspaper- Two snow tires for $30 would be a really good price, right?)

Sheet music rolls as Christmas tree garland.

One dealer was even showing old movies in their booth.  I've never seen THAT before. 

French by Design  always has wonderful stuff and wonderful displays...Christmas by the seashore.

French powder boxes.

Display rule:  Everything looks better under glass.

My favorite find at Bottom's Up- these Victorian sailors' hearts.

I didn't buy them, but I'd like to try and make one. 

It's always been my dream to sew like a sailor.

Can I Get A High Five?

Just redid my booth at the antique mall and I moved everything (except furniture) in my antique booth.  Every single thing, that must be uh...a hundred things, two hundred things, a thousand things- I don't know but it was a LOT.

And I also brought in three big tubs of stuff- and some of those tubs were full of little tubs that were full of little things like jewelry- so I probably hauled in uh...a hundred things, two hundred things, a thousand things- I don't know but it was a LOT.

Yeah, my arm is a little sore from patting myself on the back for finishing such a huge undertaking.

But seriously, if you were to ask me for one piece of advice about having a booth an antique mall, it would "keep the merchandise moving".  That means regularly rearrange, bring in new stuff for sale, and if something isn't moving- get rid of it. (or, be like me and hid it on a low shelf or under a table).

It worked today- this little cutie (and his Mom) stopped by just as I was finishing up- it never hurts to have an attractive young man in your booth, either.

What's New In My Antique Booth

Ok, so the title of this post really should be "what was new at my booth on Tuesday" because that's when I took these pictures.

I went back to the antique mall today, to restock and "verve"- and well, I must say, it looks about 100 times better than these pictures- you'll just have to run over there to see what I mean- kidding....

It's kind of busy, hopefully that makes people want to dig in and look for hidden treasures. 

I'm still sticking with the burgandy books, and still not reading them. I've added some gold for a kind of rich look.

And more pink- it doesn't look little girly when you mix it with burgandy and gold..

Not that there's anything wrong with pink and girly- I love to do a display (or even my guest room) in pinks and pastels, but its not a look I seem to be able to sell.  I guess that part of the "shabby chic" look is over- at least in Kansas.

Wouldn't it be awesome to toss on all these pearls.  More is more!

Well, if you can't make it to my booth, you might want to check out the new junk, quality merchandise in my Etsy shops.

SugarPinkMoon

and Gathering Dust

Yeah for the Red White and Blue -Antique Show Style

One of my favorite things about the summer Old Summit Antique Show is I stray away from my usual "low colors" and bring on the red white and blue.

I brought my usual sewing stuff...

...and books.  Both are good sellers for me.

These pictures were close-ups from my booth, but of course I had to make the rounds with my camera and take some pictures of other things that caught my eye.

It seems like we'll never lose our fascination for pieces with lots of drawers.

...or little shoes.

I loved this display of old cast iron banks- like a mini metal city.

From my friend Melinda's (Tres Melinda) booth- feathers and a whole set of optical lenses- wow!

Peanuts and apples fill a HUGE copper kettle.

One of my favorite low color booths- this time a combination of greens and grays.

Love these old locker pins and holders from Chris and Diane Ripper's booth.

And how did the show go?  Great! Just like this display of Melinda's- I was BLESSED with great customers.

I Love Buying Antiques, I Love Selling Antiques

I love to buy antiques, vintage stuff, weird stuff, cool stuff and I love to sell it- but I don't like what happens in between the buying and selling; that is the cleaning, sorting, organizing and pricing.

I know, I've complained about this before, thanks for indulging me and listening to me say it again.  I've had a lot of things set aside for the Old Summit Antique Show and I spent today pricing and packing them.

To keep myself entertained, I watched reruns of Pawn Star, and took some pictures...like these  pictures of string- as you know, string makes me happy.

And how cute is this child's toy sewing maching ca 1900?  I'm tempted to see if it really works- I think all it needs is a needle.

Great graphics- another thing that makes me happy.

A picture of a tub packed about halfway.  You can see an ironstone platter that I've shown before, a tobacco tin lunch box and an old store display of manicure scissors.

Bits from the sewing basket...

a bridle rosette...

an English needlebook...

As I was packing and pricing I found some books with wonderful illustrations.

...a music book with great pages, a German poetry book with beautiful illustrations and a "how-to" book on Spenserian penwork.

I've scanned some images and I'll post them tomorrow.

And more simple things that make me happy- beat up leather coin purses.

And I'm pretty fond of the cloth version, too.

...and pocket watches; broken, beat-up, or without glass- because you really can never have enough time.

Thank you for not laughing at my attempt at making a dog bed that the dog won't use in my last post.  Tami said give it time, eventually he'll use it- and I did catch Button resting on his new pad- but only long enough to snap a quick picture.

What I Brought to the Antique Mall

Almost every time I do an antique show, I have customers ask if I have a "shop".  And I always answer "No, but I have a booth at the antique mall". 

And then I hand them one of my cards and tell them that they can check my blog because I often show pictures of what I'm taking to my booth.

Until today- that's never been true. It was just something to say to get them to take my card....

But I took my camera to the mall with me today- and here's some of the vintage goodness I brought in.  A BOXFUL of jewels.

Silverplate.

In anticipation of spring, a shelf full of green and white- along with a great shabby chair.

See those roses on the wall behind the chair?  Karla painted those years ago when we shared the booth and were in our pink roses/shabby chic phase.

This pretty set of green and gold books fit in nicely on my sort of spring shelf.

As I was putting the books on the shelf, one of them seemed a little bulky.  I opened up the book and found this:

How sweet- I left the pressed flowers (carefully wrapped in paper) in the book.

Besides these opalescent eye cups, I've also got a bunch of amber eye cups.

A multi-multi loop and button wedding dress- and handmade/homemade veil.

And in the supplies dept, bags of paper ephemera to inspire crafting projects.

Check it out- you can find my booth here.

Packing it Up for Another Antique Show

I know some antique dealers go from one show to the next, week after week but I don't know how they do it.  I sold at the Old Summit show on Jan 21 and I'm selling this weekend (Fri & Sat) at Bottoms Up and I'm scrambling to find stuff to sell.

I decided to pull everything off my mantle and sell it including my favorite (and only) poultry trophy.  This will free up my mantle so I can paint it.  After the kitchen makeover, I'm in the mood to make some more color changes- like painting the fireplace wall a shade called Fudge Truffle and painting the actual mantle the same color as my kitchen cupboards.

From the other side of the mantle, I'm selling this cute little bridal couple and a mish mash of Florentine tole, too.

I've scrounged up some bling...

and made some tea stained lacy bags- ironically photographed in black and white.

If you haven't been to the West Bottoms in Kansas City on the First Friday weekend, check it out- I think you'll be amazed by all that's going on.  New shops and food trucks pop up every month.  Hope to see you there!

More from the Old Summit Antique Show

Just so much to love and so much to share from last weekends antique show.  Beautiful old clock and even older needlework.

Ribbon work pillow.

A reminder that spring is almost here.

Complete with vintage seed packages.

Yo yo flower pillows.

I'm not sure what these are- I mean, I know they're balls made of  leather or cloth, but I'm not sure of their purpose....but I still LIKE them.

REAL history- a family bible with clippings, lace and locks of hair.

And of course, no group of pictures from a good country antique show would be complete without a cupboard of ironstone.

Next weekend, I'll be selling at Bottoms Up Antique Market.

Here's a little peek at some of what I'll have to sell. It would be great to see you- if you're in the Bottoms, come by and say "Hi".