Just sharing a few of my favorite "low color" pictures I've posted on Instagram.
Art nouveau jewelry- a lucky auction buy.
Altered postcard with a holy card and religious medal.
Pretty old book surrounded by lace and pearls.
The start of a bit of stitching- I should really see where I stashed this; and if it's done.
...do I have your attention?
I've stocked up my Etsy Shop with all sorts of pretties, craft supplies and fun stuff.
I'm getting new flooring in my living room and hall in August, which means moving all the furniture out of the way, so I decided I needed to destash.
I know, how can selling a little bit of lace and jewelry really make it easier to move furniture? By itself, it can't. It's more of a mental thing. If I'm creating space in my overstashed craft and guest room, I'll feel like I have a chance at the moving of the furniture (and all the stuff on top of it) being a reasonable project.
One thing I wanted to mention for you Francophiles. A few weeks ago I ran across some 1949-1950 Michelen guides to France. They are full of maps, diagrams and drawings and I think they would be great for use in collage projects.
Do you recognize that movie quote? Maybe not, because the actual quote is "I'm ready for my close-up". It's from Sunset Boulevard, one of my favorite old movies.
The line came to me as I was listing jewelry in my Etsy Shop, and I realized how many different kinds of cameos I have for sale. I'm not sure what draws my eye to them, they just seem to have a timeless appeal.
If you too, would like a movie quote stuck in your head, check out this list from the American Film Institute. I was really surprised at how many I use in everyday converstation.
"You're going to need a bigger boat."- usually said when I'm trying to load my truck for an antique show.
"They're here...." (always in a sing songy kind of voice).
"May the force be with you"- said whenever you want to wish someone luck.
"What a dump" (what I say when I walk into my house).
"Show me the money" - what my husband says when I ask him to pick up dinner.
Do you have any favorite movie quotes that have made it into your everyday speech?
What I did this weekend: Made earrings. PAIRS of earrings. I have a very large collection of single earrings. Hopefully these will stay in pairs for a couple of months.
Cut up a vintage baby sleeper into hearts. Fuzzy hearts.
And decorated the hearts.
Probably not the most exciting weekend you'll hear about, but I found it satisfying.
I've had some very good luck finding jewelry recently. So lucky that I have several boxes on the bed in the guest room, several in the living room, several in the craft room...I know, not a bad problem to have.
I'm listing it in my Etsy shop at what I hope are very "attractive" prices. But if you don't think the prices are low enough, I'm having a 20% off sale in both my shops:
Gathering Dust (books, paper, price tags etc)
and
SugarPinkMoon (jewelry, trims, sewing etc)
Just use the code 12152012 (you know, like Dec 15, 2012...pretty clever, huh?) and you'll get 20% off your order.
The sale is good through Monday Dec 17. I'll be adding to my shops all weekend.
Two of my favorite larger items are this velvet photo album, full of vintage mats,
and this pretty celluloid glove box.
The winner of the crazy quilt giveaway is Debra Ganas- congrats Debra!
I've listed a bunch of vintage jewelry in my Etsy shop SugarPinkMoon.
Some is ready to wear, some is bits and pieces to use for crafts or remaking.
And I've added some fun and/or attractive books to Gathering Dust.
I hate to do a post where I just ask you to buy things- but I don't have any new crafts to show you---I mean I've been busy sorting and listing all this stuff!
So I'll leave you with links to what appear to be my two most popular how to posts.
Making tags with those little pieces of paper you can't stand to throw away
Sorry for the repeat posts, but if you talked to me in real life, you'd notice I repeat myself, too.
A couple of weeks ago Karla stopped by and was digging through a box of "treasures" I had packed and priced to take to my booth at the antique mall. She picked out a few things to buy- she's a very good customer; but she was especially excited about these clear beads with wire.
I thought they were marbles that someone had wire wrapped. Karla said they were something her Sissy collects and she thought they were called pools of light. I knew if Sissy collected them, they must be something special, because she has very good taste, but they still just looked like wire wrapped marbles to me. Karla bought a small bag of them from me for about three dollars.
Last week, Karla told me she had checked with Sissy, and the "marbles" were Victorian rock quartz, also known as pools of light, and jewelry made with them could sell for $50- $400.
What could I say? If I'm going to give a good deal to someone, it might as well be a friend!
Karla made this necklace for me with one of the stones, and some other beautiful gems and added a numbered luggage tag from the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe railroad.
I LOVE the necklace- perfect combination of sparkle and steampunk for me. I think I got the best end of the deal.
(AKWARD TRANSITION)
I've added some new "handmades" to my Etsy Shop.
A little secret keeper pouch with an watercolor image that Karla painted and I printed on canvas, and then decorated with vintage lace.
A tattered baby dress that I "saved" with patches and lace.
A handmade book featuring my favorite kind of images- vintage fashion.
And there's some "other stuff" too.
I like to set goals- I don't always meet them, but I if set a goal, and make it "official", either by writing it down or fixing it in my head, I accomplish a lot more than if I just have some vague ideas about doing "stuff". Writing it down makes me accountable to myself.
But enough Oprahsizing- this weekend I said my goal was to get the total number of items in my Etsy shops- Gathering Dust and SugarPinkMoon up to 100.
When I started yesterday, I had a total of 30. Now I have a total of 70- but along the way people are BUYING things, so the count goes down. Geez....
Ok,you know I'm kidding. I LOVE it when you buy things from me. Even though I've been selling antiques for almost 14 years, I still get a thrill when someone wants to buy something I picked out.
When I got my first booth at the antique mall, my rent was $250 a month, and I had a 6 mos lease. I remember talking it over with my husband, and realizing that I was committing myself to spending $1500.
But I really wanted to try it, so we decided I should risk the $1500. I moved in and went back the next day and realized that I had sold two pieces that I had brought in on the first day - for a total of $18. I was SO THRILLED. I remember thinking "Now, the most I can lose is $1482"- always the accountant with the financial statement running through my head.
So, I haven't quite met my goal yet- but I still have a few hours. In the meantime, here's a look at some of what I have listed so far- including a bunch of funky plastic stuff- buttons, jewelry, even a clothespin.
I'm going to take a listing break and read some of Tina Fey's book BossyPants. Tina is my new hero ever since I started watching 30 Rock a few months ago. I relate to Liz Lemon because she wears clothes with food on them and sometimes has lettuce in her hair, and sometimes, I do too.
In December I posted about Take a Stitch Tueday, a stitch along project that would feature a new embroidery stitch every week. The challenge is to learn the stitch, or if you already know it, take it a step further.
I played catch up this week and did the first three weeks.
Wk 1: The fly stitch - along with some cross stitches and straight stitches.
Wk 2: The blanket stitch- along with some straight stitches, cross stitches and French knots.
Wk 3: You guessed it- the Feather Stitch.
My sampler is very simple compared to the work of some stitchers- there are some really incredible pieces of art. You can visit their work by clicking the links in the comments of this post, or see some highlights here and here.
And now, on to the French General necklace. When I posted the first picture of what I had put together, I thought it might be kind of a running joke- every week I'd be showing another set of three beads linked together.
The joke was on me-last Tuesday, Karla showed me an easy way to make the little links. Yesterday, I started playing with my necklace, and I couldn't put it down. I finished, and even wore it to work today- and NOTHING fell off or came apart.
It was so much fun, I might try to string a few more beads together.
Been doing a little bit of that spring cleaning- not too much, I'm really not much of a housekeeper- but I have done some destashing by adding new items to my Etsy shops. The picture above has some of my favoriet antiques- French books, a transferware butter pat and a cavier spoon- all things no home should be without. You can find them here.
I've had a collection of vintage tin noisemakers for a long time- I used to keep them in a big ironstone bowl on a trunk I used as a coffee table. Kids loved to play with them when they came to visit. Their parents, maybe not so much...
Eventually I moved the bowl to another room....
My favorite is the dancing butterflies in the upper right corner.
We've got sparkly jewelry, and some jewelry lots that are missing a stone or have some other little problem but would be great for projects or to be remade into a new "old" piece.
The flower pin and earring set is very springy- and I love the simplicity of the bar pin with the cross, anchor and heart.
You can find jewelry and noisemakers here. Thanks for taking the time to look!
