How cute is this?!?!
You can download the free pattern HERE
Be sure to look at the other free patterns the site offers. The PIG is my favorite!
Happy Crafting!
The kindness of strangers
I want to thank Lynne of Alaska Treasures http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=2998103
for helping me out with my recent etsy problems. She contacted them for me (I couldn’t log in and therefore could not contact them myself) and they emailed me to help me with my log in problem. Here’s an update on what all went on.
Someone from etsy support emailed me and asked what the problem was. I emailed back and told them. They said to clear my cache and cookies and that should fix the problem. NOPE. Still doing the same thing.
Then they said their people found some kind of glitch and it was not fixed. NOPE. I’m still having the same problem.
Then they said be sure you are using the latest version of your browser, which I was. Still not working properly and unable to log in.
Finally they said they show NO PROBLEMS on their end of things and suggested I try a different browser. I was using Netscape. Tried IE (internet explorer) and it worked!
I still think something is wrong on THEIR end of things. I shouldn’t have to use a different browser for JUST ONE web site. But for now it’ll work.
If you are having the same problem, you can contact them at
support@etsy.com
More recent findings
How cute are those FLOWER shaped wooden bowls?!?!? Will probably end up painting them. And I want to make some ‘orbs’ to put on top of things like this little metal flower pot. Just gotta find some old (and CHEAP!) big round items (balls) to paper mache to make them. Wish I’d thought of this in the summer and bought a bunch of rubber balls at the dollar store.
I have wanted one of these art modeling dolls FOREVER! I was so excited when I found TWO of them at once, because then I could justify keeping one for myself. But when I got them home I realized one was a male and one a female. I can’t bear to split them up so I guess I ‘have’ to keep both of them!
This is such a pretty little table candelabra. Hard to tell in the photo, but each glass holder has a different design; one is hobnail, one has swirls and one has ridges.
Halloween witches!
I LOVE seeing what others do with the ideas we share and my e-books. Check out the witches THE CINNAMON STICK made using my e-book:
You can see more of their Halloween open house photos on their blog HERE
As you can see by how many of them they made, they are fast, easy and pretty inexpensive to make. See the e-book HERE
I sure miss living in the ‘burbs’ and having a kid at home this time of year. Halloween decorating is so much fun! One year Elliot and I cut out over a HUNDRED bats from construction paper and hung them throughout the stairwell entrance to our four-plex.
And I took a BIG box (big enough for a person to fit into; but didn’t have a person in there) and set it right next to the door. Took a shirt and gloves and stuffed them and let them partially hang out. Set a pair of boots beside the box. Took a scrap piece of a 2×4 and tied clear fishing line to it and ran the line through the side of the door. When the trick or treaters knocked on the door; I pulled on the string and it REALLY sounded like someone was trying to get out of the box!
Next to the door was a handmade tombstone (used the innards of empty cereal boxes for the headstones) that read, “Here lies the trick or treater who knocked on the wrong door!” And then on the small landing half way up to our upstairs apartment I build a scarecrow. Strapped him on a hand truck to keep him upright and tied a piece of fishing line to one of his hands and made him ‘wave goodbye’ as the kids went down the stairs.
Of course, the obligatory ’spooky sounds’ tape was playing. Under the lower stairwell I had tied a sheet to an old box fan and turned it on the create a ghost!
Ahhhhh . . . . those ere the good ole days!
Recent findings
Still doing a little bit of shopping for my own home decor.
I’m thinking the “A” was from a set of bookends because there was a “Z” that matched; but priced separately and it had a big ding in it. I just wanted the “A” anyhow. Now if I can just find a “J”! I seem to be collecting little cream-white-putty colored crocks and pitchers lately. Using them in my new living room decor.
The crock with the ‘apothecary’ label that I put the new pitcher next to, is one of those old ’sourdough’ crocks. I just printed up the apothecary label on my computer and covered the existing lettering. I’ve also been known to just ‘turn them around’ when I display things that have labels that I don’t care for.
These shelves are above the windows in the living room, and pretty much the ONLY place I can really ‘decorate’ in the living room.
Most of this stuff has gone to our space at Stars.
Components for building pedestal plates with glass domes.
This tray will be going to Stars.
Nice little three drawer chest. Ill probably turn it on its END, add feet and repaint it.
the pink wicker suitcase has gone to Stars. The gold shelf has been painted white and will also go to Stars on my next trip. Not sure what I want to do with the big wood bowls yet. I usually end up painting them primitive style.
I loved the bird and nest on this piece. Almost didn’t buy it because of the missing ‘whatever’s’ that belong in the holes. I searched the store (Goodwill) to find something that fit. The typical fluted top glass votive cups didn’t work. Then I found some glass tealight holders that I was ‘pretty sure’ would fit. Couldn’t really tell because 3 of them were taped together. Decided to buy them. also found some tiny clear glass ‘bowls’; again taped together, and bought them also.
Got it home and just didn’t like hoe it looked with the small glass inserts. They looked TOO small. Not I’m thinking that maybe what was in there were long ‘test tube; type things. With the small ones it just looked too top-heavy. Finally I just had Michael CUT THEM OFF with bolt cutters. then I bent the leaves down a little.
Whaddya think? It has no real ‘function’ anymore, but I like how it looks much better.
SCORE!!!
I’ve spent the better part of my time over the last month since we closed the store sorting and organizing the leftovers and supplies. We found a garage not too far away to rent (Hallelujah!!!) so as I have sorted things I’ve had to divy them up between:
* Leaving in my overcrowded craft room.
* Taking it to the storage shed Michael built for me.
* Taking it to the garage for storage.
For NOW, we decided that the garage would serve us best by holding all the bins of product for the fall bazaar. (just a MONTH away!!) I had packed all that stuff away during the process of closing the store. We had just about the whole trailer (6′x10′) FULL!
Needless to say, I’ve been making frequent trips from home to the garage as I sorted through the boxes of stuff we had piled all over the house. Even the storage shed ‘here at home’ requires me to load the stuff in the car and ‘drive it over’. Just too far away for me to carry with my bad back.
Anyhoooooo . . . there just happens to be a Goodwill en route to the garage. I had seldom shopped there in the past because it is a smaller one. But this one day on my way to the garage I needed some more components for my pedestal plates and cloches I’d been making to take to Stars, so I stopped in to see if I could find any at half price. Mind you I was ON MY WAY to the garage, so my car (a small SUV) was FULL.
So what did I find? A WHOLE BUNCH of awesome shabby chic chairs painted pale pink and robin’s egg blue. Five or six of each color, different styles. And they were a great price! Could have sold them ‘as is’ is always a nice bonus. Alas, I only had room for ONE of them. I selected a blue one and headed to the garage.
I SHOULD have stopped back by on the way home when my car was empty, but this particular store is situated amongst one-way streets and is just a real pain to access coming the other way. So I just headed home.
The next day I had to go into town for something and decided to stop by Goodwill ‘just to see if maaaaaaybe by some stroke of luck, one of the chairs was left. And I was curious as to how quickly furniture moved at this GW, since I didn’t regularly shop there.
To my absolute delight there were 8 of them left!! AND they were all marked an additional $2.00 off! I couldn’t cram them into the shopping cart fast enough. Folks must have thought I was on supermarket sweeps show! lol Piled three of them in one cart and wheeled it to the counter and told the cashier I’d be back with more. Grabbed three more and decided I better pay for them now and be sure they all would FIT into my car.
They did, with room to spare so I went back and grabbed the other two! Gotta love the days you score like that at the thrift store!
Our new space at STARS Antique Mall in Sellwood
Moved into our space at Stars last week. Just a small 2′x8′ wall space, so I’ll be stocking it frequently. Here’s a peek at what we just put in:
That’s the entire length of our space!! From the big pink and brown shelf to the pink 3 drawer chest. I’ve managed to cram quite a bit of stuff in the small space; and will be restocking a couple of times a week.
Hard to tell that it’s PINK because of the ceiling light coming from behind. But this old birdcage has wonderful pink peeling paint on it. Would make a fabulous hanging lamp!
Another bird-cage.
A few fun Halloween things.
And some vintage dish pedestal plates and cloches.
Old white frames with some Halloween decor.
Pedestal plates and cloches in blues and a few more Halloween things.
Awesome cream color and yellow gourds; just $1.95 each! (These are REAL ones)
Vintage pink chair, another bird-cage and some more pedestal plates and cloches.
Awesome vintage Victorian style mask.
Lots more pedestal plates and cloches. Have you guessed what my new favorite thing is yet?!?!? Fun way to display a little skelly head!
How cute is that vintage pin wicker suitcase?!?!
Close ups of some of the cloche sets.
Yes that IS a blue willow plate. Isn’t the tiny one to its right adorable?
Sweet little ‘key tree’.
Google eyed spider with orange party hat. Vase full of skeletons in back.
Jar full of skulls. (jar and skulls sold separately)
Crow with a crown.
Jar full of skeleton hands. Jar and hands sold separately.
I’m keeping my prices as LOW as possible. Come on by and check it out!
SAVINGS ALERT!!!
I can’t say for certain if this is at ALL Dollar Tree stores, or just the ones in my area . . . but it’s worth looking into and maybe calling your local store to find out if they are participating in the 10% off everything this Sunday.
I remember they used to do this a couple of times a year, but didn’t really publicize it very much. Only handed out coupons to the customers in the store a week or two before the sale.
I am signed up to get their email ads, and nothing about this has been mentioned there. It’s not a HUGE discount, but heck, stuff there is already price so inexpensively that this is just kind of the cherry on top of the sundae!
So, make a ’stock up’ list and head out this Sunday. Tis the season to stock up on hand sanitizer. Gift bags and greeting cards are always great to have a stash of. A couple of the stores in my area already have some of their NEW Christmas stock out. (not just last years leftovers!)
Stash away some extra cleaning supplies . . . aluminum baking pans for the upcoming holidays. A few extra food items to donate to your local food bank and a few children’s toys to donate to Toys for Tots at Christmas. It’ll be here before we know it!
20% savings coupon for Big Lots!
It expires on the 10th, so not a whole lot of time to use it. Just click the link and print:
http://www.biglots.com/Coupon/BuzzclubCoupon.aspx
You can get their monthly specials via their email newsletter by signing up on their website. Seems like they do the 20% off coupons tow, maybe three times a year.
I’ve heard that there are other ‘perks’ by signing up for their shopping club and getting a card. I’ll investigate today and let y’all know.
Happy SAVING!
Cracking the ‘code’ . . . and saving more $$$!
I have ALWAYS been a thrifty shopper, but must confess that I had never been into a thrift store until I met Michael. I could not believe all the GREAT STUFF I had missed out on for all those years. Shopping at thrift stores has since become one of my favorite things to do.
Shortly after I ‘discovered’ the joys of thrifting, it seems those who run thrift stores got a bit too big for their britches and compared prices with the antique malls a little too much and decided that THEY should be charging those kinds of prices in their stores. What they failed to understand is that in the ‘retail circle’, the thrift store is more of a ‘wholesale supplier’ than an end use supplier (which garners the highest prices) Not only that, but what about the ones whom the thrift stores are REALLY supposed to be there to help, those who cannot afford new retail? It’s just crazy to see used second hand items at the thrift store priced HIGHER than a new item at Target!
I noticed this ‘jump in thrift store prices’ occurring again right about when the economy was at its worst. Where I used to be able to spend $20.00 and get a whole stash of goodies, NOW I could only get 2-3. AND I needed to be LOWERING my retail price on the things that I created with my thrift store purchases in order to keep product moving.
I mostly shop at Goodwill, because that is what is plentiful in my area. One new Salvation Army store recently opened. Many of them had closed down in the previous 6 years or so.
So, as prices started going up and I needed to watch my pennies more than ever, I decided to ‘limit’ my purchases to only what was half off that week in their color coded tag system. Other than an occasional splurge on a $5.00 item, I stuck to it pretty diligently.
I have my list of things “I always need some of” and look for those items first. Then I look for new ideas. A couple of months ago there was a glut of glass cheese domes (something I always need) but they were all priced pretty high. Dare I wait until they are the color of the week? That got me to thinking and wondering if there was a ’system’ for when what color was on sale.
I made it my mission to go in EVERY WEEK, and jot down the color of the week and keep track of them. Lo and behold, they ARE on a rotating system. Why is that helpful? Well, maybe you REALLY, really want something, but it’s too pricey. If it will be half price NEXT week, it might be worth the gamble to wait and buy it. If the color was JUST on sale last week, it’s probably NOT going to be around in the next rotation, so buy it now if you really, REALLY want it.
Here’s the color rotation schedule in my area:
Purple – red – black – blue – green with THIS week being green. Next week should be purple. I’ve tracked it for three months and it has not wavered from this pattern.
Another way I save at Goodwill is by having their club card. You get a small percent off EVERY purchase, AND your points add up and every so often you get a $10.00 gift ticket; which has to be spent within 30 days. (I only let mine expire ONCE!) Oftentimes I will actually go BACK and spend the extra $10.00 right on the spot!
You also get an additional small discount during your birthday month by having a club card.
And NOW that I am ‘officially’ of SENIOR age (gulp!) they offer an additional senior discount on Wednesdays! w00-h00!
Last Wednesday, my first Wednesday as a senior citizen, I went to FOUR different Goodwills in the area. Some of them tend to be pricier than others. Decided Wednesday was the best day to check out those others armed with my discount, just in case I found some ‘must haves’.
It was also a good way for me to compare prices, I’ve noticed different stores have lower prices on different things. One is especially cheaper on ’smalls’, another on furniture’. One has more ‘complete sets’ of china and dishes, and another has lots of ‘onesies’ when it comes to dishes.
