Good news / Bad news

Well, I have some bad news and some good news.  Bad for ME.  GOOD for you.  The bad news first.  This is what the passenger side of my car now looks like:

It actually looks a lot WORSE in person.  You can’t really see how DEEP the dent is in the photo.  It’s deep enough that I can’t open that door anymore.  I’m fine.  My car, notsomuch!   Thanks to another driver in a parking lot who ‘saw me but thought I was going to let him to go by’, even though he had a STOP sign and I had the right of way.

Currently dealing with insurance and just waiting to hear what they decide.  Here’s the ‘back story’.  The ‘Cruiser’ is 15 years old and has served me well for the past 7 years.  I definitely ‘got my money’s worth’ out if it.  Because it’s got such a low resale value at this point, it was futile for me to have full coverage on it anymore; and most likely it is going to be deemed ‘totaled’.  And while I knew the day was coming, in the not too distant future, that I was going to have to replace it, I really can’t afford to do so just yet.  I was really hoping to get at least another year out of it.  It’s still driveable, but isn’t going to be worth squat as a trade in.  sigh.

So, what’s the GOOD news?
The good news is that because I need to drum up considerably more funds to replace my vehicle, I’m having a 50% off sale in my booths at Stars.

Look for these red and white ‘50% OFF’ coupons in both of my booths.  You have to have a coupon to get the discount.  The discount is good for everything you purchase from my booths, through May 31, 2019.  After that, I’ll be extending the sale ‘as needed’, until I have enough to replace the Cruiser.

You can also print a coupon directly from the Stars website.   The coupon on the site will look a little different than the ones I printed on my PC, but the offer is the same.

I was just in Stars yesterday, rearranging and restocking, so there is a huge variety and selection of goods awaiting your shopping, and SAVING, pleasure!  And IF there is something that you have seen in my booth in the past and always coveted, but don’t see there just now; feel free to ASK ME!  It might just be something that I pulled and took home when I changed out inventory.  I’ll be happy to take it back in for you; and even have them HOLD it ‘just for you’ at the front desk.

Time for pictures!

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As you can see, both booths are jam-packed with goods.  I will continue to bring in MORE stock every week.   I’ll be making more and resupplying the coupons too.  IF, for some reason you can’t locate a coupon while you are there; ask them to CALL ME, and I will give them a verbal okay for your 50% discount.

So, come and get it while the gettin’s are half off!!

Stars is open 7 days a week; 11am – 6pm.

MORE Christmas in my booth at Stars

Took the rest of my Christmas goods to Stars this week.

Both of my spaces are fuller than full!

Plenty of vintage white Ironstone dishes in my wall space.

 Unique hand crafted gift boxes, perfect for that ‘little gift’ or gift cards.

Hand painted Christmas signs, red glass jar lanterns come with a battery votive and SO CUTE little vintage style car with tree on top ornaments.

Trees.  Trees and MORE trees!  Bottle brush trees in just about every size and color; mounted on unique vintage bases: candle holders, tart tins, glass vials filled with ‘snow’, spools of thread and cherub candle holders!

‘Snowfolk’ made from vintage salt and pepper shakers are making an encore appearance this year; but it will be their final year.  Get them while you can.  Bottle brush trees and snowmen are the perfect winter decorations to leave out after Christmas and before you decorate for Valentine’s Day.

Vintage crepe paper rosette ornaments also make wonderful package toppers.

Vintage sheet music rosette ornaments with classic Christmas color adornments of red, gold and silver.

Both Stars malls are open 7 days a week; 11am – 6pm.

Give unique vintage and upcycled gifts this Christmas.

I’m FINALLY going to do it!!

I have been wanting to do this for YEARS, and it’s finally coming to fruition.  When I moved 3+ years ago, I was hoping to find a place big enough to have an occasional craft sale in.  Alas, a place that big just wasn’t in my budget.  Then I considered ‘making do’ with what I had and just ‘moving things around’ a bit to MAKE room to do a little craft sale.

Alas and alack, I just had TOO MUCH STUFF (my collected treasures) and no place to move them to!  Since moving I’ve continued to pare down my superfluous stuff and re-organize how I store my supplies . . .  and I am finally to the point that I have room to do a little craft sale here in my home!!  woo~hoo!!

 

It has taken me the better part of a week to un-decorate my living room and find spots to stash decor items to make room for the stuff I want to sell.  But I did IT.  Now I’m just ‘tweaking things’ and working on how to display them.

 

The sale will be Sunday,

December 2nd from noon – 3pm.

20660 NW Lapine Way  Portland, OR  97229

Since you’ll be buying directly from me instead of a mall or show where I have to pay rent, registration and/or consignment fees; I can sell it at HALF OFF!  Everything $5.00 and up will be 50% 0ff.

 

 ~ Vintage ~ Upcycled ~ Hand crafted ~ Holiday Home Decor ~ Gifts ~

 

Enjoy some fresh baked Christmas cookies while you shop WITHOUT any crowds or cranky cashiers!

 

Please B.Y.O.B. – Bring your own BAG if you have a reusable shopping bag.

 

The thing I miss the most about no longer having our store is getting to see my friends and customers.  I really hope you’ll stop by and say hi and grab a cookie or two while you ‘shop local’ and get some unique gifts and Christmas decor at crazy good prices.

 

These are just a few pictures of what I have set up thus far.

I’ll post more pictures on Friday.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Quick Change

Well, not really all THAT quick (it took me three hours), but a considerable change in my booth layouts.

My original ‘plan’ to put in a completely new vignette in my little wall booth has been abandoned.  I’m not abandoning the space, just the idea for changing it out.  Why?

My thought process in deciding to change it up monthly was that it was a small enough space and it would be fairly easy to do so.  It was a LOT more work than I had anticipated.    Not that I necessarily eschew hard work, but it was getting to be too much for my ‘bad back’ to handle.

AND the aisle along the back is much narrower than the central aisles.   It was next to impossible to move stuff around without blocking the aisle for shoppers to traverse.  So I decided to put mostly small items in my wall booth.  Small stuff is easier to stock without getting in the way of shoppers.

Fortunately for me, the owner scheduled a ‘dealer work shift’ Saturday, which gave dealers 3 hours to work without any customers.  I took advantage of that time to move the big metal rack from my big boot to the wall space.  Which sounds fairly simple, but it was a pretty big undertaking.

First I had to empty and move four shelves on the back aisle side of my big booth in order to access the big metal shelf.  Then I had to empty the metal shelf.  Move the stuff that was in the area of the wall booth where I was going to put the metal shelf; then move that big heavy shelf to the wall space.  Put all the product back on the metal shelf.  Figure out where I wanted to put the four shelves I had moved out of the way.  Then figure out where to put the stuff I had taken from the wall space!  Believe me, I needed every MINUTE of the three hours allotted for us to work without any interference.

Normally I have what I am going to do with my booths pretty well thought out ahead of time.  As soon as I decide to take a new piece of furniture in, I start thinking about where I will put it and how I will move things around.  So I had measured ahead of time and knew where I was going to move the big metal shelf to, but beyond that I just drew a blank.  Had to ‘wing it’ this time.  I’ll be changing this up again next week when I take the leftover Christmas product from the show in, and pull the last little bit of fall left.

It feels SO much bigger without that metal shelf in the middle!

Took these two cute little upcycled tables in last week.

The bottom photo here is the space where the big metal shelf used to be.  Haven’t quite decided what I want to do there.  This will do for fine for now though.

Some pretty vintage liqueur bottles.  Perfect for putting homemade liqueurs for gift giving in.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It’s SHOWTIME!!

Every Husband’s Nightmare is now open at the Washington County Fairplex in Hillsboro.  Free parking and free admission.  HOURS: Tuesday, Nov. 14 – Saturday, Nov. 18.  Open 10am – 8pm weekdays and 10am – 5pm Saturday.

Some areas were still being set up when I took pictures, so there is LOTS MORE than what my pictures show.

 I had a LOT of left over hand painted signs after closing my etsy shop; so I’ve REDUCED SIGN PRICES by up to 75% at this show.  Signs that were originally $19.95 are now just $5.00.  The rest of my signs are now just $10.00 or $15.00.   And I stocked a lot of signs for this show!  Great gifts and stocking stuffers!!

Here is some of my additional product at the show.  The rest of my items are ‘blended in’ throughout the show, according to color or theme.

Three aisles of locally made food products at the show; with samples for tasting.

Aisles of hand crafted jewelry, hand made soaps, felted animals and lots of sweet things for baby.

Ornaments galore!  Not only on these displays, but also throughout the show!

Fall decor if you need a little something more for your Thanksgiving table.  Look at that FABULOUS set of vintage lockers!

Beach decor, red and turquoise Christmas decor and some fun vintage reproduction dish towels!

Neutral tones with black, metallic and glitter accents.

Traditional red and white Christmas . . . and cottage chis pastels.

And as always, lots and lots of fabulous vintage!  these pictures really only show a ‘snippet’ of what all you will find at the show.

 If you want to avoid shopping crowds, come in the evening hours.

50% off in my booth at Stars this Saturday & Sunday only

All three Stars stores are having a BIG SALE this Saturday and Sunday; 11am – 6pm.  Each booth owner chooses what % off they want to offer; and I am offering

50% OFF ALL REGULAR PRICED ITEMS IN MY BOOTH.

(This will NOT include ‘already discounted’ items with the ‘red sale tags’)

I spent 10 HOURS fluffing and stocking my booth this week, and it is JAM-PACKED for this sale!

Lots of unique hand crafted gift boxes and gift items.

Why not give something they can really USE??  Small furniture pieces make great gifts too.

Classic white dishes are always in style.

Collectible tureens (filled with sweets or a gift card?!?)

Cupcake stands.  Add a hand crafted ornament to the package instead of a bow.  Reduce and reuse!

Upcycled jewelry boxes.  Perfect for wrapping a piece of jewelry in!

Encrusted with vintage buttons.

Topped with a little nest and a bird.

Vintage finds; as found.

I always add a handful of my own hand cut and hand mixed paper shred to gift gift boxes.  This year I bagged up extra ‘sheet music’ paper shred.  It is hand folded and hand cut.  Save it to use again and again!

Of course there is plenty of Christmas decor too.   Unique and upcycled.

Classic gold.

Traditional Red!

Green!

Wall decor.

Decorated vintage ice skate instead of a wreath for your front door.

Paper rosette wreath ‘alternatives’ for indoor decor.

Peace on earth vintage atlas rosette wreath.

And ornaments.

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Lots ans LOTS of ornaments!

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One of a kind banners.

Glass apothecary jars, big and small!

Cloches and dessert stands make a great display for special treasures.

Stack up several desert stands to display cookies and candies on.

Decorative holiday pillows.

Plenty of turquoise/aqua gifts, decor and gift boxes of course!

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Little birds with crowns, always a staple in my booth!

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Decorated mach gift boxes.

Even a simple vintage bottle brush tree looks special under a glass cloche.

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Vintage glittered gold stars, to top your tree or tie onto a BIG wrapped gift!

White Christmas scenes, dessert stands and owls (with crowns, of course!)

After dessert is done, just plop A Christmas scene atop your dessert stand for an instant centerpiece!

LOTS of signs in stock for Christmas  giving!

At 50% off this weekend, why not but one for yourself too!?!

Like I said, my booth is JAM-PACKED!!

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Don’t forget to shop the OUTSIDE aisle too!  LOTS more product on the back side!

Vintage Madonna statues are a popular collectible.

This vintage French poodle is a decanter!  Very unique!

White and silver decor works for New Years too!

50% off sale, in my booth at Stars;  THIS Saturday and Sunday only

Pretty wedding gift wrap

I had a wedding gift to wrap recently, but didn’t have any ‘wedding type’ paper or ribbon!  Time to improvise.

I ALWAYS have aqua wrapping paper, so I wrapped it in aqua, then I just looked at it like a ‘blank canvas’ and rummaged through my paper craft stuff for embellishments.

The birds are laser cut felt; purchased from craft store.

Two (one large, one small) tea stained doilies, and one aqua doily from craft store.  (RE:tea staining – I had these doilies already stained.  whenever I need something like that, I do a whole batch of them.  Then NEXT time I need one, it’s ready to use!)

The little heart was from a package of ‘table scatter’ hearts from the dollar store.  The little “I do” a scrap book embellishment.

Really, once I figured out WHAT I wanted to do, it was pretty quick and easy to apply.  It’s figuring out the DESIGN that takes time!

HALLOWEEN & CHRISTMAS stuff now in my etsy shop

Halloween and Christmas goodies now available in  my etsy shop:

MOST of the Halloween stuff is listed in ‘lots’.  More bang for your buck and less shipping cost!

Just to show you a few.  Hop on over to my etsy shop  to see everything!

Gift box re-cap

Thought it might be a good idea to show ALL the gift boxes I’ve made this season, all in one post together.  So, if you’re thinking you already seen all of the following pictures; you’re right!  So this post is really more for future reference and for posterity!

Dollar Tree gift boxes, topped with DT nests and eggs (I glittered the eggs and added some reindeer moss to fill out the nest)  The bow on the was on top of the box when I bought it. Just pulled it off (since it would have been covered by the nest anyhow!)  and put it back on where it was visible!

White fabric covered boxes; tea stained; topped with a tea stained crepe paper rosette and  DT feather birds with a glitter crowns.

A couple more of the same boxes, just different ‘toppings’ that the previous ones shown.   These are topped with bundles of vintage frosted glass ornaments; some ribbon, a glittery snowflake and a tiny ‘joy’ tag.  (tag was printed on vintage dictionary page)

This is just one of those ‘little extras’ that I like to do.  I add a handful of paper shred inside all of my gift boxes.  This is my own ‘recipe’ for paper shred; a combination of store bought kraft shred, hand folded and cut book pages and sheet music shred, hand folded and cut tissue paper, some bits of leftover gold ribbon cut into tiny pieces . . . you get the idea.  A little bit of everything!

Another DT box topped with a pair of white bottle brush trees and little ceramic house; all also from DT.   I just added glitter and glue!  (and paper shred!)

These are ‘use up those leftover snowmen from the store’!  Just plopped a snowman on a box and done!  (priced super cheap to get rid of them PLUS an additional 40% off for my downsizing sale!)

Another one of the tea stained fabric boxes, this time topped with a gold resin bird wearing a vintage sheet music crown.  I placed a crepe paper rosette rimmed with gold glitter on top of the box and glued the bird into place in the center of that.  The sheer bow on top of the bird’s feet (hiding all the ugly glue!) is the bow that came on the box originally again.  Just pulled it off and made better use of it!

I should have made more of these, as they sold the fastest.  Now I’ll know for next year.  AND I’ll be able to easily find my ‘gift box post’ to remind me when the time comes!

Happy Gift Wrapping to all!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY E-BOOK SALE IN MY ETSY SHOP

For a limited time only, get FIVE of my all time best selling craft, gift and decorating project and idea e-books for LESS than half price in my etsy shop!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LISTING.

Sold individually for a combined cost of $27.70.  Get them NOW, for a special bundle price of just $10.00!

LIMITED TIME ONLY.

And you KNOW you should be getting started on your holiday crafting already!

Here’s what you’ll learn how to do in these e-books:

* Make your own grubby battery tea lights, pillar candles and tapers.

* Decorate store bought jar candles for frugal holiday decor and gift giving

* Make five different kinds of decorative faux snowballs.  Sell the finished snowballs at craft shows, on your blog, in your etsy shop; or use them to decorate with or give as gifts.  GREAT WINTER WEDDING DECOR!!!

* How to rust your own jingle bells.

* How to tea stain paper and tags.

* How to make grubby chenille and acrylic candy canes, and several decorating ideas with them.

* Frugal and SUPER SIMPLE holiday decor and gift ideas under $5.00.

GO!  SHOP!  CRAFT!

$AVE!!!!!