Meet my two new ‘helpers’ . . . .

Most of you know that I have some pretty severe physical limitations due to an unexpected outcome from a spine surgery 15 years ago.  Couple that with plain ole ‘old age’ creeping in and everyday activities are becoming more difficult for me.  Especially stocking my booth at Stars and setting up for shows.  It was time to ‘get some help’ with all that work.  Meet my two new helpers:

A FOLDING three tier cart!!!  (that I bought fromZulilly)  

This thing is going to save me SO MUCH extra ‘lifting and carrying’!!  I have one of the old three tier metal kitchen carts, mine is rusty pink.  The shelves bend if I put too much weight on them and the wheels screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech when I push it from place to place.  AND it takes up the entire back of my car.  So when I needed to use it for moving product around in my booth, I couldn’t fit any new stock for my booth in my car that day!  sigh.  But occasionally it was a necessary evil.  

 

**** SORRY THAT ALL THIS IS IN ITALICS!!  I CAN’T GET IT TO CHANGE TO REGULAR FONT?!?!

 

It’s just SO convenient to load the stuff I want to move to a new spot in the booth onto the cart; then I can wheel it out of the way while I prepare the new location.  Saves me a LOT of ‘bending and lifting and carrying’ of stuff from one place to another.  And this new one folds flat enough that it fits in the small space behind the front seats, without using up any of the ‘cargo space’ in my car.  

 

It also sets up and folds down SO easily, that I just might use IT instead of my ‘flat-bed’ dolly for hauling stuff from my car to my booth.  (sometimes I have to park BLOCKS away from Stars!)  The flat bed works great for furniture, but small boxes of stuff tend to ‘slide off’ if I hit a bump crossing the street!

 

THIS THING IS GOING TO MAKE MY LIFE SO MUCH EASIER!

I also got this little cutie from Zulilly.  A folding stool to sit on!  It fits in the same area along with the cart.  Will be perfect to sit on when I am working on the ‘near the floor’ areas of my booth, since I don’t ‘stoop down’ so well anymore.  Usually have to get down on my knees; which isn’t too bad.  It’s the getting UP that’s the hard part!  

 

These two new helpers are going to make my work SO much easier!

MUST HAVES & FAQ’s answered: Coarse sanding sponge

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you’ve heard (seen!) me mention COARSE sand paper.  It’s the ONLY grit of sandpaper I use.  Ever.  Period!  As much as possible I use my orbital hand sander with a coarse disc on it.  (BTW if you do a lot of big sanding jobs and have been using a PAD sander, treat yourself to an ORBITAL sander.  It will make your work MUCH easier!)

But when I do occasionally have to sand by hand, I use  a coarse sanding sponge or block:

You can find them in any hardware store, near the sand paper.  I even found them at Dollar Tree a while ago, and stocked up!  They can be expensive at the hardware store, so look for them on sale and stock up.  They are just much easier to handle when sanding intricate things.

1,111th post!!!

My last post was my 1,111th post.  Wow!  I’m truly amazed that I have managed to find that much stuff to post about.

SO, what shall I do to commemorate this momentous occasion?  How about a ‘top 11’ list? 

I had actually put together a top 10 list a while back (before all the computer drama!) and set it aside to use on ‘one of those days’ when I couldn’t think of anything to post.  Now if I can just FIND that list.  Should be easy enough to come up with one more item to add to it.  SO, here’s my top 11 list of things I ALWAYS look for (IF the price is right!) when I am out shabby shopping.  These are MOSTLY things I am buying to sell in my booth, shows and on etsy; not personal collectibles.

AJ’S TOP 11 LIST OF MUST HAVES: (in no particular order)

1) Vintage /cream chenille bedspreads and embossed coverlets.

2) Eiffel Tower and Paris memorabilia

3) Little chairs; doll and child size.

4) Blank picture frames; just about any kind!

5) Vintage cherub vases and candle holders (any color  – just paint them white!)

6)  Clear apothecary jars.

7) Vintage suit cases; any size/color (I paint these too!)

8) Vintage picnic baskets.

9) Cloches

10) Little vintage foot/step stools

11) Vintage white dishes / Ironstone most preferable.  Mostly look for: Large platters and serving dishes, soup tureens, pitchers and tea post, creamers and sugar bowls, gravy/sauce boats, canisters and crocks.  Sub-collection of chicken/duck/swan stuff.

NEW TOYS!!!

Can’t wait to PLAY!

Word of advice:  If you are thinking of buying any paper punches like these, I HIGHLY recommend the ‘two handled’ ones over the other kind.  The kind like the yellow one, you have to flip over to be sure your paper is in the right position.  The other style is meant to be used ‘face up’.  Much faster and easier to use.  And not too pricey if you buy them using the 40% off coupons at JoAnn or Michael’s.

YUMMY new spray paints!  They’re finally making ‘my colors’ in SATIN!

AND I splurged and bought myself a Martha Stewart circle cutter (using a 40% off coupon, of course!)  It looked like a good deal because you can make multiple size circles with it.  (I want to make banners).  the jury is still out on whether or not I will ‘endorse’ this one.  I’ve only used it a couple of times, and maybe it will work better once it’s ‘broken in’.  But right now it’s really HARD to adjust the circle size and the blade doesn’t cut as smoothly as I’d hoped.

 

Happy! Happy!! HAPPY!!!

I was SO BUMMED the last time I went to Home Depot to buy paint and discovered they no longer carry Ralph Lauren!!  They have Martha Stewart brand instead, which, the salesman told me, was manufactured by the same company as Ralph Lauren.  So I gave it a try.

Sorry!  No cigar!!!  I have tried ALL brands of paint and NOTHING is as good as Ralph Lauren.  It costs more per gallon to BUY, but is a better value to USE.  Better coverage and just literally goes on like soft butter on toast.

So, WHY am I telling you all this when you can’t get it at Home Depot anymore???  I just saw a commercial that said Miller Paints now carries Ralph Lauren paints.  That was the ENTIRE commercial too.  Just that quick blurb and a picture of a can of RL paint!!  Nuf said!  I’ve got me a new favorite paint store. 

Oh Ralph, I HAVE missed you so!!!!

I LOVE ‘rub n buff’!

I’ve seen what other bloggers have done with it, but not tried it myself until now.  I an usually able to get the multi-layered colors effect I want simply by painting and sanding.  Old gold frames (wood OR plastic) are really easy to do that way.  Just paint them black and lightly sand for the gold to show through.

But recently I decided to paint these little resin urns black, to go with the Paris apartment look I am trying to create in our antique mall space.  They just didn’t look ‘right’ when I sanded them.

I love black and white, but these just weren’t doing it for me.  Time to break out the tube of Rub n Buff!

It really takes only the TINIEST bit.  Spreads on like SILK, but you have to work fast because it dries almost instantly.  I just used my finger and smoothed it over the raised areas where I had sanded. 

This was EXACTLY what these urns needed!  Love they way they turned out. 

I added some moss and a robins egg blue egg to a couple of them.  NOW, what else can I use this Rub n Buff on?!?!?  It’s rather addictive!

 OUR WEBSITE: www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

VISIT OUR ETSY STORE: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981

~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~

Time to go TOOL shopping!

If you’ve been wanting or needing any new tools, THIS WEEK is the time to go out and buy them!  Why???  They’ll be on sale for Father’s day.  I always wait until this time of year to make my major new tool purchases.  Well, at least the ones that I can’t find at garage or estate sales! 

Things I can’t live without!

Okay, that may be being a bit dramatic.  I could live without it, but just not WORK without it.  This really makes my work easier . . . which makes for better profitability.  And these days, every penny (minute!) counts.  Because, time IS money ESPECIALLY when you are scratching out a living in your own small business, and prices of everything just keep going UP!

If you must use spray paint, you MUST get one of these babies!  A plastic ‘trigger’.  You know how after even just a short amount of time pressing down a spray nozzle that your wrist aches horribly???  This little gem is the cure!  Much easier to maneuver the can into awkward positions for painting too.

There’s trash out there to be turned into treasure, and this tool is GOLDEN!