Wedding planning

Is there a wedding in your near future?  Don’t forget to check out STARS ANTIQUE MALLS  when you are looking for unique decor items.  Vintage wares are very popular for using in weddings these days; and it’s a very economical way to go too!  Unlike a lot of the decorative things you buy or make ‘just for your wedding’; the vintage items you purchase can continue to be used afterwards for decorating your home

~::~

Here’s a peek at some great vintage items in my two booths at Stars that you could use for wedding decor.

Hand crafted ‘HAPPILY EVER AFTER” banners made using vintage sheet music in neutral tones would work with just about any color scheme.  I put each work on it’s own hanging string, but you can easily hang them together in one long line.  After the wedding, this would be cute in your home, hanging on a wall along with your framed wedding photos.

Be sure to visit Stars website to get a 50% 0FF everything coupon for my booths.  

And speaking of frames!!  I’ve got some plain and fancy large frames that would be great for use in your photo booth, for people to hold up to their faces.  OR use on the hors d’oeuvres table or candy bar.  I love the look of big blank frames like this leaning on a fireplace mantle or hung on a wall.  I’ve got lots of smaller frames too.  Many of the have some sort of picture in them, but they can easily be changed out.  After the wedding?  What home doesn’t need photo frames?

I’ve got lots of smaller frames tucked here and there throughout both booths.  ALL half off with coupon!  I’ve got some pre-printed coupons in my booths also.

Word cloud chalk boards are great for using in your photo booth too!

How perfect are these glitterey crowns for the Bride at the Bridal shower?

Looking for some truly unique ‘little gifts’ for special people who have helped with the wedding?  These one of a kind hand stitched wool felt hearts are something they will treasure forever.  (And half off with coupon!)

This lovely mannequin with a fluffy black tulle skirt would make a perfect greeter for your wedding.  Hang a framed copy of your wedding invitation around her neck and let hert welcome your guests.  Her regular price is $155.00; half off with the coupon. 

Wispy twiggy wreath and paper Hydrangea wreath work great for a nature themed wedding; and of course as home decor afterwards.

More natural style decor with bird nests.

 

Vintage milk glass is just perfect for use in weddings.  Please don’t DIY your vases and other glassware by picking up old clear glass pieces and spray painting them!  Authentic vintage milk glass is not that costly.  I’ve got lots of vintage Milk glass vases, urns, candu and nut bowls, serving plates , punch bowls and dishes.  ALL 50% off now with coupon.

Bundles of old grubby books work well with just about ANY wedding or decorating style.  I always keep a lot of them stocked in my booths, tucked into all kinds or displays.

Going for a more rustic feel for your wedding?  I’ve got quite a few items that will work for that stYle too.  Bit rustic weathered wood trays, small wood drawers and crates, shadow boxes and arrows.  Galvanized buckets, trays and baskets too.

STARS IS OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK ~ 11am – 6pm

Visit the Stars website, or on Facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

 

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

~::~

 

~::~

~::~

~::~

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.

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!

Ready or not . . .

 . . . . Thanksgiving, the Christmas will be here before you know it.  I’m getting a head start and brought in a few holiday decor things to my booth at Stars this week.  Then tomorrow I deliver to the ‘Every Husband’s Nightmare’ show in Hillsboro.  After that show ends next Saturday, I’ll have even MORE holiday goodies to bring to Stars.

Here’s what I’ve done to start off the season:

I think my decorating theme for this year is ‘simple elegance’.  Lots of pretty vintage glass baubles in jars and bowls with mini fairy lights give off a truly magical glow!

It’s almost impossible to truly capture the beauty of the little lights in pictures and in the well lit store; but you get the idea.  Some of these arrangements are ‘all inclusive’ pieces, where I have priced the container with the lights and baubles to be sold together as one item.  The rest of them are priced individually so you can just buy what you need.  If you already have the glass baubles and just need the container to put them in, OR if you have the container and just need a few more glass baubles.

SO many different ways to display these holiday lovelies.  Think outside the box and use what you have to place your ornaments in.  Or buy something that will serve multiple purposes.

This is actually a cupcake stand!  Pretty little boxes with bows always add a festive touch to your decor, and you’ll have a gift box handy if you need one for a last minute gift!

I’m pretty sure that the white metal stand filled with ornaments was intended for this very purpose.  But you could also use it at Easter to hold your colored eggs.

Milk glass punch and candy bowls look pretty filled with ornaments too!

You can even fill the dome lid of your cake stand with baubles!  It’s a bit of a tricky process and you have to be sure that no one inadvertently takes the lid off ‘to see what will happen’.  A mess.  A mess will happen.  Which is why I didn’t fill the ones in my booth with glass baubles!

I’ve got some awesome vintage crystal snack plates with cups for you holiday entertaining.  And some beautiful silver espresso cups and saucers.

There is never a shortage of Milk Glass dishes or vases in my booth!  The milk glass vases are really pretty with vintage glass baubles on top of them too!

Always a plentiful supply and variety of stoneware dishes too.  Be sure you have all the serving bowls and platters you will need for serving your holiday feast.

I hate to admit it, but my wall space become more of a depository for ‘all the stuff I can’t fit into my big booth’, as opposed to a theme planned vignette.  A few bits of fall still available in my wall space.

Stop on by and get into the holiday spirit.

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

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Coming soon to Star’s Antique Mall in Portland, Oregon:

Sophie’s Annex.

At the end of this month, I’ll be taking on an additional space at Stars!  You won’t have to walk far to find the new ‘Sophie’s Annex’.  It’s along the back wall, directly across from my existing booth; literally two steps away.

Why am I so excited about this additional 2′ x 8′ space; and what will I DO with it that I couldn’t already do with my existing space?

It’s no secret that changing up the look of your booth, adding new inventory, rearranging furniture and just generally ‘refreshing’ your space brings you more shoppers.  With a 10′ x 10′ booth FULL of inventory, changing things up is pretty difficult.  I have so many great ideas for ‘cute little vignettes’, and the inventory to create them; just not the SPACE to do so.

Taking on this additional wall space feels like the perfect solution.  It’s close to my original booth, so no extra moving stuff throughout the mall.  And it’s small enough that I can totally EMPTY the space and set up an entirely new vignette every month.  THAT is the plan!

At the end of every month, all of the existing inventory in my 2’x8′ wall space will be removed, then a whole new vignette will take it’s place.

I’m so excited about this new venture at Stars!

What’s your favorite decorating style that you can never seem to find enough of? 

What styles are you ‘just over’ and wish would go away already?  

GOLD!

Yep, Gold.  While I’ve almost always had ‘little touches’ of gold mixed in with my offerings; all of a sudden I had a LOT of gold and decided to make it a focal point display on the back wall of my booth at Stars.

This wall is usually reserved for displaying my signs, but now that I have closed my etsy shop and am letting my sign supply dwindle, I can finally do some varying displays on the back wall.

This large gold metal wall basket is filled with upcycled gold framed cork boards.  Smallest ones start at $8.00 up to the largest priced at $19.00.

I’ve been holding onto this metal basket for YEARS!!  I always wanted to use it as a ‘bed crown’ by turning it upside down.  Alas, I don’t have enough room in my booth for a bed.  I finally decided to just use it as intended.

Here are some pictures from Pinterest of bed crowns, just in case you couldn’t quite picture what they are.

Gold framed shadow box can be used to display items IN the frame and on top of it.

 

This cute little metal frame was painted black when I bought it; but I could see that it had originally been gold.  I just refreshed the gold paint.

I extended the gold theme to below and beside the wall display.

I had actually been setting this gold stuff aside for next February’s Junk Salvation show.  Alas, the Washington County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall, where the show has always been held, was recently ‘condemned’ and deemed unsafe for use, and will be torn down in the very near future.  Sooooooooooooo . . . .  I will not be doing the show ‘one last time, for old time’s sake’.

I’m quite certain that ‘the show WILL go on’; in a different facility.  The promoter was already feeling like maybe it was time to look for a bigger space.  For me, given that it was going to be my LAST booth show anyhow, (health reasons) it’s just not worth the extra work to ‘get my bearings’ in a new facility.  Having a routine ‘down pat’ for delivering and setting up; and being close to my son’s job for him to help me unload, factored hugely in my capacity to do the show.  PLUS, the old location was super close to home for me; which was a BIG “+” factor for me in deciding to do the show.

So, next year I will have to settle for just being a spectator at the Junk show.  I’ll still keep you informed of the dates and new location.

IT’S SALE TIME AT STARS!

I just restocked my booth with TEN boxes of inventory; including Spring and Easter decor and gifts.

Just in time for the upcoming FIVE DAY sale at Stars Antique Malls

The sale begins Thursday, March 1 and continues through Monday, March 5, 2018.

STORE HOURS ARE 11am – 6pm; 7 days a week

And, as I am in the habit of always doing, everything in MY booth will be 50% off during this sale.  Price tags show the regular price; discount will be given at check-out.  Look for the sale signs in the other booths for the discount that other vendors are offering.

And now a peek at ‘The Goods’:

Vintage and handcrafted Easter decor and gifts.

Some ‘general’ spring decor . . .  bird cages, nests and eggs, terra-cotta pots, cloches and little birds with crowns.

Grey faux concrete and wood decorative finials.  (details on how I did the faux concrete coming soon!)

Always have plenty of these items stocked in my booth: vintage Ironstone and Milk Glass, vintage and upcycled cloches, crowns, cake stands, vintage mason jars and upcycled bottles.

White furniture.

Of course, aqua furniture!

And ALL OF IT HALF OFF FOR THE NEXT FIVE DAYS!!

Head count

My mannequin head collection started with these three vintage ones.  The one on the left, I covered with torn vintage dictionary pages, and mounted on the round wood base from a cheese board.

You can see how I made the tallest one in the center HERE.

The one on the right I actually left ‘as found’; just added a bit of spray varnish to prevent further ‘shedding’.

I made this one last year from a NEW styro head that I bought at the craft store.  Not really caring for the look and feel of styrofoam, I covered with paper mache then sanded to smooth it out.  I glued a glass bowl to the bottom of this one and spray painted the whole thing a flat white.

The reason I ‘add things’ to the bases of these heads is to give them some ‘weight’  and a broader base,

so they don’t tip over too easily when used at a show or in my booth.

Here is my latest addition to the collection.  Found this vintage head at an estate sale and it was a very WEIRD shaped face!?!  Very flat nose bridge and very BIG eye sockets . . .and NO mouth!  Looked like an alien head to me!!

I covered this one with vintage sewing pattern pieces.  Just tore up an old pattern into small pieces and applied them with white glue.

For the base on this one, I glued on a vintage wood bowl that I had painted black.

Just a little bigger than the base of the head is a perfect fit.

Modeling one of my newest crowns.

And the gangs all here!  Displayed on the shelf above my bed until they are called to duty.

And the all white one is now ‘on duty’ in my booth at Stars in this just added crown display.

I’m ‘test marketing’ assorted sizes.  I’ve made small and full size ones before, just not displayed and sold them at the same time.

Will be interesting to see which size sells better.

The small ones, for just decorative use.

Or the bigger ones that are actually wearable.

Candle stands make cute displays for the smaller ones.

~::~

Some are ‘bear’ size.

‘Almost’ vintage cherub size.

~::~

I wish I could find more of this vintage, WIDE, eyelet lace.  I tea stained it and stiffened it before adding the embellishments.

Yes, this is what I use a lot of those crepe paper rosettes for.

~::~

These crowns are now available for purchase in my booth at Stars.

My favorite little model, PRICELESS!

Ginormous cubby shelf!

I found this baby at the Habitat ReStore in Bend, while Michael and I were there for my son’s wedding in August.

I’m not sure why there are those two ‘double’ opening in the middle there!?!?!  I think perhaps it was designed for a specific purpose.  All the wood was very well sanded and ‘ready to paint’.  Just had to dust it off a bit.

It’s nearly 3 feet tall!  And that’s a LOT of cubbies to paint.  Thank goodness it came sans any backing; much easier to paint that way.

Even without any backing, it took DAYS to get it painted.  I painted all the cubbies first, then added the painted backing.  A backing makes a HUGE difference.

Lots of room to display thing on it!

It is now in my booth at Stars;  $120.00.