Hippity – hoppity . . . Easter’s on it’s way!

We had an amazing break in our winter weather last week that made me SO ready for Spring!  Our winter weather arrived late (February!) but hit HARD; as did my cabin fever.  Putting out the Spring and Easter product in my booths at Stars has really got me in the mood for ‘play outside weather’.

Since I’ve got the beach decor in my big booth, I put the Spring/Easter product in my wall space.  (Pardon that red bucket in the left corner.  It’s an OLD building and occasionally the roof leaks.)

Some cute vintage chicks and bunnies.  Ostrich sized faux eggs covered with vintage buttons.   Milk glass is great for using with your spring decor!

Vintage bell jars with hand shredded vintage book page ‘grass’ and gold leaf eggs.

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Custom blend of pink and gold paper shred to go with the packaged gold leaf and pink little eggs in the pink basket on the right.  Turquoise glitter eggs too.

More unique eggs for your spring display.  These are covered with ‘Paris’ themed paper.

Hand stitched felt eggs, embellished with vintage buttons and baby rick rack.

Gallon size mercantile jars filled with moss, nests and eggs.  Smaller jars with straw and eggs.  Big vase with nest and eggs under black wire cloche.

Cute mini take out boxes in Spring colors are perfect for filling with sweets to give to your friends at Easter Brunch.  Decorative faux cupcakes.

Plenty of cake and cupcake stands.  These are so versatile for use in your seasonal tablescapes for adding height and dimension.

Upcycled journals.

Reproduction vintage style chicks from an estate sale.  I gave them lace crowns and nestled them into some cozy nests.

Hand painted faux eggs in turquoise ceramic pots and buckets.

LOTS of new frames, big and small, just stocked.

LOVE this reproduction Gothic arched window pane.  I’m still on the fence about selling it.  It just might come home with me on my next trip!

Vintage white shutter with handcrafted twiggy wreath.

Youth size white rocking chair.  Vintage wash bowl and pitcher.

One of a kind little upcycled suitcase end table with ‘hairpin’ metal legs.

Black occasional tables.  The bottom one is distressed oak, the top one with  the scalloped apron and curvy legs is a satin finish.  Will be removing all the darker furniture in the not too distant future; replacing it with lighter colors for Spring and Summer.

Not quite matching pair of vintage canning jar lamps.  The jars are the same size but different brands.  The shades are the same color, but slightly different shapes.  Each sold separately; $29.00.

Vintage jewelry box with seashell motif paper.

Assorted crates and carriers; perfect for use with your spring decor.

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

 

Half off all Christmas!

Christmas is less than a week away!  WhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaTTT?!?!  How is it that even though Thanksgiving was early this year, basically giving us an extra WEEK between then and Christmas; that Christmas has still snuck up on me?!?!  I have not even started wrapping gift yet!  sigh.  And to further ZAP my Christmas spirit, I have to go to Costco tomorrow . . .  because I use their pharmacy for my prescriptions.  Ug!

So to give my Christmas spirit a little boost and add a bit more “JOY” to my life; I’ve decided to put all my remailing Christmas product on sale for HALF PRICE, in my booth at Stars.

Many other vendors are offering discounts on their Christmas product too.  Instead of settling for the ‘slim pickins’ left over in the big box stores, come shop at Stars for unique vintage and upcycled gifts that they will really LOVE!

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Still a great selection of gifts, decor and gift boxes in both of my spaces.

Show off your favorite Christmas treasures by topping them with a glass cloche.

Unique and collectible gift boxes.

I found some ‘itty bitty glass baubles’; just the right size for decorating your bottle brush trees!

Cubbies filled with collectibles!

Hand crafted vintage sheet music and crepe paper rosette ornaments or package toppers; regular price $1.50 – $2.00 . . .  NOW HALF OFF!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to you all!!

STARS HOLIDAY HOURS:
Christmas Eve: 11AM to 4PM
Christmas Day: CLOSED
New Year’s Eve: 11AM to 6PM
New Year’s Day: OPEN! 11AM to 6PM
11AM to 6PM ALL OTHER DAYS!

Stocked and spruced up and ready for the Summer Sidewalk SALE at STARS!!

Stars BIG ‘Summer Sidewalk Sale’ starts Friday, August 31st and runs through Monday, September 3rd; Labor Day.

This is really one of the BEST sales of the year at Stars.  LOTS of vendors bring in ADDITIONAL inventory to set up on the sidewalk outside.  Don’t miss this sale!!

BOTH of my booths are stocked to the hilt; and as always, everything in my booths is 50% off during the sale.  Last chance to purchase my beach decor items from my wall space.  After the sale I will be converting the space to Fall decor.

I have added a few little ‘hints of fall’ to both booths . . .  just to get you in the mood for fall.  (Not that anyone needs to be enticed to ‘think fall’ after the record HOT summer we’ve had!)

Lots of vintage hobnail milk glass vases and dishes added recently; as well as regular and gold rimmed milk glass.

Vintage and upcycled beach decor.  Big surag starfish, painted white and glittered.  Little jars filled with tiny seashells or pretty beach glass.  Shells mounted on wood posts and jars.  Candle lanterns and lamps.  And of course, Mermaid crowns!!

Vintage picnic baskets, bar stool, ‘breakfast in bed’ tray, wreaths, cubby shelves, trugs and wall decor.

And that is just my little wall space!  On to my 10’x10′ booth!

No such thing as ‘too much’ when it comes to my booth!!
Vintage Fire King gold rimmed milk glass dishes and vintage Ironstone dishes are restocked and always plentiful.

Both Stars Mall are open 7 days a week, 11am – 6pm.

Stars Tour: SALE! July 12-16, 2018

Seems like it’s been forever since I’ve posted pictures from the other booths at Stars.  With the upcoming store-wide sale, it seemed like a good time to do so.

SO MUCH great stuff is all the booths!  I’m going to let the pictures do all the talking.

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The ‘eye candy’ never ends; but the $ALE ends next Monday!

Thursday – Monday, July 12-16, 2018 ~ 11am – 6pm

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And now for a quick peek at my two booths; for which, as always, EVERYTHING is 50% off during the sale.  I just added a bunch of new inventory too!

My ‘big’ booth.

Vintage and reproduction little milk bottles are perfect for serving beverages in at your summer party.

Pretty vintage gold dishes.

Vintage suitcases, hat boxes and picnic baskets.

My very favorite style of vintage dishware; white Ironstone with scalloped edges.  I have a collection of vintage Johnson Brothers English Ironstone at home that I use.  The ones I have stocked at Stars are from various manufacturers, some from England and some with no maker’s mark.  There are over EIGHTY of the little ‘dessert’ size plates.  I got a GREAT deal on them, and as I am in the habit of doing, I’ve passed my savings along to the buyer in my pricing.  Regular price on the dessert plates (no maker’s marks) is $2.00 each.  Get them for just $1.00 each during the sale!!

I’ve decided to part with some of my personal collections.  My ceramic hand collection and my Ironstone Lion’s head soup tureens (two sizes) and ramekins (two sizes).  The lion’s head ramekins are TOO cute!

Yes, my big booth IS jam-packed!

As is my wall space!  Happy Shopping and Happy SAVING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STARS ON SALE

Storewide sale

Friday – Monday, June 1-4;

11am – 6pm  both stores.

As always, 50% off EVERYTHING in both of my booths.

Both booths are jam-packed with inventory to select from!

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HAPPY SHOPPING!

HAPPY SAVING!!

Adding some more Spring things

Out with the Easter decor and in with the Spring.  Here’s what’s new in my ‘big booth’ at Stars:

Jars of nests and eggs, jars of moss and bird cages.

This shabby white cubby is $68.oo, and includes the hardware for hanging it on the wall.

Making the most of every inch of display space; an old crate on top of the shelf gives me a little more room.  Shabby wood bird-cage and dessert stand with cloche top underneath the table that the shelf is sitting on.  More jars, big and small, of nests and eggs to the right.

Another little grouping on the back side of the table.

Very cool glass cake stand with extra deep lid.

Vintage, upcycled ‘breakfast in bed’ tray.

Tall glass cloches are perfect for showcasing childhood tap shoes and ballet slippers.

Moved a few things around in Sophie’s Annex.

Stop by for some spring decor inspiration for decorating and organizing.  LOTS of unique baskets, trays, containers and crates for making organization fun and pretty!

 

 

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?  

END OF SUMMER SALE??

It sure doesn’t FEEL like it’s the end of summer, with daytime temperatures still reaching the upper 90’s; but it IS Labor Day Weekend, and the unofficial end of summer . . . which means it’s time for the

Stars Antique Malls End of Summer SALE.

As it always is for the store-wide sales at Stars, each vendor sets their own discount amount for their booth; and I ALWAYS offer 50% off everything in my booth during the sales.

I just stocked all my Halloween goods too!  Yes, they are all 50% off too!

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Unique faux pumpkins; some pale blue ones and silver glitter.  The white ones are BIG.  The one sitting on top of an urn is coated with a ‘sugar glitter’.  The GINORMOUS one, sitting on the chair, is painted with ‘fairy dust’, that sparkly iridescent glitter.   It is seriously the biggest faux pumpkin that I have ever seen.  I cannot even reach my arms all the way around it!

The sale runs Friday – Monday, September 1-4; 11am – 6pm.

Aqua painting binge

My first ‘binge painting’ in my new place is done, and everything is now stocked in my booth at Stars.

The three shelf spice rack.  I debated painting a design on the back, but nothing really ‘clicked’, so I painted it the same aqua as the shelf.  Lightly hand sanded along the edges to distress.

A reminder of how it looked originally.

In progress.  This is what it looked like after the first coat of paint.  You really don’t need ‘perfect’ coverage on the first coat.  As you can see, I removed the backing; originally because I was going to paint a design on it.  But even if I had initially planned to just paint it to match the rest of the shelf, I’d have removed it to make painting easier.

With the back removed you have far LESS little corners to paint and you can reach the shelved from the front and back.  And the backing takes about 15 seconds to paint with a roller.  SO, even accounting for the time involved in removing and replacing the backing; you have saved time overall.

The frame.

First I spray painted it flat black, then two coats of aqua brushed on.

I intentionally avoided getting the aqua paint down into all the carved details for some contrast.  Once dry, I hand sanded along the raised edges.

The little 3 drawer jewelry chest.  I gave it different knobs . . . thought about painting the knobs to match, but decided not to.  If it doesn’t sell like this I can always bring it home and paint them.  I used a turquoise spray paint on this one.

The before.

The ‘to paint or not to paint’ conundrum strikes again!  It was just TOO plain with nothing on the front.  These resin medallions were all I could find that would fit with the non-removable knobs.  Added them as an after thought . . .paint them?

After walking away from it and coming back later, I decided it was too much contrast o leave them ‘as is’.  Opted to dry brush paint them to allow some of the black show through.

Just what it needed!

The inside is fully painted too . . . .

Because it HAD to be!  If the inside had been white or any other complimentary color, I could have left it.  I actually PREFER the inside a different color . . . just not when it means MORE work for me.  (especially on such a small piece!)

This one ‘needs something’  . . . . but I failed to find that something.  We’ll see if it sells ‘as is’ and if not I’ll re-address the embellishment conundrum.

The top had a few flaws that were still visible after painting, so I stenciled a fleur design in a darker turquoise . . . and hated how it looked!  The contrast was TOO much.  Grabbed my paint roller and started painting over it and  . . . . . OH WAIT!!  It looks better partially painted over . . . kind of a faded look.  Old

Old dictionary pages glued to the bottom of the muddy brown drawers.

The before.  The designs on the front were ‘papered on’, but sanded of pretty easily.  The KNOBS were not removable unfortunately.  Had they been, I would have filled the holes and added new ones, centered on the drawers.

The doll clothes wardrobe;  just painted it, no embellishments.

Even though it was unfinished wood, it still required some ‘prep work’ before painting.  Raw wood will really absorb dirt and oils from usage, so if it looks dirty or grimey; give it a good sanding before you paint.  As with the spice rack, I painted the backing separately BEFORE attaching it.

The Cafe do Paris tray was a half-finished project from another time.  It had been base coated black, so all I had to do was paint it and stencil the design on.  The black ‘edging’ was done with the paint leftover on my stenciling sponge.

Not entirely sold on the color I used for the upcycled candle holder finial.  It’s one of those little free samples that Lowes has coupons for every so often.  It’s almost a periwinkle . . . we’ll see if it sells, if not I can always repaint it!

A quick rummaging through my stash of decorative curtain rod ends produced this piece which worked perfectly as a ‘topper’.

I just glued it on with tacky glue.  The candle well was deep enough that I didn’t need to remove the screw.

I typically try to put the ‘new stock’ at the front on my booth when I restock.  Reason being, most shoppers just ‘glance as they walk by’ as they walk up and down the aisles in the antique mall . . . until something ‘catches their eye’ and draws them in for a closer look.   And for those who come in on a regular basis, you want them to see NEW things every time they visit.

I’ve still got some white and cream color furniture pieces.  Some of those are grouped together down the back side of my booth.

I tired to ‘gradually’ phase into the new aqua pieces as you move around to the front of the booth.

Little gold grouping inside the doll wardrobe.

The little 3 drawer piece fit nicely tucked under a small table; the top piece in a stack of three.

I LOVE this little white shelf with a drawer!  I have not idea what it is.  My best guess is that it was used in the kitchen for cook books and the drawer for recipe cards.  It’s been in my booth for quite a while.  Might be time to bring it home and paint it aqua.

Layers!  I always display in layers!  So if the Cafe de Paris sign and little  cupboard with doors sells; there is more product behind it so it I don;t have too much bare space.

More layers.
Come on by and check out  the new stuff!

Drawer love!

Remember this sweet little thaing I picked up at an estate sale a while back?

I was reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally tempted to keep this one.

 All those drawers with all those great dividers in them.  Alas, I was in a real pinch for some ‘quick product’ to take to Stars after this last busy week of furniture sales.  

Not wanting to lose the good momentum I had going by not having a well stocked booth; I fixed her up and sent her off.

I kept the make-over simple.  Would have taken me forever to paint the insides of the drawers; so I left them pink.

Just a good once over with the orbital sander to rough up the surface and remove the old grime; and two quick coats of my latest (and very LIGHT) shade of aqua.  Then a bit of distressing along the edges.

Available for purchase in my booth at Stars for $89.00.