Christmas Kitsch Craft Projects!

I wrote a few days ago about a couple little vintage Christmas craft books I am going to be giving away in the next issue of my email newsletter - they are kitschtastic, and here's a few scans to prove it! Click to enlarge, I left them really big so you can hopefully read the text and see all the details in the photos...

This is just a small sampling of course, if you want to try to win them, just sign up for the newsletter and I'll be sending out all the details! :)

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We managed to get 90% of my stash of vintage Christmas goodness listed at auction this week... eBay's 50% off listing fee sale is a good motivator, let me tell ya! Here's some of my favorites:

Pair of Vintage Felt Santa Stockings with Knee Hugger Elf Ornament

Lot of 4 Vintage Japan Knee Hugger Elf Ornaments

Vintage Dakin Dream Pets Christmas Chimney Mouse

Vintage Hand Blown Glass Christmas Tree Topper

Lot of 6 Vintage Christmas Ornaments

Vintage Beistle Santa Christmas Centerpiece

There's more of course - just click on over to check out the rest! :)

Want to win a pair of vintage Christmas craft books?

We have been sorting and listing my vintage Christmas stash this week, and I came across these little Christmas craft books (click to enlarge):

I'll scan some of the pages in to post here before the end of the week, but in the meantime, do you want to win them? I figured since I haven't sent out a newsletter in a while, I'll put a little contest in the next issue - and these seemed perfect for a prize! Plenty of time to try out some of the projects before Christmas comes, or if you aren't super crafty, they are just really fun to look at - retro kitsch at it's best!

So - if you want to win, sign up for the newsletter, and you'll get the details on the contest emailed right to your inbox! :)

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100+ subscribers to my email newsletter?!?

I logged into my MadMimi account today and discovered I now have over 100 subscribers - you guys rock! Talk about feeling guilty about not sending one out in a while (as you can see from my header, the last one was #12 on August 31st - yikes!). I've had writers block, and my pleas for ideas on the Facebook Page didn't get any response... :(

I have to pay $8/mo. now that I have more than 100 people on my list - that's $8 worth of motivation right there! So I'll be sending them out more regularly from now on, I promise. If you have any ideas about what you would like to see me cover in my emails, please leave a comment and let me know!

Also, they are offering a new feature where you can use your blog's RSS feed to send out emails to your list when you do new posts, it is $5 a month. Would that be something that you guys would like? If so let me know in the comments!

If you haven't signed up yet here's the sign up box:

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I am also a MadMimi affiliate, if you are looking for a great email program, click this link and check them out - I have nothing bad to say about them at all, and you know how rare that is! ;)

Vintage Dance Magazines - I've Got A LOT!

This week I have been up to my eyeballs in vintage Dance magazines from the 50's and 60's! I think I have three left to list, other than the stack that have condition issues (mostly missing pages) that I am not sure what I am going to do with... Either list them in lots or break them down for ephemera packs, I think...

We are also working hard to list all the dish sets that I have in time for the holidays - hopefully some folks will be needing replacements or extras for their holiday dinners! Once those are done it will be time to break out the vintage Christmas decorations - so stay tuned! :)

Lushpad & Modernism Magazine

A little while ago I discovered a totally drool-worthy site called Lushpad - it is a marketplace for mid-century modern, and so far I love everything about it. It is fairly high end, and seems to be pretty devoted to furniture, art and lighting, though there are other mid-mod items thrown in there as well. I've thought about trying a few listings there, if I ever do I will definitely report back here about it!

Ward Bennett Channel Back Club Chairs

Anyway, I got their newsletter today, and clicked over to enter a contest to win a George Nelson ball clock. It is sponsored by a magazine I hadn't seen before - Modernism Magazine. It comes out in print quarterly, and you can view back issue online editions for free - it doesn't get much better than that! I really like it so far, though I haven't looked at all the online content yet... It is pretty heavy on ads, but what mag isn't? At least the ads are nice to look at!

Subscriptions are only $20 for a year, which I think is super reasonable. We all know print magazines are in trouble right now, but it seems like this one has the right idea - a fair subscription price, online content for free, and a popular subject matter with an almost "cult" like following - hopefully it can manage to stay alive, despite all of today's challenges!

Sneak Peek

This is all I can show you from my Super Secret Project... for right now. :)

New goodness on eBay!

I have listed some really fun stuff lately - let's take a look!

At auction on eBay - ending soon!

I scored 6 pairs of rarely worn shoes from the 80's at one estate sale - they are all size 8, if that's your size get your bids in and we'll send you a big box of shoe goodness!

Vintage Size 8 White Naturalizer Peep Toe Pumps

Do you all remember back in the early 80's when Del Monte gave away plush "Country Yumkins" toys if you sent in can labels? I wanted them SO BAD - but my Mom wasn't a big fan of Del Monte. Well, I managed to stumble across five of them at one sale - and they are as cute as I remember!

Vintage Del Monte Country Yumkins Reddie Tomato - 1982

This next one is really, really hard for me to part with - a vintage handmade Raggedy Ann doll! I was completely attached to my "Raggy" when I was a kid, and she looked just like this one only with different clothes... If she doesn't sell at auction she might just be staying with me!

Vintage 19" Handmade Raggedy Ann Doll

Of course there isn't often a week that goes by that I don't list some glass - much to Will's chagrin (it's the hardest to package!)...

Vintage West Virginia Glass Blendo Pitcher and Glasses Set

Vintage Federal Glass Milk Glass Mixing Bowl Set

There's more auctions than this of course, these are just some of my favorites - head on over if you want to check out the rest!

New in my eBay Store:

Since I haven't been posting about my new auctions much lately, I had better show you some of the stuff that didn't sell and is now listed in my eBay store - it amazes me sometimes the cool stuff that doesn't get bids... At least they usually eventually sell out of the store!

Vintage Colorware Breadbox and Foil/Wax Paper/Paper Towel Dispenser Set - (Pink with a Pussywillow design - does it get any better than that?!?)

Vintage Ceramic Black Cat Salt and Pepper Shaker Set Made In Japan - (Just in time for Halloween!)

Vintage Mod 60's Floral Pinch Pleat Curtains - 2 Windows, 4 Panels - (Um, perfect?)

Vintage Ball Jar Glass Container - SNACKS - (I love containers that scream what they are supposed to be used for!)

Vintage Dakin Stuffed Black Cat Japan 1980 - (Finding this officially cemented Dakin as my favorite maker of stuffed animals - too cute, and again, just in time for Halloween!)

Again, there's lots more - and don't forget that everything in my store has the Best Offer option if you want to haggle! ;)

I'll be back a little later with some new stuff I listed on Etsy - stay tuned!

Update - what I've been up to, & what's coming up!

Hi everyone, I'm still here! *waves*

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, other than little quickie posts here and there, and random Facebook and Twitter updates every once in a while... I've been plugging away at all my usual stuff, plus I've had several other projects on my plate too:

BooksFYI.com - I'm still managing the online presence for BooksFYI, and in addition to my usual workload, I currently have a to-do list a mile long for them including adding new titles, fixing every listing on the site so Google will like it again (fun!), and a few other things I can't even remember at the moment. Bottom line is they will be keeping me plenty busy the rest of this month!

My eBay/Google Nightmare - I don't know how many of you have kept up with the recent changes on eBay and Google, but they are causing me no end of headaches at the moment and I'm still not quite sure what I am going to do about it all.

My first nightmare was the change eBay made to its insurance policy - I now have illegal text in every one of my 600+ listings. I tried the bulk editor, but because I use an Auctiva template, it won't recognize my text. After a few sad attempts at other solutions, I resigned myself to manually fixing them one by one, and started working on it when I had some extra time.

Well, Google has now thrown another wrench in my works, explained very well by Henrietta over at RedInkDiary. I know she is right about Google's new stringent guidelines about what text is allowed in an item description that is uploaded to Google Base - they rejected the BooksFYI feed because we had Free Shipping in the description, which they never had a problem with before. I'm working on fixing all their listings now, as I mentioned above.

Of course what it means for me is that my eBay and Etsy descriptions are full of text that Google will most likely reject, if/when eBay and Etsy manage to get our feeds fixed and submitted to Google Base (individual sellers aren't allowed to do it themselves anymore, it us up to the venue). So, either I completely re-work almost 900 listings one by one, or I live with Google not accepting my listings.

And if I am going to spend all that time and energy optimizing for the sake of Google, wouldn't I be better off doing it for my own website where I don't pay any fees? It seems silly to do it for listings that are on a marketplace.

I don't know. It is a tough situation for sure, and I am still kind of up in the air about it all. Of course all this is coming at the worst possible time - my original plan for October was to power list to get my stores filled to the brim for the holidays!

My Super Secret Project - As if all of this wasn't enough to keep me more than busy, I have been working on something else that I am lovingly referring to as my Super Secret Project. I was hoping to launch it on my birthday (this coming Wednesday!) but it is no where near ready for prime time yet, and I have no idea when it will be. But I will get it done, come hell or high water... I am really excited about it, and can't wait to see if other people like the idea as much as I do! :)

Of course I can't neglect my regular Vintage Goodness duties, in spite of all this other stuff... So, it is time for the:

Vintage Goodness Fall Fashion Extravaganza - How's that for an exciting title? It's what I will be working on this coming week - all the great coats and sweaters and purses and hats and whatnot that I've been hoarding all summer will be going up for auction. (I also uncovered a few shirts and dresses that I should have listed in the Spring - oops! I'm going to go ahead and list them now too rather than waiting another 6 months. It's Spring on the other side of the planet, right? So it's all good!)

I was going to include some of the new items I listed this week in this post (I haven't been posting my new listings like I should lately!), but I think I've written enough for one night... I'll try to post them in the morning, after I get caught up listings to my stores, which I am about a week and a half behind on.

Ah, the life of an online seller - never a dull moment! ;)

Every vintage geek's dream trip...

I just discovered a great blog - Adventures in Vintage Hunting from the oh-so-lucky Rachel, who just thrifted her way across the country, and stopped to interview some Etsy vintage sellers on the way to boot! My favorite find out of all the ones she highlighted?:

A pink Mitzi purse? Are you kidding?

Vintage Life Magazine - Coming In 2010!

Holy crap - how am I just seeing this? A new magazine all about vintage - Vintage Life to be exact - a real, hold in your hands magazine too - hooray! It is from the UK, so that makes it a bit pricier to subscribe... but if it is good it will be totally worth it...

They have a Ning network too it looks like - you know I'm joining!

What to do, what to do...

I'm having trouble deciding what to do next weekend. There are two events happening simultaneously - the Country Living Fair and the Springfield Antique Show and Flea Market Extravaganza.

The Country Living Fair is about 5 minutes from my house, but is a hefty $12 to get in, and who knows how much parking will be. One huge perk of going is that my lovely co-blogger on The Vintage List blog, Lisa B., is going to be there - we could do lunch! How fun would that be?

I highly doubt there would be anything there for me to buy for my shops, it would be more of a hang around and drool over stuff kind of event, while taking photos for the blog of course...

The Springfield show, on the other hand, will have a ton of stuff I could buy for my shops (2200 vendors, hello!), and it is only $5 to get in. It is 45 minutes away though, which is a bit of a drag...

I suppose I could do both. But that would mean little or no garage sale shopping, and it is getting to be the end of the season here, so I am feeling the pressure to stockpile for stuff to list over the winter. Garage sales = cheap inventory, which is hard to pass up. The flea market will have some bargains, but more likely I will be spending a bit more than I would at the sales...

Grr. I need two of me. Or maybe three.

Evil, evil Facebook.

I know I am not blogging as often as I used to - and there is a reason, other than the usual "I have no time" excuse...

I'm on Facebook. Here, here, and here. I am on Facebook more often than I am on Twitter these days - and it used to be the other way around! I don't know, it is evil and has its claws in me I guess...

Anyway, if you are on Facebook send me a friend request, and fan both of my Pages - I post on all three! :)

Hocking Hills Antique Barn - Final Report :(

Yep, this weekend me and my stuff left the Barn and hit the highway toward home - toward the big yard sale my parents and I are having this weekend, to be more specific.

It was a hard decision to make, I did like doing it, but the return just wasn't there for me. It's funny, I had to make the decision coming off my best month yet - in July I actually made rent, plus $42.00. But, I knew it wasn't sustainable, so I told them I would move out at the end of August.

I put everything at half off for a week, then at 75% off for the last week. For the whole month of August I sold $61.50. Granted, I didn't add any new items in August, which didn't help, but at 75% off some of that stuff was super cheap and still didn't move! It helped me feel like I made a good decision....

It may be something I try again in the future, maybe somewhere closer. It just wasn't for me right now, but you never know unless you try, right?

Country Home fix with Flea Market Style magazine?

I just discovered that there is a new magazine out called Flea Market Style (from the amazing Ki Nassauer) - will it give us the Country Home flavor we've been missing? I hope so! They have a blog now which is great, but it looks like the mag is only available in stores, I couldn't find an option to subscribe... So, the hunt is on! I'll let you know if I can snag a copy... :)

Update: It looks like they released a test issue this spring, with another new issue set for release next spring... if I hear anything more I will let you all know!

And the winner is...

I am so happy to announce the winner of the AllModern.com giveaway - congratulations Christina from Pardon My Vintage! The Eames Hang-It-All is over the $100 limit, but I have no doubt that you will be able to find something else to choose as your prize. ;)

Thanks so much to everyone for entering!

It's Contest Time! - AllModern.com Giveaway

TIME'S UP! Winner will be announced tomorrow - thanks everyone for entering!!

I am *so* excited - the amazing site All Modern is sponsoring a giveaway right here on my blog! How cool is that? They are offering any item under $100 to the winner - there is tons to choose from, for every room in the house... all of it totally drool-worthy! Here are a few of my personal favorites:

Metal Starburst Wall Clock by Glenna Jean

Thomas Paul - Goldfinch Pillow in Red

Pernille Vea and Verner Panton Bowls -Set of Four

Do you see why I am so totally excited? I could be here all day showing you the goodness that is on this site - but luckily I don't have to, you can head on over yourself and start choosing what you want if you win!

Which brings us to the details of the contest...

I will be running it for one week, from 6pm today, Thursday August 6th, through 6pm next Thursday August 13th.

I want as many folks as possible to hear about it and have a chance to win, so here is what you need to do to enter!

Pick one (or all!):

Post about the contest on your blog
Send out a tweet about the contest on Twitter
Post about the contest on Facebook, MySpace, or any other network
Send out an email about the contest to all your vintage geek friends
(Be sure to leave a link to this post so people can get all the details!)

Once you are done come back here and leave a comment telling me what you did - and you are entered! Don't forget to leave me your email address as well!

Did I mention how excited I am? ;)

All Modern has a fantastic selection of modern furniture and home accessories from many leading designers. Part of CSN Stores, All Modern is just one of over 200 retail sites that offer a diverse array of products from office furniture by Herman Miller to wall sconces by Murray Feiss.

Featured Collectible - Vintage Bathroom Scales

I love it when a theme develops in my treasure hunting adventures - and here is a perfect example. A couple of weeks ago I picked up this vintage bathroom scale at an estate sale:

Vintage Borg Mid Century Modern Bathroom Scale

It's got some wear and tear but told me my weight the exact same as my digital scale at home (though it could have been nice and shaved off a few pounds if it was so inclined!). I hadn't ever bought a bathroom scale to sell before, so I got it to give it a try.

A few days later as I was going through the vintage fashion magazines I got at the same sale, I happened to see this ad:

Be sure you click to view it full size - these have to be the most perfect bathroom scales ever created! Flowers, an owl, a frog, a butterfly, a ladybug, a strawberry, and yes even one that says Hey Fatso - I guess that is supposed to be "motivational"?

Anyway, a quick search for these online only brought two results - the first is from one of my fellow vintage Etsy sellers:

Vintage Counselor Owl Bathroom Scale

Can you believe that price? One of you had better snap that deal up while it lasts!!

The second is from a seller on eBay - is this one supposed to be "motivational" as well?

Vintage Counselor Keep America Beautiful Bathroom Scale

I did find a few other cool scales listed - they would all fit into a retro styled bathroom quite nicely!

Vintage Salter Blue Flowers Bathroom Scale

Vintage Borg Pink Bathroom Scale

Vintage Blue Counselor Bathroom Scale

Maybe for my next post I'll look at vintage shower curtains to go with these? ;)

New goodness at auction on eBay - Vintage 70's & 80's Fashion Magazines!

I love finding a huge box of vintage magazines at an estate sale - I always do a secret little happy dance (while trying to look casual, of course) as I scoop it up and run it to the checkout table. Last weekend I found a box of fashion magazines from the 1970's and 1980's - the one on top was this one:

Vintage December 1977 Vogue Fashion Magazine

Vogue magazine? Are you kidding me? I dug right into the box, under the Vogue was a few of these:

Vintage January 1978 Seventeen Teen Magazine

What teenage girl doesn't read Seventeen magazine? If I ever find any of the ones I read back in the early 90's I'll flip. (I would truly die if I found a big box of Sassy magazines though - that was my teenage Bible, and I sold all of them at a yard sale before I went to college, like a total idiot.)

Under the Seventeens were a few of these classics:

Vintage July 1979 Mademoiselle Magazine

And the rest of the box?

Vintage January 1976 Glamour Fashion Magazine - Christie Brinkley Cover

Yeah baby - Glamour magazines - a ton of them! Four of them have Christie Brinkley on the cover - apparently in the mid to late 70's she was Glamour's favorite cover girl.

Head on over if you want to check them all out! :)

New goodness at auction this week - no, really, I mean it!

We finally got back on track a little bit this week, and I have the eBay auctions to prove it! :)

Large Vintage Aqua Dritz Sewing Basket w/ Mushrooms (If you have been waiting for the perfect retro sewing basket to come along, this one is it!)

Vintage Anchor Hocking Roses Ice Lip Pitcher & Glasses Set

Vintage Tulips Ice Lip Pitcher and Glasses Set

Vintage Wood Kokeshi Doll Candle Pencil Holder Set

Vintage Mid Century Danish Modern Wood Candle Holder Set

Vintage Presto Caramel Corn Popcorn Maker (Isn't this the coolest thing? Soooo tempted to keep it!!)

Large Vintage Pilgrim Art Floral Tole Ware Tray

Vintage Syroco Wood Classical Ladies Wall Plaque Set

Vintage Little Red Riding Hood Child's Hat Box Train Case (I am still not 100% sure what this was used for, the good folks over on IAntiqueOnline helped me out with it!)

This isn't everything - just click on over to check out the rest! :)