Halloween Shop Update!

I've added all sizes of candy corn plush to my Etsy shop. I'll add the Ouija boards, kitty-bons, and cat donuts as soon as I figure out shipping costs. I've got a show coming up on October 11 in Garden City, MN for everyone in SW MN, so I'll be listing these as made to order so that I have stock for the show.

This past Saturday I was at No Coast Craft-o-Rama Takes a Field Trip and I couldn't have asked for better weather! It started raining during tear down, but it didn't start raining hard until we were on the road. 35W North was closed which I think may have detracted from the crowd. There was a kids game in front of my booth that was way too close most of the day and didn't even allow people to walk in front of my booth at times. A lot of people walked past and grumbled, "Well, tis the season I guess..." about my Halloween stuff. It's the end of September and it's not as if I was selling Christmas trees, People. Seriously. Where are my Halloween lovers?! Not at that craft show I guess. I had a decent day, but nothing like I'd expected. If anyone has the secrets to being a success as craft shows, I'd love to hear it because I can't live off compliments.

Anyway, I'm off to figure out how I can possibly live my life without Dawson's Creek on Netflix. >_<

Up Next... Halloween House Update!

The Thrift That Dreams Are Made Of

BJ and I had to head down to my hometown to borrow a canopy from my brother for No Coast, so we decided to incorporate some thrifting. (Duh!) There was supposed to be this big to-do of flea market hopping and whatnot all along HWY 74 for King of Highways day or something. One of the towns participating was Lake Benton, home of my fave thrift/antique store. We drove down SUPER early and this flea market did not exist and the store I was dying to go to was not open. We waited around until noon and decided it probably wouldn't be open for the day. I went to the two others that were open and found a bunch of stuff I liked, but was saving my money incase I found turquoise. I did buy a cute rooster mug and a tiny pumpkin. I thought the day was a bust. We were actually going to go camping down there, but it was supposed to be freezing at night and we only had a tent and no desire. My sister took me to Lamberton last time I was down there and we stopped into a couple antique stores. I suggested we check them out since we were heading to Redwood anyway. We stopped into one in Tracy where I found the Fire King tea cup that matches a saucer I bought at Arc's. I was actually really hoping to find both of these cups while down there, and I did!

Well, it is such a good thing that we went to Lamberton because it made up for the morning. First I saw a butterprint casserole out of the corner of my eye for a really great price. BJ decided to go upstairs while I checked out the rest of the main floor. Something caught my eye in a little cabinet with the doors almost closed. I didn't like what originally brought me there, but I looked down and found a 442 black gooseberry! It is probably the best deal I've ever gotten on a piece of Pyrex in terms of resale value vs what I actually paid. This is apparently a rare piece (which I didn't know at the time, I just liked it and got it) that is part of an all black on white gooseberry promotional set of cinderella bowls. The more common version of the 442 is black on yellow. Not only that, but how cute is it for a Halloween display?! I was feeling pretty high on this find and picking up the little black cat S&P shakers (I think I've started a collection :/ ) when BJ found me and was crazy excited. I went upstairs and I saw it. A full MINTY set of turquoise butterprint fridgies!!! I think it was priced retail, which is expected at an antique store, but I don't even feel bad about paying it. I felt that I could end my day happily. I also picked up a box of Shiny Brite ornaments for a buck and another set of cats. There was some really awesome vintage Beisitle there, but definitely out of my price range since I found the BP.

Despite being insanely busy getting ready for No Coast, I did get all my Halloween up the first week of September. I'll do a little update on that soon. I've added a few new pieces to my collection this year and parted with a bunch of smalls that I didn't love anymore. I found the pumpkin/cat blow mold above at an estate sale on a half off day for $3 a couple of months ago. It didn't have a light, but that was an easy fix.

I found this cutie at the same garage sale where I got the atomic flatware and the kitchen conversion hot pad. I put a succulent called cobwebs in it! :)

This guy is from the Goodwill and was so overpriced! It's been there for a few weeks, but it's a black tag so it won't ever be on the weekly tag sales. There was a coupon for 25% off your entire order in this Sunday's paper. I'm still not sure if I feel good about the deal so I may return him. He's just so cute...

I finally found a milk glass mug at Goodwill- one that says HIS for BJ. It might be one of my favorite finds of the weekend. The yellow/orange bowl is going to get some removable jack o lantern stickers for Halloween!

Today I'm taking some much needed time to catch up on chores, I finally finished my 43rd book of the year, and Sleepy Hallow starts tonight! I'm glad I finally get to make some stuff purely for fun. I made this bag the night before No Coast and someone tried to look at it for purchase while I was setting up! I'm quite happy with the construction, but I couldn't get the interfacing to work so it's really floppy.

Back to cleaning >_<

No Coast Craft-o-Rama Takes a Field Trip

I'll be at No Coast Craft-o-Rama Takes a Field Trip on Saturday September 20th from 11-5 at Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, Minnesota at booth number lucky 13 with a ton of creepy cute handmade Halloween!!! Stop on by for my new line of plush, Cat Treats, and cat sleep masks to fulfill all your crazy cat lady needs. Ever feel a desperate need to Ouija after dinner? I've got spirit board placemats and planchette napkin holders! By local, buy handcrafted.

Also, there is free shipping on Society6 through this weekend if you're in need of some fun products with unique art.

I had a super-duper spectacularly awesome day trip down to SW MN last Saturday, so expect an update on that soon. Sorry I haven't made this post sooner, I've been crazy busy getting ready for Field Trip and it's seriously down to the wire here :/ That just means it's going to be awesome, so make some time and come for a visit!

Hello, Doris.

This is Doris. She's my 1960's Singer 338 and I finally took her out from under the debris of garage sale junk and whatnot. The table is in super minty condition and I have all the presser feet and cam discs that came with the machine. I tried it with the bobbin that came in it and with a new 66 bobbin and the new one didn't work. I guess I'll just have to keep winding the old one with different colors until I figure out where to obtain others that will work. >_<

You may remember the sewing chair from an earlier post. I bought it at an occasional sale earlier this year and finally got around to recovering it. I felt compelled to do so because my legs kept sticking to the plastic fabric that was on it. Here's a before and after.

I'm getting ready for No Coast Takes a Field Trip September 20 and Maker Fair Handcrafted Bazaar October 11 so I'm getting into the Halloween spirit! I've got a bunch of Ouija board placemats cut, pinned, and ready to sew and am heading to Joann tomorrow to get the rest of the fabric I need to finish everything! I got the proofs to some new fabrics from Spoonflower this week too and am so excited about how they turned out! I'm thinking I need to make a tablecloth for myself out of the Pyrex design!

More soon, enjoy the holiday weekend!

Kind of Blah

This weekend's sales were a little disappointing. There is someone who snatches up all the things I go to the sales to buy! I follow the search word 'Halloween' on an estate sales finder website and it usually doesn't bring up many sales, so when I found one that was loaded with vintage Beistle, I obviously planned it into my weekend! Unfortunately I couldn't go opening day, but Saturday was half priced day and I got there at 9 am on the dot. Too bad someone walked in a second before me and took ALL the things I really pined after. I'm talking the black articulated cat which is always priced too high for me when I see it. This sale was heavy handed with the prices which is why I think there was still so much left. I did manage to find a few things such as the lime green Pyrex cake pan and 024 with lid. It is currently holding a vegan summer salad made with Just Mayo. Apparently this is now sold at Dollar Tree stores!

I don't know why I didn't think to find other sales in the area. I just had my heart set on this one sale and that was it, but BJ wanted to find others. There was one not too far away that I wish I would have known about earlier in the day. It had a black gooseberry, a promotional with it's stand, and a bunch of other Pyrex. All that was left when we visited was this lonely little redish fridgie. It was only fifty cents! Granted there is quite a bit of wear but, what a deal. I'm just beating myself up over what the rest of them were marked.

There was an estate sale put on without an agency in a beautiful two-story in Tangletown. I found a box of old Christmas ornaments, mostly Shiny Brite. I also picked up a totally atomic old jar of "hair dressing" made in Minneapolis, another jar with a pedestal of the same product made in Memphis, and an old prescription bottle for eye drops- all empty of course. I think it is so fun that this lady kept these containers. I just love the history! The RX is from Feit Drugs St. Paul, MN prescribed to Mrs. Chott by Dr. Rick on September 4, 1947. The rubber on the dropper is still useable. 

I found the deer sugar and creamer set at Arc's on Thrifty Thursday and then the weird Pyrex mold pan on Saturday. It was in the animal section, presumably because someone thought it was a slow feeder. That's what I thought when I first saw it and picked it up thinking of my greedy-eater, Annabelle. Then I saw that it was marked Pyrex and knew that probably wasn't its intended purpose. I haven't found much about it. I've seen it called a bundt pan or a gelatin mold and several people suggest that they make meatloaf in the microwave in it. I actually planned on making meatless loaf this week, maybe I'll try it!

I was able to get a few Beistle cutouts at the first estate sale. I found a smaller articulated cat, a glow in the dark ghost, and a cat on a skull. They probably aren't as old as the ones the guy before me was hoarding, but I'm happy with my purchase. There was a lady who bought up the rest of the good stuff from an online bid which I didn't even know was possible. I searched their website and am still baffled as to how this happened. How is it fair to have items on the sales floor and online? There is no possible way to know who gets it first. I wasn't pleased with the way that particular company handled itself as a whole. They were very clingy and made me feel like I was trying to steal things because I was picking things up to think about and not running to have it put on my slip right away. On top of that, they had all that paper stuff outside in the insane humidity getting gross and flimsy. Anyway...

My garden went from awesome to dead. First, someone has been stealing our tomatoes which happen to be the only thing going for us. The sunflowers just keep growing and not making flowers, my peas got a white film of mold and died, my butternut squash got yellow and died, my green beans stopped making beans, and everything else is growing at a snail's pace. I think it might be the weird weather we've had this year because my petunias are not looking so hot on my balcony either. At least it will all be over soon and I can focus all my efforts and not killing mums!

This Weekend's Finds

This weekend's finds had an unintentionally yellow theme. There were a ton of garage sale ads posted on the roads, but I didn't really find many that spoke to me. I spotted a red fridgie in a Craigslist post and of course it was gone by the time I got there, but a cute little Mid Century Modern hot plate with measuring conversions was there. There was a meat one as well, but I decided to leave it there as it doesn't fit with my lifestyle and I don't even like thinking of animals as food in illustration. The little pig with eyelashes pepper shaker and flatware also came from that sale. I swear, I'm not starting a salt and pepper shaker collection. This must and will not happen!

No scores from Arc's which surprised me. Even more than that, I found all the Pyrex at Goodwills! The yellow daisy Cinderella bowl is super duper shiny. The 024 looked a tad beat up before, but it cleaned up beautifully with a lot of elbow grease. The 8x8 cake pan cost more and it was much dirtier. I'll have to do a little investigation to see if I can get the baked on gunk off. I've never seen one of these in the wild, so I'm happy to add it to my collection, despite it not being my ideal color.

I found a church thrift shop that apparently happens every Saturday right up the street from me and everything is 25 cents! I couldn't believe I found a Pyrex custard cup carrier, a knife that matched the flatware I had purchased earlier in the day, and a really cute napkin holder. Now I have to make a bunch of cloth napkins for it. 

I also scored some paper skull Halloween decorations, a glow-in-the-dark plastic skeleton, and a few pieces of black/spider web fabric at another sale all for $1.50! The cherry on top of the weekend was finding $7 on the ground at the Twins game which paid for most of my Pyrex purchase! I took it as an apology from the universe for subjecting me to being molested in all my lady parts by two children the entire train ride to the ballpark! >_< I rarely leave the light rail without a story to tell.

Off to work on a new Halloween design for Spoonflower!

A Small Turquoise Score

What with this being Road Construction Season here in the great state of Minnesota, I didn't actually end up making it to Lake Benton during my trip. My sister decided to kindly take us to Marshall because I told her that I wanted to get some thrifting in beforehand. She wanted to swing through Lamberton on the way there to check out the thrift/antique store she remembered going to years back. Lucky for us there were two side by side and both were having 10% off everything sales!

At the first store I found an early yellow 503 with lid. I already have one that I scored at Arc's for about half the price, but it is a later make. I just love primaries, so what the heck! It was at steal at $5 and change after the discount. Then we headed next door to the place she remembered. It had three floors and there were 50% already clearanced deals in the basement. I found a few white cats, but I passed on them if you can believe it. I only wanted one, but didn't want to break them up. (I found the white cat in the picture at Arc's when I got back. I sadly passed on a Pyrex double boiler and I just don't know what I was thinking. I'm really kicking myself on that one.)

The first thing I saw when I walked through the front door was the turquoise 401 and was disappointed when I noticed it was pretty scuffed up. I'm sure I can look at some Pyrex cleaning pages and try to clean it up a little. It was $9 after the discount, so it wasn't a horrible deal considering the crazy prices on eBay these days and I don't have to pay for shipping. The real deal of the day was the turquoise 023 for $6.30. It's really shiny and only has a little chip in one of the handles. They actually had several red 501's, most with lids, but they were a little spendy, so I passed. I wish I could be the person who finds these cheaply before they hit the resale market. So lucky.

There was no time to make it to the store I wanted to go to because there were more detours along the way. Now I've scheduled another trip in September during the citywide garage sale. I made a good amount of money at the sale we held this past weekend. I've already started clearing out a little more to add onto the next one.

Also coming up in September is No Coast Craft-o-Rama Takes a Field Trip in St. Anthony, MN. I'm going to have my Ouija board placemats for sale as well as the rest of my Halloween stuff. I hate to say good bye to summer because it's so brief here, but I just love Autumn and Halloween so much! Do you think BJ would notice if I started unpacking the decorations at the end of August this year?