More than just selling a product

Life has been super busy the last couple of weeks! We now have a 16 month old foster daughter, my 4 year old started all day preschool and I attended the eBay on Location sellers conference.

Here is a pic of my daughter on her first day of preschool and one from the eBay event. I learned a lot at the social media and marketing sessions and met some great people too.

Since the event, with the little outside family time I have had, I have been thinking about how the online shopping experience has changed - no longer do people just want to see the product - but the product in action. Here are some pics of some great mid century Homer Laughlin dinnerware I have for sale, as well as other vintage pieces. I have set my thrifted vintage bistro style table with the products I am selling to show a prospective buyer how they can be used in their home.

I love vintage tableware and this method really allows me to be creative. In addition to the five piece place setting of the "Malibu" pattern dinnerware, I have also included a pair of mid century modern wood candle stick holders, Fostoria etched glass water goblet, a rare Culver glass covered vanity jar in the Valencia pattern and WF Cromargan flatware.

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Trifari through the decades

I absolutely love vintage costume jewelry. I can honestly and unashamedly say it makes me happy. I often like to wear some pieces I find so I can personally enjoy it and then sell it (for a profit of course) so someone else can appreciate its beauty.
Right now I have a great vintage Trifari signed medallion pendant necklace in an awesome fiery orange for sale on eBay. Here is a pic of it - click on the photo to view the auction.

In my research on this piece, I came across some great vintage Trifari ads spanning from the 1940's through the 1970's. This is some great eye candy, so enjoy! And if you are a Pinterest user, please follow us and use our button to pin what you like!

Italian Pottery, who knew?

As any seasoned thrifter will know, Italian pottery adornes thrift store shelves almost daily. A lot of it is not very valuable, but some of it as I recently discovered, is highly collectible. I saw a set of three interesting mugs at a local thrift store recently. They got my attention with their interesting designs and use of bold colors. I looked at the bottom - Desimone, Italy. I quickly look up on my eBay for IPhone app - and wouldn't you know it, I stand to make a few bucks on these. And at $.70 each, you can't go wrong! Here is a picture of the mugs.

I listed them on eBay separately starting at $14.99 plus shipping. You can view each listing here

Italian Desimone Fish Mug

Desimone Abstract Mug

Desimone Abstract Leaf Mug

Also here is a link to more info on artist Giovanni Desimone and his work

Hope that helps some of you when out shopping at thrift stores or garage sales. Follow my blog for loads of future tips on what's hot in vintage items and collectibles and get notified via email when I write a new post!

Holy Bouckville!

So the second half of our getaway to central New York proved much more exciting! Sunday we woke up and headed to the Rosemond Gifford Zoo - which I believe was named the Syracuse Zoo back when I was a kid. This is a pic of my husband Ryan and my daughter Isabella outside the zoo. It was a great time. My daughter's favorite exhibit was the penguins. I think I liked the elephants the best...

On our way back home my husband suggested we take the scenic way home. I loved the idea since i am always up for taking back roads than highways. Highways can be so boring! We head south of Syracuse and pick up Route 20. We begin heading east, passing through a couple towns and then we run right into the town of Bouckville - at the very start of Antique Week... What?? We seriously drove straight into my idea of heaven!

Antique Week, which this year was August 13-19 is New York's largest antiques and collectibles event. The vendors were literally in the set up process when we went through so we didn't have to pay to walk around and it wasn't mobbed with shoppers. Technically the show didn't start until the following day.

Now I was with my husband and four year old, so I couldn't spend hours and hours walking around - or frolicking as I was doing in my head! We were quick, yet I got a great view of some super interesting things as well as people. Next year I'll make a plan to go to this, but I was happy to have gotten a little taste of it this year. My husband even had a little fun and almost bought a vintage 1970 Velosolux French bicycle with a motor. Here is a pic of the dealer showing him how to run it!

Here are more pics of some fun items at the show

 

Ryan did not end up buying the bike, however I did spend $10 on 4 Staffordshire Colonial Blue dinner plates - my grandmothers set that I inherited.

I was pleased with a price of less than $3 a piece. After Isabella notified us that she was starving, we started looking for a diner type place to satisfy our hunger. We came upon Quacks, which was just what we were looking for! Great food, great prices and great service! If you're in the Bouckville area, you must eat at Quacks. Outside of Bouckville residents were taking advantage of the upcoming traffic. We saw many individual sales outside the town. Isabella has recently had an obsession with Peter Pan - here she is at Quacks with a McDonalds Madame Alexander toy Peter Pan we found for $1.

our last garage sale stop - which I had to swear to my husband, would truly be the last stop - I found an awesome vintage George's Briard enamel canister set with matching tea pot and serving tray! I paid $30 for 6 pieces and they look fab in my almost finished mid century kitchen! Here is a pic of just the canister set.

So our trip ended up doing just what we needed - a welcome distraction to the non pregnancy news. On that front, we have decided to take some time off from the fertility drugs. I'm focusing on my home and my family and my online selling. Isabella starts a pre k-K class at a new school so we will have even more on our plate!  I've also registered for the eBay on Location conference in early September so I'm looking forward to that. Until next time...

When Life Gives You Lemons...

I guess I shouldn't have got my hopes up, but when all the symptoms are there, how could I not? As of today, we know my IUI (inter uterine insemination) did not work. Unfortunately it may be an ectopic pregnancy, which I will find out in a couple days. I had an ectopic 10 months ago and I guess the deal is, once you have one, chances increase for more in the future.

So, to get our mind off the bad news, my husband, daughter and I left this morning for a little weekend adventure to south central New York State. We headed over to the Tioga Downs harness racing track and casino, where on the property they have an antique mall and outdoor flea market every Saturday and Sunday in the summer months. Boy did it turn into a bit of a bust. Instead of the 3 huge buildings they advertise on their website for an "antique mall" there were about one and a half. And there was no "outdoor flea market" at all. The vendors inside were great quality, but if I'm going to drive 3 hours, I would like to be able to spend a significant time browsing and have loads of options.

After we walked around for less than two hours, we decided to head back East. We ended our day in Syracuse at a gorgeous DoubleTree by Hilton. My husband is a Hilton Honors member and he travels a ton for work and really racks up the points - so our night is free. Tomorrow we plan to bum around Syracuse, maybe hit some thrift shops (for me only of course) and then probably the huge Carousel Mall since it looks like a rainy day. I would love to be able to show a pic of a super "find" from this overnight trip. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

At the very least, we are spending time as a family and my daughter is loving the indoor and outdoor pools at the DoubleTree. Here are some pics of her in her favorite cowgirl hat daddy brought back from Houston last year and her Disney Princess luggage. Until next time...

An at home day

Today was a mostly at home day - which although not my favorite thing, it was necessary and ended up being very productive! As I mentioned in my previous post, my husband and I are restoring / updating our 1960 ranch home. The more work we do to this place, the more botch jobs we discover, unfortunately from previous owners. I just keep picturing everything when it's done and it gives me the energy to forge ahead - I know it will be so worth it in the end.

We bought the house the beginning of April and were fortunate enough to be able to have all the wall to wall old and dirty shag carpet removed and the oak hardwoods underneath refinished before we moved in.

Here is a little photo montage of my daughters room - before and after. Now I know Pottery Barn Kids is not mid century modern, but I figure, it's ok, she's four. Isabella's aunties in Saratoga Springs were super generous in hooking her up with a room full of Pottery Barn, but I am most proud of my Salvation Army queen double post headboard find for $20!!

Isabella loves her new bedroom!

Since then we have done a lot of painting, tearing down of nasty wallpaper (the folks who lived here is the 80's did a hell of a job to this place), taken down massive trees in the back and front yards and right now we are in the process of a new kitchen - which was not really in the first 6 month plan. There are lots more updates and finds I will be sharing along the way! Until next time...

Rambling Intro...

For the past several months, I've been hemming and hawing about my blog - the inconsistency in my posting as well as topics. So, I've decided to start this new blog, with a little more focus and a little more purpose. I absolutely LOVE sharing about the craziness that is my life and my daily adventures. I know my husband gets sick of hearing about my random adventures and I'm pretty sure my other family and friends do too, although they won't admit it. And as for my 4 year old daughter, well she's too young to really get it. But, if someone chooses to "follow" me and read about the little things that get me through my day, then that's a win for us all!

A short overview of what to expect from my "ramblings..." I am a stay at home mom of my beautiful four year old daughter Isabella. I have been married to my college sweetheart for nine years and as of today, I am on day 8 of a two week wait to find out if my IUI (inter uterine insemination) worked! Uh yes, I will definitely be blogging about this! I love God, my family - yes even my in laws, and thrifting!! I sell on eBay and Amazon very part time and my husband and I are in the process of restoring our 1960 mid century ranch home which we moved into about 4 months ago.

You will be reading about my daily adventures as a mom (and probably a pregnant one at that!), wife, eBay seller, vintage and mid century modern lover and thrift store junkie! If you become a follower, I promise you won't be disappointed. Especially with the hormones arriving soon, (if they haven't already) I should at least provide you some giggles.

The shirt my daughter has on in this photo is vintage. I bought it at an estate sale for $ .50!!

PS - I can't believe I forgot to mention Pinterest, my latest obsession! Follow me here!