A New One For Me!

Today was yard sale day for my mom and I. While I was perusing the ads in the newspaper and making our list (aka - plan of attack) before we left the house, I saw something that I've never seen before! We've all seen the ads that say "Yard Sale, 100 Dumb Ass street, 8am to 4pm, early birds pay double" right? Our Yard Sales 101 mini series talks about that, you can see that post here if you missed it: http://thevintagedresser.blogspot.com/2009/05/its-yard-sale-season.html. Anyway, I saw an ad in the paper today that said "early birds beware of dogs"!! WTF?! That seems rather harsh to me! It's one thing to charge the early birds double... but to release the dogs on them? Jeez, these people are serious!! LOL!

Anyway, we had a great day! Check out my blog to see my treasures http://oohlalacestmagnifique.blogspot.com/.

Tania

Antiques Galore!

I'm running behind as my darling daughter has pointed out to me!

We recently went to Monroe and Snohomish, Washington. This is a trip we make twice a year, originally only to go to an automotive swap meet (My DH is into old cars!). But then I discovered Snohomish! Old town Snohomish is nothing but antique shops, from one end of town to the other! It's only about 6 miles from Monroe, so we usually stay in Snohomish now and run back and forth between the two.

Tania and her hubby decided to join us one year and now it's become a regular trip. Fred and I usually go on Friday morning and stay till Sunday. Tania and her husband, and sometimes one or more of the children, go on Friday afternoon and head back home on Saturday afternoon.

My husband and I spend time on Friday; before Tania's entourage arrives; visiting yard sales, a huge craft store, going to a few antiques shops---whatever grabs us! When they arrive late in the evening on Friday, we kibitz in one of our motel rooms for a while and then hit the sack so we can arise bright and early Saturday morning to hit the swap meet when it opens. Tania and I make a quick run thru, visiting the booths that we know have the kinds of things we're interested in---definitely NOT car parts! Then we leave the guys there to peruse rusty automotive treasures while we go to Snohomish to visit antique shops with the kinds of
treasures we're looking for.

This year there was an open air antique market in downtown Snohomish. Three or four blocks of the downtown area was barricaded from car traffic and booths were set up with people selling their wares. It was fantastic! And the weather was fantastic!

Luckily my husband or granddaughter didn't see that Marilyn picture or we'd now be trying to figure out where to hang it! They both have a Marilyn fetish!

This is an overview of the street from about midway. There were just as many, or more, booths down the street behind me from where I took this picture. We wandered up and down the street a couple of times, finding things every time that we hadn't seen previously. We found a few things we couldn't live without and lots of inspiration for ways to use things we already have in our stashes.

At a pre-arranged time, the guys met us (after hunting the world over for a parking place)! We went thru a two or three story antique shop that Tania's step-son was interested in, much to his father's chagrin, then transferred Tania's purchases from my car to theirs and they headed home.

It was a great weekend and we're already looking forward to October, when we go again!

Nancy

P.S. Soon, I'll tell you about getting high in Snohomish!

It's Yard Sale Season!!!

It's officially yard sale season, Yay!! We've decided that there are SOME people who definitely need some pointers for putting on a successful yard sale! We thought we could make this fun and have come up with a little mini series called "YARDSALES 101"! We have a 4 week series of (ahem!) "helpful" tips! So let's begin!

Yard Sales 101 - by Tania Angelo & Nancy Carroll (1st of a series of 4)

My mom and I are yard sale junkies, for about 10 years now when the weather turns nice; we are out almost every Saturday hunting for good junk... ahem... treasures! We start at about 8:00 am and get done about 1:00 or 2:00 pm. This has, in our humble opinion, made each of us somewhat of an expert on yard sales! As self proclaimed experts, we have a few tips for what separates a good yard sale from a bad one!
So you’ve decided that you have some crap that you’d like to get rid of and you think a yard sale is the way to go… well, first and foremost, please make sure that you have enough crap to actually make it worth my time to stop and look… one table with a pile of clothing on it does NOT constitute a yard sale, nor does a pile of kid’s toys, or a couple of pieces of worn out furniture! If you only have a few things to get rid of then take them to a thrift store or advertise them on Craig’s List. We don’t like wasting our time and gas driving to find your “sale” only to be disappointed. On that same note, if you advertize a “HUGE” yard sale, it had better be HUGE! Huge can be defined as a church full of goodies, several families with lots of stuff to contribute, tables filled with stuff as far as the eye can see, etc.! (Aahhh, yard sale heaven!)

Be prepared! As we live and breathe, there WILL be early birds. People who get up and drag themselves out early on Friday and/or Saturday morning are avid yard salers. Trying to charge them double just because you can’t prepare everything the night before and/or get your lazy butt out of bed before they start showing up is NOT cool or appreciated! We are rarely out that early, but rest assured if we show up at 7:30am to a sale that starts at 8:00am and someone tries to charge us double… we will be leaving so fast you’ll see sparks flying out our asses and we are NOT returning when you “officially” open! Umm…Hello! Someone is offering you money to take away the stuff you no longer want… does it really matter what time it is?!

The whole idea is to sell your stuff…right?? Yard sales start early… it’s just an unwritten rule… 10 o’clock is NOT acceptable! If you get some realllllyyy early birds, tell them to set stuff out on the tables as they’re digging thru those still unpacked boxes! They’ll probably be glad to get the first viewing of unseen treasures. Or they’ll leave you alone until you’re ready!

There are some who disagree with this theory however. They say that allowing early birds to shop is not fair for those who are respectful enough to wait until you open. We say bulls**t! The “respectful” people aren’t there to see that someone is earlier than they are! LOTS of people are earlier than we are to yard sales and we don’t get our panties in a wad over it!

Sweet Baby Dresses

Would you LOOK at these adorable baby dresses!! Aren't they just SO sweet? It makes me wish my daughter was still a baby... she's almost 19 now! Ack, where has the time gone?! I think these would be just adorable as nursery room decor... in a shabby chic baby's nursery... can't you see it?! Check out Valerie Allen's featured baby room on the Design Dazzle blog to see how she used some in her decor: http://designdazzle.blogspot.com/2009/04/sweet-vintage-baby-nursery.html

Tania

Give-away!

I'm having a "beachy" give-away on the C'est Magnifique blog for this mini beach scene shadow box. Pop on over to enter if you like: http://oohlalacestmagnifique.blogspot.com/

Tania

Photo Shoot

I had my own little photo shoot when no one else in the house was looking! I just take the most HORRIBLE pictures unless someone catches me when I'm not expecting it. You can imagine how hard it was to get a decent picture of myself since I was the photographer and all and I was definitely expecting these shots! LOL! I think I took about 50 pictures of myself (thank God for digital cameras!) before I FINALLY got a couple that I think are OK... not too horribly embarrasing anyway! So now comes the REAL test... can we get my mom... the other blogger of The Vintage Dresser to post a picture of herself!!!??? If you knew my mom you would really have to think hard before putting a wager on that one!! Come on mom... let's see YOUR photo shoot!!! PS... if we get some encouraging comments she MIGHT actually do it! LOL!

Tania

End to the suspense!

Well, after a couple of very good guesses, I'm going to end the suspense. What?! You say these new pictures don't really solve the question of what this item is? Well, it's used in the kitchen, probably more during cherry canning season than any other time. What's the most work when it comes to canning cherries??---pitting them. This is a cherry pitter! You put the cherries into the little tray, they roll down into the depression under the plunger, you push the plunger down and voila--- it slices the pit out. I had this listed on eBay and it sold yesterday. I hope the lady that bought it gets lots of use out of it. Thanks to those who participated in my little guessing game.

Good night,

Nancy

Guessing game

Well, since there have been no guesses as to what this item is, I'm adding a second picture. (see previous post for first picture) This should surely give it away. No?? Remember, it's something your mom or grandma might have used. It's intended to be a labor saving device. There's something similar to this that lots of households had in their kitchens. This item might have been a little more unusual for the regular old kitchen. And I suppose it might have depended on whether your mom or grandma was into taking the work out of canning. Ok, so now you have 2 pictures, you know it's used in the kitchen, used during canning, it's obviously metal. Surely someone wants to venture a guess! If no one guesses, I'll tell you what it is and post more photos in my next blog entry.

But now I want to show you my finds at yard sales this weekend. Most are destined for Etsy or eBay. The tablecloth is a little stained, so I'll probably work on that a little. Maybe try my daughter's stain remedy---lay it on the grass in the sun and overnight. It might end up as a window valance for my craft room. Or I might dig out another old tablecloth from my collection and use it.

The little donkey & cart didn't start out with the pincushion in it. I think it's pretty cute that way. I also added a pincushion to a little baby bootie planter I got at a sale a few weeks ago. I seem to be on a pincushion kick! I've got a couple of other cute planters that I was thinking I'd add them to. Could that be too much of a good thing?!

OK, I've got packages to get ready to mail, pincushions to make, photos to upload, goodies to list, not to mention lunch to fix! I guess I'd better get busy.

Nancy