Success!

I finally got all my scrap/card stuff

sorted. And found a spot for all of it.

Now the trick is to keep it this way

(see below for before photos!):

Our Cookie Tradition

Every December Marilyn, my daughter Angela and I

get together to make cookies. Usually we do it over two

days but this year Marilyn and Angela worked at

Marilyn's house and I worked at my Mom's house.

They made 300+ snowball cookies and 300+

peanut butter blossoms. I made 500 spritz cookies.

(My back is still making me pay for that!). No short

cuts here, just lots of butter, flour, sugar, eggs......

My current project...

Okay, so my scrap stuff is out of control again.

And I have been planning to move my stuff from

the kitchen, back up to my extra room. So I have

to take of of this:

(the drawers all full of scrap stuff too), sort it, organize it and fit it in here:

Hopefully in time to still make Christmas cards and a few small gifts.

Nothing like a little pressure!

Lasting Treasures

Carol Kennedy, another vendor at Cranberry Hill Mercantile has

just started her own blog. Carol, Lisa's mentor, also sells vintage

items AND Carol creates some amazing things with vintage items.

She is a talented lady and a fellow cat lover.

Here is a picture of her cat Gypsy.

Check out her blog for some pictures of her treasures, she plans to start selling some of them online. http://carolkennedy.blogspot.com/

Take me with you!

As soon as I put my suitcase out to pack for an expo,

Copper hopped in. He was hoping I would take him with

me. He doesn't like it when I leave.

Another estate sale!

It has been slim pickins at the auctions lately, so I have started
going to estate sales. Estate sales tend to be more expensive
than auctions but the booth really needs some new items. I went
to the last day of an estate sale on Sunday and came home with
all of this:

Block sale

And then there was the block sale in Willow Glen. There were about 30 homes on three blocks with items out for sale. Most of the stuff was too new for me. I did get a few things at one house; including a lantern look jar, a bronzed baby shoe, an egg basket (love these things, I think they would look so cute filled with ribbon), metal shoes forms? and a cutter quilt.

Estate Sales

Inspired by Lisa, I set out this morning with a list of two estate sales and one block sale. I had my route planned out so as not to waste gas and only got side tracked by three yard sale signs, (all a waste of time). I drove about 32 miles and didn't spend too much money.

At the first estate sale I got hankies, white gloves, white love birds, salt/pepper shakers, beaded purse accessories and a small bag of lace pieces. They had some pretty tea cups but wanted $5 each since they had seen tea cups on eBay for $25 each. And they were pretty set on their prices, since they had "researched" the items.

The second estate sale was two house on one lot. The lady passed away two years ago and the homes have been in trust. Both houses were PACKED with junk. She had cabinets in the back house with decades worth of clothes. Unfortunately they were decades not worth repeating.

I did a lot of digging, fortunately someone else found the spider's nest full of spiders, in a room full of linens. The people running the sale had actually thrown all the linens that weren't in boxes out on the floor in one room. It was a random mess of vintage items and newer tacky stuff.

I left behind a box full of small perfume bottles because they wanted more than I was willing to pay. And I also left behind a few other things. I did score BIG with some vintage buttons. The lady running the sale said she was going to sell all the buttons on eBay but someone found two small containers of buttons in the house. She passed on them and the vintage hankies because she didn't like the prices. And I was in the right place to scoop them up. They gave me a great deal, I think because I was being nice and not complaining about their prices. What a gift!

So I left this estate sale with hankies, buttons, two aprons, two metal birds, two glass jars with needlepoint lids, a glass pitcher with no chips!, some retro Christmas cards, gorgeous cat coasters, and a scrapbook. Oh, about the scrapbook. I read it when I got home. The woman and her mother took a trip by bus from Ohio to NYC in 1935. It has typed journaling and postcards, photos, playbills, receipts etc. And I only got it just because I liked the cover and thought it would look good framed. Turns out to be fun inside too.

No auctions :-(

I am have auction withdrawls! I have either had another commitment on auction days or there hasn't been anything worth going for.

So the new picture is of Copper, take by Patti G. See his freckles? It is not unusual for orange cats to have "freckles" and he has them on his nose, lips and eyelids

June was great with our Circle Journal retreat. The beach was beautiful, the classes fun, the food delicious and the company outstanding. The week went by too fast.

stamp show

I worked for a company at the stamp show this past weekend.
It was quite a bit smaller than scrapbook shows. I did have fun
looking at all the cute samples at Cat's Pajamas. And there was
a small new company that sells all the stuff I LOVE to buy at
auctions; old photos, old ads, cutter quilts etc. The owner
Shoshanah lives in San Jose not far from me! Check out her
website: www.hannahgrey.com

Outside my comfort zone.

I am stepping outside my comfort zone next month. On June 7th I will be doing a make and take and Cranberry Hill Mercantile. The store is having a celebration for the release of some new items from Memory Box. They are calling it "what's inside the box". My project is decorating the small lightweight wood craft boxes. You can put pencils or photos or whatever in them. I am open to comments and advice.

eBay

I have been collecting ephemera,
advertising pens and rulers and
other random desk stuff. Today
I am posting some of it on eBay.
Hopefully I am not the only one
who likes this kind of stuff because
I really need to clear out my garage.
I am also listing some souvenier
pillow shams, vintage sewing items,
old doll clothes and baby clothes.
And hopefully some more linens

Sewing Lot

I finally got around to sorting the sewing lot I bought. Oh my goodness what a treasure hunt!

There were some amazing buttons, some tools I don't recognize, plus the cool containers.

Slim Pickins...

That's what it's been at the auctions lately.
I hope to have some of the things I've been collecting over the last year in to the booth next week. Personal items such as gloves, jewelry boxes, a celluloid powder box, aprons etc. Seemed like a good time with Mother's Day coming up soon.
I have my eye on a sewing lot at tomorrow's auction. Wish me luck!

Latest finds

At saturday's auction I bought another lot of linens.
I kept saying Oh look at this and Lisa kept saying linens
don't do anything for me! The shelf was loaded with
quite a variety from made in Ireland linen napkins to
beautiful scarves and many printed cross stitch items
like the child's smock pictured. Fun stuff!

Ms CJ

I currently have possession of Lisa's circle journal: Ms CJ. She joined Marilyn, her Mom and I on a day trip to the beach today. We drove up 280 to Half Moon Bay, down Highway 1 to Santa Cruz, then over Highway 17 to home.
Ms CJ is pictured enjoying the view at Natural Bridges State Beach. The day was cold, gray and raining on and off but any day at the beach is a good day in my book. On the way home, we got to enjoy falling snow in the Santa Cruz mountains. What an adventure.