Vintage Junk in My Trunk

Those Freakin' Firkins

We have had these firkins in our house for a good twenty years. I love the colors, but Mr. VJIMT thinks they're too "country" and has been wanting to sell them for a long time (even though he was the original purchaser). I think they have plenty of love left to give, and I'm ready for them to have new homes as well.

This big blue one (about 10 inches high and a little bigger than 10 inches wide at the base) was used at the bottom of the stack and even served as the base for a small artificial Christmas tree for many years.

It sold last week to one of my faithful readers (who also works for an estate sale company) who saw it on my blog wiht the Clover Market photos and asked about its availability.

My son was a little glum that it would no longer be part of our family, and I'm pretty sure he's one of only a handful of teenagers who knows what a "firkin" is. And who would be sad about not having it around anymore!

The green one in the middle is about 5 inches high and a little more than 7 inches at the base.

The color is more accurate in the photo below.

The small blue one is also about 5 inches high but only about 5 inches wide at the base.

I'm hoping this shot gets chosen by Vintage Rescue Squad Sue for her annual calendar.

Last week I found this big pink one at a yard sale. It's about 12 inches high and 13 wide at the base. And did I mention PINK?

I will be listing all these in my Etsy shop, but as always my readers get first dibs. Email me or leave a comment here if you're interested.

Don't Judge a Box by Its Cover

This box looks pretty non-descript. Dull even. Painted a kind of a grayish green khaki color.

Then you you open it.

And to your astonishment, that boring old wooden box…

…reveals itself to be a vintage bingo number carrying case.

With a master bingo number list screwed onto the left side.

And vintage black wooden bingo balls on the right.

And a stunning green hue on the inside.

We found this at a little shop in Salem, New Jersey earlier in the year. I've spent a lot of time researching it, and haven't found anything like it.

If you've come across something similar, maybe you can give me some idea of what it's worth? I'm thinking of listing it on ebay, and am hoping its uniqueness may set off a bidding war.

… or at least get me a B I N G O !

Ebay, Round Two

I haven't done much selling on ebay; it doesn't seem nearly as friendly (or artsy, or equitable, or trendy) to me as Etsy does. However, there are those items for which you may get a better price, in a quicker timeframe, if a bidding war ensues.

In the past sixty days, I've only listed (and sold) 4 items. Two of which you saw in my last post.

The third was this 1968 Annalee Rabbit Doll, but I'd rather not discuss it. Mainly because the Annalee line scares the bejeezus out of me.

I found this beautifully illustrated hardback on a table full of books at a small church rummage sale.

Then I found another, and another. 

I used my iphone ebay app to see how many were in the set, and how much they were selling for on ebay.

I discovered they are a Time Life series called The Enchanted World, published in the 1980s. The complete set of 21 books was selling for around $200, so I limbered up my hoisting muscles and started to stack.

I wound up finding 19 books in mint condition (some still in their original packaging) and full of fabulous illustrations.

This set wound up being the fourth ebay item I sold last month, netting me $100 plus shipping (I purchased them for $15). Maybe I should sell on ebay more often!

Vintage Wedding Cake Toppers

Have you seen the latest blog post from Flea Market Style magazine? A lovely compilation of vintage wedding cake toppers is featured today.

But to take a page from Vintage Rescue Squad Sue’s fun series, I'm Way Ahead of Ya! 

This was my first Etsy sale -- purchased by the effervescent Tamarah of Shabby Vintage Junk, who featured it on her blog the other day.

I have a whole wedding section devoted to them in my Etsy shop. These two have also sold:

But I still have some left –– this heart-framed one:

And this ribboned-arch one:

And this one dated 1949:

I also still have a couple more to list -- in particular, this whole wedding party set that I've been dragging my (cold?) feet on.

And although I think it's a spectacular set, Emily’s (I Like Collecting) collection is by far the most amazing I've seen! She was definitely way ahead of this trend!

Not-So-Hidden Treasuries

Do you make treasuries on Etsy? Treasury is Etsy's ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery, where you create and share lists of items. If your list is beautiful and diverse enough, it may be featured on Etsy's home page.

If you're featured on the home page, thousands of potential buyers will see your shop's name and the featured items. Even if it doesn't get to the front page, it still reaches many other people who might never have seen your shop -- including those shops whom you've featured. What an effective and free marketing tool!

Some of the treasuries are fun and clever; some are gorgeous and organized by color. There are only a few rules to follow -- you can't feature any of your own items, and you can't feature more than one shop. It's a good idea to pick a relevant theme or one Etsy has tagged as "hot".

As a member of the Etsy Vintage Team, I made this treasury yesterday:

You Are So Not My Type -- A vintage look at what you don't want to hear on Valentine's Day

This treasury list is embedded right in my blog, so if you want to check out any of the items, just click on the image and it will link you right to the Etsy store with that item. You can get your own Etsy treasury HTML generator free here from the very techno savvy and generous-with-his-knowledge Martin at Whale Shark Websites.

Love is in the Air

These icy, snowy days make for some good Etsy listing time. These delicate cards (found in my shop here) date from the early 1900s, most of them manufactured by Whitney Made in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Did you notice the boat is heart-shaped? (edit -- two below sold!)

These are intricately die-cut and 3-dimensional. The lacy part stands up and there are more embellishments layered on top. (This heart-shaped one below has sold!)

This one is marked Germany and is a standing pop-up. Love the sweet red honeycomb at the bottom. (edit -- sold!)

Odds and Ends

I don't know how it got to be 10 days since my last post, but here it is. I guess I didn't have anything to say. And I still don't have anything to say, 10 days later, but I'm going to post anyway!

November yard sale-less days means no new finds for you to see, but I have plenty of old old stuff you haven't seen yet. So I guess that's what I'll be posting during the long cold days of winter. When I'm not putting it up on Etsy for sale, that is. Which is what I've been doing these last 10 days.

So far I have 90 items listed, most of them vintage holiday. I think I may have put them up a little too early (started listing in September) but I didn't want to get caught in the holiday rush. I'm finding the Christmas things are just starting to sell, so at least I'll know that for next year. Even though I started early, I still have a bunch more holiday stuff to list.

Spent the entire weekend sorting/purging Sophia's toys to make space in the family room for the reworked apothecary. I think we've figured out a good place for it. Also found room for the repainted bookcase.

Looks good, huh? But here's what I had to go through to get to there…

Ack! Avert your eyes! I don't know what's going to happen when Santa visits in 6 short weeks.

I did manage to find a small church thrift store sale this weekend, where I bought these retro German lucite candle holders. Definitely not my style, but I thought they were cool and someone would appreciate them.

What else, what else? Here's another (skinny) cubby piece we've had in a corner for years…

Got tired of the brown, so now it's white and shabby.

The yard sale list looks short again this weekend, but I just spotted a church rummage sale that starts Friday night. Hope that will make my next post a bit more interesting!

Tasty Yard Sale Finds

Sometimes Saturday Yard Sale Day turns into Saturday Farmers’ Market Day due to a complete dearth of good yard sales. And also because what I thought was a good yard sale listed in the paper today turned out to be NEXT week’s good yard sale, not this week’s (why advertise so far ahead of time?). 

So I found myself around the corner from the local Farmers’ Market. No vintage finds today. Just tasty ones.

Spent the rest of the day loading up my Etsy shop with Christmas wares. I still have lots of (holiday) stuff to go through, but I feel like I'm making a little headway. Although I'm pretty sick of looking at elves and santas at this point, and it's barely September! 

Stop by during these next couple of weeks if you're looking for some vintage holiday to add to your collection. Remember all the Christmas stuff I found this spring -- especially at this sale? And this one? It will all be listed soon!

Etsy, Etsy, Read All About It!

Yes, you read it right -- my Etsy shop is finally open for business! It's a slow and tedious process, and with mountains and mountains of vintage stuff to wade through (or maybe I should say, climb over?), one that will be ongoing for quite a while. But I have listed 15 items in a couple of days, sold one(!), and have attracted some interest. So it's a start.

{my first Etsy sale -- a joyous day!} 

But so time-consuming! There's the photographing (and the setting up of the photographing), and the research (much, much, research), and the describing (it's hard to write when little people keep asking you questions, and then you forget where you left off, and what was that train of thought again?), and the tagging, and the shipping figuring, and, finally, the listing.

The research is the worst. I've come to realize I know a little bit about a lot of things, but not enough to describe it in an online shop! My wealth of knowledge about my items fits on one of those little tags in an antique store: “Vintage 1950's Wedding Cake Topper” (fortunately, it was dated so no guessing there). But is it chalkware or bisque? Mesh or netting? Is that silk? What are the measurements? What does it weigh?

And then I just keep looking at the scariness that is my art studio storage area, and realize I have to go through this with EACH AND EVERY ITEM, and wonder, maybe I should just have the mother-of-all-yard sales (but I can call it an estate sale!) and be done with it? But no, must soldier on. Must muddle through. Must persevere. Must. Musty. Mustier. At least I know I have plenty of product to keep me busy through the long yardsale-less winter months.

In addition to all that, there's the technology learning curve. I feel like I've been getting a mini-degree in Geekspeak 101 these days. I think of myself as fairly computer literate; all of the computer graphic design, illustration, and photography programs I use for my "real" job are self-taught (yes, kids, when I went to college there were no computers!). 

But now there's always something new to figure out. First it was Typepad so I could do my blog* (and logos and banners and icons and avatars). Then some HTML coding so I can add and customize things (still hoping Nicholas will figure that out for me and then just TELL me how to do it). Then Etsy and its attach this and set up your policies now and click heres. And USPS and its shipping fees and priority this and flat rate that. 

I'm telling you, I am inundated with knowledge, facts, and code; my brain just can't work this fast anymore, or at least retain this much info.

In addition to all the vintage I've been working on, I am also trying to update my (freelance business) graphic design collateral, which means redoing my logo, updating my resume, and putting my portfolio together. Right now I'm trying to figure out WordPress (ack! another program!) so I can put those portfolio samples online. And updating my LinkedIn profile to stay connected.

So it's been a busy summer. I've spent most of it sitting by the computer. Which may seem like just so much socializing, but really not. I'm also trying to build a social network (this is the 21st century, right?). So I have my Vintage Junk in My Trunk Facebook fan page and I'm on Twitter (lord help me) as Vintage Junk Girl. And just got a spot on The Vintage List (still trying to get that doodad posted to my sidebar; I get a link but no photo). 

And don't forget, school is out. Two kids with swim lessons, art classes, tennis… the list goes on and on. The little one is bored. Is it too early to get her working on that HTML code?

---

* I JUST figured out the “Follow” feature on Typepad and Blogger. Maybe not so much figured out as now it's just somehow working. I had been linking up to some people with the little “Follow Me” boxes on their blogs, and had Google Reader, but was never notified with any updates from anyone I was following, except for ONE Typepad blogger. Until last night. Somehow I found the Blogger feature which allows me to receive updates and follow people through it. So I "followed" tons of people I thought I had already been following. So if you're just seeing me following you now -- HI! -- I've been trying; believe me, I've been trying.

Buried Alive

So if you've been wondering where I've been lately, check out my Etsy stash storage room. I have been literally buried under the growing piles of vintage. Any day now I'm waiting for my husband to make good on his threat to turn me in to the Hoarders show producers.

But I'm not really a Hoarder. I don't collect this particular stuff, nor do I want to save it. I WANT TO SELL IT! Ok, well, maybe I want to keep the jewelry bling. And bingo cards. And I have a soft spot for those glittery Putz Christmas houses. But that's it. Oh, and the typewriter (keys). And there's something about those baby heads...

Bisque dolls, scales, metal toys, board games & tins, clocks, millinery, suitcases, linens & buttons, religious statues, paper ephemera, sewing patterns & notions. And the Christmas. Oh, the Christmas. It's all here. Just waiting to be researched, photographed, described, and listed. Not too much work [sarcasm]. But where to start?

I spent hours photographing a bunch of things. And then hated the photos. Restart. 

And now I'm overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all. I think I need to pick an item/category and focus on that. Something not too hard to ship (like NOT a typewriter!). I'm going to choose ten items and concentrate on that to list first instead of feeling like I have to have every category filled to capacity. 

So what do you think? What would you like to see for sale in an Etsy shop? If you sell, what did you start with? All suggestions and helpful hints welcomed!