Vintage Was Her Choice

Recently, my vintage saucers sold on Etsy to a creative young woman named Jamie who was planning on using them for her friend's baby shower. She went all out and look at the results!

All mismatched china, colorful linens, a burlap table runner, a bouquet of flowers, and a quilt hanging in the outdoors setting equals perfection! I bet she even baked those adorable cookies herself :)

It's so nice to see that someone else loves vintage as much as I do. Jamie had a vision for the shower and it came together beautifully!

Check here to see where I link up!

Insert Stall Technique Here

Um...I'm still working on the table today, so instead of giving you another picture of an unfinished table... here instead is a great idea from Jennifer of Life,  Crafts and Whatever. She's hosting a weekly Highs and Lows party. I have to give credit to Michelle at The Lazy Novice Crafter for introducing me to Jennifer - Michelle is a fun read and I stalk read her blog regularly :)

Lows of the week:

Honestly, it's been a fab week and the only thing bad that happened was my hostas were slightly run over this morning.

The perpetrator has been spoken to.

Highs of the week:

Am having the most fun working on my projects, and teasing you with progress reports :)
Got a slight sunburn - this really is a high as it's been a horribly cold and rainy spring so far.
Sold 12 of 14 things on eBay (this could also be a low if I figure in all the work that went into it - I really don't care for selling there.)
Sold another thing on Etsy.
Saw my mom for Mother's Day.
12th wedding anniversary was on the 10th - Best Thing of the Week by far!

The hubs, Frank, Mom, and me

All right, no more stalling - back to work on the table!

For Sale by Owner

I love writing this blog, and am working on opening up my creativity to whatever comes my way. One of my favorite things to do, other than blogging and painting, is junk vintage shopping. I'll go way out of my way to shop an estate sale, or to find a new Goodwill :) Some items are perfect as is, and some get upcycled into prettier or more useful items.

This amazing site - Remodelaholic - hosts a "For Sale by Owner" party every week to help get the word out about small shops and business owners. I was hesitating about putting my link up there, but no more! I'm proud of the items posted for sale in my Etsy shop and if it gets some exposure through this link - YAY!

Here's the link to the party where you can browse all the shops:

http://www.remodelaholic.com/2011/04/for-sale-by-owner-46-shop-link-up-party.html

and here (again) is a link to my Etsy shop (in case you didn't see the link in this post, and the 'My Etsy Shop' page above...)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JunkyVagabond

and some pics of what you can find in the shop:

Vintage Folding Binoculars

Vintage Safety Glasses

Vintage Regent Sheffield Serving Pieces

Vintage Candy/Lozenge Tin

Vintage Cut Glass Vanity Trays

Vintage Folding Ruler 

Vintage Saucer

I hope you enjoy browsing all the wonderful shops (including mine) featured in this link party!

How the Name 'JunkyVagabond' was Coined

I love thrift shopping, and the thrill of finding a good piece is addictive. Some things are pure vintage and some might not be true vintage, but have potential to be charming with a little transformative love. My hubby has termed the vintage pieces in my office 'junk'…and along with my restless nature…JunkyVagabond was born. I'm always on the hunt for good JUNK!

Some of my Junky treasure 

Soon, the pieces that don't need transformations are going into my Etsy shop. Until the weather starts cooperating, there's a lot of things to be painted piling up in my office! C'mon Spring!!!

Setting up an Etsy Shop - JunkyVagabond!

Well, Etsy seems to be a good place to start. My shop name is JunkyVagabond...why you ask? Because it sounded good to me at the time. I know, I know...there should be a deep-seated connection to my name and the shop and what it embodies. Um, right. I like junk from thrift shops and a vagabond seems like someone who doesn't settle down to one thing. Describes me and my shop after all.

Why can't someone write a book called Etsy for Dummies? Maybe I should research that to see if it's already been done. One of my biggest problems is that I need a step-by-step instruction manual to get things done. Doing things by the seat of my pants is a surefire way to overwhelm me and kick in my procrastination phase.

Oh sure, there's a Seller's Handbook. It lists lots of options. It explains a lot of options. What it doesn't seem to do is have a chapter called "Setting up a shop for lazy folks, with the absolute minimum of effort." Now that is a much needed chapter! Who's with me?

So, after much plagiarism of other shops' policies I have come up with the basics of shop policies. I had a paypal account already, and now all I need is a banner. There are a couple of good how-to's on that, unfortunately I either don't have the tools or the know-how to actually do it as described. ARRGGGHHHHH! For now, there's a generic banner which isn't me or my shop at all. Bear with me while I figure this out get help from my hubby on this. 


The shop now needs items to sell; vintage (junky) items, painted canvasses, and mixed-media plaques. Much work is in my future...