Fall Vintage & Antiques GOING OUT OF BUSINESS Liquidation Garage Sale

Fall Vintage & Antiques GOING OUT OF BUSINESS Clearance Garage Sale. That is kind of a big title.  But I want people to realize that it is a big deal, and that they should make a herculean effort to come.  I had already mentioned earlier in 2020 that I had made a decision to pretty much curtail my antiques business:{  That meant quitting my antique booths cold turkey (good decision right before covid hit!)  Slowing my ebay selling to a trickle.  No more shows.  And putting a squelch on buying the rusty, primitive junk that I love to sell....and look at.

January 2020 we started to build our "guest cottage" which we still hope to turn into an AIRBNB.  Construction is basically (finally) over. I had kept a tight hold on some of the leftover antiques inventory because I didn't know what we would be using to furnish and decorate the cottage.  But in the last couple weeks I have been schlepping stuff in (and out) of the guest cottage, and it is time to let go of the items that we won't be using.  We are not only clearing out my leftover inventory, but items that I had collected just for the cottage and that now I realize there isn't room, or it just doesn't fit the look. A REAL RUTHLESS CLEARANCE SALE.  Garage Sale prices.

This is Saturday is SALE #1.  All of my Halloween and Fall inventory.  Slashed.  Whatever doesn't sell Saturday I am taking to a flea market and selling for $1.  I am not kidding.  I also have a bunch of furniture in Saturday's sale.  Whatever furniture doesn't sell will go on Facebook Marketplace. 

Some of the furniture is already on FM.  Also, there are stacks and layers of items that need to be sold, so....

SALE #2 will be in a month or so.  It will hopefully purge the underlayers.  And the CHRISTMAS inventory.  I want to get rid of all of it.  I am a motivated seller.

SALE #3 will be early next spring.  All of the springy merch.  All of the pastels, florals, cutesy and sweet items.  All of the garden items.  All of the outdoor items.  EVERYTHING that is hiding tubs that are stashed under the folding tables and out of sight.  All gone.  Including "props", tablecloths, tables --- everything needed for the bones of setting up.  I want it all gone.  So that I can use the shop (which previously was my antiques storage area) more as a workshop, and maybe even have room to put a vehicle in it.  

AND THEN?  Well.  God laughs at our puny plans.  Just look at 2020.  But a rough guess / sketch of 2021?  As I mentioned, hopefully running an AirBNB.  More volunteering / entertaining. And we are expecting our second grandchild -- that will help to keep us busy.  

Spooky Web On Deck

Dollar Tree Styrofoam Pumpkin Upcycle 2019

It all started a few weeks ago,

when I bought a thick cable cardigan at a garage sale for 25 cents.

Yes, I bought it because I liked it -- but I don't normally wear thick sweaters,

and to be honest it was a bit small.  But I immediately saw the potential for some

sweet sweater pumpkins.  I went out and bought 8 styrofoam pumpkins and two bunches 

of tan flowers from Dollar Tree = $10.

 

 The more I looked at the sweater, the more I thought I

had better research it.  Turns out I might be able to get

$25 for it on ebay.  Best to not hack it into bits after all.

But I did find a flour sack in my stash that would cover

four of the pumpkins ....

 and a lacy ivory jacket in my "donate" pile that I could

cut up for the other four.  I am still a little disappointed to not

be looking at pumpkins dressed out in cozy cable knit....

I have decked out these little pumpkins in many different styles over the years.

The price is great, and they are easy to whack a hole in the top

in order to stuff  excess fabric in.  This year I used some

old wooden pieces for the stems.

Views of some past DT pumpkins: 2014, 2015, 2016.

Getting Ready For Fall/Halloween Vintage Home Sale

 Another experiment in vintage selling at our new location.

I am having a Fall/Halloween home sale on Saturday, giving my

customers who come to my house a preview/discount on

my Fall merch before it goes into my antique booth.

 Some of it is just fallish vintage finds.

 But about 2/3 of it is Halloween themed.

I didn't have anywhere to sell it last year,

because we had just moved in.

 So I have about twice as much as I would normally have.

 I am hoping to get rid of all of my

Halloween Hats.  I don't think they

will sell as well here as they did

in my "decorator booth" up north.

It's all one big experiment.

We'll see how it goes.

Local On-Line Auction Vintage Wins

 

So about 10 days ago I made some entry-level bids on a local on-line auction.  They have a certain pick-up window of about 2 hours, no exceptions.  But I knew my calendar was clear, so I made some opening bids on about 45 lots.  45 lots.  The next day my son called to say that they were inducing my grandchild on the appointed pick-up day.  So, I asked a friend to pick up the treasures and did not raise any bids.  Therefore, my "wins" were pretty much the loser stuff that no one else wanted.  (BUT, who cares?  I HAVE A GRANDSON!)  I bid $4 on this "lot" because of the retro lamp shade peeking up of the top.  And yes, it was cool. Sold on ebay for $26.

 

This is a cute little side table with a "gator" patina.  It is a keeper, I paid $18 (all bids includes 10% auctioneer fee).

I am definitely a sucker for these vintage oriental jackets.  Many came from Japan during Korean war.  this lot included at least two for $4.  I will probably sell them on ebay.

Sold one for $20.

Do you see the small tiered shelf hiding in back?  That is why I bid on this lot, it was carved by a local around the 1930s and has a great tramp art look. I got it and the cute pink TP holder for $2. 

Sold the tiered shelf for $25.

 I got a big box of misc Catholic items which date from the 1940s-1950s for $4.  It was fun looking through all of it.  I kept a box of medallions, medals for ebay -- and I sold the rest at a yard sale Saturday. The ebay medallions sold for $14.

 I got these three little ceramic dwarves for $2.

They will sell in my "outdoor store".

Sold for $21.

 I had to get two large totes of "fall decor"

because I saw a corner of one of these peeking out.

$4, plus two totes which I can really put to good use as we are moving.

Sold on ebay for $21.

Most of the above stuff has already been moved to our new house.

Freaky Friday Halloween Upcycled Vintage Hats, 2017 Edition Part II

More vintage tweaked Halloween hats from this year:

SKELETAL CREW HAT

 VILLAINOUS VISOR HAT

 HAIRY EYEBALLS HAT

GLITTERY GHOULS HAT

 

RHINESTONE ARACHANOID HAT

ICEPICK HAT

Halloween Upcycled Vintage Hats 2017 Edition

 I have been taking cheap vintage hats and upcycling them into classy (yet freaky)
Halloween toppers for several years now.  If you wish to see past years click:
2014 here, 2015 here, 2016 here.

Without further ado, I would like to present the 2017 Halloween hats:

GREEN SNAKE HAT

I made two snake hats this year, this is the first.

RUBBERY SNAKE HAT

This is the second snake hat.  

I like how the snake tail hangs down the back,
 like decorative ribbon.

REAL BUGGY COLLECTION HAT

This hat was inspired when I found a huge dead bug in my yard,

he is front and center. I added a couple more real, and a couple fake bugs.

 I had to figure out how to put them on pins,

without pinning anyone's head.  

Pinning them to a huge furry spider was a good solution.

ME & MY DOLLY HAT

This is my only Halloween doll this year.

I found her at a flea market, no legs.

But she is not really very scary, 

I gave her a fancy "matching" hat with a feather.

 I'VE GOT MY EYE ON YOU HAT

DRIVING ME BATTY HAT

Bat in front glows in the dark.

This gives you a nice view of my model.

FURRY EYEBALLS HAT.

Eyeballs made out of pingpong balls.

This one is my favorite hat so far.
 So far .... because there are more coming tomorrow.

Freaky Friday Halloween Shadowboxes

I upcycled two of my upcycled Halloween books

 (a double upcycle!) from the last year to make two shadowboxes.

Click here

 to view my Halloween Book Assemblages post from last year.

I adored the decorated Halloween books, 

but they were not a big seller.

I am hoping the shadowboxes will do better.

I didn't have to buy a thing for these, 

I am not quite yet at the bottom of the Halloween decorating stash.  

But close.

"For The Eye" is my favorite creepy element.

Freaky Friday Framed Creepy Halloween Dollar Tree Portraits

For the next four Fridays I will be featuring

some of my Halloween projects on what I like to call "Freaky Fridays".

Today's Freaky Friday feature is Dollar Tree Halloween Portraits.

 I do not receive any compensation from Dollar Tree,

but I love DT and don't mind tooting their horn.

All scary portraits in this post came from DT (and of course were only $1.)

The outside pics I just trimmed to fit metal frames that I already had.

 This was my fave, I had this ugly 1990s oval frame

with a floral print.  I spraypainted white directly over the glass to cover the flowers.

That provided a nice base to apply the clear adhesive portrait to.

 I cut the zombie pic out of it's plastic "frame" and glued it inside this

actual frame.  The sturdy frame makes it look so much more authentic.

This bride and groom pic was leftover from my DT stash last year.

I loved the old fashioned look to it, I am not sure

if DT will carry these this year.

Sold the larger pics for $12.