Sandy Allnock (a YouTube artist I follow) post a very short demo using this pencil sharpener. She's not one to post something she doesn't like so I knew it had to be good. I've been looking for one that didn't break the bank and didn't need to be plugged in.   My place was built in the 1920's so there is one outlet in each room, which in the modern age means lots of power strips.  While I was hanging out with Mr Mees and during his power nap, I sharpen all my pencils and it. worked great! The only down size is that it can only sharpen one size, but most artist grade pencils don't vary too much in size so not an issue for me. 

Now the more pressing challenge is to actual use my pencils! :)

Morning routine

The smell of brewing coffee has always been a favorite, not that I really like drinking coffee all that much. I got into the habit of making coffee (grinding the beans is the best part) because of Annie.  When we would go out to play in the morning I would have a big mug of coffee with lactose free milk, (really more milk than coffee) while she ran around after her ball. It was our morning routine for over 10 years and I miss her and that time together.

After moving here to Alameda I've had a very hard time getting into any type of routine. Depression makes it hard to stay focus and getting into those comforting routines. Not being able to hike or walk  safely outside anymore hasn't helped either. Now that the shop is more demanding of my time and there is a sort of regluar schedule, getting into a routine is getting easier. 

Not being much of a milk person, I found chocolate oat milk at TJ to use in my coffee. My version of a Mocha because as much as I like the idea of hanging out at a coffee shop, I never did because it took time away from Annie and waiting in line to pay that much for something I could make at home wasn't worth it to me. My coffee set up has a lot of parts but after the coffee is made, only the grinder stays on the counter. I make drip coffee because I don't want a coffee maker out all the time. Can't wait for the day again when I can walk outside again and see trees and hills with my morning brew. :)

Random Drop Offs

I never know what will come through the door, even when I'm not there. I had to go into the store on my day off and I walked into this! Before I leave at the end of my work week, I make sure the sorting table is cleared off. 

Another volunteer had first pick at someone's house and dropped all this off. After Saturday we sell so much, we don't have a lot left on the shelves so this was super to get in. 

What I liked about this lot is the color, the bowls aren't anything special but the bright orange color is great! My assistant is new to all this so he was very excited by the milk glass dishes but sadly not the real thing. I point that out because I price them based on it's being cheap fakes, so if someone makes a comment about the price my volunteers will know why. I did stay to get things cleaned up and priced so when I go into today, I can finish putting everything out. This is what makes picking so fun, you never know what you'll find!

Free at last!

Since moving here I haven't had a lot of free time to do anything creative with all my paper crafting supplies. The lost of Annie and the depression that followed hasn't helped either. 

Now with the store running fairly smoothly and I'm free from grandma duty I'm finally get a few days off to do want I want to do.  When there's a little one running around I couldn't keep anything out but now I can start a project and know I can come back to it later. Plus I feel like cooking again, so happy to stop ordering take out.

The card was made with all the washi paper end cuts I have. Decided to go with 1" strips because it was faster to weave but made a pretty big card. I haven't made a 6" square card in a long time!  I did the weaving over a few weeks and then had to break out all my cutting machines to get the right circle. 

The card was inspired by all my quilting buddies and the flowers that come into work. I was trying to do a fancy quilt square design but my brain just didn't want to go there. :) Cards going out in the mail today before I head down to San Jose to stock my booth at Cottage Crafts!

Arlo - go home

Since I work for an animal shelter on basically an island, there are daily work emails about lost pets. It's very rare that I would see any of the animals posted as is not super safe to go walking by myself and I'm at the store the rest of the time.

This guy (guessing he's a boy) has been hanging around my place since there is a very quiet garden area for him to hang out in. A neighbor posted she has been feeding "Arlo" for the past 2 months and  now she hasn't seen him in 2 weeks.  I send along this picture and said he was in my yard every morning and he making the rounds. All the markings on his face are the same as her photo but she's sure it isn't him. Since she lives almost right behind me and this is Arlo's territory (from the weekly cat fights that happen) I'm pretty sure it's him. Guess I have to tell him to stop by the feeding station once in awhile so she doesn't worry about him and get him off our watch list! ;) 

Only paper crafters will understand

This is something only paper crafters will understand. 

It's been well over a year since I made a card with any detail. With the pandemic, losing Annie, moving and starting a new job I just haven't had the band width to do anything creative. When I moved, most of the stuff in the moving truck was my crafting things. Now that I have a little down time and I go to Mees's house to babysit, I can leave things out.  I decided even if I do nothing other than get things out of the closet and bookcases, it's a start.

I have a bin of washi paper end cuts, for many many years which I used for iris folding. I really want to use the not so popular ones up. They really don't work for iris folding (dull colors) so I decided to do some paper weaving. Using 1" strips because I was being lazy and didn't want to cut thinner ones, makes a pretty big card. I have to just bite the bullet and make a 6" card which does require extra postage. I haven't sent out cards in awhile so why not splurge a little on my friends. 

This is the part that only old time paper crafters will understand. I needed certain size circles which I didn't have so I pulled out all my cutting machines to get the sizes I need. The weaving part is really thick and thin dies won't cut through it.  Had to break out the heavy duty Accu-Cut machine (wonder are they still in business?) that is a great job. Having only one circle die for that machine, I then needed a 4.5" circle for the matting. The only way to get one is to use my Cricut  machine, cira 2006. I was just hoping the blade wasn't too dull since I can't remember the last time I used it. 

All the parts for the cards are now scattered in different parts of the house. Being a 1920's building there is only one outlet in each room. I hope later today to gather everything up and finish the cards to get them ready to mail on Monday. Wish me luck!

Learning why labels are important

Since I do all the intake for the store, I see everything people would like to donate. I'm just looking for how clean the clothes are, no rips, stains or strong smells. I don't really pay attention to the labels. In working with my consignment person, I've gotten better at spotting the quality items she would be able to sell for us.  Not so much the label (which for her is very important) but how well something is made, the stitch lines etc.... 

Usually when a donor has very high end clothes most of their clothes are in good shape and they take the time to get the clothes dry cleaned. This jacket came in and the label was very interesting (big clue this was a $$$$ jacket) but the embroidery was very well done. This was the photo I sent our consigner to see if I should hold the rest of the donor's donation for her to look at. Of course it was a big yes!  It's super important to have the labels on everything I send to her, without it she can't sell it. Even the purses go to get authenticated before she will post them. We did get a pair of very worn cowboy boots, which I would have turned away but I could see the stitching and embossing was very well done. Our consigner couldn't take it because we didn't know the size or maker but they were custom made. They sold in less than 30 minutes after putting them out on the floor. If I had to guess, the boots were made by that famous Texas boot maker. Donor was from Texas when she got the shoes. 

It's funny that my mom always cut the labels out of all her clothes because she didn't like the feel of the label rubbing the back of her neck which all my relatives thought was shocking. :)

Our consigner hit a home run today!

Yesterday was another WOW day, My consigner came in to look at the things I had set aside for her and first thing she said was, guess how much those men's shirt sold for?  Now she doesn't normally deal with men's clothes and we don't get a lot of high end men's clothing either. 

I can't tell you how many times people tell me something is very $$$$ and maybe in their world it is but in the resell world it's not. I know when they have printed out a current eBay listing to prove their point, it's never the final sold page. So I always take it with a grain of salt and it's part of doing business in the thrift store world. 

This one donor donated some very high end purses (new Coach purses) and shoes that I knew my consigner could sell close to retail, so no brainer there. When her husband's shirts came in and she said they where $$$ I was just a little skeptical because they were rayon, not the most expensive fabric, a label I never heard of and the prints were bold and loud but because the rest of her donation was very high end,  I thought it was at least worth a try for our consigner.

Five shirts (I think there was a total of 7) sold for $290.00, each to the same person in Texas! The shirts are a private label made in Italy for the Neiman Marcus stores. The louder the print the more valuable they are. 

So for all those thrift stores who think it's not worth working with a good consigner, think again! There would have been no way we would have even gotten close to that amount and even with the % the consigner takes, we still made a total day's sale in one go. Now if I can just figure out how to post the photo of the shirts for you - still working on that. :) 

Mailbox money

One of the things my store is doing a little differently is to use a consigner to sell the more high end things we sometimes get in. I think the % the consigner takes puts off most other thrift stores but in my case it's working out very well. The first thing is that our consigner can get full retail, which a thrift stores just can't. She also handles everything, emails, shipping and returns. She can also advise me if something is missing or if something is a knock off.  This coat is very cool but it originally had a liner, which is now missing. She can tell me if it's better for me to sell it in the store or not. And the last thing is that I don't have to worry about theft. Having a lot of high priced things in the thrift store, just isn't a good idea especially in this area. 

I really don't understand why other thrift store don't use this type of service. Much more effective than using eBay or other online sites you have to keep track of yourself.

I call it mailbox money, the check just shows up!

Learning to walk is hard!

Mees is really a very big one year old and he's still not that steady on his feet. Also being so fair, everything shows up on his face. We took a very short walk this morning and he decided to do the down ward dog pose and quickly realized that putting your head on the sidewalk hurts. The black eye was from a fall in the bathtub but that was on Dad's watch. 

I'm still trying to figure  out how to add older photos to my blog but it's still a mystery. Going to have to ask my IT person what I'm not doing right!

Auction Week - August 2021

It's auction week here in Alameda and I took Mees with me to the preview. Although the auction does post good photos on their website, it's always wise to preview everything. The sewing machine (feather light?) is a hot seller but the smell it's giving off is really bad. Must have been in storage with rats for a long long time.

This auction house has a lot of art work hanging on the walls and I find that the most fun. Not that I resell any of it (not a very profitable thing for me) but still interesting to see all the different styles. I did look for things for the store but this month I didn't see anything worth getting that was in our budget. 

I did pick up a few smalls for my consignment booth at Cottage Crafts in Campbell and if I can will post some pictures before it heads off to the store.