Life of a reseller - Alameda Flea 2026

My daughter really wanted to go to the Alameda flea market. It happens the first Sunday of every month. Since we're in Berkeley, I really had no excuse not to go. I'm not a fan of this market as the prices are too high for a reseller. Cool stuff but most of the sellers know what they have. 

Toward the back part of the market (low rent area) there was this vendor that was selling vintage kokeshi dolls. These are larger than what you would normally see in the states. This vendor did have super sized ones that someone else had already snatched up. He must be an importer because he had pallet crates full of them. At $10 each, I couldn't pass them up! I asked if I could visit his warehouse in Fresno and do a bulk buy but he said everything was stacked in crates so it wasn't possible. 

I'm a big fan of hand carved things, so I couldn't pass up the little dwarf under a leaf, which was only $5!

He also sold Japanese workman shirts which are very trendy now. My daughter got this shirt for $80. 

 

Nature Walk

The boys have landed and jet lag is real. Henk isn't having a hard time but Mees is a walking zombie with an attitude. 

Henk and I  took a walk around the block and a monarch butterfly landed right next to us. So close that we could have touched it. I would have tried but I wan't sure how gentle Henk could be. 

Something are just meant to be

My little morning ritual. I light a few incense sticks as I write my to-do list, drink my coffee and bird watch. Living in California one can spend a lot of time outside. The boys are on their way and my peaceful moments will be on hold for the next month. 

I've had this rock vase for awhile and I'm not even sure where it came from. 

I think maybe it was made to use in ikebana? Turns out to be the perfect incense burner. It was just meant to be in my life. :)

Ipu Heke

Ipu Heke

I picked two Ipu Heke this week. I'm a gourd fan and also have a small art collection. When I traveled, I would buy them as they are sustainable souvenirs from the local artists. 

Just couldn't resist passing these up even thou I'm not a hula person.  The smaller on is already in my booth but I think I will bring it back home for the boys to try. The one in the picture is way too big for them to play it properly. :)

Just a few in my collection

 

California Guacamole

I picked up some cherry tomatoes at the farmer's market this past weekend. This is my version of guacamole California style. Keep it chunky. I just add balsamic vinegar, olive oil and Italian seasoning. Nothing super fancy but you really don't need much if everything is vine ripe and fresh. Serve with a corn chips. Totally gluten free meal. 
 

Hero Arts Layering Stencils - poppies

I picked up this Hero Arts layering stencil set up at FabMo's sale last week. I think I paid $4 for it. The clear stamp part is rubbish, doesn't stamp well at all. If I paid full price I would be pissed!

Now my first attempt with the stencils using a Tim Holtz blending pad didn't work out well at all. The stencils just ate the pads up and was bending the stencils. I tried a few other things then remember I had the make up blending brushes. Anyone remember when those got released to the paper crafting world at a totally inflated prices? That did the trick and the cards turned out so well! I went looking online to see what else was out there. I was just curious but didn't buy anything. :)

 

Farmer's Market Surprise!

Ripe apricots for breakfast

One of the things about living in the Bay Area is all the local fresh fruit. One of the biggest farmer's market is down the street from me but I rarely go because of all the strollers. I went early today and that seems to be the ticket. 

I plan to make chicken broth today and needed celery, carrots and onions. Didn't want to drive to the store and deal with the weekend parking so made the five minute walk to the farmer's market. I also wanted to pick up some dried apricots for the boys when they fly out next week. 

I would normally not go down the artist street but something just told me I should, even with all the stuff  I was carrying. To my surprise one of my favorite tile artist, "Ancient Hands" was there! He doesn't keep his website updated so I never know what show or market he'll be at. These are some of the tiles I have of his. Debating if I should splurge and get one of his bigger flatfish tiles. :) The butterfly  artwork is paper quilling, way harder than I would ever be able to do!

 

Auction Week

 It's auction week and I'm not to sure I'll even go. The opening bids are starting at $40-$60 and that knocks a lot of profit out of everything. I have about 30 things on my list but nothing super great. Since I have already over spent this month, I really should stay home. I'm also babysitting Posey so I don't want to leave her home alone for too long. 

I did check out these cast iron pans which were in a junk lot. Now that I know what to look for, I tested them. There was a USA made Wagner pan, the only one of any value. Sadly it didn't pass the spin test. You set the pan on a flat surface and if it spins or wobbles, it's warped. That will cause uneven cooking. It's still a good pan if that's all you have but much harder to resell. The typewriter I know I can sell for $100 but it's opening bid is $40 so after adding in all the fees makes the profit margin a little too tight for something that will take a awhile to sell. 

Early Morning Surprise!

A few months back I had a few vert old potatoes  that had sprouted. I decided to just plant them and see what happened. Had some very lush green foliage and when that died away, thought that was the end of it. I was getting ready to replant something in that big pot when a potato popped up! So I dug around and found all these. Not sure why I was so surprised but country style hash brown or smashed potatoes are on the menu!
 

What Motivate You?

During my first full day at home I processed all those little piles of misc stuff going into my booth. I sorted out most of the traveling projects that I take when I'm dog sitting. I have Posey (resident chocolate lab) this weekend so I can dive more into getting things kitted up. My motivation was that if I got through my to do list, I could go to the FabMo sale in the morning.

I'm not a fan of driving in traffic but I knew I had to get there when the doors opened at 9:00. I wanted to pick up some stencils for my sun printing projects and didn't think they had a lot of them. Arrived at 9:30 (traffic was bad) and had to wait for about 10 minutes. They had already reached their maximum occupancy. The stencil I wanted wasn't there, but I did find a few other things. :)  Thinking I was going to spend just .50 I ended up spending $50! A collection of the Tim Holtz line was there and I'm a fan. These are the ones that cost a lot on the secondary market and are hard to put together. Two things I don't like at all. As I get them done I'll post better photos. One interesting find was the needle tool for felting, $2. I have the one needle tool, this one has several needles. Yes, I will be selling off the stamps and dies at some point because I don't  really need anymore. 

Wearing everything in your closet

 I wasn't doing this on purpose, it just happened. Not being home much (dog sitting a lot) I haven't done my ironing. So my clothes are all hanging up waiting. Looks like I can go almost two months without wearing the same top twice. I'm wondering if I should keep going to see how long I go? I should carry this photo around with me to remind me I don't need any more clothes, at least not tops. :)

Iris folding minis

 

Still working on getting a smaller iris folding pattern that swirls using only three colors. Four is the standard. I really do have to find a printer to make the pattern since I can't do a pattern free hand. Working with a pentagon shape makes the best swirl pattern but it's not a popular shape in the paper crafting world. I'm sure I don't have one in my stash (yes, I looked this time) and I refuse to buy a set of dies. Being able to cut out the shapes to make the template would be easier for sure. If I was better working with my computer, I could in theory cut and paste, but again I need a printer. 

I did try using washi paper instead of foil paper. It's a little bulky because it's so small. I only used one print just to see if it would work. Foil paper has limited colors and I don't want it looking too Christmasy. I'm going to have to pull out my stash of rolled paper and see what I have before hunting down different color foil. 

Brown Spotted Cow

Yes I picked up some more cows with spots. If you have been following my blog you know why. :) They came up for auction on MaxSold and I paid $7.82. Neither are in perfect condition but they make me happy. The brown spotted one will hang out at my place for a bit before I sell it off in my booth. 

 

Life of a reseller

$300?

I debated this morning if I was going to pick up my $2 Maxsold item. This is one seller that I'm not a fan of. He doesn't put any description on the items and when you can't physically see the item that's a problem. I now know to skip his auctions in the future. What I did get, I gave away to a woman who said it was cute. Wasn't even close to what I thought it was and parts were missing. 

It was also interesting that he is using an abandon house next door to hold an estate sale. It was a very old sketchy looking cabin type house The neighborhood was very nice otherwise I would never have gone in. Looks like one of the original farm cabins built back in the day when the valley was farm land. The wooden stairs into the house had seen better days and I wasn't sure if anyone should be walking on them. I don't think it was at all legal. Still I went in to see what they had. The first room which was very tiny, (6' X12') had interesting things that I'm sure didn't come from the house. Things were priced far beyond retail! Any collector who would pay $300 for this biscuit jar probably wouldn't even think of walking into this tear down of a house. It's not marked but it could be Fiesta ware. I did a quick comp on it and only came up with $90. 

I did pick up several small things that added up to $55.00. About $2.50 a piece. Since estate sale was close to Cottage Crafts, I processed most of it there. These things in the photo came home with me to get a deep clean. Brass elephant incense burner, mercury glass coaster (wish I found a set), tic tac toe game from Big Sur and a antique medicine bottle. 

 

Frame fit the photo

When I went to the last Maxsold auction, I picked this frame up. It was out on the front lawn in the free pile. I know it was probably for Christmas but I thought it was rustic enough for a picture we would take up in Tahoe this summer. Or I would sell it off in my $5 booth. Then my daughter sent this photo of my grandson with his medal after the mud race they did together. I'm sure he's tired and cold from the look on his face. 

I went to local estate sale on Thursday (first day) and it was so over priced is was shocking. Even at half off, the prices were way out of line IMO. I know it takes a lot of work to set up the sale and price everything but at those prices it would be a hard sell. I may go back on Sunday when everything should be 50% off just to see what is left. It's close enough to my place that I can pop in. 

 

Iris Folding Tree and Cherries

I don't have a printer to resize a pattern. I have to do it free hand using a ruler, very old school. I may try and go to the library and see if I can down load the circle pattern and size it there. 

The  triangle (tree in my world) on the left is the color order of the original pattern. I did one in a solid green but that looks ratter dull. You really don't see all the folds. The one in the middle I moved the red to the top. This is one of the ideas I have for my ATC cards. I'm working on doing a mini circle but I'll definitely use a printer to size it.  Which tree combo do you like? 

Went to Costco today to gas up. My impulse buy was  two pounds of Rainer cherries which are now $7 a pound. They are my favorite so just went for it. They are good!

Triangles Dies Found

One on the right is the set I found in my stash

Last month I really want to try this iris folding triangle pattern. I knew I never had one in my personnel collection. There was a set in the huge crafting lot I brought a few months ago that I totally overlooked. I'm still not sorry that I paid full retail as I really wanted to try out that new pattern.

 I'm getting ready to release the second wave of stamps I got from that storage buy out so was going through all the boxes again. Many of the ones I saved I will never use so better to sell them off to help my bank account. :) 

Another surprise came when I was watering my garden. I have beans! I mean it's really no surprise since I did plant scarlet runner beans. I was just enjoying the bright red blooms and totally forgot they may turn into beans. :) 

Be That Mom

Be that mom! My daughter and grandson did a mud obstacle course this past weekend. Great to know my daughter is one of those mom who will get muddy and dirty with her kids. Not to sure if Mees had a good time as it was pretty cold. But mom was prepared with warm clean clothes at the end of the race. :)
 

ATC - Still A design in progress

 

I have a lot of crafty projects on my list! While I'm dog sitting I bring along some of them. It's great because I don't get as distracted when I'm at someone else home. I've been working on ATC cards that I plan to take to Craftcation 2027. I found a stack of kimono cut outs from my iris folding classes. I could never throw them out but you can only make so many cards with them! It's just a little too big for a true ATC but I'm think maybe I'll use them anyways. Sort of my business card, with my contact information on the back. I like the inset of the flower die but thinking maybe the hello one is better as an intro. What do you think?

Life of a Reseller

$7.20

People come into Cottage Crafts all the time asking if I'm interested in buying their "antiques". 100% of the time they want the highest price they find listed, (not sold) on eBay. Why do they think as a reseller I would buy something I can't make a profit on? It's happening so often now that I told the store it isn't worth their time or mine to take their number. 

The nativity scene is what I picked up at the Maxsold auction this past weekend. I really didn't think I would get it, so completely forgot about it until I got the alert from my credit card. It has all the main characters but I think some wise men were part of the set at some point.  It's not a money spinner but it did lead me to getting a car load of good stuff for free!

Bonus Auction - The Free Stuff

I got a great surprise at my last MaxSold auction this weekend. They posted that there would be a lot of free stuff at pick up. Most of the time it's things that can't be sold, open cleaning supplies, very old printers, broken furniture etc...  I didn't rush to pick up as I'm dog sitting and had to make sure his morning routine was done. In the past I may find a few things but it's never been worth rushing over for. 

The stars were all in alignment! Found parking right in front of the house, that's rarely happens. On the lawn were tubs full of Christmas, clothes and kitchenware. Again I didn't think I would find anything as I was there about 30 minutes into the start of the pick up time. Resellers are early birds. To my surprise the owner was a cow collector, which was my mom's lucky charm. It was a sign that I should take the time to dig through the boxes. Found some clear uranium glass which aren't big sellers but when you get them for free there's a nice profit margin. But the best surprise of all was the brown spotted cow that was in a small tin with a bunch of junk jewelry. See center photo. Nothing in the tin was worth anything other than that cow being a sign of good luck for me!

The other thing that surprised me was this footed cup thingy. At first I thought it had a top so I held on to it hoping to find it. Then I thought without the top it still would make a cute mini plant pot. When I got home I looked it up to see what the top  would looked like. Found out it's a vintage Carlton ware walking egg holder and retails for around $35 - $55. Who knew!

By The Teashore

 Took two of my buddies out for their birthdays. Getting to the age where I think we should celebrate more as we don't have many more left! 

By the Teashore in Half Moon Bay opened up last year. I went the first week they were open and it's nice to see they worked out all the hiccups. There aren't many high tea place around. Makes for a nice special day outing.  It was scorching hot in the valley but by the ocean it was perfect! 

ATC Still a working in progress

I'm working on making ATC cards for when I go to Craftcation next year. I have more than enough supplies to make thousands! I made some of the background papers using a gel plate years ago and have hauled it around with me during all my moves. I still haven't picked a final layout but they will be all different. The best part is I found the plastic sleeves for ATC cards at Dasio during my search for incense. 

I'm thinking maybe I'll do a side hustle of iris folding kits at Craftcation. Doing my ATC cards with a mini iris circle or the seahorse. Teaching people how to do from my hotel room and selling the kits at the pop shop. All this is OK to do at Craftcation. Maybe I'll make enough to cover all my expenses!

Honey Bee Water Station

Bee Water Station

I can't remember where I saw this idea but it was cute and more importantly I have all the parts!  Now I'm testing it out if bees really use it. One mistake I made was not pointing the shell up a little more so the water doesn't run off. I only have small shells so it doesn't hold a lot of water and dries up pretty fast. 

I finally found a parking space at the new Campbell library. I've stopped by several times in the morning and the parking lot was packed. Now I know in the morning it's story time for the toddlers. It's better to stop by during nap time. It's a state of the art new build so the AC was working great. Three floors of steep stairs and of course the elevator wasn't working. Not sure how the moms with strollers handled all that. It's a very noisy place with all sort of buzzers, high pitch pings and people (including the staff) talking like they're at a crowded bar. Chairs were comfy and I'm hoping maybe on my next visit I'll get one of the booths. 
 

Another Great Find at GoodWill

Before - at Goodwill

I'm still in my shadow box phase so when I saw this at the Goodwill for $9.50, I picked it up. Selling off  the little tchotchkes inside should more than cover the cost of the frame. For now I'll use it as a display piece in my $5.00 booth. This booth is where I sell off death pile before it gets donated away. 

When the boys come out this summer, I'll add their photos and what ever rocks they pick up when we go hiking. After that I'll sell it off. 

After - in my booth

 

Going down the witchy rabbit hole

 One of the down sides to only being able to read and speak English. I like doing creative projects with things I already have. I've been watching "witchcraft on a budget" by Laura Bailey and it's a crack up. The thrifter in me just loves it! Going down the rabbit hole looking up spells, I have most of the stuff in my spice cabinet or out in my garden. One thing I use to do when I lived up in the Cupertino Hills was light incense sticks in my zen garden. It's the Buddhist in me. :) I really didn't want to drive to Japantown in downtown San Jose because parking is so bad. I instead went to Daiso because their website said they sold incense sticks. Looking at just the picture, I thought I was buying a whole kit. The few words in English said "set". Well something got lost in translation but it's just an empty case. You fill it with things you would take to a Buddhist cemetery ceremony.  

I then wondered if people would buy premade spell kits. I have two of these containers that I need to fill. Thinking as Laura said, I could use birthday candles. Candles are a big thing in witchcraft. Then I remembered I have about 2 pounds of bees wax. I could make my own small dipped candles. How witchy would that be! Something else to add to my list of projects to try. 

Result of sachiko test with cross stitch canvas

Well you can tell which side was done free hand and the other with a cross stitch backing. :) 

Using cross stitch fabric took a super long time. Pulling the threads out wasn't that bad but it does make the stitching loose. Thinking about it, if I used wider cross stitch fabric it probably would have been faster. I used what I had for this test run. I know I can draw lines using tailor chalk, which I'll try at some point. This is a project I'll do while I'm dog sitting. Doesn't require a lot of supplies and easy to put down if something comes up. 

 

Apple Award Win

My son in law is in town for some Apple award for an app he helped developed. The guy smiling in the photo is Jip. Not sure what the awards means but he's very good at what he does, even if I don't know exactly what it is. :)

But in true baby boomer form I have long list of computer questions to have him fix before he heads back home.

Cyanotype Garage Set Up

Garage Set Up

 My sun printing set in the garage. I even have a special shirt that I wear. Well it's special now because I got ink all over it. :) Doesn't matter how careful you are, splash marks happen. The storage clip boards (got at FabMo for .50) I use to hold the treated paper and the 8X10 glass. The drawers hold all the stencils and leaves . Under the table is all the fabric I'm hoping to dye. Just having to decide what image I want to use. 

I picked up two Tim Holtz die cuts (like I need anymore dies!) that I thought would work well with sun printing. Only $2.00 at Cottage Crafts, so I couldn't pass them up. 

Tim Holtz Die Cut sets $2.00 each

Shuei-Do Manju Going Strong

I finally had to break down and go into Japan town on Friday to buy the incense I wanted. Couldn't find it in any of the places close to me. I was lucky to find a meter with an hour left on it, so I walked down to the manju shop. I've been following them online and they talk about what flavors will be available. It's pricey, $3 a piece but I wanted to support a local small business. 

Rasberry

Melon

Butter (that's the best)

Bean something I can't remember the name of. 

The other thing I found out most of the stores don't open until noon. Since my meter would run out at 11:54, I decided I dropped enough money in town and didn't need to hang around. 

 

Lucky or Manifested?

Ginger plant in my yard

Did I manifest a Japanese incense burner and alter caldron? Is it because it's now on my radar that I see them? I was thinking I needed a better way to burn incense since I don't have a zen garden anymore. After watching several witch videos using a small caldron, thought that would be nice to add to my growing collection of witchy stuff. Both came up on Maxsold sold this week. These are things I don't see at thrift stores and rarely show up at the auction houses. I went a little over budget but if I set my alarm to watch the online auction, it means I'm serious about it.

 

Cast iron incense burner $20.00

              Brass caldron $29.00 

 

 

Cyanotype II

I had a lot of cyanotype paper prepped and the directions say not to leave it for more than two weeks. Well it's been over two months. I decided it was time to see if it really made a different. 

I took picture with the stencils and leaves before exposure and then the results. I don't see any difference but I'm a newbie so what do I know. :)  My next step is to move up to fabric. I have a bunch of canvas tote bags washed and waiting. With the bright California sun it only takes a few minutes to get it to change. 
 

Sashiko Stitch on Cross Stitch Fabric - Does It Really Work?

I've been in a crafting mood and now have the time to dive into my very long list of projects. I've had all the parts to do Sashiko stitching including a cut up pair of jeans. After seeing some different ways to do it, I thought why not try the more interesting ones. Someone posted for the more complicated stitches you can use cross stitch fabric to keep track of your pattern's stitch lines. After you finish, you pull the threads out from the cross stitch canvas. I decided I wanted to see how easy it really was to pull those threads out. This will be one of my night owl projects!

New iris folding pattern

My first attempts at doing a new to me iris folding pattern. Since I don't have a printer, I had to free hand the pattern. After doing it, I know now how to space out the section and make it more uniform. I also have watched some video on how to make a pattern and that was super helpful too. 

Tonight (Sunday, May 31) I'm getting ready for  all the blue moon rituals. Writing down what I want to let go of, making moon water etc... I took a long nap so I would be wake when the moon comes out!

 

Life of a reseller

 I went in on Sunday to make an offer on some recliners my son wants. When I walked in the winner of this lot was picking up. I asked if he would sell me the persimmon bowl. This is a super big no no at the auction house. You're not suppose to buy or sell from other people while your in the building. He asked if I was bidding against him because the lot went for $300. I told him I wasn't there on Saturday and I would have tapped out at $60 anyways. I offered $20 but he turned it down. I'm sure he Googled it while I was at the front counter. :) Unless I missed something in that lot, he's profit margin will be pretty low. 

Paper Crafter's Logic - saving on gas

If you know me, I don't like paying full retail for anything. In the paper crafting world I have almost everything you would need. Being an iris folding fan when I saw this pattern by "Bergkaarten" on Pinterest I knew it had to try it. You would think with the hundreds of dies I own I would have a triangle! It's the one shape I don't have. I have Christmas tree shapes but I like to clean look of this one. So on my way back from the auction house I stopped at Michael's. I really didn't want to pay full retail but I wanted to try making it today. I had to pass by Savers on my way home so I popped into there too. Sunday isn't a good day to shop because no new carts come out. I thought these NIB Polar Pops were just too funny, the feet really crack me up. I also grab a Lane pine box to hold some of the matchbox car prizes I got for the boys. Make it into a little treasure box. I plan to paint over the Christmas goose. Do I really need another art project? :) Savers is next to a Grocery Outlet so I went to pick up some corn chips as all my Costco avocados are now ripe. My impulse buy for today was these mini pies. It's a throw back to the days of 7/11 pies. Thinking about how much gas I saved! :) 

 

In The Garden

Runner Beans

I didn't go to the auction and once I made that decision it was easy to look at the numbers. Take the emotion out of it and it was easy to see I wouldn't be able to flip anything fast enough to justify the money spent. Instead I stocked my booth at Cottage Crafts with my puzzle haul. That took some time tagging everything and getting them on the shelf. Then I did what I call the "buzz fly" technique of getting everything else done. Start with cleaning up one area but when you walk into another room to put something away, start organizing something there. Not the most efficient way to get things done for sure. Last month I found a whole bunch of seed packets and decided it was time to see if these seeds would sprout. These are Scarlett runner beans. I just like that they trellis up the bamboo poles I have all over the yard. The birds especially like them for the leaves and the grubs in the soil. The sunflowers seeds haven't sprouted yet but I've never had any luck with those. During my buzz fly moments a lot of creative ideas popped up. Going to spend this afternoon giving some of them a try. :)