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.