Life of a Reseller

Last week I dragged this cubby to the store right after the auction. I mean I drove it directly to the store as is. Dusty and museum gum all over it. It was cleaned up and used in the Day of the Dead display before the store even closed! I really like the mirror backing as it keeps it from being too dark. If the store wasn't going to use it, I was going to fill it with handmade coffee mugs or all those cut crystal pieces I got at the auction. I'm always looking for display pieces for my booths that I can actually lift and move myself. When I want to change up my displays, I have to be able to sell them off. 

This latest display piece is for sale higher than I would normally do because we want it around until after the holiday season. I know at some point it will get replaced with something different. Have to keep my booths looking refresh!

Recycled Ghost 2026

I like having a craft project to work on when I'm dog sitting. I'm not a tv watcher, even if I could figure out all these high tech screens that you have to use several remotes. Something I don't understand is why you need two to three remotes to work one TV!

After seeing crafters posting about making glass lamp shades into ghosts, it inspired me to give it a try. I had this milk glass vase in my booth at CCB for awhile and I knew it would make a great ghost. It was the hat part I had to think about. I drafted a pattern after watching a few videos and just started stitching. I did run out of orange thread so I hope I have more in my stash at home. Plan to add a small spider hanging from the top of the hat. Best part is I have just pull off the eyes and turn it back in to a vase after the holidays.  It just cracks me up. :) 

Life of a Reseller - Processing

I washed my car yesterday and of course it rained last night. It was totally off my radar to check the weather report! My car was so dirty I couldn't take it anymore, it needed a bath. 

I just now getting through my last auction and estate haul when a friend had several boxes of things for me. These sewing thimbles were part of it. Not a big money spinners and very hard to display in my booth. The first thing I look for is gold or silver, there were none. Then I ask any of my friends who collect them if they want any. After all that I pull the ones I find interesting to sell for $5. The rest go into a grab bag. 

I also tackled all the costume jewelry that's been all over my very large coffee table. That took over 5 hours! Jewelry really isn't my thing as there are way too many moving parts to know. The processing and tagging alone take a super long time. 

It took about 8 hours to process everything in the box below. It's headed to the store at some point today. 

 

Day of the Dead Inspired Sugar Cubes

 

Inspired by the Day of the Dead sugar skulls, I tracked down this candy mold at the dollar tree. I do add brown sugar to my morning coffee so I thought why not make fun little sugar cubes. Didn't really know if it would really work so I did a test run last night with just regular sugar. At the last minute I decided to add food coloring just to see what would happen. The the skulls turned out super good. All you do is add a little water. You want the sugar to look be a sandy texture before pressing them into the mold. The tombstones didn't turn out but everything else looks great. Going to try it with brown sugar tonight then add it to my coffee bar. 

Life of a reseller

I guess last year these beaded purses were trending as the hottest things to buy. You Tubers were buying them up like crazy, wanting  them for content. I wanted to find this sushi bag out in the wild but there's no way I was going to pay $40 for it. I just took a picture of it as proof I found one. :)

Back before the pandemic Tuesday Morning was the place to go for craft supplies. I watched resellers fill shopping carts with everything in the crafting section. There were also You Tubers posting videos on what was new and their hauls. One employee told me that most of what these content creators were getting would be returned in a few days. Yeah that's a thing some resellers do. If it doesn't sell they return it to the store. Happens a lot with high end clothes. 

So I was wondering if this was the same thing happening with these purses? The purses are cute but not really functional and the quality is very low. I'm now looking for the "rare" sardine can purse just for fun. :) 
 

Getting that Halloween Vibe

A friend gave me several empty magnum size wine bottles. None of them were really fancy = $$$ wine, so I kept a few to turn into Halloween decorations. The signed bottles went into the store to see if they have any resell value.

The original plan was to paint the glue red. Since these will be seen from a distance, maybe I'll go with a multi-color look or just keep it as is. Now on the hunt for creepy hands holding a wine glass. :) 

Life of a reseller

Booth fillers

Crystal glass doesn't sell well and most resellers will pass on it. This auction lot ($30) was all vintage glass, with some of the pieces glowing green. It even had some of the big names like Waterford. It was an impulse buy that I should have passed on. This lot was right in front of the auctioneer stage, so I had to wait until the auction was over before I could pack it up. That alone should have been enough to pass on it.  The last half hour there was no one in the audience other than me, but an auction rule is not to walk in front of the auctioneer. Because it's not a money spinner, I put everything that would fit into the dishwasher. Still takes a lot of time to tag and get it into the store. 

 

Life of a reseller - auction week

One of 5 lots that didn't sell

There wasn't a whole lot at the auction house this past week. I wasn't even going to go after the preview on Friday. 

Someone's collection of oil lamps was there. Very impressive collection, many I've never seen in the wild. They don't sell well at all, at least for me. Another reseller at the store does well but she only prices them at $20. The opening bids on these lots were super high. Out of the five lots, only one sold. That's a really bad sign when other resellers passed on them. No one thought there was a profit to be made. 

I did pick up these mirrors (I'm in a mirror phase right now) which I think would make a great Halloween prop. 

I also picked up this cubby, which I think displayed a coffee mug collection based on the dust pattern. I drove everything to the store right after the auction. The cubby went right into the day of the dead display. I still have a tub of crystal I have to wash. That was my one impulse buy, which I should have passed on. It's not a money spinning and I have enough inventory for the holidays. Happens when you get bored at an auction. :) 

 

Rubber Duck Bouquet - Happy Birthday B!

One of my good friends is having a really big birthday that has an zero in it. Her words not mine. :) She is someone who has everything and really doesn't need anything. We do go out to lunch for her birthday. Being that her husband is a picky eater and I'm not, she can choose the restaurant and order whatever she wants. She has a small collection of rubber ducks so I thought it would be funny to make a bouquet of ducks for her birthday. Something silly she would find funny but not take up a lot of space. 

Craft with what you have

I picked this up at the big estate sale last week. Some how the tops broke off on the way home. It wasn't like that when I put it in my box. 

Being crafty I thought it would make a nice little vase so I couldn't throw it out. I'm slowing trimming back the lavender brushes in the front yard. The bees really like the lavender but it's time for it to be done. 

Thought my little side project turned out pretty cute!

New drying rack!

Ikea Coat Rack

I've been looking for a drying rack to hang my cyanotype and bleaching projects in the garage. 

Today coming home from Savers, I decided to use surface streets instead of getting onto the freeway. Someone must be remodeling their closet as this was out on the street. Did a couple of u-turns (it was a busy street) and I threw this into my car. It's in perfect condition and very clean. Being so light weight so I'm sure it couldn't hold a lot of clothes but it's perfect for what I need!
 

Another Brown Cow 2026

 

I get asked all the time at the store about the value of vintage items from customers. Most of the time they've already Goggled it and want to sell it for the highest price they found. I really hate to tell them the hard part is finding a buyer. Of course they don't want to do the leg work it takes to sell something online or even in person. 

Last week a man came in with a baggie of vintage uranium glass. Yes, he had four pieces in a baggie. He wanted to know if it was worth anything. It was an usual pattern (clover pattern) and glowed green. It was his late wife's collection. I had a lot of questions about it, only because it was a pattern I've never seen before.  

1) How big was the set?

2) Did he have the serving pieces?

3) Willing to sell things individually? 

4) Condition of the pieces?

It turns out it was only the four (salt shaker, sugar, creamer and a chipped wine glass) that were in the baggie. The rest of the dishes were broken when they moved to California. As a thank you, he gave me the sugar and creamer. He kept the salt shaker just as a memento of his wife's family collection. 

The next day he dropped of this cow and I'm guessing it was a thank you to Tami for helping him out. We all know I collect brown spotted cows so it came home with me. Now I'm very curious what else his wife collected!