Sunday, January 31, 2010

Up and Running!

I've spent a majority of today working on my new etsy shop. (For those of you who aren't familiar with etsy, it is an online marketplace for people to buy and sell handmade and vintage items.)

I've got the shop up and running. Take a look around!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Snow Day

Being snowed in for a few days has given me a lot of free time to do some much needed cleaning and organizing around the house. While cleaning, I found some lovely little handcrafted goodies that I decided to relist on my etsy site. I've put the link on my sidebar to the right.

Once I upload all my vintage finds to etsy, I'll post that store up there as well.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Something's in the works...

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you can probably tell that I enjoy antique shopping. I usually go once a week - and no, I would not consider myself addicted. I am, however, a bit quirky about how I shop.

Antique shopping is a bit different than any other type of shopping. When I shop for clothes, I like going with a girlfriend. You can ask for their opinion on something and if you shop at the same stores, you can make sure you aren't purchasing something they bought the week before. When I go antique/thrift shopping, I have to go alone. I have my regular stores that I go to and I have a weird system of shopping. If someone is shopping with me, it throws of my entire game plan because I'm concentrating more on the person than I am the merchandise. (Man, typing this all out makes me feel a lot more OCD about it than I am!) It's like when you host a party - You are so busy wondering if everyone is having a good time or if there's enough food and drinks for everyone or if everyone has a place to sit that you forget to just relax and have a good time. At the store, I am wondering if the other person has looked at everything they want to or if they are bored of the store and they are just wandering around waiting on me, so I just hurry up and end up not enjoying myself. I think I end up doing this because I'm the only one of my friends that is really into antiquing and having to dig around for the good stuff. If I was shopping with someone that was as into it as I am, it would probably be a different story.

I look at antique and thrift store shopping as a treasure hunt. Each of my regular stores has it's own "map" and I have a route set out for each one. For example, at The Rink Gallery, I always start on the south side of the building and work my way north. I know which booths to skip (the Western-themed one and the Dollhouse/Lace one) and which ones have great finds every time (the booth in the Northeast corner, next to the one with all the old oil cans and bookshelves). If I'm lucky, I leave with a fun little piece of the past. Even if I don't purchase anything, I'm still entertained by all the weird stuff people are trying to sell.

After being inspired by Three Potato Four and a conversation with my friends Beth and Brad, I have decided to take my hobby of antique shopping and work it into my List. I am working on creating an Etsy store to sell vintage goods that I find on my shopping excursions.

We'll see how it goes! I'm hoping for the best! I've already accumulated a handful of items that will be listed once the Etsy store is set up.

The only thing I am lacking right now is a name for the store... I've been trying to come up with one the past couple of days, but my mind is drawing a blank... grrrr!

I will definitely post a link once everything is set up!