Apron Thrift Girl

San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair

My work life as a ReSeller has been keeping me ever so busy. Between Christmas shopping for the family, packaging toys and books from my shop, participating in craft shows, holiday baking and more my small window to blog seems to shut soundly at a time like this. And yet as I'm rushing around like crazy, I'm writing posts in my head about things I am doing or seeing. Does anyone else write in their head?

Sunday was such a crazy, fabulous day. In the course of 12 hours I went to one of my favorite breakfast restaurants, hit a one day Addison Endpapers sale (lots of delicious vintage stuff), popped into Ikea, stopped at Anthro, Castle in the Air (OMG it was breathtaking), Chipotle for lunch, coffee at a sweet Berkeley coffee house and finally over to San Francisco to the Holiday Renegade Craft Fair. How can a day be filled with so much eye candy, inspiration, excitement and talent?

 

I didn't spend very much money although I wanted to buy many things. I spent money on some art though that did fit into my thrifty budget. I fell in love with this print. It's signed and numbered and was a deal at $20.00.

I'm more of a Danny Elfman fan than an Edward Scissorhands one but I do love both. The colors of this print are stunning. Kevin Tong also had iphone skins which I had to have at only $10.00 each. 

I bought the one with the child saluting the astronaut, mostly because I couldn't help but think of my 7 year old Keiran when I saw it.

Letterpress was all the rage at this Renegade Craft Fair. I found a great deal at the Dee & Lala booth which had a show special of holiday cards 5 for $10.00.

I arrived home completely exhausted but as I mentioned earlier, very inspired. I'll post my lovely finds from the Addison sale tomorrow as well as my new thrifted craft cabinet that I picked up for a mere $45.

crafting christmas

With my two craft shows out of the way I can finally sit down and work on some Christmas gifts for family and friends. I know I should be doing these in July and not on December 9th but I seem to only be able to work under pressure. It's what inspires me even with the added stress of being so last minute. Here's a little taste of some presents I've been working on.

tree

With the advice of our friends we headed to the North Eagle Christmas Tree Farm on Sunday afternoon. Since we used to live in a very forested part of the country we were really unsure of what to expect when searching for a Christmas tree this year. We were so surprised to learn that North Eagle does something quite unique. When each tree is cut, branches are left behind so that a new tree can grow in it's place.
We also paid far less for a tree than we usually do on Bainbridge. How crazy is that?

Keiran and his trusty saw.

I think everyone was a bit curious about the chopping down the tree part.

 
One of these branches that we left behind will become the new tree.

We came home with our tree, found our boxes full of decorations and started to sing along to our favorite Christmas CD's. I feel much lighter in my spirit this year as we get closer to Christmas. I'm really looking forward to Christmas in California.

a crafty find

You know it's a good thrifting Sunday when you stumble upon this at the Zen Fest Rummage Sale first thing in the morning.

And after that my day only got better. Valuable Danish flatware, sterling silver, vintage post cards, vintage jewelry and more.

There are moments when I just adore thrifting.

holiday baking

Despite my allegiance to thrifting I still couldn't help myself and did sneak into Target to have a look at their Christmas decorations This year I told myself that I could only buy two small items to decorate my home. I sold 3/4 of my Christmas items before we moved so our holiday supplies are very low at the moment. Two items felt appropriate on a thrifter's budget.

This 2-tier cake plate was rather sad looking when I found it on the shelf. It was by itself and was tilting over to one side. I was so disappointed that the last one was broken but a quick turn of the bottom screw tightened it and it was perfect. It was $14.99.

The glass tree behind the cake plate was so beautiful that I couldn't' resist it either. It was on sale for $9.99. 

Gluten Free sugar cookies with icing & sprinkles.

I always use my Joy of Cooking icing recipe. I don't know why except that it's just the staple recipe I reach for first. This year I couldn't locate Joy so I looked at this book instead for a recipe and found this. 

The addition of the cream cheese gave it a hint of a marzipan taste but the recipe was so easy. Even though I would follow Joy's recipe perfectly, it always seems to take awhile to work it into a nice glaze frosting. The Cook's Illustrated recipe was done merely with a whisk rather than a mixer and it felt like it was ready practically before I even started. There wasn't any playing around with ingredients, it was simply precise. 

We tend to avoid food coloring for many reasons, but there are times when I simply need something so pretty & blue on my cookies. Call it nostalgia. It is nearly impossible to find items that are gluten free and frosted unless you make it yourself. I think I miss icing on cupcakes more than anything else in the world. Sour Dough would be a close second followed by Lucky Charms. Sigh....at least these cookies are heavenly scrumptious. I even ate three of them before dinner despite the fact that it was dinner time when I began my first nibble. And then I just couldn't stop at one.

lemons in december

There are some things about California that just leave us in awe:

1. lemons on our tree ripening in December
2. weather that sometimes surprises us with 75 degrees in late fall
3. leaf blowers (what is up with the obsession?)
4. persimmons & pomegranates on our neighbors trees
5. roses & flowers still in bloom

A week ago I received the most lovely package in the post from The Pink Pig. I entered this giveaway from the delightful and sweet Sandy and won 4 beautiful glasses that read "un verre d’amitié" or in English, "a glass of friendship". Thank you so much Sandy and The Pink Pig.I just adore my gift.

Keiran loves to go out in garden and bring in lemons directly from the tree.

It was only in the mid 60's today but the sun was shining down brightly and warmed us which made December lemonade a lovely treat. The lemonade was delicious especially with a bowl of freshly popped popcorn.

black friday blues

For the last 15 years it has been my tradition to locate a newspaper on Thanksgiving and spend a couple hours planning my trip complete with what stores that I wanted to visit first. When I was younger, my mother and brother would join me on my shopping adventure. As the years went by though my brother turned to shopping online for Black Friday deals and my mother chose to sleep in. Three years ago there seemed to be a shift in door busters, at least in the items that I had interest in. I found it more difficult to find those amazing sales, the ones that I wanted to wake up at 4am for. I know that many of my eco minded friends avoid shopping on Black Friday but I just can't resist such savings, especially since I tend not to do much retail shopping. This year though my tradition changed.

I went out first thing in the morning and stopped at World Market and Michaels. I didn't buy a single thing. How can I leave Michael's without at least buying one item? The sales were just lousy.

I needed coffee so I went home feeling down. Dave decided to cheer me up and take me and the children to a posh shopping center in Corte Madera. I hadn't been into an Anthropologie in such a long time and I was longing to peak through their sales rack.

We spent 2 hours at the village and in the end I spent $5.00. A mere $5.00. Are there any Anthro's with clothing $20 or even $10 items any more? I couldn't find anything less than $50 and that is $40 more than I wanted to spend. I really tried to shop and buy something. I still want these but can't find it in me to spend that much money on measuring cups.

We left the shopping center. I just couldn't believe that I found it so difficult to spend money. We popped into San Rafael and that is when I spotted a thrift store. It was as if it was surrounded by a golden light. I nearly ran into the store and was comforted by the familiar prices of this beautiful thrift store. Everything in the store (except their collectibles) was 50% off. If I had been there at 8am I could have scored 75% off my purchases. I quickly grabbed a cart and found these items.

Mid Century gravel art $3.50

Studio Pottery $1.00

Funky Studio Pottery Vase $2.50

My favorite, a mid century modern style lion. $7.00. He was in their collectible area and not on sale. But I had to have him as I have a weak spot for lions.

Friday taught me a valuable lesson: stick with thrifting. Thrifting doesn't leave me moody, unsatisfied, guilty or with an empty bank account. I just receive much more satisfaction by shopping with the thrifted dollar. When I walked back to our van with my bag in hand I felt so much at peace. It was very different when I walked out of Anthro with a frustration that everything was just too darn expensive. 

Next year I'm heading to San Rafael to be first in line for the 75% off sale. That's my kind of Black Friday shopping. How did you fare with Black Friday? Did you go retail or stick with thrifting?

correcting the past

Thanksgiving Day Camp - complete with camp nature table

As families gather together I usually get sucked into contemplating about my childhood and about the past. When we made the choice to move to California in order for the children to attend an accredited and established Waldorf school, we also made the choice to leave behind my mother, father, brother, sister-in-law and young niece. This decision brought a lot of guilt even though in my heart I knew that my own two children are the main focus of my life. Practically every thing that we have done since they were infants has been for the benefit of the children. I sacrificed our bed to co-sleeping, suffered the initial pain of breastfeeding to giving them the best milk possible, practiced intentional parenting and worked extremely hard to give them an upbringing that would nourish their bodies and minds. One of the most negative aspects of attachment parenting can be the relationship between the parents. A child is either in the bed or nursing most of the time during the first few years. We rarely used a babysitter which meant that dates included children (anniversaries too). There were some very difficult days when we used to question if what we were doing was right. As time unfolds and they grow older I can start to really see the results of our parenting. And let me tell you it is so beautiful.

My own parents grew up in the Bay Area and soon after they married in 1961 they made the choice to leave the city to raise their children in the country. They wanted to give their children a different childhood to the one that they both experienced. They drove up to Tehama County in Northern California and bought 40 acres that included an overgrown olive orchard. The town we grew up in had a mere 2,500 people when I was a young child. For a spirited and somewhat creative child this town was not beneficial to me. My energy and spirit both were crushed on many occasions. I had only a few teachers in my 12 years of being educated in this small town that really understood me and liked me. When I graduated from this school (that focused mainly on sports), I had no direction in life at all. I didn't know who I was, what I wanted to do or how to erase the angst of my childhood education. I was broken, hurt and for the next six years I wandered around aimlessly without a clue of what to do.

My past is partly why I am dedicating such a large part of my life to help my children. I want them to graduate from high school with confidence and direction. I don't have any expectation for them for college or anything, I just want them to do something that feeds their passion. I had so much passion inside me but it was pounded away for 12 years that I didn't know how to deal with it. When it would arise as a young adult I would be cautious because I didn't want to be berated or teased.

Facebook is guilty of bringing back lots of childhood memories. I've been tagged in a few photos, ones that make me literally cringe. I was so uncomfortable in my childhood body. I see comments by school mates about high school being the time of their life. Their beautiful photos express this clearly. They looked fabulous, confident and above all, they looked happy. A part of me is jealous when I curiously have to look at their photos. I was so miserable in high school, always dressing the wrong way, saying inappropriate things, trying to make people laugh at their expense (or mine) and just begging for some attention. I was desperate on the best of days.

Yet I can't hold my parents blame for the choices they made. They were working hard to give us a childhood that was better than theirs. They felt that the country was the answer.  Even though as an adult I secretly crave the thought of being raised in Berkeley in the 70's. I hope that one day my brother can understand why I left Seattle. Maybe conversation between the two of us can be comfortable again rather than awkward. He chose to leave the Bay Area to be close to my parents and us. I encouraged the move not realizing that we would be taking our family in the opposite direction only two years later.

My mother is sick with cancer which adds to my guilt. And I think for the rest of my life I will have a sad place in my heart that I made the decision to move our family to California instead of staying up with her. It wasn't an easy decision because there were so many complicated emotions with it. Yet I have to focus on the future and that future consists of Cerys and Keiran and their education. And being the dreamer that I have always been, I want the best for them. I want them at the best Waldorf school in an area rich with opportunity. Anything less would feel like a betrayal to them.

Maybe I am sharing too much here. I have these swirling emotions after a rocky Thanksgiving and I have this pressure in my chest to write down my thoughts. As I have shared thoughts like this in the past about my childhood, I recall that many of you have experienced similar ones. As adults so many of us are all still healing and striving to correct the past.

a time capsule oven

Here is our time capsule oven in the 1960's ranch house that we are renting.

At first glance I thought it was adorable. Then we tried to bake in it and it wasn't quite so adorable.

So I was happy to find this recipe in this magazine for a space-saving bird. When I bought my free-range organic turkey yesterday I batted my eyelashes kindly or possibly weirdly and begged the butcher to please "butterfly my turkey". Before this recipe I didn't even know such a maneuver existed for a turkey. And if the butcher had said no I would have panicked because I certainly don't know how to butterfly one on my own. I wouldn't know where to begin. But he did say yes (after exaggerating to him that my oven is literally the size of a single brick) and I'll be giving thanks to him tomorrow at the dinner table when we sing our blessing.

I'm still not certain that the turkey will fit in the small oven so our back up plan is to BBQ the bird. It's suppose to be 65f tomorrow which still qualifies as BBQ weather in my book. The recipe even includes instructions for cooking it on the grill. Either way we should be covered.

I finally sat down with magazines and cookbooks last night to create this menu.

Appetizer: Hot artichoke spinach dip (Food Network Magazine pg 80) with homemade tortilla chips.

Dinner:

• Crispy cornbread (pg 142 Country Living Magazine)
• Lemon glazed sweet potatoes (pg 142 Country Living Magazine)
• Pimento-cheese potato gratin (pg 143 Country Living Magazine)
• BBQ Brussels Sprouts (covering them in olive oil, murray river salt & pepper)
• Cranberry Sauce (Martha Stewart Cookbook pg 274)
• Butterflied Turkey w/apple cranberry glaze (pg 155 Food Network Magazine)

Desert: Wholefoods Gluten Free Crust with Martha Stewart Pumpkin Pie filling (pg 490)

Beverage: wine, organic sparkling apple juice & TJ's sparkling blood orange juice.

I don't tend to stick to a traditional menu that we follow every single year. I mix it up, change it around and above all try to make sure that everything is packed full of flavor. The entire menu of course is gluten free. We'll be cooking all day but it's what we love to do. Blessings on your Thanksgiving (or happy Thursday to everyone not celebrating).

creating

My three fiber art pieces are now in my Etsy store. I'm working on two more at the moment and plan to finish them in the next few days. Call me super crazy but I don't even have our Thanksgiving Menu planned and I haven't purchased a single items for our meal. California has just thrown me off for what time of the year it is. It's going to be 69 today which in Bainbridge Island terms is late August/early September. It certainly isn't usually the end of November. In my head I'm still preparing for Hallowe'en. I'm okay though because I work best with quick arriving deadlines. I'll do my menu tonight, shop tomorrow or this evening (late) and still feel relaxed come Thursday. Anyone else behind in their Thanksgiving preparations?

I wanted to share with you my three pieces of fiber art.

 "Mod Reindeer"

"Owl Moon"

and my favorite "Lion and the Pomegranate".

after the show

The Vintage Holiday Boutique went better than I had expected. It's funny but to me it wasn't just about selling. I adored connecting with people over the vintage wares that I had on display. Lots of women were drawn to the vintage patterns. Many said to me with a smile that they remembered wearing dresses like the one in the pattern that they held fondly in their hand. Some purchased patterns at the mere memory of the past. The packs of "Cocktail Party" cards practically flew off the table. I love the idea of women taking them home and planning their own vintage cocktail party. Being there at the show, in an environment that honors what is vintage was incredibly heart warming. It was also touching to see the nostalgic look in everyone's eyes as they looked through old Betty Crocker books, picked up a pack of vintage children's book illustrations or set their eyes on the 1940's patchwork quilt. It's part of the reason that I love vintage so much. It evokes emotions, often more than buying something in the retail world.

I plan on doing another follow up post tomorrow with photos and links to some of the other amazing vendors in the show. Here are some pictures of my booth before the show.

Here is one of my art pieces in the glow of the fairy lights. This Lion and two other pieces will be placed in my Etsy store on Monday.

I have one more craft show planned this season. It's going to be here.  I hope to see you there.

glimpses of the past

One of those great thrifting moments is when you stumble upon an unadvertised yard sale on a Sunday in the middle of the afternoon. Keiran and I sneaked out to the last day of an estate sale where everything was discounted by up to 50% off. After spending a half hour at the estate sale we started our drive home. That was until I saw a "Sunday Only Yard Sale" sign and started following the trail of signs on various streets to a very small but fabulous yard sale. The woman was selling items from either her grandmother or her husband's grandmother. I don't remember exactly what she said. Her prices were so cheap and what I took away were simply charming glimpses of the past.

Inside this hand embroidered bag was an attached change purse and this mirror:

Can anyone guess what time period this is from?

 
This one is rather damaged with spotting. I didn't leave it behind though. Couldn't leave it behind.

This one opened up so uniquely... 

Such delicate bead work. The other side has some patches where beads are missing. I'm not quite sure what to do with any of them. I do love holding them, opening their little latches and taking a peak inside only imagining what they once held. Perhaps one of those tiny books that were ever so popular in the past before they had invented Kindles & iphones.

3 French compacts (one with original powder) and a German cigarette case.

My most favored item was this vintage belt. I love the detail of the design. Some pieces are missing but it's still complete enough to be beautiful. Now I have my own vintage bling.

This is only half of what I brought home. I also bought about 10 vintage tins, 2 art prints, a quilt topper (quite worn) and some vintage clothing. She charged me $10 and I gave her $20. This was a case where I felt that even $20 was an incredible deal. If I had accepted her $10 price I would feel guilty. Now to decide what to do with them all. Any suggestions?

to market to market

I've read each of your replies about my art question and I really appreciate hearing about your own experiences. I think I have a better picture of how to go about pricing my work. Speaking of pricing, I've spent all day in my office going through bins of vintage items in preparation for Saturday. Pricing vintage items feels far more comfortable than pricing my art. Second hand is my own language so the hours spent pricing were enjoyable. I thought I would share some of my tips on how to prepare for a market.

Like so many things in our culture, presentation and first impression is everything. When a seller has a booth at a flea market or a craft market they have very little time to lure a potential buyer closer. Many busy shoppers glance at a booth and decide to walk in or their eyes slowly glance over at the table and they move on before they even touch anything. We want to do everything to convince the buyer (without begging) to stay and take a second look at our booth.

I start with a pricing basket.

Included in my pricing basket:

• Straight Pins
• Martha Pens
• Stamp Pad
• Vintage Ribbon
• White Price Tags with string
• Large Price Tags
• Post-it notes for no other reason than I love post-it notes
• Scissors
• Price Stickers
• Tape

My childhood "shop", that I still have the warmest memories of, was called the "Do-It-All" Shop. I sold many items including painted rocks, coupons for future jobs like make one phone call, clean windows (coupons that my sweet mother bought and never used) or tickets to silly shows where I would dance around or pretend that I was in a circus. I also was writer and illustrator for a family newspaper fondly called The Unicorn News. I guess I was born with the entrepreneur spirit. I think when it comes to running a yard sale or a flea market/craft booth, I'm sort of just playing shop.

This is why I make the effort to package up items and make them look good. I love this part of selling things.

I try to write down the size of the vintage fabric and carefully pin the price tag to each piece. Each piece is folded neatly and displaced in a basket.

I print out small signs for items rather than handwritten ones. I include my ATG logo.

Items are packaged using cellophane sleeves and priced using tags & stamps. Pictured here are vintage cocktail invitations (groups of 8), vintage Christmas labels with illustrations, vintage Christmas decals & a vintage address book.

Books are individually priced with stamped tags. I have taped them on with a somewhat not-so-sticky kind of tape. I can't bring myself to writing the price inside or placing a stronger price sticker on the front that may damage the book. These books will be in a simple and thrifted basket most likely on the ground near the table. I also have some vintage mid century modern ads that I have placed in cellophane bags and priced with a printed ATG label.

Artwork is priced and placed on stands or easels.

Wool felt squares from vintage blankets are neatly stacked. A small price sign with description is still yet to be printed.

Lastly I have a small sign and business cards with my contact details. It's lovely to contemplate repeat customers so why not make it easy for them to visit your website, shop or to email you?

Many of the items that I use for displaying items have been purchased at garage sales or in thrift stores including the longeberger basket ($10) that is holding the vintage books. I often find pens, labels, price tags and scissors for sale second hand. If you have plans to take part in a flea market this summer, now is the perfect time to start searching for your marketing supplies. 

I'm very excited about Saturday. I still have a million things to do, more items to price and more artwork to craft before Saturday morning. It's been a crazy week but a lovely one full of energy and anticipation.

pricing art

I went to a beautiful craft show on Saturday. I walked around with Keiran and we looked at each booth and admired everything. Of course I wanted many items but I walked away with having spent $5.00 on 3 enameled pennies. When you are a thrifter you start to get a mindset at the cost of items. Or maybe I should change that to the price that I want to pay. That isn't to say the artists don't deserve every dollar that they charge. They probably should charge even more. I personally have a hard time spending money on well....anything that cost a lot. I love handcrafted items and I am working harder to accept spending money on them. I love to support local businesses and especially local artists.

Which brings me to my current quandary. I've finally settled on some art that is stirring my blood. I've bounced around from craft to craft dabbling a little bit in cross-stitch, trying my hand somewhat badly at painting, striving to sew something that has a straight stitch and yet I finish or not finish a project and I don't feel that I would want this framed, on my wall or for heaven's sake something that I might wear. I don't tend to give up though and when another craft comes my way I try once again.

I've watched Jodi start off as a blogger who did a bit of painting on the side and become someone who is regularly in art magazines, has art showings and is selling her paintings left and right. A part of me wants that too. Is that a bad thing to admit? I mean we all have dreams right? I have way too many and some I will admit might not ever happen. I really want to be in a movie. I nearly got to be in one when a walk on role appeared at our school auction but it fell through. Maybe one day a film will be set in Sonoma County and I can get a part as an extra. Or at least help furnish the set with thrifted items. I also want to publish books, start a magazine, create a Thrift Conference, set up a non-profit to furnish homes with high quality 2nd hand items, illustrate a children's book, become a graphic artist and so on. But I really, really love the idea of being an artist even if I'm not using the traditional mediums of canvas and paint.

Over the last six months I played around with a medium that worked well with my crafty skills. I've finished two pieces and have started a third. I've never felt so much passion before about a craft. It just seems to be unfolding naturally and ideas are coming to me like crazy. I have to write them down before I forget them. I'm probably building it up too much here on my blog, but for me this is an exciting thing. I wake up in the morning anxious to start on my next piece.

My quandary though has to do with placing value on art. For those artists or crafters, can you share with me a little insight on how you price your art? Are there websites or books that you might suggest I read? I looked at Etsy regarding embroidery and the prices are all over the map. Some people put so little value on their art that I would turn away from their store feeling down that they aren't charging more.

For those that don't sell but instead buy ,how much do you usually pay for a handcrafted item? Is that a silly question? I'd love any help that you might offer. Here's a tiny peak at my 2nd piece.

This was taken when it was a work in progress.

I'm planning to bring them to the Petaluma Vintage Holiday Boutique on Saturday to test the waters. I'll probably place them in my Etsy store next week if I bring them home with me. Looking forward to your thoughts.

a new outlet - Santa Rosa Goodwill

The 138 boxes of our things in the garage are starting to drive me a little crazy. When I packed the house up months ago I really didn't want to see my things again. At least not until I recovered from moving.  Of course now that it is November I keep remembering things that I desperately want. The two things I wish most for:  a little white tree (for the Vintage Holiday Boutique on Saturday) and my numbers rubber stamp set that I use for pricing. Both are missing and I just don't have the heart to go searching through all of the boxes. At the weekend I did bring in three boxes marked Crafts and was reunited with my glass glitter, roving, woolly yarn, pens, paper and lots of other sweet things that make my heart sigh happily. A part of me knows that I could really live without these things for another six months. I shouldn't really get too settled in our rental since it is so short term but how can I resist boxes full of crafty goodness?

I popped out to Michaels today in search of rubber stamps to replace the ones that are missing. When did Michaels cut back on their stamp stock? The store in Santa Rosa has a pitiful little selection. I searched online for a local stamp store but I can't seem to find one either. Are stamps already so last year?

Although it's retail I was very excited to see this new collection at Michaels. I did pick up a few items for a certain girl's stocking. 

The above item is a packet of stickers featuring American Girl Dolls. They also have craft kits, pens, glue, tape and more.

I left Michaels and popped into the Santa Rosa Goodwill Outlet. Let me start off by saying that it is very different than the one in Seattle. A little whimper initially escaped my lips when I stepped into the store and looked around. It's so much smaller and I found it grimier and the bins are really full of trash mixed in with a few finds. I did manage to spend an hour there, spent $6.00 and brought these home.

 

They are in need of a good cleaning but for $6.00 I don't mind working a little extra to make these beautiful.

 

The cast iron pot is a fondue set by the Danish company Digsmed. I found lots of mid century items which really surprised me. While the fondue pot appears to be quite soiled, it's actually in very good condition underneath all the grease.

Remember these strange looking chairs? The cashier charged me $1.00 for the chair and $5.00 for the rest. The pricing is very different from Seattle too. Rather than set prices per pound, the cashier made the decision on how much to charge me by looking over the items that I had collected. Yet the woman in front of me had some simple leather boots and was charged $5.00. Maybe the cashier thought my vintage lot was just old junk which something I'm just fine with. You also aren't able to take your carts around the store to the bins. You have to park them on the side all clustered together in a mess, rush to the bins, collect stuff and return back to the shopping cart to unload. When the new bins are brought out people act like piranhas trying to lay their hands on anything and everything they can. I would be uncomfortable there with small children as there isn't much space between the rows of bins. I nearly got trampled on by a burly gentleman who nearly leaped over me to get to a small bin of legos.

I still enjoyed myself and plan to return. I think spending at least 2-3 hours would be worth the effort. This may sound like a long time to some but on a thrifter's clock it would actually feel more like 45 minutes. Time is really altered when you are thrifting and concentrating on what you are doing. Have you ever lost time thrifting? Or got the dreaded call from your dh wondering where you are? I'm very guilty of this.

entertaining once again

It's been months and months since we last entertained in our home. I adore inviting friends over to cook a warm hearted meal for them. Once we started packing up our Bainbridge Island house we realized that our house was not fit for guests. It was barely inhabitable for us let alone inviting friends over for a meal.

Tonight we invited new friends into our home and shared the English tradition of a Sunday Roast.  Since this was our first meal with our new friends we went with our staple let's-hope-to-impress-our-friends meal. Fingers crossed that it worked.

I've relaxed a lot with my entertaining ever since I first started reading the Reluctant Entertainer.  I'm so embarrassed to admit that used to be rather uptight about even allowing anyone into our home. It was never clean enough, nice enough, decorated enough and so on.  Although I'll still admit that I felt a bit uneasy tonight when I realized that I didn't have 8 matching forks, plates or cups. And I have no idea where the wine glasses went. Maybe in a box in the garage? Instead we drank out of some 80's smoky gray goblets, which the guests said that they had no problem with. The more wine the merrier? Overall we felt that Dave & I could pull the meal off even when our table wasn't going to be something out of a magazine.

And should I mention our 1960's oven? It is as lovely as anything with the glass doors and teak handles. It's right out of a time-capsule house. I raved and raved about it when we first moved in. But then I cooked in it and my raving switched gears to muttered complaints. It doesn't seem to keep in the heat which as you can imagine is sort of important when it comes to an oven. My brownie cupcakes took 40 minutes to cook instead of the suggested 22 minutes. Our roast chicken never obtained it's normal crunchy skin that we all usually all have to fight for. It took hours to cook them and there was no fighting for skin.

 

Even with the mismatched dishes and the slow cooking food we could have had our meal off of paper plates and still had a delightful time this evening.

 
A little part of me was excited to spend time around our relatively new table, one that didn't need a table cloth to hide it because it was so badly stained and unattractive to the eye. Hiding the tile might be considered criminal among some thrifters.

We kind of went the easy route with the English Roast since our two vintage ovens are tiny and don't really work. We roasted 2 organic chickens, a mix of roasted potatoes, parsnips, onions & carrots and we finished off the meal with some buttered leaks. I also went simple with some gluten free brownies for desert.

My favorite kind of meal really isn't about the food but it's the kind where you can barely get a word in amongst all the laughter. The wine poured freely and with that came funny story after funny story. Cerys was a little annoying as she went into the showoff mode though. Why does that happen? Other than that it was practically perfect. 

When we raised our glasses at the beginning of the meal we all gave thanks to new friends. As someone who spent months of the year (aka the winter) with a saddened heart up in the north of the country, I just can't express enough how happy this move has made me. Friends of course make it even nicer. I swear there is something magical in that sunlight. Or maybe it's something to do with being close to where I was born. Has anyone come home (or near home) after many years only to feel like they are in the right place in the world? That it feels good in their soul?

To end this Sunday post on a thrifted note, every single last item on the table (including the beeswax candles) was thrifted. The plates, cups, goblets, pottery serving dishes, cloth napkins, plates, groovy wine barrel candle holder and even the table was second hand. Even living on a frugal budget, you can still surround your life with beautiful things.

collecting miles/points

I love getting something for nothing when it is achieved honestly of course. Airmiles or Points Cards are a pretty easy way to get the goods for free. Our family credit card is with Hilton and we collect enough points every year to get a few nights free in the Embassy Suites. I have such a hard time paying $80-$150 dollars a night for a hotel room, especially the not so nice ones. It feels like such a high price to pay for only a 12 hour stay. I usually don't sleep too well in polyester covers and pillows. I'm also spoiled with my thrifted once-expensive-new duvet and my thrifted feather pillows. I crave luxury and comfort for a thrifted price. The last duvet I bought cost $15 and was the fanciest one that I had ever seen on the second hand market. It came from Italy and you couldn't feel a single stem of a feather like some of the cheaper ones being produced. It was plush and incredibly soft and you usually have to tempt me out of bed with a cup of warm coffee. I mean I'm in my 30's now and I like a comfy night's sleep.

Dave and I have been collecting different airline miles since we married in 1997. Dave had some United Airmiles from before we met. A couple of months ago he told me that they were going to expire at the end of October. We didn't want to use them for a flight somewhere so we delayed making a decision of what to do with them. Being the procrastinators that we uh me sometimes are, we waited until the last second. And when I say last second I mean we were in Dave's home office at his computer 15 minutes before they were going to expire. I don't recall how many miles we had but we quickly purchased a bunch of restaurant vouchers were you spend $50 and you get $25 off your meal. We then bought Keiran a lego firetruck that we will give him for Christmas and we finally we spent the rest on this:

 

It's not terribly expensive if you buy it new but it's something that we probably would never have gone out and bought on our own. It's an LG Blu-Ray Disc Player, (BD 370 for those that like tech stuff). What I am so excited about is the fact that we can somehow hook it up to be wireless (I think) and it lets us watch downloadable Netflix movies as well as videos on YouTube. It does lots of other fancy things that I don't understand. I'm hoping Dave will figure it all out so that I all I have to do is stick in a disc and press play. We don't own a single blu-ray disc but it does play regular DVD's. 

One of the reasons that I am drawn to frugality is so I can live a rich life by being surrounded by luxurious things that I pay very little for. I don't mind if someone has owned it before me. I just want something that will last. I don't want to own furniture made of MDF junk that cracks or crumbles when you look at it the wrong way. I am usually able to pay the same price or far less for a high end, solid furniture at yard sales and thrift stores.

Collecting airmiles (especially for families who fly a lot either for business or pleasure) or collecting store points can really can add up. I doubt when Dave signed up for his United Miles back in the mid 1990's that he would ever imagine getting a Blu-Ray DVD player, a lego toy and restaurant vouchers. Of course I don't think Blu-Ray even exist back then.

Have you ever used airmiles or points to earn something fabulous? What was it? I find that our earned hotel nights are far more satisfying than paying for it with our credit card. There's just something so lovely about getting something for free. Next time an airline offers you an Airmile Card application I highly recommend that you take the time to fill it out. It just might be worth your effort.

Petaluma Vintage Holiday Boutique

If anyone is in Sonoma County on Saturday November 21st, please stop by and say hello to me at the Petaluma Vintage Holiday Boutique. I'm going to be bringing lots of sweet vintage items including some quilts, quilt toppers, vintage fabric, Nest Planners, vintage paper packs and as well as some original hand craft work.

Nest Planner (includes file to reprint all forms from your own printer)

Vintage Quilt

This is a perfect way to not only shop local but also a way to weave vintage into your holidays. I hope to see you in Petaluma on the 21st of November.

the gluten free lab

When we moved to California two months ago, the first gluten free resource that I discovered was the North Bay Celiacs website. It is loaded with information including a guide to gluten free options when you are dining out in the North Bay. I also found this lovely blog on the North Bay Celiacs site. Don't forget to check out The Gluten Free Lab's Facebook page. 

Tonight I went to Sebastopol for a Gluten Free Meet & Greet. They offered free food and free wine so of course I had to go. This is The Gluten Free Lab's first ever event and I must tell you that it was fabulous. The thrifter/vintage collector in me quickly spotted the free samples overflowing in the vintage suitcases. They even had a mid century modern table as part of their display. It was pure eye candy and I hadn't even seen the home baked goods yet.

I loved meeting the three amazing women who make up The Gluten Free Lab. There's Molly, Heather & Aly. They were just delightful, very professional but above all they were warm and welcoming.

 

Yummy samples for the taking.

Examples of safe gluten free grains, gluten free leaflets and a very handy quick-info-sheet to carry in your bag or give to your closest friends who will hopefully invite you to dinner very soon.

Pamela's Baking & Pancake mix which happens to be seriously the best pancake mix on the entire country planet. I've never tasted anything better and that includes my days when I was consuming gluten. In fact I may need to mix some up as soon as I finish writing this as I've got a serious case of pancake craving. with maple butter of course.

I adore this display of gluten free grains.

Although Shauna ( gluten free girl ) and I  have never met in person, I still felt an affinity to her since we were both up in the Pacific Northwest. And for a few short months we both lived on islands albeit separate ones. I thought of her a lot tonight and wished that she and the chef could have popped by with Little Bean. I was delighted to see her book on display though. She helped me forgive my body for my allergy betrayal.

The chocolate chip cookies were ever so moist and didn't have a hint of the usual sawdust & sandpaper combo that gluten free cookies often have.

Chocolate Mint Cookies. Mouthwatering sweetness.

Their next event is being held at Pizzavino707 in Sebastopol on December 3rd from 6-9 pm. It will be the debut of The Gluten Free Lab's very own pizza dough which Pizzavino707 will have in stock on a continual basis. Finally I am able to go out for pizza again, something I haven't done since I was last in Eugene Oregon 3 years ago. Hmmmm I wonder if they will be stocking any gluten free beer for the event?

secandhand spirits - an interview

We were in Sonoma County barely a month when I found out that there was going to be a Book Festival in downtown Santa Rosa. As someone who is rarely seen without a book in her hands, I had to go to this event. I went from booth to booth meeting authors and taking leaflets from local writing groups. When I saw the paperback with the title "Secondhand Spirits" I had to take another look. And then another.

Juliette Blackwell was sitting behind a table with a display of of her books along with a group of authors. She gave me and Cerys a very warm hello and asked if we liked mystery books. Having just come out of my Sookie withdrawals I found myself nodding my head for the first time ever. Despite Trixie B, I don't tend to lean toward mysteries. I just don't sleep well if I read about murder & mayhem before laying my head on my pillow to sleep. I have bad dreams and worse:   I sleepwalk. Still the title said "secondhand". How could I go wrong with that? I bought a copy and asked Juliette to write an inscription to Cerys.

If you are a thrifter then you will love the main character Lily Ivory and her vintage clothing shop in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. There is so much vintage/thrift talk in this book that your head will spin until you are just plain giddy. Seriously, you-must-read-this-book-today.

Juliette has kindly agreed to an interview about a favorite subject of ours; vintage thrifting.

ATG:  Your book Secondhand Spirits featured a mouthwatering vintage clothing boutique, Aunt Cora's Closet. Do you have a favorite vintage clothing boutique that you frequent in San Francisco or the Bay Area?

Juliette Blackwell: There are far too many to name!  I set Secondhand Spirits in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood because in the Bay Area, the Haight is famous for its funky used-clothes and vintage shops.  I love La Rosa, Held Over, Static, Wasteland, and even the Goodwill at 1700 Haight.

In Berkeley, Telegraph Avenue offers a number of great stores; I like Mars Mercantile, Time Zone, and Stop the Clock.

ATG:  Are you a vintage clothing collector yourself? What is your favorite piece that you own?

Juliette Blackwell:  I wouldn’t call myself a real collector –for that you need serious money.  I adore really old clothing from the 1900s, and those items are truly expensive, so I mostly just admire them.  Plus I’m not what you’d call petite, so it can be hard to find clothes from that era that fit.

But I do have a number of nice pieces I’ve acquired over the years, especially 1950s cashmere sweaters and old flowy skirts.  I have a couple of jackets from the forties, and some beaded items from the thirties. My favorite pieces come from my mother: a lovely cocktail dress with a gauzy black skirt and a lacy bodice; and a fake-fur lined cocoa-colored wool coat. I wore her wedding dress when I got married, as well: it’s a simple piece that her sisters sewed for her.  Those items remind me of her, so I love them best.

ATG:  Many of my readers are avid thrifters for anything vintage. What's your best piece of advice for finding the perfect vintage item?

Juliette Blackwell: As I mentioned above, money is always a concern for me so I don’t buy much at stores that know exactly what they have, and charge for it – although those are great options for smaller items that can really dress up an outfit…yes, I’m a sucker for vintage rhinestone jewelry! 

I usually shop at Goodwill and other charity thrift stores – they often have incredible pieces without even knowing it. I once insisted on paying more than the $2 price tag on a skirt that I recognized as a genuine 1950s poodle-skirt!  Another great way to find less expensive items is at estate sales – sometimes clothes won’t be out for sale, but if you ask there just might be closets and boxes full of old stuff that people want to get rid of. Sometimes you have to pay one price for everything and go through it, but there are some real treasures if you’re willing to look.

Finally, I know a collector who works for Hollywood. He goes out on “big waste pick-up days” when homeowners are allowed to put big junk out on the curb.  If there are a lot of items from an era my friend is looking for, he’ll actually knock on the door and ask if they have any clothes from that era.  He’s surprisingly successful. A lot of people don’t know what to do with their old stuff –they don’t want it, but they hesitate to throw it away.

ATG: What kind of background research was needed to write about owning a vintage boutique shop?

Juliette Blackwell:  As always, there’s an astounding amount of information available on the internet.  But besides reading catalogs and articles about vintage clothing, I go onto vintage clothing chatrooms and textile conservators’ chatrooms.  It’s amazing the kind of detail you can gleam from their discussions.  I also interview vintage clothing dealers and store owners, and as is probably obvious from my answers above, I spend a lot of time in the stores, just browsing and watching customers.

ATG:  How did you decide to combine magic with secondhand?

Juliette Blackwell:  My main character, Lily Ivory, has never felt close to people, so she feels connected to humanity through items that carry their vibrations.  I thought of having her dealing with antiques, but that has been done so often…and besides, I know more about clothes than antiques.  And I thought: What could be more intimate than clothing?  It touches our skin constantly, is there with us on important events like weddings and celebrations, even funerals, and in the old days it was often made by hand by loved ones. I do believe that old things carry a little of the energy of people who’ve passed through—old houses, old furniture, old clothes….

ATG:  In Book 2 are you going to continue with the vintage clothing theme or venture into other secondhand areas?

Juliette Blackwell:  Since Lily owns a vintage clothing store, obviously clothing will always have an important role in the books.  But I do get a chance to talk a little (too little, unfortunately) about ephemera in my next Witchcraft Mystery, A Cast-off Coven (coming June, 2010), and Lily is also considering expanding Aunt Cora’s Closet to include another one of my favorite hobbies: vintage kitchen items. If no one puts a stop to this, I might have her running a secondhand emporium soon!

****Thank you so much Juliette for taking the time to talk to us today about Secondhand Spirits and especially about vintage thrifting. Please check out Juliette's website for more information about the book, upcoming events and where to purchase your own copy of Secondhand Spirits.

a rough day

 

Little Keiran had a rough day today. He woke up in the middle of the night crying with complaints of a sore jaw. Dave gave him some ice in a cloth napkin to suck on and he cuddled close to us for the rest of the night. His teeth have been difficult since they came in as a baby. Some children's teeth come in strong while others come in weak. Cerys got the benefit of a strong mouth and Keiran fell victim to the weak one. They both had nearly identical early stages from babies to toddlers though. This appears to be genetic or something that happened during pregnancy. I was celiac when I was pregnant but I didn't know that at the time. I was extremely anemic and rather weak. Did this cause problems for him? I guess I'll never really know.

By the time we picked Keiran up from school, he looked like he had been in a fight with his jaw badly swollen. You can see a hint of the swelling in the photo that I sneaked of him. Thankfully we quickly found a holistic dentist that would take him even though she was double booked and we had never been there before. She was everything we had hoped for in a dentist and she is working hard to save one of Keiran's infected baby teeth.

I'm such a wimp of a mom sometimes. I always make Dave take the kids to the dentist. I just can't handle it. I do most of the doctors visits because I tend not to get intimidated by them and can challenge them if they have issues with our somewhat alternative lifestyle. I had a doctor in England get cross with me because I wanted to take some echinacea. She was offended not only because I was using an herbal but also because she couldn't even pronounce it correctly.  She kept stumbling over the word every time she used it. The dentists though are another story. I did have to go through one appointment and panicked when Keiran looked like he had fallen unconscious. Apparently it is common that they fall asleep when they are so young. This would have been helpful to know before hand since I was quietly freaking out until the dentist shared this tidbit with me.

Keiran's on antibiotics for the infection and was told to eat yogurt for the next 2 months to build up the good bacteria in his stomach again. He was very strong through it all and didn't let escape, a single tear. Dave held his hand supportively.

I usually feel in control with the health of the family from building up their immune system or helping them when they are sick. They joke that I'm the family doctor with my collection of natural health books, tinctures, teas and strange concoctions. I sometimes have success with stopping a cold in it's tracks which is something even the pharmaceutical companies have yet to do. But I feel so out of control with the health of their teeth.

I bought this book last spring but haven't properly looked at because of getting the house ready to sell, packing, moving and settling down here in California.

 

Has anyone read this book and had success with it? My friend Lisa Reagan wrote an article about childhood caries and breastfeeding in 2002. I tried some of her suggestions but I don't think I worked hard enough on it. I aim to double or triple my efforts with the children's teeth. I want to feel in control of this part of their health. I don't want to be the wimpy mom.

atg on facebook

So it only took me three months to figure it all out but Apron Thrift Girl finally has a facebook page. I will be posting blog updates, thrifty/frugal bits and thrifting news.

I'd be delighted to have you as a fan.

Gama-Go

The Gama-Go holiday sale opened at noon today in San Francisco. I was able to sneak in a rummage sale and three yard sales though before we had to be on the road. My friend Kim picked me up and we headed south on the 101 freeway. The weather was fabulous with a warm bright sun and a stunning blue sky. A perfect California kind of day.

We made it to the line about 15 minutes before they opened the doors. We got stuck in the 2nd wave of people let in but there was still plenty to buy.

Rickshaw Stop....besides Gama-Go they were also selling drinks from the bar. Next time we'll take the bus into the city instead of driving and really enjoy ourselves. Nothing like shopping with a mojito in hand.

 

 

Ironically when I started this post and searched for a category I couldn't find one. Being a thrift blog I don't really have a Retail category. It's not that I avoid all retail shopping but still the majority of the things I purchase are 2nd hand. I did really enjoy myself though. I will admit to getting sucked into the frenzy of "buy, buy, buy" mode. Not only because of the energy at this sale but the constant, beat of the loud, but very cool music. It was almost like I was in robot mode when the music was pumping and I found myself shoving items in my bag. Then the music stopped and I would shake my head look down at my overflowing bag and I'd wonder what the heck I was doing. Then the music would start up and I'd get back into shopping mode. In the end though I didn't go overboard and bought truly what I wanted to buy. They weren't going to get the best of this thrift girl with their loud but cool and enticing music.

Shirts were $15 each or buy 5 get 1 free which brought the price to $12.50 each and they are made in the USA which I'm all for. I'm still building up my warm weather wardrobe so I had a good excuse to shop. The Pomegranate shirt is my favorite. Same with the wallet. I have such a weak spot for that fruit. As someone who didn't leave her island very much it feels so good to be getting out and going on adventures like this shopping trip. 

By the way, Lucy is the winner of last Saturday's Giveaway. Thanks for all your crazy thrifted Hallowe'en finds.

glitter

One of the most positive aspects of living near the city of Santa Rosa (pop. 161,496 or metropolitan statistical population of 486,630, making it the 12th largest in California and the 105th largest in the United State) is that there are lots of estate sales. The darker side of that of course is that people are dying but we try not to focus too much on that one. There are usually at least three estate sales a week in this part of Sonoma County.

A surprising find.....

A bowl full of yummy, sparkly, glass glittery letters. Some were still in their packaging with the original price tag for $4.95 each. the darker ones have already started to tarnish. This sweet collection was priced at a mere $5.00 for all.

With any luck I'm off to San Francisco tomorrow to hit the Gama-Go sale with a parent from the 4th grade class. I've never been to a retail sale like this before, especially in the city. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Has anyone ever been? Is it going to be crazy?

being grateful

Dave has had to travel quite a bit this Fall. He's been to LA, Texas, England, Texas and Texas again. Oddly enough, it's much easier for us here than it was in Washington. I think it is because we live in area with so many different options when he leaves us. We can head in any direction and come across a new town, forest or ocean to explore. On Sunday we went to Healdsburg to my favorite ever restaurant in the entire world; Cafe Gratitude.

 

As their site says:  Café Gratitude is our expression of a world of plenty. Our food and people are a celebration of our aliveness. We select the finest organic ingredients to honor the earth and ourselves, as we are one and the same. We support local farmers, sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly products. Our food is prepared with love.

 

I simply love it because their menu is gluten free. It's a rare day to step into a restaurant that hands you a menu that doesn't have a titch of gluten poison in it. And you can't help but feel a little embarrassment that dissipates into a feeling of warmth when you you order from the menu: "I am lovely" which gets you a fresh fruit cobbler.

 

Cafe Gratitude shares the space with The Olive Leaf which is a lovely mixture of an eco-friendly selection of goods and some very expensive, not-really-thrift-girl-type-of-prices antiques. Many are from France includes an array of sweet, metal baskets and vintage post cards.

 

"I am accepting"  was a mouthwatering bowl of steamed Bhutanese red rice tossed in with kale, avocado, cucumber, nori, scallions & herbs in a sesame-ginger sauce. It was heavenly. Each serving is perfect. After you are full there is nothing left to take home, you shouldn't be overly stuffed but instead feel completely satisfied.

 

 

I have a copy of the "I am Grateful" cookbook but I still haven't tried any of the recipes. I love the idea of raw but each time I open the book to search for a recipe to try, I hesitate when I read the ingredients followed by the directions. Next I let out a frustrated sigh followed by closing the book impatiently and reaching for something easier like Martha's Everyday Food. Some day I'll take the raw plunge and at least try to make something from the book. Maybe some flaxseed & carrot crackers?

 

Cerys insisted that I take a picture of her meal, "I am a winner". Cheesy rice mixed with cashew mozzarella.

 

So many beautiful raw products to choose from.

 Keiran watching one of the waitresses bring out free samples of pumpkin pie. He doesn't miss a thing.

 

The waitstaff always has a question of the day to ponder. Sunday's question was "What are you grateful for in your community?" My answer was silly but it was community. Feeling like I belong is something that I feel grateful for whether it is in the blogging community, the bookselling community or my Waldorf community. I need community and I adore community. It completes me. What are you grateful for?

thrift find of the month

I've been sick lately and am stuck with a not-so-nice and rather-quite-mean sinus headache. (any natural remedies to suggest?) It's hard to work at the computer so I escaped this morning to go thrifting. I have way too many winter clothes for California and too few warm weather clothes. I popped out to my favorite thrift store and found this delightful gift waiting for me.

Do you ever just happen to overhear a conversation at a thrift store and get quickly interested in what someone is saying? All I heard was Bernina and I flipped my car around on two wheels and went in search of whoever had mentioned Bernina. Do you remember me saying on Saturday how my poor sweet Bernina is missing the presser foot?

As I drifted closer to the conversation I heard that all of their donated sewing machines are taken to a Bernina Sewing shop and are tested and cleaned. The woman was telling a customer that this brand, Bernette, is actually made by Bernina. My mouth watered as I watched how this was going to play out. The customer didn't appear interested so I nonchalantly swooped in and inquired as to when it would be for sale. She said "why right now". I said "Why thank you, I would like to buy the sewing machine."

I paid $75.00 for the machine that included the manual and a box of bits and bobs. It also included a rolling cart from Joann's Fabric that had the price tag of $59.99 still attached. Now I'm not deserting my dear old friend whose missing her presser foot, but I can at least sew for the holidays without tearing apart 138 boxes in the garage.

After I see this in a couple hours...

I'm planning to get get to know my new little Bernette a little better. 

Part 3: Research

Like many children growing up in the 70's, Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden were my heroines. I wanted to desperately walk in their shoes and become a child sleuth. While my friend was reading Sweet Valley High and gushing on and on and on about Liz & Jessica which left me wanting to secretly vomit I went on and on about Trixie and the Bob-whites or Nancy & Co. I looked for mystery in everything, even in something as simple as the mailman being two hours late to deliver the mail. We had an old Vets hall in the town where I grew up and I remember bits and pieces of a mystery that we were trying to solve. I had one of those tiny notepads and a gnawed at pencil that I would whip out to jot down notes about the "crime". I even think we mistook an old paint stain on the wooden floor as blood. Which makes sense in the mind of an 8 year old. I don't think any of the mysteries ever made the little local newspaper but my imagination enjoyed the ride.

Being an investigator and being a ReSeller can go hand in hand. You are both solving a mystery of sorts. You have an item in your hands and you are trying to figure out what where it came from and who made it. I once bought a piece of porcelain from a thrift store on Bainbridge Island. They had it priced at $30 which was an expensive risk for me to take. I took it though and tt paid off though when I discovered that it was an old piece of Meissen. I probably spent an hour researching the piece before I realized that I had something valuable. It only had a hint of the crossed swords on the bottom without a name. I had never seen this marking so I was starting from scratch. I listed it on eBay, even though it had been damaged and repaired. The piece sold it for over $600. If I had put it on ebay without the key word of Meissen and instead had used "porcelain figure" it still might have sold it but my chances of it reaching the high price were slim.

Here are some of the sites that I use for research:

1) Google Images (describe item in search box)

2) Denby Pattern Site (English Pottery)

3) Bookfinder Site to search for book titles or authors

4) Artnet It is a subscription based site but they do allow you to look up artists. You are not able to access auction information unless you are a member. If you buy art work from yard sales or thrift stores, this site is very useful.

5) Dating Belleek Wares Belleek is famous for porcelain. Some of the older pieces are paper thin and so beautiful. The company is Irish and many of the pieces are decorated with clover.

6) Morning Glory Antiques This site has an area designated for researching jewelry.

7) Encyclopedia of American Silver Marks

8) Art Pottery Links Very useful site for researching pottery.

9) Studio Pottery a site that has over 7,300 pages of information on studio pottery. It's based in the UK but includes pottery from all over the world.

10) Artfact This is actually a posh version of eBay. It features live auctions from around the globe. It also lets you search for artists and items.

11) Hi+Lo Modern This is Mid Century Modern eye candy at it's best. I could spend thousands of dollars wandering around this site, sticking item after item in my virtual cart if I wasn't just so darn thrifty. It's a great research site for anything MCM with fabulous photos and detailed information about designers.

12) Nancy Drew Even Nancy Drew has a site with valuable information about collecting her books.

This list is from my bookmark file on my Mac and therefore very personalized to what I research. Your own list might be very different. People love to share and sell information and many subjects on the internet. You will most likely find a site on something that you collect or sell.

A friend of mine who sells clothing tells me that there are forums online where people send in photos to ask the advice of other sellers. There seems to be a forum on every subject out there. Find the forum that you need and ask your questions.  Another option for research is to take an item to a posh Auction house. I used to take items to the Pacific Galleries Auction House in Seattle. They allowed people to bring in one item each on Thursday mornings. The auction house would give advice on who made it, what period it was from and sometimes a rough value of the piece.

Research is what I love about this job. I look forward to arriving home after a day of yard sales with a box of mystifying items and start sleuthing away on the internet or using my own personal library of collector and design books.

While I don't own a private investigator's license I do in fact carry around a magnifying glass with me. And sometimes I'll be spotted wearing a hat like this which is at least in the ballpark of a Sherlock Holmes hat. I guess a part of me still pretends that she is a P.I.

simple warm bread

Simple warm bread can be a paradox in a gluten free world. Well I suppose you can have simple, warm bread but more times than not it will taste similar to cardboard mixed in with a sprinkle of salt. This is a part of the blogging world that I struggle with; food. Some of my favorite bloggers out there are constantly creating the most delectable food on the planet and taking fancy, gorgeous pictures of it. I always visit, try not to stay long and really try not to let my heart sink into a little bit of sadness of all the foods that I cannot enjoy. Posie made this today and my mouth watered in envy. Luckily I have Shauna to visit who has devoted an entire blog to gluten free food. But she married a chef and the food they create daily is incredible. So I end up with a little chef envy visiting her blog. I just don't make the foods that they make. I try and sometimes I succeed but there are lots of little gluten free failures next to my name too. I tried to make Trader Joe's Brownies last Monday. You wouldn't expect much to go wrong with a package mix for gf brownies right? They were a horrible chocolate mess gone totally wrong which just doesn't happen with chocolate. It's a forgivable ingredient that usually taste heavenly from ingredient, to mix to finished product. Not TJ's brownies though. They went straight in the trash. Some bloggers found it okay while others didn't complain but they didn't say too many warm things about it.

Bread though is another story. I haven't dared try to make my own bread since going gluten free. I keep making lots of excuses why I don't try. Maybe a part of me just would feel too hopeless to go down the road of baking bread when the memory of using whole wheat flower is still fresh in my memory. It would be like I was fully admitting that I won't ever have proper sour dough bread again.

I've tried a few gf breads but they are generally only edible to me when I toast them and smoother them in something that makes me forget the taste of this product trying to call itself bread. I've been pretty happy with Glutino's Flaxseed bread. It at least feels healthier than some of the other products on the market. It has a little bit of flavor but they only sell it frozen.

Whole Foods offered a morning of Gluten Free samples a couple weeks ago. Dave was off to Texas with work so the children and I found our closest Whole Foods and made our way there. I don't know if I'm exceptionally picky or that I like a lot of flavor in my food but I found nearly all the Whole Food gf line to be very dull. Some items were too sweet without enough salt, others too weak in flavor. I did like the cupcake but only because of the frosting. I mean frosting is good on anything or should I add delicious on everything. It's frosting.

I was so disappointed with everything until I put this in my mouth:

This is by far the best gf bread that I have ever tasted. It's made by the Grindstone Bakery in Sonoma CA. When I took that first taste though it was like I tasted something from the old world. It is doughy but not too heavy. What made it so unique was the fermented flavor. As someone who consumes a jar of Bubbies sauerkraut every week, a fermented flavor was a benefit. I gave Dave a taste when he returned home and he said it reminded him of bread that we used to eat at a restaurant called Stones in Avebury, England.

From a frugal point of view, it's somewhat pricey. You do get what you pay for. It is packed full of nutrition. My favorite is their Sprouted Seeds Bread. It includes: whole quinoa, whole millet (both stone ground at the bakery in Sonoma), purified water, sprouted pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds, raisin juice, Xantham Gum and Sonoma Coast Sea Salt. And nearly all of it is organic. I paid around $9.00 for a fresh loaf at the Community Market in Santa Rosa. They bring it fresh every Tuesday and Friday. How refreshing to have bread nearly straight from the oven.

 

There is going to be a Gluten Free Meet & Greet in Sebastopol on November 11th. Lots of free samples and did I mention wine? So looking forward to this event.

3 vamps & 1 leopard

Keiran's cape was $1.50 at St. Vinnie's, teeth $1.75 at a joke shop, pants he pulled out of his dresser, shirt was his sister's turned inside out so it wouldn't show any remotely feminine sparkles.

Here is my vamp princess (her choice I swear...it had nothing to do with my obsession with this show). Cape .99 cents from St. Vinnie's, dress (on sale at Macy's is actually going to be her Christmas dress). She had a brown thrifted gown which I bought for a dollar but Cerys thought this dress would be much more fitting for a vampire princess. Her fangs were $18 but they are reusable and fabulous. Shoulder hole on cape happened by Cerys playing in her cape daily up until Hallowe'en. What can you do?

Every year I want to create the perfect costume. Every year I've got this, that and the other thing going on that prevents me from focusing my time on our festive attire. At this point I can't even find my Berina presser-foot which I'm a bit panicked about with Christmas just around the corner.

I went to a yard sale where a women was obviously obsessed with every thing leopard. She had at least 75 stuffed animals of leopards, the 1980 high wasted pants that I am painfully wearing, the leopard mask and countless other leopard theme things that I didn't buy.It's one of those sales where a collection has gone terribly wrong. The pants were .50 cents (she should have paid me to take them), the mask .25 cents and the hair band .25 cents. The jacket I think was $7.00 from a yard sale a couple years ago and the boots were my find of last summer.

Dave went as a Vamp too. Teeth $18. He used one of his black work shirts and blank pants and he was done.

Dressing up doesn't mean spending heaps of money on something that you may use once or twice. Our favorite part of dressing up is creating an outfit from scratch even if it takes us a few weeks to find all the missing pieces. We love going to a thrift store with a million costumes in mind, waiting to see what idea pops out at us.

Keep your crazy thrift Hallowe'en finds coming. I'll close the Apron giveaway on Saturday, November 7th.

Here are some photos of a neighborhood in Santa Rosa where we went trick or treat in. The entire street is closed off to cars and people go way out to celebrate. I mean seriously way out.

This is a house on McDonald Ave. that was used in the movie "Scream".

I hope this witch doesn't mind being in this photo. Doesn't she look fabulous?

In-n-out boo-ger

more from the In-n-out Boo-ger

 

This house had so much going on that it made your head spin. I think their party started well before the sun was over the yardarm.

I don't think a house could get more haunted looking.

 

Thriller was blaring loudly creating the ambiance for this scene.

Hallowe'en 09, Santa Rosa, California.

hallowe'en giveaway

It seems like my life exists in boxes at the moment. Half of our packed boxes are waiting patiently in the garage until we move into our next purchased house. I keep reaching into a drawer for something in the kitchen only to realize that it is still packed. With fall slowly seeping into Northern California I realize that I have an itching to do some canning. My box of apples keeps reminding me every time that I am in the kitchen. Yet I can't think of a single canning item that is within arms reach. It's somewhere in a boxed marked with a sharpie that reads LTS (long term storage). I needed embroidery thread to finish my owl felting and found one single color in my craft box. How can that be? And embarrassing as it may sound, I can only locate three pairs of socks. I have to keep rotating them through the wash often in order to have a pair to wear. How did I not pack socks in our for the Rental boxes? Packing is such an odd experience.

I found a box a couple weeks ago with some of my etsy store items. Last year I listed some Hallowe'en aprons that I had crafted. It was only today when I decided to wear my own Hallowe'en apron to bake some cookies that I thought about doing a Hallowe'en Giveaway.

I kept the design very simple. Despite my blog name and obsession with aprons, I much prefer the less frilly type of aprons. In fact this design doesn't have a single ruffle, pleat or gathering. It measures 17 1/2" x 12 1/2". The apron strings measure 71 inches in total. If you would like to win this apron, please tell me your craziest thrifted Hallowe'en item ever. Mine has to be the leopard print pants that I'm currently wearing that has a waist that I swear goes up to my rib cage. While it isn't an out there kind of crazy, I feel just so silly in them. giving thanks to whoever decided for low waist jeans.

Have a wonderful and safe Hallowe'en.