Apron Thrift Girl

May Day Baby

I loved each and every comment you all left on the Pulling at the Heartstrings post. It didn't take away my sadness but I felt so connected with many of you that are experiencing a similar emotion. I didn't feel alone. I was watching Mad Men yesterday (season 1 episode 3) and there is a scene where the single mom talked about going on walks to clear her mind. The other moms could not understand this concept. They asked her "well where are you going?" as if one had to walk with a purpose in the 1960's. They couldn't just take a walk to get some fresh air. I don't know if that was really a typical mindset of the 60's or just with these women. I'm glad that so many of us live with intention. That we can take a walk or write a blog post to clear our minds. I felt that as I read your comments. We think about what we do throughout our day and we think about our children and about their future. Even to the point where it hurts. 

I'm going to just post a photo of Keiran today and spend the rest of the day preparing for his birthday with a little bit of thrifting where I can sneak it in.

 

We are planning an entire Birthday celebration weekend with a visit to Fairyland in Oakland, a stop at the Farmer's Market, some miniature golf and a homemade chocolate cake. Keiran has planned it all.

Have a lovely weekend and a lovely May Day.

xoxo Selena

collecting Denby Pottery

My mother-in-law is pretty fabulous. She loves to cook, loves to eat, loves to craft, loves to shop and loves to collect dishes. She has very similar tastes to me so we get along splendidly. She introduced to the world of Denby Pottery in England. When she opened up her teak Danish Modern sideboard for the first time and showed me her Denby collection it was love at first sight. When Dave and I picked out our wedding dishes it was Denby as our first choice.

During my four years in England one of my favorite places to visit was a Denby factory outlet in a little village called Street. I used to walk up and down the aisles trying to figure out what item I needed for my set or worse, which new pattern to start collecting. 

My favorite ever pattern is Midnight. I think it was produced in the early 80's.

I own one teapot, 4 dinner plates and a handful of cups and saucers.

It's very collectible and usually too expensive for me to buy. I used to have a saved search on eBay but I never could win anything since it went too high in price.

This is the Cotswold pattern. Probably my second favorite. I love the textured finish to the outside.

I found these bowls on my birthday at the Salvation Army in San Rafael. They were a bit pricey at $2.99 each but these are somewhat hard to find. They hold ice cream perfectly.

This is the Reflex pattern and is relatively new (last 10 years). The first two patterns are considered vintage.  

Macy's sell Denby but my favorite patterns are the vintage ones from the 70's which are harder to find. If you want to get an idea of other patterns check out eBay and search under Denby. I find Denby in thrift stores, antique stores and Craigslist. I love my mother-in-law's idea where she collects a few pieces of a lot of patterns so that she'll never grow tired of her dishes. Do you have seasonal dishes? What's your favorite brand & pattern?

pulling at the heart strings

We finally bought an external drive and Dave has been uploading all of our old CD's of photos to their new home. It didn't take me long to start feeling a bit sad as I looked through the memories of the beginning of parenthood. What is it about looking at photos of our babies that brings tears to my eyes?

This is a photo of Cerys and Dave in Las Vegas. We went to see an old car museum with Cerys who was a year and a half old at the time. Even typing this post brings a lump to my throat. Is it that I want to experience and feel this time over again with her? Do I miss that younger version of Cerys?

I adore Cerys as a 10 year old. She has such a sense of humor, she's great to converse with and she loves me for the most part unconditionally. All I have to do is put a new tablecloth on our dining room table and she'll compliment me with her entire heart and soul. "Oh mama, that looks so good" she'll say with such enthusiasm.

I suppose in ten years when I look back at her 10 year old photos, I'll wish I was here now, where I am currently. Time is so strange and I feel that having children makes it all the stranger. I'm such a nostalgic sap and it doesn't take much for me to be overflowing with emotions.

Sometimes I want more children just for the selfish reason of wanting to keep experiencing being a new mother over and over again. On Saturday Keiran turns 8 and while he still feels so young, he seems so old. So many facebook posts from friends state comments like "how can I have a 10 year old?"  I have a hard time letting go of the idea that my baby is getting older. It used to annoy me that my parents still consider me the baby. Or worse call me their baby. Maybe now I can sort of understand this longing to hold onto the past. I want my children to get older so that I can experience their growth and yet I still want to keep them as babies, holding them closer to me.

What a conundrum parenting is. My heart hurts this morning and I suppose there isn't a cure for this. We shan't have more children even when my broody body tells me to. I've already tried to fill this need with hamster, cat, chickens and a dog. Nothing compares to a child though.

I suppose this is the time in my life that I should stop looking at photos or probably focus on something else. Maybe focus on a multitude of things.

I still have a strange idea that when Keiran graduates from high school that my life will be over. My children are my life. For those parents whose children have moved out and started their adult life, is there a time you realize that it's a new stage of your life? Dave keeps telling me that in 11 years it will be time for me and him. Yet do I know him as anyone else other than the father of my children? What if we look at each other and can't figure out how to be just "us"?

This wasn't my planned post for today. There are times when I have something else in mind to write but these thoughts keep going through my head. I don't feel at peace until I express how I am feeling. I hope you don't mind this not-so-thrifting-post today.

xoxo

Selena

Making Money with Focus Groups & Mystery Shopping

I'm a little nervous today. Four hours from now a group of people are coming into my home to talk to me about how I clean my dining room wood floor. They will be here for two hours and in that time they are going to watch how I clean and discuss with me my cleaning techniques.  Funny enough I'm being paid to do this: $150 in return for two hours of my time.

Sounds sketchy? Back in February I decided that I wanted to be more creative with how I bring in money.
Besides the ReSelling, I'm always look at ways to bring in more income. I was looking into the Job pages of Craigslist after my friend Deborah mentioned how she looks there every day for jobs. I really love to look at the jobs (gigs) in the Creative & Writing sections. Some of the posts are so intriguing. Someone offered a writing job to write descriptions about their natural toys. I emailed them but never heard back. That is the downside of looking for work on Craigslist; many never reply. As a word of caution there are some dubious jobs on there as well. Do your research on any job you consider including a simple google of a person's name or check out the business at the Better Business Bureau.

I ran across an ad on Craigslist from Focus Groups looking for people to interview. This began my research into the world of Focus Groups. Companies want opinions about many things from the taste of a product, what you think of a brand, how a sales ad might encourage you to buy something or even how you clean a floor. They find this information valuable and pay focus groups to find people to interview. The focus groups in turn pay the people they interview.

As I was writing this post I received an email from Focus Forward with a link to a number of questions. The focus group wants to find ideal people for the group so they first send you to an online survey. The one I just answered wanted people who will check into an online bulletin board to discuss something to do with patio and lawn equipment. They offer Compensation for the 3 week online bulletin board; $250. Each visit to the bulletin will last around 30 minutes (one visit each week). What I love about focus groups is that they pay well for your time and answers. 

I tried looking into Mystery Shopping at the same time. I joined Market Force but every job that came up paid too little for my liking. One job wanted me to hang out at a grocery store for 45 minutes and I would have been paid $7.00. Market Force sent me an email just today mentioning that one of their customers is offering 45% more money to mystery shop. I may check it out again.

Here are some Focus Groups that I found in my search:

• Focus Forward Online
• Find Focus Groups (where I began my search-type in your state/city)
• Nicholas Group
• Fieldwork (San Francisco)
• Fieldwork Twitter page
• Plaza Research
  
• Fleischman Field Research
  

I took part in a Survey about Disneyland a month or so ago. It was an online questioner. I only received a dollar for it but it took me about 8 minutes or so. I love being given this opportunity though to earn a little more money for my opinions. I certainly have a lot of them so why not?

Thrift Share Monday - Apr 26

The weekend was beautiful and perfect for the two parades in our area. Thrifting on the other hand wasn't so brilliant. There was only one sale on Friday so I chose to stay home and catch up on work. Saturday I picked up Shara at 7:15am in order to attend a lovely sounding sale out in Kenwood. The sale was dreadful. Not only did it mostly consist of uninteresting items but they were left out all night and were wet from the dew.

We drove on to the gorgeous town of Sonoma in an attempt to salvage the day. We did the best at an estate sale but overall the day went downhill from there. There weather was a pretty perfect California day so it appears that people were enjoying it rather than staying at home to sell their unwanted wares. I didn't mind coming home early though to enjoy the sun and warmth.

Here's a few items that I found.

This must be the silliest thing that I collect. Silk thread on wooden spools. I never seem to use them, I just simply adore them. I display them in glass bottles and merely enjoy looking at them. These were a steal at .10 cents each. Are you a silk thread collector? What do you do with them?

 

Who can resist vintage office supplies? I found two boxes of vintage writing paper and a package of vintage typewriter paper. I'm certain that both of these items are definitely Mad Men quality. Cathe Holden has some craft suggestions here for using vintage typewriter paper complete with some free downloads. My favorite thing to do with this textured paper is to actually print off invoices for customers and send them along with their purchased item. I paid $1.50 for the three.

This funky bowl would not have lured me to it without it's lovely powder blue color. I'm not sure what to do with it but I had to have it. $3. The napkin underneath is Vera, my only Vera find of the day for .25 cents. 

I'm not really into stamps. I love the concept of them but the ones I really only use are to price my items to sell at vintage holiday markets. When I saw this Stampin' up Recipe Card set for $5 though I knew it was something I could use. I love Recipe Cards and the idea of stamping my own left me excited.

I tend to balance the money spent on my to-keep purchases with books to sell in my bookshop and items for Etsy and eBay. It not only pays for my purchases but adds funds to my business checking account. I'll be doing some more ReSelling posts in the next few weeks including what a ReSeller's work week looks like.

What did you find this weekend? Share it here with your link on Thrift Share Monday.

How to Make a Vintage Button Art Display

Want to know how to make a Vintage Button Art Display?  Head on over to Curbly to see my tutorial. It's my last guest post for the week.

How many buttons are you going to admit having in your own collection?

Have a fabulous thrifting weekend everyone.

xoxo

Selena

celebrating green

Does anyone else feel a bit funny about Earth Day? While I won't argue that I appreciate Earth Day it does feel that it is a day that many conventional companies all the sudden show their green side. I keep receiving emails from a clothing company that they are featuring an eco children's activity in their store. It's the same company that has been rumored to slash clothing and throw the destroyed items in their dumpsters. It's almost as if Earth Day gives some of the regular brands an excuse to play with the already green brands and companies.

At the same time I am in favor of the green movement spreading the message in any way. I still remember living in England with a baby and having to drive all the way into London to the only store in the country that sold anything remotely natural and organic.

I just looked up the store, Green Baby, and got goosebumps when I saw their labels on some of the products. What a flashback. I read their about us story and they had only opened up in June of 99 and Cerys was born in January of 00. Their store was so tiny but it meant everything to me. I bought all of her organic unbleached cloth diapers (nappies) there. It was just the beginning of my green adventure.

It was difficult to find organic food at that point let alone clothes and baby toys. Lots of family member thought we were rather odd. We had no idea that the organic and green movement would be what it is today just ten years later. I remember going to a used book store in Glastonbury and trying to get my hands on anything about natural living. Nearly all the books were from either the 70's or right around 1990. Much of the information was dated but it gave me a starting place on how to live green. The first book that I read was Debra Lynn Dadd's "Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise". I don't know where I found the book but I remember reading it during the first week after Cerys was born. This book shaped my life to what it is now.

My thoughts about living Green are very similar to frugality. I believe in the freedom to make choices on where to be green. As I confessed a few posts ago, I haven't let go of my Best Foods Mayonnaise (I still need to try the suggested Trader Joe's kind) because in that situation taste trumps organic and natural. That is a rare example though. We use tiffins for our school lunches but the occasional plastic baggie will go into the tiffin to hold some ice cubes. I tried to go down the path of dressing in organic clothes but I quickly grew tired of spending so much money for all beige-somewhat-dull clothes and instead switched to 2nd hand.

Many of my green choices in a way have to do with frugality. It seems that we are are making green choices because it can often be cheaper. Spending less could definitely be considered a green choice.

I went to a food co-op this week in search of some supplies to make my herbal ice tea. I was surprised to see that they were going to charge me .10 cents for a paper bag. Another confession, I buy the reusable bags but end up taking them to rummage sales and forget to use them at the grocery store. And maybe I just don't have enough incentive to bring my own. I always fill the brown bags with items to go back to the thrift store so I don't feel that they are ever wasted during the time that I have them. Yet here I was being charged to buy them and something in my head said "bring your bags next time".

I'm rambling today about different thoughts that have been running through my head lately. Let me leave you with a small list of green ways you can be frugal. To me frugal green is really the spirit of Earth Day that I wish to celebrate.

• Buy 85% of your household items from thrift stores & garage sales
• Shop Discount stores such as Grocery Outlet for organic and natural foods
• Support local co-ops and stock up when they have sales
• Teach your children to recycle. Ours do all the recycling and every week at the farmer's market they get a treat of honeycomb.
• Instead of hotels & rental cars do a Home Exchange. We did and have made friends for life through this experience.
• Make or Upcycle birthday and holiday gifts
• Make your own household cleaners using the book Clean House Clean Planet
  
• Make your own cosmetics, essential oil blends & shampoos with books from Storey Publishing
• Create a buying club with friends and buy wholesale from Frontier Co-op
• Start a babysitting co-op
• Barter for goods and services in your community. (For those in Sonoma County you can do this on our Sono-Ma Sharing Big Tent Group in our classifieds section)
• Carpool to Garage Sales & Estate Sales with a group of thrifters
• Throw a Clothing Swap Party twice a year
• Organize a park or beach clean day with other families. Take a potluck dish to share when the work is finished

There are lots of very expensive ways to be green out there but living green isn't about necessarily buying an organic couch with bamboo legs for $2,000. Live simple, live frugally with the earth in mind and you'll really achieve the art of being green.

Do you have a suggestion for our Frugal Green list? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Meeting Suze Orman

I receive weekly emails from Eventful that tells me know what is happening in my area for the next couple of weeks. When I saw that Suze Orman was going to be at our local Indie bookstore Copperfields I first thought that I had read it incorrectly. Or maybe Eventful had made a mistake.

I went to the Copperfield's site and saw that yes Suze Orman was going to be in their store. I didn't quite understand how they managed to land someone so famous in their fabulous bookstore but I wasn't going to argue. I invited my friends Kathleen & Shara along for the event.

Although I had seen Suze on Oprah a few times and I loved her energy, I didn't know much about her. Her first book came out in 1995. She told us that she used to go to bookstores to talk and sometimes only one person would be sitting there surrounded by empty chairs. Other times not one single person would show up. She was clever though and called over all the booksellers in the store and gave them the presentation. They went on to encourage customers to buy her book and it started selling from word of mouth. She said that she spoke in 27 cities. Her first book went on to sell 800K in hardcover before it went to softcover.

I personally love hearing about someone's story before they are well known. Not that I'm going to be at her level but I've organized workshops and sometimes one person had signed up. What I have learned in the last few months is success really isn't just necessarily stumbling upon it, it's working your tail off to get there.  Suze has over 1 million followers on Twitter and you know what? She answers all of the tweets that she receives. How lovely is that? In fact I did send her a tweet and she did reply. She mentioned in her reply tweet these two men.

They came into the back of the store right before the talk was set to begin and they went wild. They too couldn't believe that Suze Orman was in our small city. They jumped up and down, the man on the left kept fanning himself as if he would pass out. They had the entire audience in tears because we were laughing so much. When I left the event they were out in the parking lot singing and dancing "we met Suze Orman! We met Suze Orman!"

She shared a very warm story about choosing the Santa Rosa store for her book tour. Her publishers were asking her to go to New York. She told them Santa Rosa. She typically has 10K-50K people in each audience, not the 100 or so people that came to see her in our indie bookstore. She said she wants to be touched by us and she wants us to be touched by her. I adored her at that very moment.

This attitude is what really took me by surprised. She was so darn authentic and real. I mean seriously I felt that she was talking to each one of us personally. She shared with us "that honest is what moves a product not a "buy, buy, buy" message".  She told us that she cares about every one of us and "advice is given by someone who cares about you." Let me tell you, I could feel that right down to my heart.

Suze and I share a similarity in that we want people to feel empowered about money. I want you to be able to make choices about living on less rather than money being in control of you. She wants you to feel confident. She said we are supposed to feel whole and content all of the time. Life isn't about dreading Sunday afternoon and feeling relieved on Friday at 5pm.

 

Shara & Suze

How many of us wake up on Monday and feel happy and content? I was having dinner with Cathe Holden a couple of months ago and complained to her that I wasn't enjoying selling books any more. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the process of selling books, it's just that I didn't enjoy buying books with all the competitive and not-always-so kind other booksellers. It's can be a very negative energy out there in the thrift buying world and I must admit it is starting to wear me down. I really try to surround myself with positive people who genuinely care about the world. People who think about others before themselves.  Cathe wisely told me that I should figure out what I want to do and make a job based on that.

Okay so that sounds simple enough but in practice does it work? Well let's just say she planted a seed in my head that is just growing and growing and growing. I do want to wake up on Monday and love what I do and be successful at it. I'm working at the moment in creating that very business. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am.

me & Suze

Suze asked us "what can we do to make ourselves whole?"  We all know that going to mall is a quick fix but not only does it rack up debt on our credit cards, in the end we have shopping guilt on top of the debt. Does retail shopping make us feel whole? I don't think so.

Does thrifting make us feel whole? That is a good question. Sometimes I do use thrifting as an emotional band-aid but my cost is little. I can be out the entire day and spend $20 at thrift stores. I can turn around and sell it at my yard sale for possibly the same price if not more a few months later. It probably still isn't a good habit when one is depressed but it is a relatively cheap one.

Thrifting does make me feel whole. It meets so many different needs.

• I have the satisfaction of buying something for little money.
• I get to bring in high quality, beautiful items into my home.
• I am helping the planet by recycling something someone else bought and didn't want. 
• I get to be a part of an incredible thrifting community that has brought me friendship and the opportunity to meet like minded people.
• I get to learn about being patient and not rushing out to buy the crock pot that I wish I had right now. I still need one but I will wait until I run across one at a garage sale. Finding it will be so much more satisfying than running to Target this second and buying one new.
• I have the ability to teach my children the power of the Thrifted Dollar.

Thrifting isn't just a hobby, it's a lifestyle. Each of us plays our part when we run into people and we share with them how much we paid for a pair of Lucky jeans. ($5) We are sharing knowledge that there are other ways to live besides spending way too much money every month and racking up credit card debt. We really are part of the solution to this economic problem. It is up to us to share what we can about our thrifty lifestyle. Let's encourage our friends and family to buy 2nd hand. Let's encourage each other to save money where we can. Let's show them how rich we really live without spending a lot of money.

I can't really compare myself to Suze as math isn't my best subject. I didn't follow much of the conversation about bull markets, mutual funds, bonds etc... but hopefully we have something in common and that is wanting to share knowledge about money and empowerment with others. She has her show on CNBC and I have my blog.  I personally want you all to feel rich in your frugality and healthy in mind and spirit. 

How do you help spread the important message of frugality and thrifting?

Leave a comment and enter to win an autographed copy of Suze's latest book Action Plan - New Rules for New Times.

Make a Felted Flower Brooch in Minutes

I'm writing for Curbly this week, a website that is creating a wonderful online community for people who love where they live. Curbly is a place to find design ideas, share your creativity, and learn from experts. It's an online community of people who are passionate about making their homes the best place to be.

When they asked me to do a week of guest posts I went to visit their site. I saw that they had a tab for Mid-Century and SecondHand and I knew that I had to say yes.

Yesterday I gave some tips on how to get the most out of Flea Markets. Today I did a post about making a 5 minute felt flower brooch. Take a look if you have a chance.

Last night I had the honor of meeting Suze Orman. Tomorrow I'll share info about what she had to say as well as a giveaway of her latest book, signed by Suze herself. 

xoxo

Selena

Thrift Share Monday - Apr 19

Do you ever find yourself thrifting and by pure accident you seem to be picking up things that fall into a certain theme? This happened to me on Friday. Despite the fact that I shopped from three different estate sales, I still came away with some German/Northern European themed items. I suppose it could also be a continuation of last week's German Pyramid and Norwegian dish find.

I found these little pictures very hard to resist. Their faces are so innocent and I couldn't help but think of Waldorf when I saw these. It could also be why I am so drawn to little glimpses of Germany since Waldorf originated there. It also fits into my mid century waldorf style that I am going for. I paid $4 for the pair.

This might be Japanese but in the style of a German music Box. It is vintage and only $2 so I went for it anyway. It is unmarked.

This is my favorite piece of the day.....maybe ever. I still can't understand how this was waiting for me on a shelf 3 hours after the sale started. I fell in love with it immediately, especially when she was only $4. It is made almost entirely from wood.

Yesterday I went to an estate sale that began on Friday. Most estate sales are discounted on the last day, sometimes as much as 50% if not more. I went to one on Bainbridge that gave everything away during the last two hours of the sale.

I found a some vintage cards in a drawer that were lovely. When Cerys and I were preparing to leave I noticed a partially opened cabinet with some wrapping paper behind a piano. I took a closer look and found some things that made my heart beat faster.

Vintage Glitter

Vintage Sequins

Vintage cards. (I found at least 50 in total)

Vintage Ribbonette. The blue spool on top is made from cotton. I had an over sized plastic bag full of the items above and more and was charged $10. It made my entire weekend.

My birthday "weekend" (thanks everyone for backing me up on that....although birthday Season was my favorite comment) was fabulous. Dave planned my entire day around food and let me do anything I wanted between meals. Lunch was in Berkeley and it was there that I stumbled upon a school rummage sale and found so many books for my bookshop. Bookselling has been tough in Santa Rosa with so many other booksellers. At this sale, I was the only one in sight. It was a beautiful birthday gift. You know that you are a true thrifter when your birthday revolves around a rummage sale. Thanks also for all your thoughtful comments about health and food. I'm going to start slowly, drink a bit more water and feed my body with more live foods. I had a lovely smoothie yesterday instead of a brownie and I could feel the difference immediately. even when that brownie was calling my name loudly.

Do you have a Thrift Share Monday post? Please add it below. I've really enjoyed visiting your blogs and reading your thrifting posts.

xoxo Selena