Apron Thrift Girl

Mod Mondays

Mod Mondays at Flavorstitch

I don't think the start of my week can get much better than writing a Thrift Share Monday post here at ATG and now a Mod Mondays post on Flavorstitch. When I came up with Mod Mondays I was really looking for a way to incorporate a bit of Mad Men into my food blog. As you know I heart vintage, especially around the style of mid century modern. I didn't want to call it Mad Men Mondays for fear of infringing on copyright issues on the name so hence Mod Mondays was formed.

Mod Mondays celebrate the vintage flair that encompassed kitchens in the late 50′s, 1960′s and early 1970′s. From the mod designs of Vera Neumann to the fabulous enamelware by Cathrineholm to the wacky and a little crazy recipes that filled magazines such as McCalls. Flavorstitch will features recipes, art, design and style from the Mod era each Monday.

At this point I'm not sure if I will turn it into a Link Share or not. But bloggers can take part and mention their link in the comments on each Mod Monday post. As I mention above, Mod Mondays isn't just about food. It is about anything that fits into the style of Mod whether it is a recipe you make, a piece of art you own or a 1960's car that you drive.

Did anyone notice Ashton Kutcher's house in No Strings Attached? His home was full of MCM furniture and design. He even had a a Broyhill Brasillia dresser which made my heart skip a beat.

This week's Mod Monday post featured a vintage ad recipe from French's Mustard.

You can read about my post here and find out if French's Cheeseburgers were fabulous or a complete recipe fail.

I hope you'll join me next week for Mod Mondays.

What's your favorite 1960's cookbook with some crazy recipes?

Thrift Share Monday - May 30

Miguel Covarrubias - Pagaent of the Pacific

Friday began in San Rafael at an estate sale that listed Mid Century Modern items.

Have you ever been to a sale that feels like most of the good stuff had already been removed either by family (which I am okay with of course) or perhaps a pre-sale? This sale just felt that way. I bought hardly anything although I did find a small gold pin and two sterling pins which was a great way to start the weekend.

I love finding sterling or gold.

It still made the drive worth it. The only sale in our area didn't look very interesting.

I spotted this print in an estate sale ad that was to begin on Saturday. I recognized it because I own another print by Covarrubias. I found my original one on Bainbridge Island when I went thrifting with Jacki. She bought two of them and I bought a single one. My memory is lacking though and I can't seem to remember which one I have since it's been packed away for nearly 2 years now. Jacki, perhaps you remember?

Covarrubias was an amazing artist. I love the fact that he painted animals playing on the equater.

This was my find for the weekend.

Stetson Hat Box

When I spotted this hat box in the closet I gave an excited little woot. Then I looked inside and might possibly have given a little shriek.

This hat is in nearly new condition.

Okay, vintage hat experts....is this a fidora hat that hasn't been shaped? I looked at Royal Stetsons on google images and many of them are referred to at fidoras but they do have the top crease and side creases. I'd love your expert advice. Let me tell you that the price I paid was incredible.

A similar hat that I found on Worthpoint had a wider band than mine but it sold for $300.

My hat still has the original price of $10.

This was another valuable find. This painting is only 4 or so inches tall.

The artist W. M Mitchell is very collectible. One of their painting sold for $250. I found this painting nearly an hour and a half into the sale sitting on a book shelf.

J. M. Garrison

We are spring cleaning this weekend. Sunday we were purging heaps of items in preparation of turning Dave's office into a guest bedroom. I needed a break mid afternoon so we all went to the last closing hour of the sale where I found the hat, map and little painting. I found this photographed signed by the photographer.  Some of his photographs sell for $50.

The contents of the house were a fascinating mix of old California and Native American art from the Northwest. Everything that we saw and touched was so interesting. The book collection that consisted 1950's California State Parks, Jack London books, Rocks and Minerals book and many craft books. There was a huge bead collection that took up an entire surface of a table. The walls were covered in art. Although the house was nearly empty on Sunday afternoon, Dave still found the home so interesting. It's sales like this that make me feel so lucky to be a professional Thrifter.

Gense Flatware set from Sweden - from Friday

 

Here are some items available for you in my Little Shop.

Little Shop Prices are based on price I paid and work involved to take photos, list the item and ship. I do try to keep Little Shop prices low overall unless it's a large item or somewhat rare. If prices are higher than others, it's usually because of the price I paid for an item was higher than usual.

Little Shop recently moved from being a blog based shop to a Storenvy Shop. I had my first order last week and it went so smoothly and easily. I was so excited to list more items today for you.

I hope that you enjoy this week's selection.

Vintage Teal Wallet has been SOLD.

Ladybug Wallet can be found here. Doesn't ths remind you of Vera?

Vintage Crystal Necklace is now available here.

 
Child's Crystal Necklace is waiting for you here.

Did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.

We Thrift  - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Thrift Share:

• Your Thrift Share Monday blog post should include your thrifted finds from the weekend.
• Create a blog post with photos of your items.
• Link your Thrift Share Monday post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Thrift Share Monday post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Thrift Share Monday regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Thrift Share Community.

Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.

How to Create Online Garage Sale Venues

Card Display - To Sell Locally

There seems to be a venue for selling nearly anything that you own. Whether it's on eBay, Etsy, Artfire, at an Auction House or even locally such as Krrb. When I lived on Bainbridge Island I wanted to sell items but to people that I sort of knew rather than on Craigslist to strangers.

So I went into Yahoo and I created an email group called Bainbridge Online Yard Sale. It's a simple email group that allows people to write emails to one centralized address (similar to ReSellers Guild). You can also post photos. I posted about the Yahoo group to another email list that included many island moms. The group started to grow and grow and items started to sell.

When you visit the group you'll find this information:

"This group is designed for those residing on Bainbridge Island.
Bainbridge Island On-Line Yard Sale is for all those items that you would normally sell at a Yard Sale. These are items that you can't afford to just give away, but would like to try and get a little something in return. It is an alternative to having an actual sale in your yard/garage, selling it on Craigslist or putting it in the BI Review. Please feel free to list items that you would normally find at a yard sale.
You may also send out a notice of an actual yard/garage sale that you are having. Enjoy this virtual yard sale group and welcome."

I've since left the group and handed ownership to my friend Katie but currently there are over 850 members on the list. Every day you'll find emails with people listing items for sale or details about their upcoming yard sale.

Recently Katie started a Facebook group page as an extension of the yahoo group. I loved the idea and copied it to create a Sonoma County Online Yard Sale group. 

Another option is to create a twitter feed. This may be harder to use but I've seen it work for something similar to freecycle in San Francisco. You could use the hashtag such as #sonomaYS and list your item for sale. For example "#sonomaYS Card Display, 4 ft tall, good condition, $40". Again this would be the trickiest of the options but it could work.

Another option is using a blog format to sell items. Each person that joins could become a dedicated author. You simply post your photos, post title with price and information about your item. Like Little Shop used to work, you simply edit the post to SOLD once you've been paid for your item.

Feeling simply inspired by writing this post I went and also created a Sonoma County Online Yard Sale yahoo group. I've even listed my first item. If you are local, I'd love you join the list and spread the word.

With the internet it gives us so many options for selling our unwanted items. We are so lucky.

Do you have an online venue that you sell on locally that wasn't listed here?

**updates**

Bacon Covered Pancakes

Flavorstitch

Some of you may have seen the link to my Bacon Covered Pancakes recipe on Facebook yesterday. If not, here it is above.

It's funny but it took me only 2 days in the kitchen (sans Dave) cooking, cleaning, scheming, meal planning and singing to Pandora for me to feel inspired to write again on my Flavorstitch blog. If I had to look back at the time line, I slowly lost my motivation when we began to worry about Dave's job. I moved all that focus on earning money with ReSelling.

What I've most been surprised with during the last 10 days is that while my work time has been cut, I feel more organized than ever. It's almost as if my limited schedule has left me planning my days and hours with better intention. Hence me writing for Flavorstitch again. When I wrote my first post last week about Meatloaf, if felt so good to have an outlet in the late afternoon when the children are playing and Dave is still in San Francisco. It's just me, the kitchen, Pandora, food and my computer.

Flavorstitch isn't just going to just be about food but about vintage kitchenware, vintage design, health eating and life in the kitchen both present day and from the past. I hope you'll pop over to visit every now and then. I have a new button on the sidebar which Cathe Holden cleverly designed for me.

little shop

Another bit of news is that Little Shop has moved from a blog shop to a Shopenvy Shop. Little Shop became a little too much for me in the last couple of months. Each order I had to send invoices, chase people, be chased and other steps that proved very time consuming and confusing. I had planned to move it to my store at my ATG website. I already have it set up for zen cart but I find zen cart tricky. I can't seem to load more than one photo at a time. It was with great luck then when I saw Van's tweet about her new store at Shopenvy.

So far it is super easy to use, list and as Amy said, it's easy on the eyes. Now I wait for my first order. I'll give an update about Shopenvy in a month's time when I've had orders and I've seen the process from start to finish. I really like to understand a venue like this before I recommend it. Of course it's free so you don't have a lot to lose except for the time you spend on it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. And.....whoever places the first order at Little Shop gets a lovely goody bag of vintage delight. Think crafts, ephemera, and other vintage goodness.

Support

It's that time of the month where I look for sponsors for my blog. Do you have a product that you would like to advertise? Do you have an Etsy store that you'd like readers to visit? You can visit my Sponsor page for details about my demographics, stats and costs to advertise here on ATG.

I also have a tip jar which all proceeds go to supporting Apron Thrift Girl (aka - my house fund). ATG is really about sharing. I want to share with you how I am a ReSelling, how I thrift, how I balance (or not balance) life.

Even the smallest amount is a wonderful gift.

It keeps me motivated each morning when I sit down to write my posts.

Another way to support ATG is to use some of my Services on my website. What I love about what I offer is that most of these have a way of returning you some money. It's kind of self sustainable.

If you can think of other ways to support ATG then please contact me. I'd love to hear your ideas.

Thank you again to all of those who read my blog and for those that comment now and then and of course those that comment faithfully every day. I appreciate each and every one of you.

xoxo

Selena

a steampunk car

As we were leaving the Fair Grounds of the Maker Faire to head back to our free parking spot, we saw this incredible work of art: a steampunk car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The owner of this Art Car had a helpful Questions & Answers displayed on the dashboard. Love that it's in a vintage frame. To see more cars like this you can attend an Artcar Fest.

 

I adore the creativity and passion that went into this car. Imagine working 1400 hours on a project like this? Makes my 20 minute crafts pale in comparison.  Seeing a car like this that probably started out as an merely an idea instills hope that you can really create anything that you put your mind to. I hope that this summer will be one of creation for me, Cerys and Keiran.

What do you want to create?

Maker Faire 2011 ~ San Mateo

Maker Faire 2011 - San Mateo, California

Sunday morning we headed to Marin County, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through San Francisco and down south to San Mateo.

I had seen photos about the Maker Faire but seeing it up close and personal was a completely different thing. It was incredible.

Make Magazine (and Craft Zine) is actually a local Sonoma County company which is a part of O'Reilly Media. They are based in Sebastopol.

It was amazing to attend an invent that encouraged so much innovation, creativity and imagination.

If I had to choose an alternative ride to a car, I think this owl contraption would have to be it.

There were movable creatures everywhere.

Some people were in costume.

What do you think of this vest?

This is Kieran, a large puppet on stilts. He was one of our favorites at the Faire.

"Kieran's" owner.

I want that hat.

The Faire was pretty overwhelming. There were so many things to see and way too many people for my liking. For some reason when we were in the small Steampunk area, I seemed calm down a bit and felt relaxed. By far it was my favorite part of the Maker Faire. Although I liked the robots and the crafts, I think I would have loved an entire faire based around Steampunk.

This gentleman had in his hand an expandable fisted glove (aka Punchy Fist) that he'd swing out toward people. Keiran wants to make one of course.

He is a member of the Leage of S.T.E.A.M.

They are monster hunters from the Victorian Age. They had on display their tools as well as a ghost monkey which Keiran was especially interested in.

Another League of S.T.E.A.M. member.

I just adored their passion.

Cerys wearing a Head 'N Home Hats - Steampunk hat. Each hat is handcrafted. The one she is wearing was priced at $178. Each one is a work of art. You can follow them on Facebook.

This lovely booth had members calling over people to come and sit down and write a letter with an old fashion pen and drawing ink. Both children wrote a small letter at the St. Clair Aeronauts booth. Their business card reads "When it absolutely, Positively has to be there........Next Week!" Their purpose is to encourage people to sit down and write letters. They are based in San Jose.

Another member, this one with a sweet knitted octopus on her top hat.

What's not to love about that?

Some of the handcrafted gadgets of the League of S.T.E.A.M.

I'm not sure why I'm drawn to Steampunk so much. Maybe it's the interest in antiques and vintage that speaks to me. The work that these people went into their costumes is admirable.

The children were as much in awe about it as I was. Our goal this summer (we all decided) is "Camp Steampunk" where we craft costume, tools and gadgets. The Handcar Regatta is just around the corner. This year we will be ready.

I'm not sure I could get Dave into a pair of those boots on the right though....

This book is being released in November. I. can. not. wait.

You can pre-order it now on Amazon.

It's written by Thomas Willeford, A Steampunk enthusiast.

The crowds were so intense and we couldn't really see everything. We should have gone both Saturday and Sunday as Cathe Holden suggested to me. Next year we'll arrive Saturday morning, stay in a discounted hotel and attend Sunday as well. The early bird tickets were $50 for all four of us. To me this in incredible value for money. Even Cerys who in her 11th year would usually prefer to stay home and read, has said over and over again to me about how much she loved the Maker Faire.

So much creativity in one place.

Truly inspiring.

Seeing R2D2 made Keiran's day. Keiran has never seen a Star Wars film but he's drawn to anything remotely Star Wars related.

Did you know that there is a club for building R2D2 robots?

There are Maker Faires and Mini Maker Faires across the county. You can even try to create your own Maker Faire here. The next Maker Faire is in North Carolina on June 18th.

As they say on the website, "Our goal is to bring together Makers, Crafters, Inventors, Evil Geniuses, Scientists, Artists, and everyone else for a day of fun and inspiration."

It was simply incredible.

Thrift Share Monday - May 23

Glass Sphere Necklace

The thrifting season seems to have arrived in Sonoma County with countless estate sales, garage sales and rummage sales filling the Garage Sale Classifieds Section of the Newspaper.

Finally.

I began my thrift weekend Friday at a house packed full of collectibles. I bought just a few items though since the prices were rather high and the type of antiques didn't really fit my style. It was a beautiful display though and still worth attending.

Saturday morning, Keiran and I set out to the Petaluma Live Oak (Waldorf) Charter School Rummage sale at the fairgrounds. We were first in the gate and luckily had time to shop before many people arrived. We both could have stayed there for hours rummaging through the books, clothing and toys. Clothing was priced at $5 a bag. The prices were so affordable and the selection fantastic.

Large Longeberger Market Basket $1

We next went to a Church Rummage sale where nearly everything was a dollar except for books that were 5 for $1. We bought an entire box of items including the Longaberger basket for $12.

Les Bernard Necklace

I found this lovely vintage necklace with a Sterling clasp at the estate sale on Friday. Les Bernard can be quite collectible and definitely a name to lookout for. This necklace was marked "Les Bernard."

Copper Etching $2 from the Petaluma Waldorf Rummage Sale

Blue Topaz Pin marked Sterling.

There was so much interest in this brooch it is now for sale in Little Shop.

Mod Tray by H. Howard

Overall a lovely weekend but the best part was attending the Maker Faire on Sunday.

Coming this week on Apron Thrift Girl -

• Maker Faire Photos
• a Steam Punk Car
• Creating Venues for On-Line Yard Sales
• My Thoughts on Faux Vintage

Did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.

We Thrift  - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Thrift Share:

• Your Thrift Share Monday blog post should include your thrifted finds from the weekend.
• Create a blog post with photos of your items.
• Link your Thrift Share Monday post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Thrift Share Monday post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Thrift Share Monday regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Thrift Share Community.

Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.

Montgomery Ward - Christmas Wishbook - 1979 & 1981

Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog 1979

Do any of you remember the Store Christmas Catalogs that children used to pour over for days? I found three of them last weekend at a yard sale. I purchased 2 from Christmas 1979 and another from 1981.

I spent Saturday afternoon visiting the past, taking in every single page. I had both of these catalogs as a child and there are some pages that I so vividly remember. I used to take the scissors to them to create my own "wishbook" of things that I'd dream about owning.

I can't remember the details about why, but there was one year where my parents spent a lot of money at Christmas. We didn't have much money so it was truly a Christmas to remember. They bought me this "jukebox" and a Barbie Dream House. I spent hours in my bedroom with all of the lights off so that I could watch the flashing lights change to the music.

Did anyone catch the Pawn Stars episode where Big Hoss bought the head of the rarest stretch toys?

Fascinating to see the old Lego.

I found a set of these at a rummage sale that I sold for over a hundred dollars. A Wishbook is perfect for not only research but items to keep an eye out for.

Stroller Lane

I played hours and hours with my Barbie Dream House. Of course it was taken over by all the Strawberry Shortcake dolls that Barbie and Ken adopted a few years later. Then it truly was a happy home.

My brother was completely crazy over Star Wars. Actually he still is. And apparently his young daughter of 5 years is following in his footsteps. Keiran and his uncle always seem to be discussing anything related to Star Wars when they are together.

1981 - and with that year came a new doll on to the scene and my life was forever altered.

Welcome to the World of Strawberry Shortcake.

I'm not sure what attracted so many young girls to her sweet pink ways....

I can remember like it was yesterday, walking into Mervys in search of the girl's department. I can still see a Blueberry Muffin shirt hanging on the rack and actually reaching out to grab it. I think it was one of the first things that I really remember spending money on. I was in heaven owning that little shirt.

Sigh.....

1981 prices.

And be still my heart.

I. want. that. bicycle.

Oh Strawberry Shortcake, how I still adore you.

Can you imagine spending $1389.88 on a VCR in 1981? According to this website, that would be around $3,000 in today's money.

I hit my 700th post last week. I thought I'd give away my extra copy of the 1979 catalog. It doesn't have Strawberry Shortcake or the VCR but it's filled to the brim with toys, lamps, clothing, electronics and more. It is a worn copy but should still be interesting to look through.

If you don't win it make sure to visit Christmas Wishbook website to take a peek at hundreds of wishbook pages from the past.

For extra entries you can do any of the following: (make sure to comment once for each item that you do. For regular readers - let me know which ones that you subscribe to)

• Become an ATG Facebook Fan
• Become a Flavorstitch Facebook Fan (if you adore food - I'm trying it out again with my return to the kitchen)
• Follow ATG on Twitter
• Post about the giveaway on your blog (please include a link and share it with me so that I can visit your blog)
• Stumble this post
• Post about the Giveaway on your Facebook page

Winner will be chosen next Friday and announced on Facebook. Good luck!

ReSelling in a Small Space

Relios~Carolyn Pollack Bracelet ~ Sold $45

How much space do you need to store inventory as a ReSeller?

There are ReSellers that store inventory in their house, their garage, their sheds and some even rent storage unites. As most of you know, it's far easier to accumulate inventory than it is to list and sell it. A ReSeller told me the other day that she just doesn't have the room needed in her small home to store all the packaging supplies and inventory.

Her words stayed with me and as Barney would say "challenge accepted."

I was going to find a solution to her problem.

I visualized myself in a small space, such as our tiny apartment in England where we lived while waiting to move into our next home. It consisted of a living room/bedroom, a kitchen, bathroom and closet. It would probably fit in the size of my current living bedroom.  And I was pregnant which made it feel all that more smaller.

For those that are limited in space but want to ReSell than my advice to you is to think small. The first niche which comes to mind is Jewelry.

Joan Rivers Dragon Fly - Sold for $28

I have a small drawer in a vintage cabinet that I store my listed jewelry. I have another small plastic bin with a lid that I store photographed jewelry and another bin with lid for jewelry to research and photograph. Currently there are 20 jewelry pieces in my store and they all fit in the drawer with plenty room for more.

My shipping supplies for jewelry do include tissue paper, a roll of bubble wrap and small bubble mailers and some very small shipping boxes for fragile items. All of this could fit in one large plastic tub in a closet or a couple of rolling bins that fit under a bed.

Typically jewelry can be found at garage sales and thrift stores. The two items above were purchased in a private sale after I placed an ad on Craigslist. I was looking for broken vintage costume jewelry to use in crafts and sort of fell into selling jewelry by accident. It didn't take long to love the simplicity of it all.

Robert Lee Morris Bracelet - Sold for $100

What I've learned in the four months that I have been focusing on jewelry is that people will pay good money for brands that they love. Much of the jewelry that I purchased from my second private client came from QVC. This is jewelry that anyone can find at yard sales. My favorite brand to look for is Chico's. I see it a lot, it's normally inexpensive and I can sell it anywhere from $14.99-$45.00.

Are you on a limited budget? Start by offering consignment to your friends, family and acquaintances. I just sold some scrap sterling for my parents that brought in $282. After fees they offered me a cut (which I'm not taking - in case you are reading this mom) and I'm sending them a check. Many people don't want to deal with eBay and would love someone that they know to help them out.

Need cheap education? Research different jewelry brands on eBay under completed searches. I was so surprised when I plugged in some of these names like Joan Rivers and found that people were buying her jewelry.

Here are some other niches that don't require too much space:

• Vintage ads from Magazines
• Vintage Clothing Patterns
• Postcards
• Thimbles
• Pens such as Parker (recently sold a Sterling one for $145)
• Ephemera
• Vintage Perfume (Would require some storage of boxes-can't be shipped by air)
• Flatware

If you are limited by space and money these are some ideas to get around that challenge.

Do you have a niche that is small in size and easy to store in a home without a lot of extra room?

ABC Show - Pan Am

For those that love everything 60's, here's a new show coming this fall to ABC. Pan Am stars Christina Ricci. This show looks fabulous. It just might help with the withdrawals that many of us are feeling over the painful wait for the next season of Mad Men.

ReSellers, keep an eye out for vintage Airline items, Pan Am items as well as more interest for retro and mod items from the 1960's.

The Playboy Club, another series based in the 60's starring the dishy Eddie Cibrian will also air this fall on NBC. Anyone remember him from that slightly awkward and very drawn out series Sunset Beach? I swear it took weeks for that darn boat to sink.

I actually have a vintage Playboy club key that I picked up at an estate sale. I never listed it and will keep onto it until the show premiers.

I love summer but I'm sort of looking forward to Fall now.