Estate Sale Finds 10-26-2015

We went to 6 estate sales on Friday and only bought stuff at the first one we stopped at.  Don't ya just hate it when stuff is over priced?  Another thing I can't stand is when you walk in and they immediately say "No deals today - full price only."  Honestly, wouldn't you rather sell this stuff than have it sitting there 3 days later?  Truth be told, when they do that, I silently think to myself "I hope that's still sitting here when your stupid sale is over."   :-)

So this is what we came home with this week.  Two packages of new paint brushes.  I go thru paint brushes like crazy, so we always snap them up.  7 whole skeins of yarn and a portion of another skein.  Added bonus - I liked the colors.  I'm making another blanket so I grab nice colors at estate sales whenever I see them.

An almost full can of Minwax and a 3/4 full bottle of Mod Podge.  A utility knife and a folding ruler.  The red handled scoop has some vintage rust on it and matches a kitchen fork I picked up a couple weeks ago, so I will list them together in my shop.  The green tin is a sewing machine accessory box.  I like to fill them with sewing notions and sell them in my shop as well.

Here's another shot of the sewing box.  After I cleaned it up it looked a little better than this....

A quilt rack to re-do....

Ok, I got totally skunked on this one.  So badly in fact that I am almost embarrassed to even admit it.  I found this in a stack of picture frames and got all excited about the hand stitched picture.  It was so pretty and they only wanted $ 2.00 for it.  The glass on the frame was broken, but I didn't care because I was positive the embroidered sampler was worth something....

Then we got it home and I took it out and realized it was a photo print.  Crap - it looked so real.  What an idiot I am.  Here I was thinking I had a BIG find and I got it stuck right in my butt.  LOL.  Oh well, at least I didn't spend much on it and I can re-use the frame for something.  I sure learned a lesson on that one.

Louie picked this up for the lake house...

And I picked this up for the lake house.  Aren't they cute?  I love Precious Moments and have quite a few of them...

LOVE the patina on these brass lion's.  I have no idea what I'll do with them, but for a quarter apiece, I took them.

I grabbed this to hold the bracelets and key chains that I make.  It works perfectly for that!

Some more hangers for my shop....

Full bottles of glue and the exact size and color belt that I needed for handles for the trunk we are currently refinishing.  Louie already has them installed!

And I saved the best for last!  This flag is from the high school I went to in Chicago,  It could possibly be from around the time I went there as it looks pretty familiar.  Louie actually saw it first and held onto it for me until I caught up with him in the room he was in.  He's getting a pretty good handle on the kind of stuff I like.  Go Eagles!!

On another note - here's a new bracelet I'm selling.  It says "Go where the wind takes you" and it's available here.  Don't forget, I do custom bracelets and key chains so get your orders in before the holidays.  I'm offering all my blogger friends a 10% discount on any item from my shop that is over
$ 10.00.   Just use the coupon code blog10 at checkout.    Discount is good until 12-31-2015.  Here's a link to the store.

Ok, I have lots of stuff coming up - a book review for Rizzoli Publishing as well as an author interview, and I have lots of pictures to share from our recent trip to Colorado and Wyoming.   We had an awesome time.   So, see you later this week.

Customized Cuff Bracelets

I've been making customized aluminum cuff bracelets and selling them thru my Etsy shop.   I really enjoy making them and they have been selling pretty good.  Let me show you some of the ones I've done.

A big favorite seems to be bracelets with blogger names on them.  I didn't take pictures of some of the earlier ones (kicking myself in the head) but here's some shots of the ones I did capture....

Distressed Donna Down Home

The Shell Lady....

The Shell King....

....and his queen.....

And of course I had to make one for myself....

I also make bracelets customized to what the customer wants....

Nicknames....

Children's names....

Occupation......

Ham radio call numbers....

Favorite places.....

Popular sayings - I seem to do a lot of beach themed bracelets....

Each bracelet is custom made for you and each bracelet is one of a kind.  I can usually get them made and shipped within 3 days.

This cuff is perfect for sensitive skin because it's made from pure hypoallergenic aluminum. It is silver in color & doesn't leave skin discoloration. Made from pure lightweight silver tone aluminum, these cuff bracelets are often preferred among those with sensitivities to silver. The lightweight aluminum makes it extremely wearable. I have found that with cuffs the best way to put them on is by sliding the opening over the narrowest part of your wrist and then gently turning into the cuff. This helps avoid overworking the metal so that you have a beautiful and lasting treasure.

I have 6 design stamps so far - a peace sign, a heart, a star...

A smiley face, a flower and a square squiggly.....

I also have some copper that I've been experimenting with....

They look cute stacked up too....

I've sold more of the thinner bracelets, which are 1/4" wide.  They sell for $ 22.00.  They make great gifts, either for yourself or for someone you love.

The wider 1/2" ones are $ 25.00 for one line in the larger block font and $ 27.00 for 2 lines in the smaller font.  I haven't listed any in the copper yet, so if you're interested, shoot me an email.

I'm Up and Running and What I'm Making Now

Hi everyone - I hope everybody had a great 4th of July and you are all enjoying the lazy days of summer.   My summer didn't start out lazy at all - in fact, ever since Chablis and I got back from our Sanibel Island trip, I feel like I haven't stopped running.  If you missed my Florida posts, you can go back here to Day 1 of our trip and catch up.

Since then, we've been back and forth to the lake house twice, once for 10 days with my mom and dad, and then again for Louie's birthday when all 3 of our kids joined us for 2 weeks of fun.  I have lots of blog posts to catch you up on everything.   To say I am WAY behind on posts is an understatement.  My laptop crashed a couple of weeks ago and what a shit show that has been.

I work 6 days a week as a coder for an ambulance service coding company and my laptop is my life.  So when it crashed I was really up shit creek without a paddle.  I have a maintenance contract that allows for the tech to come out to my house and repair my computer, but unfortunately it was beyond immediate repair and had to be sent in.  Since we were getting ready to leave for the lake, I had to have a working computer or lose out on 14 days of work.  

I ran to the store and purchased a new laptop, came home, spent 4 hours working on getting my coding programs all installed on it, turned it off and went to bed.  When I got up the next morning and turned on the new laptop, it did nothing...nada....zilch.   I called tech service who told me to just take the new laptop back to the store and have them give me a new one.  I seriously wanted to cry.

So I went back, bought a completely different brand of computer, went home and frantically worked to get everything installed on that one.  The next day we left for the lake and don't think I'm kidding when I tell you I was a nervous wreck about that new laptop working properly.   But I lucked out and it's been working fine, so I spent the first few days of my vacation working as often as I could between fishing and boating to get caught up on all my work.

In between, I've been working on my newest hobby - making cuff bracelets and selling them thru Facebook and my Etsy shop.  The Shell Seeker bracelet is my number one seller...

I also have Life's a Beach...

I Dream in Seaglass Colors.....

My Heart Belongs to the Beach....

 Seaglassaholic.......

I also do custom bracelets like this one for my best friend, who's nick name is Redd.....

My Hinkle Tour best buddy and favorite partner in crime, Moira, loves Sanibel's Ocean Reach, so she got a bracelet to commemorate that....

Good friends Tobias and Becky from Sanibel are the ultimate Shell King and Queen....

And good blogger friend Gail got one with her Ham Radio call sign....

I'm noticing a Sanibel theme here - good friend Cheri from over at The Shell Lady blog got one like this....

There are several more that I've made but unfortunately those pictures are on my crashed laptop.   I know my repaired laptop is back home, so I'm hoping when I return I'll be able to access the rest of my photos.

Anyway, that's a quick run down of what I've been up to.  We are heading home tomorrow so I can get caught up on a lot of stuff there - so much to do.... furniture to refinish, more jewelry to make, blog posts to write.  Oh, and work in between.  My mind is reeling.  

In the meantime, hop over to my Etsy shop where you can check out the bracelets I've already made and if you're interested in a custom bracelet, let me know.   The possibilities are endless and they make cute keepsakes and affordable gifts.