All Dressed Up

I've been creating my whole life in one way or the other.  Music.  Gardening.  Crafting cool stuff out of old stuff.  The tools are different but the process is surprisingly similar.

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It's all about the lights. Can't wait to see these on display!

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Urban chic magnets from faucet handles and old jewelry. Which one is your favorite?

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Blingy tree.

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We took the last two months to reorganize the workspace.  Almost-empty nest from another child doing what you raise them to do-grow up and have a life--left a room to spare for the first time in like,EVER.  My mom’s old china hutch with a coat of paint , an awesome work table built by Bill, and my collection of glass birds for inspiration.  We’re organized and ready to get back into gear! 

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Time to restock Monday night we were setting up at Sugar Plum and I say, put out all the little frames, there's not enough out. That's all there is sweetie, Bill says. Huh. Really? I say. (As if he would LIE for goodness sake.) So I got busy.

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We're in the mood for love!

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This week was our first ever multi-day indoor craft show. Sales exceeded our expectations (which was a good problem!). At the end of the second record-breaking day, rather than go home and rest I stayed up late creating to fill in our shrinking inventory. So on day 3, what sold? Practically everything ELSE. What I learned - RELAX and ENJOY. These babies will sell next show.

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Every one of our trees has an angel. Sometimes obvious, sometimes not. Can you find it?

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These doorways have such potential, don't they? If given a choice which one would you choose to step through, and what's on the other side?

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Today's task: make a Christmas tree only from today's estate sale finds. Mission accomplished.

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Estate Sale-ing 101 
Lesson #4: The last day of the sale We rarely get to the first day of estate sales. Most of them start on Thursday or Friday, and the day job tends to frown on playing hooky to go browse through a dead person's house. (I know, right?). Day 2 yields cool stuff, though. Today was warm and humid, the house had no air conditioning, and the seller sat sweltering behind her table as I brought my bag full of goodies for pricing. Ten bucks, she said without looking in the bag. Did I get my $10 worth? You decide.

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I scheduled 6 craft shows between now and mid-December. What have I done...

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Estate Sale-ing 101 Lesson #3: You know you picked good stuff when everybody wants it We did well at the craft show yesterday. We would've done better if we'd sold our props too. "Where did you get that fabric?" "Is the candlestick for sale?" "Do you sell this bunting?" I took to putting NFS tags on some things after being chided by a purple-clad lady (down to the toenails) for not selling something to her.

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We're ready to leave at oh-dark-thirty for the show tomorrow. The new booth configuration takes more room, making the truck look like the Beverly Hillbillies, minus granny's rocking chair. I need a bigger truck, he says. Guess we better do real well tomorrow.

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From this...to that. Our shop name, Trail's End Collection, gives homage to the stunning "End of the Trail" image of the weary rider on his even wearier horse. Bill says he likes it because he's felt that way in his life, and feels like he's come home. (Okay, insert "awwwww" here.). When we first started selling at craft fairs, we built a Southwestern theme with Indian print table covers (yes, estate sale finds) and our sign complete with sunset and a cactus. I love the desert and what our shop name means but thought it was time to move to a vintage-shabby theme. This here is a preview, more to come after our new look debut on August 23rd.

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Sometimes a box starts out as a box, and stays a box. But sometimes its journey is a little more complicated. For example, the treasure chest there in the back. It was a thrift store find on 50% off day that first became a purse by adding handles and hardware but I didn’t like the result so there it sat. Now I think this little dusty box will finally find its way home.

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Do you have to be in love to enjoy making heart shaped things? I don’t know but it sure seems to help.#jewelry heart #happyanniversarybill #trailsendcollection #love