craft show catch-up (lots of pictures)

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! And that Santa brought you whatever you wanted!! For the last month or so, I was a busy elf myself, working on inventory for two craft shows, and thought I'd show you some of what I made. This was pre-craft show chaos-- trying to sort out what I had already, and what I had to make more of. I set up my display out in the garage, to test it out, which was helpful!

This is my display at the first show, Superstition Farms, a working dairy farm. The event was "Moo-ey Christmas" and featured Santa, hayrides, smores, and a vendor fair on a Friday and Saturday evening. Unfortunately, I did horrible at this show, but it was good practice setting up my booth display. (I don't think any of the vendors did too good; the hayride, petting zoo, and Santa were the main attraction, not us vendors.) The next week, I did a show in downtown Phoenix, the first annual "Phoestivus Market" on a Wednesday evening from about 5 pm to 8:30 pm, and did tons better. This event had a lot of great sponsors to bring people to downtown Phoenix, and it was a beautiful evening for shopping.

Decoupage votive candleholders, made using some of my vintage and found papers-- these look great when they're lit! (they're all sold- yay!- except the Asian newspaper one, second from left).

more decoupage candleholders. The polka-dots on the left were punched from colorwashed vintage sheet music, and the tan paper on the right is actually vintage sewing pattern tissue paper.

I've gotten into sewing felt this holiday season, and I love the way this log cabin stocking turned out!! I'm not sure why no one bought it; don't people hang stockings anymore?? If not, I don't know why- the stocking stuffer presents were always the most fun part of Christmas morning at our house, and it didn't even matter that we didn't have a fireplace. Mom hung the stockings from a bookcase.

another cute decoupage candleholder... I love the way this little guy turned out! Snowmen seem "wrong" to me now that I live in Arizona, but I still love them!

I went kinda overboard making Christmas tree ornaments. I made a number of paper and glitter ornaments, and made a huge mess in the kitchen while I did it. But they do look good hanging on the tree when they sparkle in the tree lights, and thank goodness the Dyson does a good job of cleaning up glitter, among other things!

I've also been making some altered bottle vases; I found a stash of bottles (and other junk) out in the desert, and love the already "aged" finish on them. I can't put out flowers (the cats love to mess with things!), so I like the idea of a vase that can hang on the wall. This one I decorated with vintage music, heat embossing in copper, and a paper vintage-look butterfly, along with some vintage novel text. I love selling things in person, because that way, I can talk to the person looking at things- the woman who bought this said her husband had recently passed away, and ever since, she's been having visions of butterflies, so this piece was "speaking to her" and she had to buy it. I love stories like this, when I get to hear the personal reason behind the purchase!

I also made a number of collages using the 3/4 inch birch plywood I have stashed away. These two pics are horrible lighting (sorry about that!), but I love the way they turned out! They're both 6x6 inch collages with vintage sheet music as the base. The one above features a paper-cut swan, so the "Seven Swans a Swimming" theme was a no brainer to me. I set off the blue shades with some gold accents.

This one is a hand-cut papercut tree, decorated with sparkle glaze, sequins, and glitter candle flames. Again, the focal image was set off with gold acrylic stamping, and I found the perfect quote on the internet. I love Christmas (although it definitely snuck up on us quick this year) and I love crafting, so thanks for peeking at my Christmas crafting!

I survived all three days...

...just in case you were wondering, since I haven't posted: I did survive the entire 3-Day walk, and will be posting photos and a commentary about the experience (it was AMAZING!!) once I get through sorting and cropping all 160 of the pics I took. I needed a day off yesterday to recuperate (and rest up so I could walk again!), and am now trying to re-assimilate into "real" life...

I have survived Day 1 of the Arizona 3-Day!!

I'm using the internet in the Energizer bunny tent at Camp... just wanted to post that I survived day 1!! It's been an amazing experience so far; I walked about 18 out of the 20 miles, wanted to give up but I didn't!! and I know I will sleep good tonight to take on tomorrow's 22.5 mile route.

inspiration links- 1950s fabric!!

I love, love, love 1950's design!! I also love when I find something on the internet that I stumbled across ages ago, and forgot about... this post covers both of those things!!

this blog post is specifically about a new collection of Michael Miller fabric being released that is a tribute to a 1950s fabric designer, Tammis Keefe. (never heard of either of these names before, but I am sure I will be researching up on them when I have the time).

while reading the above-mentioned blog post, I realized the blog, True Up, is an all-fabric-all-the-time blog written by a bloggetr I've read before, Dioramarama... one of those blogs you come across in surfing, then forget where you found it?? (I've done that so many times before: find something, click away from the page, then forgot where I was in the first place.... I know, I could bookmark them, but my bookmark list would get so long that it wouldn't help any, in the end!!)

anyway, I'm not going to pull any pictures off these blogs to put into this post, but trust me, if you like 1950s design, fabric, or just color/pattern in general, then click on those links and start oohing and aahing.

it's almost here!!

wow, I can't hardly believe the 3-Day is just two days (really only 1 1/2) away!! Right now, I'm at the stage where I need to pack and make sure I have everything I need- I have my second pair of shoes, I have plenty of pairs of socks, I have athletic tape for my feet, I need to make sure I have new batteries in the camera... I know I'll forget something, but that's really not important at this point. What is important is that I just reached my $2300 minimum yesterday, so I can participate!

Since this is a big cause, Komen makes sure that you commit big when you sign up for this; that's why there's a (high) minimum amount you have to raise... When I signed up in January, I really had no idea whether I'd be able to actually raise it, but throughout the course of the year, I have been continually amazed at people's generosity. Even after getting the minimum, I've been getting last minute donations-- the first time, I said "thanks, but I've got the money; I don't need any more." My donor's reply (very wise) was, "it's not for you, it's for breast cancer."

One of the most recent 3-Days raised over 7 million dollars (!!!) for the fight to end breast cancer-- I can't wait to see the sea of pink at the opening ceremonies, the cheering people along the way, and to experience the emotion of the closing ceremonies when I've actually finished! (I'm sure I can't wait to see the comfy couch, our bed, and my feather pillows at the end of it, either-- lol!)

so, if you've been thinking about donating, if you know someone who had breast cancer, if you've lost a loved one to this disease, or if you know at least 8 women- because one in eight women will be diagnosed (that number is horrible!! we can put men in space, and spend countless millions of dollars on who-knows-what, but we still have to fight this disease) then please think about donating to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Over 75 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to programs, research, and education. You can donate to me here: http://www.the3day.org/goto/jennifer.ahlstrom

donate to one of my teammates who still hasn't raised the minimum by clicking here :

3-Day TaTa sisterhood page

and be sure to check out this page: Research and Grants to see how they use the money.

And wish me (and my feet) luck!!

a BUSY (and fun!!) weekend!!

whew!! I was exhausted this afternoon; I needed to take a nap! Friday evening I participated in a shopping event to benefit a local charitable organization, Don't be a Chump! Check for a Lump! an organization that promotes monthly self breast exams. There were a number of local vendors, food, wine, music, and raffles. This is the first time I've done an in-person craft show in years, though, so I was worried whether I had everything I needed, whether people would buy any of my items, you know... the usual. I found out I didn't have anything to worry about-- it was a really fun time!! The event was hosted at Holly's (the founder) house, the Don't be a Chump! headquarters, in a north Phoenix neighborhood. They put so much work into hosting this event, it was amazing-- I didn't forget anything, I sold quite a number of things, and they raised money for their organization, so it was a success on all counts! this photo is my table set-up... I had a few more things that I couldn't fit onto the table, but this was most of it. Marble magnets and thumbtacks, collaged domino pendants and keychains, handmade cards and tags, and a couple pieces of mixed-media artwork. I did a fair number of sales, and also got inquiries about custom work, which was an unexpected bonus. I got to bed about 11:15 pm, and got up early on Saturday for the next thing...

a class where I made this journal!! I took an all-day class at Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale on Saturday, making a journal using found papers and fabric-- the entire cover of the journal is sewn-- yes, I learned that I can be friends with my sewing machine! Jane Eileen is a great teacher; I've wanted to incorporate sewing on paper into my projects for ages, but have always been hesitant-- Jane said she's sewn through aluminum soda cans, and all sorts of things... I guess I just needed to hear that it's "okay" to do things that a traditional sewer might construe as abusing a sewing machine... lol!

This journal is called the "Double Double Journal;" it's actually two journals in one- one on the left side of the center spine, and one on the right side of the center spine. It was lots of fun to choose random fabrics and ribbon, sew them on, and see what happened. click here for the Frenzy Stamper blog, to see a couple photos of us in action during class. I will definitely be doing more of this type of sewing in the future-- it was so much fun! ...then, today, we had to get up early again, but for another fun reason-- we headed up to Glendale to Roseglen Shelties, to bring home our new Sheltie puppy, Prescott.

This photo is Prescott making friendly overtures to the cats... they definitely need some time to warm up to him, which is evident from this photo-- Butters looks absolutely evil in this picture!

Prescott had a big day-- first car ride, touring the pet store (to buy a collar and leash), meeting Bisbee and the cats, and exploring the house (the tiled kitchen, at least). Right now, he's pooped out, and napping in his crate. We're both pooped out, too!!

it's almost done!! this journal, and this week...

I have a problem: since I started art journaling, I haven't ever "completed" all the pages in any of my journals. I started working in a cheap composition book (the black and white marbled kind that are 99 cents at back-to-school time), and abandoned it partway thru in favor of a ring-bound sketch book that had heavier pages and could stand up to the layers of paint and paper without buckling. Then I took a class with Kelly Kilmer, we actually made a journal, and I abandoned the sketchbook for the newly made journal. ...and so on... and so on... you get the idea. This is one of those journals-- I don't remember when exactly I made it (Kelly would probably recognize the size and binding stitch!), but it's been at least a couple years. I hadn't journaled since we were on vacation in August, but finally, a few weeks ago, I picked this one up again. When I realized I was actually getting close to finishing it, I got sort of obsessed-- you know, like when you get to the last couple chapters of a really good book, and you just have to finish it as soon as possible?? Like that. I want to actually finish one, finally! I've worked on it really late at night, early in the morning (when I should have been getting ready for work), while we relax on the patio after work, and even taken it to work with me to work on it during my breaks or at lunch.

Some of thepages I completed earlier are painted, but the more recent ones are mostly collaged paper. Since I've been working on it in bed, on the living room floor, etc., I didn't want to "wait" to do the pages until I had time to paint them. The upper right corner of the page above is hand-marbled paper, made a few months ago at one of our mixed-media group meetings. Marbling using shaving cream as the "float" for the ink-- it was pretty fun, and the papers smell good, too! I added one of Tom's cigar bands on there, too-- they have such beautiful artwork on them, I save pretty much all of them for future crafting projects.

Then, I actually broke out my stash of scrapbooking stickers-- I mean, what am I waiting for, really?? Even if I was to actually scrapbook a photo or two, most of these stickers were purchased years ago, and I don't remember why I bought them in the first place. (cause I liked them, is probably it... nothing more specific than that-- I have a tendency to do that with scrapbook supplies.) The green check border, bee skep, and gardening gloves on the page above are all Susan Branch stickers out of my scrapbooking stash. And I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, actually!

This two-page spread had a very elaborate background technique done on it that is supposed to imitate a bandana. The design was stamped in black, and I added all the white accents to give it that "bandana" pop. It turned out nice, except it was so busy of a design that I hated it!! Not sure if the deco tape I added has helped or not, but it's getting there, I think.

This page (the image is from a vintage National Geographic, and the text is from an Oprah mag, I think) is the Eternal Question for me and my art studio. Usually my answer is a resounding "No," until I absolutely can't find anything! Like now-- I've been working the last week or so on items for a craft show I'm doing tomorrow night-- my first "in-person" show; I'm pretty excited about it, and I'll definitely post pics afterward!! (unless no one buys anything. Then, you won't hear a thing about it... lol!) Last night I stayed up till 1 am making greeting cards (made 4 sets of 4, plus 4 individual ones), then blew through again this evening to make 4 or five more at the last minute, leaving stamps uncleaned of the ink, scraps of paper on the floor, snippets of tape stuck on the desk, you know-- the usual! So, right now, it looks like the aftermath of an F5 tornado in there... is that the worst rating?? Does an F5 level everything in its path?? If so,it's not quite quite that bad (although the kitten has been known to disappear from view under the rubble, and I have no idea where she is till she decides to unearth herself). I have another craft show scheduled in a month, though, so I better clean sometime soon. Maybe when December comes. (just kidding!! kinda.)

puppy!!!

today, we drove up to Glendale, AZ to visit Roseglen Shelties... I've been waiting (somewhat) patiently for the phone call from Helene. The puppies were seven weeks old a few days ago, so this weekend was the time!! Here he is-- isn't he cute?? (and the puppy, too-- haha!!) Helene said he's got quite a personality, and that he was one of the first puppies to start developing a personality. But, he's running a bit too close to the top of the size range for his age, so she's concerned he'll grow too large to show. (top size range for show is 16 inches tall.) So, Helene's loss is our gain. He was definitely not tentative at all; he came to us pretty easily (after getting used to seeing "strangers" in his territory, that is), he played with us, and he explored around the room with no hesitation at all.

The puppy had never been around any of the adult dogs besides his mother, so this was his first exposure to an older dog. The older dog is Kokopelli, who is actually his grandfather, and Bisbee's brother. (it still amazes me that a 3 year old dog can be a grandfather, which makes Bisbee this puppy's great aunt... lol!!) Helene brought Koko inside so we could meet him. The puppy was looking for milk, which of course he wasn't going to find, but then he got interested in trying to pull Koko's tail, which bodes well for how he and Bisbee might interact.

Kokopelli is a gorgeous dog, very similar in temperament and looks to Bisbee, although he's not quite so delicate in the legs and nose as Bisbee is (since he's a male). He was extremely friendly, coming up to meet us, and happy to play! He was equally as happy to just crash with Helene on the couch, which is also quite similar to Bisbee.

Here's a shot of Helene and the puppy... she does such a great job with all of her dogs, both in breeding and handling. The puppies get plenty of attention from her and her husband, which is great, and Bisbee is a very mellow, laid-back dog overall, which is also good, since Shelties can be a bit over-anxious sometimes.

here's another puppy shot-- isn't he just the cutest?? He'll be coming home next week... by then, we hope to have a name finalized for him!

for my fellow Etsy sellers, there have been some very important changes lately that WILL affect you!! PLEASE READ

If you are a seller on Etsy, I think you NEED to read this post, and then browse around the Etsy forums for more information. Link to the main Etsy forums HERE.

Etsy has been making major changes lately, and they never notify all users about anything. So, since I know most Etsy sellers don't frequent the Etsy forums, I'm posting them here---

the first one is wider listing pages that greatly affect the photos and seeing (or not seeing) the item description. The photos were made HUGE-- if you have vertical photos, they will not be seen in their entirety. If your photos are smaller, they may end up with gray bars on the edges to make them fit the new, larger space. Even if you have relatively square photos, the page re-design to huge photos means that in most cases, the item description is "below-the-fold" and people will have to scroll down to read it. In addition, they have redesigned where the clickable things (your avatar, etc) take a shopper when they click on them, and most of them take the buyer NOT back to your shop, but to your profile or even OUT of your shop. Many threads in the forums about this topic, but one of the main (it's huge, sorry about that) is here: wide listing page thread.

the second is a change to the profile pages that will connect ONE profile to ALL the shops an owner may have (if they have more than one shop). Not a huge change, but it still changes the way your profile page looks. Click here to read a forum thread about this.

The third is a change to the way item results are shown-- there is no "jump-to" page box at the bottom of a list, so buyers have to scroll through pages sequentially to look at items in a category or after a search. A buyer can no longer type "34" in the page box to jump to the 34th page of a category or search. This means that realistically, only the top pages (i.e., most recently listed) in a category will ever be seen by a casual browser, because they probably won't want to keep scrolling thru page after page to ever reach the 34th page of a category or search results. Click here to read a forum thread about this.

The fourth one is the most recent (I think) and is a MAJOR change to the way results will be shown when buyers are browsing by clicking on a category or doing a very general search. Etsy says it's only minor, but I believe, along with many other sellers, that it is a HUGE disservice to the sellers, and will be very negative. Etsy has changed the functionality of the site to ONLY list 50,000 results when a buyer clicks on a category page or does a general search. This may sound like a huge number, but depending on how saturated the category is (think jewelry, clothing, art, or wedding, for example), this number of items is a VERY small percentage of the actual items in the category-- as low as 2% or 3% in some cases. And, since the default search is "most recently listed" this limitation will now only show the last few day's listings of jewelry, for example. Read this link for a very concise explanation of this issue.

These kinds of changes are being made almost daily, and can negatively affect casual, low-volume sellers who may not know they're being made. Especially since it's (supposedly) going into the holiday shopping rush-- if your views/sales have dropped off, these changes may be why.

And since Etsy doesn't feel like they NEED to tell ALL sellers about these things, I (along with other sellers who are concerned about these changes affecting our sales and views) am trying to do what I can to get the word out.

...eye candy for fiber artists

if you want to see/buy wonderfully shaded and patterned hand-dyed fabric, go here... Random Acts of Dyeness blog... I came across this blog while I was reading an artist's newsletter online. This artist hand-dyes fabric for her own work, and sells her extras. The colors and patterns are luscious!! It makes me (almost) wish I was a fiber artist, but I know if I bought any of this, it would only languish in my closet. Above is a rainbow selection; below is a collection called "Some Like It Hot." All collections of fabric are $30-- not knowing anything about hand-dying,that sounds really reasonable to me.

For her works for sale, go here: Deborah Lacativa's website.

I love the internet-- you never know what you'll find! (all images borrowed from her website and blog)

playing catch up...

some photos from the last few weeks, finally off the camera. (I have a problem remembering to get pictures off the camera- I finally HAD to, because the memory card was full and I had to make room to take more pictures!) A couple weeks ago, we drove up to Cave Creek, AZ and spent the a few hours looking in some really neat Western interior decorating stores, and ate at a wonderful Mexican restaurant... the restaurant, El Encanto, had a pond and an outdoor courtyard, alont with some of the best Mexican food I've had in a while. The restaurant had its own floor show; the ducks, geese, and turtles in the pond would hang out and wait to pick up whatever diners would toss their way. This might be hard to see, but the duck on the right has a "top-knot" of feathers on top of its head... it looked quite a bit like a bad toupee!! We had to ask the waiter about it; he said it's just a particular kind of duck, and thast they've nicknamed this particular duck "James Brown!!"

These ducks were quite friendly! This little female was very tame, and would come right up to us. (of course, the "duck-chow" we bought to feed them might have helped, but still, it was fun.)

Here, she takes a bit of kibble from Tom's hand, with a few of her friends waiting a bit farther away behind the fence.

We bought a fresh chili ristra while we were up there. We weren't particularly looking for one, but we've wanted one of these for years, so we jumped at the chance to pick one up. They have a wonderful roasted aroma!! The peppers have dried over the course of the last couple weeks, but they're still gorgeous, and quite a traditional decoration. They should last us for at least a couple years. (we could actually use them to cook with, too, but I think we'll probably just emjoy looking at them.)

now, on to a few pieces of artwork that I've made over the last few weeks. This is a 4x4 canvas piece that I have for sale right now in my new online shop, at ArtFire.com. (check it out here.) It started out as layers of acrylic paint over a collaged base, then I added a bit of text and a distressed photo of a dragonfly (I took the photo a couple years ago when we visited the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, when my parents and sister came to visit). It still looked like it needed "something" to finish it off, so I added some gold flourishes with heat embossing.

These are 6x6 collages on 3/4 inch plywood; I bought an entire sheet and had it cut up into different sized pieces to use for artwork. I collaged the background with vintage text papers, then added cut-paper borders, a bit of glitter, and focal images that I hand-cut from black cardstock. The owl is already sold, but the cat's still available. I probably won't list it for sale till next Halloween, though, since Halloween is almost here. (where did the time go, anyway??)

This jaunty fellow (also sold) was also hand-cut from black cardstock; this one took small scissors and an exacto knife-- it was fiddly, but well worth it-- I just love his bow tie! It's also on 3/4 inch plywood, this time an 8x10 inch collage. Sort of like making a journal page, but one you can hang up!! (I will definitely be making more of these.. they're a lot of fun, and besides, since I bought a 4 x 8 foot piece of plywood, I have well over 40 pieces of wood!)

And lastly, here's a tag I made from just the bits and pieces on my desk. I needed a "thank you" gift to put in with an Etsy shop sale, and didn't have lots of time to pull it together. So, I worked with what I had... most of the time, doing that works lots better than I think it will!! (I love that little hummingbird stamp, too... I definitely need to find it on my desk, and put it to work again.)

weekend in pictures...

okay, this didn't happen this weekend, but a few days ago-- it's hard to see, but Ariel is grooming Butters, and Butters is letting her do it!! They still do plenty of hissing and spitting at each other, but it's nice to see them getting along better.

a "just-by-chance" portrait of Bisbee that I snapped while she was waiting to go outside for a bit of sun. She always has that sort of worried look; she never likes to be looked at straight on--if you look right at her, she always looks away.

We had a busy afternoon today; now that it finally cooled off and feels like fall, we carved some jack-o-lanterns and roasted the pumpkin seeds this afternoon while we watched football. (I say we, but Tom handled the seed-roasting duties, along with making a batch of chili for dinner.)

Tom's finished jack-o-lantern, looking quite cheery!

I, on the other hand, went for the scary, fanged jack-o-lantern, along with a couple scars here and there.

not the best picture, but here they are out in front of the house. Hopefully it won't be too warm this week, so they'll last till Halloween!

snippet...

"A deadline is, simply put, optimism in its most ass-kicking form. It's a potent force that, when wielded with respect, will level any obstacle in its path. This is especially true when it comes to creative pursuits."

from the book No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty.

I found this quote while looking up information about National Novel Writing Month (which is November, by the way), but the sentiment isn't just applicable to novel-writing, it works for anything. Especially for me, since I'm one of those people who gets easily paralyzed by overthinking and self-criticism. A deadline forces me to brush those pesky voices in my head aside, to "make it work with what I have" because I don't have the time to find the "perfect" piece of paper, ribbon, etc. or to make it "absolutely perfect" before I'm done. And in the end, I'm more creative because of it: while my projects sometimes turn out totally different than I might have done them if I had more time, they're usually pretty good results, or ever pretty darn good, actually!

(part of this is because of my ability to be easily side-tracked-- if I actually did take the time to find the "perfect" piece of paper, because I knew it was in my stash somewhere, I'd re-surface two hour later. ...after finding four other things I looked for earlier but couldn't find, paging through a couple magazines that caught my eye, getting an idea for at least three different projects that I'd start if only I had time, and then totally forgetting what I was looking for in the first place.)

see, it's happened here, too! all I wanted was to write down this quote so I wouldn't forget it, and I've gone off on a tangent about my creative and organizational processes...

Anyway, I'll be back soon with more photos of my estate sale finds from last weekend. My friend Melissa sent me a link to a site that lists local sales, and I am trying very hard not to be tempted by the listings.

I should be asleep right now, but I just had to show you...

my estate sale haul from this weekend! I'll be taking pics and scanning more things individually, but I couldn't wait to share the overview pics. And this was totally by accident, too! A friend and I had gone to a craft show in Scottsdale which was a disappointment (too much stuff that was too similar, and it had quite a large number of items that were not handmade and/or commercial). On the way back across Shea Blvd, we saw an "estate sale" sign, I made a U-turn, and we spent the next couple hours happily immersed in boxes and piles of stuff, a la the "American Pickers" guys!! this pic is Saturday's haul-- I didn't want to get too many things, so I tried to limit myself by thinking, "what would I do with this?" before I picked something up. Sherry, on the other hand, picks things up and sorts thru that question after she gets them home. Thus, I did miss out on some things, because we do like some of the same sorts of things. But, I still got some cute stuff!! vintage greeting cards (from their trash pile; more to come about that later), little chotchke items, a couple vintage glass canning jars, and a tiered chrome serving tray from the 50s-60s. After we got back to Sherry's house, I said, "gee, I wish I had gotten that small muffin tin... maybe I'll go back tomorrow" (meaning today.) Sherry was game, so we did.

The small muffin tin is in here, I swear!! along with lots of other yummy stuff... LOL!! We did some more rummaging thru their garbage/castoff pile, and even got to go thru desk drawers of paper items that were still inside the house. (I think they appreciated the fact that we came back again!) We told the woman running the sale that we liked paper items, so she let us look thru them even before she sorted thru them. Which is good, because some of the things she probably would have thrown away, but since both of us are artists with a high regard for paper ephemera, we rescued most of them.

The contents of this packing box is mostly photographs, with some other paper items and vintage greeting cards added in for good measure. I've started sorting through them with the help of a magnifying glass, and I can't wait to get some of them on the scanner. The sale was the estate of a 90-year old woman who recently passed away by the name of Aurelia Booker (isn't that a great name--- Aurelia!). It's kind of tragic, in a way, and now I'm wishing we had taken all the photos and paper ephemera, since there aren't any family members close who would want them. We have managed to piece together some of her life already-- her son Charles died during WWII, and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. We even found some of their correspondence to each other when he was in the military.

This is a close-up of the tiny chotchke pile from yesterday. I'll show more closeups of the individual items, but I wanted to whet your appetite! (and mine-- it's like Christmas, almost, sorting through these things!)

This is the tiered serving tray-- no marks on it, so I don't have any idea of the maker, but I do think I scored, since I only paid $2.50 for it! I'm thinking late 50s, early 60s, by the looks of it?? I'm going to use it as a display piece for the craft shows I have coming up... (oh, I didn't tell you about those, did I?? I will in a couple days.)

(This is the canning jar I told you about on the phone, Mom.) Presto is the company, and it has a two-part glass and aluminum lid. This was another of the things that we dug out of the junk pile behind the house... I think the lid was on a different jar originally, so I am sure happy I managed to grab both of them! I didn't even realize that until I got them home-- talk about lucky! If this is the half-pint size (I'm no good with those measurements- whaddya think, Mom??) then it could be worth about $15, from the quick internet searches I did.

This is one of the greeting cards I found in today's searching. She is just darling!! It was never used, the colors are not faded at ALL, and it's even die-cut on the upper edge. Early or mid-1950s, I'm guessing, by the style??

Here's the inside, where you can see that the cuteness continues!! This gives you a better look at the die-cut edge around the little girl's head, and isn't that little winking dog just great?!? He would certainly cheer me up when I wasn't feeling well, that's for sure! I think I'll sell most of these things in my Etsy shop, or use them as art supplies, but I'm not sure I can part with all of them... maybe after I live with them for a while. But I will show you more pics (after the camera batteries charge up), that's for sure!!