2015 Cleaning up the Joint

I'm not very good at making and keeping New Years resolutions, however, 2015 is going to be different. I made a list a mile long of all my resolutions. Go big or go home right? The biggie, (and the only one I want to share with blog land) the one I have been pondering for months, is to save money, pay off bills, clean out some much needed space in my house and stay out if the thrifts for awhile. I know that sounds like 4 resolutions (and I guess it is) but they all tie together. But wait, did I say stay out of the thrifts? Yes, yes I did. Most people have an inner threshold of how much "stuff" they can own before they start to feel overwhelmed. I'm here to tell you that I am at that threshold. I literally can't handle another tchotchke, article of clothing, Christmas item, or speck of dust entering this house or I may lose it. Now this post is a "keeping it real" post, as the pro bloggers like to call it. If you came to my house you would think it was pretty neat and clean. And the parts you see ARE! If you looked a little deeper you would find lots and lots of "stuff" hiding. Let's take a little peek shall we? 

In between my kitchen and dining room is a little hall. They call it a butlers pantry? Whatev, it holds gobs if crap

Here it is looking all clean and innocent. 

Here's under one of the cupboards

Here's the other. I promise not all my cabinets look like this but the ones holding vintage, booth, show, and etsy items...oh yes they do. Continuing on.

This is a hall closet. All of those coats are eBay, none if them are ours. Above is stuffed with vintage games. 

The rest of my eBay lives upstairs. I have a walk in closet in my bedroom. Behind it is a "bonus" closet. It is cedar lined and I guess meant to hold your out of season clothing. Ha! My wardrobe consists of scrubs (for work) and jeans, t shirts and sweatshirts, with a sprinkling of nice clothes for church and weddings. That's it. That bonus closet is my eBay room. 

Here it is in all it's glory. 

This side has shoes, hang clothes, belts, and other accessories. Also books. 

This side is folded clothes and all my non clothing items.

I do try to keep it fairly organized (I hate not being able to find something I sold) but the amount of inventory is TOO MUCH. Probably half isn't listed. 

Next up is the basement. I've got a pretty good sized basement, which is great if you don't have a weakness for collecting. I do. 

One whole side is big sturdy built in shelves. There are 3 sections. The first 2 are ALL Christmas...

The next one is just stuff. Kids stuff, decor stuff, electronic stuff, you know the stuff that just multiplies while you sleep. 

On the other side is my craft area, desk, couches, etc. It also has built in shelving (uh oh)

(No idea why my kid decided to paint his name on that shelf, it is most definitely NOT Zach's)

Next to this built in is my craft cupboard. I love it. It holds a ton of stuff, but it needs an overhaul

Also in the basement is this huge area under the stairs. I keep all if my Halloween stuff under there.

Apparently I also keep lamps, baskets, and plants. You can't even see the Halloween stuff!  Lastly in the basement is the area next to the stairs . 

This picture actually makes it look better than it is. Now that is a lot of stuff you may be thinking. And it is. But I have yet to show you the worst room of all. Meant for our cars and I don't think we've parked their in a good 8 years. THE GARAGE! Shield your eyes kids..

Ok I don't know if you can tell but there is a boat under there. A boat my stepdad gave my son. It never gets used except as a place to store more crap! I also store all my boxes, bubble wrap, etc out here. Also much furniture. Here's the other side

Goodness did I just show that? Hideous. And the thing is I like to organize! I like neat spaces! I also like to shop and I have too much crap! 

So here's the plan. No thrift stores (I'm crying inside) antique stores, flea markets or estate sales. I am going to shoot for one month shopping free. In that month I hope to get a lot of stuff listed.  I also rented a booth again at a local antique mall and lots will be going there. Also organize, clean out, get rid of, etc.  So do you think I can do it? If I feel the urge I will come back to these pics and remind myself why I need to stop. Anyone wanna join me in a 1 month no spend challenge? Misery loves company!!!!

All Wrapped Up

Christmas was great. Family, food,, fun what more could a girl ask for? My husband even came thru on the present front, a Kuerig! I don't drink too much coffee but I've had approximately 465 cups since Christmas, I think I may be addicted😄. 

Remember those Spode dishes I told you about? Well I sold them (8 plates, 8 cups and 8 saucers) on Christmas Day for what I paid for them so I'm thinking cool right? I got my money back. Wrong! First off I BADLY miscalculated shipping. I put the weight as 5lbs. Um let's try 17lbs! I must have been in some sort of sugar induced high when I listed that. So it cost me $26.00 out of my own very broke pocket to ship. That's bad enough but I also forgot that one of the dang kitties broke one of the saucers. Um, whoops. So I had to go on eBay and BUY her a new saucer and have it shipped. Another $8.00. Oh well, I did get to use them on Christmas Eve. Please, if I ever decide to list dishes again someone quick punch me in the face. 

I have no pictures to go with this post so here are some random things to make you smile

Nix (Kitty # 1) as a tree topper (notice Luna (kitty # 2) to the left looking up in admiration of Nix's killer climbing skills) Her face is bathed in a heavenly glow cuz she's such an angel. Ha! I could not wait to get that tree down and it was down and put away before lunch yesterday! 

My daughter and her boyfriend at their Tacky Chrustmas party. I think they were trying to look mean like that, but not sure why.  Funny story, I have been buying those damn ugly sweaters for a few years. I think I had about 25 of them and I was SICK of them. So I gave them all to her. She took them to college and posted them on FB and sold them all in a week! Used the money she made for Christmas presents (smart girl)

My daughter found this on etsy and wanted to give it to her friend. So I drew it on some fabric and made it myself. Wasn't about to fork out $35.00 for something I could do. Here's my version

Close enough. I have no idea what it means but then again I'm not 19 anymore. Sad but true :(

And lastly this, which cracked me up

Have a great week and enjoy the heck out of your NEW YEARS! 

Shoppin & Swappin Til I'm Droppin

Its a good thing I only did two swaps as I am out of clever blog post titles. Ok, they weren't that clever. Moving on. My last swap was with the fabulous Shara at Monkeybox. The swap was to exchange a box of vintage Christmas. YES! Right up my vintage lovin alley. Of course she spoiled me to death! The woman is a one woman vintage Christmas goddess! CHECK OUT THIS LOOT!

See? I told you she spoiled me! 

Angels and ornaments, Santa's and CHECK OUT THAT red 25! How did she know I wanted that and it's actually in my etsy cart (well not anymore cuz I don't have to buy it now )

Bells, straws, that awesome brass santa mold! 

Her coolest flash cards which you know I was secretly hoping for, and adorable napkins, seals, cookie cook book wrapped up with the cutest cookie cutter, 

Cardboard sleigh to add to my collection And all the little things I love so much. Shara you nailed it all and I was beyond thrilled to open it. She mentioned on her blog how her husband is clueless when it comes to gift buying and mine is too. I love him dearly but come on, who the heck wants a can opener for Christmas??? So I have to tell you I'm so happy to have discovered blog land and swaps. It's so great to meet people who share your interests and "get" you.

Here is a couple pics of my new vintage goodies put straight into action

That fab 25 went up on my corner cupboard. 

Wait! I forgot to show you this teeny tiny snow globe she made! Living in the cupboard of littles along with all the smalls she sent

Mr brass santa mold and flashcards got hung on my old window in the entryway. Just what it needed! 

Those gorgeous napkins and straws added some great design to my Hoosier. 

New boot (a flocked one! First one!) went perfectly with ye old boot collection. 

Everything was perfect and I will treasure it all! Thanks Shara for adding some awesome vintage treasures to my collection. I'll swap with you anytime!

The kids all came home for Christmas break so my house is back to a chaotic loud mess, but I'm not complaining because I love having them home (ok, maybe I'm complaining a little, pick up a towel would ya?) I hope you all have a glorious Christmas and happy, healthy, vintagey 2015!

Swap It Like It's Hot

I participated in two swaps this Christmas. Man those are FUN! Loved the shopping and making and of course receiving. Blog friends are such wonderful people. My first swap was through Erica at Golden Egg Vintage. I was paired with Shirley of Zettas Aprons. We had to make two kitchen themed ornaments, a card, a recipe and whatever extras we wanted to include. This girl has some mad skills. My first item was this

OMG is he not the cutest? Made from a Cinnamon tin. He matches my kitchen perfectly and I adore him. 

I also received this adorable snowman made out of a child's frying pan. How clever is that?

The card she made is beautiful and love the cute recipe card with sugar cookies. 

She spoiled me with all these extras! That cute round box was (notice the past tense) full of the yummiest chocolates. I did not share :)

This is what I made her

A tree tin with a fun snowman scene

And a jello mold ornie. Of course I added some candy and extras. This was such a fun swap and got my creative juices flowing. Thanks Shirley for being a great swap partner!

My other swap deserves a post of its own and I will share tomorrow! Till then...

Auntie Em Comes to Kansas

My most favorite aunt and uncle came to town today. Ok they are also my only aunt and uncle but if I had more, they would still be my favorite :) and also, my aunts name isn't Em, it's Celeste.  Anyway, my aunt knows I like to collect (a lot of stuff) and sell (a little stuff). She brought me some fun estate sale found treasures

Three sets of cross stitched pillow (or pilla as she likes to say) cases. I especially love the crocheted edges. 

Two awesome huge doilies. I am going to keep one of these for my bedroom because it will go perfect with my colors and decorations. Can't decide which one to keep they are both fab, and so much work! 

These 4 adorbs butterfly hankies which I am sorely tempted to keep. But I shouldn't. But I probably will :)

And this beautiful hand done tablecloth. It is oval and I don't have a table for it, so I will sell this. Which justifies keeping everything else right? Right. 

Of course we had to get a bit of shopping in. So my mom,aunt, uncle, and I headed to a local antique mall. I have a terrible case of empty hand syndrome (don't you feel sorry for me?) so I had to bring some stuff home

A cute dress to store plastic bags, a bisque doll and a cute Rusty red bank that looks like a cash register

My aunt spotted this for me  (can't believe I missed it) so thanks Celeste! Love it. And it works! 

I bought the doll for a specific purpose. A few years ago my mom gave me an antique glass battery (one of my favorite treasures) . It sits on my counter and it's usually empty but I thought it would be perfect for a little winter scene. I put in a bottle brush tree, some snow and a reindeer but it still needed something...

She fit perfectly! Now looking at this pic I realize that the white reindeer (can you even see him?) is out of scale to the doll.  Gonna have to lose the deer. Little presents would be cute. Anyone have some tiny presents they wanna send me? A gold ring would be nice, thanks. 

Well I said I was done blogging until 2015 and I have blogged twice since then. Your welcome :)

Christmas Sells!

A few months ago I made a dumb statement that I was going to sell all my vintage Christmas. First off, if you saw how much I have you would LOL at that because it would take me forever to try and sell it all. Secondly, and who didn't know this would happen, as soon as the season rolled around of course I wanted to keep every single last elf and bell I owned. But it's so cute! But look how good it looks in that display! But what if I never find another one??? All my excuses 😉

I did however manage to sell quite a bit. In the spirit of Christmas I will be honest and tell you that what I did sell was all purchased this year with the intent to sell. So my own personal stash didn't really shrink at all (and it may have grown just a wee bit bigger, whoops) I thought I would share some of my sales with you all. 

These two nutcrackers (so not my thing) cost me $20 each. More than I like to fork over but they were made in Germany and I thought I could GET RICH selling them. Notsomuch. They did sell for a respectable $65.00 each, but not enough to fund a week  long cruise in the Bahamas like I was hoping. Damn! 

I found this little guy (girl?) on the same trip and paid .99. He/she sold for $20.00. Ooooh foxy lady (dude?)

You may remember the box of knee huggers I scored over the summer for $5. This right here is why I love eBay. The red set sold for $73.00, the blue for $36.00 and the pink for $35.00 umm KaChing!!

I mean, I love me a cute knee hugging elf as much as the next guy but no way would I pay that kinda dough for some!

These flocked red guys set me back .50 each (at an antique store!) they sold for $30.00. Here's the sad part of this story, the lady messages me and said 4 of them arrived damaged (broken ears and/or tails) Drats! I refunded her $15.00. She was fine with that and I still made a few bucks. (Next time I will ship those suckers in a box not a bag!)

This was antique feather tree garland. I bought a big bag of it at an estate sale for $3.00. I broke it into 3 different lots and each lot sold for $25.00. This one kind of shocked me. First off, that stuff shed like crazy. Tiny red pieces of garland everywhere! Second, I don't think it's all that great looking. Just basic red garland, but it was old, and people love old crap. So good for me I made $72.00 (before fees of course).

The only ornaments I sold. Paid $2 for this box and it sold for $49.99. Note to self, don't sell ornaments. PITA to ship. 

I tried to sell this at Junk Ranch and nobody even glanced at it! Why not? It's freakin adorable! Well someone in Cyber space thought so too and shelled out $15.00 for it (I paid .50).

Yes, I was kinda sad to see this go. My aluminum tree that I just hadtohave! I paid $60.00, used it one year, and decided it wasn't really my thang. But maybe I would use it again??  I decided I like money better than I like a box in my closet and sold it for $110.00.

These cute little stocking were purchased from some equally cute little old ladies having a garage sale. I paid .50 for all of them and they sold for $20.00. 

Well I hope you enjoyed my Christmas Sells! roundup! What have you sold lately?