Asian Tapestry

It has been three months since I posted. It's kind of hard to get back into it after time away.

This first post back is going to be kind of short and I'm writing it to ask for some help :) I purchased a beautiful vintage asian design needlepoint at an estate sale a couple of months ago. It is about 8 ft tall. Luckily I have 10 ft ceilings so I was able to take good pictures of it! It is only partially completed. The dresses for the most part are not completed but they are printed on the canvas so it still looks beautiful. I can't find any information on this type of needlepoint so I thought I'd post it and see if anyone knows anything about it. Japanese? Chinese? Wall hanging, rug or either? Would it be called a tapestry? Who sold kits this large? Anything. I've done googling and searched ebay but I haven't found much. I did find one company that sells beautiful kits that sell for 100s of dollars. Just for kits! I didn't know such kits even existed. The company is called The Art Needlepoint Company. Their kits are amazing. I can't imagine how much time it takes to complete one or how long it took to do the one I purchased. So without further ado below is the canvas I purchased.  The color in the room isn't the greatest. The picture was taken with mostly the light from a ceiling fixture instead of natural light. Let me know in the comments what you think. I plan to list it on ebay.

Bailey My Dog And Work Companion

My dog Bailey died this weekend. It was very unexpected. Saturday after a brushing and back massage he suddenly became lethargic and lost most of the use of his back legs. He is a yellow lab and one of our first thoughts was possible hip dysplasia. Over the course of several hours he worsened until we finally brought him to the emergency clinic. We were stunned to learn he had a tumor on his spleen that was bleeding. He's always been a pretty healthy dog. Overnight they stabilized him and we brought him home. I was not ready to have him put down. He seemed much better and we were given medications to use. We were told he would die from this eventually but it could be months before another bleed occurred. Not an hour after getting home he became sicker and sicker and by nighttime a decision was made to take him back in to get the shot and end things. I didn't go. I wasn't fully on board with the decision and I didn't want to grieve in public. That sounds selfish and probably is. I said goodbye at home laying on the floor with him.

I had him for about 9 years and he was 11 years old. He was my work companion every day. I had taught him how to pick things up and hand them to me as it is hard for me to bend my knees. He did it cheerfully time after time. He loved sniffing all the new smells only he could smell every time I brought new inventory into the house. More than once he had to deal with a sudden toppling of a death pile (you all know what I mean). Working from home we spent every day together. Today I will try to use the work to move forward but my ears ring with the silence.

I never realized the huge hole he would leave in my life and the grief I would feel. Below is a recent picture I took. He is modeling a vintage accordion fence I was listing :)

Edited to add:

As I get through this day I keep hearing little noises and my brain automatically thinks Bailey. I decided to write a little list like people do about themselves except about Bailey. So here are 10 things you didn't know about Bailey.

1. He loved to give people a lick or a poke. He couldn't pass by a person without a quick lick or nudge of his nose. It drove me nuts at first :)

2. He knew lots of words. One that made people laugh was "personal space". If he was hovering around begging for attention too much all I had to say was 'personal space' and he'd go lay down. He knew all the basics. Down, sit, stay (wasn't the best at staying). 

3. He didn't like fruit or veggies. 

4. He was a lab but had no apparent hunting instinct. Bunnies, squirrels, birds would not cause him a second glance or even a first glance really. He loved people though and other dogs. 

5. He got very anxious riding in cars. It made it hard to take him anywhere. He would pant and pace and drool and whine. Once stumbling around he put my flashers on  and bumped the gear shift into another gear. Oops. After that I put a seat belt on him. 

6. He didn't really like to play. He'd chase a ball once or twice and that was it. He loved to walk though and just be pet. 

7. When he ate he'd go to his bowl sniff it and walk away, rinse repeat several times. He'd rarely commit after the first sniff unless I was cooking. Then his appetite seemed to get the best of him and he'd start right in. 

8. He had yellow hair

9. He liked to dance.

10. He'd high five you if you asked.

New Mystery Item and Church Sale

I had a great day sourcing yesterday. I went to 2 church sales. The first one, the church is closing its doors and was selling tons of stuff. Books, office equipment, dishes, craft supplies, holiday decorations and more. I put together a huge pile for $50. Filled the back seat of my car and the trunk. The second sale was over and they were loading up the things that didn't sell when we arrived. Someone said go on in. Everything left is free. FREE?! Cool. I only got 2 things but free is great. One was a set of fireplace tools. The other is pictured below. I don't know what it is. It looks like some sort of stand for doing some type of needlework? or quilting? If anyone can help me out please let me know in the comments.

This year I'm going to try to make a point to get to as many church sales as possible. I usually find great deals when I do. How about you? Do you go to many church sales? What's your favorite place to source?

The Barometer That Left The Midwest And Went To Broadway

So consensus says it's not private information to divulge which play purchased my barometer. So……drumroll….Long Days Journey Into Night starring Jessica Lange!!

I've been browsing image searches hoping eventually to get a glimpse of the set and the barometer in it's big moment. Here it is below before it heard the call of the stage.

If you happen to be in New York and see the play you may see my piece. 

So have any of you ever seen this play? I haven't been to many plays and this is not one I've seen.  Here's some interesting information about the play. Gotta love Wikipedia. I see it's also been made into a film. Hmmm. Maybe I have seen it….I'll have to check it out either way. 

Well I looked all over and the only place I can find it is on Youtube unless I want to buy it. 

Sales have been picking up the last couple of weeks. Feels good to make some decent money and hear the cha ching of the phone more than once a day :) How have your sales been?

Broadway Here I Come!

It's been an exciting week on eBay and Etsy.

I sold this vintage banjo barometer on Etsy for the set for a play on Broadway. I can't decide if it's okay or not to divulge buyers in this type of situation. I really want to because I find it really exciting but a lot of people say all purchases should be private. What do you say? In the last couple of months I've sold two items to upcoming tv series and now this item to a play. Since I sold a few things for set design I am obsessed with the set design when I watch a movie/tv of a vintage era. I keep pausing to look at every little thing i the set. I realize now that lots of that comes from ebay and etsy. A woman on etsy got a piece of her art on a Netflix original series. I started watching the show so that I could see her piece and then binge watched the entire series. Waiting for season 2 now :)

My other exciting sale is also a BOLO. I purchased several Webkinz plush toys at the weigh and pay last weekend. It was half off day so they were cheap and I took just the ones I thought were unique in some way. I know absolutely NOTHING about Webkinz. I got them home and was researching them and found out that the Webkinz in the Signature series can be quite valuable. I turned a purchase of less than a dollar into a sale for over $100 in one day. Here are the completeds on Webkinz Signature Series. 

I also sold an American Girl plush owl for $20. It's about 5" tall and cost about 25 cents. I used to be grossed out by used plush. I envisioned remnants of baby drool and sticky food hands all over them.  I currently have 20 plush listed in my ebay store. I purchased a really cool plush parrot hand puppet this week. He looked a little scruffy but with a comb out he looks brand new. Do you sell plush?

Have a good weekend. Find some treasures. Sell lots of stuff!

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Later today I'll be going to the assisted living/memory care facility with a friend to have Easter lunch with my parents. Since my parents moved out of their home a few years ago holidays have changed vastly. I have five siblings and used to see them and their children most holidays. I rarely see them on holidays now. Big changes in life. I was never big on holidays before but now I miss the tradition of being with my family. Mom's cooking. Ham, potato salad, rolls. What are you doing today?

I did not finish the book, Antiques Roadkill, I mentioned in the previous post. It just didn't keep my interest and the tie in to 'vintage' just wasn't strong enough for me. I'm now reading The Language Of Flowers which I am enjoying although it is long and a bit slow. I am enjoying the tie in to the meanings of flowers and other plants.

I went thrifting yesterday and bought a ton of stuff. Our new weigh and pay was having 50% off of the regular rate which is $1.29. So yesterday was only 65 cents a pound. I find I take a lot more chances on questionable things when it is so cheap. I bought a couple of items I probably never would have purchased and am glad I did. They have sold previously (for other people) for a decent profit. The two items are fax paper and ribbon for I think a word processor or typewriter. Recently the ribbon cassettes sold for $31 for 2. I purchased 3 of them for less than a dollar. I love this weigh and pay. It seems like it has not been discovered by other resellers much. It's never chaotic or busy. Yesterday I was there for a couple of hours. At any one time there were probably 10 to 15 people in the store. Nothing like the Goodwill weigh and pays I read about. I love it!! I'm hoping it remains my own private hidey hole.

Hope your sales have been hopping :)

Miscellany

I discovered a new genre of books to read (new for me). They are mysteries involving antique dealers. There are several series out there. I'm currently reading Antique Roadkill: A Trash n Treasures Mystery. By Barbara Allan. She has a series. How fun! I wish there was some fiction about pickers selling on ebay but so far I haven't found any. Maybe one of you out there will write the first :)

Have you noticed the new format on Pinterest? I have been pinning my ebay and etsy items to Pinterest for a while and I know I get traffic from them. I don't know if that turns into sales but I think the new format on Pinterest is better for items leading to a sale than it was before. Here is how it was before.

And how it is now. 

Do you pin your items to Pinterest? Do they get repinned? Do you think they lead to sales?

Lastly I went to an estate sale yesterday. They had hundreds of nice books. I purchased a few but was overwhelmed with how many there were. It was an hour before the end of the sale so I talked to the estate sale guy and said I'd like to make an offer on the remaining. He was favorable and said to call him Wednesday and gave me his card. I've never done anything like this before. Any advice? Have you ever purchased a lot of books? How much would you be willing to spend? They were mostly non fiction, hardcover. 

And a BOLO. Vintage Hallmark Baby's First Ornaments. Check out the completeds. My guess is people want to buy the ornament they remember from on their parents tree. I would never have guessed they go for this much.

Ebay Seller Hub Beta

For those who are using the Beta version of Ebay Seller Hub…I thought I'd mention something I didn't notice for quite a while. There is a discussion board just for Ebay Seller Hub. You can post problems you are having or changes you would like to see.  It's linked to on the Seller Hub main page (see screenshot below). Ebay employees post updates on the board and other users post work arounds. I've found it helpful and I've posted some issues that I have had as a Mac user using Safari.

What has your experience been using the new Ebay Seller Hub? I'm getting used to it but there are some bugs for them to work out. I'm not very impressed with the analytics/stats. I think Etsy does a much better job with that. Hopefully Ebay is still working on that section and it will improve. Your thoughts?

What Sells January 2016

I haven't done a post like this for quite a while so I thought I'd look back at the entire month of January instead of just a week and show you some of my favorite sales.

I purchased the puzzle below called Verticalville II about 3 years ago but it has sat on a shelf waiting for me to put it together before I would list it. The only way to be sure all the pieces are there is to put a puzzle together because the number on the box is rounded up or down from the actual number of pieces. So we finally put it together which turned out to be fun. It sold for a whopping $50 on Amazon. If you ever see puzzles by this artist pick them up. His name is Robert Martin. He does some really fun puzzles. Check him out on ebay.

Below is a Laurel Burch apron. I love Laurel Burch things and have found and sold a few. She is an artist who did a lot of cat jewelry and other items with her cat designs. I bought the apron at my new found weigh and pay and it sold for $20 plus shipping. 

I had the Indiana Jones poster below listed on ebay for a couple of years and it wouldn't sell. Put it on Etsy for three times the price and it sold! 

I purchased the tabletop pool game below for $5 at an estate sale this summer. I had it listed on ebay for a couple of months but was hoping it wouldn't sell. I decided if I couldn't get a great price for it I would take it to the Assisted Living where my parents live. My dad loves it and we have been shooting pool my last few visits. It's probably less than 3 feet long. I love the mini pool balls.

I love the vase below because it's very much like what was made in the ceramics painting class I used to attend almost 40 years ago. Paid less than a buck and it sold for $17 on Etsy. Isn't it cute?

The skis below were mine. I used them about 30 years ago. I purchased them used which was good because I never really made it beyond novice skier. I sold them for $50. They had been sitting in my garage for YEARS and I haven't skied in many moons. They weren't fun to pack.

Lastly the vintage pink swan shower curtain below was purchased at a Goodwill outlet where everything is half off. It was a buck or two. Sold it shortly after listing it for $40. It was never used. It would have been fun to keep and use but doesn't go with my bathroom tile color anyway so off to a good home it went.  

Coming Up

Here are some holidays and events coming up soon that may increase sales of certain items. Be aware of what's going on and keep an eye out for items that you can list. If you have these items unlisted in your death piles get them listed!Look at Pinterest to see what is trending and get ideas on what might sell. If I've missed any upcoming holiday/events put them in the comments, please! On with the post..

Mardi Gras. Look for items people may buy to wear in parades, parties. Face masks, beads, boas.

Valentine's Day is pretty obvious, right? 

Stuffed animals, things with hearts, jewelry, the colors red and pink. 

For Black History month I've sold related books. 

Think of items that teachers could buy to use in classrooms. Books, videos.

I've found in the past that green tshirts, jackets, ties, hats etc are popular items for St Patrick's Day. 

People like to go to parties and bars wearing a little green. 

The Super Bowl! For a while I was lucky with the Packers still in the playoffs. I have a lot of Packers merchandise. As of last weekend though they are out of the running. Keep track of the teams still in and list those items you have unless they are Patriots stuff (haha just kidding :)

Here is a website that lists the holidays for each month.

My sales have dropped off greatly this month. How are yours?

Images are all from pixabay. My favorite source for free images.

Hallucinogenic Plants. What?!

I'll bet you are wondering about the title to this post! Well lately I've purchased several vintage Golden Guides. Do you remember these from when you were a kid? I gave a couple to my dad who likes to identify birds but I've also kept some to list on ebay and etsy. While researching them I sorted by price and found the best selling of Golden Guides. As my title says, Hallucinogenic Plants. If you ever come across it don't pass it up! It's worth boku bucks.  Now that I have several in my possession I'm starting to feel a little like keeping them! I've acquired the beginnings of a collection without my even realizing it. Makes them harder to let go of. Anyway.

Below is a Golden Guide I picked up recently. It's beautifully illustrated with glossy pictures. The science geek part of me loves it. One of the many, many things I considered for a career was a science illustrator. I thought it would be the perfect match up for both my scientific and artsy sides.  Golden Guides sell well in lots too so if you find a bunch of them snap um up. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page on Golden Guides.