November 2010 started with a bang here at Mitzi's Collectibles. I acquired some really fun things at recent auctions, including a totem pole from a Boy Scout camp (it sold the same day I put it in my antique mall booth in Howell) and some great painted wood buckets from an old apple orchard. I've sold two vintage dress forms and a "Chew Red Man" painted sign out of my Williamston booth as of late.
My husband Joe helped me clean out one of two storage units I've been renting that house my back stock of antiques & holiday decorations. We gave most of the stuff to an auctioneer, and I hope to use the proceeds to buy more stuff! I appear to be way behind many other antique dealers who have all of their Christmas goods on display. This happens every year: I'm never prepared for the holidays and have to scramble to get everything out of my many hiding places and into my retail space.
I finally finished embellishing my latest batch of flapper girl figurines, and have them listed on Etsy. It was such a relief to get them done, but now I'm not totally pleased with the pictures I took, and want to set up another photo shoot that will result in more flattering pics. When you are selling online, and people can't handle the items, it's all about the pictures:
Speaking of photography, I registered for a night class at a local college to learn more about digital cameras, photography, and photo editing. I really want to improve in this area and I'm excited for the course to start, although I'm only one of five students registered and it's possible the class might not run.
Last year my mom and I went shopping the day after Christmas to take advantage of the sales at Pottery Barn and others that had holiday wares. I purchased a couple glittered birds that have clips on the underside to use as tree ornaments. I like the way they look nestled in a little nest of shredded sheet music and planted in a vintage sherbet cup:
The glitter on these birds has tarnished since I bought them, making them look vintage:
I finally tried my hand at making a rolled sheet music wreath, and I'm pleased with the result. I plan to create a tutorial for this easy project, hopefully this weekend. As you can see in the picture below, my stash of sheet music varied in color quite a bit. The darker pages, which I love, were more of a manilla paper which really aged dramatically over time.
If you haven't tried making a sheet music wreath yet, start looking for some inexpensive sheet music this weekend. The best sheet music for crafting purposes can be found in old paper bound books like "Piano Favorites" and the like. I don't advocate crafting with the beautiful old sheet music with the decorative cover pages.
Here's my finished wreath with a Santa medallion in the center:
There's one cone on my wreath that looks funny, as you might have noticed. Once they are hot glued in place, there's no changing them! I made two other wreaths that I already put in my antique mall booths. Both of them look more even.
I'm trying to photograph things from various angles, just for interest:
I think my wreath looks great hanging amongst some red transfer ware plates (unless you are a perfectionist, then my crooked wreath is driving you nuts by now):
I love making little magnets from vintage costume jewelry earrings. I think these would make a cute little gift for a teacher or any "secret Santa" recipient. I sell the magnet trios for $6.00 on Etsy:
That's all for now. I hope you are enjoying some fun craft projects this month too!
Mitzi
