Fall Leaves Day Trip...

 Yesterday My Love and I took a little day trip to see the fall leaves.  

Of course - there were photo ops around every turn and we didn't near stop 

to capture them all... but here's a sampling.  

An overlook yielded this picturesque valley with an old unpainted barn...

photo compliments of My Love

And we were surprised by this field of sunflowers...

We took a stroll through a 'free admission' amusement park to see their fall decor.  

It was kinda sad.... they were loading up all the pretty planters on

 this dump truck to - well - dump... 

The carousel was all closed up for the season...

Our final destination was a state park with more lovely views...

The sky was SO blue...

Photo compliments of My Love

This little friend almost stole a ride along home. 
Ok, maybe not - but it made a cute picture.

Photo compliments of My Love

 

Gotta love Fall!  What a creative God we serve.
And I'm looking forward to more pretty fall foliage yet this season.  

Are the leaves changing were you live?  ~Joyce

New Listings in the Shop...

Allow me to introduce you to a few of the new goods in my Etsy shop...

I just love these large 3" glass ornaments - sprinkled with gold glitter.  

There are 6 matching balls in 3 different colors...

Wee Books for Wee Folks put out adorable little children's books. 

 This Peter Rabbit's Christmas book is a bit of an unusual find...

Artist Frank van Vreeland did wonderful flower market and street scenes art.  

This scene from Holland is a Piccadilly picture puzzle.    

And the puzzle box has the neatest little surprise on the front (go see!)

Do you know what a sesquicentennial year is?  It's the 150th year celebration.  

And this little make up compact is a souvenir from Philadelphia...

And for those of  us that just love old graphics and farmhouse style

 - take a peek at this old feed sack from Eastern States Farmers' Exchange...

Thanks for stopping by today...

I never take your visits for granted.

   Happy browsing! ~Joyce

Selling At An Antique Show - What I Learned...

 Last weekend I set up at my first outdoor show.  It was a Fall Festival 

on the grounds of a local tourist attraction.  The event didn't start till 

10 AM - allowing for a reasonable set-up time...yay!

Here are some things I learned...

1. Be discerning about the show itself...

       - Are there other major events happening in the area on the same day 

 that may contribute or draw away from the show?  

Contributing is good...  drawing away is not....

      - Research what the show & crowds were like in previous years

 - preferably asking a former vendor 

(unless this is the first year for the show).

 2.  A canopy is great!  

It gets people out of the sun for a more pleasant shopping experience.

(I borrowed mine this go-round.)

3.  Friends may stop by.  While visiting -  stay engaged with the shoppers.

   Otherwise - they will walk on by.  It's a natural inclination to not interrupt.

4.  A color theme makes for an attractive booth.  i.e. - white and neutrals.... 

lots of furniture and woods....  lots of textiles... etc.

 

I tried to incorporate greens with primitives since my banner was green

 (default color due to it being the only card stock I had on hand).   

It worked somewhat but could have been better in my opinion.

  Still - I received many compliments which warmed my heart.

5.  Incorporate seasonal items
I had primitives for fall and also some Christmas.  
Yes - some Christmas sold!

6.  Set up your stand at home and take pictures to refer to 

when setting up at the show.  Saves a lot of time & stress. 

(Especially for first shows - succeeding shows may go easier.)

7.  Accept credit cards if you at all can.  We got this free device for our phone.  

And even though the show was small - we used it!

8.  Just have fun and relax... trust your instincts.  

Much of what I thought ahead of time to do was right!

9.   Enjoy the show and mingle with other vendors.  Contacts are great!  

They may lead to future shows, sales, friends, etc.

My booth happened to be right next to the goats... loved that!

Would I do it again?  It was a lot of work - but also a lot of fun!  

Depending on the time and place - I just may... ~Joyce

Prepping To Sell At An Outdoor Show...

 This weekend will hold a first for me - at least of this caliber.   

I'm planning to set up at an antique market at a local fall festival. 

 How am I getting ready?

First - I cleared by calendar for the week... 

I didn't want to have 'rushing' added to my stress.  

It has worked and I feel on schedule!

 Second - I decided I wanted to do a little advertising... 

something to set my booth apart.  

So I made a simple banner that will hang across my canopy -

(which is borrowed by the way - I put out a plea to my facebook friends!)

It's made from card stock in a funky green - 

the only card stock I had on hand (picked up a long time ago).  

So I'm 'going with it'... (the green that is...)  

I added an oval shaped dictionary page (joined 2 half circles together to make a template).  

Then stenciled my letters and filled in with marker.

I'm happy with it!

And I printed up some cards to have on hand to point people to the blog 

and ultimately my Etsy store, etc.

Third- I set up my 'booth' in my garage so that I could work at

 arranging it and know how much merchandise I needed, etc. 

 No sense just 'winging it' when I'm scurrying to set up on location.

  Then I priced each and every item... yeah - that took a while.

 (this is just a small portion of it...)

Fourth -  I packed everything up into boxes in conjunction with

 where they will be laid out on the tables.  

There's a primitive area, a linens area, a Christmas area, etc...

And one final detail - I made a few swags to hang from the corners of my canopy.  

I checked my drawer of ribbon and sure enough - also a long time ago,

 I picked up this orange roll for cheap.  That'll work!

Now - what's on my list to take with me tomorrow?

Tables, chairs, canopy, umbrella and stand (for sitting under), 

gourds (to scatter throughout the goods), paper banner and cards,

 leaves swags, calculator, bags (wish I had more!), money,

 clipboard to keep track of goods sold (to update inventory later), lunch,

my new Paypal Here credit card swiper (just in case someone has no cash)

and some Christian booklets to have on hand to share my faith if opportunity arises. 

Am I missing anything?  Guess I'll find out...

Wish me well ~ Joyce 
Linking to What's It Wednesday

My Favorite Thing About Selling Online...

 ... besides meeting so many nice people that is.  

So my second favorite thing is packaging an item to ship.

I always try to include a little gift and wrap with a ribbon if I can.

Today I had this little German bronze Pied Piper piece to ship...

 I try to send along gifts that are somewhat related to what the

 customer is buying - but I also don't want to add extra weight.  

Often its a vintage post card or vintage hanky.  

For this male customer - I remembered a certain vintage men's hanky

that came with a box of linens from a friend.

Yes!  It's monogrammed with his initial.  And look - even the coloring is right.

Perfect!  Hope he enjoys it.

All packaged and ready to go in the box...

 And that's a wrap my friends!  ~Joyce

Linking to Let's Talk Vintage
and What's It Wednesday

2015 Fall Mantel...

 Now that I've begun outdoor Fall decor - it's time to embarque on indoors.   

I always start with my mantel - its just seems right.  

I haven't touched it since spring. Visit the link to see what elements I've kept in place.

Its fun to drag down my big box of Fall and rediscover what's in there

 from year to year.  And of course each year I add new things.

Hello Fall Mantel 2015!

 It rests right on top of my brick fireplace that My Love

 would prefer I not paint - so I haven't...

In a perfect world - I should be running those cords down the fireplace and along the floor
 to better hide them.  But I haven't and probably won't...

 A few years ago I was energetic and made these sweater pumpkins.  

I still love 'em...  One of my favorite projects I think.

This year I discovered a piece of lovely plaid ribbon in a drawer

 and quickly made a bow to adorn the grapevine wreath.

The wreath was a little plain - so I wrapped some natural looking

 garland around for more 'oomph'...

 Turns out I've got a lot of different textures going on this year.

  And I'm OK with that!

And in the fireplace itself - my ever present candles.  

I just change out the colors of the candles to the season.

(I have a lot of candles!  I pick 'em up for 50 cents here and $1 there...)

I thought I would be fun to share my Fall mantel from when I first

 started blogging - back in 2011.  I am SO glad we painted over that paneling...

I'm realizing my style hasn't changed all that much in the past 4 years.   

I'm OK with that too...

Enjoy being you my friends!  ~Joyce
Linking to Let's Talk Vintage

Fall Craft For the Porch...

 I attended a Ladies' Craft Session at a recent church event.   

These Fall Tags were on the agenda....

The boards were precut for us into tag shapes.  I added a wash of white.

Then we simply stenciled and painted the words and leaves...

 I must confess - filling in those letters with a paint brush 
gave me the heeby jeebies. 

I much prefer to use a Sharpie!  

But somehow I managed not to make too much of a mess.

Little tip for colored areas - such as these leaves:

Outline the stencil first with a marker - fill in with paint - 

then retrace the edges with the marker to sharpen things up.

I'm liking them on the porch of our summer cottage. 

 I also added a few 3/$1 gourds to my side table. 

 It's fun to give some seasonal cheer to passersby.  

And a little goes a long way.

Happy Fall Friends!  ~Joyce