What a great first day!

I started my new shop today, and right off the bat got three sales - woohoo! As I mentioned before, prices in this shop are set to MOVE some stuff, so it's not like I made a lot of money, but how sweet it is to have a sale...doing the happy dance!

So you know more of what I've added to Ginny's Veranda, here's a mini from the shop:



Drop by and "set" a spell. Who knows what you might find, as I've got lots more in that closet to bring out.

A New Alias

I'm starting a new endeavor on Etsy, much to my husband's delight, who has insisted on a reduction in my "stuff" footprint for some time now. Beginning very soon, I will have an additional shop on Etsy to destash my vintage and antique collection of small items such as textiles, jewelry, pottery, ceramics, paper ephemera....and just cool stuff that I could never throw away, but never quite found a place in our home. If hubby has a hand in this, some of the things that did find a way into our decor may be finding a way out, too.

My new shop will be named "Ginny's Veranda" and this post brings you a sneak peak of some of the treasures soon to be listed, and priced to SELL. Stay tuned.

Maybe it's my heritage

....but I have definitely fallen in love with vintage German beads! I was minding my own business in a bead shop the other day (yeah, right, Ginny, we all know what that means - you were cruising to fall in love with yet more beads!), when I came across this stunning display of the most yummy colors imaginable. They were all vintage beads from Germany and Czechoslovakia from the 1940s and 1950s, and the colors were really what caught my eye first, and then I noticed all the crazy and fabulous shapes. I could not resist, as the prices were quite affordable as well. Now, I did not go absolutely crazy, and only bought enough for just a few pieces, the bracelet above being one. We'll see if others like the pieces I post well enough to buy....then I can buy some more!

I was wondering why these little beauties appealed to my eye so much, and then I ran across this web article by Dara Spiotto on The Beadin' Path which talks about the colors of vintage beads, and all became clear. Or colorful, the case turns out to be.

All I want for Christmas......

Not exactly my two front teeth (I still have those, thank goodness), but one or some of these delectable vintage enamel floral pins I found on Etsy the other day. These cuties are all so affordable - I think they would make great gifts for anyone with a little fun and funk in their personality. They spruce up a serious jacket, add pizzazz to fabric purses and scarves, and in a pinch, can be turned into artwork (see the post "What the heck").

Well, maybe not ALL I want, but it would be a nice start ^_^

Featured above are:
Ray of Sunshine From curiouskitty
Vintage Blue Poppy from OriginalzbyMernda
Hot Pink Vintage Daisy from chubbybunnyshop
Vintage Huge Red Poinsettia from Kimaroo
Aqua Daisy from withinamilefromhome
Big Red from stephieD
Vintage Enamel Flower from PorkiePieDesigns
Vintage Pink Enamel Flower from VeroVintage
Haskell Look - A Girl Needs Pearls from KarmaRox
Set of Three from jessbobess
Moveable 2 in 1 from VaudevilleVintage1
Vintage Golden Topaz from LifeTravelsDesigns

Flashback Happens

Moving this past summer, I came across a box of "old" vinyl LPs. Man, I loved that music! I belonged to Columbia House Records, and managed to forget to return with a "Don't Send" only a couple of times, meaning the records are all pretty much ones I wanted in the first place. Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Dan Fogelberg, Chicago.... I wonder if they're all warped to heck from storage? Without a turntable - how can I know?

I do know that if I ever figure that out and the answer is "Yes, these records are all toast," then I'm sending the jackets over to the Etsy artist Revinylized. In the most clever of recycle-reuse, she takes the awesome artwork that was standard issue for LP jackets and transforms them into items of purpose, like sketchbooks, organizers and purses. So awesome.

Revinylized is actually a "side" shop to the main shop for the artist behind all this craftiness: Katie from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Katie's main shop is Knuckletoes, and she also sells her jewelry, clothing and purses at Folk Festivals in her area. She carries the theme of recycle-reuse by also making her clothing and purses out of recycled materials. Anything from tablecloths, to pillowcases, to reused LP record covers. This not only gives her items a vintage feel, but it helps the environment. What more do you need?

Katie features other indie artists at her Revinylized blog, and her life at her Knuckletoes blog. Now, off to look into finding a turntable for a chance to revisit my youth......

Spark your creativity

One of the neat things about Etsy is the number of vendors on the site that cater to the new crafters' love of vintage and repurposing of old into new. There are many artists that use the vintage items as part of their new art, and others just love to have the vintage items in their environment. Being of a certain "vintage" myself, sometimes I find things for sale from my own childhood - LOL! Creative Sundries has a shop just chock-full of vintage ephemera, cookbooks, sewing patterns, jewelry, and collage art and repurposed items - all of that certain "age."

This fun little plastic tray from American Airlines has been altered through decoupage and the addition of an authentic Mexican loteria card - perfect for your keys, don't you think? Or maybe change you're saving for a "rainy" day?















Vintage on Etsy is about taking the old and making the new.....what could you do with this funky image from a newspaper ad for a pharmacy? Insert it into a collage perhaps? But you should see what's on back of this original newspaper ad - perhaps an even more compelling image to work with. But you'll have to click on the pic to get to the listing to see for yourself!

So Etsy is not only your one-stop-shop for all things handmade, but also a treasure trove for materials and inspiration. Come check out what the Minnesota mother-daughter team of Creative Sundries is doing with vintage, and read more on their blog.

Victorian Charms

A lover of antique and vintage everything, Etsy artist Wanderlust & Pixie Dust expresses her creativity in clothing, jewelry, linens, textiles, anything beveled, books, ephemera, you name it. The older the better is her motto. In her spare time, she likes to dabble in all things crafty. She shares bits and pieces of the buried treasure she has collected over the years on her blog.
Check it out if you have the time.