Spring

I'm so ready for Spring 2018. The long cold winter needs to end. As I am sitting here on the cold and rainy day I am thinking of nothing but spring. So what is in and new for Spring 2018?

New in antiques and collectibles for Spring of 2018 are the colors of purple and green.

I'm seeing green in furniture, pillows and accents.

 I am also seeing more purples.  I think the purples are coming from the BoHo influence which is really getting hot. BoHo says comfortable and color.

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From The Vintage Belle Kins at Just Around the Corner

Lots of green plants, live and artificial,and  lots of flowers including dried and paper ones are trending now. Flowers embroidered in decorated items and clothing is also another hot area. Wicker and baskets go right with the BoHo look too. 

There are lots of other themes that are popular for spring and summer. These themes can be seen in hats,  pillows, shirts, signs and other decor. Cute little retro campers are popping up everywhere. Cactus and succulent plants on wearable crafts as well as home decor. 

from JumpinJacks Gifts

This includes real and artificial plants. Along with cactus and succulents you see boxwood wreaths and cotton.  Look for maps as decor too. Galvanized baskets, containers and other decor are still strong too.  Wood tones are also lighter with a natural look. Furniture pieces that have been sanded down to their natural surface and lightly whitewashed. In kitchenware I am seeing an increase in white ironstone pieces. Jadeite is hotter than ever. That includes vintage and new. 

So what does this mean for the crafter, antique dealer, seamstress and each individual? In your homes use these trends to update your decor. In your businesses add these pieces to keep your inventory interesting and current. If you paint furniture be sure to add something BoHo like the ever popular mandalas. 

 Remember, buy what you love. 

The Demise of Retail Shopping

Have you heard? Retail is dying. People still shop but not in retail stores like we once did. I’ve been reading and hearing lately that the way we shop is changing. Malls around the country are standing empty just like downtowns did when the malls were built. Even the big box stores are closing being forced out like they once forced out many mom and pop businesses. Here’s a report about it. 

If you haven’t ordered something from Amazon you are in the majority. Many people have Amazon Prime. We pay monthly for the privilege of getting free shipping as well as digital movies, books and music literally at our fingertips. Online shopping is replacing store fronts. 

There are many advantages and some disadvantages to online shopping. Many times you have a huge selection and you can comparison price. You can search for exactly the item you want from the comfort of your home. Recently I was shopping for drawer pulls for a dresser I was painting. I went to several stores including a big craft store that I prefer not shopping because of their support of organizations that I do not support.  But when I’m desperate I go there. They had the pulls I liked but they were $5 each. Often this retail craft store will have the pulls at half price. But not that day. $40 was too much for me to use on a dresser to resale. While waiting my hubby to foo oath shopping in a sports store I searched online using my phone and found 10 beautiful pulls  for $15 from Amazon and they arrived 2 days later. That’s what is killing retail. Online you have multiple selections, fast delivery, easy payment and you can buy from home, your car, vacation or anywhere you have cell service any time. 

Of course there are disadvantages with online shopping. If you like to actually touch and feel the article you are buying you are  not going to do that online. This is especially true if you are buying clothing. And if have trouble finding the right fit in clothing, online clothing shopping will be difficult for you. I recently decided to try Switch Fix and luckily everything fit perfectly. Switch Fix is an group that will choose an outfit for you based on a survey of your likes, activities and preferences. Again ending the need to go from retail store to retail store putting an outfit together. Here is my first Switch Fix and thanks to losing 100 lbs over the last year and a half everything fit. 

Another disadvantage is the delay in arriving. With Amazon Prime most packages arrive in 2 days. Anything shipped USPS Priority Mail will usually arrive in days. Shipping costs is also an added disadvantage when you not using a service like Amazon Prime. 

Damage in shipping is another disadvantage. I’ve had good luck with shopping for the most part. A set of foam tiles in a plastic box was delivered from Amazon but the box was cracked. After contacting Amazon I was given three choices of which I chose a 30% refund which I thought was very fair. I was delighted to receive an email that since I was such a “good” customer  they were refunding all the expense and my grand daughter’s teacher ended up with a free box of foam tiles. Let's not discuss how "good" a customer I am. 

For elderly folks or those that do use computers the demise of retail shopping makes it harder and harder for them to find the things they need and want. I order things for my 91 year old mom all the time. Most recently a carpet sweeper. But many people in this situation don’t have someone to order things for them. 

What does this mean for small business owners like me? It means I should be prepared for change. Boutiques and specialized stores are still surviving. Many in those small downtowns that were displaced years ago by big malls. With the addition of great restaurants, craft beer businesses and other unique stores places like the antique store where I have two booths are surviving.  There is a trend to buy handmade and artisan products. And thanks to Joanna Gaines, from HGTV’s Fixer Upper, antiques and vintage items are all the rage now. 

But a business like my antique and collectible business cannot rely solely on a storefront for all their income. We have to have addition revenue sources. I sell on eBay, I have an Etsy shop (GoodsonVintage) , I sell on Facebook Marketplace and occasionally to friends and family as well as the store where my booths are located. Many vendors like us sell at Vintage Market Days which are much like the craft shows of years past. Some even have their own "Barn Sells". 

So we live in a rapidly changing world. Being prepared for changes will enable to deal with these changes in a smooth and seamless way.

Remember to buy what you love. 

Hot Vintage Collectibles for Christmas

I don’t know if you have noticed but people go crazy at Christmas. I think they have help back from buying all year and now the year is coming to an end they feel they can let go of a bit of cash. Here’s what is selling like firecrackers going off on the 4th of July.

Anything with a truck and a Christmas tree. This includes signs, real vintage trucks, cloche with a truck inside, pillows, shirts and anything else you can create. Red trucks sell the best with turquoise right behind.

Along with the truck and tree goes anything buffalo plaid. Shirts, signs, pillows, ribbons, scarves, hats all sell with buffalo plaid.

Blow molds sell. If you follow my blog (sorry I haven't posted in a while) you know I love blow molds. Blow molds, for those that don't know, were those big, hard plastic Christmas yard decorations that were made in the 70's -90's. You know the ones you had when your kids were small. Or for the younger crowd, when you were a kid and as you grew older you were embarrassed for your friends to see them in your yard. I put two blow molds in the window at the store where I have my booths and in two days sold them both.

Vintage Christmas is in. Shiny Brite ornaments, plastic tree toppers, Putz houses and  plastic Santa's from the 60's all are in demand. Putz houses are cardboard houses made in the 50's and 60's that were gathered together to make a village. Kind of a pre Department 56 Christmas village. Most were made in Japan.

Another hot idem is shadow boxes and Christmas scenes filled with vintage Christmas trinkets, ornaments, original knee elves (not the guy that sits on the shelf and tells Santa on you), and Christmas cards. Aluminum trees from the fifties atomic age are really popular too. I've sold two already this month and it's not even December yet.

Another hard to find but fast to sell item is vintage Christmas ceramics.  Vintage ceramic Christmas trees sell to folks that recall the one their granny had. Santa punch bowls and cups also are great sellers.

I'm a lover of Vintage Christmas. When I go to estate sales the other dealers I see often call me the Christmas Lady. Gee I hope they aren't reading my blog. Remember, buy what you love.  Have a Merry Christmas season and enjoy all it offers. Go to the parades, the plays, the singing Christmas trees, go riding and see the lights, make those cookies, drink that egg nog and spend time with family.

Tart Tin Ornaments

Just a few of my many tart tins. 

For the last year I have been purchasing vintage tart tins at estate sales. I have quite the collection. I am attracted to their shapes, textures and colors. I knew I wanted to recycle them and create something new from something vintage which if you follow my blog you know I love to do. The first thing I came up with was tart tin Christmas trees which I wrote about in an earlier blog, Tart Tins. You can read it here.  But I still have lots of tart tins. So I searched my favorite idea site, Pinterest and discovered some cute ideas for tart tin ornaments. I have no idea if they will sell but I love how they turned out. Here's how I made them.First start with some vintage tart tins. I bought mine at local estate sales. Next I gathered some cute vintage items from my Christmas goodies stash.

Vintage Light Bulbs

My one really well organized area....my Christmas stash

Wooden Ornaments

I have bottle brush trees, old wooden ornaments, glass balls, flocked Santas, reindeer, bells, garland, scrabble letters and more.


 I think the tins look great with snow glitter. First I spray the tin with adhesive spray. I like to do this outside because the spray has a terrible odor. Then I sprinkle my glitter into the tin. I try to do 10 to 12 of these at a time to let them dry.

After they dry I use a combination of hot glue and white glue to attach my decorations. I like the hot glue for a fast hold and the white glue for a longer lasting secure hold.


I use a punch tool to put two holes in the top of the tins to put silver elastic cord through to hang the finished tins. This punch is an awesome little tool.

I found some cheap round stickers at the local dollar store so I created some vintage graphics with them from Graphics Fairy which is a great site for vintage graphics.

Here are some of the finished tins. 

I think these turned out awesome. If you don't have any tart tins you could use old cookie cutters as an alternative. If you try this please share your finished products with me as I'd love to see them. Happy Junkin. Remember, buy what you love.

Letter? Letter? What to do with these letters?

Signs are all the rage now and I have quite a few in my booths. I also sell Scrabble tiles and tile holders, and they are great smalls to sell. Today we hit an estate sale in a nearby town. I had noticed on the photos they posted before the sale that this home had sign making materials and what looked like boxes of letters ( read my post on Junkin 101). Sure enough I found 3 boxes of letters at the sale, and I bought them all.

A huge milk crate full of black plastic letters.

A box of large orange letters 

Rest of the black letters on plastic and under them were red letters.

Now my dilemma is what to do with them. So naturally I went to everyone's favorite resource in this business....Pinterest. Here's a link to some projects I found.  https://www.pinterest.com/search/my_pins/?q=plastic%20sign%20letters
If you don't use it you should. First I found several links to Etsy. With those links I saw that some folks screw them to old white washed boards, hand them with clips on twine to make a banner and even create trays like in Scrabble to hold the letters. I love all these ideas and can't wait to try some them. Of course hubby will need to come up the the letter trays, but honestly he can do anything.

We also bought these old lead and glass flower frogs. I love these and use them around the computer as pencil holders and scissor holders.

Floral frogs make great desk accessories. 

We also purchased this small table. I'm going to paint it. Not sure what color yet. Suggestions are appreciated. I also found one bubble light and a roll of copper wire. We also stopped by a flea market and I bought some old Christmas post cards and some old gas station maps. All in all it was a fun morning and as usual I bought things I love. I'll blog about those letters when I do something with them.

Old Table

Update: Here is the first sign I made from my letters. I sprayed the red ones orange and mounted to a barn board. I love it. 

I hung this style on clips and sting.