So nice to have Friends to show you the way!!!

Thanks to my friends at Vintology for turning me on to a new Etsy tool.

  Love this site  Craftopolis... it will show you if you are featured in any treasury's in the Main and West sites as well as Gift Guides features and... whether you are an alternate.

 It even has a timer that will show you when it is getting close to Treasury creating time!

 how fun is that!

           

What a day!

Today I received a confirmation from the Etsy bloggers street team... that I have been accepted!  I was so excited I thought I would come to my blog and write about it.  Before I did I checked out Etsy and found that I had many folks mark my shop as a favorite today... that can mean only one thing...I have been mentioned in an article or featured on the fP...sure enough  ...

   Todays  Storque article on collections was what did it.  Pez dispensers... who knew!

     

While looking at my blog.  I noticed someone had commented on one of my posts....you can see it below.  The article about the wire chandelier.  It was taken right out of Sue and Ki's book " junk market style" .... Ki found my blog and my etsy shop and left a very nice comment here on my blog.

  I am totally flattered that she stopped by and am floored yet again that Etsy admin has featured another of my items.

      thank you!  I am humbled!

Junking in Style

Today I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of LaVelle Davis to Walter Vallette

     LaVelle , fondly know as elle...met Wally while attending Church in our small midwestern town.  

  She is 75 and he is 80 or so.  Their union makes her officially...

     drum roll please.........   

  LaVelle Vallette....how is that for a name.

anyhow....After the wedding, 

I asked a friend to come " junk" with me in our local town. 

     We hopped in my Bug convertible and off we went.  We had so much fun finding all kinds of things that we can repurpose.

   I found an old 6 panel door.  A tall thin one... I am thinking of using for a thin table.  I have small castoff glass pieces that will fit perfectly into the panels.

We found 2 old metal cage like boxes.  They will be perfect for repurposing into lighting for outdoors.  Several houses down we came upon a wonderful pile of junk...great glass globes that I think I will attach to the wire cage and hang from pully I picked up this weekend.

My friend Val... found 5 little glass globes in a box.  I plan to illuminate them with tea lights in the garden.  I will just dig a tiny bit into the soil so that they are firmly placed and drop a tea light down inside.

        they will match the lights I plan to make that will adorn the trees.

             I found an old wood piece that once served as a foot stool for an adirondack chair.  I will mount that to the wall to make for an interesting shelf....

    What fun I will have.  

    I hope you had as much fun this weekend as I did!

          martha

Small But Affordable Art...A thank you to Paperwhite!

I wanted to thank " paperwhite" for featuring my little ACEO in her blog.  what a pleasant surprise!  soooooo

     THANKS!

http://paperwhitej.blogspot.com/2009/05/small-but-affordable-art.html

Insulator fun continued ...start reading from the bottom for even more fun! or read your computer upside down.

                                                                                  Enjoy!________________________Step 4.  Finished product...this time it has been converted into a pretty vase...you can                   adorn your garden with pretty pops of color where they may not usually grow.

               (root some plants in it while you are at it!)
step 3.  Hang from the cup hook and place a tea light inside...light and enjoy.  Be sure                  you do not light it if it is too close to dry dead wood.  This idea is meant to use                    with tealights only.  I don't recommend anything larger.

   
step 2.  I wired around the bottom with some very heavy but workable wire.

               I made the piece long enough that you could use the" tail" to bend into a loop to                hang on the cup hook that I screwed into the tree.

step 1....last year I placed several larger insulators in my garden...I had just pushed them down partially into the dirt.  They were wonderfully glowing.  This year, I wanted to improve on my insulator idea...and this one is a fresh idea for you to try!

  

                                                                 

fun with vintage finds

This is kind of a " how to" blog entry. 

   I had seen Sue and Ki, from the now defunked Country Home magazine, put together a very cool garden chandelier ... I copied their design.  Using some, fresh from the curbside, vintage garden wire... I bent it into a circle, adjoined the ends (by bending the wire onto itself) then attached vintage telephone insulators to the sides.  Simple process and it only took about 30 minutes.  

  I hung chain from it and in the tall branch of my very old apple tree,  I screwed an eye hook and pully.  I ran the cloths line rope from the chandelier, through the pully and down to a knot on the tree.  An old broken branch know serves as a tie 

off.

  I have knotted several areas so that I can take it down to place tea lights inside and light them for a pretty glow in my outdoor room.

     In the winter i take it down and place a squirrel proof feeder on the rope ( we always leave 1 chain link for ease of switching the items we hang).

     The Birds love it in the winter and we love it Spring, Summer and Fall.

try it... it is such a fun thing to do!

 

I can't Stand it!!!!

This little garden claw it worth it's weight in gold.

     It has made it to the front page yet again this morning!      Yippee!!!

Six treasury's at one time and a storque article...all today!

Another great day at Etsy.

  Today I have been featured in 6, count 'em Six treasury's.  I have also been featured in the Storque article "going Dutch ".

      I hope you will check them out.

          martha

Another Front Page item... I am on a roll!

I am Happy to report , yet another wonderful Etsy front page shout out!  

 I missed it as usual but my retro decanter and shot glass set was featured.  check it out for yourself.

        isn't it cute.

             Thanks to etsy Admin!

Tweet, Tweet...life is all a twitter!

Ok... so I now have an " official " twitter page... as opposed to the " unofficial" one.

     I have finally gotten my act together to link my twitter to my blog to my etsy site... I think I need a full time job doing that.

         I will, when I have time, update as to what is happening in my world.

          thanks for following me to twitter

              martha

dual front page and 3 gift guide listings...etsy life is good!!!

just a quick note.... I think I had the best featured day ever on Etsy.

  Yesterday about 10 am , my fiesta pedestal was featured in a treasury from a gal from Chicago.  What an honor to finally have an item reach the front page.  Today when I awoke I checked etsy and clicked on the Front Page...lo and behold my garden claw tool was on the front page.  2 front page items in less than 24 hours after never having one... tonight I arrived home to find 3 of my items featured in the gift guides section,

  my garden claw was in the home and garden gift guide and my nutmeg chopper was in the slow foods gift guides... I also had another item, the little vintage Camera featured in the mens gift guide... All is good at Etsy.  I am so happy and excited.   

         thanks to Etsy admin staff for recognizing my shop.

              Martha

Take your Child to work day!

It was a fun day today... it was" Take your child to work day".. realizing that I was not " working" at my real job today... I wanted my son to have a workday experience so...I let my 12 year old son stay home with me to work on Etsy ... we had to check etsy in the morning, as soon as we woke up. We had sold several items (15 to be exact) that had to be shipped. Before we could ship we had to make the little goodies I put in the boxes. We found the shipping supplies and packed things, Went to ship at the post office, 6 of the items were going out of the country so we had to write out customs receipts, we tried our hand at the automated machine for the others...Then we headed off to the office supply store to replenish shipping supplies, Tape,pens,envelopes etc...Had to stop at kinkos to check the fedex shipping cost as a special request from one of my customers... came home, tool photos of the next items to list (colin was in complete control of the photos today)...We had to come up with descriptions for the items to list. list them on Etsy... in all this... one of my items was on the front page....I realized it when I arrived home.

what a day.... in the life of an Etsian....I LOVE IT!

I have to work my " real job" tomorrow and attend a wedding and sat is my daughters bday. lots to do , there never seems to be a dull moment around here

I really did appreciate his help...he was a trooper.

martha

International buyers unite!

I have a goal... that is to find a wonderful vintage map of the world and begin to place little markers in the locations I have sold items to.

  They would be in , California, Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, South Dakota, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Utah,  Washington State, Oregon, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Virginia,  New york, Maine...Vancouver, British Columbia, Montreal, New Brunswick, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and many many more.

   I have such fun imagining places I hope to Travel to someday.  

What a wonderful international community we have on Etsy... thru the Arts , handmade and Vintage ... bringing the world together, as one!  Happy Earth Day

      I LOVE it!

Freshening up for SpRinG !!!

This week I am making a change or two to my Etsy Shop...

   I have been taking my photos on a stark white surface for a while.  This week, I will be freshening up my shop a by adding more natural backgrounds and fresh flowers.  I am hoping it will soften up a bit and be pleasing to the eye.

  I have my little pixie mascot who will be ushering in Spring by sharing her spot with a little spring chicken and some fresh daffodils.

     keep your eye open for the new fresh look.

           martha

My Latest Treasury...All A BuzZ . . ..!

    I love this one... the colors are honey , black and White.   The artists are inspiring and I have chosen some of my favorite sellers to feature this time around.  What fun.  I hope you will check it out.

          

Treasury.... Mapquest.... inspired by vintage maps

ok... so after the sweaty palm moment... you etsy treasury people know what I am talking about.... for those of you who don't know... you can not enter a treasury until it falls below 333... I watch the clock... set the timer., much like trying to catch the last second bid on Ebay.  As soon as it falls to 332... you have only moments to put your treasury name up.  I have seen many successful treasury names that are just three dots... they didn't know what to name it...but it is mysterious so I think folks click on it...

   This is a treasury I have been trying to do for sometime now.  I love the colors on  a vintage map or globe.  They are so yummy, pastels in orange,green, blue and pink.  I was finally home to put together a treasury today.

   My last treasury went to the front page... I ran that one twice... hoping the etsy admin would see it.

   This one has already gotten many clicks... Alphabetically  it is the first on the list.

  I hope you like it as much as I do...when you click on the link... please be sure to visit all of the wonderful shops.  I have alternates as well.  Their links are in the word alternates in the last sentence... so that you can see their items as well! hope you find all four.

  

    Thanks for visiting me here!

Think of it like an Easter Egg hunt...Have fun!

Thank you all for your business this past week.  Since having my bunny card featured I have been non stop packing and shipping... ok... so I have been sleeping ....so I guess it is not non stop packing... but it seems like in the past week I have made so many wonderful Friends on Etsy.  

   The kindness shared by all is contagious.   Many of the friends I have made have also been featured and it is so fun to share in everyones success.  

   I have been busily photographing many new items for listings to come.  

  I hope you will all stay tuned as I catch up with my shipping and prepare to celebrate the Easter Weekend with family and friends.

       Best to you all 

            Martha

Good things come in Medium sized packages!

Yesterday, After many trips TO the post office to ship items... I went to PICK UP an item I bought on Etsy several weeks ago.  I have been looking for a pair of Vintage cowboy boots.  I took a chance with a pair that I had found.  The seller was not sure of the size ...it was an estimate.  I did a bit of research before my purchase and by some of the stitching I  found that they were manufactured in  Canada and by the same makers of the Mounties boots. Alberta boot company...  I went for it.  Waiting with anticipation.  I had never bought something that I had not been able to try on before.

I picked up my box... couldn't wait... opened it in the car... took out one of the boots and they looked like they might be too small.

The minute I arrived home... I put one on... they fit like they had been made for me.

    I love them ...The price was right!  What a find... you never know what you can find on Etsy. 

UHOHHHH...someone is catching the Bug!

Yesterday I sat down to photograph some of my etsy vintage finds.  While I was taking the shots my son arrived on the scene... he is 11 and will be 12 soon.  In hand were a pile of his vintage toys that I had picked up along the way...Estate sales, flea markets and the like.    He asked if he could set them up and take some shots.  I handed him my canon and off he went.  Placing them in groupings, focusing in ...in an " Artsy" way... I might add.  He asked if I would list them and if he could get a little of the cash for his savings.    Of Course I listed them for him...if you check out my listing for vintage toys, you will find them there.   I think he took some great shots for a budding photographer.          I hope you love them too!Seems he is well on his way to catching the Etsy "bug"....watch out POE... colin is on his way!     

           Martha

Here are a few of my favorite sellers... I hope you love their shops.

 please check them out. 

 Wildwomanjewelry is one of my favs. for accessories and earrings.  I love her fresh colors and styles.  I think I have featured an item from her in each of my treasury collections.

I also have some new favorites...funkymom... will be one to watch...her retro style and flair for repurposing vintage jewelry will make her soar to the top on etsy.

for wonderful vintage finds.... vintagology.  keep your eye on that one... cute pics and great finds.