A New Journey

We are all animal lovers here at our home...always have been, always will be!  It's been a way of life for me and I guess I passed that on to our children ( the husband needed a little coaching to see the light:).  Our daughter and son-in-law in Chicago have Henri, and we have Tipper and Baxter. 

 Henri                                                                                 Baxter & Tipper

Recent Finds....

The weather has been so cold and snowy around here lately.  I've been going through my stash and adding items to the Etsy shop.


Someone spent a lot of time to create these sweet spring bunnies!  They are all hand sewn and in great vintage condition.  How cute would they look on your Easter table?
                                                                                                      

Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunny

  

Some awesome Fleur de Lis poker chips

The Three Little Pigs......as a bank so you can bring home the bacon!

And some vintage carnival ride tickets.

FIrst Impressions

We all know first impressions are important but how often do you think about what impression your front door is making?  Your homes' front door sets the stage for making a great first impression and it can be as simple as choosing a color that says something about who lives on the other side of that door.  What does your front door say about you?

Elegant and subdued............

 Or more classic and confident?

Do you prefer something a little more bold and daring?

 

What ever your preference, remember that first impressions set the stage and can leave a lasting impression on all who happen by your front door.  What would be your choice?  Is your door telling a story of who lives on the other side and is it the story you want others to hear?

What's New in the Shop Today.....

Some of the new items that have recently been added to the shop....... this is a great time of year for some armchair traveling and here a few things to send you on your way.

A wonderful antique travel book covering England and Shakespeare......

        


 Take a trip to Paris and Versailles with this walking  tour   guide..........

  

              





Step back in time with a tour of Greenfield Village in the Detroit area......

Paper Plate Dog

Thirteen years ago, my daughter and I went to the grocery store and on the bulletin board at the store was a paper plate advertising free puppies.  Little did I know, the best grocery trip was happening.  We went to go see the puppies.....who can resist puppies.  Obviously not us!!  So, Scooter came home to live with us.  He was the best puppy, easy to house train and fun to play with.  He grew to be a loving and sweet dog.  He was my running companion and faithful watcher of the house and yard.  This past summer he had a large growth removed from his hip area and it turned out to be cancer. Every thing went well up until recently, when he was no longer interested in food.  We made the gut wrenching decision, to help him leave the misery he was so obviously in and called the vet.  Last night, Scooter took his final breaths with my husband and I holding him.  The house feels sad and empty....even for our other dogs, Baxter and Tipper.  So today is the beginning of the long journey to feeling better and realizing the choice we made was the right one.

Scooter, Baxter, Henri and Tipper

I'm back!!

It's been a while since I have posted anything here and I hope to make more regular postings.  Our family has been busy getting ready for our daughters wedding and there just wasn't time for the blog.  I will be posting photos and some of the fun things we did to celebrate her and her future husbands big day.   Below find some photos from our Thanksgiving.  Hope your Thanksgiving day was full of family, friends, fun and food.

                                           The buffet with appetizers for the afternoon.......

 Two of our four legged friends (Tipper is the blonde and Scooter, our grandpa dog is behind Tipper)

 The three amigos had an issue with the garbage disposal making my gravy shaker disappear down the drain!  It took a couple pliers and the thee of them to get it out of the disposal!!

                                                  The table is set for the main event

The Etsy shop is going well and to kick off the holiday season, Black Sheep Emporium is having a Cyber Sunday~Monday sale.  Take 15% off all purchases for these two days!!  There many vintage items that would make great gifts for family, friends, your child's teacher .............click on the link to take a look at what's happening over on Etsy.

An abundance of Basil

So my basil has grown like crazy and there is way to much to use at one time.  So what to do??  I like pesto a LOT but I don't want to only have pesto.  For the past couple of years I have taken my basil, cleaned it and put it in my food processor with a small amount of olive oil and processed it.  I then package it in freezer bags, place them in the freezer and just break off what I need when cooking!!  It is almost like having a basil plant growing in your kitchen in the dead of winter  --  a real plus when you live in Michigan or some other cold climate (or have a brown thumb).  Here is what I did....

Pick your basil or buy it from the farmers market in your area.  Wash the basil under cold running water  and then strip the leaves from the stems.  Dry the leaves well (I use a salad spinner) and discard or compost the stems.  If you don't have a salad spinner use clean kitchen towels or paper towels. 

Use your favorite olive oil

Put your cleaned and dried basil leaves in your food processor and add a small amount of olive oil.  You can always add more olive oil if the leaves look too dry after processing.  You want the leaves very lightly coated with the olive oil.

Take your freshly minced and oiled leaves and put them in small freezer bags (I used quart size).  I like to pat the basil in the bag so it is flat and in a thin layer in the freezer bag getting as much air out of the bag as possible.  Freeze on a flat surface because once it is frozen you can easily break off a piece to use it in soups, stews, sauces, eggs or make that pesto that is SOOOOO good!!  This is way better than dried and loads cheaper in the winter time if you can't grow fresh basil.

                                                                Bon Appetit!!!

TEDTalk

Do you ever see something on the internet that you can't wait to share?  I just watched a video of a TEDTalk and I can't wait to share it -- the speaker is Frank Warren and he hosts a website called PostSecret where people send him a postcard with an artful secret written on the back.  He updates his website with these postcard secrets and it makes for fascinating reading.  The secrets can be sad, scary, funny, sweet, horrifying, mystifying, remarkable....they are as varied as DNA.  Take a break from what your are doing and check out some secrets.  Who knows, maybe you will end up mailing a postcard to Frank soon.

The Easter Table

It's Easter weekend and the kids have come home to spend some family time.  The weather was typical end of March in Michigan weather -- not really warm but thankfully it didn't snow.  The dining table looked like a breath of spring after a long, snowy winter.

Easter Dinner Menu

Ham

Roasted Asparagus

Butternut Squash Risotto

Mixed Greens Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake

Mismatched place setting

The only thing I bought for the table was a new runner and fresh flowers.  The runner set the tone for the rest of the table and it looks great on the burlap table cloth.  I like a burlap base because it is a great neutral that you can dress up for a formal look with a funky twist - think of burlap as blue jeans for your table!

The mismatched silver plate flatware looks wonderful.  Go to my Etsy shop to see what flatware sets I have available to purchase for your table.

Pricing your products - it's an art

Pricing items is a tricky business.  Too low of a price and people will think your product lacks quality.  Too high of a price and no one is going to take you seriously.  Click on the links and learn how to price like a pro!





{pricing} 46 Random tips to help you price your stuff
Cheaper prices don't help you build goodwill22 Pricing Strategies
22 Pricing Strategies
A Simple Formula for Pricing Your Work

There is lots of information on the internet - some good, some not so good.  There is no one perfect way to price your items.  For me, it is part formula, part gut feeling and doing some research.  Like everything in life, the more you do it the better you get.  There will be bumps along the way -- that's life.  Don't beat yourself up for pricing mistakes you've made.  Learn from your mistakes and carry on!!

A tale of two forks

I sell a lot of vintage silverware on Etsy and sometimes it starts out looking like a lost cause.

This fork a good example of that!

I didn't hold out too much hope to get it clean and bright.

But, with some silver polish (I like to use Parker & Bailey) and a little elbow grease.....

......the fork has new life and will
be welcome on a dinner table
for many more meals.

While I .....

While I made dinner last night I had some visitors in my yard (they have been here a couple of times this week).  There were four of them and they made my evening - along with our delicious dinner.  I made a couple of changes to the recipe (I only had sun dried tomatoes that weren't pack in oil and I used fresh spinach instead of escarole).  It was easy to make and was a hit with my husband! 

Served on vintage Myott's Bouquet from Staffordsire England dinnerware.

Flea Market Style...

Every once in a while I need to get some inspiration and one of the places I like to find it is in magazines. Flea Market Style magazine gives you a fresh look at vintage items that you can actually see having in your home. The pictures are colorful and creative. Right now, Flea Market Style is preparing for their Fall issue and they are looking for people to send them photos and stories of their favorite vintage purchase. If you want to have the chance to be featured in Flea Market Style, click here

Monday catch-up

It's a work at home Monday. Last week was a busy week - several vintage finds were brought home and we had a weekend trip to Champaign/Mattoon IL to see our son and bring him his dog that we have been keeping for the past few months. This was not how she usually looked - she is a busy puppy most of the time.

Here are a few items that I collected over the past week for the antique booth (and my home:) I think I'm going to keep the secretary at home for a while - it is a great work space for me! I've always wanted to have my own desk to keep my junk self organized. There are still lots of empty spots to fill up!!

Vintage porcelain No Parking Signs

Aged and patina'ed christmas ornaments................................

And just in case selling at an Antique mall doesn't work out --- a shoe shine box! Just a peek at what happened last week - hope your week is happy and stress free. Janice