Tuesday is a Random Day for an Estate Sale

We saw an estate sale listed for Tuesday morning. The list went up at 5:00 am but there was no way we could get there at that time. We had to drop Davis off at camp at 8:00 so we figured we would just swing by since it was on our way home and we would get there when we got there. We did arrive a few minutes before the door opened at 9:00 and we were about fortieth in line. 

There were only two things in the picture that I saw I really wanted. An awesome retro coffee maker I just HAD to have for Christmas and a cute little chair for my bathroom vanity. When I saw how long the line was I kissed them both goodbye. 

The seller informed us it was a full house clear. They started letting people in about five at a time which meant we really didn't get into the house until about 9:45. Brian went towards the garage because that was where the coffee pot was in the picture. It was a madhouse down there. People dumping boxes, scattering stuff, a general melee so he couldn't even make it down the stairs. I went left into the den and low and behold sitting right there on a table was my precious coffee pot with the box. It's never even been used. Right next to it was my chair. I grabbed it up and couldn't believe how lucky I was.

We carried it all upstairs because it was such a frenzy in the house we were afraid to put it down. upstairs we found a coffee table that would be a better fit in our family room so we could move the current one into the living room. We grabbed our stuff and made it out alive. It was a crazy sale. 

Now how cute is that coffee pot? 

The coffee table fills the space much better than the first one we found.

I keep forgetting to post a picture of some Jadeite I got a few estate sales back. I've always loved Jadeite but it's always so expensive, I never wanted to start collecting it. Since I received a few pieces from our friend Linda's estate, I now keep on the look out for cheap pieces. I got this one for $5.00 and it has the most gorgeous design on the lid.

Davis has been at tech camp all week. She is the youngest in her Maya class since it is 13-18. It's hard but she is working through it and learned to animate yesterday which she really liked. I found these notes in her backpack. I have no idea what they mean, lol.

Since we have decided to redo our second room as well, we will spend this weekend boxing up all the Asian trinkets we inherited and moving out the furniture to list in on Craigslist. We will use that money to buy the new pieces. Funny thing is for every one piece I sell, I can buy 2-3 older pieces. The Asian museum is now closed. The mid-century modern museum is open!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! It's certainly been busy around here!

-Tricia

It's all About the Deals

Brian headed back down early to Temecula to pick up our $40 Ekornes recliner that didn't fit in our car on Saturday. They had a second one there and I told Brian to ask if he could get a "deal" on it if it was still there...as if $40 for a chair we saw online last night for over $1000 wasn't enough of a deal... When he got there he asked the seller if he would take $20 for the second chair and he said sure! We can always resell it and make a tidy profit. When Brian went to load it someone was sitting in it and Brian said "excuse me, I just bought that chair" They said no, we are buying it and Brian said I already paid for it. Let's just say they were not happy. That's the second estate sale fight we've seen in two days...people are angry out there over the deals. So now we have two Ekornes recliners that were a smoking deal and the most comfortable chairs I have sat in in a long time. 

Even Tygrr approves!

We were bored so we decided to hit two estate sales that had already been going on for a few days so we didn't expect to find anything and we didn't. One sale had Pyrex nesting bowls for $50. Come on, now. If I wanted to pay those prices I would go to the antique mall! The houses were very old and cool to walk through. Our dream house was across the street. We wanted to move in immediately. It was so adorable. 

Unfortunately, it's occupied.

So after a disappointing morning, well, not too disappointing, we did get that chair for $20, Brian got a hit on Craigslist for a Kent Coffey dresser and matching mirror for a price he thought was a mistype. He called immediately and it turned out to be the same lady we bought the scoop chair from. We were on our way. 

After we called, several people called after us offering her double. Thankfully, she had already promised it to us and saved it until we got there. Having the dresser and matching mirror is unheard of. I am going to use it in the second room we are redoing as a sideboard. It will replace a Z Gallerie piece I am selling on Craigslist. I finally have a place to store all of my afghans!

She also had a painting that I knew I had just the spot for.

It's an original painting and very MCM. It looks awesome near my Starburst collection.

The ducks that sit on top of my hutch were my "push present" from Brian thirteen years ago...just to give you an idea of how long we have been collecting!

The first room is coming together quite nicely. It is my sanctuary in the house. It may look like your grandma's living room, but we love it!

I have a ton of work to do today since I was out at the show last week. And it's Monday- my least favorite day of the week. Davis started her second week of tech camp so she was up and out the door my 7:00am. Whew, I'm tired already! I hope everyone has a great day!

-Tricia

The Middle of Nowhere

That is pretty much where we went yesterday to find an estate sale. It was advertised down in Temecula with no pictures so we had no idea what they might have had. We were bored on Saturday morning so we decided to head down there and check it out. It was a gamble. The house was in the mountains, through winding roads, about eight miles from the freeway. It was truly the middle of nowhere. You had to walk down a gravel hill just to get to the house. We didn't get there early but somehow the one item we needed was there. A mid century modern coffee table for just $35. 

Of course, there were also a couple of inexpensive mid century modern pieces we didn't need...but the prices were so good we couldn't pass them up. We found a Ekornes recliner and ottoman that normally sells in the $300-$400 range for just $40. Of course, we brought the small car because we weren't expecting to find anything and now Brian has to go back and pick up the chair and a second table this morning. Now all we need is a rug...

We decided we would continue our mid century modern revival into the living room and we will gradually be replacing our Pottery Barn and Z Gallerie items in the other room shortly. Yay! Since Brian has to go back down to Temecula we won't be able to hit the flea market this morning though which is too bad. 

Last night we had a mommy and me date night with our friends Lori and Audrey at Cooking 101. We made a cake and pierogie noodles. It was super fun! If you are in the Corona area I would definitely check this place out. They have cooking classes for kids, families, teens, and an adult date night.

Of course Davis had to turn her dough into a face. Silly girl.

After your food cooked, you got to eat it. It was so good and we were stuffed!

They had a chalk art contest at the Crossing and for some random reason someone did a drawing of "Toph" Davis' favorite character from 'Avatar: The Last Airbender." Davis was Toph for Halloween a few years back. We had to order the costume from a cosplay company overseas. She was super excited that someone gave Toph some love!

So on the agenda today is getting this house cleaned up and the laundry done after being in Vegas. Davis starts her second week of tech camp tomorrow. She is learning Maya, which is just crazy to me how her brain can work like that. I hope everyone has a nice, relaxing Sunday!

-Tricia

We Will Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

I'm back! Our work trip to Vegas was awesome! It was nice to get away with friends and actually walk a trade show instead of working it. I saw friends who have been in the industry as long as I have- crazy! Here is a pic of Michelle and I "working." She is my dearest friend who knows me better than anyone. I can't believe she has put up with me for ten years.

After I got home we decided to get up early Friday to head out to an estate sale. We are still looking for a couple of pieces to finish the family room. Of course, we got in line third, just five minutes after two mid century modern dealers that sell at the Rose Bowl. The dealer in front of us brought his own "sold" stickers (which you aren't supposed to do) and ran in and slapped them on everything in sight. He got what we wanted and it was very disappointing. 

We were there to watch a fight break out over a lamp. I've never seen anything like that before. The guy was yelling at the seller and screaming at a customer. We had to step in and say that the lady buying the lamp was there first and he was the one that cut in line! It was crazy. Dude, it's a lamp. You didn't see me yelling over the chair I wanted. We did score an end table that was tucked so far away the dealer didn't see it. Now all we need is a coffee table and maybe a lamp. 

So the two hour wait in line wasn't for nothing. We did come home with this.

While I was in Vegas Davis was at art camp. It's a very intensive camp with college instructors. She did her very first sculpture, which she has always said she wasn't good at. At the end of camp they had to present their artwork. 

I think her sculpture is amazing. It looks so realistic up close.

She also painted a whimsical zebra. It looks like the Zhevra in the Barrens from the video game World of Warcraft.

We went to lunch with my parents and my dad took this picture. It's kind of scary because I am exhausted and have zero make-up on but I love it because you can see that Davis is a "mini-me."

She also went to Build-A-Bear to get the new My Little Pony while I was gone. I love that a thirteen year old still wants to do Build-A-Bear! Here she is with her buffalo and pony. I love this goofball!

We are going to cooking class tonight to learn to make homemade pieroiges.  I might be taking a nap all day first. This trip exhausted me. Being an introvert we get our energy from being alone, and I don't think I have been alone for four days. I need to hole up and recover for a bit. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing Saturday!

-Tricia

Reporting from Vegas...Day Two at CHAS!

We walked the show all day Wednesday. The crowds were pretty light but it was nice because we were able to do some make and takes and talk to people a lot more. We took a lot more pictures too. Michelle took some great photos with the big camera so make sure you visit her blog at www.polkadotwhimsy.typepad.com to see even more pictures from the show.

Basic Grey had a great make and take with their products. It might be hard to see but yes, I am wearing a cape. It was one of the things I bought at our thrifting weekend. It's handmade and makes me feel like a super crafter!

So there is a lot of product at the show and I think we saw everything twice. There were a few companies I picked as my favorites for the show! I looked for things that would be easy to use and would make our life easier as scrapbookers! So here we go...insert drumroll, please...

Best Halloween Line

This one easily goes to Pebbles, Inc. for "Thirty-One." The line is even cuter in person! The colors are classic Halloween and it has a mix of paper that can be used for boys, girls, or even adults. The emebellishment assortment  has a nice mix too. I love the tags! 

Best Christmas Line 

This was another easy one for me. I look for classic Christmas colors since this is what is naturally going to match my photos. I think Crate Paper's line "Bundled Up" was fantastic! The icons are adorable and there are a ice mix of colors in the papers There are also lots of embelishments that coordinate as well. 

Best Everyday Line 

There is a lot of paper at this show but for this I had to choose Elles Studio's line "Penelope." I love the colors in the paper and the easy way it coordinated with the embellishment cards. The projects in the booth were adorable too!

Best Tool 

This was another one on my "must have" list. The 3 X 4 inch punch from We R Memory Keepers! They had a working prototype in their booth that the owner demoed for us. It worked great and is going to make our lives so much easier when sizing photos and paper for Project Life pages. The owner, Andrew, is awesome and this is an all around great company. I also liked their Project Life style kits and their albums are of amazing quality as well. Just a great company overall.

This is a big, solid punch. It takes a lot of pressure to make a punch that will cut something this size.  Like the Epiphany tools, it has the viewfinder on top so you can see what you are punching. I can't wait until it ships. I don't think it is something I would carry to crops but it will sit in my desk and along with my Shape Studio Tools be my go to tool for almost every project.

Best Adhesive

Tombow has a new adhesive called "The Stamp Runner" It is a refillable adhesive that acts like a runner but also will "stamp" a square of adhesive too! So the runner when you need a lot of adhesive, and a "stamp" of adhesive when you just need a square behind an embellishment. Genius.

We used it and it worked amazing. The retail price is $7.99 which is really reasonable since it is refillable. Loved it.

This post will continue  in a separate post...Blogger says I am out of space :)

Las Vegas Day Two CONTINUED (read second)

I guess Blogger is telling me I am to wordy so I had to split my post into two. Sorry about that!

Best Items to Use with the Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Tools

I am always on the look out for small patterns that will work with the tools. Paper that will make it easy to make your own embellishments with the Shape Studios. I have two winners here.

"Happy Haunting" from Echo Park. Can you imagine how many hexagon epoxies you could make with this paper and the Shape Studio Tool Hexagon? We are going to be using this for our crop project at Scrapfest. 

The 6 x 6 Paper Packs from Pink Paislee will make the perfect one inch epoxies using the Shape Studio Tool Round 25! 

The entire line is really cute and should really be getting runner up as my pick for an Everyday collection. I liked the pre die-cut paper too-easy!

Favorite Embellishment

This don't look like much in the package, but the "Attach Me Stickers" from Basic Grey serve an important function!

 They allow you to add memorabilia to three ring binders without punching holes in it. So if you have programs or invitations you want to add but don't want to damage them, these stickers let you do it! Genius! I love a product that solves a problem.

Best Booth Decor and Presentation

And because I am a sucker for design and love looking at booth decor I just had to have a booth decor category! I have to give a shout out to Chic Tags for a great use of space in just a 10 X 10 booth. Their vintage items were adorable and who doesn't love a handmade chalkboard! Awesome job!

I hope you have enjoyed all of the reports and photos from CHAS! It was nice to be on the other side of things for the first time in thirteen years! We will be turning in Michelle's orders today and then heading home, I am anxious to get back. Something about Vegas makes you feel like you have been here forever! I will be posting tomorrow about our post CHAS Giveaway, so stay tuned! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

-Tricia