My New Favorite that’s not eBay

What if I hadn’t been kicked off eBay?

Let me think about that!

I’d still be shopping many times a week at yard sales and thrift stores, bringing home bags and bags of gently used name-brand clothing, sometimes over 100 items a week, hoping to flip them for a profit.

I’d still be staying up until 1:00am almost every night, working on the computer; listing jeans and skirts and dresses until they all blended into one piece of huge fabric.

I’d still be taking two young children to the thrift store looking through the clothing racks for over an hour, hoping I wasn’t the reason the head cashier kept reminding customers to keep their children with them at all times.

I’d still have a disastrous spare room with piles and piles of clothes waiting to be sorted, folded and shipped out.

I’d still be running to the post office many times a week, waiting in long lines to fill out custom forms for internationally shipping.

I’d still be completely stressed out and overwhelmed and wondering if I was ever going to catch up on all the work ahead of me.

I’d still feel out of control.

But, that has all stopped.  I am no longer eBaying myself to death.

I never thought I’d say this, but I think getting kicked off eBay has been an absolute blessing in my life. 

It took almost a year for me to say this because it was such a painful life lesson.

But, I am grateful . . .  because it’s been nice to let go, to focus more on my family, to just let things fall where they may and now with all this freedom, my inner-artist has come out of its shell.

And here I am, restoring furniture and shopping the greatest trash around and still making a great profit.

Shopping is much more fun now that I don’t feel so overworked and overwhelmed.  The kids love going to the thrift store, as we can look at toys and I find I’m not in such a hurry all the time.

Some of my favorite finds include:

This amazing vintage cast iron 5 ft. candle stick.  This thing weighs about 100 pounds.  I purchased it for $12.00 and am taking it down to QcumberZ tomorrow.

(Here is a picture of a little French lady and is not actually this spooky looking in real life, although I guess that depends on your perspective, you'll just have to take my word for it.)

This wood toolbox took my breath away.  It's also huge and weighs a bit.  For $10.00 it was mine. I can’t wait to paint and stain it.

Industrial and vintage, these little metal organizing boxes were $5.00 a piece and are now at the shop (so are the vintage metal butterflies).

 

Remember a few weeks ago I was working on a red china hutch for a client?

Not only did she love her new china hutch, but she asked me to paint more of her furniture red.

What a blast it was painting this barn wood table.  

Thank you, as always, to my little helpers.  Here's Eden dipping her sponge brush into a cup of water, which she thinks is a cup of paint, so please don't tell her the truth about his little white lie.  

We blast K-love (Christian Rock) on the radio and have a groovy time.

Bri-wax and my inner artist got along very well on this project.

I’m also working on this same client's 4 bar stools.  The hardest part of this project was taping off the brass frame near the bottom of the legs.

She’s has these things for 25 years and they are in great shape.  I say if you want them red after that long, it’s time to paint them red.  I can’t wait to see how they turn out.

 

Thank you eBay for firing me so I could get back to my life and discover my hidden artistic talents.