The Best Kind of Gift!

I wanted to share one of my favorite all time gifts. I received it this Christmas from my six children. Not only was it homemade, but it was creative and showcased my favorite treasures. My kids created a framed chicken wire photo display. My sister in law happened to have the frame "laying" around (our family can be like that) my father in law brought his left over chicken wire down from the mountains and my sister in law arranged a secret photo session where she took the pictures of my kids. Here's some of my favorite pictures from the shoot. (Sorry about the quality- but a picture of a picture is all I could get)
I think my girls look like they're part of an Abercrombie ad here. These were all taken in downtown Gilbert, Arizona.
Even the baby sported a bandana for their "homies" pose.
My 21 year old who is recently sporting the look of someone in love. (She's met a really neat guy)
My 18 year old who will graduate this year with over a 4.0 and leave us to explore the world and attend college.
My 13 year old who will soon be filling the shoes of "oldest" sister at home. She's loving and helpful and such a great role model to her sisters.
My 12 year old who has really grown up this past year and always entertains us with her sense of humor.
My 7 year old who will be baptized this year and is so ready to take that step.
My baby who will turn 2 this month and won't be a "baby" for much longer. Needless to say this is one of the best gifts I've ever received. This will be a year of change in our home. I'm so grateful for my beautiful family. Love, Kelly.

Trying To Help a Vintage Lamp

Kelly finished up another estate sell this weekend.  The sale ran Friday and on Saturday, everything was marked 50% off.  I finally sold my horribly sad vintage buffet/bar.  

It’s been in my garage for months.  No matter how hard I tried, I could not get this thing to move on craigslist.  This business of selling trash can be tricky.  I thought for sure this thing was a hot item.  I mean look at it.  It flips out, rolls on wheels.  I was certain I could double my money.

Who wouldn't want this thing?  Kelly and I lugged it over to the estate sell late Friday night.  She marked it at $125, knowing it would be ½ off.  It was the first thing that sold on Saturday.  A customer offered her $50.00 for it.  I would have cried to bring it back to my garage, so I’m so happy it sold, even if I didn't make much money off it.

At the estate sale, I saw this lamp.  

This vintage little lamp perfectly displays childhood from the 1950’s.  Kelly had it marked at $10.00.  I couldn’t stand it.  Surely it was worth more then that, but it didn’t sell the other days of the sale at $20.00, then $10.00.  It was doomed to go for $5.00 if I didn’t do something.  I’m going to list it on craigslist.org and hope it sells closer to $25.00.  Wish us luck.

At garage sales this weekend, I found some great surprises.

A vintage dresser.

A pair of blue vintage lamps.  Don't you love the shades.  They are in great shape.

And the blue glass.  Don't get me started.

A glass little mermaid for the baby girl.

Currently on craigslist, I have the following trash.

A Primitive Antique Danish inspired wood table. 

Won’t this thing be darling for valentines day.  I love the hearts.

A vintage chandelier

and a pair of Pottery Barn tins

My recent sales?

Imagine my surprise when my large area rug finally sold.

And my vintage coffee table

and my retro dresser (even with the horrible staging).

Imagine my surprise when it snowed in Mesa, AZ

It was short and sweet, only but a minute, but I know they caught some snow in their mouth.

I'm not surprised the cat didn't like it. Not one bit.

What's this thing?  My neighbors let the boys peddle around with them in this gift from Santa.  Not trash, no. Somethings you can only buy new.

It's 10:30pm.  I tell Reef it's time to stop playing, would he please get on his P.J.s. 

 Imagine my surprise when he ran up to me, ready for bed

in a sweater vest.

He's way to independent, but that's what has happened to this 4th boy.

Yes, this home's just full of beautiful surprises.

I hope I'm pleasantly surprised that Kelly's 1950's lamp sales.  Surely, someone out there wants to light up their baby's room with this vessel of vintage sunshine.

My Dear Trash is featured on E.Junkie

We are so excited to be featured on e.junkie.info, a website featuring small business, self-publishing and E-commerece.  The philosophy behind E.junkie.info as written on their about us page, is the following:

Since E-junkie's inception, our mission has been to lower the barriers to online selling. As E-commerce has grown more diverse and competitive, it occurred to us that merely providing good technology, such as our copy-paste shopping cart, along with good customer service and tech support aren't by themselves sufficient to meet our mission fully; people can also benefit from information to help them realize commercial opportunities online,  as a complement to our technology that can help take advantage of those opportunities. We started this blog to provide such information to anyone who is selling online or has ever considered doing so.

Looking through their blog, I found many featured articles of interest, including:

Recycled vinyl records turned into work-of-art clocks

Image found here.

recyled ties turned into wallets

and recycled luggage turned into boom boxes

Images found here.

I am in awe of these creative uses of trash.  How amazing and wonderful!
E.junkie features all of this and more.  My Dear Trash is the featured blog of the week.  Click here to read the article.

Thanks e.junkie for featuring us.
Linking up to:

Puppy Update!

I've had a few requests for updated pictures of our white labrador puppies. Born on 12/12 these little guys are special. We have 6 females and 3 male, but I thought I'd let the boys get a little of the lime light this time. Here they are:Spruce
From left to right: Jingle, Spruce and Coal
Coal
Jingle. They will be available to adopt starting January 23rd. Love, Kelly

Craigslist dresser redo, but not by me

I recently received this email:


Laura,
I don't know if you remember me, but I bought this dresser from you about a month ago. You said you would like to see it after we finished refinishing it. Well, here it is. 

before:

after:

This was our first attempt at a distressed paint treatment. We kept it fairly simple to match another piece we have in our room. We just love it.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.


Thank you for thinking of me and I love, Love, LOVE what you did.  
Here's the story of the dresser. I purchased it about 5 years ago at a yard sale and paid $100.00 for it.  The owner said her grandfather had made it.  She was sad to part with it, but was moving and no longer had the room to store it.  

The dresser looks like a real show piece.  I didn't flip this piece for a profit, but sold it for the $100 I paid for it.

Craig's list is really hopping.  I've sold many pieces over the past week.  Here are a few of my latest finds I'm hoping to sell.
This credenza buffet is 80 inches long and weighs about 200 pounds.  Yummy, isn't she. I think its from the late 1960s.  

Can you imagine how beautiful this piece would be if Kelly got her hands on it.  She'd paint it black, distress it and we'd all want to keep it for ourselves.
Vintage dressers sell like hot cakes.  Here's a cute one I've found.  

I must comment on the staging.  It's horrible.  Can you see my grass trimmer on the side?  I know, and I can't believe I call myself a professional.  Well, the counselor has been working a lot and the dresser has been sitting in my garage for over two weeks.  I couldn't  wait any longer for him to help me carry it in, so I decide to just photograph it as it (of course, after I add the vintage vase and flowers on top which is a nice touch).

A vintage coffee table

and a vintage end table.

Remember, I'm an "As-Is" girl, so I don't redo or touch things up (partially because I don't have the talent and partially because I don't have the patience).  I sell the furniture pieces I find as-is and still make a decent profit.  I'll let you know how they sell.  

Trash To Cash Wednesday!

I've really enjoyed taking the last two weeks off from listing on ebay- I've also enjoyed that I still made money! It's like having a paid vacation time. I relisted 87 items this week (took me all of 2 minutes using the bulk relist button) Here's my top sellers- all items that previously hadn't sold.
This Ralph Lauren size 16 denim skirt had been reduced all the way down to $2.99 (after 4 weeks of no bids) It sold this week for $9.00- This is more than I originally had it listed for!
Jones New York size 10 petite black dress sold for $9.61
Double D Ranch size medium black lace top sold for $12.00
Ann Taylor Loft Size 6 brown cotton dress sold for $12.51. I listed 100 new items this week, so I can't wait to see how it goes! I'm approaching my 1 year anniversary for selling on ebay- I've learned so much this past year- and yet feel like I have so much more to learn. Let's take a look at this weeks totals...

Ebay Profits:$245.52

Craigslist Profits:0

Costs: 0(clothes-only did relists), 21.73(ebay fees), 18.21(paypal fees)

Total Profit: $205.58

Over $200.00 for a few minutes of time! Not Bad. Check back next week to see if eBay has recovered from the holidays- my goal is to have a $500.00 week. Wish me luck. Love, Kelly

My Wild Card Sold!

It was something Kelly started a while ago, with a white Talbot’s skirt covered in florescent fish patterns.

It started as a “Can you believe this?”

Will it sell on eBay?

She called it "a wild card" and would you believe that skirt sold for $8.00.

You know, clothing you see at thrift stores that is so hideous, so outrageous, so daring.

And so, I bought a wild card.

A pair of Guess high-waisted, tapered leg, pleated denim jeans.

I must thank my beautiful sister, who looks beautiful in anything, for being such a brave model.

The year was 1985 and I was a sophomore in high school. The first time I saw a pair of these jeans, I knew I had to have a pair of my own. The coolest girls had the jeans with the zipper inseam at the base of the jeans. Sizzle.

Hot!

I did earn the money for my Guess jeans, thanks to weekend babysitting jobs.

Fast forward 20 years.

My Guess jeans are long gone, but the memories are not.

And just a few weeks ago, I found a pair at the thrift store.

For $1.00, I was willing to play the game Kelly started.

Certain they would never sell

And I could keep them as the butt of all jokes.

But something strange happened.

They got a bid

And they sold for $2.99.

Somewhere, some how, these jeans are going to be a smashing fashion statement again.

There day is not done,

For they have another body to compliment.

So, I have just one question?

Who’s laughing now?