How To Find the Best Vintage

If you're like me, you love vintage to keep and sell. As a seller, you can't just go to the local Salvation Army and expect to find the most amazing piece of vintage...though its not impossible. There are a few places you can find great vintage:
1. Garage sales - find some gems the owners don't realize the worth of
2. Thrift shops - some unique but often broken/ poor condition items
3. Antique / vintage shops - good finds but very pricey
4. Estate Sales. - THE place to go

Estate Sales are the cream of the crop when it comes to the best vintage finds. Yes, its a bit morbid, kinda sad and makes you really think about you're own mortality but might as well reap some benefits, right? Here you can find items the previous owner cherished and kept in pristine condition. Entire sets of dishes, pyrex, barware, you name it.

 

You can find unique, one of a kind items, old toys, all kinds of awesome gems. And in turn, make a profit or keep for your own use. Personally I love keeping vintage for these reasons: Most are made in America (a rare thing these days), made to last (even rarer), and have great designs you just don't see anymore.

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Craft Room: Before and After

I said I was going to make a project out of my craft/sewing room and I sorta did. I didn't get to paint it but honestly, I just needed to get my little sanctuary up and running. It was cluttered and not even close to being organized but I just locked myself in there and got to work. This is what it looked like before:

As you can see - just a  huddled mass of stuff. Some stuff didn't belong in here so my room was becoming a catch-all. I had to put a stop to that (even though I was a contributor ). So here is the room now...

Sewing a shirt, presently

Some supplies as well as my daughters' old dresser to hold my vast amount of fabric and yarn

More stuff to keep me somewhat organized.

So there it is. Im finally being more productive these days... though it has been tougher to do much with 3 kids. The newborn is not even the hinder-er; its my 2 year old Lucy. That kid is a wrecking ball I tell you what. Look at that face...you know she's about to do something sinister... 

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How to Make Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Applesauce

Ok, so since having Levi 4 months ago, losing weight has been one of those things that have been at the back of my mind yet still important. Lucky (I guess) for me when i got tendinitis I lost ten pounds due to my loss of appetite - the pain just pushed eating out of my daily routine, I suppose. Once the ol' appetite returned I thought of baking lots of yummy desserts - but that's not the smartest thing to do when wanting to shed pounds so I've been searching the interwebs for a good low fat cookie... to no avail. Every time - EVERY TIME it called for shortening...which is worse than butter in my book. I always heard of the applesauce urban legend and looked up recipes for that but they all wanted me to do more work than I wanted. I'm lazy like that. So I figured I'll just make my chocochip cookies with just a little switch-a-roo. I only made 1/4 order just in case they turned out disgusting...I didn't want to waste good ingredients.

Let me first say this; they turned out much better than i thought they would. The texture was a bit between cake and brownie...fluffy like cake and firmer like a brownie. This makes me think of maybe omitting egg next time to see how the texture is without it. I recommend dollops of dough on the cooking sheet - rolling won't be possible due to the consistency of the dough... its a bit tacky. So here is how its done:

In a large bowl mix
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar

- 1/4 applesauce
Then throw in and mix
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 and egg (yes, I know this sounds weird, but do it!)
Now add and mix
- 1/2 cup Flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Then add
- (another) 1/2 cup flour (you can add more in the consistency seems a bit to runny)
- 1/4 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
and mix

Preheat oven at 350 degrees and DO grease the baking sheet - they have no butter to help them off the pan so easily. Cook for about 8-11 minutes or until they start to brown. Cool and enjoy.

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Too Cute To Sell

My husband and I like to go out finding new vintage items for our shops, because, well, we have to. Sometimes we'll be at a place and something adorable will catch my eye. Sometimes it takes a hold of me with its sugary sweetness and I must have it. That happened when I saw these deer figurines. Oh my stars are they cute. I thought "oh these will look good in my shop" but deep down I'm really thinking  "these are mine...ALL MINE!" This happens to me often. There are several things I have kept with no intention to list in my shop. I know its pointless to keep them since I have no where to put anything. Plus all these fun shiny pretty things also catch the eyes of my 2 & 4 yr old girls who insist on seeing with their grubby hands instead of admiring them from a distance. If they're up high, these clever kids will stack chairs and books and anything else to get them and eventually cause the demise of the poor defenseless creatures. That's how I reason with myself to part with such things. I don't want to be one of those mothers who cry "Why can't we ever have nice things?!" as I dramatically throw my hands over my head, then run to my room and bury myself in my pillow. But sometimes I am. Here are a few other keepers I have around:

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