Job Perks – I Got Em!

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Betty Crafter

One of the great things about being a vintage buyer and seller for a living is that sometimes I can buy something, keep it for awhile to see if it works for me, and sell it if it doesn’t.  This weekend I headed out of town to pick up a couch and chair from an estate sale that I bought based on the pictures only.  It looked like a great set, but appeared in the photos to be a royal blue, which is not a color I have in my house.  No problem, I knew they would sell lickety-split.  But when I arrived at the sale and saw the set, my heart stopped.  Friends, they were not royal blue at all but a definite TURQUOISE!  I immediately began turning my house around in my head, trying to think if there was some way I could work them into my decor.  They were in perfect shape, a perfect color, and quite possibly too good to let go of!  After a texted photo and quick phone consultation with Mr. Crafter, it was decided that the comfortable, practical, yet design-awkward IKEA sectional we have would be replaced with the turquoise mid century jaw dropper – at least on a trial basis.

Again, I’m having trouble accurately photographing the color.  The last picture is the best representation of the true color.

Today I bought a cocktail ottoman off craigslist for the sake of comfort.  I am a girl that needs to have her feet up to be comfy!  It’s big – about the size of our coffee table, and is perfect.  Or will be once I re-upholster it!  I’m also going to grab a couple side tables out of my backstock as placeholders until I find the perfect ones.  Another key to my comfort is a convenient place for my coffee or glass of wine and this couch doesn’t have the wide, table-like arms of the IKEA couch!

So, what do we think – does the furniture look at home?

Posted in Estate Sales, Our House | 10 Comments

Uh-Oh – I think I Have A New Collection…

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Betty Crafter

Sweet baby jeebus. Y’all know I need another collection like a hole in the head, but sometimes these things cannot be helped.  Besides, this one has been brewing for awhile as some of you may have already suspected.  Let me just start off by saying I blame the estate sale company of the sale I went to today (who are readers of my blog – hi Anne Dee Estate Sales!) because they purposely posted pictures of these knowing I would come running for them!  And of course their evil plan worked like a charm.  Here is my new collection:

Aren’t they glorious??  There was another great one that I narrowly missed out on, but that’s ok.  Betty Crafter is not greedy (although I may have shed an internal tear over it.)  They look perfect with my No Smoking sign!  And I can pretty much guarantee you there will be more 1960s crewel work on this wall before all is said and done.  Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

I think what totally sends me over the edge on this one is the little ladybug peeking out the window of the mushroom house.  I had to fight Little Betty for this one – she really wanted it in her room.  I’m such a mean mommy.

So, yes, I do already have a God Bless Our Pad pillow.  But put yourself in my shoes.  Would you be able to pass up this awesomeness?  That’s what I thought.

And no, no one in my house is a Libra.  But again, could YOU leave this behind?

Oh, but there was more at this sale.  SO much more.  Like THE DRESS.  Some of you may be familiar with the expression “foodgasm.”  Well, friends, I had a total “dressgasm” when I put this little number on:

“Oh god.  This is amazing.  Yes!!!”  The dress form isn’t doing the dress any favors, but believe me – it fit me PERFECTLY!  Even with gym hair, I looked like a million bucks!  And it has POCKETS!!  Seriously – Audrey Hepburn herself would have knocked me down and wrenched this dress out of my hands.  It’s that amazing.

Believe it or not, this is the second dressgasm I’ve had this week.  Little Betty and I went to Florida to visit Grandma – land of thrifting milk and honey – and I found this 50′s Hawaiian halter dress made of barkcloth:

Again, fit like it was tailor made for me and made me look like a movie star!  I have had some good dress karma lately.  Keep it coming!

Keep your eyes peeled on my etsy shop – in addition to Enid Collins purses and bakelite, I’ll be adding a killer dress tonight that I also got at the estate sale today.  Dressgasms for everyone!

 

Posted in Estate Sales, Finds | 6 Comments

An Enid Nailbiter

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Betty Crafter

Recently on ebay an elusive Enid Collins box purse that I have long wanted, Happy Cat, came up for auction.

Isn’t it great?  I had decided that I would put in a decent bid amount and hope to finally bring one of these home.  Well folks, apparently I have not been the only Enidophile waiting for this bag because I was absolutely astounded at this auction!

I have NEVER seen an Enid Collins bag sell for this much money!  Even the jaw droppingly amazing and rare Sophistikit with adorable original box I got outbid on before Christmas didn’t go for this much.

But never fear!  There was another great Enid I also had my eye on and that one did make its way to me.

Isn’t she lovely?  I’ve never seen one like this.  The entire thing is paper mache and the handle pivots.  I love the colors and it’s in perfect condition.

I just love the signature across the bottom.  And believe me, I got this for a lot less than $700!

 

 

Posted in Enid Collins | 4 Comments

Enids for Sale!

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Betty Crafter

In my collecting, I often come across Enids that do not fit in to my collection for one reason or another.  What happens to these gals?  Well you know I’m not going to leave them behind!  They wind up in my store, of course.  And their numbers have been growing – I now have eight Enid Collins purses in my store!

Don’t they look pretty all gathered together?  Here’s some detail:

The Tres Flores is missing the small jewels around the starbursts but I don’t think it detracts from its beauty much.  It’s otherwise clean and looks good.

The Model T is pretty much immaculate.  Jewels are all present, shining and bright.  This gal looks like she’s never been carried!

The Pear Tree has some “age spots” on the canvas, but again, all the jewels are present and glittering.

I really love the Liberty Bell purse and kinda want to keep it!  It’s in good shape with all the jewels present.  The canvas is slightly “aged” , but not a big deal.

Night Watch is missing a few of the tiny jewels on the owl but it’s not that noticeable. The canvas again has a few spots, but this is in all a very good carrying purse!

Sittin’ In A Treetop is in lovely condition – the canvas looks almost new and all the jewels are there.  A few of the large flower jewels have a petal or two broken, but hey, this girl is 50 years old!

Pavan is in just about perfect condition.  The canvas is new looking and all the jewels are there and shining.  This is a special bag.

And lastly, the Glitter Bugs you may remember me cleaning up and posting about recently.  Although she still has some scratches, at least she has jewels again!  And she’s cute as a bug’s ear.

All these bags will be showing up in my etsy shop soon, along with some bakelite I’ve got in the shop.  Stay tuned!

 

Posted in Enid Collins | 2 Comments

Whee! Estate Sale Excitement!

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Betty Crafter

You might not have been able to tell from my posts, but I’ve been in a bit of an estate sale rut lately.  I haven’t seen many that looked decent, so I have only hit a couple here and there if it was super convenient or if I saw something in the pictures I thought looked interesting.  But then there was this sale.  I’d been checking out the pics for a week and was pretty geeked up about some interesting antique toys they had pictures of.  Poor Little Betty doesn’t have any toys, you know!  Heehee.  I couldn’t get there right when it opened (a girl doesn’t want to miss Pilates a few weeks before having to wear a bikini, of course) so I got there an hour and a half late and hoped for the best.

It was all still there!  I whizzed around gleefully scooping up adorable goodies left and right.  And there was more too!  I think this sale has revived my passion for estate sales!  Check it:

Even my kitty Walter thinks this 1950s toy kitchen is amazing.  Can you believe all those tiny pieces survived this long??  And lets take a closer look at that house in the window shall we?

*sigh*  I want that house.

I’m going to try to save this for Little Betty for Christmas.  Why?  Because this is not all that spoiled little girl scored today.

I’ve been on the lookout for a cabinet to put beside Little Betty’s toy kitchen for awhile to hold all her plates and cups and teapots and stuff.  And as my friend said about this hutch, I couldn’t have made it any cuter!  I am super in love with it.  You know how I love vintage Pennsylvania Dutch anyway.  This piece absolutely kills me with its sweetness.

The only thing Little Betty likes as well as cooking in her kitchen is putting her babies down for a nap.  These little metal doll beds are in great shape and are too cute for words.  I can’t wait to see her putting her babies down in them!

That turquoise typewriter was a must have, even though I already have an awesome typewriter.  But it’s perfect!  I love it.  The yellow McCoy planter will look great on our new deck, and those strawberry napkins are for the shop. And check out that light up Santa that hangs on the wall!  He might be a new favorite of mine.  Just can’t let Little Betty see it…

And lastly, what self respecting vintage sewing enthusiast could resist a gallon sized ziplock bag full of vintage zippers, most still in their packaging?  Not me, that’s for sure!

Whew!  That was a whirlwind indeed!  Now I wonder what other sales are going on this weekend?

Posted in Estate Sales, Finds | 5 Comments

St. Enid Trauma Center

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Betty Crafter

I got an emergency text from a friend over the weekend who spotted some Collins purses at a local estate sale.  I of course dropped everything and rushed right over and snatched up 2 Enids.

Obviously they have seen better days, especially the Glitter Bugs, who had sadly had every one of its jewels removed.  There was also a Money Tree there that was in even worse shape than the Glitter Bugs – someone had tried to remove the silkscreening as well as all the jewels and coins; it was sadly beyond repair.  The Tres Flores is in decent shape (just missing several of those tiny jewels) and needs some G00-Gone applied to the sticky handle.  And luckily at St Enid Trauma Center, Casa Crafter branch, I had a stash of replacement jewels I just knew would save the day!

Ta-da!  Now her Glitter Bugs are glittering once more!  Clearly it’s still not perfect (there are some scratches and I think the butterfly originally had a plastic body/frame/antennae piece) but now this bag could be carried or displayed proudly.  Both bags have been delivered to the shop where they are awaiting the person who will love them as much as they deserve.

On that note, the number of Enids I have at the shop has been growing quite rapidly.  I have been taking Collins bags there that did not fit into my collection for whatever reason and I now have 8 – EIGHT! – Enid Collins purses in my store!  I plan to do a post about them very soon as well as add them to my *empty* etsy store.  I may also add some bakelite pieces that are in the shop.  So stay tuned…

There was another rescue project I just couldn’t leave behind at this sale.

Can’t you just see the inner beauty here?  It was so cheap there was no way it was getting left behind, even though it needs a lot of work.  It’s missing a cord entirely, the base needs repainted, and the metal shade needs repainted.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what kind of paint to use to repaint a metal shade?

Posted in Enid Collins, Finds | 3 Comments

To Sell Or Not To Sell…That Is The Question…

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Betty Crafter

I have a dilema, friends.  I picked up this little number at an estate sale yesterday and I’m pretty in love with it:

Isn’t she gorgeous?  What’s the problem, you ask?  Well, I already have 3, yes, THREE, vintage sewing machines.  How many vintage sewing machines does a gal really need, anyway?  But this one is turquoise!  I don’t have a turquoise one!  Wanna see what I do have?

A pink Jaguar!  I do love this machine.  Even though I don’t often sew with it unless my favorite one is messing up, she’s still serviced and ready to serve my sewing needs at a moment’s notice.  She’s a good girl.

A Singer Genie 353.  The flower power design of this one is what had me hunting down one of these machines for ever.  It sews well and has a few fancy extra stitches my other machines don’t do without an attachment, which is nice.

And the love of my life, the best sewing machine a girl could ask for, my darling Singer 301a.  I adore this machine and do 90% of my sewing on it.  It’s a tank.  It’s a sweetheart.  It’s my #1 favorite.

So what do I do?  Keep the pretty turquoise Home Mark (which would nicely round out my collection, I must say), or sell it and make a tidy profit since I got it for a steal?  Not to mention make some other gal giddy with excitement when she finds it in the shop?  Oh it’s a rough life for your old pal Betty, isn’t it?

 

Posted in Collections, Finds | 10 Comments

Recent Finds

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Betty Crafter

I haven’t done too much shopping in the last couple of weeks, but of course I have a few things to show you!  First, you know it’s all about squirrels for me.  I have no idea why.  But when I encountered this combination of squirrel + bakelite, my head exploded.

I knew I couldn’t leave it behind.  But as any of you bakelite lovers might guess, it wasn’t cheap.  Luckily, my darling Mr. Crafter offered to buy it for me as an early birthday present!  Wheeee!  I love it.

But that wasn’t the only squirrel that has crossed my path recently!  Our pal Eartha Kitsch loves squirrels as much as I do.  And one of the many forms in which she likes her squirrels is made out of nuts.  A few days ago while browsing a local vintage shop I felt the presence of a nutty squirrel.  Seriously!  It was like I had a nut-squirrel divining rod that led me straight to it.  I knew it would be there, and then there it was.

Now I just have to get off my lazy tuchus and put it in the mail!

I also came into possession of these cutesy, unused coloring books for Little Betty:

I had a pretty big shopping outing today with Little Betty.  We hit up an estate sale where I bought several pieces of furniture for the shop, and then to a favorite thrift where I scooped up 3 boxes of smalls.

Here’s what I got for the store:

I am a total sucker for souvenir plates, trays, hankies, pillows, etc.  Not for myself, but for some reason I have this idea that I need them for the store.  And they do sell pretty well.  So today I came away with 6 state trays and 3 plates.  To add to the 4 state trays, 6 state plates, and 3 state hankies I already have in the shop.  Obsessed much?  Anyhoo — look over here!  Aren’t those cookbooks cute?  They are filled with amazing graphics.  Besides, doesn’t everyone need to know how to throw a successful dinner party?  And those mushroom canisters and teaset?  Love.

Of course I also picked up a few things for Casa Crafter:

That coffe mug has the cutest little stamp at the bottom of the cup that says “Back To Work.”  And I’m pretty close to full blown collecting all the Alpine Chalet dinnerware I can find.

There is one more pretty great find from today that I’m saving for next time.  What could it be??

Posted in Finds | 9 Comments

I’ve been busy, just not blogging

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Betty Crafter

Sorry for the silence around here!  I’ve been wrapped up in my little world, enjoying the gorgeous Texas springtime.  Little Betty and I have been spending every possible moment in the backyard, taking full advantage of the new deck and treehouse.

As you can see we decided to move our “On Earth As It Is In Austin, TX” sign from the chicken coop to the deck.  This sign has always been a favorite of ours ever since we liberated it from a closed down BBQ restaurant years and years ago.

Little Betty is over the moon about her new treehouse and spends hours climbing and sliding and moving things from her playhouse up there to set up a real treehouse.  While she’s busy playing, I’ve been reading in the hammock or watching my garden grow.

Cucumbers and squash along with various other fruits and veggies I planted in farm stock tanks…

Blackberries from the bushes I planted just this spring…Persimmons….(anyone have a good recipe for persimmon pudding?)

And lots and lots of figs.

I had never eaten a fig before moving to this house last summer (that is, except in a Newton!) and I’m pretty excited about making full use of them this year.

The chickens are laying plentifully too, which means it’s pretty easy to fix a full meal just out of the backyard!  Even more so in a few weeks when everything starts to ripen.  On earth as it is in Austin, indeed.

I’ve been busy inside, too.  I’ve finally picked up my knitting needles again to work on a darling little pixie hat for the precious niece whose arrival is fast approaching:

Are you enjoying your spring?  How are your gardens coming along?

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Giveaway Winner!

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Betty Crafter

Robin Leiss, you are the proud new owner of what may be the world’s most adorable squirrel planter!  Email me your mailing address and I’ll send it on its way.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment