The Green Shag Market Sale

So I once again left a big gap in the blog.  The Cardinals were still dragging out the post season, which was keeping me antsy, and I spent this past week preparing for/setting up for/doing/recovering from the Green Shag Market sale on Saturday.  Now that's over and the Cards have imploded on me (don't worry, I still love you guys!), I suppose I can focus.  Wanna hear about the Green Shag Market sale?

I was super excited about this sale.  Felt really good about the opportunity.  I even had a plan to spread the 2ndhand Moon name.  I made prints of a bunch of the many, many pictures I've taken of the moon.  A few for your perusal:

 

I thought it would be fun if with every sale I could give the customer a moon picture with 2ndhand Moon written on the back and let them know they could find me on Facebook, and tell them about my new Speakeasy Deals customer appreciation plan.  If you missed that details on that, here's the scoop:

If you buy something from 2ndhand Moon, take a picture of it in it's new home and post it on Facebook, tagging 2ndhand Moon, I'll send you a one-time-use code word to give at checkout for a percentage off the item of your choice from booth 78 at Kenrick Antique Mall.

Anyway, I felt like I had a good plan, and when I got home from work at 9:30 or so on Friday night I got to work getting everything priced and ready.  I worked through the night and my dear friend Beth came over dark and early Saturday morning to help me load everything up and take it over there.  It was still dark (and ch-ch-chilly!) shortly after 6:30 AM when we started setting up.  We were ready well ahead of the 9:00 AM start time, and I was all nerves and excitement.  Here are few shots of sale day:

Love the big fun lamp in the foreground.  In the background you can see the garment rack that marks the beginning of my area (parking lot space).

Another area of the sale.  There were tons of vendors.  How cool is that red atomic fireplace?

Here's part of my stuff, thanks to Beth.  I took some close-ups of things, but totally forgot to get a shot of my whole space.

Unfortunately, whether it was the cold morning that made everybody want to stay in bed until the sun came out or something else, there weren't a lot of customers until early afternoon, and even then, I didn't make as many sales as I'd hoped.  At first I was worried that I was doing something wrong, but as the day wore on I heard from other vendors that they had similar experiences.  I think the only vendor that really cleared a lot out was the one in the space next to mine, who had tons of pots and pans and things at super low flea market prices.  I did cover the price of the rental space, the gas and food for the day and the prices of the items I sold, plus a little bit of actual profit, but it definitely wasn't an amount equal to all the work involved.  Still, the sun did eventually come out and it turned into a pretty day:

And I chatted with some really nice people, and I gave out my moon pictures and gave my spiel about the Speakeasy Deals to everyone I sold to, so there's a chance I may end up with repeat customers.  And while I had to pack everything up and bring it home again after the sale, at least that's a ton of stuff already prepped and priced and ready to go into the booth when there's room for it, so it's work I would have done in bits over time anyway.

I wish I had thought to take pictures of the items I sold, since most everything was stuff I've never shot for the blog before and especially because I actually did pretty well on vintage clothing.  I sold a butter soft leather jacket that I love nearly as much as the Tale of Two Coats one, and a nice, thick wool fisherman's sweater, a bright orange wool and mohair cardigan and a brown and white polka-dotted tie-neck blouse.  I also sold a handful of books, one terra cotta and one ceramic owl, an awesome floral suitcase and a nifty little peacock fan decoration thingy.  Luckily I do have pictures of the last few things:

The blue floral suitcase is the one that found a new home.  Isn't it spectacular?  Love!

I found this little peacock at an estate sale for very little.  Passed it on for not much to a
nice girl who says she buys vintage crafty things and tries to reproduce them.  Isn't that cool?

The short pot-bellied owl with the orange eyes and the larger terra cotta one with the pointy ears both sold.  Oh yeah, and the orange candle holder/centerpiece thingy in the foreground also sold!

Anyway, I admit I was a bit disappointed not to have sold more, but I felt good about the feedback I got from other vendors and people who seemed to be in the know.  It was a good learning experience, and if I come across a similar event (maybe on a smaller scale) while I still have so much stuff already prepped and packed up, I might be crazy enough to try it again!


Linking up to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday and Me and My Shadow's Magpie Mondays.  Check them out for more thrifty, vintage awesomeness!

Fuller and fuller!

I have a confession to make...

I have now crammed so much stuff into my booth that I can't even tell when something sells.  Even something big and obvious.  I only today realized that the disco ball:

is gone, and wasn't there last week, either.  At some point prior to last Monday, someone walked out of Kenrick Antique Mall with a disco ball in tow, and that, my friends, gives me warm fuzzies!  How often do you get to see somebody walking around with a disco ball under their arm?  I really hope somebody got to see that, when the buyer left, and it gave them a chuckle.  I can't believe I didn't even notice it was gone!

And yet, I have packed the booth even further still.  Today I added all of my accumulated crewelwork pictures, a great three-piece set of blue vintage luggage, a bunch of mugs, and tons of other bits and bobs.  Wanna see a few?  Here you go!:

This one's 3-D; the fern has fronds that pop off the canvas!
Also, it's signed.  Who wouldn't want to
hang an original Betty Buda on their wall?

I wish this showed off the italian pottery candle-holder on the front right better - it's mid-century fabulous!

3-piece set - priced separately or as a set.  Super cute, and the big one has wheels and a pull-strap.

I am a little obsessed with pale blue.  I added the little kettle to this vignette last week.  This week the S&P set is new!

I've added so much great stuff, but I'm a little afraid I've hit eyeball overload in the booth.  If I've filled it so full that I can't even tell what sells from week to week, is it too full for a customer to take in and enjoy?  Here's the full-booth view.  What do you think?

To make room for all the fabulous crewel work I took down the suitcases - you can see them sticking out from the wire cube on the bottom left there.  The new 3-piece set is basically just in the middle of the floor in front of the leather suitcase that's on the stand back there.  You can still walk around in there, but just barely.  And looking at it now, I'm more impressed than ever with how cool the blue and yellow genie-bottle looking one is.  Sorta funkadellic for arts-and-crafts, isn't it?  Fun!

And FYI, the 20% off clothing and accessories will come down tomorrow, but will be replaced with 20% off EVERYTHING in the whole booth this coming weekend only - special sale for a special event.  Kenrick Antique Mall is hosting a flea market outside, so be sure to stop by, check out the fleas outside (kidding - there will be great stuff! and food! and adoptable pets, too!), and come in out of the heat to check out the awesome bargains inside.  Don't forget, I'm booth 78.  Clear out some of this great stuff, so I can put in a whole bunch more!

And above all, enjoy the gorgeous Spring.  God's artwork is on full display lately; have fun and take it in!