Winter vintage

Last Tuesday when I was at the booth, the mall was putting up Christmas decorations.  I, in my newbie-seller wisdom commented that it's just too soon, it makes me nervous, etc., but it got me thinking.  October was... not good, sales wise for me.  I need to actually make some sales for the holidays, and step things up.  I almost backed out of the weekend's road trip to spend a couple of days totally revamping my booth, but...  obviously, I didn't.  So I'm just going to have to go a bit at a time and see what I can do.  So today, I started on the clothing side of things.  I went in and pulled out all the Halloween stuff, and all the stuff that's really just not appropriate for the weather anymore, and added in coats and jackets and dresses.  Some of these are things I had in there when I first opened up shop last February, some are newer finds I have picked up at estate sales and thrift shops over the last few months.  I think all of them are pretty fabulous.  What do you think?

First, a full-length deep orange wool coat with wide collar and exaggerated pockets:

                                  

Next a pair of velvet beauties:

Short quilted black velvet jacket

Double-breasted vintage beauty!

Synthetic and suede!  The royal blue 3/4 sleeve is some woolly synthetic from I'm guessing the late 60s.  The red Positano suede is totally 80s Firenza:

Plaids:

The all blue is a long-sleeved, zip-front number with handy pockets.  It's got more shape to it than shows here.

The other is a colorful dress and coat combo à la Jackie O:

And here's a gorgeous, insanely soft double-breasted full-length red cashmere coat with pretty buttons:

Next up, a short, teal jacket with a gorgeous floral lining.  I can't really swear that this is vintage, but it has a lovely vintage feel and hand-stitching on the lining:

And next is a heavy, warm nubby green tweed coat with fun swirls on the buttons.  This one would keep you warm in Siberia!:

I had one other short navy and white double-breasted hounds-tooth jacket, but I forgot to get a shot of it, but you can see it in the picture below.  With all these new additions in such great saturated colors, I think the clothing rack in the booth is pretty eye-catching right now:

While I was there swapping it all out, a gentleman stopped into the booth and looked at a few items and commented that in his opinion, I have a good eye.  It pretty much made my day to hear that after just barely breaking even for the month of October.  He didn't buy anything, but a bit of encouragement's worth something too!

I'll be working on revamping more parts of the booth soon, which I'll be sure to share with you.  In the mean time, check out these link-ups for other people's treasures!:

Me and My Shadow's Magpie Monday, Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

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!

Gearing up for Halloween!

Guess what, you guys?  It's officially Fall, it's almost October, and you know what that means!

Halloween is coming!

I took this pic on July 3rd this year, but it seems like a good Halloween flag sort of image, doesn't it?

I love Halloween, and I love vintage clothing, and I have a penchant for buying kitschy stuff that isn't really every-day wearable on the theory that someone needs to give it the love it deserves for the very fact of it's unique existence.  So you know what that means, don't you?  I have some seriously fun Halloween costume ideas to share with you guys (which are also going into Booth 78 at Kenrick Antique Mall, of course)!

First up is an early 70's era granny-type dressing gown:

Granny gown

Add your own hairy legs and a toothy mask like this one from buy.com:

All the better to see you with, my dear!

Or try this (admittedly hideous polyester double-knit) number:

One-piece double-knit three piece look dress.

Add a hat with a pom-pom on top and a golf club, and I think you'd fit right in with these fine chaps:

You know you wanna be the 4th Stooge, Shirley!

While we're on the double-knit, how about being a sailor-girl for Halloween?:

Sailor suit

You could be the new face of Cracker Jacks:

In case you couldn't tell it's a zip-front jumpsuit!

And as we're being all patriotic now, how about serving your country as a nurse?:

No, not a slutty nurse!  An old-timey nurse!

All you need is the weird little origami hat!

Or if you like your uniform a little sexier, how about the friendly skies?  Here's a vintage Northwest Airlines hostess uniform:

Northwest Airlines uniform.  They got swallowed up by Delta.

See the NW logo on the pocket?

Afraid of heights?  Prefer the high seas?  Grab a skipper's hat and some Topsiders and you can go yachting in the 80s (or maybe you're the captain's kid from Love Boat?):

80s drop-waist knit dress - easy comfort!

Hate the 80s? Want a little flower-power?  How about this:

Snap-front flower power dress.

Just add some tall boots, tease out your hair and kitsch the night away!


If you've got a pair of moccassins and an old Cher wig, and synthetic fabrics (and political incorrectness) don't give you a rash, you could always snap this up:

Tan velour 70's Pocohontas-chic!

Or if you really really don't want to put in a lot of effort (or if your names are Barb and Dave and you're feeling a bit nostalgic), just cuff your jeans, toss these on and enjoy the party:

Red & White retro nylon jackets.

Names embroidered on!

I'm putting all of the above into the booth for super cheap for Halloween - I don't think any two of these together cost as much as the wolf mask I linked to above - and there's still lots of other great stuff in the booth, and more to come as I sort through all my goodies looking for Halloween inspiration.  For instance, expect some zom-prom (prombie?) dresses very soon!  So if you're on the lookout for a fun costume, definitely stop by Kenrick Antique Mall (or message me on the 2ndhand Moon Facebook Page).  I'd love to hook you up!

Linking up to Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday and Me and My Shadow's Magpie Monday!

Right spiffing, innit?

So I spent some hours Tuesday at the booth trying to spiff the place up a bit.  Spiffing isn't always my strong suit, but I think I've made some progress.  I had decided a week or two ago that the blue industrial cup-washing rack thingies in the booth had to go.  I love the idea of them.  There a bright cheery blue, and kind of swirly looking:

I loved how they looked as a backdrop, like to this cute mushroom mug set (still available, by the way!)

And I thought they'd be handy for displaying things like scarves and small linens and things:

Here they were with a few little bits inside - still looked kind of fun.

But as the booth got more... I'll just say it: crowded, and more and more of the little cubbies in the rack got filled, I think it just became too much.  It was like visual noise.  It just didn't help show off the merchandise anymore:

With all that crammed in, it just looks messy.

I had already planned to take them down and do a bit of an overhaul of the space, and now, thanks to the  lead from my Mom and Dad, I had found a great shelf to help in reorganizing.  

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago, someone bought my little book shelf, and I replaced it with a somewhat rustic little blue and white enamel-topped table, which had already opened things up considerably.  I went from this:

Still a bit over-crowded!

To this:

A bit more open - making progress!

So Tuesday, I did the following:

1. Took down the blue crate/cup-rack things.

2. Stacked the small table that's hidden behind the suitcases in the above picture on top of the little wooden cabinet you can barely see since it's stacked with blue cup racks, overflowing with linens and piled with merchandise.

That gave me this:

A little more space for the eye to see, and with one door closed, maybe people will even
be able to tell the little cabinet exists!

3. I moved the suitcases back up against the back wall, stacked them and used them to show off some of the cute vintage purses, shoes, etc.:

Vintage suitcases are a personal weakness. A stack of three serve as an end
table in my living room, too!

4.  I brought in the new shelf.  You've already seen this pic if you saw the blog yesterday, but here it is again, in context of the overhaul:

I need to improve the display-quality of those linens.
Too much of a good thing is too hard to see.

5.  I took the little wire cart that I'd previously crammed between the beat-up low shelf on the right above and the clothes rack, I filled it with the smaller purses, and the scarves, doilies, small linens, etc., and placed it next to the blue and white enamel table at the front of the booth, and tucked the cheery little green footstool/doll table underneat:

I like the pop of green under the table to go with the bright green craft book on top,
and the little cart takes up very little space at the entrance to the booth.

6.  I swung the clothing rack around so that rather than being on the side of the booth, it's along the back wall.  It leaves less room for pictures/paintings/etc., but I'm still trying to make a go of the whole vintage clothing aspect of the booth, so I think it's worth it for a time.  At least through Halloween (because everyone who's anyone is going to be buying vintage awesomeness from booth 78 at Kenrick Antique Mall for the Halloween costume this year!).  

So here's the overall effect.  I don't think I'm done tweaking, but I like where it's going a little better than before:

I still feel like it's a bit too busy, but it's definitely getting better.

There's plenty of room to walk around inside now, and with more shelf space, things aren't as crammed together, so I'm hoping that makes it easier to see and not just look, if you know what I mean.  I think next I'd like to replace the wire cubes on the left wall with something that's less deep.  Preferably something I can put a price tag on and sell out from under my merchandise!  And I definitely need to replace, or at the very least paint the long low shelf on the other side.  That's the one I picked up in an alley a few days before I was supposed to start my booth.  Or possibly just put more tall shelves on one side and leave the other side free for some bits of furniture and wall art.

What do you think?  Is this better?  I'm open to any and all suggestions.  I just want to make buying from my little 2ndhand Moon booth easier and more enjoyable.  Am I on the right track?

Oh, and I keep forgetting to say, go Like the 2ndhand Moon Facebook Page, so you'll know when there's a sale, deal or special event!