Wibbly Wobbly Time & Mastering It All

I just read an article on Yahoo news about how time is subjective. Police officers can see bullets in slow motion when their adrenaline is running high. I believe this. I know that time goes all wibbly wobbly around the holidays, planning a wedding and when children are around. Apparently Dr Who was right. 

The biggest contributors to wibbily wobbly time! My 3 girls. 

I'm pregnant with our fourth child at the moment. It honestly feels like each day is 32 hours long. I don't think my due date is ever going to arrive! And then on the flip side, we just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary and it seems like college wasn't that long ago. Time isn't static. 

I swear this is at its worst! Add this to the goal list: clean office

On that note, I have some major goals before the new baby presents itself. Like many vintage sellers/collectors, I have more inventory than I can quickly manage. So this summer I've decided to get it all listed, come baby or high water. So far I feel confident: this past month my assistant Hannah and I have added 310 items to our Etsy shop. Now only 2500 items to go!! 

Organizing aprons and assessing condition is easy with the right tools

This vast buildup of inventory sounds dramatic I know. You're likely picturing one of those hoarder houses from the Discovery Channel. So far, it hasn't affected the house too much. The biggest item in our home is the many bookshelves that are overflowing but I don't see those as a problem. To me books are as necessary as oxygen! But my garage is a different story. Wander into it and you could be seriously delayed by antique oil paintings, 1920s coffee grinders, old tin wind up toys, more books, and tons of more estate finds. You wouldn't starve though-my freezer out there is full and the pantry is full of summer canning. 

How I tend to negotiate with myself to get things done! 

The biggest hurdles that I've had to argue with, climb up and conquer have been motivation & consistency. Researching, describing & listing 3 similar items for sale is fine. But when faced with 40 like items, the fun seems to evaporate. I keep trying to remember this when I'm out buying from an estate. All that red & white 1940s enamelware looked so cool-but hauling home 12 boxes and inventoring it all wasn't much fun at all. Funny how our minds work! 

So tempting at the estate sale, but harder to deal back at the office

So now I'm opening a box and not stopping for any reason until it's cleaned, researched, photographed, listed on Etsy and put away in inventory. This has been a challenge, but for the last month I've been sticking to it and look at the progress! 310 items is nothing to sneeze at. If I can get it all listed by October, I'll be tickled pink. 


How do you deal with the fluctuations in time and all those tasks you've set aside? Or are you already basking in the glow of accomplishment having tackled your goals? 

Vintage Church Sale Time!

I almost missed my favorite church sale! I've been so busy that it just missed my radar completely this year. Fortunately, my aunt couldn't pick up her weekly farm veggie box in the regular spot due to some church sale. That tipped me off. Let's hear it for farm boxes! 

Crowd gathering to get in. We started lining up around 7:30.

Boy am I glad I made it. For kicks I brought my husband along for the first time. He's very much NOT a vintage treasure hunter. He loves old things, but he wants to buy them once they're all repaired, cleaned and looking fabulous. This digging around I do just seems dirty to him. (Which is always great when he asks: where did THAT fantastic piece come from? and I remind him of the original condition that he laughed at.) 

The outdoor area held everything except vintage & books

At least 350 people were waiting to get in. I enjoy people watching and even more, people listening. I know, I shouldn't, but if they're to talk that loudly in a close crowd, how can I help it? Since I was standing behind all the old time dealers in my area, I got an earful about their sales, their scores and the best things they'd found. Right up my alley! 

Nobody ever thinks of Christmas & Halloween as special at these sales. 

Long yellow ribbons stretch across the parking lot, signalling not to go further. At 9am the ribbons were cut and the crowd started sprinting, running and toddling toward the various areas. The book dealers all ran to the right, into the church Sunday school. Thousands of donated books awaited them. The Moms with tots in strollers sprinted off the left to find clothes & toys. (Mine were home with the very accommodating baby sitter, who arrived at 7:30am) And by far the biggest group, the vintage hunters, aimed for the building straight in front. 

Crowds! I'm not used to this! I get into estates before the crowds, usually.

Long tables greeted us, filled to the brim with all manner of things. Hard to remember that vintage only means 20 years old. I still can't get my 39 year old brain around this fact!  It was everything from working 9-5 mugs from 1984 to 19th century teacups. Kitchen blenders mixed with mid century mats. Silver plate flatware sets next to modern collector dolls. Quite a random mixure. 

Inside the church community building. This is just a tiny portion-it was huge! 

I had fun and my husband did a great job of finding some cool pieces. Here's what we found: mid century mushroom trays, two industrial protractors, a 1950's Christmas tablecloth,  Christmas napkins & mats, a potato chip tin, a hand tooled antique leather purse, a late 19th century celluloid chicken wearing a top hat baby toy, an abacus, a ceramic silver Egyptian cat, a skirt measurer, a mid century decanter & glass set, a California pottery planter, mid century sterling cuff links, 1920's orange glass earrings, a large antique wood box, an old gold & white dish with roses, an old American flag AND a bulls skull! Cause who doesn't need a bovine skull?!!

New Vintage Directions

This last week two things happened to cause Nachokitty to branch out into new directions. First, Suuzi, my fellow Nachokitty seller, found an amazing collection of vintage mid century fashions. Second, a local baker who buys organic eggs from us (thanks chickens!) remembered that I am an estate liquidator and gave me a call.

The fashion items Suuzi found ranged from dresses to coats to purses. The pieces were iconic ones-fabrics you can find in photos of Studio 54 next to Andy Warhol or in London shots of Twiggy's fashion shoots. I was hooked. We've never really done fashion. It's in every estate but I've never felt that knowledgeable about it, until now. Suuzi has an amazing eye and can spot a piece of 1940's silk from across the room. Very handy when out hunting! She's teaching me and I'm learning fast.

After this I remembered a large collection of high end 1960's & 70's Italian shoes I had squirreled away a decade ago and avoided ever since. (That ignorance about fashion strikes again) Once we decided to embrace fashion, I brought out the shoes. Wow. Platform disco shoes in alligator!? We've been having fun. The leathers smell amazing and every shoe is handmade in Italy or Spain. So Nachokitty is going to be expanding the Vintage Fashion Section in a big way!

Middle of the week, my phone buzzed. The baker (who whips up amazing delicacies that I can only dream of creating) needs items for a wedding she's staging. She's also catering it. She got the clever idea to bypass the party rental stores with all their common everyday items and go vintage. She remembered me and found my shop on Etsy.

Yesterday we worked and set out a bunch of sterling, crystal and silver plate items. We used my kitchen island since the space is so large. Using a late 19th century lace tablecloth set the tone nicely and dressed it up. I didn't quite realize we had quite this much sterling!

She ended up renting several pieces for the back of the buffet for the wedding, as well as my large vintage trays. It's going to give the wedding a wonderful one of a kind flair that will wow guests. I can't wait to see photos! I'll do my best to share them here. It's in May.

So Nachokitty is helping out with cool vintage weddings & getting hip with Fashion. Being open minded and flexible sure has brought us some neat opportunities!

Lemonade from Vintage Lemons

I made lemonade from lemons! Well, not really. Although that does sound delicious. I had a meeting with a potential estate client at 10:30 this morning. I drove the 15 minutes up into the mountains, found her place deep down a windy road, and followed the thick pine needle covered path to the front door. She wasn't home! I waited, nada.

Rather than waste a bit of child free time alone in the car, I stopped by a local thrift store. Great place. It's always getting donations, many that are carried in straight from the drop off point.

My main find was in the front case, near the checkout counter. As you may know, I have a lot of chickens. Very happy birds that wander all over my 6 acres. I have soft spot for their antics and funny little noises. So when I spotted a pretty white antique hen peeking out at me from the case my heart lept!

I believe it's an old metal cigar tin. It's covered with all the original labels-no doubt preserved due to being so darn cute!

I rarely thrift, so this was a fun morning. Opportunity is often knocking, we just have to tune our ears right.

Motivation, Being a Mom & Trying to sell online

What do you do for motivation? What lights that fire in your belly that makes you want to accomplish previously set-aside avoid-at-all-cost projects? What makes this all nearly impossible?

This cute mess maker is my main excuse!

Today was a day set aside for appraising vintage items for a group of women, business chores & shipping. I went to bed too late, but green tea helped with that. I hit the ground running around 9. Then the baby wanted to nurse. So instead of cleaning, photographing, and packaging up to ship, I sat down. She's so cute. Big eyes looking up at me, trying to get me to smile. I played peek a boo with her instead of blogging.

Then I realized I was feeling a little off. Realizing that I shouldn't infect all the members of the Collectabelle's group I was going to appraise for, I cancelled. (Isn't that a cute name for a group of women collecting?)

Unpacked these little bridal cuties

So I sat down and started working. Photographing was going much better today. I switched around the photo area yesterday and ditched the photo cube for a sheet hung from the ceiling. Made it so I could more freely and it let more light into the room. (the cube was 5'x 5') Then the baby needed me again. I think she's feeling off too. Then the camera batteries died. Takes 2 hours to recharge.

My friend Kelly has started handling inventory. She was unpacking boxes of amazing looking antiques and making sure they matched the lists. I've seen all this stuff before-I bought it after all-but now it looked sooo fascinating. I decided to start listing it all right away. It piled up rather quickly. Too quickly. The camera still had an hour to go.

Look what we found in a box today! 

Finally the camera was ready. But it was lunchtime. The kids were surrounding me like fruit flies. Got them all fed and realized I was starved. Lordy bee. I feel thwarted sometimes!


This afternoon I got a bunch of things cleaned. My eldest, Elinor (who is quick to inform everyone that she will soon be 8) begged to clean things. Armed with a damp rag and some Bon Ami, she went to work. She did a great job!

Found this neat cranberry piece hidden away

She begged on and off all day to photograph. Taking photos is one of her favorite things to do. Finally, fully thwarted around 4, I handed her the camera & a vintage Noritake plate. 50 shots later, she's improving!

So while I didn't accomplish the mountains of work I planned on today, I did have fun with my daughters, ate a yummy lunch and got to see all my fun inventory. Tomorrow is a new day!

Avatars, Logos & Your Identification

Nachokitty

I'm someone who is a visual learner. When I remember things, I think of the exact action I was going through at the time it happened and what was around me. Makes it easy to remember my keys.

Perfect pottery logo piece by bitofbutter

So when my favorite sellers change their avatars, it completely throws me for a loop. I cannot identify with them at all-unless I happen to run across an item I saw last time I was in their shop. The only exception to this are sellers with strong memorable names that made an impression. But even that can be dicey without the avatar to back it up.

Simple visual would be a perfect logo by tippleandsnack

I see my avatar as my logo. Hostess isn't going to tweak their Twinkie logo. Every time an iconic brand even changes their logo a little, the public flips out. Remember the Gap fiasco a few months ago?

Now I know, we're just minor players in the giant world of commerce. Hardly iconic. But that doesn't mean our customers identify with our brands any less. When it comes time to buy that Valentine or Fathers Day gift, don't you want to be memorable?

An ideal hip avatar piece by vimvigorvintage

Your logo doesn't have to be something you're selling. It can be something that gives the flavor of the type of goods you offer. Check out this little owl. He would be an ideal logo for the right hip shop.

Mid Century logo, simple & clean by mascarajones

Perhaps a more mid century look is what you're after-something that stands out but is unique. This beautiful bird would do the trick. Keep in mind, your logo should be clean and clear. The most visually striking aka memorable avatars are those that are easy to see.

If you don't have a specific avatar that you depend on, this could be a good time to nail down your identity. It's January, a time of renewal, and a good time to do any necessary tweaking to your brand. I'm working on my overall online identity and getting it solid. A bit tricky though-someone bought Nachokitty.com and isn't using it! Grrrrrrr.