Spoonfuls of Sugar

Before Thanksgiving comes around....tomorrow, I need to post Halloween! This was my first Trunk or Treat. For those who have never done a Trunk or Treat, people gather in a parking lot, park their cars in rows, and decorate their trunks. Then kids come and collect candy from all the parked cars. It's a lot faster, safer, and easier for the kids. I had fun putting together and decorating my trunk. I even had the song "Spoonfuls of Sugar" playing on repeat. It was also really fun to dress up with my husband! Enjoy spoonfuls of sugar.

Advance to Boardwalk

My mom wanted a Monopoly bracelet. After some research, this is what I came up with. I didn't do it all by myself this time... My awesome husband helped drill the needed holes through some of the metal game pieces. He's much better than I am at drilling a straight hole. The game picture charms are made with watch backs and resin.

My Junk Drawer jewelry

New creations.

Halloween home-made apothecary jars!

I bought a number of different glass jars and sundae glasses at a yard sale last year. At a booth in a craft show, a vendor had put them together like soda shoppe candy buffet containers or those nice apothecary glass jars and I wanted to make some. They've been sitting in storage until last weekend when my mom suggested making them Halloween jars. So my mom and I adventurously started a new project. 

She helped me paint the bottoms (sundae glasses and candlestick holders) and the tops of the jars with orange and black spray paint. We used matte black and semi-gloss orange. 

 As they were drying we found labels for the jars, candy to go inside of the jars, and ribbon to decorate them. We found cute free labels to put on the Halloween jars off the Internet and printed them out. We had fun looking for goodies to go with each label. There were a lot of cute ones to choose from so it was difficult to narrow it down to the number of jars we had. 

The websites for the labels we used are listed below:
www.squidoo.com/free-halloween-bottle-labels
www.lilluna.com/happy-halloween/
www.wallwritten.com/catalog/newsletter-october.html

WinCo sells bulk candy which was perfect and is inexpensive. The sundae glasses were turned upside down and the jars were glued to the bottom of the glasses. They were glued together with loctite clear silicone. 

Some labels were attached by being tied around with the ribbon and others were simply attached with clear packaging tape directly to the front of the jar. Ribbon was tied around on tops and bottoms randomly to give variety. 

 They turned out exactly as I pictured. They are perfect decor and treats for Halloween!

The candy used for each label is listed below:
Toad Tongues - Fruit by the foot
Witch Fingers - chocolate halloween fingers or cheetos
Eyeballs - chocolate or gumball eyes
Dyed Bat Droppings - nerds
Pixi Dust - pixi sticks
Mummy Dust - powdered donuts
Lightly Salted Innards - white chocolate pretzels
Worms - gummy worms (sour or regular)
Dragon Scales - corn nuts
Snake Venom - sour zots
Frog Eyes - green gumdrops or green apple gummy rings

Yard Sale?

Recently, I've posted some very important instructions on how to create a good yard sale sign. For more details, see my previous post on yard sale sign know-how. The pictures below demonstrate some of the awful signs I've come across in the last week.  Hopefully someone will get a good laugh out of them. I know I did.

For Sal?

Did someone die?

 

Am I in Wonderland?

A few of my recent things - Steampunk style

I like making jewelry and giving it away as a gift. My process of creating any masterpiece takes time. I research and think and contemplate. Finally I conclude on an idea and create. I like giving my art away as gifts to family, because I know they will understand and appreciate the effort and time it took. I know that their opinion of my work is genuine. They will tell me if it's horrible and what I can change or improve, or they will let me know if it's good the way it is. I love when I have finished and examined my work and realize I accomplished it.

Pocketwatch Cuff
I made this as a gift for my sister's birthday.

Clock Hand Bling Earrings
I gave these earrings to my sister-in-law for her birthday.


Watch Dial Clock Hand Bling Earrings
I gave these to my sister as another gift for her birthday. I made the earrings above for my sister in law and showed them to my sister. She loved them so much that I made a variation for her as well.

Adventure

Half the adventure is the hunt for a good yard sale, the second half is getting a great deal on new treasures.

Steampunk

I love going to Acorn's Antique show at the Ogden fairgrounds. Over a year ago, I went with my mom and my sister. We were pleasantly surprised to see a new booth there. It hasn't appeared since, but it was definitely a show stopper that one time. It was a booth all about steampunk. I was in heaven. My mom and I finally decided to go to Vine Street Antique Mall where her steampunk vendor booth is set up. I took a picture of the booth when her stuff appeared at the fairgrounds, and that is what appears below. I anxiously await another appearance there. While we're on the subject, Vine Street Antique mall is extremely clean and organized. It's easy to walk around with all the shelving and aisles. Let me tell you, I've been to some nasty antique stores, and this is NOT it.

Chair Artistique

My mom, my sister, and I went on an antique store adventure looking for a chair. My sister wanted to buy an old chair as a prop for her photography business (eskelphotography.com). We heard about a store called Euro Treasures in Salt Lake, so we decided to check it out. Nothing could have prepared us for this. This is NOT your normal antique store. It's HUGE and PILED with stuff; literally "piled with stuff." So, when our exploring and search for a chair came to an end on the first floor, we decided to ask the owner for help. We asked him if he had any other antique chairs besides the few on the main floor, and his response was, "There's a few more upstairs.".............

Yard Sale Sign Know-How

My family and I are avid yard salers. We aren't creepy extremists by any means, but we know what a good yard sale is when we see one. We also know a lot about how to throw a good yard sale and how to make good signs. Our biggest yard sale pet peeve is the horrible signs. We occasionally look in the local paper or online ads for "the one" yard sale to visit, but will usually just drive around looking for signs. But when the signs are just awful, it doesn't make yard saling very fun. So, I wanted to start out my blog by writing the rules of yard sale signage. It would seem self explanatory, yet, every time I go yard saling, I spend half the time flipping u-turns, going on wild goose chases, and driving by tiny yard sales (not even getting out of the car) where their signs falsely read "HUGE SALE" as I naively followed.

Rule #1: BIG HUGE GIGANTIC ENORMOUS SALE! Don't have a yard sale, unless it's worth stopping for. Especially don't false advertise. When I see a Huge Sale sign, I expect a HUGE sale. When I drive up to the smallest HUGE sale I've ever seen, it's a drive by-er and my precious yard sale time is wasted. If you don’t have enough stuff to make a “yard sale,” consider asking others if they’d like to contribute some unwanted items (ex. friends and family). Getting your neighbors in on a neighborhood sale is also a great idea. 

Rule #2: A junk sale is NOT a yard sale. Don’t advertise a yard sale when all you have is leftover junk that YOU wouldn’t even consider taking for free. This is maybe the time to just throw it away…

Rule #3: Put up signs ALL OVER the neighborhood. Seriously, ALL OVER! Start big then go from there: meaning start signs at major intersections on major roads where a lot of traffic will see it. 

Rule #4: Put a sign at every turn, from every direction. Don’t assume that someone will see a sign that points the right way for traffic coming from one direction, and not put a sign to go that way for traffic coming from another direction. They won’t see it. Make sure every direction of traffic is given a sign to go the correct way.

Rule #5: If you make a sign to turn on a long road or a long road with several intersections, give signs to keep going straight so the yard salers don’t get discouraged thinking they’ve lost their way or gone on a wild goose chase.

Rule #6: Don’t write your address on the sign. People are driving, not memorizing or writing down an address. The address may be legible up close, but once potential customers get close to even read it, it’s too late and can’t be read going 35 mph. They’ve already driven by and forgotten about your yard sale. Most of the time, people are driving around in areas that they are unfamiliar with the addresses. In my case, I’m awful at finding addresses anyway. All you need is a sign saying “yard sale” and an arrow to show which way. Also consider cutting your sign to look like an arrow and writing “yard sale” on it. 

Rule #7: Don’t include the times or date you’re running your yard sale on the sign. Who cares? They obviously know there’s a yard sale going on if the sign is still up to follow. See rule 16 regarding taking down signs.

Rule #8: Try to make your signs look good. I don’t want to follow a nasty looking sign just knowing that the yard sale will be just as nasty. A cardboard sign reminds me of homeless bums. Use good posterboard. Colorful posterboard is best and easiest to spot for passersby. Sign making takes a lot of time, but it’s worth it to spend the time on them if you want lots of customers. 

Rule #9: Use the same color and writing on all your signs. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been following one sign, just to be interrupted by another that is completely different, wondering if they are two different yard sales or the same one. Then I’m stuck wondering, if there are two, and where the other sign went.  

Rule #10: Use homemade signs. Don’t buy the pre-made signs, because they look like open house signs, for sale signs, or other advertising signs.

Rule #11: Don’t make your signs too big. If there is even the slightest amount of wind, the big signs flop around and curl, making them impossible to read what is written on them. Not to mention if it starts to sprinkle or rain, a big floppy sign will be demolished.

Rule #12: Make your signs sturdy. Staple or nail your signs well so they don’t move or curl in the wind. Staples and small nails work well for wood posts, and you can also use clear packaging tape on the metal poles. I've found that duct tape doesn’t stick as well as packaging tape. Never tape to a wood post; it doesn’t stay stuck. I’ve also seen signs attached to large boxes that are weighed down inside the box, and placed on a street corner.

Rule #13: Make sure not to attach your sign to a pole too early before a turn or too late after a turn. You’d be surprised at how many signs I’ve seen and been confused as to what direction the arrow is pointing.

Rule #14: Write legibly, clearly, dark (preferably black on lighter paper), and in THICK letters (not with a skinny pen). Don’t let your children make the signs or let it look like a child made it. Stencils and spray paint also work well.

Rule #15: Put up your signs when you’re ready. I know people hate the “early birds.” This is annoying for both sides when the person having the yard sale is still trying to price and organize things while customers are trying to get their attention. Simple: don’t put up the signs if you don’t want people to come yet. 

Rule #16: Take down your signs. This is probably THEE most important rule. I have seen countless weathered signs, signs with old dates and addresses, and signs with deflated balloons on the side of the road. That is the most inconsiderate, lazy thing I’ve ever seen are old signs. Not to mention sending people on wild goose chases. You better hope you aren’t the one that put your address on the sign and never took it down, because I’m coming to get you!

What my blog is all about: finding junk, antiques, garbage, random stuff, etc. and using them to reinvent and create treasures (jewelry, decor, art, furniture, wall hangings, etc.).