Friday, July 23, 2010

Having a Weekend Sale & Past Life Archeologist

So as I have said in past blogs I love finding out the history of the antique and vintage items and have always loved Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Cash in the Attic...but started watching this Chasing Mummies show with the head guy in Egypt Dr. Hawas. Probably just spelled his name incorrectly. Well, it made my think that my love of finding vintage and antique home decor and shifting through estate, garage and thrift stores was sort of like archeology. Sifting through the sand or earth looking for what was important to civilizations across the world is sort of like my hunt for treasures. And learning the history of an item or finding out about the people who created or collected the pieces was very similar to archeology....maybe in a past life I was an archeologist!

Trying to clear the shelves to make way for new items so I am having a sale in my Bonanzle booths this weekend, 30% off everything. So please check them out. Also, as I just stated, I opened another booth on Bonanzle for items that are not vintage/antique or collectables...mostly baby kids clothes and toys, some home goods and baby items, and then some men and womens clothing and accessories. I really wanted to keep Jenn's Jewels strictly vintage/antiques and collectibles in home decor. So please take a look and see what you can find...I price everything below what others may charge so with an additional 30% it makes it a great deal. Plus I always try to combine shipping! Jenn's Jewels and Jenn's Closet use the coupon code JULY30.

Have a great weekend,
Jenn

Friday, July 9, 2010

TGIF Sale

Sale today at my booth on Bonanzle, 20% Noon to 3 PST! Check it out and stop by and say hello!!!!

www.bonanzle.com/booths/jjhannum

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Design & Dime

Hello all! Been busy with our new puppy Zoe, trying to get her to "go" outside instead of on my carpet. All I can say is thank goodness for SpotShot! I spent most of yesterday either trying to Zoe to go outside and posting new items Bonanzle. I think I got about 6 or 7 items listed and have a lot more to go. I probably spend to much time researching the items but I have to say I really enjoy it and I want to make sure that I provide as much info and history on an item as possible. While I am trying to keep my booth on Bonanzle focused on vintage/antique decor and table setting items like the silver trays, flatware, collectables, plate and such I did list 2 new kids items from Pottery Barn and Bombay Kids. Lately on eBay which I tend to use for my kids items, even though I have been doing auctions starting at .99 I have not been much action and many of my auction either have no bids or they sell for just .99. Disappointing to say the least.

Now to more exciting things! My home is decorated and furnished in a more traditional Tuscan/Old World style so with a lot of the furnishings and cabinets being dark I like to use crystal and glass to lighten things up. To be honest I love "blingy" looking things...things that catch your eye and sparkle. My master bath is not huge and is sort of a galley style with one wall being double sinks with a built-in vanity on one side of the bathroom and on the other side is the toilet room, a large bathtub with a large block glass window above it and then a built-in shower. With the dark cabinets and the tile we used and then the granite on the countertops which is a beige with black and brown in it, I knew that for towels and drapes I wanted to pick out the chocolate brown from the granite and cabinets. So to lighten up the smaller area and really reflect the sunlight to pours in from the block glass and reflects in the mirrors across from the window over the sinks and vanity I really wanted to use glass accessories. To save money and because I could not find at the time pure glass accessories that didn't have chrome or silver on them(my fixtures are oil rubbed bronze) I ended using glass/crystal bowls, covered candy dishes, tall glass jars that I picked up from Ross and TJ Maxx. Most ran about $5 to $12 and I use them to hold my cotton balls, q-tips, and my facial cosmetics on the vanities. Then on my tub deck which is pretty large I used a tall glass apothrocary jar that I got for maybe $10 and filled it with bath salts that I got there as well and then a pedestal bowl that I had gotten as a gift and filled it with sponges and bath oils. I also filled another bowl(another gift) with different tan and ivory soaps that I had gotten from hotel stays. Can you say free? I also got a tall glass candle stand that I put a large embossed candle on...probably spent another $10 total on that. I love it, they sparkle in the sun, provide more room to store items that traditional bathroom accessories and were probably half the price then those you find at bath stores. I'll have to take a picture to show you, looks really nice and expensive and spent very little money. I see pictures of bathroom in those home magazines using jars filled with bath salts, sponges, soaps and you know that they probably got the jars at some expensive home store. Have you seen what Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware charge? I did the same for a lot less. I bet if I did it again I could spend even less! Little did I know that a lot of thrift stores carry tons of vases, bowls and jars for as little as a dollar or two. They even have really nice heavy glass and crystal items for less then Ross or TJ Maxx. I have seen beautiful crystal decanters that would be wonderful to fill with bath salts and display in your bathroom for very little money.

Wow, I feel the need to go to Goodwill! Has anyone else bought glass or crystal items cheap and used them in your bathroom as display or useful items? Let me know!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Summertime

Hello! I had my first sale today on Bonanzle! So excited and wonderful buyer! Such an easy transaction and I hope the buyer loves the Lenox Butler's Gourmet 5 piece place settings! Such a lovely pattern. So far haven't had time to go to any estate sales or such...but I did make it to Bath and Body Works for their Yellow sale where many items are 50-75% off. Well, I spent way too much money but this is the time where I stock up on the wall flower refills...I love the Eucalyptus Spearmint aromatherapy ones. However, I took the extra time to find online an additional discount coupon to save more money which is always helpful.

eBay is offering free listing fees for any auction for the week so I have listing some personal items for sale in addition to some Buy it Now items that I am listing for my children's school which is a non-profit school. They are accessory items from our Spring fundraising event. Please check them out as 100% of sale goes to the school to fund current and future student financial add as well as fund items that are not covered by tuition.

Thank you so much for checking out my blog and please check out my items for sale on Bonanzle under Jenn's Jewels and eBay user name jjhannum.