I Caved and Bought a Few Things This Week

Yes, I caved. I was going to go two weeks without buying anything for my store (because of my backlog of unlisted inventory), but a few days ago I went into my neighborhood thrift store. Okay, in my defense it was my birthday and I played “the birthday card.” 

Found a couple of good things. Not “wowzers.” Not happy-dance good, but bread-and-butter good.

First, I really liked this big, woven, cotton shawl in emerald green and black. It’s in beautiful condition and the perfect bo-ho accessory for spring and summer with long, drippy fringe.

Then I spotted this handmade ceramic/china bowl from Nobilta (part of Royal Nobilta of England) that is so fresh and charming with its hand-painted flourishes.

And my last item was a hunky, chunky wood cutting board in need of restoration. It’s likely handmade and big at over 18″ wide and weighing over 10 pounds! I figure after sanitizing, sanding and moisturizing with my Boos wood oil and paste, this is going to be stellar. (Here’s my post on restoring wood cutting boards.)

So not amazing scores, but good items. Attractive. Usable. Sellable. 🙂

To top the off my buying birthday “spree,” I decided to redeem my eBay Bucks before I forgot about them and they expired. (EBay Bucks accrue each quarter based on the purchases you make.) I wanted to use them to help offset the price of a nice sterling silver item that I could later sell in my Etsy store. After much looking at various categories of silver (spoons, boxes, cigarette cases, napkin rings, etc.), I decided to focus on antique sterling tea strainers. But gosh, it wasn’t an easy choice. I went back and forth between several. A couple of cute ones were less expensive, but had small condition issues. One didn’t close all the way, which made it rather non-functioning as a tea strainer! In the end I bought a pricier Watson one that was in better condition and had a less common design.

Here’s a photo from the listing…

Isn’t this cute??  I will give it a quick swipe with a silver cloth to remove some of the tarnish.

Anyway my birthday is now done and dusted for another year. (Celebrated at night at a local wine bar that had a charming jazz/blues duo.) Now I’m back to no buying! And this rainy spring day is perfect for getting more stuff listed in my store. Though truth be told, my motivation is flagging. After fabulous March sales, so far April is a bust. Poop!

As always, happy hunting,

Karen