Time flies!

How can it possibly be 2016 already; let alone February! Sheesh... I just can't keep up. But I'm still here plugging away trying to stay connected.

I'm giddy to say that 2015 was a good year for us. While, honestly, we're still falling woefully short of my projections (largely due to me being so darn optimistic), 2015 showed real promise. We tried a number of things to bring more foot traffic to the store; a radio commercial (that I recorded), a few adds in the local newspaper and Repurpose Paint and Stain. 

Of all three endeavors, the paint and stain lines have shown the most promise. (Note to self - do a post about that.) I had a few workshops and the local Community Education program has reached out to me to do a class for them. Woot woot! I can't wait to do that the end of this month. But, in the meantime, we still need more sales...

So...I opened an online store on Etsy. Wow! That is such fun. We literally have sold things in our sleep. Since its opening in late July we have sold our treasures to 19 states across the country. (I have a little map in the store and I color in each state as we "break into it" with our goodies. Hopefully by the time we wrap up 2016 I'll have sold to all 50! Wish me luck.

An idea for 2016 is to reach out to - with the hope of participating in - some local vendor events. I'll keep you posted on that idea.

That about wraps it up - happy hunting!

MC

New Directions

Oh for shame... I meant to post this long ago and the time just got away from me. Regardless, here I am. I'll pick up where I left off, as best I can.

For John and I, the ultimate bonding moment happens the minute we jump in the car, heading in a new direction, to parts unknown.  The anticipation is almost palpable!  Our latest trip west, to South Dakota, was no exception.

We headed toward Watertown, SD where we found a great selection of antiques at a variety of flea markets and out of the way stores. We met a fabulous shop owner who was as adept at “dickering” as I am. It was such fun. John just stood back and watched! I got a fabulous Chinese Checker game, 3-tier shelf (a future painting project) and a vintage school desk.

Later we headed to Sioux Falls – stopping first at Brookings – where we found even MORE NEW SHOPS! I could scarcely contain my excitement! We rounded out the trip with a stop in Des Moines, then heading back to Minnesota via I35.

These trips of our are very cathartic. They feed my soul and John's sense of adventure. When we can't scratch those itches with an actual road trip we pacify them with auction hunting. It's the next best thing!

Until next time...happy hunting :-)

An Adventure in the Works!

Every day the anticipation mounts. We've been planning this trip for nearly a month now and I can't wait to get going. All our shopping trips are exciting but I'm especially anxious for this one because we'll be covering some ground we haven't traveled in over a decade: Sioux Falls, SD, Sioux City, IA and Walnut, IA. We might pop into Omaha if time permits.

Every trip - including the ones we take on a regular basis - is unique. Even if the territory we're covering is familiar we seem to be constantly maturing in our quest. Sometimes we're looking for items that never interested us in the past or, even better, we're on a mission to find a long lost treasure for one of our loyal customers.

I have my "wish list" prepared and my bag is backed. John has prepared the truck. The oil is changed, the tank is filled and the truck's bed is lined with boxes to safely nestle our new found treasures. Now all that's left is to hit the road again.

Don't worry: I'll be sure to update you and post pictures of our discoveries!

A little this. A little that.

Running your own store can be, all at once, satisfying and frustrating. Satisfying because you accomplish things you never thought you could. Frustrating because you wrestle with things you never wanted to. 

Take this website, for example. It has been a pure labor of love. Adam (my son) helped me set up the basic skeleton but since then it's been all me, baby! I've learned how to set up the events page so that I can promote my paint workshops. Sheesh! But that was just half the battle. Then I had to decipher how to take reservations online. (Someone please tell me it works!) But the real accomplishment - so far anyhow - is the picture slide show on the homepage. Wowser!  I was stoked when I got that to work.

Then there are things I like much, much less...say, sales tax reports! They're a pain in the butt. Not to say that they're terribly difficult. They're not. But they're futzy. And I don't like futzy much. So I often put them off so long that the mere urgency of the matter alone is a motivating factor. And, I've never been late!

As you've probably noticed, I'm trying this blog thing out for the first time. I'm not really sure why, other than I was working on the website and thought I'd give it a whirl. It was always my intent to blog about the adventures surrounding the store. Hopefully, this will be the first of many, many posts to come. But for now, I've got to get back to work. See you behind the moon!