The Flea Market Booth

{Photo by Jessica Lafferty, Via More or Less Jess}

“I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.”

-Jack Kerouac, On The Road

I thought Kerouac's On The Road was so awful I couldn't even finish it, but it does contain one of my favorite quotes ever.  This statement describes me perfectly: I like too many things. I've got a million ideas running through my head at all times, and there are so many, many things I want to try and learn to do and experience that I'm constantly jumping from one thing to the next. My goal is to get better about sticking to the things I start, since this habit has resulted in lots of unfinished projects and ventures that I don't follow through on very well *coughthisblogcough.*

So even though I probably have too many rods in the fire as it is, today I'm here to tell you about my latest scheme: My mom and I have opened a flea market booth.

Mom and I have been tossing around the idea for awhile. I inherited my love of thrifting from my mother. The problem for dedicated thrifters is that eventually your thrifted treasures start to pile up and you run out of space. Secretly, we both probably belong on an episode of Hoarders, so we've been feeling guilty about buying more junk when we both have too much already. And if something is standing between me and thrifting, I get antsy.

We looked at our options. Garage sales are great to visit, but having a garage sale of your own is the worst. We could just donate it all, but we really wanted to see if we could make a little something to put towards future thrifting. My mom suggested a flea market booth months ago, but neither of us knew anything about it or how to get started. I consulted my blog friend Danavee, who recently celebrated her three year flea market boothiversary and seems to really know her stuff, for some advice. She shared her knowledge of rent, rules, taxes, and so on, and she made it sound a little less scary.

So we went for it. We've opened up a booth at Vendor's Mart on Glenstone. Our booth is in the basement, where the rent is cheaper and we still seem to be getting plenty of traffic. So far, we've had no trouble paying our rent plus making some bread for ourselves.


The lighting's not great for photography. I plan to talk to Vendor's Mart about that.


If you're in the SGF area, stop by! It's not the kind of booth that's strictly vintage or anything like that. It's just mountains of all the stuff my mom and I have collected over the years, mostly home decor items, plus some random things you'll be surprised to see that I ever owned.

So here's hoping that we can stick with this little pursuit for awhile and learn all about it. I'm already feeling much more free to thrift as often as I please, since now if I change my mind about it later, I can just put it in the booth. Hot dog!

Weave Me Alone

I'm still alive...in case you were wondering, since I haven't written a blog post in over a MONTH. Here's why.

Lately, I've been weaving up a storm.

I have horrible insomnia, so lately I've been weaving and listening to podcasts until the wee hours of the night (in my new craft room-more on that later!). Weaving has become my absolute favorite crafty activity, since I was already in love with the result, and now I know I love the process as well.

After playing around with the techniques I've learned from watching YouTube videos, I've produced two pieces that actually ended up finished and looking right. There were also a few practice flops that will not be seen by anyone. Here's what I've made so far with my little DIY loom. I like to think I'm a little bit good at it.



I've got another piece in progress, so I'll share it as soon as I finish it. What do you think?

Craft Studio Inspiration

{Photo by Marij Hessel, via My Attic}

Today is the first day of my spring break, and I'm just wandering around my house, feeling sort of lost. There are too many possibilities, and I can't decide what to do. 

I'm talking about my craft studio/dressing room dilemma. I shared photos of my dressing room in this post, and I mentioned that I'm considering changing my dressing room into a craft studio. Crafty projects are very important to me, and the more hobbies I collect, the more space I need to accommodate them. It would be so nice to have a space dedicated to making a mess, where I can leave my supplies out and not feel like my mess is in Rand's way (this is what is currently happening in our dining room). Plus, the projects I'm working on, like weaving and macrame, would be so much easier if I could give them a permanent place. Macrame projects need to be suspended from the ceiling, and weaving projects need a set up that is a pain to put together each time. Besides, I'm a blogger. I like to take pictures of all the stuff I'm working on and share it with the world. That upstairs room gets amazing light, perfect for taking beautiful progress photos.

Clearly, I'm leaning toward the craft studio idea. Really, the big question is just: If I want a craft studio, where am I going to put my clothes? I have a clothing rack, shoe shelves, a scarf rod, a chest of drawers, and a dressing table. I could part with the dressing table, but where is the rest going to go? Here are the options I've come up with:

+ Option 1
Move my clothing rack, scarf rod, and shoe shelves to the bedroom dormer, and hang a curtain to separate the space. This would create a closet out of the dormer that would be next door to Rand's closet. I would still have to part with the dressing table, and it would be crowded. Plus, I'm worried this might make the bedroom, which is already pretty full of stuff, look even more cluttered.

+Option 2
Clear out the walk-in closet in the room that is being used as a dressing room. I believe the shoe shelves, clothes and scarves could all fit in there nicely, and I could probably fit the hooks that hang my purses. The dressing table would still have to go, but this would open up the rest of the room for a craft studio. This option requires that I get moving on a flea market booth/garage sale/ something to help me clear out all the stuff that is in that closet right now.

+Option 3
Leave the dressing room as is and set up a craft corner in the dining room. This basically how it is now, but I always feel like I've left a big mess in the dining room.

Big decisions. Let's look at more inspiration photos for the craft studio I'm dreaming of.

{Photo via Simply Seleta}

{Photo by The Happy Home}

{Photo via}

{Photo by Tif, via Paper & Stitch}

{Photo by Cotton Bottom Mama}
Mmm.. organization, bright walls, lots of light. It's going to take a lot of coffee, but I think I could make this happen. What do you think?


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