I do like kids…they are funny and play…who doesn’t like that?
BUT…the things I like little are colorful, funky, pretty, shiny, old, new, and most of all little.
Face beads and sewing do-ma-hickies.
If they are cheap or free, and catch my attention, then they have a new home. They probably sit around for a while…until the creative bit of my brain goes, “Pop!” And off I go creating…which usually sets off a tangent. I’m on a tangent and taking a break, now, to share. But first, I NEED to share my current littles.
The World Key Chains I got for $1 at a yard sale! 200 of them! These are flower beads! I probably got them at an estate sale. These two are beads, little metal leaf beads. These are from a necklace I bought, that either broke or I bought it that way because of leaves.
As you can see, some of my littles are beads, but not all are. What I’m making right now with some of my beads is not jewelry. Ooooh.
I love me some vintage/antique fish eyes! And speaking of vintage, buttons. Oh my, buttons! People thought I was crazy for collecting these bread ties. But I love the colors in the bottle that I kept them in, but that was until my mind went, “Pop!”These “sleeping” doll eyes. Creepy, but love them. Got them in an antique store in Paris. And the hand forged nails in Talking, Estonia! These little gnome brads were gifted to me because…need I say why? The little metals were bought at a flea market in Europe. And that’s one of the world key Chains back there. And here is one thing I did with 2 of those! I made a “My Gnome Little World” keychain! It’s a work in progress…but I love schwag and can’t wait to give them away…or sell them…or both!
“What else did I make,” you ask?
I added a bunch of the above littles with a bunch more that I have and made this. Bread ties, half worlds, metal leaf beads…Oh My! Don’t look close at the construction…Work in progress. I’m feeling it is a statement on our environment today. Garbage is coming in on the world’s nature. And some cover the real problems (pollution of all kinds) with shiny stuff (here’s it beads & metal bits) to distract us. What do the politicians and big companies do to distract us?
It didn’t start out to be a political statement, but looking at it and writing this right now, I realize it was in that back of my mind the whole time.
To lighten things up, I hung this in our family room right next to the TV yesterday and I’m seeing how long it will take my hub to notice it. 😁
While in the process of working on that piece… another idea came along. A lot less serious and lots of bright and cherry…but this one really is truly a work in progress. So here are my tid but photos.
Little piles of love. Squeeeeeee! Using an old painting…upcycle & recycle! Ok…not getting all environmental and all…but old/used stuff is the new “black”. Just a little chunky brightness. I had already attached the two pieces. 😳Picture this….On this!
But…I’m still figuring out the center. I’m going to post this before I’m done because that thick paint will take a while to dry. So please give me suggestions.
Thanks for coming along for the journey. Remember it’s not just or only the destination… but enjoy the ride as well.
And remember I also buy and sell Mid Century Modern Cool Stuff. Check my online Shopito on Etsy!
I ask and listen to the stories, and they are not lost on me.
The families that lived with these pieces. The love and laughter they have seen can be seen on the faces as they pass them on.
The sleep overs these two lovely rich wooded ones enjoyed.
These all came from one family. Mom was from Europe who had a penchant for Danish furniture. Dad worked for the military gone away at times. Maybe he picked them up on his deployments for his beloved. One daughter had the twin beds in her room, the other had the wicker & wood bed. How they stayed in perfect condition is beyond me when I think of my rough and tough childhood.
The music that played in the home, the dancing girls and watchful parents sitting in more Danish Modern chairs. The stories lay in the wood and hearts, cuddling them closely.
The conversations these two have heard. Gossip perhaps or the planning of a daughter’s birthday party or two.
I have the honor to be the one that is helping pass these lovelies on to new homes to make more memories. Message me for further info you may need.
Thank you for visiting MY GNOME LITTLE WORLD and please come again!
I never had a lot of belongings, until I did. I was a single woman most of my adult life and either shared an apartment in SF or had a Studio apt. I did not need a lot of stuff. Also I loved to travel, so I saved for it which did not allow much money to buy things. I easily let things go too, because some of my trips were months on end and I couldn’t pay for storage. So things were not my thing. Until they were.
Just Some of My Vintage Jewelry Collection
In 2004 I met my husband, who also loved to travel. We married 3 years later, then we sold his house to move to central America for a year. I learned he had a lot of stuff and could not let things go very easily. We put stuff in storage. I had even less stuff because I sold most of all the furniture I had.
My Vintage Kitchen Tool/Utensil Collection.
After 18 months volunteering and traveling in Central America, and after several moves I started collecting things. You see, in 2010, my husband took a good position where we were moving a lot, which it made it hard for me to work.
No job, new places without friends…and usually needing stuff for our ever-changing apartments, I shopped. But I’m a picker, who doesn’t like to spend money, so I thrifted. I also fixed stuff up, used it while we lived in a place and sold for more when we left.
My old western graniteware collection.
In 2012 we bought a home not far from where my y husband worked and not far from my parents. We had no furniture at this point, and the house was original from 1964. We decided to furnish it from that time period. Mid century was popular in other places but not where we bought our home, so buying old cool stuff was affordable at the time.
My Hub’s Beloved Collection
It was around then my husband and I learned that we like to thrift and yard sale together. Thrifting led to flea markets, led to antique stores/markets, led to auctions and then led to estate sales. We’ve done it all.
My beloved collection.
I buy and sell Mid Century Modern Stuff. When I say I sell, I really do sell. Our whole house is a collection of Mid Century Modern. I’m starting to think that collection is enough. If it’s not Mid Century, I should let it go. Ouch.
Two Collections
I’ve already started to let go of my old Western Vintage and Antique Graniteware collection, but they are not selling in my Mid Century Shopito. So, I just made arrangements to sell at a 1 day more rustic type market in October. It’s too hot now for outdoor markets in Florida, so we wait until less hot and Snowbird season. There are several in the fall so I’ll be busy.
Wood Food Boxes.Too Many Balls Look at these Lovelies!
There are even more collections, but I’m done outing myself and my issues. I don’t have kids, nor will I ever have grand kids. I have things….
…But for now I vow not to add to my collections and to lesson my load by selling. Check my FB Marketplace page for what I’m selling or contact with questions about anything you see in the photos that you would like to buy (but mind you, not all is for sale. 😳
Thanks for visiting my blog, and reading or just quickly looking over my photos. I appreciate it all.
Yep, during the pandemic I started a business selling Mid Century Stuff. I buy furniture, décor, clothes, kitchen items, barware…you name it…if it is from around 1950 to the 1970s, focusing on the 1960s, I’m interested in it. I buy stuff, and if the need be, I make it better, and then sell it.
Current Pieces I’m Working On. I actually designed that material because I could not find the color combo I wanted.
This is how it all started…2012 we bought a house that was built in 1964 and had never been updated. Cool original formica countertops, pink Jack & Jill bathroom, sunken living room and the such. We had no furniture for the house, so since we both like thrifting, flea marketing, picking and general good deals, we decided to go for the “Mad Men” Midcentury 1960s look.
Our Pink Jack & Jill Bathroom
We did our house Mid century down to the glasses and silverware. But once done, I still liked the hunt. So, at first I would just replace the new old stuff with my new finds…and then I sold the “old” on FB Marketplace or in a yard sale.
This was one of my recent keepers
But…We never lived in our home. We moved yearly for work projects and only visited our Mid Century Home…until the Pandemic hit.
Pandemic Lifestyle
Ok, Nothing to do for awhile, when the thrift stores and estate sales opened up again, I went, masked and bought and bought and bought! I had sold on Etsy for a few years, a few years ago, so I knew I liked it but I wanted to go bigger. By bigger, I mean, I wanted to buy and sell furniture too. I went to a local Antique Mall and signed up for, what I like to call, “My Shopito”.
Official Name of my Shopito is “My Gnome Little World”
So 10 months later, and I’m making money. I’m actually making money! I’m not making tons, but it’s a start. I give it around 20 hours a week most of the time. But between out searching and buying, cleaning and fixing up stuff, pricing, making price tags, tagging items, putting stuff in Shopito, or just moving stuff around in Shopito, doing the inventory and billing, some weeks it may go over 20 hours. Some weeks it may be less.
My husband and I like to pick together so it’s our fun together hobby, and we stop to take pictures, try a local micro brew pub and the such.
,The search and buying part isn’t always work. My husband and I like road trips and picking together, so it’s usually pure fun for us. I don’t want it to ever become “work” for me. What is work, is fixing up pieces. I don’t usually buy stuff that needs a complete refinish, but the table in the first photo, needed it. See last photo for the finished project.
Second coat of stripper.
I love challenging myself to do new processes to fix up stuff. It is hard sweaty work, but I love the result. Today I just stitched up some clothes. Never a dull moment buying and selling. I’m now selling more online through Marketplace and maybe Poshmark. I did 3 piece vintage bundles for Poshmark. I try new ways to sell, and if it doesn’t work, I try something else. Here are couple of my bundles.
Vintage Top, Necklace and PurseVintage Terry Clothe Beach Cover Up, Sun Visor and Flowery Straw Purse
Poshmark did not work for me, so now I have to figure another online outlet. It seems I’m not getting the same amount of views on FB Marketplace recently, since they added tax to my (shipping) items. I have sold over $599.00 through FB and now they tax my items. Is it that? I used Etsy in the past, but I’m not sure about going back to them. I was recommended Ebay. Should I? I need to do all my selling through my phone as it is just easier for me, photo wise and keeping on top of things when I’m not at my laptop which is hardly ever these days. I am taking online selling advice and opinions! Thank you in advance!
And Oh, on to other things! I also make and create! Anything from paintings to textile art. Here’s my latest for sale!
I call this “MacraLace Poof”!
And so that’s how it happened! Check my pages out please!
I am selling!!! But not through this Blog, Sorry! I sell some online, but mostly through Facebook Marketplace Locally and in my “in-person” Shopito in Melbourne, FL.
I have started to sell more through FB Marketplace Shipping, so I will I give you the page I use for selling. It is https://www.facebook.com/marlo.zaran/ . My Business name is “My Gnome Little World” just like this page.
I will try this format first and if I get popular enough, I will change to a better selling format.
I will update this site regularly with a few awesome items for sale!
Get this…Free Shipping!! Who am I kidding? You know the shipping costs get folded into the price, but I will be making the items affordable for you, my beloved customers.
For now you will need to send me your address to sfgirl_dawn@yahoo.com. If this website lucrative, then I can make buying so much easier for both of us!
Oh the important part. How to pay? You can venmo or Zelle me at Dawn Balzarano / My Gnome Little World. Make sure I’m the right person please.
Ok, now you’ve seen some of the bigger Items I have sold…here are some smaller easier to ship items I have for sale.
Color Pop!Handmade!Lush!Approx 15″ x 15″
These two cutsie patoosties will make you smile for miles. Your 2021 so needs them.
They are vintage Hook rug Wall art from the 1960s/70s. See photo for size. Both are in excellent condition.
They are $25.00 each (remember that includes shipping) OR 45.00 for both.
Hot Diggity Dog!
Straw, string, linen…Oh My! Great shapeVintage Faded Glory….Who Knew?I don’t think this one was ever used. Cute coin purse / wallet
Oh my cuteness galore! I know we all haven’t been going many places…but get ready because the getting out and looking oh so awesome with a cute purse in hand days are a’coming again!
Faded Glory Straw Medium Size purse with flowers – $20.00
Straw, String, Linen Large-ish Purse – $22.00
Small Straw Change Purse / Wallet – $7.00
That’s it for Now!
As soon as an item sells I will delete it or mark it sold.
Please let me know what you think of this idea of mine and how I’m doing it.
Dabbling, not to be confused with Dabbing, the popular dance move.
Yes, I HAD to use the Rainbow Unicorn as an example!
You know that phrase, “Jack of all Trades”? Well, to me one must “Dabble” first before becoming a “Jack”. Dabbling to me, is when I start doing something new to me creatively.
I checked Wikipedia for the origins of “Jack of all trades” (because I am that person). Although now-a-days, I feel the phrase is a positive description, it started out as a dig to Shakespeare by the writer Robert Green in his 1952 booklet “Greene’s Groats-Worth of Wit”.
I dabbled with gifted vintage art supplies.
It wasn’t until 1962 when a version of it appeared in the book “Essays and Characters of a Prison” by English writer Geffray Mynshul. He most likely wrote it when he was imprisoned for debt. I assume he was not a “Master” financier.
After my first acrylic piece, I wanted to dabble more.
Which leads me to the added phrase, “A master of none”. This part of the phrase was added later and it was meant as a dig in jest. I also found that there was also another phrase added on to that as well, which I like, “Jack of all trades, master of none, but still better than a master of one”.
I digress, let us get back to my dabbling. In between my musings above I gave you examples of my newest dabble. I am using paints now. I have always used paints but mostly spray paint and paint pens. I did even a brush now and then for furnishings and other upcycled projects. Now I have moved on to actually using brushes and sometimes, awesome vintage water color pencils, for art.
One of my paint projects, during my splatter stage.
It all started when a dear friend, gifted a TON of art supplies to my 13 year old artist twin nieces. There was so much product, I kept some extra bits and parts for myself.
My talented nieces lived next door at the time. They came over with their now “tool” box filled of art supplies and we sat down to paint. Here are their paintings.
Olivia’s
Isabella’s
That’s a tough act to follow, so I thought about paintings I had seen in art galleries that I liked. I though Maybe I could do something like this Cézanne.
Or Maybe this Rothko…
Or Maybe not, but I tried.
And so, this is my first Acrylic painting!
I’m not sure it is up there with the greats, but I do so like it. I love the texture in it, that you can’t see here, but I laid it on thick. I love color and I am happy with this piece.
I enjoyed painting so much, I dabbled more. Here is my second acrylic piece. It’s called “Sand, Sea, Sky”, a subject that I have been obsessed with since we move near the beach on a Caribbean island.
It was based on a photo I took on an island off of Puerto Rico, called Vieques. It is a photo of what I love to call “island water”. It is that clear water with sea foam green slowly turning into hints of turquoise.
See? Sand, Sea Sky.
I played with those cool vintage water color pencils, that you can see in a photo up above, and created the piece below. I really like this one, almost love because art is so not perfect. I love how in some way the colors blend bleeding into each other, but then I also love how the green left stark lines above the yellow. I guess in a way I was trying to overlap the water over the sand like in the photo. The piece gives you an idea of the photo, but in it’s own way, separately, a piece of beauty.
A birthday card for my friend.
I already have another canvas set out for me to dabble more.
Waiting for me.
Who Knows…I may not even use paint. My other newest dabble, Sea Glass! I love hunting for it here where it is plentiful! I wonder often what to do with all the lovely of glass that has been softened into wonderful bits of art.
I put the glass on the white canvas to see the dreamy colors of the sea glass.
I am off to play with my photography now. I do dabble a lot.
Thanks for visiting My Gnome Little World. I never know will be happening up in here. Please come back!
We packed up whatever we wanted to keep, like kitchen stuff, tools and important stuff from our California Apartment, and Sold the Rest.
We sold a lot furniture, my projects, some of my art, and much of our beloved vintage stuff.
Then we moved, again, by airline with just 5 suitcases and some boxes.
Although, we were lucky enough to go on many adventures with family while living nearby, this move was really hard, emotionally.
All the other moves were just pains in our asses, but this one tore our hearts. We moved away from family. It’s weird, we want to be close to our families, but we also want to explore and go on adventures. Our married life has been all “This” and almost nothing but “This”. We have accepted it is Who We Are now. We.Are.Gnomads.
If it were any other place, I probably would have said no, but I couldn’t say no to where we are now. We live on an island, an island in the Caribbean. I could not say, “No” to that opportunity and the work is important to Jim. We moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico so Jim could work on the project to rebuild the power system here, which is dearly needed.
We have explored some of the island, and I am learning tons about it’s electrical system along the way. And Jim is making his way around bureaucracy, island time and the government to get his project rolling. I am proud of him. He really wants to do this job, it is what the residents of this island really want and need. Below is a photo of damaged windmills 18 months after Hurricane Maria which shut all the islands of Puerto Rico down.
We have been living here fully since the end of February. We got our apartment the 1st of March and we are well on our way of settling into City Island Life.
Old San Juan
Our Beach, Ocean Beach
Colorful Calle Loiza, Our Neighbor to the East.
The Evening View to the West.
We live on the 8th floor of 10 story building with a view west of the sunset over the neighborhood, and with a bit of a view of the Caribbean Sea to the North. We get great sunset.
We have explored a fair amount around the main island (as they call it here).
We have also been lucky enough to have already gone to a small island off the East Coast of Puerto Rico, Vieques.
We are just plain lucky and We.Are.Gnomads. And This Is OUR Gnome Little World.
My recent love is turning things that were not bar carts into a bar carts. I have made at least 5 and 2 in project mode, but will focus on the biggest one which took the most work.
A Trunk Bar. It has been done before, but not quit like mine!
The outside was a bit rough. It is made of wood, which is not true of a lot of trunks. I sanded it down and like the effect, so I kept it. The picture does not do it justice.
I loved the paper on the inside, but it did need some love, especially where the paper was and the damaged.
I decided to put old drink recipes in the damaged areas on the inside. I could not find a decent priced vintage recipe book, so I got a newer one with old recipes in it. I aged the pages with several layers of coffee and to match the orange hue of the paper I added a tad bit of orange paint to the coffee.
I used the decoupage technique on the recipes as well as to secure the old brittle paper in the rest of the trunk.
Then I put in shelves. This took several tries and some extra support efforts.
After the shelves where secure, I added leather belts (a common theme in some of my projects and art) to hold in items on shelves.
I added wheels, a lot of them so it will stand secure open and shut and there you have it!
I love the Initials and the original tag on it. I used decoupage on the tag as it was falling apart and I felt it needed to stay with the piece.
And as an extra to whomever bought my Trunk Bar I made a leather-bound drink recipe book (on middle shelf on right side) with the left over pages of the recipe book. I also aged the pages of it with coffee.
And then it went to market….
Where it sold for less than I wanted, but it went to a good home!
Next post will be my small bar cart upcycle rehab projects!
Not the kind of “Pop Up” you think of these days though.
We got a Pop Up Camper and here are some photos of our adventure of the last year Camping!
This is Our GoGo Gnomie Pop Up Camper. We’ve Taken Him Here, There, but Not Everywhere!
August 2017 We took our Niece to Wright’s Lake and it was So Nice!
Dinner!
The Hub Laying over Wright’s Lake!
We all Split wood to keep warm and cook!
Out in the Woods!
We’ve been to Pinehurst, a friend’s family property, a couple of times for big group camping too!
My nephew Entertaining Me.
GoGo Gnomie at Night!
Oh and I Fixed it Up Some. I kind of Retro’d out this 1990s Pop Up on the Inside.
Before:
After:
It’s so Cute and Comfy!
And Our Subbie Tows it Perfectly!
It’s packed away for the winter…oh wait…we have a date camp date on the Coast in February. But it’s in Nor Cal…so who knows what the weather will be like…but we are not afraid of the cold!
My Gnome Little World 