Once a hustler, always a hustler. I’m back to selling….at a much smaller & slower pace.
*These lovelies are available*
Since I closed my shopito almost a year ago, my product has been taking up room and growing dust in my work shed.
*Sweet Cutie Patooties Available*
We moved to Puerto Rico and I needed stuff for our apartment and learned there are not a lot of places to buy vintage here. A light bulb went off and I decided to bring some of my product here to sell to the vintage shops!
*Love these fun pieces I did find here in San Juan*
The first round of vintage I brought here with me was clothing. I already sold half of it to a store I love, Johnny & June. She asked me to bring more in November for Christmas Shopping!
*1970s Maxi Dresses are Available*
I tried another shop but they only give store credit. The store doesn’t have much in my size and I really just want money, so I passed on it.
*These yummy under garments sold… sorry*
I have one other place to try to sell my clothes/products, but it will be on consignment. I like money now as opposed to maybe money later, but if I don’t try it won’t sell at all.
*These are a sample of the glass sets I have…sets of 4-6 of all of the above”
What should I bring next? Sets of Cocktail Glasses?
“Sampling…and so much more*
Should I bring jewelry?
*I have trays*
Maybe Mid Century Decor pieces?
*So much kitchen ware*
Or maybe MCM kitchenware or ceramics?
I will be flying with my product, so it can’t be too big, too heavy or too breakable. Wish me luck…getting it here and selling it!
PS…Contact me if you are interested in any of the above items…if they are still available they are for sale. And I ship!
Usually it is a lot of baby steps that create a big step. And some of those little bitty movements feel really big.
— Step 1: We don’t usually use plastic water bottles, but I had a bunch. One day I did this baby step. —
I just had a baby step towards something I really want and inside my core it feels huge. I put it off for around 2 months. Why? Well, that’s for another blog.
— Step 2: Then I curled the edges for some odd reason. —
I am not going to talk about it in detail as I want it to come to fruition before I announce it.
— Step 3: I put one or two cut up & curled bottles on the canvas and played. —
With that said, believe in yourself. Don’t listen to the negatives from inside and out. Do what makes you feel good, but also push your comfort zones. Positivity is key.
— Step 4: I ended up using the smaller canvas. I love this as is. I used a glue gun, so they would not be permanently adhered in case of future changes. —— My assistant, Pickles is sometimes part of the process. —
I just got big chills after I wrote that. I’m a bit of a sensitive. I feel things. My Mom died in 2021 and after she moved on I started to get these intense chills just at the base of my neck. I knew it was her, now she is telling me she is happy for my little big baby step.
— Step 5: I am so into color, bright fun colors right now, so I knew I had to add something to it. I tried seaglass. Good, but not bright enough.
My Mom always had confidence in me. Way more confidence than I have ever had in myself.
— Step 6: Then I tried plastic fruit that are, interestingly so, filled with water to be used as ice. Who doesn’t love colorful fruit? —
I’m trying to change that, so baby steps are everything. I try not to jump ahead and think of the big picture, just one step at a time.
— Step 7: I then used Dinosaurs and Dragons. It’s so very fun.
It’s kind of like my art. It starts with an idea or even an action, the first baby step.
— Step 8: Then I put plastic beach picks I find regularly in it. I dig it.
It sits and then later I play with it, the second baby step. This may go quickly, or it may be a very long process, baby steps 3 to maybe 3000.
This is now in the Ruminating Stage waiting on Steps 9 to maybe 9000. Well, I already know of some changes…but do you have suggestions?
As in my art, sometimes I reach out for ideas, suggestions, advice on which way my step should go next. Maybe I should do that in life too. And besides just asking the Hub, I should reach out to the professionals in the area I want my steps to lead me.
Getting advice from Pickles the Kitty Art Kritic
My advice to myself and to others is said best in this quote. It was given to me on a magnet from a teen boy I worked with when I was leaving that job for something different.
I just learned that word. Trash and fashion=Art? Another phrase for it is Junk Art. Whatever you want to call it, it is art made from what most people would call garbage.
A lot of my art is made with stuff I found for free or thrifted or gifted….but some of the stuff for these projects are downright trashy garbage. The worst of all worse garbage, plastics found on a beach where I wish all Sea Plastics went to die.
(PHOTO: One particular bad plastic garbage day at what I now call “Plastics Beach”.
Last month my hub and I went for a drive and without our knowledge we ended up on what may be the most sea garbage filled beach on the island. It’s in a corner of a bay and the wind and tide seem to go straight to the particular area of the beach. I was overwhelmed with the amount of it all. I didn’t just see garbage. I saw color and I saw childhood laughter. And even though I didn’t know it at the time, I saw potential. That place never left my mind, so much so, we we went back. This time, I was prepared mentally and with reusable shopping bags.
(PHOTO: My sweet husband collecting plastics and beachcombing)
This time to “Plastics Beach” it wasn’t as bad, by “not as bad”, I mean there was less bigger pieces. It was still very bad. I focused on collecting the most colorful plastics. While I was on the hunt, I noticed some big black bags at the edge of the beach in the trees. I assumed they were filled with the beach garbage. This made me feel good, but I also wondered what colorful fun things could I find inside them. Don’t worry, I did not open them. They are destined for the dump for the rest of their long plastic life.
(PHOTO: This is what we brought home in our 4 large reusable shopping bags)
I cleaned every single piece, a lot to be cleaned again. While doing this, I thought of the price of art, even art made from free stuff. It took hours to do the initial clean. I can use old, scratched, marked, broken things for art, but I can’t use dirty stuff with sand embeddeded in it with the potential to smell over time. A lot of this time consuming. Even though, I’m not big on selling my art, I support artists that do and their prices. Oh, I will sell my art, just ask me. Anyway, I recently picked an old frame out of the trash area of my apartment building. Do you see the trashy thing going here? And here is me playing with my idea of art.
(PHOTO: The first juxtaposition of pieces inside of the frame.)(PHOTO: I almost love this view of the piece better)
I really like it. I go through many processes with my pieces. Here is where I was before creating the one above (mind you it is not done…the things are in a box now), I recently went on a trip to where I got things for cheap or were gifted them. Fun, bright, cheerful things, including beads, miniature stuff, and vintage cabochons, but not limited to that. Here is where I went with those items when I got home.
(PHOTO: I put all the stuffy things together, added items I had already and this is what I got.) (PHOTO: I love the neon and brightness of this piece and I will make smaller versions of it when I can thrift some fun frames.)
If you haven’t seen my art, besides using upcycled materials, I love texture for the eyes and hands. I love surprises to be found. I love that I see art when others see magazines, belts, twine, and garbage. I love that I can see how to use things in unconventional ways, like beads not beaded, a belt buckled around a canvas, old rough twine in macrame, and torn maps not used for directions.
(PHOTO: My art in my home)
Here are other versions of pieces I may do with my plastic beach finds….
(PHOTO: I love the idea of one or two bold colors. So, yes, I love this small 5×7 piece, but if I do it I will paint the frame a brighter blue.) (PHOTO: So, I love anything round, circular, spherical, and globular including balls, orbs, globes sport supplies, decor, plastic caps and so on. This piece is a mixture of all found or saved round things. Honestly, I’m notot as fond of this piece.)
Since I’m on this maximalism, lots of stuff in one piece journey, yesterday I was playing more with some of the beads and cabochons I got at General Bead in SF recently (and vintage plastics from a friend there too). Also, I recently have been enamored with miniatures, and bought some while traveling and at a store near my apartment. Yes, new stuff. Ack, but give me a break, they are so cute. Look!
(PHOTO: I Call this “Bunny Bubbles #Yellow) (PHOTO: See the Adorable tiny Bunny? It is actually what is called an “Nail Ornament)(PHOTO: I call this “Bear Bubbles #Purple.) (Sorry for the bad photo.)(PHOTO: But look at the bears…this time 2 sizes!) (Squeeee!)
Okay, before you go crazy making orders and wanting to buy…none of these are made yet! 😉
But I did just paint the large frame, and I am looking for a back to adhere items safely to it. Will update this post when I’m done!
Once again, Thanks for visiting… My Gnome Little World!!
I feel I need to purge toxic balls of words that come at me now and then. I delete those words a lot, but they come at me again and again. So, I am taking those words, and adding my own in All CAPS AND BOLD. Right Here, Right Now. I feel it may help me purge the word cancer that lives inside me.
The written word sent quickly.
Filled with emotion.
So easy to slap down words with your thumbs, or index finger like I do.
Some bring joy, laughter, love
Some don’t.
We played Nice But What Was Under the Surface? (Painting by Cecily Brown)
I’m placing these photographs to hopefully convey beautiful chaos, lovely negativity, awesome anger, and general all around pretty pettiness that happens in life. Although the photos are my own, they may be of other people’s work.
What is below the layers? (Store Logo)
Just last night I plunged backward into the sea 7 times to help remove negativity. But yet, negativity keeps on coming. Last night I figured it out, you cannot plunge negativity away, but you may be able to purge it.
I wrote the words. They are out. Different Pieces together Make a Whole (Street art mural San Juan, PR)I turned my words into art, Word Art. And if only we could all accept. (Art in an exhibit at the PR Contemporary Art Museum)For you to see, but for me only to know. It’s my own rainbow to bare. So many layers. So many ComplicationsIt Runs Deep (Toxic pollution in a sidewalk crack)Let it blur so much it becomes invisible.Not locking it up nor holding it inside anymore.
If I could throw up emotions, feelings, words, and even memories…I would be sticking a toothbrush down my throat right now. But I can’t, so this is my way of purging them all. I call it art. Some art isn’t pretty. Truth isn’t either.
Thank you for visiting my darker than normal Gnome Little World.
After I decided to use an old map to tear up, I was thinking of amap of life. Then when I was doing the needlepoint it looked like Morse code, so I decided to sew in words that have to do with living life. I finished the 5 Strips and there it sat for a couple of months. I was in a rut, I didn’t create.
(Photo: What word do you see?)
While we were packing for the move, I packed in the strips along with some supplies. Then we moved and then I was so moved to create again.
(Photo: We make ties to people to places and even to things.)
I needed something for structure and to represent the steady stuff, the structure of our lives. Wood was the strength needed and pink was the perfect amount of innocence and love.
(Photo: Upcycled Art of Life)
I used floss because it has 6 threads that brings it together to be. No one stands on their own.
Ok, and I had plenty of it.
(Photo: We are all interconnected.)
The art piece told me what to do with the hanging floss as soon as I held it up. All the hanging floss had to be connected to each other. Some webs may look chaotic, but there is a method in the madness. Life looks a mess, but maybe that is as it should be.
Yep, I know change is good. I was in a rut, a rut that not only put a dent in my couch, but also in my mental health. It was easy to pretend it was normal, especially when I talked to my doctor about it and they just ignored it. If them, why not me too? When I pushed them, they did low level blood tests and then told me I was fine. So fine I was.
(Photo: I’m fine. Really I’m fine. Street art in my new (old) hood.)
But I was not and knew it. We moved and now I feel different inside. I am motivated to go out for walks, make art, take photos, lots of photos, even clean, but most importantly, write. I won’t write a lot, but here I am writing. Ok..who am I kidding, this may not be a lot to me, but to others it’s sooo long.
(Photo: A close up of my latest Artwork. It’s called “Webbed Map of Life”. So many ins, outs, ups, downs, paths crossing, ties made, and it’s all an interconnected web.)
I still don’t know what was going on and I fear it will come back. The immense lack of motivation that was running through my mind and body could be just sitting at bay, waiting for me to have one low moment or down day.
(Photo: We can’t let our fears keep us locked up. If it comes back, I will fight with vengeance. Like someone locked up this abandoned building with vengeance.)
I was not in a depression, as far as I know. Maybe I was, maybe it was an after pandemic lull, maybe I was just bored. My Mom always said, “Only boring people are bored.” So, I learned how to entertain myself. Maybe I forgot how for a year or two. Who knows?
(Video: I’m usually not bored…or boring. But I did a lot less of this silliness during that time period.)
Okay, maybe deep down I know why I was in a rut and unmotivated, but I will leave that reason to myself. Yes, I am usually an open book most of the time, but sometimes there are things that are not important to the big story so you can leave it out or even skip over that page and not miss a beat.
(Photo: Some windows are open for all to peak in…but some are closed leaving a mystery behind.)
Since it is Mental Health Awareness month, I do want to say the following. Although I am not sure if my issue was a mental health issue or not, I just know things will get better. I visualize a tiny light at the end of a tunnel. It seems far away and unobtainable, but you will get to the end of that tunnel soon. Keep on pushing doctors to help, do your own research, make changes, reach out for help from friends, family or even strangers. Strangers sometimes help the best.
(Photo: It is shaded up front on the patio, but yet sun beams down on a plant inside. Help can come in unexpected places and ways.)
I know this because I am a stranger that people talk to about their problems. I am serious, they do because I am a natural empath. I have blocked some of it away, because with being a sensitive comes pain. Strangers unload and then I move on. No lasting connections, strings, or feelings to hurt down the road.
(Photo: Just taking photos of strangers.)
Take care of yourself, and also be there for someone soon, very soon. Don’t wait, self care, reach out and make that call, text, or commment…just do it.
(Photo: Looking for seaglass heals my soul.)
Happy Mind, Unwind.
Unload Stress, Rest.
No Doubt, Reach Out.
Make Change, Widen Your Range.
(Photo: This one here is the picture of self care…and he reaches out to help me too.)
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!
UPDATE: I’M NO LONGER SELLING ONLINE. ETSY CHANGED A LOT SINCE I SOLD IT IN 2015 AND THERE WERE TOO MANY FEES.
Is diversifying the right word?
1960s/70s Porcelain Seagull and Wood Art Sculpture.
DIVERSIFY: enlarge or vary the range of products or the field of operation of (a business).”we’re confident that the new owners will grow and diversify the company globally”
Still Not Sure!
Although I do mostly Mid Century, I do have a small handful of antiques like these Wax Seal Stamps I picked up in Helsinki, Finland
Color, Colorful and More Colorful. Color your LifeThey want to sail away with you!
Although I SELL Mostly All Mid Century…I Pick Up Antiques I can’t Resist here and there too. Below are a couple of them.
Antique Butcher’s Chainmail Thumb Guard… Or Torture Device? It will be whatever you want it to be.Antique Darning EggsMidcentury Candle Holder….comes with candles.60s/70s little lovelies for you. This combo goes well; Trains, Statues, Towers and Knives. Oh My!Not your Normal Mid Century PyrexStainless Servers…Let them Serve You! Working, with all the pieces, 1976 Blow Dryer! 1960s Textile Art…In Perfect Condition!Cute Little Glasswares
And so much more. I try to add items weekly!
Oh wait…I have Vintage Jewelry Too!
Copper Jewelry Love!
items to come this week:
And Silver Bits of Pretty!
Upcoming Items Dropping Soon:
These Babies are all Ready to be Posted…for your Buying Needs!
Thank you for visiting the My Gnome Little World Blog!
And I hope you visit the My Gnome Little World Etsy Shop too.
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!
My Gnome Little World 