etsy — Page 2

It’s Monday

November 27, 2023 at 9:53 am by Claudia

Before I forget, my Etsy shop is back up and running. I’ve spent the last several days taking photos and writing and posting descriptions of each piece. I think I had 13 or 14 pieces of pottery and I’ve already sold 3. After I finish this post, I’m off to find some boxes for packing. I have boxes, but they’re not the right size for these 3 smaller pieces of pottery. I’ll be adding more items over the next couple of weeks. The problem with Etsy is that they charge fees and that takes a chunk out of any profit. But of course, they’re a business and they have to. The shop, by the way, is ScoutHarper. It’s the same shop that Mere and I used to run together when she was making things and and I was crocheting tons of scarves. My right wrist has never recovered.

Right now, the inventory is mostly McCoy pottery. There’s a piece of Hull there as well.

My Christmas present arrived last Friday and since I have no will power whatsoever, the package was opened immediately. As was Don’s banjo, so we’re even.

Meet Chloe.

She was customized by MissEdith Dolls. Edith lives in Canada – Quebec, I think.

Here’s the back story. I’ve long wanted one of her girls because she’s a very talented artist (she also does portraits) and I love what she does with eyebrows and lips and all the subtle shades in the face up. In the past few months, my friends Susannah and Catherine have adopted MissEdith Dolls, which, let’s face it, made them even more attractive to me because I really got to see them up close. Catherine got hers secondhand, and by that I mean not directly from the customizer but from the owner. I adopt most of my dolls this way because the price is usually less than it was originally. Not all the time, but often. All my Ferro dolls have been adopted by previous owners, for example.

Anyway, I was messaging Catherine (who adopted my doll Mei) recently, and I asked her to keep an eye out for any MissEdith Dolls that might be up for adoption. A week or so later, she wrote me saying that she had just adopted another MissEdith but one of her dream girls had just become available at the same time and now she would have to sell the MissEdith doll. Did I want her? It was a doll that I had been watching for several months and one that I loved. I asked her to give me 5 days to decide. I showed her to Don. Don went a bit gaga for her. Anyway, long story short, we decided she would be my Christmas present and the banjo would be Don’s. Catherine lives in Singapore, by the way, though she’s from Ireland. This doll was picked up at Catherine’s home in Singapore on my birthday. FedEx shipped her on the following day – Wednesday – and she arrived at my house on Friday morning, Pretty darned fast.

Anyway, Catherine has adopted a girl from me and I’ve adopted one from her.

Chloe’s base doll is “Simply Lilac.” As it happens, another of my girls is also Simply Lilac.

And here they are, meeting for the first time. Hi, Olivia and Chloe!

It’s fascinating how different customizers come up with completely different faces from the same base doll.

Both of these girls have chin clefts though Chloe’s is more pronounced.

New girls are now having to perch on the shelf in a sitting position. There’s no available space for standing. I have to brace them from behind with various items; a piece of pottery for Chloe, a candle in a ceramic holder for Pru.

I made a trip to Target yesterday to look for boxes and bubble wrap, etc. I found some neat little Christmas trees and some adorable deer. So now, the girls’ shelves are being decorated for Christmas. I also found some of those sweater ornaments that I used for the girls last Christmas as well as some ornament parkas. I’ll share them with you tomorrow.

Now I have to get off my tush and figure out the box/package situation and get them in the mail.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Wooden Furniture for Little Z

September 24, 2016 at 9:47 am by Claudia

Since that horrible dream left me feeling rather melancholy yesterday, I took control and sought refuge in photography. I find that if I can get outside and take photos, I see the world differently. I see my own situation differently. I captured lots of lovely images yesterday which I will be sharing with you over the next several days, including a treasure trove of birds at the birdbath. Goodness, they were active!

Also contributing to my mood change was a package that arrived in the mail for Little Z’s dollhouse. As you know, I’ve been contemplating what furniture – and it needed to be sturdy wooden furniture – to buy. Z is five years old, smart as a whip, and as determined as can be. He also walks with canes because of his disability and is working on using both hands equally. I wanted the furniture to be effortless for him, nothing that can break.

One day, I searched on Etsy and found this shop: upperairs. It’s David DiBenedetto’s shop and he handcrafts this dollhouse furniture. It was reasonably priced and was just what I wanted. And I love to support small businesses.

I was thrilled when I opened the package.

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It’s as if it were designed by IKEA for this house.

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The living room. Sofa, chair, fireplace, table, grandfather clock and television. I laughed out loud when I saw what was playing on the television! That’s Z’s favorite. He loves, loves, loves Mickey.

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Kitchen: None of the doors open. Did you notice the faucet? It’s a cup hook. The table might be a bit too tall, I’ll have to think about that one.

Just like the kitchen in my dollhouse – the hardest room to photograph.

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Bathroom.

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Bedroom.

Don thinks I should leave the furniture unpainted because it goes so well with the house. I must confess, I’m not sure what to do. I am planning on making some cushions for the furniture and the bed.

Do I paint the furniture? Do I leave it as is until he decides what he wants? Do I put temporary wallpaper up that he could pull down if he wants to?

Meredith says that either way would be great, but she suspects I’d have more fun painting the furniture.

I’m going to think about it for a day or two and then I have to make a decision.

This furniture is so well made and it’s sturdy. Z can handle it, knock it around, move it in and out of the house without any worries about breakage. I want him to be able to do whatever he wants with the house.

Your thoughts?

I have one bird photo to share with you today – I saw this guy looking for food at the entrance to the big corral:

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What a beauty!

Happy Saturday.

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At The Controls Of My Starship

December 9, 2015 at 9:55 am by Claudia

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on yesterday’s post. I read every comment (well, I always do) but this time, I found myself reading them more than once. It helps to know that others feel the same way, that the free-floating anxiety and worry and, in some cases, outrage that we feel is shared by others. We need to draw strength from each other. And we need to take action.

As I sit here, sprained ankle on a pillow on top of an ottoman, cup of coffee to my right, iPhone next to the coffee, Kindle next to the iPhone, camera just a bit beyond the Kindle, laptop on my lap, I laugh out loud at the image I have of my “Command Center.” Oh, and now we’ll add coffee cake to my left, because Don just brought in a piece for me.

Gone are the days of being laid up and only connected to the world via a landline and the television set.

I feel like I’m behind the controls on the Starship Enterprise.

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I’m sharing two more of my Roseville Pottery pieces with you today. (I have a couple more Roseville scores on their way to me in the mail.)

The green basket is in the Apple Blossom pattern. As you can see, I am sometimes quite willing to buy a damaged piece. The third curve from the left has been broken off and there is a hairline crack that travels downward from there. I saw this in a local antique shop, priced at $25.00. I hesitated because of the damage and Don said I should buy it anyway because “It’s been loved and used. Besides, cracks let the light in.” An homage to Leonard Cohen.

So I bought it, and I’m happy I did. It would be three times, maybe four times the price I paid if it was flawless. But it isn’t, so I adopted it and now it has a home at the cottage.

The smaller brown piece is in the Bushberry pattern. This is the very first piece of Roseville I ever purchased. I found it in San Diego. At the time, Roseville prices were through the roof, so this remained my one and only piece for several years. It was living in the kitchen china cabinet, but I just moved it to the den, where, when the other pieces arrive and I rearrange the den china cabinet, it will live with its Roseville brothers and sisters.

Or, it just might stay on this music cabinet. We’ll see.

There’s a new scarf in the shop.

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This is the Obsession Scarf in Pompidou. Gosh, it’s so hard to capture the colors. It makes me crazy. The link to the shop is here.

A couple of blog housekeeping items:

• For some reason the email version of my post went out very late in the day yesterday. It should go out between 11 am and 1 pm. I suppose it was a Feedburner glitch. I’ll do my best to keep an eye on that today.

• WordPress has just had an update and there’s a chance that my comment reply plugin might not work. Can you let me know if you receive my replies to your comments? If you aren’t – and you know I reply to every comment – I need to know that and find an alternative plugin.

Thank you!

Happy Wednesday.

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It’s Monday

Wooden Furniture for Little Z

At The Controls Of My Starship

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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