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Monday, September 28, 2009

Junk Bonanza Event - September 17-19, 2009

Sue, Julie, Lanette & I all shared our vendor booth, which was two booths combined to make up a 24' x 10' space. This space seems large at first, but quickly gets filled up.
See further down in the blog post for the great products and links for each of these gals.
Gretchen Schaumann
of
Mimi-Toria's Jewelry

Photo taken of me in my vendor booth right before the
Early Bird shopping started on Thursday morning.

Button pendants displayed on my original creation. A vintage wire lamp shade, music stand base and vintage crystal door knob with the addition of vintage crystals hanging for bling.
In the corner of our booth in back I had two doors hinged together to create an area to display my vintage picture frames for hanging my necklaces off of them. This works quite well.
Margo aka "Robolady" owner of Margo's Junkin Journal flew up from Texas to be a part of the Junk Bonanza show this year. From what I understand she was a big help to Ki with helping out during the time she was here, as well as got in some time for shopping this great show. I was happy to meet her this year, as I had been following her blog for about 1 1/2 years now, and always fun to meet a fellow blogger.

Donna, a fellow Junk Market Style member friend, and I meet for the first time. She came all the way from Nebraska with her Mom and Aunt. It was so much fun to finally meet Donna of Reinvented Style.
I love to use vintage suitcases to merchandise off of. They also can be filled with props, etc. and make a handy carrier for all of those miscellaneous smalls you need when selling jewelry.
This display is a vintage chippy grey shutter that I've attached eye hooks to and than took S hooks to attach to the eye hook. I then use a pliers to close the one end of the S hooks so that they stay on the eye hook and hang the jewelry item off of the bottom of the S hook.
I like to use this mannequin for some of my more special necklaces and here I have three of them layered on this great display piece. I actually married two objects to create this display.

I had these three higher end pieces of jewelry for sale at the Junk Bonanza. Clara, the white penny doll, sold at Junk Bonanza as did the Paris themed wire wrapped necklace.
This is the lady that bought the "Paris" themed necklace that is featured on the mannequin on the former two photos above. It looked so beautiful on her, and I'm sure she'll provide it with a great home and have a lot of enjoyment wearing it.

Another area of display in my section of the vendor booth. I create these rings using a variety of unique vintage materials and each one is one-of-a-kind.
These rings will also be for sale at the October monthly occasional sale which runs October 8-11th in Anoka, MN. They are $15.00 each.
Examples of Jewelry Available for Purchase

A detail shot of this vintage buckle which has been combined with a wonderful array of other pieces to create a one-of-a-kind vintage redesign necklace. Gold tones.

Vintage faux pearls form a portion of this necklace.

A music themed choker length necklace, which has been created with a vintage Swedish flat back prism, vintage faux glass grey pearls & vintage rhinestone roundels.

This Paris image is on the back side, so that if it flips while wearing it is still pretty.

This is another choker style necklace with vintage grey faux glass pearls and the Swedish flat back crystal prism, but this time has a "Paris" image on the front.


This necklace again has a Swedish flat back glass prism with the addition of word definition for friends. It has a variety of lovely pearls and crystals on each side to make this style a longer necklace. See details in the below photos for more.

The back side of the Prism has the Paris theme.

Lovely vintage crystals and faux glass
pearls create this asymmetrical necklace.

Large Czech vintage white glass beads create this lovely necklace and the focal is none other than a fabulous vintage porcelain Elgin watch face and a Sterling Silver Fleur de leis. Very elegant and can be dressed up or down.

I have made the above necklace two sided, so that you can wear it with two different looks. This side is much more casual.

I really like this necklace. It is a Parisian inspired necklace, with vintage key and vintage beads on the one side and is of a longer length with a chunky silver toned vintage chain.

The back side has another Paris image, so could be worn both ways if wanted, or if it flips while wearing it, it still is pretty and doesn't have an ugly back side.

Brass #8, with vintage wishing well, and other vintage baubles.

Partners in Vendor Space
Our booth was a mix of three artisan wares, as well as industrial flare and unique other vintage finds. Overall, the mix worked out well.
Sue Wolfe
of

Sue hand creates this wonderful Destination Art. It can either be done on canvas or metal and she has the most beautiful techniques to create a warm vintage feel to her creations.

Sue's art was a big hit again this year and she all but sold out the first two days, so she found herself up very late Friday night trying to get more finished to bring in for Saturdays shoppers. Fortunately for Sue, she had very little to carry out by the end of the show.
I just love what she does!!!
Julie Pierce
of
DesignCafe
and merchandiser of
Julie hand paints, distresses and waxes these wonderful clay pots and offers them for sale each year at Junk Bonanza as well as year round at the Buffalo Nickel in Buffalo, MN. They were a bit hit again at the show this year, and Julie as well as her husband, Ron, were frantically trying to finish up extra pots to bring in for Saturdays shoppers. They succeeded in their mission.

Julie's pots and Sue's pumpkin art.


Lanette Lorsung
of
Lanette mostly deals in industrial type items and re purposes some of them for home decor. She tends to sell lots of architectural pieces, metal and galvanized farm items. See more of her style by going to her blog.

Lanette's 1/2 barrel filled with a mum, her metal chairs sold quickly, her architectural white railing found a good home and her rustic picture frames sold out too.




Lanette pretty much filled up this front display area in our booth with her wares. Locker baskets, metal boxes, jars, shelving units, etc. She had a whole trailer filled to the brim and her Suburban filled with wonderful treasures to sell. Lots of great stuff was had by all.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Exotic Pumpkin Patch

My sister and I went to this exotic pumpkin farm on Saturday to buy some pumpkins and I was so impressed by it, that I decided to blog about it and share it with others. I hope you enjoy it.

This is their business card, so to learn more this is the information you will need.

The owner has all of this great information posted by each of the varieties that he sells and hopefully, I have most of them identified with the correct photo of the pumpkins.




These seeds are suppose to be outstanding. He even gives his customers
the recipe for making the seeds after they've enjoyed the pumpkin as a decoration.

What a beautiful pumpkin!


I love the coloring of these pumpkins above.



One of my favorites are these blue/grey squash.



I love the shape of these Cinderella pumpkins as well as their rich color.
These are a great base for staking pumpkins, which I have done this year.

My all time favorite are these etched pumpkins. Now how cool is that?

All sizes of etched pumpkins are for sale, from $2 for small
orange etched pumpkins on up for really large ones.


Another one of my favorites. These just have such a cool looking two tone coloring.


Stacking the different varieties creates a great look.

The owner has a great variety of gourds to choose from and bulk prices.

One of the many Fall displays featured at this pumpkin farm to give
customers ideas of what they can do with their purchases.

Indian corn and gourds in a hanging
basket make a wonderful display.

More pumpkins outside for carving.

A huge pumpkin the owner grew.

An area in the yard that is down near a small red barn that
has even more items to choose from. Love the Fall colors.

A bean variety is climbing up the arbor in the previous photo.

Beautiful grasses blow gently in the wind.

Inside the red barn more pumpkins, Indian corn and a variety
of squash brands are for sale.

Lots of cool squash in here.


My personal favorite small squash I'm using for decorating.

This is where all of the work begins. The owner farms 5 acres of pumpkins, squash and ornamental items in Andover, Minnesota. He has erected a 6 ft. fence to keep deer out, so that they don't wreak havoc in his fields. A lot of work, but oh so very cool!
If you live anywhere near Andover, MN, I encourage you to take the time to check out this farm. You won't be sorry you did. It was very educational and so much fun. I've never had so many cool varieties of pumpkins and squash to use for Fall decorating.
May each of you reflect on what you are thankful for during this upcoming harvest season. As Americans, we have much to be grateful for and many blessings. Peace be to each of you!
Gretchen

Mimi-Toria's Design Jewelry Style