Estate Sale RECAP

As you know, we had the estate sale this weekend. It was a lot of work, but we got rid of a LOT (even though there's still a lot left...). I definitely feel better about things going to a good home. Although I don't really want to think about what's going to happen to the stuff that's still there...

We all seemed to have our things we were reluctant to let go of. Mine were these two large dolls Meamaw always had out in the living room dressed up for whatever season or holiday it may be... they were Cyndi and Megan (me and my cousin), and they've been around for most of my life. I was the one who sold them, and even carried them out to the woman's car. That was hard, but I knew I didn't really want them and I'm glad someone actually took them and we didn't have to get rid of them some other way. AOB hated them (she says they freak her out) and probably would have gladly taken them to the dump! Or set them on fire or something. Lol. I'm only half kidding...

Anyhoo - I thought I'd share a few pics I forgot I had. This'll give you an idea of the borderline (or not so borderline) hoarding going on here. These pics were taken in 2008 right after my Meamaw died. You can see her love of dolls... and other things.

Garage

Back Porch

Doll Room

More Doll Room

Meamaw's Bedroom

More Bedroom

Oh, right... did I mention it SNOWED for the second day of the sale?? In Maryland? At the end of March?? It didn't even snow up in Philly/NJ last weekend! Well, I guess that's because my mom brought it down with her. We woke up to a winter wonderland on Sunday morning.


We pretty much thought we were doomed, since we got about 3 inches of snow, but it cleared up around 11am and we had a ton of repeat customers who had been by the day before who came back, and a couple of newbies, too. I guess you know you've got good stuff if people come back for a second day, right??

And since I'm still alive and typing, you know I didn't bring that much stuff back so my hubby didn't kill me.

-C
xxx

Estate Sale

This weekend we're having an estate sale to try to find a good home for all of Meamaw and Grandude's belongings. I know some people (*cough* AOB *cough*) would easily just take everything to the dump or the thrift store and be done with it... but personally I'm much more at ease with finding another home for things, versus throwing them out. Of course I've already taken some things, and will be holding on to a few key furniture items, but there's still so much stuff. We basically need to clear the house out so that it can eventually be sold. You have no idea how much stuff has been accumulated in this house over the years. Meamaw may or may not have been a borderline hoarder. At least as far as dolls and pretty household items are concerned. This also may or may not be genetic and passed down to me and my mom... AOB and Grandude have already held several yard sales, but there's still so much left. And obviously he wasn't going to make his house empty while he was still living in it. It's hard to think of someone walking down the street the new owner of something that reminds me of my childhood or my grandparents, but, truth be told, that's going to be everything, and I'm just going to have to deal with it. I can't take everything. I want to, but I can't. It's probably a good thing we don't own a house yet, or I may have ended up with more stuff than I am. Also, hubby would probably leave me. (No, really.)

I've been watching Cash & Cari lately, and it's helped me get motivated for the estate sale. Have you seen it? I wish I could be Cari.

Photo from HGTV.com

She gets to have estate sales for other people, make money off of it, AND she gets to buy cool old antique things for a living (to resell in her store). So basically she gets to be at and go to estate, yard, and garage sales, for a living. I want that. That would be awesome. (Well, for me.) She even gets to call herself "Treasure Hunter". As in

Cari Cucksey
Treasure Hunter

How cool is that?

FYI I'm calling it an estate sale because I think by definition we are selling more than just would normally be at a yard sale, since typically you sell certain things you don't want or need anymore, versus trying to sell pretty much everything. Sure, things will be outside in the yard, but some furniture will also be left inside since there's no way we can get it all outside. Most people think of estate sales as being inside the house. I think this is probably usually the case since there's so much stuff, some would just rather leave it inside and have people look through it in there versus bringing it outside. Also, some people think an estate sale is mainly antiques and valuables, but it's really not. Sure, it can be, but it's basically just selling whatever you can from a person's estate (not necessarily one that is deceased either). I'm telling you this because I didn't know until I did a little research on it, and I'm sure others don't know either. I also read some good advice for people going to an estate sale the other day (in case you're planning on it). Don't think of it as looking through someone's beloved belongings and being sad about it, think of it as helping the seller move on with their life by giving the items a new life and a new home. I know I'm the seller here, but that actually helped and made sense to me.

-C
xxx

Bridesmaid/Bride-To-Be Amanda's Bachelorette Bash!

Bridesmaid Amanda's bachelorette/bridal festivities were in full effect this weekend. We came up with the theme of "Hollywood Glamour" for the bachelorette party. Here's the pic I made for the evite:

We had everyone else wear black dresses because, well, just about everybody owns a black dress, right? And because Bride-to-Be Amanda wanted Bonnie (Un de Six) to make her a red dress. Pretty sweet being able to be like "I want this exact dress in this color to fit me exactly for my bachelorette party" and for your friend to be able to make it, right?? Here's the dress:


So Bonnie & I planned the bachelorette party last week. In a day. And it turned out awesome. But as soon as the plans were done I was like "Oh sh1t, I need something to decorate with and am NOT going to get a chance to go to Target or Michael's or any other large retail place that would have actual bachelorette party stuff!"* That's when the "Hollywood Glamour" theme morphed into pink and black (at least for the decorations). It just wouldn't have looked right with red and black unless we had like hollywood/movie stuff around to complete it, you know? And we were only decorating the first stop on our itinerary, so no use buying things like that that we were going to look at for like an hour and a half and then toss. So the typical bachelorette party color scheme of pink and black fit the bill. So, naturally, off to Dollar Tree I went. I went around looking through party stupplies, toys, and everything inbetween for just anything pink! I grabbed candy necklaces and jewelry for everyone, hot pink flamingo drink stirrers, hot pink and white polka dot ribbon, pink cupcake cutouts, and a couple other things I didn't end up using. Hot pink solo cups = so cool looking. But where would we use them? Guess we could have used them at dinner but oh well!

Then I hit up Hallmark which, surprisingly, didn't have anything for bachelorette parties at all! I thought that was odd. But I picked up some confetti there (that said "The party's here!"). The next day I hit up 5 Below (a cheapo chain in Philly, not sure where else they have them), and got some pink curling ribbon, sunglasses to complete the Hollywood theme, and some photo clips to hold up signs of the logo Bonnie made for the night:

(It's an upside down Philly skyline. Awesome, right??)

Didn't end up using the photo clips due to physics and gravity, but we put them up elsewhere (like on her chair, with lots of ribbon and balloons). Bonnie also hit up an "adult store" for some male genitalia straws and balloons and various other objects. I had no idea they made male genitalia whistles! Drinks were had, bulls were ridden (seriously), all in all it was a great night.

The secret project was for the shower. It'll be revealed next on the blog, so be on the lookout!

-C
xxx

*If you don't already know, I don't usually move my car during the week for two reasons. Ok let's make it three. 1 - The train into downtown Philadelphia is like 3 blocks from my house, so I walk there and take the train directly to the building I work in. Yes, it's pretty awesome. 2 - The neighborhood I live is notorious for its TERRIBLE parking. As in, it's really hard to find anytime after 5pm and nonexistent if it's after 10. I one time had to park my car so far away I took the train back to my house. Yeah. 3 - It's eco-friendly and wallet friendly. Do you know how often I buy a tank of gas? Ummm I'd say typically once every two months. Alright and we'll make a 4 - I sometimes forget where I've parked my car because I either haven't seen it in so long or just due to the fact that I have to park it in such different areas every time I move it. :)

Wedding Planning is In Tents!

Get it? In tents = Intense! Go ahead, laugh. You know you want to.

Yeah, not all weddings are actually in tents, but mine has to be. Not that I want it to be, more like if I don't rent a tent it WILL rain. It may even rain if I do rent a tent, but either way, with my luck I can't chance that I'll have good weather. (please don't rain, please don't rain, please don't rain) People keep asking if I've checked the Farmer's Almanac. Yes. However, I don't remember what it said (seriously) and I don't believe that things can be predicted that far out anyway. How could it? You can't predict the earthquakes and volcanoes we've been having lately around the world, so how would you predict if there will be tiny little raindrops on my wedding day? To apease those, let's do a little experiment. I'm going to pick two dates and let's follow up and see if the FA is right. K? Ok actually online it only gives you free forecasts up to 2 months, which apparently is only til the end of May, so we're limited here. Let's start with... May 8th in Kansas City, MO (where I'll be visiting MOH Ryann!) and May 14th in Philly (Bridesmaid Amanda's Bachelorette Party). I'd like to try another summer date when I can, so I'll pick a couple more dates in about a month or so. Anyway, the stupid thing is, it doesn't give you weather for the exact dates, it's date ranges. As in, May 9-17: A few T storms. Wow, thank you Farmer's Almanac. You've really blown my mind with that one. So as you can tell, I'm not feeling very reliant on FA, which brings me back to needing a tent.

Major find when I went home for the BARKS weekend - cheap tents! (and chairs, dance floor, etc.) There's a party place in my town that I swear hasn't been there for long, but according to the website has been in business for 10 years, and MOH Cassie swears it's been there for at least 5. Anyway, I decided to go check it out and see what their prices were. I've been told by a couple rental companies that I need a 30x60 tent (costing well over a grand), and also by at least one that I need at 50x60 (oh, only about $2500). This place? Well UNDER a grand. And actually about half the price of at least one of the other companies! Free delivery and setup for people within 10 miles of my town - which is awesome because I live 0 miles from my town! Well, MOB does, same thing. They also have chairs for an absurdly lower price than EVERY other place I've looked, and they even give you an additional price break for 100 or more chairs. I haven't seen a quantity price break for chairs ANYWHERE else. They don't have everything I need to rent, unfortunately, but I'm willing to rent everything I can from them and use another company for the rest - the prices are too good to pass up! I also called and spoke to one of the owners one day this past week, and he was awesome. I've spoken to a few rental companies now, and some have been straight up jerks. This guy was super nice, super knowledgeable, and, duh, super cheap! I can't even explain to you all the ways he made me feel confident about using his company. I really wish they rented all the other stuff I need! Oh man, I love getting a deal, and not having to sacrifice service for it!

It really does amaze me, by the way, how much math is involved with wedding planning. I never thought I'd be calculating square footage of a dance floor or area under a tent for my wedding. And trust me, you really should try to calculate it yourself or look to others who have done it for help. I got so many different size quotes from so many different rental companies it's ridiculous! How can it be so? They're trying to upsell you, the jerkfaces.

For anyone who needs info. on tent renting, here's a good article from the Wedding Bible, aka Martha Stewart Weddings: http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/renting-a-tent?page=1

-C

xxx

The Window To My Soul...

Not really. Just a window. Well, 4 windows to be exact. Lookie what I now have in my possession! Old windows! Yay!

Wait, do you not get why I'm so excited? Ok let me show you...

(via Green Wedding Shoes)

(via Gypsy Daisy)

(via Marvin)

(via Style Me Pretty)

There are way too many options, the hard part is going to be deciding what to do with them!

Want to know how much they cost and where I got them from? $0, from my mom's house. Yup, MOB had new windows put in and I just so happened to be there when the contractors were coming to throw out the old ones. So I stopped them and took them, because, seriously, old windows rock. Just maybe not actually IN your house because of the lack of insulation and such. But aesthetically, they rock.

-C
xxx

Top Down, Windows Up, Heat On

Yeah, that's the way we roll... on the way home from the BARKS sale. Ok, not all the time, but this time we did and I've definitely done it in the past. It was below 50 out, windy, dreary, chilly... but we found a desk for my brother and needed a way to get it home, so down the top went on my convertible. I don't know if he realizes it, but my brother probably made out the best this weekend, and he didn't even go to the sale! Actually, I'm almost positive he doesn't realize it. He has yet to realize that just because something was at a yard/garage/whatever sale that doesn't mean there's something wrong with it.Come on, you can't say that's not a nice desk! ($20!) He wasted no time getting it into his room and putting all his crap on it.

Anyway, I also scored pretty big this weekend at the BARKS sale.

Ok so first of all here's what I didn't get, that was on my list, but am not too worried about finding:
-wood for signs (I'll probably find that lying around somewhere anyway)
-bread baskets (only if I found a bunch of small ones that looked nice... didn't)
-shoe stretcher (didn't really think I'd find one, but put it on the list just in case)

And this is what was on my list that I did get!:
-more 8x10 frames (for table names)
-baskets (for various uses)
-furniture specifically for wedding use
-light switch (um because mine broke)
-green glass (Because you can never have enough green glass when you're using it to decorate your wedding! Oh did i mention that?? Another post, another day...)

Everything on my list was for the wedding (except the light switch), but the furniture I felt I needed to specify that I wasn't looking for a desk (um, which we found anyway). Having to rent every tiny little thing for a backyard wedding... well, sucks. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way, but trust me when I say you really have to think of every.little.thing. a person is going to need at your wedding since it's not like you can find it once they're all there! Do you know how many tables you need at a wedding? Not counting the ones you're sitting at, there's also the buffet tables, drink table, placecard table, guestbook table, card/gift tables, program table, cake table... I'm sure I'm missing one or two, but you get the idea. Anyway, I've seen (and I'm sure a lot of you have as well) people using a lot of antique furniture at their weddings lately (via bridal blogs and wedding sites of course). Like an antique dresser with a memorial to those who've passed away (there's one I forgot to mention), and some people even have some sort of furniture as their "altar" or backdrop for where they stand when they say their vows. I SUPER HEART this. I don't know if you know this about me, but I am all about the retro and antique stuff. My room is full of it! So one of my goals of going to BARKS this weekend was to be on the lookout for pieces that could be used as not only decoration at the wedding but would also be functional. I present to you, my proudest find of the weekend (and literally we found it within 30 seconds of walking in), the vanity set:

for only...

I am in LOOOOOVE with my vanity! I can't wait to paint it! It's going to be tarnished gold with black covering the cheesy green "marble". And I already know its purpose - where people can sit and sign the guestbook (whatever I end up using for a guestbook)! AND I already know where I'm going to put it in my house, too! I can't believe it was only $3!

Alright, looks like I'm getting a bit long winded (read: excited) about my finds (and hey, I haven't blogged much this week!), so I'll just show you some pics of the rest of the stuff.

Table to be painted black and utilized at wedding

baskets for programs, coasters, etc. (yes, the bottom one is green!)

As I said above, I have no idea what I'm doing for a guest book yet, but this is new and in the package (the writing is just a sample, there's a blank one underneath), so how could I pass it up??

I also got... a big corkboard that I could cover or cut (I'll find something to do with it), yellow curtains for my kitchen (when FH and I move in together that is), pretty lace to lay over one of the 800 tables I mentioned before, some pretty green pillow shams, a new Brita (literally the one I was going to register for), and various other small things. By the way - not counting the desk, I think my mom and I spent $15 TOTAL. Yeah, as in all together.

I'd say it was a success, wouldn't you?

-C
xxx

Weekend Update

This is more for me than it is for you. I just like feeling accomplished :)

~get seeds started inside so I can have pretty flowers to see this spring/summer
~tend to my garden so it's ready when the seedlings are
~work out!
~add a couple things to my registry that I can't do online
~return things to Michael's... and buy things at Michael's (I have coupons, and a gift card I keep forgetting to use!)
~get started on VIP corsages (ok, at least THINK about what I want them to look like)
~spray paint my mini chalkboards (awesome yard sale find)
~not spend too much time at $ tree this weekend ($ tree rocks my world)
~go to Ulta (yup, found one) after the recommendation from MOH Ryann on the beauty post the other day, assuming she lets me know what I'm looking for
~check DSW for green wedding shoes (and then when I don't find anything, buy the Louboutins I've recently fallen in love with)
~get black spray paint for painting some of the thrifty finds I've gotten and foresee getting in the future
~oh right, should probably do my taxes considering we only have until Thursday
~send out the mass wedding email!
~start thinking of things to look for at BARKS next weekend!

Yeah... still need to do my taxes. But at least I got a lot of other things accomplished! And let me tell you, gardening itself took like... hmm... 5 hours straight I guess - and I have a tiny little garden! I think that also qualifies as a workout. So I worked out twice as much yesterday! Which makes me feel better about not doing my taxes... AND in lieu of spray painting the chalkboards (I already started this a while ago anyway, just needs a second coat) and the corsages, I DID work on my wedding jewelry. What? You didn't know I got wedding jewelry? Yup! Pretty sure it's a keeper, too. I purchased the necklace and earring set off Etsy (I heart Etsy). The only problem is there are these "beads" on them that make it look... kinda cheesy. So I borrowed jewelry tools from Bonnie and got cracking on taking them off (gotta give her credit, her idea). The necklace looks A LOT better, but the earrings I haven't done yet. Yes, there are only 4 beads total on the set... no, it shouldn't take that long... but I'm hesitant to take them off the earrings because they'll look really bare when I do, so I'm holding off on that until I find something to take the place of the cheesy beads. OH, and I also worked on my invites this weekend. They are thisclose to being done! And by "done" I mean the prototype is almost done and THEN I can start handmaking them all! I'm excited to start to be honest. Plus, I was reading another blog the other day about this girl who sent her invites earlier than "etiquette says" and she's so happy she did so she has at least a rough idea of how many people to expect. Thinking of doing that if I can get the invites ready in time! I also emailed 17 rental companies this weekend (backyard wedding = renting EVERYTHING). I already have 4 voicemails (and about 10 emails) that I haven't checked yet. I hate when you email people and they call you back! Lame-o's.

I heart feeling accomplished.

-C

xxx

PS I blame the fact that the corsages didn't get done (or thought about) on watching Paranormal Activity on Saturday night. I got home, called MOB and made her stay on the phone with me until I could wash my face, brush my teeth, and stock up on water, then I locked myself in my room for the rest of the night. Yes, that's where I do my crafts, but I just couldn't focus! We have a pretty big house and no one's ever home and it gets scary...

PPS I HATE that I can't do the symbol for heart on here and really freaking annoyed that when I tried the system actually ate about a paragraph of what I wrote and I had to write it all over again! It thought I was trying to write html. UGH.

My Vows...

For this weekend. To myself. :)

I, Cyndi, vow to...

~get seeds started inside so I can have pretty flowers to see this spring/summer
~tend to my garden so it's ready when the seedlings are
~work out!
~add a couple things to my registry that I can't do online
~return things to Michael's... and buy things at Michael's (I have coupons, and a gift card I keep forgetting to use!)
~get started on VIP corsages (ok, at least THINK about what I want them to look like)
~spray paint my mini chalkboards (awesome yard sale find)
~not spend too much time at $ tree this weekend ($ tree rocks my world)
~go to Ulta (yup, found one) after the recommendation from MOH Ryann on the beauty post the other day, assuming she lets me know what I'm looking for
~check DSW for green wedding shoes (and then when I don't find anything, buy the Louboutins I've recently fallen in love with)
~get black spray paint for painting some of the thrifty finds I've gotten and foresee getting in the future
~oh right, should probably do my taxes considering we only have until Thursday
~send out the mass wedding email!
~start thinking of things to look for at BARKS next weekend!

Oh I do love BARKS. So so so much! Well, actually, I'm sure the organization is fantastic, but what I really love is the BARKS Yard Sale they have twice a year! BARKS = Byram Animal Rescue Kindness Squad. Byram is a township near my mom's house (as in, so near they don't have their own zip code, they use ours), and twice a year they fill up Wild West City (the big "attraction" my hometown has - try not to be jealous) with donations that they receive. They then have volunteers who make up prices for things as they go, and you end up walking out of there with so.much.stuff for such.little.money. Since everything is donated, any money they make off of it helps the animals they rescue, so not only is everything super cheap, but you're helping the animals. I can't explain on how many levels I love the BARKS sales. And I can't WAIT to show you all the fun wedding stuff I got from there! Oh yes, I am predicting lots. They really have everything there: frames, furniture, glassware, linens, baskets, and lots of random stuff. The only downfall is... EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. it rains!! I'm not kidding. I've been there in torrential rains, I've been there the day after it rained and everything is muddy (it's all outside, and the sale sometimes runs Fri-Sun, sometimes just Sat-Sun), but I don't think I've ever been there when things haven't been wet. It's such a shame to see things get ruined, but they can't do anything about it because there's so much stuff they couldn't possibly cover it all. So usually I go into this just looking at everything without an agenda, but this year I've got a game plane. I've got a list. And I'm pretty confident I'll check off each thing on that list (and then some). Stay tuned!

Here's hoping I get a lot accomplished this weekend. Oh, and...

Happy Birthday Bridesmaid Amanda!!
And Happy Birthday to Aunt Wendy Tomorrow!

-C
xxx

Won't You Be... My Bridesmaid?

Just thought I'd share my bridal party invites with ya'll today. I sent them in, like, October or something, but didn't have a blog back then! I found a spool (or whatever you want to call it) of yellow trim (I also have pink, but that wouldn't go at all...) at my Meamaw's house when we were going through her things after she died. I kept a lot of things for no reason at all, but some I knew I'd find a use for! This would be one of them. I cut out pieces of the trim from the spool in a dress sort of shape and soaked each "dress" in a bowl of bleach and water so the dresses would be less yellow, not quite white, but a little off-white. (I'm not a very big fan of just white, usually I go for the off-white, maybe it's the retro lover in me??) I then hand washed each dress with detergent to get the bleach smell off (it took a few washes actually). I designed the cards myself with funky fonts and printed on off-white cardstock (the cards are double-sided, the pic is of two cards, one showing front and one showing back). I folded over the sides and top of the dress to make it more dress-y, then used glue dots to secure it onto the cards. Ouila! I love the 3Dness of it.

I also went to home depot, swiped a bunch of free paint strips, cut them up, and made each girl a color swatch to use for matching the wedding colors, then included that with the card.

$0 spent! Woot.

-C
xxx

Proud Mama

In the beginning, they were just boxes from (necessary, of course) purchases...

they slowly started to morph together...

until they were as one.

And then I made them pretty :) wait for it...

wait for it...
Voila! I present to you my fabulous, completely hand crafted, so very GREEN cardbox!
(Yes, the lace is also green!)

I will be embellishing it, but haven't decided exactly how I want it yet. So this is my partially finished, but at least covered, made out of Amazon boxes and thrifty find fabrics, cardbox.

I love it! Just, uh... don't get me too big of a card (the slot's 5 1/2 inches long - should fit most vertically)! lol

And in case you're wondering...

The bottom box is a "tuck top" so I can just pull it out and out come the cards!
You like??

-C

xxx

Towering Above the Rest...

I went home to visit my ma this weekend/get some projects done since it was a 3 day weekend. It actually helped that my mom and bro only have laptops so there's no computer constantly set up to taunt me and distract me from getting things done. This week I'll be posting pics of a few things I accomplished/just want to show you. I know you can hardly stand the suspense. Try to remain calm.

Anyway, last week I saw this picture of a cupcake tower and got uber excited. You see, I have one that looks just like it! And it was FREE. That's right, FREE, and KICK ASS because it was my Meamaw's. I love incorporating not only repurposed items in my wedding (and everyday decor, might I add), but especially love incorporating repurposed Meamaw items. It helps me pretend like she's there in some way. I found it in her garden shortly after we were engaged and immediately thought, "CUPCAKE TOWER!" So to the right is someone else's cupcake tower in action (don't know where this photo is from, so unfortunately can't give it credit where credit is due, but someone posted it here on Project Wedding), and below is mine! I told you I'd be posting about my finds because I get so damn proud of them! *sniff*


It's funny how two (great) minds can think alike. I mean, people are repurposing things left and right for cake/cupcake stands, but it's really funny (to me...) that I just plucked this out of my Meamaw's garden, something she's had for a gazillion years, and someone else appears to have done the same thing (although I'm pretty sure she didn't take it from my Meamaw's garden).

We're going to paint ours black* and either do a semi circle around it like the action shot above or put some on raised cake platters... or both! Any suggestions for the overflow? Obviously we are having cupcakes. Sorry for ruining the surprise if you were planning on attending my wedding. You'll (probably) never guess what kind though! So there's still a reason to come :)

-C
xxx

*FYI, my wedding colors are several shades of green (duh) and black. White and off-whites mixed in as well. Painting lots of the thrifty finds black.