Sparkling Treasures

Yesterday I helped my friend Stacey (proprietress of Flotsam & Jetsom) do a "Vintage Tidbits" trunk show at Ornamentea (a fab crafts store in Raleigh). We got there around 8AM to set up and were ready for business by 9AM. I must tell you I am surprised I made it. I hadn't slept more than 5 hours a night for the past 3 nights and I was dead on my feet. BUT, good ol' adrenaline kicked in at the last minute and all was well. We featured lots of vintage and antique "stuff". Don't we all just love STUFF! Buttons, beads, jewels, tokens, charms, trims and more...it was a verifiable treasure trove for crafters and collectors alike! I took a few pics and posted here to show off the stuff. Hope everyone is well!

Why I Haven't Posted Recently.....

Enough said.

I will try to do a new mini series post tomorrow. My wonderful aunt is coming to take care of screamer, er, Cameron tomorrow so I should have some time.

HAVE A PEACEFUL AND HAPPY DAY!

"Original by Robert"

I have been planning to do some "mini series" posts on vintage costume jewelry designers. I will be focusing on those designers that are highly sought after as well as a few I think are undervalued in todays market. (read: a good idea to buy and put away for a few years...). For those readers who are unfamiliar with the collectible jewelry market, designer signatures are usually found stamped onto the back of a piece of jewelry or on the clasp. Go dig thru your jewelry box and see if you find some!

To start us off, I have selected jewelry with the signature: "Original by Robert." Though more than one signature exists for this company, "Original by Robert" is by far the one you will likely encounter in the marketplace. This signature was used from 1942 thru 1979. Over the past 10 years, I have seen fewer and fewer pieces of this jewelry out in market for sale. Their whimsical enamels are some of the most fun to collect as the variety is boundless. They also have items similar to the necklace set which features hand assembled beaded clasps; similar in style to Miriam Haskell designs. I have pictured several "Original by Robert" pieces in this post. The necklace and earring set with original tags was QUITE a find. It is rare enough to find original tags, but to find a set like this was a coup! The wonderful enamels are actually going to be for sale in my Ruby Lane internet store and in my Gresham Lake Mall antique booth. I am going thru my personal collection and selling a lot of different things while trying to keep one piece from every designer. Please visit us at Gresham lake of you are ever in Raleigh. We are dealer #82. Enjoy the pics!

Halloween Fun!!!

What a great Halloween 2008! Darby and I bought Cameron's Halloween outfits before he was born. We were so excited about his "chicken suit", but alas, just attempting to get him into it was causing meltdowns so we stuck with the ghost gown. He was so cute!!! Darby had some devil horns but no outfit so I ran to Target Friday and found a devil gown on sale...woohoo for 30% off! I, as always, donned my kitty cat ears with the feather accents and put together a cat ensemble. Interesting I dress as a cat every year cause cats and I do not usually "mesh well" together.

Kearney Boo dressed as a witch this year; rather appropros unfortunately. She is not overly fond of Cameron. She isn't aggressive (thank goodness), but she is depressed and standoffish. Hopefully she will adjust soon. We stopped by my Dad's house so he could see his grandson on his 1st Halloween and took some good pictures. Kearney stayed with Dad so they could welcome all the neighborhood trick-or-treaters while Darby, Cameron and I headed to our friends Ben and Stacey's house for a party.

What a fun party...Ben dressed as the now famous "Joe the Plumber" and Stacey dressed as a bunny. Ben had a fabulous dry ice thing going...look at the cauldron!

The food was great and we met some fun people and saw some existing friends. Look at this photo: 3 antique dealers all dressed up!

Cameron's first Halloween party proved to be very exciting for him...first he had a diaper malfunction and we had to dry his ghost outfit in the dryer (which was very fancy and apparently requires 5 college degrees to use...though once Ben told me "turn it on" it worked much better), then he met another baby dressed as Tinkerbell, then he met lots of people who thought he was so very cute and then he passed out on Daddy's shoulder.

Thank you Stacey and Ben for a wonderful evening! My big plan for the week is to attempt 2 posts; these will be vintagey and will have good info and pics so stay tuned! Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Welcome November!!!!