Well, it seems I have 470 blog posts already and I really thought maybe there was only a dozen still up. I’ve had this blog for pretty much a decade, maybe longer, and I keep reinventing it and leaving the old stuff too. I don’t know how wise that is since I have changed a great deal and find some of my older post to be judgmental and hyper religious which I am not anymore, ha ha ha. So my intent now is to chronicle my time as a full-time vintage and antique dealer. It’s going to be a part journal, part informational.

Here’s where I am now: I quit my full-time day job to pursue dealing full-time. I am currently contracting a room at the Safety Harbor Galleria here in Florida. I also have three online Etsy shops and two eBay businesses. I sell from Instagram and Facebook as well. My goals, and what I will write about on here, is getting into a couple more local stores and listing and selling enough inventory to close down my storage unit and clear out the inventory I keep in my home. I would love to get to the place where I source and immediately list and don’t have “dead piles“. (Dead piles is a morbid term for inventory that is just sitting around waiting to be listed but that you never seem to get to.)

Today I have already been to the shop and set up a new jewelry display that I hope will encourage more sales. I’ve made jewelry for years and I also have a penchant for vintage pieces so I’m hoping this is a good way to display both.

This vintage style frame has a padded burlap background. I’m using golden pearl headed pins to keep the jewelry on the board.

This is what I'm eating, sleeping, breathing these days...

(It's delicious if you were wondering and you should come get a piece on Saturday. ;])

 (or small businesses any day?)

I'll say up front that I am in on planning a Small Business Event with Peacock's Design & Consign (a local business), and my Etsy Crew, so I'm not completely without agenda as I write this. In fact, I want you to come to this event or one like it if you are not in the Tampa Bay area.

Christmas shopping... either you love it or dread it. I get anxiety when I can't find a parking spot or in crowded places so it's natural for me to do all my Christmas shopping online. Cyber Monday is my friend. I'm also pretty thrifty so I love a good Black Friday deal, but with the lines and frenzied pace, it's less tempting to me. So then we come to Small Business Saturday. 

It's relatively new. American Express started it in 2010. Now why would a credit card company care how you spend their money as long as you keep using that card? Well, they don't. However, getting more small businesses to accept American Express may have been a motivation. After all, they send out a sweet Small Business Saturday kit to businesses that register with them. Let's not dismiss it as a ploy though. Even though this began as a credit card thing, small businesses have championed the call to bring holiday shopping to local shops.


So what are we talking about when we use the term "Small Business"? Legally, a small business is defined as a business employing less than 500 people, so there is a great variety in how they can look and operate. My business is a one person operation that provides supplemental income for a stay at home mom. A friend works for a custom bathroom refit company that employs 300 people in three different states. 65% of new jobs are created by small businesses. They currently employ about half of the working population in the US. 


Interesting, right? But why should I venture out and spend my money at a small business?  I am so glad you asked, let me tell you! First of all, it's community. These businesses are run by your friends, your neighbors. Your money is staying local and supporting your town. A lot of businesses purchase supplies locally as well. Small business donate 250% more to local groups than the national retailers do. Our schools, our charities, our economy all fair better when we spend at local businesses. Small businesses also support a town's identity. It's sad how many strip malls with all the same stores can be found in town after town. We have to support the quaint stores and cute shops if we want them to stay open.

My favorite part of the small business experience is the shopping itself. I love to give unique gifts that are regional or just one of a kind. That's hard to find at the larger stores. And let's talk about customer service. When you deal with the creator of an item, they often feel personally responsible to make sure you're happy with their product. Returns, alterations, custom orders- usually not a problem and you get an answer back quickly.

Inevitably cost comes up whenever "hand crafted" is mentioned. This is another reason to get out and come to Small Business events like the TBEC one. When you talk to the maker and understand the quality you are getting and the time put into it, the costs are really reasonable. Sometimes I've found things even cheaper than in larger stores anyway and many sellers will bargain with you if you purchase several items. 

I think the main reason that people might not support small businesses is the convenience factor. It's true, Walmart is the only place open at 3 am when you have to go get toilet paper, but most of the time when we are shopping for other people or for an event, we know pretty well in advance. It just takes a little planning. Thanks to the magic of the internet it's easy to search for local places and even read reviews of them. The Etsy website has a cool feature where you can have it just show items available from your area. A lot of sellers will let you meet up with them locally so that would save shipping costs too. Shipping is one of the drawbacks of shopping online- the expense, the environmental costs, the time, and hoping it gets delivered to the right address undamaged.

I'll admit that I still plan on getting my son's major electronic Christmas present from a bigger chain, but I also plan on spending just as much, if not more, locally. Maybe, like me, you'll be out of town for Small Business Saturday. Any day can and should be a Small Business day so don't let the day or time of year limit you from getting out there and supporting your local small businesses.

What is your favorite small business? What reasons do you have for shopping locally?

Took the kiddos to The Florida Aquarium for the day. We had a great time. We've been before, but the last time it was super crowded and I somehow forgot Jane's stroller, so I had to schlep her all over the place. This time, she was on wheels and that was a game changer. We got there right when it opened and almost had the place to ourselves. Here's some of the better photos we took:

The Florida Aquarium at Channelside in Tampa

Julian loves all the hands on stuff

Crazy about sea dragons.

Lining up a great shot

Even baby girl had a wonderful time

Glowing moon jellies

Momma's got to have some fun too!

Right now Tampa Bay area McDonald's have coupons- "Buy an adult ticket, get a kid ticket free". LivingSocial is also running a deal right now. You can always save a couple bucks by buying your tickets online. To visit the official aquarium website go to http://www.flaquarium.org/

The big day went well! I'm not for outdoor events in the Florida summer, but even despite that I think everyone had fun. I did anyway. Here's some photos I snapped. My phone is pretty wretched for taking pictures, but I'm just glad I managed to snap a few. For more, better quality ones, go to the Tampa Bay Etsy Crew's Facebook page.

We had a nice variety of vendors- everything homemade or vintage!

The crafting area was most popular.

The craft demos were well received. I loved Crystal's yarn spinning one.

Packing it up at Built.

I was up at the Welcome area for most of the event so I got to meet a lot of TBEC members and tell interested guests about our group. I just hate that it was so hot and the second I get warm I go full sweaty tomato- not attractive! Anyway, after the success of this event, there's talk about adding a fall one and we're definitely already thinking about our Holiday Market.

Can't believe this is just a few days away! I'm looking forward to it so much. I love getting to meet my Crew members and see their wares. One of my favorite roles as a TBEC team member is matching up sellers and customers so these events let me check out a lot of stuff in person. It makes me feel more confident when I give a recommendation.


I also love meeting up with the friends I've already made in the Crew. When I started TBEC, I never, ever would have dreamed it would be something that would so impact my life, but I've made real friends and learned so much about leadership and event planning and marketing and much, much more.


For more info or if you have questions about the Craft Party, click HERE.

Jane is one month old tomorrow! It's gone quickly for the most part. Well, there have been some very long nights, but that's to be expected. I've absolutely loved putting her in all the pretty clothes everyone got for her. Here's today's little dress: 

While I haven't shut down my Etsy shops, I definitely haven't listed anything new. I can't get my head into it yet. With Julian off school, it might not be until the end of the summer before I'm able to really put the necessary time into it. My good friend is curating an exhibit at the main Clearwater library and wanted to include a piece of my jewelry so at least I'm not completely inactive with it all. Here's the necklace we decided on:

Here's a few photos from this weekend.

Tampa Upcycle getting pretty for the party

Some of our awesome Crew

Had a great time making Morse Code jewelry with old & young (Photo courtesy of www.minhphoto.com)

Wish I could've done many of these! (Photo courtesy of www.minhphoto.com)

For more photos, check out this Facebook photo album.

Two years ago, I never ever would have thought that starting an Etsy team would end up like this! My only thought was that this area is full of artist and creative types and yet there was no really active team for us on Etsy. I wanted to be able to talk to other people in the Etsy and handmade selling world, but not just online, as some of the online friendships I'd struck up in the past had turned weird. I wanted to be able to talk face to face and be able to network in a way that would help my business locally. So I started an Etsy Team and spent the first 3-4 months scouring Etsy and looking for people in the Tampa Bay area and inviting them to join the team. That yielded about 300 members and then people started finding us. We kept it on the Etsy site primarily. 
About a year in, I ended up asking another team member to help co-lead. Shortly after that our very first meet up happened. I was so nervous about that, but it was a nice small get together and I could see getting together happening on a regular basis. 

Later that year, we hosted the annual Etsy Crafty Party. It was a smashing success and I knew we needed to add more leaders. So we did! At this point we do monthly meet ups and larger events several times a year. We've got a very active Facebook discussion page and our membership numbers somewhere around 1,050. We were granted our very first Fellowship from corporate Etsy just a few weeks ago. There's a lot to celebrate! And we want our community to celebrate with us. Really that's what it's all about- community, both the artists and the general public that values handmade and vintage things. If you'd like to be part of the festivities, you can sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/188927091250206/

J hanging out with Teddy

Michael's sent us supplies for 3 craft projects

The TBEC crew had a lot of fun making decorations

The first 100 people got swag bags

We had an overwhelming crowd

Lots and lots of people!

Yummy food

Craft demo area

Pretty paper flowers

The awesome band

For more photos, visit the TBEC page.