Most Recent Second-Hand Haul

As you probably already know I am a major advocate to buying things second-hand as much as possible. I say as much as possible because you never know when yard sales or Goodwill stores will have exactly what you are looking for at that particular moment. Craigslist and Freecycle can help you find things too, but you may have to drive a bit or wait around to get your items. While to some this may seem like a hassle, never fully knowing what you will find while shopping is actually my favorite part of second-hand shopping. Some things or items you may always be on the hunt for since you collect a certain type of items - like for instance in my case fun fabrics, tea pots, and turquoise or orange glass pieces. Other harder to find items makes the beauty of the hunt so exciting! The major payoff is when you find something you have been wanting AND at a great price :)

We talked about this massive yard sale in Santa Monica last weekend and I thought I would share a few pictures of my new treasures acquired from our excursion:


For my birthday Kevin re sparked my love of analogue cameras with a new film using gem the La Sardina. Now I have turned into one of those camera collectors I thought I had successfully managed to not be... Well, insert new favorite thing to acquire! Here I found two cameras, both in their original packaging for under $10! Score 1 for KC!!! (Note, yes I am aware that film will be difficult - more like impossible for the cameras, but they are still pretty rad!)


Even though I was informed by the gentleman having the yard sale the artist above is a California based, he must have had an infinity for NYC like I do. This taxi cab feels more Big Apple than Hollywood to me and I had to have it for our collection.  We almost have the artwork set in our living room and I am so glad a piece like this has made it into our collection.

Can some one say screen-printing supplies?!? I majorly scored finding a sale with art supplies priced perfect. Some of the containers are even unopened!

And the cherry topper - A new (for us) record player with a new needle and everything!!!! Major score! 

Hope this inspires you to go treasure hunting for yourself!!! We would love to see what cool things you find on Our Facebook page or in the comment section below.

XOXO, KC

Don't Miss the 3rd Annual City-Wide Yard Sale in Santa Monica 9/22/12

Mark your calenders for the BIGGEST Yard Sale EVER this Saturday 9/22 in Santa Monica, CA!!!

There is 120+ Families participating - This is going to be epic!!

Price:Free
Address:Santa Monica, CA 90404 (map)
Description: Santa Monica's 3rd Annual Citywide Yard Sale Over 120 Families Registered.

Santa Monica Resource Recovery & Recycling has additional announcements regarding items available on their Facebook page. Follow them for more details here.

Kevin and I are using this map here to plan our attack for Saturday since we must hit the sale in rapid speed before CRAFTED. The map is updated daily leading up to the big sale so there may be new additions to check up on.  If checking it out and planning your hunt isn't your thing - just travel out to Santa Monica everything should be an easy spot :)

We'd love to hear about the treasures you find if you go! Post pictures and details on our Facebook here to show off your amazing haul.

XOXO, KC & Kevin

We Found "New" Cool Vintage Stuff

We missed the boat going to Catalina Island for KC's birthday but thankfully the events led us down a road with a kick ass yard sale.  KC called me over to scour a box filled with slide carousels filled with pictures of landscapes and vacation photos. I have been looking at all of them finding my favorites for an upcoming project still in the works. Definitely something to do with lights, but not quite sure of the scale.

While we come up with a project to put these to good use check out some project ideas using slides from the web here.

Yesterday, KC took some time going to her favorite second-hand shops and found this shirt with a really great pattern:

Plus, she finally got me a typewriter for my studio!!!

The coolness  points she received with the typewriter wore off quickly when she noted that I should like the Boba Fett color palette - Nerd.

-- Kevin Sears

What I Wore: Friday 7/20/12

What do you think of this dress?

Can you believe it is actually a skirt that I have styled as a dress?

I found it thrift/ vintage shopping (I am not quite sure where. I want to say Jet Rag, but I am not 100%) and I feel in love with the pattern and colors instantly. It hit me at a place on my legs as a skirt that was a bit dumpy and unflattering and for whatever reason when I was fussing with it I decided to pull it up like a dress. Instant strapless dress! All it needs is a belt to help with the shape and voila!!

I am no longer married to the idea of only posting what I am wearing Friday for this post. I like to believe I dress cute in other days too and I am going to name this more of a "Best Of" each week. What do you think?  For this week it especially works because I am slammed today with work before getting to the Port. Today is going to be a very long day for me. I am not whining ;) Everything is all good, it is just jam packed with stuff going on.

First as you know we are open for business at CRAFTED. Also, some Fridays I have "office hours" while I am there to make sure from here on out we are on schedule for Christmas. It may seem silly, but when you are painstakingly making items all by hand you must plan a rigorous schedule so that we can:
A) Have the inventory we need.
B) Spread out physical tasks so my ailments don't interfere and I can treat my body nicely.
C) Not have a huge rush all at the end that tests my mental fortitude. One thing you may not know about me is I *HATE* being rushed completing tasks I had the foresight to plan for. 
Normally I try not to use ugly words like hate, but seriously staying up late for a deadline that you should have been prepared for just has me stewing.

After a full day working our shop at CRAFTED I am sticking around for a bit in San Pedro to see the "grunion run". The grunions lay their eggs on land and it only happens once a year. Based on the lunar cycle and the tides it was projected that yesterday and today is when these amazing fish will catch the tide to fertilize their eggs on the beach. Don't worry, they catch a wave back into the ocean so the whole process sounds really amazing. Pretty cool huh?!? Supposedly the beaches are covers with shiny, sparkly little fish.  I can't seem to find a flashlight, but I know where my camera is so I should at least get some good pictures of the grunions.

THEN, late tonight we are off to see The Dark Knight Rises with some friends. It will be a LONG day, but a good one :)  I hope you have a stunning day too and enjoy your weekend! If you find yourself free, come down and say "Hi"! We will be at the Port of LA at CRAFTED all weekend long!


XOXO, KC

How-To's Day: CRAFTED Before & After - Display Case

We fixed up a second-hand display case for our cash wrap at CRAFTED and here is the Before & After.

BEFORE:

This Display Case was found at a yard sale for $40 in Lilac, CA when Sharon and I traveled down to Keys Creek Lavender Farm for a day trip. It was small enough to fit in my F.I.T. which is a necessity for all of our display items.  The case was in pretty good shape and I was really exited to find it! A total score!!!

AFTER:

When we finally got the case down to San Pedro all the glass came loose from the frame and pretty much disassembled itself. Because it fell apart there was more steps to put it back together again, but it was a blessing in disguise because I was able to completely rehab the whole case. I worked on the project along side of prepping the walls and the rest of the display so all in all it took me a full week to complete this project. If I needed to come up with a rough estimate of the time I would put it at ~15hours and under $20 for supplies to refresh the beauty back into the case.

First thing, prep the case by sanding the case down. I used a wire brush to make sure the grooves in the case were sanded down and clean.

Once everything is sanded down you can patch up any uneven or damaged surfaces with wood filler.  Let the wood filler dry and sand smooth before moving on to primer.

I think the case looks pretty slick in the grey primer in the all over one color, but I am going to use two colors for the case once everything is said and done.

Using leftover paint from  the walls I painted the main portion of the case in two coats of the turquoise paint and then painted the bottom and inside portion with the contrasting green paint.

Tah-dah! It pops very nicely! I am really glad we painted it two-colors so it will stand out in front of the wood stained wall.

The easy part was painting everything! Then we re installed the hardware and set the shelves before adding the exterior glass.

The glass is held in place with silicone glue that can also be used to glue aquariums.  It is very sturdy and bonds with the glass nicely.  We did put glue on all the top surfaces of the glass before the addition of the top piece of glass. The wooden beam that runs along the back of the case got an extra large heaping of the adhesive because that is the main place that all the case it supported by. Each case will be different. Make sure to figure out where the pressure is held in the structure before working on your case so that you have the weight distributed evenly keeping the glass help together safely. Then we clamped the back portion together with 2" clamps and laid a sheet over everything before lying down weighted objects to distribute pressure on everything as it dries over night.

The next day you can take down the weights and clamps. Our case came with mirrored doors that we placed back into the case to add the finishing touches.

Fill it will all your merchandise and you are ready for business!

Hope you enjoy this before & after. We'd love for you to see it in person at our market stall #A200 at the CRAFTED at the Port of Los Angeles Marketplace if you find yourself down in San Pedro ;)

XOXO, KC

What I Wore: Friday 6/8/12 Bridesmaid Gift

This is what I wore!

This dress is a vintage find from Jet Rag's main store. It was one of my friend Alisa's favorite that I left with on a shopping trip a long time ago. I don't know why I don't wear it more often... Usually purple isn't my favorite color, but playing up the pops of navy is really exciting. Anyway, the main wardrobe highlight I am focusing on however is the oval locket I am wearing. Alessandra gifted each of her bridesmaids with a unique necklace, different and special for each lady.  I tend to become obsessed with necklace gifts, thus I may be seen wearing it for a good bit of the foreseeable future!

Here are some shots where you can see how she picked us each one out just for us with our personalities in mind. It was a wonderful and thoughtful way to personalize her bridesmaid gift. Major Kudos to Alessandra fro such a great gift!!!

The jewelery was purchased from Mostert Dorthy Antiques in Houston, TX. The address is below if you are interested.

Loves it!

XOXO

KC