Selling my Vintage Ceramic Christmas Tree

Dropping this here in case anyone wants the cutest about 2 ft tall ceramic tree from my personal collection! It breaks my heart to sell this but I need the space!

This is a rare large white ceramic Christmas tree, I believe it is the Atlantic Mold. It is made of 4 pieces + peg bulbs (top/mid/bottom/light base). Lightbulb works and has exterior switch on cord. It is rare and was hard to find when I purchased it for myself about 10 years ago. There are a few rough spots on the tips of the branches (glaze bubbles?) and a sanded part at the top where it previously chipped. There is a chip on the interior area of the second tier leaves that is hidden when assembled. There are some scrape markings on the surface glaze on the underside. Overall this is still a beautiful tree and ready for your next Christmas display! Easier to maintain than a real tree :).

$400 asking price.

Shipping this is a big nope nope nope, though I will package this safely for your ride home. We're in Salem, OR.

Free pile day!

I am currently clearing out old eBay inventory as well as old projects I've run out of steam on. The free pile today has a lot of vintage books, toys, and home decor. I am also trying to change my strategy for eBay in terms of selling price. For many years I've been ok with selling at the $5-10 price point, but shipping supply costs have made these items move slower than they used to, and people’s “free shipping” expectations make this unreasonable. I've also noticed that I get less burned-out when I sell a few higher value items ($40+) than when I'm busy doing 8 $5 items. It allows me to spend more time cleaning and making items nice instead of shoving them out the door as quickly as possible. I also have limited storage space in our relatively small house I'd like to make less full! I'm also happy to pass on fun items to others for free just to get them out of my house :)

Consigning at the Daue House Gift Shop

Today was a new experience for me, my first time consigning items with the Assistance League at their Daue House Gift Shop near downtown Salem. The store takes higher end items for consignment and has a lot of jewelry, decorative items and glassware. I brought a few nicer decorative vases and five pieces of jewelry (their jewelry limit per week is 5 per person). I get to keep 60% of the sale price which is great for me, especially since these types of items didn't sell well in the booth and are very saturated / hard to ship on eBay.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the consignment because this is good way for me to get some money back for higher end inventory as well as help the charity. Prices for consigned items decrease once a month until they're either sold or pulled from the shelves and given back to the consigner. They will also donate items for you if you don't want to pick them up.

The Gift Shop is a very cute and well maintained 2 story home converted into a store, definitely worth a visit!

Drop off at Kindness Closet Salem

Today was the day to drop off a car full of casual clothing, camping supplies, and shoes! These clothes came from the end of a local Salem estate sale at a wealthy home. I had about half an hour to grab as many pieces of clothing as I could and put them in black contractor bags. I ended up with about 5 full contractor bags of clothing, sleeping bags, cooking supplies, shoes, scarves, etc.

Kindness Closet is a local organization that provides free meals and supplies to the unsheltered community in Salem, OR. Kindness Closet accepts donations at Grace Community Church on Tuesdays from 10am-2pm, and I went around 1pm and it was very busy with visitors needing services. Volunteers helped me unload the bags from my car and I chatted with a man who mentioned he was 4 months sober and would love one of the sleeping bags I had peeking out from one of the contractor bags. Of course I said that he could take what he liked, but I think he was waiting for the church members to account for everything that I donated.

I asked one of the volunteers if Kindness Closet could handle this amount of clothing on a regular basis, and they said “OH YEAH”! There seems to be a great need for clothing and supplies for people living on the streets. Specifically, they requested casual clothing, strong shoes, winter items, and camping items. In my head I just keep thinking “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED”! Grabbing clothing from house clear-outs and at the end of estate sales is an easy thing for me to do because I’m already there, AND there is a way to keep these clothes from the trash AND there is a direct benefit to others? I’m sold.

Now I’m looking forward to the next car load!

New items in the OSS booth

Today was a cleanup and clean out day where a few fun items came in! My favorite is this smoking hiker incense cone burner. It is such a cute incense burner figurine with an unusual design. I've included two incense cones to get the buyer started right away.

I also love this HUGE 12 yard roll of curtain fabric by Atelier Originals made in 1980. Thanks was new old stock in a sewing room stockpile but I've laundered it twice to freshen it and make it ready to use. It has an unusual satin-y back. I've priced this at about half of the eBay sold price for this brand and time period. I often price this way so the buyer gets a good deal and I know that Salem is a smaller market for more expensive fabrics.

I've also added several smalls to the locked box case including these vintage metal waist chains for $10 and $9 each depending on type. They're great for holding keys or other small items and attaching to your belt or buttonhole. I believe at least one was originally used for a cigar cutter attachment.

Successful free pile day!

Another successful free pile day! This was from a house clear out with a huge fabric storage room and lots of usable kitchen items. I actually ran free piles two days in a row and about 95% of the stuff got taken. There were mice in the house so I was careful to note that in the free listings but I also tried to pick the cleanest items I could to give away. The photo below is the “before” at 1pm.

One hour later:

And still going! My current goal is to keep participating in house clear outs to deliver free items to my community.

I'm also looking into trying to get a little funding to pay for gas/laundry detergent/ my time to help keep this going. (Also a utility trailer to move this stuff but that's a longer term goal). :)

New eBay items online and FB Marketplace listings

Today I posted a few new listings including small lots of hardware I got out of a 1970’s house clearout. The new homeowner was nice enough to help me remove all the hardware from the cabinets and walls. He said he was going to replace them anyway so it was nice to put in a little work to make sure these didn’t go in the dumpster.

I hate Facebook and Meta as a company but unfortunately in this area FB Marketplace is one of the few places to reliably sell larger items that don’t go into the booth. I like to give people a deal on the purchase price because I know low prices make things sell faster and I usually don’t pay very much for items like these. This eagle wall hanging is a good example. Its beautiful, but if I had to sell it on eBay it would be a pain to ship, and if I brought it into the booth at a higher price it would sit for too long for the space it takes up. This guy is made of wood inlaid pieces and is very handsome!

Booth refresh day and a few small sales

Today I went into the OSS booth and pulled some older merchandise off the shelves as well as put in some custom dyed Halloween dresses I dyed recently. One is a vintage cream colored Jessica McClintock wedding dress I originally got from the Goodwill bins that had a difficult to remove stain on the front skirt. I realized that I could dye the entire outfit with a synthetic fabric dye to hide the stain and make a cute goth “Victorian-esque” dress. I bought four iDye for Poly Fabrics - 454-Black bottles and iDye fixative and boiled the dress in the dye mixture for several hours to achieve a really dark color. My boiling setup is a large aluminum cylindrical pot on top of an old chemistry lab hot plate (not the most accurate temp-wise but good enough). I washed the dress and jacket several times to remove extra dye and my only complaint is that the fabric is wrinkly and I my iron just wasn’t able to get the fabric totally smooth. My guess is that it may have to be steamed/ironed hotter? But I also wasn't brave enough to try.

Because the dress was made of different synthetic materials (possibly even a blend in the lace) the lace turned out a different color than the body. This was a fun surprise because I think that the different color lace adds interest to both the jacket and dress. I used some of the leftover dye for a youth dress I recently purchased from a house clearout. It was originally pink with white trim but the dye turned the dress a deep teal and dark blue mix, with the trims again having different dye results. I love a spooky dye result! These will be fun dresses to display in the booth for the Halloween season, but I am just as ok with letting them make goth displays year-round.

One of my favorite recent finds, a devil embroidered tea towel, just sold on eBay. I found this in a run-down farmhouse sale in rural Salem, OR. When I took photos for eBay I noticed that the feed sack label is actually on the back of the towel and just very faint. Its nice to see how these fabrics get reused!

I also sold a bottle of Haiku perfume on Mercari. eBay has been militant about its “no used perfume” policy, at least for me, including taking down my listings for empty bottles (WHY). I’ve been moving all of my vintage perfumes over to Mercari where they sell just fine.

Free pile day and chicken pumpkin carving

Another free pile day! I've been going through my back stock and pulling items that I no longer want to sell or just extras I’ve picked up from house clean outs. In our neighborhood usually most or all of the items get taken - I try to put out items that are useful/worth cleaning/good for scrap.

We also got an idea from Scarlett O’Hair’s YouTube channel to have our chickens “carve a pumpkin,” where we scrape the shapes of the eyes nose and mouth of the pumpkin and the chickens eat away the rest. I'm looking forward to the result! Hers ended up looking like a creepy pumpkin zombie :).

eBay Solds for Sept 25, 2026

Names and specific order information whited out for buyer privacy.

Free pile results!

Another free pile success! This impromptu free pile was from a house clear out with an excess of clothing. I filled my car with several big contractor bags of useful but not necessarily high value clothing, suitcases/bags, and linens, brought them home, put out the free table, put everything down in the bags (not even organized or pretty), listed it for free on CL and FBM, and everything was gone within an hour and a half. Mind you this was on a Wednesday in the middle of the day. This is great news!

This means that others can wear, redistribute, or even sell these items, without the clothing going to a high volume thrift store right away where many items get thrown away or packaged for salvage sales elsewhere. I look at these free piles as a way to benefit my local community in a tangible way. Usually anything that doesn't get picked up and is ok quality I then donate. But today, everything was gone. As our lives get more expensive here in the US it's nice to help others for free with something I already participate in.

It's hard sometimes for estate clear-out companies to handle getting rid of / rehoming / donating this amount of material goods. This is why it's important for us to work together to help where we can to reduce waste and give away items for free. All it takes is my time and energy (and small amounts of gas).

I'll try to post more about these when I can, but if you are in Salem, OR you can follow me on FB to hear about these (usually one day) free piles. #giveitaway #responsibilityeconomy #freestuff #houseclearout

Replacing glass and backing in used frame from the bins

I grabbed this pretty metal frame from the Salem Goodwill bins for about $1.58 (79 cents/pound). After putting it in my lab oven for 65°C for an hour with other hard to clean bins items (long enough to kill any hidden bugs, bedbug paranoia here). I noticed that the circular area was missing its glass and backing. I have some extra frame glass I got for free from an auction house trash pile so I was able to cut a small square of glass and then clip the corners to make it fit in the frame slot, then put together a backing from scrap foam core, scrap black matboard, and black fabric material. Is it an exact match? Nope! Will it work for someone trying to have a nice Victorian-esque frame? Yep!

Salvaging old wood crate into general store storage trunk

This was a fun salvage project! I got this large but well made wood crate in a local auction with a large lot of wood scrap pieces. I cleaned, sanded, and oiled the wood as well as reattached and reinforced the lid hinge. I added a top handle for easier lid lifting and painted "general store" lettering on the front in an antique stamp style. Lastly, I added furniture feet with cork bottoms for floor protection. This guy is now saved and headed off to auction!

Grandma's Sewing Room Buyout for Almost Nothing

This weekend I purchased $200 of items from a farmhouse estate sale, a low amount of money for the sheer volume of fabric, notions, various trinkets and cleanable/repairable things (about 5 full ikea bags of fabric and notions alone). This is always overwhelming once I get everything home, but I can't stop thinking of where these would have gone (especially the fabrics, and probably the trash). Grandmas sewing room didn't have very many visitors at the sale. I think of how much money grandma spent on these textiles made of linen, cotton, and silk. I think of how much I paid for a thin roll of elastic at Joanns. I think of how rare quality natural fabrics are in our world of polyester and throwaway capitalist culture. If I can change that I will. I am happy to make the effort to clean, sort, and reuse or sell these items for buyers who can't really find these anymore. It is a mixture of sadness and gratefulness that my brain is ok with being a racoon digging through grandmas messy storage and ferrying scraps and bits home.

Watch/Toy Battery Trays for Organization

My ADHD makes organization very important, and I ended up making these 3D printable watch/toy battery trays for drawer storage with large labels for instant identification and inventory. I need these for various repairs and love not having to dig through a messy drawer full of random battery packaging! All models are packaged together for 99 cents on Cults3D.

Adding Insulation to an Antique Art Deco Glass Coffee Pot

This was an interesting piece that I purchased in a rough state. Usually these coffee pots have insulation on the inside of the metal, and the red velvet interior was worn and disintegrated. I put together a few pieces of fabric into a quilted liner for the bottle that would fill in the exterior empty space and protect the bottle while still being removable if needed. The cap for the spout was missing so I siliconed a cork to the interior metal cover. It was an interesting project but will be a nice addition to someone’s collection! Currently available in my eBay store.

Mini Circle Knitting Loom

I’ve made a very small knitting loom with 14 Posts - it is about 30 mm / 1.2 in wide. I made it to play around with making tiny nets, ropes, and mini hats! I thought this would be a fun tool for knitting figurine and dollhouse hats and clothing. Theoretically you could print this at a smaller size for even more mini-sized knitting, but I haven't tried anything smaller than this size yet.

This little one is available for free on Cults3D.

Careers Game Board by Parker Brothers 1955

Careers game board by Parker Brothers 1955. The scan ended up being a little finicky but this is a fun midcentury board game relic! Participate in 1955 life by seeing a rare butterfly, maybe going to sea, or having lunch with royalty.

Fallout Protection: What to Know and Do About Nuclear Attack

Found this December 1961 booklet Fallout Protection: What to Know and Do About Nuclear Attack today at a sale in Hubbard, OR.
#fallout #nuclear #1960s

Upcycling a Vintage Beanie Baby for a Reusable Storage Pouch

We are currently in the era of Beanie Babies being sold in bulk at estate sales. And, as much as people viewed them as collectibles back in the 90’s, they are most certainly one of the least popular items left over on the last day of the sale. For example, I got this Chocolate moose baby from a garage sale “free” bin.

I thought it would be a fun idea to figure out a reuse case for these beanie babies that don’t involve just donating a bunch of them to a thrift store (where many of them might get thrown away). One option would be to just give the toy to someone who really likes moose plushies. Another option would be to reuse the Beanie Baby skin as something else than a toy.

The Beanie Baby designs are very cute and nostalgic, so I thought a zipper pouch might appeal to people looking to either hide money away in the stuffed animal bin inside a secret pouch or those seeking unique storage pouch ideas in general.

I’ve emptied the beans and stuffing out of this little guy and sewed in a heavy duty vintage jeans zipper. He’s simple and cute and I think he turned out pretty well! He’s now available in my Etsy store.