Happy Saturday petals and a happy 3 day weekend to you as well.
At this moment in time I am pretty tired. I have seen every minute of every hour since 5am this morning which is not something I can usually say.
Today was boot sale day, which as I mentioned previously, I have been busily preparing for! Before packing up the car last night with all my prettiest props, my second hand tat and my hand made pretties, I was in two minds about whether or not to bother. After a lot of debating, do we, don't we, will we, won't we? I decided to wait and see what the weather was like this morning.
Well at 5am this morning there was not a drop of rain in the sky so off I went with my bestie in tow (who by the way, is an absolute star for helping me).
Now, I had only been to this boot sale once before and in all honesty I had forgotten what it was like. I just remembered that it was hard standing and had lots of antique stalls. Well, this may have been a big error because the sale did not go according to plan, sadly.
We were squeezed into a small area of the grounds due to limited space, and from the very second we started setting up (at 6.30) we were surrounded by forceful dealers, trying to get a look into the car and asking for jewellry and mobile phones. As I spread my polka dot table cloth over my table and told another dealer "no" for the thousandth time I did wonder how they could possibly think I would be selling mobile phones with the sheer amount of polka dots and flowers in the car.
Nevertheless, we got everything set up and it looked really very nice actually. What do you think?
However, it didn't take long to realise that we were a bit out of place surrounded by jumble and junk thrown over wall paper tables. Boy did I feel like a lemon with all my bunting and tea cups!
Time passed and the real pro boot salers came around first, as the bitter cold began to sink into our bones I struggled to pick up the change between my numb fingers for the few people that were buying my dresses and old clothes. My beautiful trunk, with it's lovely makeover, was full of 50p clothing and was doing a splendid job of attracting lots of people, many of which tried to buy the trunk itself from me (definitely not for sale). But even though I had to fight to stop people from trying to buy my cake stand (it was display only) it soon became apparent that I wasn't going to have a very successful boot sale. By about 8am I was giving up, despite my friend reminding me that most people weren't even out of bed yet.
More time passed and I did manage to sell more bits, not as much of my hand made stuff as I would have liked but a lot of my second hand tat that I didn't want to take back home with me. But....then came the rain! Now we were cold and getting wet! We persevered, and it is good that we did because there were a large amount of panic buys from people desperate to get bargain clothes before we started packing up but depressingly, nobody wanted my vintage china, or my bunting or my broaches or hanging hearts. I was really quite disheartened by this but it was at this point, as I stood clutching two umbrellas over my stock, my whole body trembling from the cold, that I realised my error. I was in a concrete landscape, surrounded by steel buildings and trucks..much more shabby than chic and therefore the wrong environment by a long shot. I dawned on me that this kind of boot sale, quite stark and rough around the edges, was completely the wrong place to be selling this kind of stock. People want bargains at bootsales, not crafty lovely bits, or vintage china trios.
I was hoping to get a visit from a few more china loving, Cath K fans but alas, there were but a few..where were you all huh? I was visited by various lovely ladies, but most were being tugged along by their other halves and despite fawning over my pretty china they were briskly reminded that they had too many teacups/too much bunting etc etc...this made me both disappointed and also a little bit glad that I am single!
In all honesty, it wasn't a complete bust, my clothes made me lots of money and I came home with much less than I left with. And, if I had a pound for every time someone stopped to tell me how pretty my stall was then I would have had a very full money box. I may not have been rich in profit, but I was definitely rich in complements and that was just lovely. Hearing people from all walks of life tell me that my trunk looked lovely, that I had made it over superbly and that I had "the prettiest stall in the whole boot sale" was just wonderful because I had put a lot of thought into the whole thing even if it was a bit wasted in the end, so next time I am going to look for a more appropriate setting and put my stall dressing skills to good use again.
After packing everything away we went for a quick stroll around the damp remains of the sale and I managed to bag myself a bargainous tea set at just £3, from the most wonderful antique seller, he was a real sweetheart and he admitted that he has a problem pricing things properly (his wife gets very angry at him). I told him I thought his pricing skills were excellent!!. He definitely made my day.
So that's my boot sale tale. Definitely not a guide to be followed! Although, I don't have too many regrets about it.
In other news, me and my camera are getting on very well. Our rendezvous has been fleeting so far but I am already in love with it...most ardently! Ours will be a deep and lasting love, I just know it! And it definitely won't tell me I can't have more china! Win!
Enough about me, how are you?
Lots of love,
Lexie x x x
♥ Twitter ♥ Pinterest ♥
At this moment in time I am pretty tired. I have seen every minute of every hour since 5am this morning which is not something I can usually say.
Today was boot sale day, which as I mentioned previously, I have been busily preparing for! Before packing up the car last night with all my prettiest props, my second hand tat and my hand made pretties, I was in two minds about whether or not to bother. After a lot of debating, do we, don't we, will we, won't we? I decided to wait and see what the weather was like this morning.
Well at 5am this morning there was not a drop of rain in the sky so off I went with my bestie in tow (who by the way, is an absolute star for helping me).
Now, I had only been to this boot sale once before and in all honesty I had forgotten what it was like. I just remembered that it was hard standing and had lots of antique stalls. Well, this may have been a big error because the sale did not go according to plan, sadly.
We were squeezed into a small area of the grounds due to limited space, and from the very second we started setting up (at 6.30) we were surrounded by forceful dealers, trying to get a look into the car and asking for jewellry and mobile phones. As I spread my polka dot table cloth over my table and told another dealer "no" for the thousandth time I did wonder how they could possibly think I would be selling mobile phones with the sheer amount of polka dots and flowers in the car.
Nevertheless, we got everything set up and it looked really very nice actually. What do you think?
However, it didn't take long to realise that we were a bit out of place surrounded by jumble and junk thrown over wall paper tables. Boy did I feel like a lemon with all my bunting and tea cups!
Time passed and the real pro boot salers came around first, as the bitter cold began to sink into our bones I struggled to pick up the change between my numb fingers for the few people that were buying my dresses and old clothes. My beautiful trunk, with it's lovely makeover, was full of 50p clothing and was doing a splendid job of attracting lots of people, many of which tried to buy the trunk itself from me (definitely not for sale). But even though I had to fight to stop people from trying to buy my cake stand (it was display only) it soon became apparent that I wasn't going to have a very successful boot sale. By about 8am I was giving up, despite my friend reminding me that most people weren't even out of bed yet.
More time passed and I did manage to sell more bits, not as much of my hand made stuff as I would have liked but a lot of my second hand tat that I didn't want to take back home with me. But....then came the rain! Now we were cold and getting wet! We persevered, and it is good that we did because there were a large amount of panic buys from people desperate to get bargain clothes before we started packing up but depressingly, nobody wanted my vintage china, or my bunting or my broaches or hanging hearts. I was really quite disheartened by this but it was at this point, as I stood clutching two umbrellas over my stock, my whole body trembling from the cold, that I realised my error. I was in a concrete landscape, surrounded by steel buildings and trucks..much more shabby than chic and therefore the wrong environment by a long shot. I dawned on me that this kind of boot sale, quite stark and rough around the edges, was completely the wrong place to be selling this kind of stock. People want bargains at bootsales, not crafty lovely bits, or vintage china trios.
I was hoping to get a visit from a few more china loving, Cath K fans but alas, there were but a few..where were you all huh? I was visited by various lovely ladies, but most were being tugged along by their other halves and despite fawning over my pretty china they were briskly reminded that they had too many teacups/too much bunting etc etc...this made me both disappointed and also a little bit glad that I am single!
In all honesty, it wasn't a complete bust, my clothes made me lots of money and I came home with much less than I left with. And, if I had a pound for every time someone stopped to tell me how pretty my stall was then I would have had a very full money box. I may not have been rich in profit, but I was definitely rich in complements and that was just lovely. Hearing people from all walks of life tell me that my trunk looked lovely, that I had made it over superbly and that I had "the prettiest stall in the whole boot sale" was just wonderful because I had put a lot of thought into the whole thing even if it was a bit wasted in the end, so next time I am going to look for a more appropriate setting and put my stall dressing skills to good use again.
After packing everything away we went for a quick stroll around the damp remains of the sale and I managed to bag myself a bargainous tea set at just £3, from the most wonderful antique seller, he was a real sweetheart and he admitted that he has a problem pricing things properly (his wife gets very angry at him). I told him I thought his pricing skills were excellent!!. He definitely made my day.
 |
| The set also consists of 4 other cups and saucers. |
So that's my boot sale tale. Definitely not a guide to be followed! Although, I don't have too many regrets about it.
 |
| Austen approves of the latest tea set addition. |
In other news, me and my camera are getting on very well. Our rendezvous has been fleeting so far but I am already in love with it...most ardently! Ours will be a deep and lasting love, I just know it! And it definitely won't tell me I can't have more china! Win!
Enough about me, how are you?
Lots of love,
Lexie x x x
♥ Twitter ♥ Pinterest ♥
Ten out of ten for effort and initiative, your stall looked scrumptious Lels.
ReplyDeleteWould definately go well here....knock knock, and absolutely envious of your little tea set..............Lotsa Love Granny xxx
Your booth was lovely -- chalk it all up to experience!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous display of vintage wares, I couldn't have walked past, and I'm sure in the right place, you will do well :)
ReplyDeleteWhat you did was wonderful, just needed to be at a craft fair instead. At least you got rid of some second hand stuff.
ReplyDeleteAs Confucius says:'Every journey starts with the first step'.
Mandy and Nick