What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Booth........Again

Today I worked in the booth.  I took a lot more out and took some things down.  I'm starting to get a feel for what sells and what doesn't.  Since I love holidays so much, I have to make a holiday display.  That is a no brainer.
 I took down the Valentine's day display today.  I only sold a few things from it, but that's okay.  It's not exactly the biggest decorating holiday (even though I have a living room full and two trees up!).

 I still need to find a better way to display linens.  I sell a lot of tea towels, aprons and linens.  The booth has this 2x4 that runs right across the booth at about my eye level, so it makes it difficult to hang anything at that level.  I know those linens are too high (and quite messy in this photo), but I haven't figured out anything else yet.  Any ideas?  I want an old ladder to put on the wall, but I haven't found one yet.  That old suitcase on the bottom is full of linens too and people just love to dig in it.  Lordy, they make a mess.  But, that's okay,  As long as they keep on buying, I don't mind.  
I took in a few picnic baskets.  I noticed that even on the cover of Country Living magazine this month they had a Redman picnic basket, so I am hoping that maybe they will start selling.  They do make great storage. I have a lot of things on those shelves.  I need to clear a bit of it out, but I can't seem to decide what to pull and what to leave, so I just leave it all.  :)

 More and more stuff.  I moved all those pennants at the bottom after I took this photo.  I know those things will be strewn about.  I want to hang them on lines across the top of the booth, but it is eight feet tall and I can't reach it - even on the ladder.  Oh, the problems us shorties have.....
I broke into my stash this time and bundled up old BINGO cards, Lotto Cards, Flash Cards, tickets and letter cards.  I have spools of Baker's Twine and bundles of paper straws too.  I'm hoping some Pinterest Fans will see these things and get some ideas.

 I got all these old pennants for FREE at a yard sale many years ago.  I have been hanging onto them forever.  I hope they sell.  There are some neat ones in there.

 This is an awkward corner, but I seem to have it filled up.  The old coke crate is actually for sale, but I put a few things in it anyway.  Old soda crates are all the rage again.  I have about 35 of them in my garage, but I'm not ready to sell them yet.  When I was a kid, my Dad went to the Coke bottling company and bought brand new un-circulated Coke crates and put them in my room for shelves.  I also picked them up anytime anyone returned one for deposit when I worked in the grocery store.  I knew they would be popular one day.  And they are!
Since it is too early to decorate for Easter, I decided to take all my vintage games and make a display. 

  I collect old wooden game pieces, so I have all these neat old game boards leftover.  A lot of them would look really neat framed.  I see now that I shouldn't have put a boring old Scrabble game on the front.  Most of them are really neat.
I had a lot of games, card sets, and game pieces to fill up my old cabinet.  I hope some of them sell.  I have lots of Easter to get in there next!

Have you seen any neat display ideas lately?  I want to make this booth work well and be fun to shop.  And, guess what?  I am getting a second booth in this location soon.  And, guess what else?  I am going to start working at the Flea Market too.  Like running the joint!  But, only one day a week.  And only for five hours on those days.  I wouldn't want to get carried away or anything.  It's just enough hours to help out the owners.  I'll work and they won't charge me rent or commission.  More $$$$$ in my pocket!  Sweet!  And, I can price my things and work my booth when I am there, so no more special trips out there.  Sounds like a win-win to me!

9 comments:

  1. shall I begin my wishlist now? Shame I can't get those coke crates here, or afford to ship some back home.

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  2. How about an old wood clothes horse/airer for the linens?
    I would also frame the cover from Country Living and place it right nest to the picnic baskets!

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  3. Wow! What an awesome deal at the flea market!!! How exciting for you!!! I hang my hankies and small linens on this thing we made that is a wooden frame-almost like a picture frame-with 4 holes in each one. We've run wire through the holes-making squares out of the wire in the middle of the frame. I went to Michael's and bought tiny clothes pins and pin them on the wires. It works really well to keep things organized and easy to see the individual items.
    I LOVE your booth!!! Glad it's doing so well for you!!!

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  4. Shara your booth is the kind I would go in and take forever looking at everything! hugs, Linda

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  5. SWEET deal you have going at the FleaMarket!! Booth looks GREAT 8-)

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  6. Your space is looking good. Not sure what to do about the linens. I bought another picnic basket this week from the thrift store. I love those things to just store stuff in. Maybe people will start buying them in the spring when they start thinking about summer decorating.

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  7. As always, your booths make me wish I had about a tenth of your talent. Congrats on the gig! Hope it works well for you. I know what you mean about linens. I have a small basket with no more than a dozen items in it and it's always a mess! People simply cannot fold and put things back. And the ones who have to pull everything out and unfold them all and leave them in a nasty pile are the ones who never buy a damn thing.

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  8. Can you do some kind of clothesline with clothespins for the linens? That would be cute.

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  9. LOVE your blog! Great stuff!!! I am a collector of about anything as well...Especially McCoy!!! And vintage table cloths...Oh and vintage canisters, rolling pins...OMG! No wonders I don't dust...LOLOL

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