How Much is That Kitty in the Picture...

For anyone that owns a furry feline, you can feel my pain. Not only do I have a cat, but a dog that enjoys chasing the cat, but that's another post. So here I am at the computer minding my own business... 

Oh, that looks comfy, let me lay down right here. 

Ok, no computer. I'll just go photograph a few things..

Are you taking pictures of me? No? Will you pet me? 

Ok, back to the computer, let me just grab something off this shelf...

Why won't you just love me?!?!

Needles to say, he lives off of attention. Sometimes food and treats, but mainly attention. But the show must go on. Thank you for this cute kitty interruption, now back to your scheduled program: 

So in my travels, I come across a lot of neat people, places and things. (I could have just said nouns, I guess.) I don't always get to buy everything I want, but for the things I do get to call my own, there's a story and I would like to share that with you! 

This weeks story is about two little embroidered owls. I was driving home from who-knows-where and just a block from my house was an estate sale! How the heck did I miss that?  So I parked, grabbed $20 and walked over with high hopes. Books, clothes, piano, big furniture, oh shoot, there go my hopes, plummeting to a deep hole of leaving with nothing. Then, like a ray of freaking sunshine, there were these two framed owls, sitting all by their lonesome. 

(angels singing)

Oh hey, I'm awesome.

What the hoot! So am I. 

Vintage sharpie?! 

There they were, all in their 70's brown, orange and yellow glory. I asked the woman if she knew who made them and she said her husbands grandmother. She made them in 1978 and had them until she moved and he took them to their house, where I was currently fondling them (mental picture.) So if you think they are as adorable as I do, you are in luck! They are now up for sale in my Etsy shop here!

Even if you don't think they are adorable, which they totally are, you can still check out my shop. If you don't see something you love to the moon and back, or are looking for something in particular, let a sista know! I have a garage full of things, and I am constantly on the hunt. Be sure to like Poor Girl Picker on facebook too! Yes, I am stepping my social media game up! You can check that out here!

Smell ya later! 
-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from me! Turn it into something new! Send me a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, or any other space filled with stuff that needs to be picked over? Get atcha girl!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe chew on some laffy taffy!

***Check out my Etsy page to see what kinds of cool things I have in store for ya! PGP Etsy Shop

You Can't Rain on this Feature Friday!

Rain, Rain, go away...

...come again when I don't have a flea market.

It's Saturday! Woohoo, the weekend! That means I'm supposed to be at a the Peddler, peddlin my super awesome vintage stuff! Nope. Mother Nature has other plans. Maybe the plants and trees are really thirsty or the sun needed to sleep in. Whatever the case may be, I am here with the pups, not peddlin my stuff. Wait a second. It's Saturday. That means yesterday was Friday, which means there was supposed to be a feature, and I don't remember posting one.... OH FARTS! I done did it again! So, excuse my tardiness, but please allow me to introduce you to this weeks: 

FEATUUUUUURE FRIDAAAAAY! 

Carly came to the Peddler a few weeks ago and was interested in some vintage Pyrex test tubes I had out. She told me that she had just bought this wooden pipe rack from a thrift store and her creative juices were a flowin'. The test tubes would fit perfectly in the rack, so she bought a handful and off she went to craft her little heart out! Little did I know crafting is something that comes naturally to her! 

Carly got in touch with me recently and sent me the pictures of her test tube creation. I found out that she has an Instagram account and an Etsy shop too! So I did what every normal person does and I scoped it out. Her stuff is super cool and original. I wish that I had a crafty bone in my body, and sometimes I like to pretend it's there. But then I don't measure correctly, the hot glue gun hates me, and there are two animals -make that three (sorry Jordan,) - that shed so much that I need an army of brooms and vacuums. So my "crafts" turn into "well, at least I tried, right?"  In addition to Carly's Feature Friday, I threw in some pictures of her other crafts so you can get an idea of just how awesome they are! 

Before...

After! Gosh dangit it's so cute! 

Um, yes! Re-purposed belts turned cuffs?!

Can I get one that says "picker" & I'll just walk around with my finger in my nose?

IN LOVE.

Cool lamp, check. Mint paint, check. Awesomeness, check. 

So whatdya think? I wasn't lying! This girl can craft! She was thinking silk flowers for the tubes, and I suggested candy, cause I mean, who doesn't want a shooter of peanut butter M&M's? If you have any suggestions, please feel free! A lot of her items are made from vintage and re-purposed goods, which is exactly what I strive for with PGP and Feature Fridays. To give these items another purpose and new life so that another person can love it is what it's all about! We don't always have to have the next best or newest thing. Sometimes its already in your house, yard, garage or waiting to be found at a flea market. It just takes a little time, creativity, and elbow grease to make it yours. 

You can find Carly's Sweet Creations (appropriately named) for sale at her Etsy shop here: Carly's Sweet Creations and be sure to follow her on Instagram @Carlysweetjones. She also has some pieces up for sale with the proceeds going to charity! One of the many reasons why I love doing what I do is it gives me the opportunity to meet awesome people and spread a little vintage love! Carly is definitely one of those people, and unfortunately she doesn't live in Buffalo, but maybe the universe will have our paths cross again in the future. 

Whether it's raining or shining by you, make today great! Maybe you've been inspired to dig around your basement and give new life to an old piece. In that case, email me and let me know! And check back at the Poor Girl Picker Etsy shop, as I have been adding, and will continue to add, new things daily! 

Smell Ya Later!

-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from me! Turn it into something new! Send me a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, or any other space filled with stuff that needs to be picked over? Get atcha girl!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe mow down on some gummy bears!

***Check out my Etsy page to see what kinds of cool things I have in store for ya! PGP Etsy Shop

Keeping it together, one crazy idea at a time.

Have you ever had an idea swirling around your mind that you just couldn't let go of? Like, literally every waking moment was spent thinking about this one idea. Well, I recently had one of these "idea viruses" and it had me all in a tizzy. 

"Quit your job and dedicate yourself to Poor Girl Picker." 

What am I, nuts?! That's crazy! Ludacris! I don't even have a savings account, how am I suppose to quit my job?!? That thought went against everything I've ever learned to be logical, but I couldn't get it out of my head. I wanted it so bad. I wanted to stop waking up at 5am. I wanted to stop relying on other people for financial security. I didn't want to tell people, "Oh I can't make it I have to work," or "let me see if I can request that day off." I wanted to dedicate as much time and energy into myself and my dreams that I was giving someone else. It was an idea virus I just couldn't get rid of.

So dang it, I did it. I quit my job! Holy crap. I quit my job. I can do this right? Right. I plunged head first into what I thought was going to be days filled with picking, selling and nothing but awesomeness. But there is a backside to running a business that I had to learn about. I had to learn about selling online, collecting tax, becoming a business owner, having bills, overhead and all that other jazz. It was stressful, overwhelming and downright scary. I second guessed myself the whole time. "Maybe I should have been a teacher after all." "Maybe an ordinary life isn't so bad?" "I mean my 9-5 wasn't that bad, was it?" I kept setting deadlines for myself and missing them. I was scared and ready to throw the towel in. 

Then I remembered how I felt when I was sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day. I remembered why I got an education and am in so much damn debt. I remembered that life isn't meant to be easy. We are all given certain strengths and opportunities and the choices we make will in turn make us. So I am not throwing the towel in. I read a quote once that has stayed with me through hard times, and keeps me focused on my dream. 

“If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's.” - Joseph Campbell

One of those aformentioned deadlines was to get my Etsy shop up and running by the 15th.  HA, OKAY.  It has taken me a while to get everything together, but its finally there! (It only took 11 more days than planned!) I didn't realize how time consuming it would be. "Oh Etsy? You just take photos and post them then, viola! you make money." There's way more to it than that and it will be a learning process for me. I'm still not positive how to market myself, I'm still not happy with the photos and there are hundreds of more items to research and list, but hey - it's a small step and I am a-two-steppin! 

So check it out here! You don't even have to buy anything! Just stop over and take a look. I only posted 20 items but I will be adding more daily. Let me know if you have any suggestions, comments or ideas for photographing. I have tons of clothes that I will be posting in the next week or so. I'll also be at Larkin Market this Thursday with some new stuff so come check it out! 

Smell ya later!

-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, or any other space filled with stuff that needs to be picked over? Get atcha girl!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe drink some ginger ale!

***Check out my Etsy page to see what kinds of cool things I have in store for ya! PGP Etsy Shop

Now Featuring this Friday: HOLLYWOOD HANK

Now Featuring this Friday:
The Adventures of HOLLYWOOD HANK 

If you are lucky, at some point in your life you will meet someone that has been around the block. Not just any block though. THE block. The same block that you are starting to circle. When you do, you should take advantage of it and learn everything you can from them. I just so happened to meet Hank a few weeks ago when he bought some doll heads from me at the Silo City Flea. He was going to make a sculpture with them. (Which is exactly what I imagined someone would do.) So I gave his friend, Frank, the low-down on my blog and he said he would be sure to send me a picture when he was done. 

I ran in to Frank again at The Peddler last Saturday and I had some more doll heads out. He let Hank know and he was interested in them so I made a trip up to his store. It turns out Hank has been around the block a few times. I had no idea what I was in for. (drum roll) 

"When you get here you're gonna wanna park then walk in the double doors, go left, up the stairs, make a right and a right, then a left and my office will be on the right." "Okay, I'm sure I'll find it." Fortunately, Hanks wife met me at the front doors and walked me left, up, right, right and left to his office. The whole entire time my jaw was dropped,  my eyes were darting from floor to ceiling and I was stumbling. "Holy shit, I think I just found heaven." 

Stairway to the second floor of Heaven.

Come and get me in 7 hours. 

So there I was, standing with a cardboard box full of plastic doll heads, talking to a man who amassed enough cool stuff to fill a 20,000 square foot warehouse with things I thought I could only dream about. After our "haggle" Hank gave me a tour of the place. Let me tell you something, IT WAS AWESOME. As if the walk up to his office wasn't cool enough, I got to see his work space, his sculptures (which are awesome and placed all over the warehouse,) his "cabin" and all the other neat stuff that was hidden in every nook and cranny. I really was overwhelmed. I wasn't even registering what I was seeing anymore. My mind was on cool crap overload. I mean, I just rented a one car garage. This man has 20,000 square feet! 

I had planned another meeting on the other side of town just 45 minutes after meeting with Hank, and I was already running late. So I unfortunately had to leave with out seeing everything. I left with the promise of coming back, and let me tell you something, that's a promise I am definitely going to keep. Cause I don't know if you heard but that place was AWESOME. 

Oh, right, Hank is also known as Hollywood Hank. He isn't just a collector either. This warehouse is his shop. Just about everything is for sale. He has one of a kind sculptures in there too. That's why he is the week, and summers, first: 

FEATUUUUUUURE FRIDAAAAAY 

Pimpin.

That's one way to use a bunch of vintage doll heads! Pimp em out to Santa. (If you didn't notice the top of the sculpture is Santa.) Hank, awesome. His warehouse, awesome. The 45 minutes I spent there, awesome. If you haven't gotten it by now, it was AWESOME. You can rest assured that my butt will be back there soon enough. Until then, I'll leave you with some pictures of his jaw dropping, heart palpitating, butt clenching warehouse! 

Well excuse me, Marilyn! 

Lemme get that!

That too. 

You can keep those. 

This whole wall will be mine someday. 

Tomorrow I'll be set up at the Peddler at the corner of W. Ferry and Elmwood. Come on down and see what cool new stuff I got! You should also buy something and re-purpose it so that you too can be featured here! It will be the highlight of your life! (or day.) 

Catch ya on the flip side!

-Stephanie 

(the word "Awesome" was used seven times in the writing of this blog. Eight if you count that one.)

*Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, or any other space filled with stuff that needs to be picked over? Get atcha girl!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe have a gluten free pizza.

Time Warp to August....

Well hello my long lost friends! 

I've been trying to think of a way to apologize for not posting in so long, but I keep coming up blank. The honest answer is: I am too busy, but that's the boring answer. So instead, I will give you a quick update with all that has happened and is happening over here at Poor Girl Picker!

After last season ended I found myself buying at the same pace but slowing on the selling. So I filled my basement with a bunch of goodies and continued to work full time at the cafe. I tried my hand at organizing a mini pop up shop but we only had two. It went really well and I will probably revisit it this fall/winter because who doesn't love a little discount shopping around the holidays? Once the frigid winter passed, I picked up a part time gig photographing vintage things for an ebay seller. I was able to trade in my Ford Focus for a Volvo station wagon and it has helped me tremendously! Jordan and his cat also moved in with me and we (really I,) had this genius idea to get a dog. So we did. By golly it was a circus. Well, I am no ring leader so I had to slow down a bit and focus. 

The Peddler was going to start up and come July I would be having another flea market on Thursdays at Larkin Square. There was also the chance to go out to Antique World and Silo City Flea on Sundays. If I wanted to I could make this a full time job! But I wasn't ready. How do I pay bills? How do I keep an inventory? It was all too much so I stuck it out through June and July and it turned out to be too overwhelming. Have you ever felt like you are running in circles but you are actually doing a million and three things? I felt insane and ready to burst at the seams. It was time for me to plunge head first into Poor Girl Picker and more importantly, me. I was investing a lot of time into other people and their dreams, so why not put that dedication and work into my dreams? If I was going to do this right I had a few things on my To Do list. First, quit my job. Second, find a garage. Third, be confident. The first was a breeze. The second was a bit tougher but I was patient and was able to find a garage space only a few blocks away. One U-Haul truck and a full days worth of hauling, and my basement is almost empty! Its much easier to load and unload when you don't have to go up and down any steps. 

Being in control of my daily activities has thrown me a few curve balls.  Going from always having an employer and rules to being my own boss was kind of weird. What do you mean I don't have to punch in? I can eat whenever I want? I can use my phone at all times of the day? These were problems I hadn't dealt with before. I'll admit, there were a few days all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and eat Nutella. I mean, who doesn't? But the reality of it is, I need to make wise choices. I am the one responsible for PGP's growth or failure. Since I wasn't really planning on failure, I left the Nutella alone. (Okay, maybe one scoop.)

So to make a long, winded, caffeinated story short: I am Poor Girl Picker. One of my best friends, Colleen, created my logo for me. (see below!) She is super talented and open minded so when I told her my idea she was all over it. I am currently photographing and getting my Etsy store ready, so stay tuned for that!! I have a few Featured Fridays lined up, I'm currently working on my Etsy store, and there are flea markets galore to end this season. I plan on having a featured itemand possibly stories of my picks. I have encountered some really awesome people along the journey, and you should all get to know them too! 

Check out some pictures from the Poor Girl Picker archives below! 

My logo, inspired by the Wheat Penny!

Peggy all packed up after a day at the Peddler!

Working on a new sign to hang in my tent!

New jewelry displays!

My garage space! Its way more full now. 

Silo City Flea!

Big Chick!

Ellie Pup!

Thanks for hanging around and supporting me! Your feedback means a lot to me too, so don't be afraid to comment! 

Enjoy the humidity!

-Stephanie 

Feature Friday: Dance Party!!!

I have to admit, its not Friday. Its not even Saturday. Its Sunday (yikes!). I am two days late and always a few bucks short. But hey, thats life, right? So anyway, now that I am finally sitting down for longer than 20 minutes, let me tell you about this weeks: 

FEATUUUUURE FRIDAAAAAY!! 

This Fri.. erhm Sunday, I bring you Serife! Lets time warp back to August to a hot summers night, hanging out at Silo City for the City of Night Festival, eating food truck deliciousness, walking amongst abandoned grain elevators full of art, and sweating the sweet summer sweat. Ok, we are there. So, like any normal human being I am enjoying the festivities when nature called! If there is one thing I hate in this world, (and hate is a strong word,) its port-a-potties. Why can't I just pee in a bush? I mean, you are telling me that it is more sanitary to get in a 3 ft-by-3 ft traveling poop bucket with little to no ventilation than to find a nice hidden spot in the trees? Well, I unfortunately follow the rules so I get in line for the poop buckets and boy oh boy did I have to pee. Have you ever been driving home when the urge hits you to pee and you're like, "no worries, I'll be home in five minutes." Then you get home and you drop your keys at the door, pick them up in a hurry, can't find your house key but you swore it was on there, then you find it and it gets stuck in the lock and all of a sudden you are about to pee your pants. Come on door! Don't you know I am about to be standing in a puddle?! Ok, so thats how I was feeling so I started doing the pee dance. Every one has one. It can be subtle or it can be a full blown "get the cardboard out cause I'm about to bust a move" dance. I chose the latter. Guess who was also on line for the portable poop bucket? Serife and her friend Denise! We had a mini pee dance circle until we could relieve ourselves. Fortunately for us, there was a DJ laying down some beats so we didn't look too crazy. After our first dance party ended with no accidents, I noticed that Serife and Denise were still dancing by the DJ so I joined them and a lovely little dancing friendship blossomed. 

Fast forward to September: I am selling at the Peddler when I see Serife eyeing up a suitcase of mine. As if you couldn't figure it out, she bought it! And this is what she did with it:

Suitcase perfection.

I was really happy to see that the suitcase was put to good use. I mean, your records can't go in just anything. I saw Serife again this past weekend and she invited Jordan and myself to her houewarming party! I can't wait to dance, boogie and jive some more!

Smell ya later, 

-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

 

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, (you get the point,) that needs to be picked over? Holla at me!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe chew some gum.

Hump Day Cider!

I'm starting hump day off right with a cup of coffee and a good old cry because of this video:

We could all learn a little something about giving. 

I am also starting the day off with poop because I drank my weight in home made apple cider yesterday. I mean, everyday usually starts off the same because thats what coffee is for, right? But today is a cider-poop! How did we make home made apple cider, you ask? ((cue twilight zone dance))

Let me take you back to Sunday, when Jordan and I crashed our friends picnic date at Zoar Valley. I offered to drive because I am that nice, and because you never know what hidden gems you are going to find. So we start our trek and get about 3/4 of the way there when we hit a detour. Not to worry, detours just take you off your route, down some crazy back country roads with no signs, then spit you back out somewhere where you think you want to be. Its a detour. Well, on this detour, and on one of those crazy back country roads, there was a spray painted 'SALE' sign leaning against a tree. I slammed on the brakes and turned right on in. This very nice older fella, (we later learned his name was Pat,) came walking across the street to greet us. I'm pretty sure he was in his glory because he was spitting out stories and prices and all he was hearing was Sold!, cartoon noises of cha-ching cha-ching, and he had $$ for eyes. Just kidding, kind of. So Jordan spotted the press behind all the tables and Pat said "Oh, thats old. I gotta have at least twenty bucks for it."  TWENTY BUCKS! You know what Jordan said? "SOLD!" Super predicable, I know. We eventually made it to Zoar Valley and had a nice little afternoon trek. 

Nature, its pretty neat.

That light.

Typical tourist shot.

Now we are back in Buffalo. ((cue twilight zone music)) and our friends, (and my bosses) at Ashkers were super interested in this press so they let us use it in their basement. Jordan got 12 crates of apples. 12 CRATES OF APPLES. So we got to work. We are lucky enough to have friends that let us use their basement for the space, but even luckier that its a restaurant, and luckier still that we can use some of the equipment. If it wasn't for the machine thingy that was grinding up the apples and spitting them out like spaghetti, we wouldn't have been able to make so much. So I was in charge of making apple spaghetti, Jordan was doing his thing on the press and Tyler was in charge of the cider run-off.  We managed to make somewhere around 15 gallons of mouth watering, lip licking, chomp chompin, apple cider. (There were talks about Poor Girl Cider, more on that later. Maybe.)

What's the difference between cider and juice? Well, Carson Carey cleared that up for us: "If its sweet and yellow, you're drinking juice there fellow. If its delicious and brown, you're in cider town!" (I think he said it was from the Simpsons, but I'll let him take the credit.) Enough talking, we want pictures!!

Pressin, pressin, pressin, keep those apples pressin.

Nothin but pure, sweet nectar.

There were a few blips along the way, but thats what makes it fun and memorable. I mean, how many people can say they have seen or heard a cider press spit apple guts at them? Exactly. So, it wasn't perfect, but we got a system down, and we will be making more cider, for sure. 

So thats the story of the three little pigs. Hiking, picking, and cidering.

Oh, and this happened.

Don't ask.

Smell ya later!

-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

 

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, (you get the point,) that needs to be picked over? Holla at me!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe eat 

Feature Friday: Burt Reynolds

Holy Guacamole! Its Friday already! I had pictures to upload and stories to post! I guess this will be a Feature Friday and a quick update from last weeks adventures! So to start, let me begin with this weeks 

FEATUUUUURE FRIDAAAAY!

This week I bring you the creative genius of Jordan!! (No, not Burt Reynolds, keep your pants on.) I remember he bought this wooden crate from me and said he was going to plant flowers in it. I immediately told him about the blog idea, but I didn't have business cards or any contact info yet. (I know, seems like decades ago.) Luckily for me, Jordan is a man of his word and he stopped by the flea again a few weeks ago. 

Look at the natural light! Oh, and the crate.

Jordan also had me keeping an eye out for some old barn wood to make a bar. Well, I can't take credit for the wood, because I didn't come across any, but look at that bar!! I am looking forward to seeing what else he creates!! I have my eyes open for some other things, so heres hoping I can find em for him! 

Now for your (seemingly) weekly update! I promise I am going to get better at this whole blogging thing, I promise!

So, Saturday was the Peddler, and peddle I did! I sold some things to people from Chicago and Boston, Mike stopped by, someone gave me a George Foreman grill, some people with paper mache heads strolled through, and I got a mean sunglass tan.

Tiny chair for a tiny tush.

We obvi had to test the durability.

HEY! HEY you! These here chairs are FER SALE!

Getting crafty and creative for displays.

Marissa modeling the briefcase she bought!

And then this happened.

That may or may not be a man.

I was telling everyone and their mom about the Silo City Flea happening the next day! (Sunday) We had a super awesome turn out! I have to admit my stand was looking less than stellar, but I had a bunch of new stuff! (and a bunch of fun!) 

No tent, extra sun please.

Burt Motherloving Reynolds in all his Playboy glory.

There are some more adventures in the works for Ithaca again, even though I haven't even posted from the first trip, and maybe some building of tables, chairs and what not. I also started my new job at Ashkers this week. Let me tell you, I forgot what its like to be on your feet all day! Enough of my sob story though. Check back next week for another feature! Have a great weekend everyone! 

Smell ya later!
-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

 

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, (you get the point,) that needs to be picked over? Holla at me!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe eat some tootsie rolls.