Small Business is about Relationships. Thank you for yours!

My neice, Roxi sporting her new vintage dangly earrings that she's "always wanted!"

Thank you to everyone that came out and supported us this past weekend at our first annual Springtime at the Ranch occasional sale. We had a good turn out and a great time! If you didn't make it, we missed you and hope you can come out in July for the next one. We had lots of happy shoppers, including Roxi with her new clip on earrings! She stayed in the mirror for the longest time making them swing. So cute!

Since starting this new business, I have become more sensitive to supporting local businesses and have been making an effort to buy from small businesses, including our friend's greenhouse for plants, instead of Walmart or Lowes.  I love shopping where people know me. I love eating where people know me. It's nice to be treated well  by people who honestly appreciate my business.

I've heard many times from friends that have stores, restaurants, and so on...that if your own community won't support you, you haven't got a chance at making it. This is so true. How could you?  Many times we mistakenly think we are just one person and our presence won't make that much difference, but it really does. Knowing that your friends and family support your efforts means the world whether you spend a little or a lot. 

When you have an online business, it's just that...all business. There are no faces, just transactions... just business. When you have a local shop it's very personal. More faces than transactions, and that's to be expected. We appreciate those that came out and didn't find anything this time as much as those that left a Benji on the counter. It was just very nice to know that each one took the time to make the trip. Anyone that comes in the door smiling is always welcome. 

Small business is about relationships. The six months we have been doing this has been far more rewarding than the last 10 years of my art business, where I began to put it all online and just sell. I had forgotten how much I missed relationships with customers that I actually met face to face and built friendships with over the years. It sure makes getting up and working more satisfying.

So, with this said, I hope you know that our thank yous come from way down deep. We don't do this just for fun...although it IS lots of fun! It's hopefully going to become our livelihood one day soon and we are greatly appreciative to those that like what we are doing and support us with your business!

Sale Weekend

Just a quick reminder...we are in the midst of our Springtime at the Ranch occasional sale...

I 've been so busy I completely forgot to post here on the blog. While I've got a break I thought I'd best get back here just in case there was someone that had missed the other posts.

We are open today until 5pm and open again tomorrow, Sunday May 1, 1-5.  At 5 we are going to have a drawing for the assemblage piece shown above. It can be used to hold jewelry...etc. and can be kept for your self or it would make a lovely Mother's Day gift.

There is much to see in the shop still yet. I hope you will stop by!

All Shop Photos

Come on in

NC tobacco stick stars...gotta preserve our heritage!

Great chippy ladder backs, green, black and white. 

Old, old patchwork quilts...these were made by po folks! Some are entirely flour sacks.

A view from the other end

And from the back

...and here's Cheyenne. How'd she sneak in here?

Kitchen wares

Great find...White House vinegar jugs with lables

Front corner

Vintage travel...cases, brochures, maps, souvenirs

Old bakelite body Imperial camera (top)

Shoe brush makes a nifty photo display

Back corner

Our door prize

Just for the ladies

Lots of trinket boxes

Bird Feeder?

Intended as a bird feeder, but cute in a kid's bathroom for "stuff" if you have the space.

Where did I put my keys?

Extra large key

Button cards, neat embroidered pillow and hand made dresser scarf

Everything is for sale...but the dogs! Friday 10-8, Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 1-5. The drawing for the tiered jewelry dish is at closing on Sunday.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Win This!

Tiered jewelry dish

We are giving away one of our tiered jewelry dishes this weekend at the sale. It's a small one that would fit right in on anyone's dresser. It is made from three entirely different patterns but work together beautifully. I'm as addicted to making these as I am trinket boxes.

All you have to do to win is stop by Friday, Saturday or Sunday during the sale and drop your name in the cookie jar. We will draw a name on Sunday at 5pm. I will email or call you if you are the winner. 

I'm all but finished with preparations. Tomorrow, I will make sure everything is priced and finish a few small projects, take a deep breath and call it DONE. I set my goal to be done two days before the sale this time...I think I'm going to make it. 

I am looking forward to seeing you this weekend...and I hope you win!

OH, and I've added lots of new pictures of the shop on our Facebook Page if you want to take a gander...I'll post some here tomorrow, but there are lots there already. Click on the highlighted link above or there is also a link in the sidebar. 

Vintage Trailer Art is Here

Flower Child by Paige Bridges

If you've read my blog for a while you may remember me writing about my discovery of vintage trailer artist, Paige Bridges in my post titled Vintage Trailer Art . I placed an order with her last week for the shop and let me tell  you, making the decision of which ones to order was most difficult. I LOVE them all! I actually want them all.

I will have a selection in the shop along with boxed note cards for you to choose from. If you think the online images are great you are going to love seeing them in person! The prints are 11" x 14" but if you'd like a smaller 8" x 10" size to hang in your trailer I can get those too.

Here are a couple more...

Gettin' Ready by Paige Bridges

This would make a nice Father's Day gift.

Ric's Route 66 by Paige Bridges

Are you a trailer camper or just love the nostalgia of the old ones? I want a vintage trailer just to set up out here somewhere even if I didn't go anywhere. It could be my mom cave.

What is an Occasional Sale?

The invitations are out and the questions are coming in..."What is an occasional sale?"  Our first occasional sale, I just called Grande Opening, so everyone was good with that. This term, occasional sale has filled my inbox with questions. Here are my answers:

It's really just what the name says. A sale that happens occasionally. I almost called it a Seasonal sale but that has it's own meaning too. I had been using both phrases interchangeably, so now that I'm all straight I will not be doing that anymore.

Occasional sales are all the rage right now, especially in the handmade and vintage world. According to Renee Christensen, the Minneapolis Thrifty Shopping Examiner, "Occasional sales are usually hosted by an antique dealer or a group of antique dealers, and are held as often as monthly to quarterly to biannually for three to five days."
The beauty of occasional sales is that dealers restock items throughout a sale and each sale brings new treasures. Dealers strive to showcase decorating with architectural pieces, vintage wares, repurposed and recycled furniture, rustic and retro furniture, cabin and cottage style accessories, household and garden wares, and textiles."


 Our sales will be quarterly this first year and last 3 days each. Items are priced to GO. If something has been in the store for months it's been marked down. Collectible items are averaged with national markets and handmade art or fine crafts are marked about 10 to 20% less than what they will be listed for online if they don't sell during the weekend.

The back corner

Here are a few teaser photos as promised. Some areas of the shop look like an explosion, but I managed to get in the very back corner and take a few pictures. This is where most of the kitchen ware, candles and pottery are. 

 More to come....

1st Annual Springtime at the Ranch Occasional Sale.

Vanity items at Ranch Dressing Handmade and Vintage

The dates are set for our first occasional sale of the year. The invitations/newsletter are addressed and ready to go out this afternoon. E-invites/newsletters are scheduled to go out shortly, and for you, blog readers, you can read the newsletter here on the blog in just a second or two. Look up just under the banner and click the Newsletter link for the Spring 2011 edition.

If you'd like to be on our email list to get the next newsletter in your inbox sign up from the link on the side bar. Look for the pic of the shop and click there. We only send out 4 newsletters a year so don't worry about us bombarding you with emails and we never share your email address.

FYI the dates are April 29, 30 and May 1
Hours are Friday 10-8, Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 1-5

We are excited to share everything we've been working on and will be putting up a few teasers here on the blog for the next couple weeks.