Bejeweled Barbie

  I love taking vintage or other jewelry pieces and making them into a more useable, attractive item.  Usually, the pieces are broken anyway, and this rescues them from the landfill  This particular piece was a  VCLM choker necklace, beautiful but way, way too short for anyone  (It also has a stone missing that is not noticeable.) I took the piece apart and made earrings and a bracelet with just a few twists of the pliers. Since this one has a little missing stone, I won't be selling it.  However, I do sell many pieces like this on our Tuesday night auction at 5:30 EST each week.    Our Youtube Channel where we hold Tuesday night auctions Thanks for reading!

A Sarah Coventry Broach If you haven't been to a Youtube jewelry auction, you have been missing it.  Even if you don't buy, they are absolutely captivating to a jewelry collector like me. They show the item in great detail, describing the marks, etc... It may be something you already have at home, and you might be surprised how much people would pay for that old vintage brooch. Below you will find links to some of the more popular Youtube jewelry auctions.  Some of these folks are serious resellers and some, like me, are just trying to get rid of the costume jewelry they got in jewelry jars and can't use. (AND...recap some of the $$$ spent on jewelry jars, too! LOL) If you click subscribe and then click the little bell, you will be notified on Youtube when they go live with a jewelry sale. Some have a set night that they are on, and others just "POP-UP" randomly with little sales. If you like costume jewelry, I guarantee you will enjoy watching.  I am list...

Free Shipping from China may be a thing of the past If you enjoy ordering jewelry from China on Ebay and Amazon with FREE Shipping, you need to check out the latest news. How many nights I have laid in bed, unable to sleep, and bid on jewelry on Ebay for mere cents with free shipping.  Most of the time, I won't go much over .38 cents for items unless I really, really want them, Well, it appears the party is over! President Trump is working hard to create a level playing field for American businesses.  He has withdrawn from a 144-year old treaty with China that made it much cheaper to ship an item from China than to ship within the United States. According to an Oct. 19 article on NBC News,  The poster child for the movement to overhaul the rates was the "Mighty Mug," a patented spill-proof travel coffee mug. It cost the U.S. company $6.30 to ship by regular mail from New Jersey, the company CEO Jayme Smaldone  wrote in February . But a Chinese company t...

Do you shop the Goodwill showcase?  When you are going from Goodwill to Goodwill seeking jewelry jars, are you missing some amazing vintage costume jewelry finds?  There could be some awesome pieces lying in the glass showcase! Typically, I have found that not all stores have an ample showcase, and there seems to be a correlation between jewelry jars and a jewelry showcase. If a store regularly prepares jewelry jars on site, there is not usually very much, if any, jewelry in a showcase. It was used in the jars, with just a few pieces priced individually. Often, you will see new jewelry with pink tags in the Goodwill showcase that came from Target or some other retail establishment. Usually, these are upwards of $2.00.  And, I will add, they are not always in pristine shape, although NWT.  However, I have found that one particular Goodwill keeps an updated showcase full of donated jewelry.  I had never really looked closely because I was always stomping...

 The other night I was researching ways to test Bakelite. I ran across an article on The spruceCrafts    that mentioned using the commercial cleaner "409" to determine whether an item is truly Bakelite. This is supposed to be a new and better method than the formerly-used cleaner, "Scrubbing Bubbles." If the Q-tip renders a pale yellow color, the item is supposedly Bake-lite. While there are other methods for testing Bakelite, this seemed the simplest to me, so I bought some 409 for $2.99 at the grocery store. So, let's see if you can guess how the tests turned out! I thought i really had an eye for Bake-lite because of my childhood in my parents' antique shoppe, but I must say I got schooled. So, what about these black hoops I got at the Goodwill Sunday. They truly looked vintage in the case, and they were the first item I requested to see. Well, silly me~ NO~ This little peach bangle has a marbelized look, bu...