PHOTO UPDATE Wild Caribbean Potion Headdress Cocktail Hat: The Destiny of Things, Story 531

PHOTO UPDATE Wild Caribbean Potion Headdress Cocktail Hat: The Destiny of Things, Story 531

I am so excited to share photo updates for this Tiki Bar concoction that one can wear! Hold on to your hat or NOT because you'll want to trade it in for this one!  BYOB or BYOCP!

Is that a real goldfish in there?  Everything possible in this oasis to relax, swim in, play or wear!

No fish or pets were harmed in this photo shoot!  Drink not included, but the fish bowl is!

Order and see this oasis close up at the link here!

photo via JezebelsFascination 

Bring your own Caribbean Potion while you ooh and ahhh at this creation and wonder what all is on there and how it stays on so deliciously!

I lost count at 20 of all the fun decorations that are used to make this concoction!  It has everything you need for your own portable tiki bar or Caribbean cocktail potion, like swizzle sticks, little mermaids, real shells, paper umbrellas, orange garnishes, tropical flora and fauna, all with a cherry on top!  and of course, it's a maraschino cherry.

I heard you can even add on tiki lights or glow sticks, fish candy to eat, while you wear it, if you can reach them and so much other stuff, it'll blow your mind!  And the real "blow your mind" miracle?  It all balances on your head to be taken any where you go!  What that secret ingredient is, I have no idea!

Wonder who's wearing the "everything but the kitchen sink" oasis headdress and where the huge luau cocktail came from?

Introducing Jezebel, who is the creator of this luscious tropical headdress and Beachbum Berry, who is reviving the tiki bar experience at Latitude 29 in New Orleans!  Check out in full detail on the luau headdress here  on Etsy and Beachbum Berry's tiki bar revival in New Orleans, here.

Wondering where I come in?  I am thankful to be able be a small part of this beautiful creation and to sail off the little mermaids to Jezebel and watch her work her magic!

Just imagine these little mermaids adding beauty to any cocktail drink's rim, but nothing compared to a fish bowl headdress!  We have 8 different colors of mermaids at the moment at all 4 of our shops!

Here they are in sync doing the back stroke!  We have 8 different colors of mini mermaids left in stock, which are usually used to hang  on your cocktail drink or to decorate your cupcakes, but this story and use is beyond the imaginable!  Available here, photo via VintageToGoEasy

Add these to your New Year's Eve champagne toast, wedding or other milestone toast, luau, tiki, tropical oasis, cupcakes, plants, yes, we know a couple Etsy buyers who use them as plant jewelry or go classic and dress up your bar cart, or even your fish bowl, aquarium or terrarium!  We have one hanging in our fish bowl on a shell to keep our Betta company!

Below is an example of the ultimate tiki bar cart with accessories and take one last look at Jezebel's creation!  Unless you buy it and then it's yours to wonder at forever!  It's still available here, but it's in someone's cart to order!  So hurry!  but no worries, Jezebel is very kind and friendly and I'm sure she'd make one just as you imagined with all your creative wonderment and heart's desired bells and whistles included!

 If you are as curious as I am and want a close up zoom in look, check it out here!  Photo via JezebelsFascination 

Saying Goodbye:  I should be saying "Hello" because I think I might need one of those tiki fish bowl headdresses just to help out my posture!  It sure looks way better than the stack of books I use!  About the little mini cocktail mermaids, we might be saying goodbye to them because it's getting more and more difficult to source them and even more importantly, I'm ready to move on to my next adventure!

Let these mini mermaids swim in sync on your next Little Mermaid party cake or cupcakes just for fun!  These look great arranged on a cake like above or a few on cupcakes or even just one, available here.  Photo via JunkDrawerAndMore

What I Learned:

1.  New friends, like Jezebel can work miracles on helping me overcome my holiday blues.  Her emails are full of kindness and her reaching out to me as a friend has showed me that the Christmas spirit is everywhere all the time!  and that I can make it past this last hump into the New Year looking forward to more beauty and inspiration!

2.  I'm willing to say goodbye for good to many of my major and minor obstacles that seem to come and go in my life and leave them all in the past of 2018.  I am excited for New Year 2019 and have already started several of my New Year's Resolutions for a more healthy year with new friends, experiences and adventures!

3.  For example, I read some where a couple of times that after 30 years of age, women lose a half a pound of muscle annually, so since I'm over 50 that's 10 pounds of muscle I've lost at least!  And since I seem to be gaining more and more fat and it's becoming more and more difficult to decrease the amount around my thighs, hips and stomach, I'm going to lift weights to see what kind of difference it will make on my body fat and health.

However, since I have adrenal fatigue, which is improving faster than what I've read about, and need to be careful with how I exert my energies, I am going to start with teeny tiny baby steps, which I've begun.  I've been doing three kinds of different yogas for several months now to slowly strengthen my body and am ready to add a new routine of lifting small weights.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?  and do you write them down?  I forget the percentage of success of writing them down vs. not writing them down, but I have found that I usually succeed at 90% of all my New Year's Resolutions if I write them down and put a future completed date next to each one.

I've let go of all my cocktail glasses on Etsy, so here are the glasses I have left as an example of what they look like on champagne, kids cups and tumblers.

Available here, photo via VintageToGoEasy

Thank you Etsy buyer, Jezebel Lobelia, from Etsy shop,  JezebelsFascination for sharing your story and sending updated photos!  I love them all!! Your wild imaginative description of what you did with the mermaids in the last post, here, looks amazing now and is better than described!  And now you can see with photos!  

I'm very grateful to be a tiny part of your tropical fish bowl oasis headdress and wish I could be a fly on the headdress to see how who buys it and go wherever they go with it on!

I'd add a photo of her model wearing the headdress with all it's tropical lore and love, but I'd rather have you see it with your own eyes, here and while you are there, you might as well check out all 134 of her diverse fascinators, millinery and cocktail hats at her shop, JezebelsFascination with all her goodness and creativeness!  

I am still an introvert, so here's the one I'd wear here, but if I were an extrovert, I'd be wearing this one here.  It even lights up!  Actually if I were an extrovert, there are too many too choose from!  Thank you Jezebel Lobelia for your kindness, friendship and inspiration!  It has helped me more than I could ever explain!  It's even helped slow down my hoarding, which I kinda fell off the wagon with over the winter blues.

My purge pile is starting to haunt me, so I will need to make a decision soon on it.  I'm leaning towards driving it off to donation because I know in my mind it's not going to kill me, even though it feels that way in my heart.  I can only see what happens and live through it consciously to add strength to myself.

Maybe someone out there can do something unique with these monkey cocktail or cake toppers.  A barrel of them would look playfully fun on a large tropical plant monkeying around! Available here.  Photo via Hoarder Rehab

Sales for the New Year 2019 have brought us back up to our weekly average of about 25 and although I thought Christmas sales were not as good as last year I think I might be wrong about it, according to Etsy's "Year in Review," either way a lot of my hoard, too much to count have found new lives and homes in 2018! and that's enough to be grateful!

I'm still working hard daily and with little baby steps to change my thinking about abundance and scarcity and all my new thinking towards Etsy and life in general and I feel as though it's starting to work!

Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed weekly: HoarderRehab with 173 items, The Destiny of Things- 174 items, VintageToGoEasy - 173 items and JunkDrawerAndMore - 175 items.   

Maybe you'll find something and give it new life and a new home!  Thanks for looking!

24 or 38 assorted animals and mermaids or all animals for your Happy Hour or Cake Hour, available here.  They are becoming more difficult to source, so we most likely won't be restocking them.  Photo via JunkDrawerAndMore

Related Stories:

1.  Mini Mermaids Wild Caribbean Poison Headdress Cocktail Hat:  The Destiny of Things, Story 527, here

2.  Cocktail Drink Monkey Toppers as Plant Jewelry!  The Destiny of Things, Story 302

3,  Little Mermaid in a mason jar aquarium party favors, here, grotto, here, terrarium kids birthday activity, here

"A friend is someone who walks in, when the rest of world has walks out."---Unknown

Hope your New Year is happy and safe!  Thank you for visiting my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things!  Thank you for stopping by!

A Tanuki Themed Christmas Tree: The Destiny of Things, Story 530

A Tanuki Themed Christmas Tree:  The Destiny of Things, Story 530

Tankukis!  Just in time for Christmas!  BEFORE:

Guess who bought out all my tanukis?  More Japanese souvenir and Asian items, here.

photo via Hoarder Rehab

I just love Japanese omiyage (souvenir gifts) and had a hoard of these because?  because I don't even know why now, but since a sister bought them all in August to cheer up her sister who was struggling with a recent incident and then give the rest for her Christmas tree!  How sweet!

I am so thankful they found their way to a temporary home and are now have been place at their forever home! All the tanuki's are all together and are now happily displayed Christmas spirit style!

Here is the note I received:

Hi Kennedy,

Hope your holidays are going well.

Here is my sisters tree. She plans to add to it but has been keeping busy with craft fairs. She loved your tanukis as they were the only real tanukis.

Thanks again

AFTER:

photo via Etsy buyer

I love her tanuki themed Christmas tree!  It's giving me ideas and inspiration for next Christmas!  Our family tree is usually decorated with handmade ornaments from our childhood and gifted ornaments.  Every year we'd handmade ornaments for all my dad's customers, family and friends.  We have handmade ornaments from the 60s!  That's 50 handmade ornaments spreading over 5 decades!  

What was your most favorite themed Christmas tree?  My family never had a themed Christmas or Christmas tree, but I'd love to hear about yours.

Saying Goodbye:  I felt joy letting these go, I think there were at least ten.  In the beginning, I used to feel so much pain letting things go, but that rarely happens now.  Also, I think I see a hoard pattern emerging.... I tend to buy things thinking I'm going to make something with them and then overtime I forget about it!  I used to think I wanted to be a repetition artist, which probably isn't a good idea for a recovering hoarder with a poor memory!

The tanuki's have all sold out.  More Japanese souvenir and Asian items, here.

photo via Hoarder Rehab

What I Learned:

1.  As a recovering hoarder, I am so thankful I no longer feel anxiety and pain when something dear to me finds a new home, which in the beginning was just about everything!  It took several years of feeling the anxiety over and over until finally it was gone or at least less.  Now I know I can live through it more peacefully and bring joy to others.  I'll have to think on that, I don't feel as though I've explained it correctly.

2.  I am not alone, the other day on Etsy forums I found this discussion,  Ever Regret Selling Something? and felt comfort knowing I am not alone.  Although my regret has never been over selling something too low of price, mine was more of a pain that was equal to having a limb cut off, which sounds ridiculous now, but years ago it felt real!  And the anxiety of packaging the item, saying good bye to it and sending it off.

3.  Now I'm happy if one of my pieces of hoard finds a new life and home with someone else!  I thought I'd never see that happen!

4.  It seems I am better at collecting art supplies, rather than using them!  I really need to do something about that, but I'm not sure what.  Maybe I'll just start selling all my supplies and do something with the ones that don't sell?  Any suggestions out there?

The tanuki's have all sold out.  More Japanese souvenir and Asian items, here.
photo via Hoarder Rehab

Here is my hoarder history and story of tanuki that we heard from our elders as children:

HOARDER HISTORY: I grew up with this Japanese Folk Tale of little tanuki or Bunbuku Chagama, which my Grandmother told me was good luck for "endless happiness bubbling over like water in a teapot" and told stories of his shape shifting ways to reward those that were kind. Bunbuku Chagama literally translates to magic iron tea kettle

Bunbuku Chagama is an old folk story, dating back to Japan from the 1800s, in short form from wiki:

The story tells of a poor man who finds a tanuki caught in a trap. Feeling sorry for the animal, he sets it free. That night, the tanuki comes to the poor man's house to thank him for his kindness. The tanuki transforms itself into a chagama (tea kettle) and tells the man to sell him for money.

The man sells the tanuki-teapot to a monk, who takes it home and, after scrubbing it harshly, sets it over the fire to boil water. Unable to stand the heat, the tanuki teapot sprouts legs and, in its half-transformed state, makes a run for it.

The tanuki returns to the poor man with another idea. The man would set up a circus-like roadside attraction and charge admission for people to see a teapot walking a tightrope. The plan works, and each gains something good from the other—the man is no longer poor and the tanuki has a new friend and home.

In a variant of the story, the tanuki-teapot does not run and returns to its transformed state. The shocked monk decides to leave the teapot as an offering to the poor temple where he lives, choosing not to use it for making tea again. The temple eventually becomes famous for its supposed dancing teapot.

These were new old stock vintage and came in their original box.  We have some other Japanese souvenirs that are new old stock vintage and Asian items, here.

photo via Hoarder Rehab

Thank you Etsy buyer for remembering from August to send me a photo update!  What a nice Christmas Etsy buyer surprise!  I am thankful to have a small part in someone's cheerful act of kindness!  What a great memory!  I'm not sure if I'd remember to send an update photo from August.  

I'm still hoarding and buying supplies for creating, but this time I'm writing them down!  Now I just need to find the time to make my ideas come to life!  We are having a Christmas clearance sale for the next three weeks at JunkDrawerAndMore and The Destiny of Things to celebrate me changing almost all the items to free shipping and then I'll start adding my new hoard.

I'm still waiting for an inner answer on what to do with my purge pile.  I'm going to let it sit there until I have a definitive unwavering answer one way or another.  All the little baby steps I started at the beginning of this year are paying off now and have accumulated to a daily hour or two on my physical and spiritual well being in the form of different kinds of yoga and mediation.  I am so thankful!

Everyday is such an adventure dehoarding on Etsy!   I never know who I'll meet and I have met so many Etsy buyers who share their stories with me and every time I glean some insight about where my dehoarding journey is taking me.

Thank you Etsy for the best Hoarder Rehab ever!  And for all the kind people I'm meeting who are helping me indirectly and directly in so many ways with my Hoarder Rehab!

Know anyone opening a new shop this New Year 2019?  Here is a new old stock vintage Japanese lucky cat manek neko banner to bring good luck and prosperity to the owner, available here.

photo via Hoarder Rehab

I am relaxing this winter holiday, so I'm not doing much on Etsy this time of year and it feels good!  Christmas sales are not as good as last year and the old me would be very worried about it, but I just remind myself of retail cycles and just welcome every sale we do get.  I'm thankful for my new mind set.

I've let go of the Etsy fee changes that were bothering me by figuring out new prices by changing most listings to free shipping.  I've been working hard to change my thinking lately and all my new thinking towards Etsy sales and life in general and I feel as though it's starting to work!

Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily and/or weekly: HoarderRehab with 177 items, The Destiny of Things- 174 items, VintageToGoEasy - 175 items and JunkDrawerAndMore - 175 items.   

Maybe you'll find something and give it new life and a new home!  Thanks for looking!

Last year's fiesta themed Christmas tree with loteria cards from an Etsy buyer.  52 loteria cards to turn into Christmas tree ornaments, available here.

photo via The Destiny of Thngs

Merry Christmas to you and yours!  Thank you for visiting my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things!  Thank you for stopping by!

Christmas Cards Library Date Stamp Style: The Destiny of Things, Story 529

Christmas Cards Library Date Stamp Style:  The Destiny of Things, Story 529

So many creative Etsy buyers who use this date stamp in so differently!  BEFORE:

NEW 2019 library date stamp 2019 - 2026 mechanical rubber date stamp teacher classroom scrapbook craft stationery journal birthday invites, available here.  Photo via JunkDrawerAndMore

This is one of our most popular items and as a third grade teacher one of my most loved classroom tools, not just for me as a teacher, but my students as well, but now that I'm retired, I'm not the only one who uses it for art and other creative adventures!

AFTER:

So creative and fun!  I'd love to make some and receive some!

photo via Etsy buyer from JunkDrawerAndMore

Here is the message I received from another inspiring and talented Ety buyer:

Fast shipping and loved the extra bag of goodies that came in the package! I used the date stamp to make library-themed Christmas cards for my bookworm coworkers.

Saying Goodbye:  Now if you are like me and end up not sending Christmas cards for whatever reasons, you can send either "Thank You" or "Thinking of You" cards that includes a New Year's greetings or just "Thinking of You" cards, if it's after New Year's.  I'd use the song, Auld Lang Syne  by Robert Burns.

I'd use the rest of the lines on the library card to thank them for holiday gifts and send personal messages, like wishes and affirmations for the New Year.

NEW 2019 library date stamp 2019 - 2026 mechanical rubber date stamp teacher classroom scrapbook craft stationery journal birthday invites, available here.  Photo via JunkDrawerAndMore

What I Learned:

1.  Have I been MIA for that long?  Time sure does fly at the end of the year!  I've been using all my blog time changing stuff on my Etsy shops, however Etsy buyer stories are piling up again, so it's going to be one of my New Year's Resolutions to blog more often and set up a better balanced schedule and start making a list of the stories as they arrive!

2.  I usually get the winter holiday blues so terribly that I call them, "the dreads," but this year it's not as bad and I'm surviving quite well, despite my usual retail therapy being a lot worse than last year.  Retail therapy seems a small price to pay for feeling more centered this time of year, which means you'l be seeing new and different items listed in the shops this coming 2019!

3.  I've been busy changing all our shop items to free shipping, which is a little tricky, if and when you want to have a sale and anticipating USPS shipping fees rising, but it seems worthwhile since Etsy added all the new fees and "live" accounting that many items needed to be bumped up, so we make a little profit to keep on trucking!

4.  Many of our best sellers and other items are labours of love, but being in the hole is no fun for anyone, so let's see what kind of abundance 2019 brings for us all!

5.  I have many New Year's Resolutions this coming 2019 and I'll think I'll be writing them down in January, rather than my usual March.

How are your New Year's Resolutions coming along and do you write them down?  I write them all down and next to each one write when I think it will be accomplished or become a new habit.  

For instance, next year I'd like to send out library themed Christmas cards, which for me I'd have to start after Halloween, so I can take baby steps to get them all done.  If I wait last minute, I usually end up buying all the supplies and then giving up, but I can remind myself that the date stamp has 2020 on it, so I could send out New Year cards and ask everyone about their resolutions!

Something like this for Christmas and if I miss Christmas, I can change the title to New Year's Resolution card and add their name as the author and they can use the lines for their New Year's Resolutions or at least start a book list of favorite reads for the New Year!

photo via Bustle

Thank you Etsy buyer for sharing your exciting creative idea!  It has so inspired me and turned into many more ideas!  I'm already looking forward to next year's Christmas and usually that's impossible for me due to the dreads I usually have at this time of year!  Thank you so much!

I've been hoarding again, but like I said, I think it's a small price to pay to have the Christmas spirit, rather than the Christmas humbugs battling in my head!  Plus I'm tired of seeing the same old hoard in my shops, so I think we'll be having a clearance sale to celebrate me changing almost all the items to free shipping and then I'll add my new hoard.

I'm still waiting for an inner answer on what to do with my purge pile.  I'm going to let it sit there until I have a definitive unwavering answer one way or another.  All the little baby steps I started at the beginning of this year are paying off now and have accumulated to a daily hour or two on my physical and spiritual well being in the form of different kinds of yoga and mediation.  I am so thankful!

Everyday is such an adventure dehoarding on Etsy!   I never know who I'll meet and I have met so many Etsy buyers who share their stories with me and every time I glean some insight about where my dehoarding journey is taking me.

Thank you Etsy for the best Hoarder Rehab ever!  And for all the kind people I'm meeting who are helping me indirectly and directly in so many ways with my Hoarder Rehab!

Here's a cute example for Christmas gift "thank you" cards.

photo via google

I did at one time have 180 items listed at all 4 shops, but that was between the last blog posting and this one and although 180 items, seems to be the magic number or silver bullet for all our shops to maintain and keep sales up.  I feel differently now with the new Etsy fees and "live" accounting, I don't feel as carefree and I feel, as though I should be more discriminating on which hoard I list.  We'll see how the free shipping and clearance sale goes.  

Christmas sales were really down this year, but according to Etsy's "your year in review" we have made more sales than last year and have earned about the same, if not more at some shops, so hopefully it evens out.  I'm thankful for that.

I am still waking up at 3 am because I feel better and get most of my health routines, reading and my fun creative stuff in by 8 am and then do hoard organization, home and financial maintenance and then by 11 am I am ready to do Etsy stuff.

I've let go of the Etsy fee changes that were bothering me by figuring out new prices by changing most listings to free shipping.  I've been working hard to change my thinking lately and this is my new thinking towards Etsy sales and life in general, "I am willing to forgo all perceptions of gain, desire or profit and thereby be willing to be of selfless service to life in all it's expressions."  Still easier said then done, especially "selfless service" because I do think it's best to break even, rather than in the red, but everyday I'm taking baby steps and practicing it.

Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily and/or weekly: HoarderRehab with 178 items, The Destiny of Things- 172 items, VintageToGoEasy - 177 items and JunkDrawerAndMore - 175 items.   

Maybe you'll find something and give it new life and a new home!  Thanks for looking!

This chronicle of a courtship is inspiring me to chronicle my own milestones for 2019!

photo via google

It feels so good to be blogging again!  I didn't think that would happen.  I hope to blog again before Christmas, but if not Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Thank you for visiting my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things!  Thank you for stopping by!