July 4th Update!

Firecracker Rider - SOLD

*NOTE: I made a boo boo! You might be surprised to stumble upon this update without warning. The other day when I worked up the announcement post for this update, I never hit "publish"! Oopsie. If you're on my mailing list then you should have gotten an email announcement, but otherwise, consider this post, the actual update, the announcement. Have a look, there are lots of cuties looking for homes for the 4th! :)

The great American holiday is upon us and with that comes a burst of red, white and blue...and glitter! The land of the free will be booming and sparking before we know it and with that I have a final bundle of cuties ready to help you celebrate our grand old flag. I hope you're just as tickled with them as I am! :)

As usual, blog readers get first dibs on my new spun cotton one-of-kind figures. Click on photos to enlarge. If you see something(s) you love, just email me at vintagebycrystal@yahoo.com and I'll let you know if they're still available. First come first served! I'll update item statuses in this post as often as I can to make it easier for you to know what's available. Items often get scooped up quickly, so make your selection as swiftly as you can, you can always add available pieces to your order later. Also feel free to include second choices in case your first choice is unavailable, but make sure you label them "second choice".

Shipping is $3.50 for one item and $1 per additional item up to $6.50, then additional pieces are free. All paid orders will ship out immediately and should arrive within a few days. If you'd like 2 day shipping, just ask, it's just $2 more total. I send Paypal invoices via email within an hour or two of ordering unless you specify that you'd rather pay via check. And of course email me if you have any questions! Happy Shopping!

Mary Berry - SOLD
Honest Aila - 32
Sammy - SOLD

The Star Bangled Siblings - SOLD
Olivia Old Glory (on box) - SOLD

Sue Ann and her Doll Peaches - 28
Betsy Blue - 32
Fire Cracker Clara - SOLD

Banner Waving Willa - SOLD
The Sixteenth President- 30
Annie Ax - 28

Penny Parade - SOLD
High Flying Frances - 28
The Grand Champion - SOLD

Mr. America - SOLD
The Girl Who Loved George - 28
The Star Catcher - 28

The Elephant Rider - 42
The Deer Rider - 38

Patriotic Peacock Red - 38
Patriotic Peacock Blue - 38

Morgan - SOLD
Madison -28
Bella - SOLD

Polly - 28
Justin - 28
Lydia - SOLD

Melodie - 28
Angelique - SOLD
Kevin - SOLD

Sneak Peek!

All of these guys and more are up for grabs this afternoon at 3:00 EST! See you then! :)

4th of July Update Announcement!

I've got a bunch more little patriotic and summer cuties (and presidents) that will be up for grabs on Thursday! There'll be fire cracker gals, beach babes, and elephants on parade, among many others! The big American holiday is right around the corner and I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some sparklers and fireworks! I know the little characters I've got in store will be oohing and aahing right along side you as well.

Blog readers get first dibs as usual and if you'd like to be notified about upcoming blog updates and special events, just sign up for my mailing list on the right side of my blog, or leave a comment with your email address.

Orders will be shipped out the very next morning for asap delivery in time for the 4th.

New one-of-a-kind pieces will be available for purchase on:

Thursday, June 28th - Here, the blog - 3:00 pm EST

See you here on Thursday! :)

Back from Brooklyn...

Phew! What a weekend! Filled with all sorts of surprises and mischief! But of course the highlight was Renegade! It was a great weekend, albeit a bit hot at times, and thank you so so much to everyone who was able to stop by! I came back much lighter than I came and so many cuties found great new homes in New York.

With all of the work I did in the past month, I still have way more animals and figures in my studio than I ever have at one time (maybe except for Christmas), which means I'll be having some updates soon and my Etsy shop will be getting "fatter"! After that it's Christmas Christmas Christmas. I want to back a lot more this December, which means I'll have to work harder this summer. :)

I shared a booth with the lovely Jessie of Cake Spy who tempted me with all her cupcake inspired cards and doodads. But sharing a tent means that I only have two little tables...which is what I usually have anyway. I had so many figures on Saturday morning that they all barely fit and each little guy or gal was certainly breaching each other's personal space bubble. As the weekend wore on, breathing room was established...sigh....

Me doing what I do best...sitting!

While we were in town we got meet up with so many of our friends. A big group of us went to this really neat restaurant called Surf Bar. It was sort of a Louisiana beach style place and had sand on the floor - I mean deep sand, it was all in my shoes - and the walls were covered in vintage beach and ocean related doodads, including real shadow boxed thorny lobsters. We sat in the back outside at a big picnic table and I had the same exact food we ate almost everyday in Costa Rica...it was great! Along the way I saw these two really cool building murals. One of happy and chipper squirrel and the other...I don't know, depressing?

I have really been wanting to go to this store called "Evolution" ever since I found out about it a few months ago. We were in Brooklyn though and the store was in Manhattan and we didn't feel like taking the train just for one store. So we started to head home on Monday around 1:00 and the gps took us through Manhattan, much to Ben's chagrin. Parking is all but non-existent or expensive, and so we still weren't planning on stopping at the store, when luck was on our side! Well...that's one way to put it. We noticed a slow oil leak on our car the night before, but right when we were mosying our way through Manhattan, the oil leak got a whole lot bigger. We pulled over near a bus stop and I was literally laying on the sidewalk trying to look under the car and check the oil pan plug and whatnot. It didn't seem like a quick fix so we found a nearby mechanic and left it with him for a few hours, praying that he could fix it before the day was out.

So, guess which store we weren't too far away from? Evolution! We had more than enough time to kill so we made our way there. It's a shop that's filled with natural curiosities and plenty of authentic specimens. It's a museum really. Of course my feelings about places that sell new taxidermy and insect mounts are always very split, because I find the animals to be so beautiful and spell-bounding, yet I wonder (and probably don't want to know) where they came from and how they died. Well...we didn't buy anything, not even the real human fetus skeleton, but I did enjoy having a look-see.

We walked around a bit more doing some window shopping, when we were resting on a heated "seat, but not really a seat" that was below some tall store windows when it started raining. Just a little. I tucked my feet in and they were dry with the shelter of the eave. At least for a little while. Before we knew it it was down pouring! The kind of rain that stops traffic on an interstate highway! Ben and I were trapped trying to squeeze our bodies against the indentation of the building facade while the rain splattered us. Of course who calls right then? The mechanic. I could barely hear him with the pounding rain but he had good news and our car was ready! Yippee! We waited for the rain to stop and walked back to pick up the car. It was dinner time then so we decided to find parking in the village and scarf down some pizza. And while we were at it, pick up some way too expensive, but oh so good cheese to bring home.

Crazy times!

And this is the lovely Brooklyn street we stayed at with our wonderful friends, Todd and Elena...thank you so much for your hospitality guys!! :)

Brooklyn Bound!

I don't have much time to write as I'm busy busy busy getting everything together for Renegade this weekend. I'm so excited! It's my first show of the year and I'm so looking forward to talking to real people as opposed to just my cats...lol. I do hope you'll come and visit if you're nearby. And for those of you who aren't, I'm planning on doing a second and final patriotic/beach babe update probably this upcoming Thursday...stay tuned for details (make sure you're sign up for my mailing list if you haven't already so you'll get my emails announcing updates). :)

The Cat Wrangler is my favorite out of them all!!

My mom and sister came over yesterday to help me put stickers and tags on everything...it took all morning! Phew! Hopefully I'll come back home a bit lighter. :)

Happy Weekend everyone!

Our Garden Gate...

Our new garden gate!! Isn't it pretty?

A couple of Sundays ago my dad called us early in the morning and asked if we wanted to go to the farm to work on the gates we need for our garden. Of course we did! We were planning to weld together some old scrap pip and wire mesh to make some gates...but my dad had grander ideas...

He had just done some minor renovations in his cow barn and had lots of old metal cow stall dividers in his metal scrap bin. They were curvy and straight and could possibly be formed into letters with a little bit of planning.

The stalls looked kinda like this. I forgot to take pictures in my dad's barn before we left, so I found this one online. But this is what they were originally used for.

I cut them apart...

While my dad, Ben, and sister Sara constructed and welded them together.

Ben looks cute in nerdy eye protection glasses.

The result is an amazing eye catching gate that you see right when you pull into the driveway...like a name on a mailbox, but better.

We also made two smaller gates that will be more functional. The "SLOANE" gate is a stationary gate that will only be opened once a year when dad spreads the manure on the garden. And speaking of Sloane...my name is almost completely changed over...just one more piece of paperwork to complete...phew!

I love recycling!!

And while I was taking photos I took a little tangent and started photographing wild flowers. I used to love these when I was a kid and try to pick them for my grandmother...but their stems are so so tough I almost never was able to actually pick them, lol.

And I also went on a weeding tangent. My little rhubarb plants needed some neating up and I couldn't help myself. The rest of the garden needs some light weeding too and I really want to continue working on my rock wall in front of the garden, but that will all have to wait until next week after Renegade.

Pie!!

This past Sunday I took a break from preparing for Renegade and volunteered at the annual "Sundae on the Farm". Sundae on the Farm happens once a year during National Dairy Month (which of course is June). Each year a different farm in Saratoga County hosts this exciting event and invites the public to tour their farm and help educate people about where their food comes from. People can get up close and personal with farm animals and I saw kids playing in corn, felting wool, petting calves, looking at all of the huge farm equipment and generally just having a blast. It's such a great way to bring the community together and let all the non-farmers out there see just what goes into producing milk (usually it's dairy farms, but next year it will be at a thoroughbred race horse farm that's next door to my dad's farm) and caring for the animal that give us such a wonderful gift!

The first ever Sundae on the Farm was actually at our farm when I was about 12 or 13 and I remembering all the preparations we did getting ready for it...every one was so excited and it was big success!

This year I worked in the food tent where we served sundae's and pie a la mode. I got to spend time with my cousin's wife, Sally, who is a sweetheart!

Look at all the cars! Every year thousands of people come to check out the farms!

And the best part of my day was spending time with my sister and my dad. I got up early to make my dad a yummy breakfast for Father's Day...he had a long day of volunteering too...driving people who needed assistance around in a Kabota for a private tour...

Happy Farming and Happy Father's Day! :)