This website uses affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission from your purchase - at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more details.

Shop Update and Spider News

The Etsy shop I run has been chugging along and it’s always so interesting to see what has sold:

Some of my favorites were out the door first!  Every time I packaged something up I thought, “maybe I should have kept this?”  Our spendy new furnace has made it much easier to part with treasures, though…

In addition to the shop, I’ve held two Instagram sales.  For the first sale, a vintage hodge podge with entertaining goodies, I listed about 25 things and sold 10.  For the second sale, I listed just over 30 items (mostly Pyrex, some Fire King and Hazel Atlas) and sold nearly everything.  The women at the post office fought over who had to help me with my truckload of packages (1-2-3 not it!).  I’ve been so surprised by the underground economy of vintage selling/trading on Instagram – it’s like the Wild Wild West over there.  It’s nice though, because you get to know sellers personally.  I’ve even bought/traded some vintage Pyrex that way.  But I do love Etsy.  I like being able to list lots of photos and pen supremely lengthy descriptions.  You might have guessed that I’m a bit chatty!  Plus, I downloaded the Etsy app onto my phone and I hear a little “Cha-CHING” when I sell something.

I recently added some new listings to the shop and thought I’d give you a peek.  I like to make jobs more difficult than they need to be, so I’ve continued to try to list items in colour groupings.  It looks so good that way that I can’t stop.  Behold my reds and greens:

Those green anchor hocking tumblers gleam like emerald!  I love those, but I think the mint condition red polka dot Fire King grease jar is my favorite.  The vintage medical jars are really neat and I’d love to see them in a vintage-inspired bathroom.  The red and white coffee set has the word “coffee” written in a bunch of different language, from Finnish to Spanish, French and German.  And no winter is complete without a fondue pot 😉 – I saved the most incredible fondue recipe as a sweet surprise for the purchaser.

I also added some vintage jewellery, including some rhinestone stunners, a sweet pair of 14k gold half moon studs, and a really striking pair of enamel earrings in mint, gold, and black.  Perfect for holiday parties.

Finally, some exciting news (get ready to pat me on the head!): I’ve added three listings, each with bunches of my handmade Christmas spiders.  See them here, here, and here.

UPDATE: This listings above sold, but I’ve got three new listings, with five choices in each:
Click here for blues, greens, and purples
Click here for pinks and reds
Click here for gold and jewel hues

I’ve been meaning to list them on Etsy for years (I want to say 2011…), but I always sell out locally.  This year I started making them very early and set aside some for the shop.  I can’t custom make them for Etsy buyers at this time, but for YOU folks I will happily make one in a certain colour(s), or snag one from my local inventory.  If you want one and don’t see one that’s perfect, just let me know!

Truthfully, it was a pleasure making extra spiders this year.  It was so relaxing to hunker down on cold days and just create – and not feel guilty about doing it (like I should be cleaning or doing laundry).  I also love a good excuse to binge watch Gilmore Girls (for the millionth time, but it’s on Netflix now and who can resist?).  The process is kind of adorable.  I make the bodies first, so I have a big batch of these weird looking guys:

Then I bead the legs and they still look like little octopi until the legs gets formed and shaped into spider legs.

Hubby actually shapes most of them for me – he is eerily skilled at forming the legs.  Mine always look a little frightened and/or squashed, but his look so elegant.

I can’t help myself, the photo below is just perfect for this: “get ’em before they’re gone…”

That’s my shop update!! Take a peek at our Minden Shop here if you’re curious.  Thanks so much for your encouragement and support.  I know some of you have even bought things, recently and over the years, and that’s just so kind of you.  Thank you!  I never expect a purchase from readers, but it’s really touching when I’m able to send a vintage treasure to someone I know here.

Share:

11 Comments

  1. Mac n' Janet
    November 26, 2014 / 3:21 pm

    I just went and ordered one of your spiders in teal 2 blue. They're gorgeous!!!!

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      November 26, 2014 / 6:00 pm

      I'm so thrilled!! Thank you so much, that is a huge compliment and you totally made my day!

  2. Nicki Parrish
    November 26, 2014 / 4:17 pm

    I live in Clarksburg, WV, and we used to have an Anchor Hocking plant right here! It closed down back in the 80's, but many of my friend's fathers were employed there. I would not be surprised if those glasses were made right here. And please excuse me if I have told you all of this before. As I am writing it, I am having a little deja vu, so maybe I have and maybe I haven't.

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      November 26, 2014 / 6:03 pm

      I think you have, but I still love being reminded. That is very cool!! What a neat piece of history. It's a shame that the plant closed down, though. That was probably a lot of losses jobs!

  3. patty
    November 27, 2014 / 5:15 am

    One Christmas Octopus please :p. That Christmas story wouldn't be anywhere near as awesome if it was Octopi instead of spiders…

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      November 27, 2014 / 5:31 am

      I need to market the octopi and make it happen because it shaves off a few minutes from the assembly of each one, lol.

  4. brikhouse2
    November 27, 2014 / 7:30 pm

    I have to say that these spiders kind of creep me out, not because they aren't cute because they are….but the one that is on always in the link on the right kind of catches me of guard each time I am scrolling down your blog and I think it's real for a split second lol. Stupid I know. I like the all turquoise one in the bottom pic. I am also digging those aqua 3 monkeys in the Etsy shop, didn't see those before when I checked it out.

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      November 27, 2014 / 11:02 pm

      Haha, sorry!! Maybe I can photoshop a smiley face on it?? 😀 The monkeys sold the same day I listed them! I was surprised! The buyer spotted them on IG and waited for the shop to open.

  5. Sherry
    November 29, 2014 / 2:10 am

    I'm having a major Harry Potter moment . . . 🙂 love the spiders.

  6. Marigene
    March 30, 2015 / 5:37 pm

    Are you planning on making more of these in the future? I would love to get one for my daughter.

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      March 30, 2015 / 6:46 pm

      Hi Marigene,I am currently making some for next year already. I just sold the last one listed in my Etsy shop, but I do have many more available. If you'd like to tell me what colours your daughter favors, I can send you a photo of what I have. Feel free to email me: [email protected] so we can chat about it.I sell them for $6.50 USD each, plus shipping. In the States that's about $5.00 to ship. In Canada, sadly, it's actually $13. I can fit 3 spiders comfortably in a box, so if you're looking ahead to Christmas gifts, the second/third ones ship free 🙂

Dans le Lakehouse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. If you click on a link that leads to Amazon, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases - at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!