Good JuJu

Oops, I forgot to make a blog post this week- but after 20 years of doing this, they kinda run together in my mind. But I never run out of things to say, so here it is, late but I’m still going.

Good JuJu, holiday decor
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Photos of my October look for Good Juju were posted online, but I forgot do add a blog about it.


I didn’t change a lot between my two spooky season sales, Sept. and Oct.  Some things got shuffled, this lady got a nice wig, but my inventory was so vast to start with, that I didn’t bring in much that was new.

I redid a few items to freshen the space, and consolidated the remaining fall/Halloween stuff from the first sale so I had room for a Christmas corner.

Some of our vendors were featuring Xmas back in September, and a lot had heavily vested in that season for October’s sale.  And I knew I should at least have a snippet of the ho ho ho started, so I made up an area to add the reds and greens.

The event has just passed, today I’m heading in to pack up all of the Halloween goods and turn the whole thing  into a winter wonderland, ready for Santa.

If I was smart, I’d have merchandized Xmas items sooner, but I was enjoying the fun, fall, freakiness that I’d created too much.  Maybe next year, I’ll bump up my schedule and get ahead a month.

If I did that, it would give me two months of Halloween goods (August/September) and three months of Christmas decor (October/November/December).

That might sound like a lot, but we are only open two days a month.  So it would be four days to sell the spooky stuff and six for holidays.

I’ll think on it while redoing today.

If I have time to think!

Our sale was Friday and Saturday, I have Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to eradicate all Halloween, and change the wallpaper, rearrange the furniture, and redo what I hang from the ceiling to create  a winter look.

Then, on Wednesday I’ll be flying to Florida on a sister trip.  Please don’t ask when I’ll pack, because I haven’t figured out that part yet…

When I return, I’ll restock the booth, but I need to have the background part done before I go.  Wish me luck, I’ll need it.

It’s mostly but not all spooky

Good JuJu, holiday decor
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Not every bit of my booth is dedicated to Halloween.  There is a large section designated for my jewelry boutique at the front of the room (sorry, no pics).  And this hutch is more fall, than fright.

See, full of vintage pretties!

Including this to die for alabaster lamp. (Oops, I went a little dark with my phrasing there)

But on top of the cabinet? Ghoulella is reigning over the room from her black, vintage wicker chair.

I don’t have her before photos.  Probably because they were ugly and I don’t want to embarrass this queenly beauty, garbed in vintage lace by showing you what a hideous guy she used to be.

But wait, I was saying that my spot at Good Juju wasn’t all gothic or ghoulish.

See?

Even though there is a plethora of black and white, it’s not all scary.  Like that cute pitcher with the kitty handle.

This shelf is witchy, but not scary, right?

I give up trying to find non spooky pictures.  I’ll leave you with the rest of the closeups I have of the booth.

Some spooky season crafts I’ve added to my booth for Good Juju this weekend

Good JuJu, Halloween treats, holiday decor
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There were so many ideas flapping around in my head like bats in my belfry, that could barely contain myself while planning my kick off to spooky season at Good Juju. Starting with vintage dolls, or just parts, painted ghoulishly.   And tiny notebooks dressed up like grimmories, complete with eyeballs on the cover.

I have poison toadstools, ghost fairies,

painted cat figures, more altered books,

a baby witch,

cake toppers for ghost brides,

ghosts with teeny pumpkins,

and brooms.

My broom salesperson is wearing a hand dyed wedding gown.

Oh, did I mention pumpkins from vintage fabrics?

And pumpkin paintings too.  And glittered crows with crowns, a ghoul queen, and on and on.

I have made myself stop.  Time to go hog wild on Christmas decor now that my space is set and ready to welcome shoppers for September and October’s First Friday Weekends in the Historic West Bottoms of KC.

But I still hear teensy, glittered skellies calling my name.  I think more of them wanted to be ballerinas.  I might just have to help them out.

Part two of summer’s last stand in my booth at Good Juju

Good JuJu
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Previously, I mentioned that my booth is mostly still set in summertime.

I’d kept a corner of beachy goods, and another wall of floral-garden partyish things (oops, no photos).

There is a hutch full of ironstone and white goods.  Which could be displayed any time of year.

And jewelry galore.

So much jewelry.

I made some new crowns.

Plus brought in the purse charms that I’d made in Indiana while visiting family.

And I like to always have a mushroom area, they still sell for me.  I brought in a few witchy boots filled with arrangements too.   These are more autumn than Halloween, next month I’ll do the more spooky ones.

There is a chance that I’ve missed the mark on what customers are looking for by not having my All Hallow’s Eve gear out, or not hitting the Autumn notes as hard as I should.  But I did have a great time setting it all up and have fingers crossed that my shoppers will like it too.

Clinging to Summer at Juju while everyone else does Fall

Good JuJu
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In retail, you need to be ahead of the seasons.  And I do know that.

But I don’t always follow the rule.

It’s a hot day in August and I should be doing full on fall in my space, but I happen to be a person who loves summer.

Instead of longing for fall, I’m holding on tightly to the remnants of my favorite time of year.

But I’m not unrealistic.  I did bring in some autumn elements and warmer tones too.

And topped it off with a few owls.  I’m transitioning a bit into Fall, even though I do not like that season.

For September, I’ll be skipping it over and heading full on into Halloween.  Which I adore.  I’ll do two months of gothic goods, then go full force for Christmas for two months.

 And after that?  January will be valentines.  I go for the fun parts that make the cool months of the year tolerable for me and concentrate souls on holidays.

4th of July First Friday Weekend

Good JuJu
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Meet Mandy, a new guest in my space.

She adds some class to the joint, doesn’t she?

I’m so glad she came to visit.

One side of my space is mostly neutrals.


The back wall is some seaside stuff.

Around the corner is some cuties.

This will be my first weekend back to work full time since my surgery, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Finally, a big redo

Good JuJu, jewelry
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Being able to use both arms again makes me so thrilled!  I loved every minute of the hard job of redoing my space.

Head to toe.

I started with the ceiling and hung some paper parasols with tulle and blooms.

Every single shelf got emptied, wiped off and rearranged.

New inventory was added, including these extremely sparkly, heavy silver rings with CZs.

And a brand new craft was brought in too, some bag charms.

The pole in the front of my space got a mini redo, I took down the necklaces and magnet hooks, and rearranged the jewelry that hangs there.   It’s not a big change, bout it freshened the entrance.  A vertical, narrow,  slice of space next to pole became my 4th of July display, since the sale on actually on the 4th, I wanted to honor the date with a bit of patriotism, even though we are probably past the time for red, white, and blue purchases by then.

Not only did I feel up to the turnover, I had nice weather to enjoy the time inside that old warehouse while changing the look.  I’ll show you more in the next post.

A quick, and very much enjoyed jaunt to Juju

Good JuJu
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My arm is still not released for working during the Good Juju sales yet, but I’m slowly getting less exhausted and feeling better.  So I took the guncles there with me for a couple of hours where they could shop and I could help out as much as I was able.

But a small twist was thrown into our plans when Beth texted to let me know I’d sold a dresser.   We found a replacement for it in my garage stockpile, cleaned it up, and hauled it in.   The guys were fantastic to have around as helpers, I really needed their assistance with this.

The piece I brought in was an exact fit for the space that was left bare, so it quickly slid into the spot, and I did a quick reshuffle of goods.  A table had sold while we were on our way there, and another sold while I was working.  It was a busy furniture day for me, and I usually just sell smalls.

These purchases were very, very unexpected.

After the booth was fooled up I got to spend some happy time visiting my buds at juju, and talking with, helping customers.

It was a great day!  And if you want to go see all the fun people there, it’s open today too.

Planning ahead for both March and April sales at Good Juju

Good JuJu
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Before it was time for my shoulder surgery, I was a busy bee getting my world situated so I function in with only one arm.

High on my list of priorities was to have my booth at Good Juju ready for the march sale.

Knowing I’d be missing the use of my dominate hand, I figured I needed to get enough inventory set up for redos too.  I tagged and boxed huge piles of goods ready to bring in and set up for April and May’s events too.

Another thing I wanted to accomplish in my space was setting up the power strips to be easy to reach, then making a diagram of where they were located so they’d be easy to find.  Other dealers need to be able to turn them off and on for me while I’m away.

Since I move furniture around between sales, I redo lighting each time, and convenience isn’t usually factored in when I finally get to the point of plugging stuff in.  I find myself twisting, reaching, and stretching to pop the switches and it’s been a work out to wrangle my arm behind something and feel around blindly trying to light up the area.

Since I’ll be depending upon the kindness of friends to make sure my booth is tidy and the bulbs are illuminating my wares, I knew I had to simplify how to reach the power strips.  After carefully placing them in spots with easy access and hanging some from hooks, I photographed and mapped out where they were, then printed copies for other dealers to find them.

As I write this, I haven’t gone under the knife yet.  (I’m also pre-posting here, because I’m afraid I won’t have anything to say during recovery).

I have no idea how all will go, and how much I will feel like, or be able to do after.  So part of my prep was to cram as much as I possibly could into the room in case I wasn’t able to do much for a while.

Cramming is my specialty anyway, but I really went for it this time.

She is filled to the brim!
And is decorated in a springtime/Easter theme that will hold through the April sale if needed.

From this angle, you can’t see the bunny ears on this guy.  But he is ready for Easter.

And I think I am too.

I’ve been in a tizzy trying to cover all the bases and be prepared for one armed life for a while.  Lids of toiletries are loosened, new pjs that button down the front are purchased.  My house is clean, as are my car and studio.

I’m as ready as I can be, I guess.  And feeling blessed that my friends are covering for me, so that I can take all this time off to recuperate.

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