Good JuJu – Page 5 – Karla's Cottage

First Friday Weekend at Good Juju in the Old West Bottoms gets an Old West Theme in my Booth

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2024

A few weeks back, I found a boxful of these floats. After keeping a bowlful for myself, I tagged the rest to take into our July First Friday Weekend. That is today!

If you are done with leftover potato salad and your fireworks have all been set off, you should celebrate the remaining part of your holiday weekend by coming in to see us at Juju.

My red, white, and blue is packed away, but I can still wish you a happy 4th.

Well, I need to get to work, I’ll leave you with photos of the space.

In Beth’s Booth at Good Juju

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2024

Beth was feeling under the weather when we were setting up our booths, so I suggested that I finish the bit she had left to do.

It wasn’t a big job, she was mostly done.

All of her furniture was in place, I just got to play with her bags of goodies that needed setting out.

She had some interesting pieces, I like this KC memorabilia.

As much as I enjoy arranging my own wares, it’s even more fun when someone lets me play with theirs. Especially when the bags are filled with such nice things.

An appreciated gift

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2024

I went to the nice shop where I had my fancy violin appraised to see if they sold unrepairable instruments to use in craft projects. They said no, but they’d give me some when they got them! In the meantime, they had a few bits and pieces.

With some hooks added to the back of the half violin they gifted me, I could use it as a necklace display.

The necks add some class to the shelf too.

Here is the overall display, without the lights turned on. When lit, this baby glows. I’m so glad I bought it.

Other things I bought that I’ve been especially happy with? Silver and stone rings from the Gem Show. So much so, that I was going to pick up a generous amount of them at the June wholesale event. But durn, it was cancelled. Well, I looked up my invoices and got ahold of the guys I bought from then ordered a few over the phone. I also tried wholesale lots direct from India, it will take a while for those to arrive.

Maybe in time for First Friday weekend in August?

Our mall allows a mix of goods. Vintage, handmade, market. I don’t really deal in market items, but I do like to have brand new jewelry to sell. But only good stuff, real silver, genuine stones, not a bunch of cheap costume stuff. But still affordable.

I also appreciate being able to offer my handmade pieces. For those, I have similar rules for myself, only “good stuff” in the materials, silver, stones, and vintage bits.

Previously, I displayed them on separate levels of the same unit as I had my old jewelry sat up. But now that I have TWO!! delightful, LED shelving units, I can have vintage on one side of the entry, hand crafted/newer items on the other.

It makes sense because each attracts a different shopper. This way, the browsers have space to linger over what they want to see.

Both the left and right get the vintagey treatment, though. I don’t want a sleek, modern, jewelry store look at all. I try to fill the shelves with display items that are unique or old.

Seems like I am continually looking for a more enticing way to show off my goods. But that is what makes having a booth fun, I get to play with all the stuff. If I was simply plopping it down til it sold, then replacing it with more inventory, this wouldn’t be an enjoyable activity for me.

Finding one little treasure is enough to inspire a whole redo built around it, and that sure does bring me joy.

June at Juju

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2024

Remember the pre-lit shelving I got from Amazon for jewelry? I loved it sooooo much, I bought a second one. I have placed one on each side of the entrance to my space. This one is used for vintage jewelry, the first one now has my hand crafted or sterling pieces in it.

This is the first one, still covered in the fabric I use between sales to prevent dust.

Both came with open backs and black metal. I’ve painted them and added panels covered in vintage paper to the backside to prevent the inventory from slipping off. The panels are made of the styrofoam packing that came in the box!

Recycle and reuse, right?

To keep them in place, I first tried wire, but the styrofoam simply split apart. Now they are securely velcroed to the frame.

The height of the shelves gives me enough space to use a variety of display pieces.

But the best part is the jewelry store quality, well spaced lighting! It makes everything I set out look better.

As always, I have a selection of my handmade mushrooms. I was lucky to find this set of vintage mushroom stuff to compliment them.

There are more schroomies mixed in with the garden display.

I do love a pretty garden display. (Oops, I have gone all Game of Thrones blooperish, there is a water bottle in this photo)

More lucky finds? I got TWO of the stained glass windows, hoping to use them in my own home, but they didn’t work out where I’d hoped. They sure class up my booth, though.

Another “I wish it worked my cottage” piece is this sweet granny chair covered in white cotton.

The headboard leaning against the wall actually is from my house. At first, when it was maple toned, it was in Ryan’s room. When we got him a new bed, this was painted for the guestroom, then Sugarwings used it for a while once the two grandfairies wanted separate rooms. There is a new color theme in that space now, I figured that the headboard was better off being sold than stuffed into the shed and left to rot away.

It’s pretty well hidden though, I hope it even gets noticed. Next month, maybe I should hang it on the wall.

Although it would fill most of that entire wall.

Every inch of my space is pretty filled up, but I do enjoy the switcheroo and change ups when it’s time to mix it up again.

Right now, my redo skills are lacking due to a rotator cuff tear. I have had these spring flowers up for the season and want to change them out to some white ones for summer, but overhead jobs are not exactly easy right now.

This chair up on my top shelf won’t be moving anytime soon. Which also means that the cabinet its leg rests on needs to stay right where it is for a while. At least until I get a few more PT sessions under my belt. I’m doing everything I can to avoid surgery even if it means I cannot do major rearranging at Juju for a bit.

Sam and Lily

Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / May 15, 2024

Enlight1735

My friend, Sam, sells tee shirts at Good Juju and many other places around KC. But there is much more to the story.

He is an accomplished artist and the shirts are from his original work.

He screen prints them on a gigantic, octopus-like contraption, where each tentacle holds a different color of ink.

Here is one in progress.

Recently, he asked Beth and I if we’d like some vintagey goods he was clearing out to make space for an even bigger screen printer he was getting.

Of course, I’m all in for free junk! A lot of my friends are kind enough to ask me about their future thrift store dropoffs.

And I was curious about Sam’s studio, I didn’t know how the printing process worked, so was fascinated when he offered a demo.

But here is more to that story too. Sam and his wife, Lily, who makes delectable candles and sprays, both also sold antiques and junk in their booths. As time went by and they expanded their crafts, both of them were doing so well with their creations, they no longer needed to supplement their sales with resale items.

Picking up some of their tidbits and leftovers not only made me happy to get free goods, it was great to see my friends succeeding, and no longer needing that stuff.

You can get Sam’s work on Etsy, here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WestBottomsUndergrnd

And Lily’s candles are are here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Lilyrosecandleshop

Or better yet, come see us at Good Juju

We will be there the first Friday and Saturday of every month. Lily’s candles smell delightful and Sam has a wide variety of art on display.

My third anniversary at Good Juju

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / May 1, 2024

Buying this LED lit shelving unit was the best purchase I’ve ever made for my booth at Good Juju. It is such an eye catcher and shows off the jewelry beautifully.

Another change I’m happy with is the transformation of this pole. I’ve tried working around this behemoth that sucks space out of the front of my area and it has been problematic in trying to fit furniture by. I only have an 8” clearance in front of the post, which wasn’t deep enough to do much with.

It’s a solid, metal pole, one of a series that runs down the hall as supports. I’ve cursed it many times. Then, I decided to make it work for me. I added vintage wallpaper with a bit of duct tape (which is temperature sensitive and probably will only do okay in the spring) and backed that up with magnets. Flat ones to hold the paper down and magnet hooks to display necklaces on.

The two jewelry shelves have been separated, one at each side of my entryway.

I’ve brought back this beat up chair with a mini redo to turn it into an easel for my book page paintings.

There are a few more scattered around the booth. I hope people agree with me that they will be good to give at Mother’s Day.

This corner is different for me, I don’t typically use dark wood. But this is a pretty old hutch top, and the hand carved marks in the wood show. It’s too nice to paint.

I can’t believe I said that. I paint everything.

Speaking of things that aren’t exactly my look, this cookie jar isn’t what I normally carry. But I like mushrooms and elves. And I love cookies! So why not?

Smack dab in the center is a shelf filled with mushies, crowns, and white pottery.

Each shelf is a bit different but all are themed the same.

You can never have too much white pottery, right?

Good juju is open the first Friday and Saturday of each month. Come by and see me, it’s May 3-4, and is also my birthday weekend as well as my third anniversary at the venue.

I have spent my last two birthdays there, both years with a headache from a serious concussion. They have not been the best of holidays for me, I’d felt pretty bad each time.

This year, I’m healthy, no headache to ruin the weekend for me, and I’m ready to celebrate. I hope to see you there!

Things that made me smile

friends, Good JuJu, Hens

By Karla Nathan / April 14, 2024

Last summer while out garage sailing, I came across a box of garlands for five bucks. There were more, and I shoulda bought them all. It was late in the morning, after hours of shopping and my purse was lighter than I’d started out, while my car was much fuller. I was being practical, because the flowers are just decor, not resale items or supplies.

But man, don’t they add a spring time feeling to the space? And they are a quick and easy change, I simply drape each one over the hanging hooks. And presto-chango I have a dramatic new entry to my booth.

I’m very glad I snagged these sweet roses, seeing them hanging makes me smile.

Another thing that brought me a big ole grin? Beth gifted me this spectacular apron that she made! Perfect for adding pizzazz along with practicality to my Juju work days. I tried wearing jackets with pockets, but honestly, nothing beats a work apron for carrying my essentials. And this one is so soft and pretty, plus, it’s pockets are quite deep.

Thanks, Beth!

My buddy, Angie, also had a gift for me. A big bag of broken and junk jewels from both her and her mom. I used the beads salvaged from vintage necklaces to create bracelets.

And look at this! A lucky four leaf clover, a gift from nature.

How can you see this firework candle coming across the restaurant and not have a big smile on your face? Wow, I was impressed by the spectacle this added to my friend’s birthday celebration.

Last, but far from least, our peeps are busy growing and being adorable. So far, so good, no deaths. It isn’t easy raising chicks, but we haven’t lost a single one. They are getting cute and learning to play chase, all of them crazily and frantically following the bird with a worm in its beak. It’s my favorite game.

I hope your week is full of smiles too. You have to find them wherever you can, those little things mean a lot.

Trying to appreciate what I can do, not feel bad about what I can’t

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, paintings

By Karla Nathan / April 5, 2024

Between being away so much, then coming home with a cold this time, I wonder how I even still have a booth filled with stuff.

Lots of stuff.

I even made new fairy dolls to bring in.

As well as jewelry. These bracelets are vintage charms I added to the chains. I made a couple of charm necklaces too.

A couple dozen new paintings on old text.
A bunch of old books, and cute creations.

With a rusty truck.

The upper shelf sometimes gets neglected, but this month, I took every single item down and started over with new merch.

Speaking of new merchandise, I’m trying something different. Here is a tray full of stone and silver rings. I hope my guests enjoy oohing and awing through them as much as I did when I picked them out.

The schroomies are restocked.

Mostly just in neutrals. I don’t know why I have so few spring toned ones.

Actually, the whole, overall feel isn’t quite as springy as I’d like. Although there are plenty of tokens of the season.

There is also a lot of neutral areas. More August than April.

While I am thrilled to have filled the space, and to have so many new items to fill it with, I am at the same time disappointed in the overall look of it.

Notice that I’m mostly showing you close up vignettes?

Because to get everything in there and ready before I went to Georgia and Florida, I had to cram the furniture into place and say “good enough” instead of taking my time and planning it out better.

Kind of a “make it work” situation instead of a creative process. I seriously need time to empty the whole spot and rethink it, like I did on the upper shelf. A clean start.

I don’t know if my customers would notice, or if it’s just me. Or maybe it’s just my mood? But I’d love to have a couple of days to switch it up completely, not just rearrange and add to what’s there.

Maybe May?
In the meantime, I’ll try to just feel proud of myself for pulling it together at all and getting new creations tucked inside. It’s been a rough, sad few months lately. I still cannot believe my beloved sister is gone. And so quickly from diagnosis to death.

Yep, I’ll go easy on myself as much as I can and just be glad I have any display at all.

A little late, but here are some photos

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / January 10, 2024

With everything going on over Christmas, I got a bit behind and didn’t get all the January First Friday pictures posted.

Better late than never I guess.

Especially since it’s a lot of work to set up!

Although to be honest, it wasn’t my favorite set up.

Besides switching out the few remaining Christmas bits for new Valentines, and moving a handful of furniture, I didn’t do much.

There just wasn’t enough time, but hey, it still was a whole new look for the weekend.

I’m afraid next month’s redo will have to be even quicker, I have a teensy window of time (ONE DAY!) to make it over before heading to Florida.

P,ease wish me luck, I’ll need it.

The jewelry in my booth at Good Juju in the Old West Bottoms of KC

Good JuJu, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2024

The bracelet making binge I was on kept going past my days in the hospital while I kept my sister company. I found that it nice to have my supplies out on the dining room table while the fam was here for the holidays.

Keeping busy keeps me happy.

And it’s a very portable craft, all I need is cord and a box of gemstone beads.

Plus I just love making them. I had to practically twist my own arm to make myself stop.

I’ve been lucky with jewelry sales at Good Juju.

I carry a variety of new, vintage, hand made, fine jewelry and costume.

While I always do a flip flop turn around for my booth every month, I’ve discovered that the jewels do their best up front and together, not mixed in with other things.

As tempted as I am about mixing it up and moving it around, I stop myself and keep the jewelry shelves up front where they work best. But I do switch up displays on top of and in the shelving.

This month, I’ve included some great vintage shoes, purses, and other tidbits.

I like the combos.

I’ve changed up the colors on the shelves too, and have been happy with the new look.

One thing that never goes well for me are the earrings I make. I’ve tried soooooo many ways to display them. Each is silver with real stones and under $20. Often, way under.

Maybe it’s time to give up on my earrings and offer the space to things to sell better?

I’m not ready to give up yet. Mostly because I like making them so much. Eventually, I’ll have to decide though. For now, I’ll stick with the mix.

First Friday weekend is going on today, if you come down, say hi!