What do you do for an Auction, donate of course:)

Life is Beautiful and so is this basket!!

 Well the BMS Chili Cook off and Silent Auction which will be held next Friday at my job is almost here. This is one of the biggest events and is great because we receive a lot of traffic also due to the high school football game which also takes place as well. The Silent auction consists of not only donations from businesses around the area but also 'Family' baskets which are those made up by the groups of students at my job.

Since I started my business with my whipped Shea butters I'm always looking for ways to spread the word about my business and I came up with the idea back in July to make up a basket centered around pampering. I knew I wanted it to be a unique basket and I remember there was a former coworker, Kathleen Berhmann, who also had her own business, Buddha Bath and Body, making homemade soaps as well as other items. So I thought it would be a great idea to also ask  if she would like to donate some of her homemade soaps to the basket, another coworker, Denise Balley who is unofficially in to Partylite candles donated a candle holder and some votive candles. So since Denise wasn't an official rep I put the name of the lady, Kathy Willhite, who is her contact also in the basket as well.

I also bought a Loofah and some fuzzy socks to round out the items. 

I already had bought the basket and items to decorate the basket in advance at Hobby Lobby. I knew I had a certain vision for the basket but I knew unfortunately I wasn't skilled enough to put it all together. So this past Friday I finally brought all the materials up to the job and a coworker who had experience in making gift baskets put mine together and I have to say she exceeded all my expectations and did an amazing job.

As she was finishing up my basket with my hair dryer to shrink up the plastic so it would mold to the basket, her first class of the day was coming into her classroom. They were crowding around the basket and asking who it belonged to. I told them I had it made for the silent auction and that the whipped shea butters and soaps were handmade while the candle accessories were donated. It's a unique basket because all the items with the exception of loofah and the socks were from staff (present and past) who were connected to the school district that I worked for. 

the item list sign I made to go with the basket

I'm hoping the basket will be a big success and who knows, it might become something that we can do every year. If other coworkers have their own businesses and would like to donate then maybe next year the basket will be bigger. Not only are we doing it for a good cause but also it will help spread the word about our businesses.

All That MsJazz

Buddha Body & Bath

Party Lite - Kathy Willhite

 
Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz

Find a Vintage Market, find a piece of Heaven!!

Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to go to a vintage fair out in Highland, Illinois. Even thought I found it to be VERY strange that they named it the Saint Louis Vintage Market Days, but hey it is what it is. So I heard about this market from a family member who went out there Saturday afternoon. She had taken a picture of some vintage cameras. Recently I had been obsessed with getting my hands on a TLR camera and in her picture there were around 4 different options. 

Photo credit: Amy Hopper-Davis

I immediately zeroed in on the black one that was at the bottom. I figured it had to be a Yashica or even maybe a Rolliflex or Rollicord. So I decided Saturday night that I was going to go check out this market to see if maybe the camera was still available, for $50 it was a huge steal. Yet my biggest issue was waiting on AT&T to come out Sunday morning and fix a TV issue. Thankfully they came through and were done by 10:30am.

After mapping my route to get out to fair I realized that this was going to be a bit of a trek. Almost an hour to get to the Madison County Fairgrounds. So I made my way there and I couldn't believe how many corn fields are in the area. I eventually made it to my destination and ended up parking on a baseball field along with numerous other cars.

I start making my way over to the fair grounds and there didn't seem to be that much activity but when I eventually did make it to the main entrance to pay my $5 admission fee, holy crap.....this place was BUSY. I was absolutely amazed at all the people there and all the different items that were up for sale. I saw vintage clothes, furniture, accessories, jewelry, you name it was probably there. 



Yet the biggest surprise was seeing a former coworker also out there with her wares.  Kathleen Berhman owns Buddha, Body and Bath. She makes wonderful handmade soaps, candles, lotions, and lip balms.

 There was also 2 huge barns that had vendors in them as well as two warehouse buildings also with vendors. I walked around and took in the sites. I actually made more than one trip of the whole place just to make sure I saw everything. I did eventually buy a few things.

Soaps for my mom from Buddha Body and Bath

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Wine Caddy from Reclaim Renew

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Homemade leather bracelets with hammered brass designs from Barn Trash

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There were a few food trucks as well and I decided to try the pizza truck and I must say it was pretty good!

Slice of the Hill

I also made sure to take plenty of pictures so I could remember the event. I definitely plan on coming back again.  In regards to the camera I was originally interested in, I did find the seller and her booth. Unfortunately she had sold the camera (it was a Yashica) Saturday evening but I did get her business card so I might look her up in a few months to see if she was able to find any more TLR cameras. 

Villa Design

The Vintage Market will be back in Saint Louis during the Christmas Holidays.

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz