Colorado State Fair/ Rice Necklaces

Right now we are at the fair in Pueblo, CO about 1 hour drive from our home in Colorado Springs, until Labor Day. We have alot the merchandise here including the Rice Jewelry.

I write 9 letters per side on a grain of rice, put it into a very tiny glass bottle (there are over 25 different shapes and colors), fill it with oil, cork it, cap it and attach it to a necklace, key chain, cell phone lanyard or ribbon choker. The oil helps to magnify and preserve the rice.


There are bottles we have put 8 grains of rice in, with 16 names, of the kids and grand kids, for a Grandma's birthday. We have also put in ashes and various other tiny objects that have a meaning to the wearer.


Some of the other things we have for sale, that are on eBay too, are the shoe laces, scarves and no headache sun visors.



Please visit my eBay store often to see new and varied items. If anything I mentioned here interests you, please email me for more information. And as always bulk inquiries are always welcome.

Herbs and Spices

Since HERBS is the first word in our name, I want to share how we got started selling them.


One Christmas about 12 years ago we were pretty poor and had no idea what to give everyone as gifts. I happened across an ad for a company that sold all the ingredients to make potpourri. One of the items was whole cloves. I was so impressed by the size and fragrance, I decided to try their other herbs, for our own use. 


The next one we got was Bay Leaves. They were huge, actually the largest I had even seen.

We were doing craft shows at the time and started packaging them. To our surprise folks were very happy with them and started asking for more. We only added culinary herbs at 1st, because that is what I knew about, since I love to cook.


But because we were living in NM alot of people were asking for the herbs they have used for centuries for healing and well being. We sought out Mexican herb suppliers along with other suppliers of dried Botanicals too. 


The shop was in our living room for a few years until there was no more room. In 1998 we opened a brick and mortar store with nearly 400 herbs, spices, healing herbs and Mexican herbs. In 2001 we sold and closed the store in order to move to New York.

The inventory is building again (up to 130) and the goal is to have them all listed on eBay by the 1st of October along with alot of potpourri ingredients, recipes and fragrance oils. As folks request certain herbs, we will be adding those too. 


Most are packaged in 1 ounce packages and are so much fresher than what is bought commercially. When we sell them now at face to face meetings, we give a warning to use less than they normally would since they are so much more potent that what they are used to buying. 


We are so grateful for those early beginnings and all the lessons our customers have taught us about the use and advantages of some things I never ever heard of.

My eBay Story

We have been members since Feb. 1998 and just started with buying and selling a few things a year for the 1st few years. The 1st item that got us hooked was a set of (Pillsbury Dough Boy) Poppin' Fresh's Grandma and Grandpa. The set sold for $80.00 with a lot of bidding. We thought that was amazing and have been in awe of what people will buy (and more importantly - pay) ever since.

In 2002 I was chairlady of a card party at our church for St. Patricks Day. I had seen long scarves with shamrocks, in a store, and set out to find them, to give as prizes. After a lot of searching on the internet and on eBay, we determined there were none. We were living in NY at the time and stumbled upon a scarf supplier.

When I told them I needed 40 scarves on the one design, they sorta laughed and said all their product needs to be bought by the dozen and they have a $500 minimum order. WHAT!!!??

So we talked about it and thought that since we couldn't find them online after a very intense search, there could be a market for us.

We went back to the wholesaler and said we are ready to buy. They looked at us like we were nuts. Now we have over 85 designs and have sold 1000's of the scarves, both wholesale and retail. Even tho' there are other scarf sellers, I believe we have the largest selection in the retail market.

Since then we have added other product lines along the way including shoelaces, no headache sun visors and headbands.

When we left NY in 2005 we moved with many, many boxes from the home we inherited, with the anticipation of selling them on eBay over the next several years. So those one of a kind items are slowly being listed along with several other previously owned things we have gathered from here and there, including some of our own collections.

In March 2008 we became Powersellers and were able to attend eBay LIVE in Chicago in June.

My Introduction

I hope with this blog to start conversations on many subjects. We have alot of areas of interest and life experiences. Between the 2 of us we have 6 grown children and 5 grandchildren scattered all over the country.

Long Island, NY is where I was born and raised and moved to NM in the mid 60's. For the most part we stayed there until 2001 (with only 2 1/2 years in Las Vegas, NV) My is husband is from Central, NM. In 2001 we moved back to the old home to take care of my ailing mother, with all intentions of staying for a long time. But she had other plans and passed, while in a nurning home, 3 1/2 months after we got there. We stayed for another couple of years when we finally decided NY was not for us. It was a hard decision as to where to move to, since we could go anywhere. Even considered Mexico fo a time. When my son said they were have a baby here in Colorado, we knew immediately that was where we wanted to be.

So here we are. To keep ourselves from sitting around and watching alot of TV we are eBaying alot of things we find at yard sales or estate sales including many, many things from the old home in New York.

We also do craft shows, fairs and our newest venture is the local flea market every weekend. Not only do we sell some of the new things we sell on eBay, and all the culinary herbs and spices along with dried botanicals and healing herbs, we also write names on rice and make rice charms for necklaces, key chains, charm bracelets and cell phones.

Among othere things we like do do is some gardening, cooking /canning (making jams)/ freezing the summer produce to enjoy in the winter. We belong to the Knights of Columbus (DH is 4th degree honor guard); the red hat society and we are thinking about joining a senior club, but really don't have the time.

Two days a week we babysit the grandson who is responsible for us being here. What a joy and. every time he is here is a real trip. Last week the notable comment was - He was eating a Pecot (combination peach and apricot) and I asked if he liked it. He is not quite 4 yet and his immediate response was - Yes I like the pecot - it is very nutritious. ( I gulped and choked back a laugh).

Anything in italiacs will be the subject of a future post - so please come back and look for it.