December 2022 Update: After becoming vaccinated, things really changed, and I have been going out more and more, while of course continuing to be cautious. I have less and less time now to dedicate towards maintaining my Etsy shop, and made the decision to close it. Thank you for all of your support.

Today I have special announcement! I’ve reopened my Etsy shop! If you’ve been reading for awhile now you may remember it, but the Etsy shop you once knew isn’t back, no, I’ve started on a new venture!

In recent years I’ve been growing increasingly fond of, and buying more vintage ephemera, specifically greetings cards. Typically I would buy at antique malls and flea markets, but with COVID, I started hunting on-line. Specifically on Etsy I would regularly run across digital download options, where Etsy sellers offer up scans of vintage ephemera from their own collection to purchase. I thought, “Well, this is certainly something I could do!” Over the month of January I dusted off my old Etsy shop, The Atomic Hideaway, but still under the username AtomicRedhead, where I started selling vintage clothes in 2010, and eventually dedicated it to vintage sewing patterns. After moving to California and becoming a Cast Member at the Disneyland Resort I closed my Etsy shop. While I’m no longer a Cast Member I did not feel like returning to the world of Etsy. But amid this pandemic, I’ve been increasingly fidgety (I can’t exactly go anywhere!), and while the end of it may be in sight, I know Patrick and I will be among some of the last people to receive the vaccine, so I figured it was the best time to revisit Etsy.

I also took this opportunity to revamp our office since I’m spending more time in it now. While part of the office redo had been put on hold due to the pandemic, I felt a need to create a more organized space for myself to work.

With my trusty scanner I’m working my way through my collection of vintage valentines, Christmas cards, and more. For the most part, my shop is filled with greetings cards, most of which have multiple files to provide the buyer with options, including the original, untouched scan, a retouched/restored version, as well as a retouched/restored version with text removed so the buyer can either use it as is, or apply their own text to it for a more personal creation. I have more items and a few ideas up my sleeve that I’ll be working on and listing in the future.

While I have a variety of items, the main focus at the moment is Valentine’s Day, and I’m constantly adding new items. As for the originals, I keep them all sorted by holiday in various binders in acid free sleeves, and still use them for my own decor when the holiday arrives.

The allure of the digital download item is that it can be downloaded instantly after purchase, and the image can be applied in many different ways. I’ve seen wreaths made with cards, cute little shadow boxes, and much more. The digital download gives these vintage items multiple lives and they are able to be shared with so many more people. So if this is something up your alley, then, please step into the Atomic Hideaway, click “Favorite Shop” and browse around!