ATG February Reseller's Challenge

I decided at the end of December that I was going to set myself some goals for January.  Nothing too fancy ... not resolutions, but goals geared toward my Etsy shop & ramping up my reselling efforts.  I looked through my data for the 4 months I had the shop open in 2011 & figured out that my biggest waste of money was in renewing items before their 4 month expiration date was up.

Renewing can be done at any time & it is one way to get your items seen if you haven't the time to post new items.  Every time you post an item on Etsy it is added to the recently added section on the front page & has a chance of catching someone's eye & leading them to your shop.  So renewing items is a very quick way to get your shop seen, but also burns up your money lickety split!

If I had posted a new item for each twenty cents spent instead of just hitting the renew button, every backlogged item in my Etsy room would be listed by now.  I found that I lost track of how often I was renewing & it cost me.

For my January goals I decided on:

1)  Post three new items for each day of the month.

2) Don't waste money renewing items!

3) Save late night listings as drafts - check for errors, etc & post in the morning.

It went okay.  I posted a total of 48 new items during the month.  That came out to just under 1.5 items per day, about half of what I had planned for myself ... I fell short of my expectations, I will definitely try harder this time around.

I ended up renewing only 30 times.  Which pretty much poured $6 that could have been used to post new items down the drain, but I only did it at the end of the month while I was sick with the flu & had no energy for editing photos & creating new listings.  Once again, I will try harder this time around.

Late night posting sort of misses out on a large chunk of my customer base.  I have a whole lot of customers here in California & many in Canada.  Posting at 2am doesn't work so well, not to mention I am usually pretty sleepy (even if I can't sleep) & small errors go unnoticed when editing the listings.  Best to save them as drafts & post in the am after a quick run through, I did well with this goal.  I believe it helped as my views went up quite a bit for each item sooner after it was posted.

So anyhow, I read on Apron Thrift Girl (what an inspiration this gal is) about a listing challenge for February & decided to take part.  I am trying to be more active on my blog & in the reselling community of bloggers, so I thought a challenge would be a great place to start.

My February goals will be the same as the first two goals from January, except I would like to renew ZERO items.  If you need a little motivation & inspiration take a peek at the challenge by clicking on the button in my side bar.

Wish me luck!

Thrifted Finds # 6 : Spring Fever

 I found a little coffee mug while thrifting this weekend.  By the time I found it I had given up on finding anything worthy of taking home & was just finishing my normal "just in case" loop through the shop.  There were so many people, more than I had ever seen in this shop at one time & it was crowded & uncomfortable.  The few things I had spotted that I kinda liked weren't enough to warrant braving the line of impatient customers waiting for their turn at the single register.

 Then I spotted this on the mug shelf alongside all of the free prescription drug advertisement mugs that seem to plague our thrift shops here.  My heart sang, maybe my trip hadn't been such a bust after all!  It is the sweetest little thing, covered with four little couples, all dolled up for something special.

In between & around them are scattered all of these sweet little doodles; squiggles & hearts & flowers & stars.  All in lovely muted tones of mustard & olive & salmon & teal.  The girls have fancy hair-dos & most of the boys have bow-ties.  It is exactly the sort of thing I look for while thrifting ... unique & a little kitschy with a definite retro vibe.

I don't know much about it, 8014 & JAPAN are the only markings on it ... though upon closer inspection I discovered what appears to be initials (at) near the left side of the girl's gown in the first photo.  No matter ... it's the cat's pajamas.

I found this little ceramic desk organizer also & since that mug had to be mine I braved the line (22 minutes worth plus two screaming babies behind me ... yay) & brought them home.  Until it sells my little picture of Spoofy & Catherine will be displayed in style.  It has a hole in its rump to hold a pen & a hole at the top of its head that used to hold an eraser (the gal at the thrift shop said that some little kid made away with it).

Linking up this post with:

Friday I'm In Love

Things that made me fall in love this week ...

1) I had an item make it to the front page on Etsy!  My 1950s yellow Swiss dot fabric was used by Amyswicks in a treasury chosen for FP.  The number of favorites for items & the shop views went absolutely through the roof.  Little victories, but so exciting to me!

2) On Tuesday afternoon I finally got around to sharing Pee Wee's Big Adventure with my 12 year old niece, Madison.  I was 12 in 1985 when it was released & went to see it with my two best friends, Suki & Rue.  We were properly obsessed with anything & everything Pee Wee related after that.  I was so elated to see Mads enjoying it right along with me, I had forgotten just how amazing it was & was touched to get to share it with her.  Her very first observation, "That looks like somewhere you'd live Aunt Poppy."

by MonsterGallery & soon to be hanging in my living room

3)  Artist & ever awesome Natalie Perkins from Definatalie.com & Definatalie.tumblr.com has been sharing some amazing artwork lately, much of it related to her campaign against the invalidation of ugly.

4)  Imagine perfume by Lollia.  For Christmas I was gifted a bottle by my sister, she also got me the tall perfumed luminary.  It's an intensely dreamy scent, very light ... slightly floral (Lotus blossom); creamy (rice coconut milk) & well rounded.  It makes me feel very girly; my person & the studio both smell like heaven.  The packaging is just as lovely as the fragrance.

5)  This would be the haircut I am swooning over lately.  I think I may go from my normal level 4 mocha back to my natural level 5 auburn, but finding a cut I like is the hardest part.  I'll keep most of my length, but I love that these layers will let my hair be curly on days when I don't feel like straightening it & those bangs are damn near perfect.

Beth Ditto of Gossip & super awesome fatty fame

Upcycled Vintage Owls

We have had an uncharacteristically dry fall & winter here in Northern California.  I hate to complain about all of the sun, but I like rainy days.  Love them in fact & it saddens me that they have been very few & very far between so far.  Never one to lose an opportunity though, I have been taking advantage of the sunshine by painting.  Specifically owls.

I found one of these cute little cast iron owl trivets at a thrift store for a quarter over a year & a half ago.  I painted it to cover the layers of grime & rust & discovered that it was the cutest thing ever to set my tea on (& it looks so cute on the kitchen wall in between cups of tea).

After that I would just find them everywhere (sadly no more were that cheap) ... estate sales, thrift shops, rummage sales, flea markets ... & was compelled to buy up every last one of them.  Like I need that many owl trivets, no matter how cute.  Good thing other people thing they're cute too, they sell very well in the shop & I just enjoy sprucing them up in bright colors & taking their picture.

Aren't they just so darling?!  Apparently  rain is headed our way & it is so chilly outside I wouldn't be surprised if the storm brought some snow as well.  I guess I finished up my painting just in time ... we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Thrifted Finds # 4 : Saturday Sun

I joined my friend Megs & her daughter (my goddaughter) Amanda today for a few junk sales & some Saturday afternoon thrifting.  I grabbed a huge Ziplock full of vintage cake decorations from the 50s & 60s; among them were these sweet wee pink bird candle holders.  I have a few of their yellow cousins in my cupcake decorating cupboard already, so I was delighted to find these darling pink ones.  I added two sets of 6 to the shop & both sets have already sold!  Crazy.

I'm glad I kept 12 for myself.  It's just so much fun running a little vintage shop on Etsy that sometimes I forget I am a vintage collector as well as a vintage seller & later regret selling things I would have loved to keep.

They looked so sweet perched atop some vintage spools of pink thread!

I have yet to decide whether this little sweetie will stay or go.

I love the look of these guys, sweet & simple in lovely icing colors.

Megs was hunting for a chest to use as Amanda's hope chest.  Do girls even have these anymore?  Amanda saw the one my parents made for me on my 14th birthday & freaked out after I explained what it was & what it was for & she decided that she had to have one of her own.  Mine is black with a tufted black & white polka dot fabric lid which is decoupaged with a huge Guns N' Roses poster on the inside.  She's looking for something a little less rock & roll ... we didn't have any luck today, but we'll keep hunting.

I found some more amazing things for my home & for Bliss & Vinegar Vintage though ... like this amazing, never used ThermoServ daisy beverage set.  A mint pitcher (with the large gold ThermoServ sticker still on the front) & six mint tumblers.  It will make its way to the shop, I haven't got the space to store it ... even if it is truly brilliant!

Straight from Kitty's kitchen on That 70's Show.

My find of the New Year ... so far ... has got to be this plate.  Though it isn't really a plate as it's made of tin & could hold a very large turkey, so it's more of a platter.  It's giant in fact, measuring a whopping 19" across the middle.  It tested the limits of my largest plate hanger, but I wrangled it on without losing an eye & it now graces the kitchen wall beside the front door.

So very darling with its scallops & hearts & other details.

There are no maker's marks to be found, so I don't know much about it, but there are little initials next to the gentleman's boot toe that read, "TE".  I don't suppose I need to know much more about it than the fact that I LOVE it however.  It is staying put.

I took our tree down after I came home this afternoon.  Oh, how sad to tuck all of my holiday goodies away for the entire next year!  It was such a busy December that I feel like I didn't have enough time to just sit & enjoy our decorations.  Chucky's favorite part of the tree was the tiny blown glass caravan & his second year in a row stocking stuffer Spam single serving packet (it has now been tucked away for next year's stocking as well - its expiration date is well into 2013).  Traditions are important.

Linking up with:

Thrifted Finds # 3 : Long December

December was a busy month; for me personally & for the Etsy shop.  Unusually sunny weather has made the yard & estate sale season last months longer than normal so the usual slow months never slowed down.  Add three nieces out of school plus holiday decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, crafting, cooking, etsy packaging & shipping, etc to the mix & you've got one busy girl!

There have been quite a few amazing estate sales very close to home, many bursting at the seams with items I adore.  These are a few of my favorite little finds from an estate sale in Oroville a couple of weekends ago & each one is a testimony to the fact that politeness can go a long way.  I was horrified by the behavior of the majority of other shoppers at this sale.  People were pushy & loud, rude & grabby ... I had my basket to fill & hung back until the rest of the crowd moved on to other rooms.  My fella was so annoyed by the behavior of people that he went outside to drink his coffee & wait for me to finish up.

a triple tier stand & lots of smalls ... some for Etsy & some for me!

some tiny figurines, each one no taller than 2" ... <3

small resin squirrel made up of little rock chips ... so odd, I love him.

little worried ceramic bulldog.

a vintage egg basket full of lovely Xmas kitsch for my Kitschmas wreath stash.

After I was all done gathering my goodies I made my way toward the checkout table where my larger items were waiting in a pile with my name on them.  The gal running the sale was so sweet.  Apparently Chucky & I weren't the only people who had noticed the rudeness of sale-goers ... she thanked me profusely for being so patient & polite.  Then she gave me a screaming deal on my loot, but she wasn't done ... nope.  She took 50% off of that amount!  Gave me the Sunday discount a day early, just to thank me for being a nice person.

Moral of the story:  Be Polite.  At all times.  Especially when you are rummaging through the home of those who have just gone through a death in the family or a loved one entering a rest home.  Those are traumatic times for folks & watching rude, pushy strangers dig through their possessions can't make the process any easier.

Now, I've got to go gaze at that silly little squirrel some more.  I'll link up with the following :   

& You In Your Autumn Sweater

One blustery day was all it took to shake the leaves (& a few small persimmons) from my favorite tree on our property.  The dogs & I were out hiking around & there were a million tiny, delicate lawn mushrooms.  The tree outside of my kitchen herb window is just starting to turn; it's always the last, but puts on quite a show.

mushrooms, persimmon leaves & fruit

seed pods & changing leaves

Elvis was quite intent on having the wee mushrooms I picked up

He was convinced they would be delicious

Our little friend Weasel was visiting for the week

Oonah-belle ... my beautiful Plott Hound; hypnotized by the mushrooms as well

Inside the house isn't nearly as lovely as outside; its all clutter & cleaning projects that make me wince ... like my carpet needs a serious cleaning.  Ah, the joy of owning three large dogs & living out in the country without the blessing that would be hard wood floors.  There is too much to do to prepare for the holiday & I haven't got enough hands to juggle it all.

There has been good thrifting lately & a wonderful yard sale I stumbled onto while driving home from grocery shopping yesterday afternoon.  I found some lovely dinner plates & a large stoneware platter for a quarter apiece.

I love all three ... they may end up hanging out for a while

Brown paper packages tied up with strings ...

I ordered some tiny plastic trinkets from High Pie to spruce up my Etsy packages.  Tiny sparrows & roosters of all different colors & some multicolored wee Matryoshkas too.  So sweet!  I like the bit of whimsy they add to my shipments, I hope my customers enjoy them!