Woo Hoo!

I'm in the Etsy Finds again! They like me, they really like me!

This pendant here.

I was packing up a couple of orders and was wondering why I had gotten a bunch of new hearts in my shop, and that's why!

Again, wish this could happen every day, but I'll take what I can get!

Well Son of a Gun!

I was all depressed this morning after waking up to absolutely NO Etsy order emails in my in box. Sob.

And then while I was doing my usual morning messing around on the computer in comes an order for 3 of my new state puzzle piece pins. I got the puzzle when we were on vacation and a few years back had made pins that sold really well, so...I made more. I'm thinking what the heck was I on the front page or something? And, then while packing up the order for the 3 pins, another order comes in for another state pin. Weird.

So, then I go check my other email account to see if any orders have magically appeared for my homebeforedark shop, and the Etsy Finds email is there, so I click, and what do you know but I'm in the Etsy Finds! Yay! I sold the Maine pin that was in the finds and I'm thinking maybe I'd better list the rest of the pins like right now!


What a nice surprise!

What in the World (Were they Thinking) Wednesday

Both of these gems come from the Etsy Finds, which means that someone somewhere who works for Etsy thought that these were hip and trendy and whatever.

First, everybody needs a pair of Lady Gaga sunglasses at only $54.99 a pair. But I really think that the only person in the world who could get away with wearing these is the real Lady Gaga.


And then we have a 'vintage bench' and I use that term loosely. What it really is, according to the description, is a workbench made by an Uncle who has been dead for over 20 years, so that means it must be vintage, right? And while it was intended for a workbench it would look really cool next to your thrifted couch, right? And it's only $165.00!! What a bargain!! $165.00 for somebody's piece of crap that they found in the garage!!

It doesn't look like it would even be a very good workbench to me, but hey, it's in the Etsy Finds, so it must be hip, right? And vintage.

Don't be fooled by the nice Adirondack chair in this photo, the piece of crap bench is the thing next to it that most people would have thrown in the trash or chopped up for firewood by now.


I'm going to have Keith go through his many piles of wood scraps that are in the shed, yard, and garage, and see if he can hammer together one of these vintage benches/coffee tables and maybe we can get in the Etsy Finds. And maybe even get $165.00 for it!

Just Whatever

I have no real topic today, but I did wake up this morning mad at Keith because of a dream that I had last night where he rented us an apartment ( I have no idea why he rented us an apartment when we already have a house, but anyway) an apartment that cost $2000.00 a month. In the dream the apartment was really nice with big windows, wood floors, two bedrooms, a huge laundry room, and back steps that led to a little yard. You could see the ocean from all of the big windows and in the dream I was really excited to see the ocean but then he wouldn't tell me how much the rent was until the landlord came to get the rent and then he said it was $2000.00! Actually that's probably cheap for anywhere you get a view of the ocean, but there was no way we could afford the rent in the dream. Or in real life.

We heard on the news the other night that Sam's Club is going to be laying off the employees that give out the samples and hiring outside workers to do the sample giving instead. That stinks! The poor people that give out the samples probably make minimum wage at best and are just trying to earn a few bucks there, but if Walmart doesn't have these people on their payroll then they don't have to pay any benefits to them and the bottom line looks better to the stockholders. If I shopped at Sam's Club I'd boycott them, but since I don't shop there in the first place and don't belong to their Club, my continuing to not shop there won't make much of a difference. I'm surprised they don't just do away with the sample giving altogether but then they'd really see a boycott because I think most of the people who shop there just go for the free lunch they can make out of all the samples. The news story said it would only affect about 20 people here in Bakersfield, but when you multiply that 20 people by the sheer number of Sam's Clubs around the country, that's a lot of people out of work. Even if it was a crappy underpaid job.

I think my 15 minutes of Etsy Finds fame is over, but it was a good run while it lasted. I had a good couple of days of sales there. I did sell some of the new ceramic tile coasters that I was working on. Like these here.



I like how they've been coming out and the cost is minimal, but I think I'm going to use wood for future ones, no worries about breakage with wood and it's much lighter so much cheaper to ship. The company that I get wholesale wood pieces from has 4" squares for about 50c each, the ceramic tiles are 16c each, so just a little more in cost for the wood.

We were in the grocery store the other day and I found a package of plastic ocean toys and since the plastic horse pendants have been selling (thanks, Etsy Finds) I got them to do pendants.

I've never seen a purple whale before.


I'm kind of partial to the hermit crab, I think he's pretty cute!

I'm In Etsy Finds!

Whoa! Today I've gotten a couple of sales despite not doing any listing since Thursday, basically ignoring my shop for the most part, and I was just considering it good luck or whatever and then I went to check my shop hearts (people who favorite your shop) and there were 24 new hearts for today. What the heck? Usually I'll get one or two per day, tops. Was I on the front page, was I featured in someone's blog? What's going on here? I know it's not from listing new items because I HAVEN'T LISTED ANYTHING!

So, what's up? And how did this happen?

I checked this great website where you can type in your shop name and it will tell you if you've been featured somewhere, and whaddya know, I made it into the Etsy Finds for today! The Etsy Finds is a daily or weekly, not sure which, email that goes out to everyone who has signed up for it. I've never been on it before and stopped subscribing to it after I got bored with it (because I was never on it!), but now I'm wishing I had kept subscribing because that would have been exciting indeed to get that email today!

Anyway, I tried to figure out how to do a screen shot but you need the paint program or something which I don't have, so a link to the etsy finds will have to do. Keep scrolling and you'll see one of my plastic horse pendants way down on the right.
http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/etsy-finds-an-ode-to-the-farm-6836/

Wish I could be in the Etsy Finds everyday!

A Friday Find

Yeah, I know Friday is almost over with, but I'm bored tonight so I was browsing the 'just sold' Pounce feature on Etsy to see what's selling, cause it sure isn't my stuff today, and came across this pottery shop, catherinereece. Yes, I'm still too lazy to learn how to do the clickable link thing, so here's a link if you want to take a look:
http://catherinereece.etsy.com

What first caught my eye was of course the sold item:


I love the colors and long legged birdiness of these narrow bud vases.

And, then, after looking further into her shop and seeing more lovelies, THIS really called out to me.
A cockroach bowl!!! Can you imagine serving some peanuts or something in this bowl at a cocktail party and watching who first notices the giant cockroach inside the bowl? I love it!

Anyone Need a Baby Gift ?

I was browsing on etsy the other day using the pounce feature, which is a fun way to shop. You can choose to browse by sellers who have recently had a sale or new sellers with no sales yet. The sellers who have just had a sale is a little more interesting and also gives you a look at what is actually selling on etsy. (lots of supplies for one thing.)

Anyway, it's fun to look, and while browsing I came across the cutest baby hats ever! Part of what makes them so cute is the adorable baby that is modeling the hats of course!

These hats and a lot more are from http://Artology.etsy.com

The apple of your eye:


And for your little cupcake:



Aren't these the cutest ever! Makes you kind of hope that if you ordered a hat, the baby would come with it!