A Registry...from Everywhere at Once!!

This is one of the coolest ideas I've ever seen. MyRegistry.com is a site that will pull registry information from anywhere. And I mean anywhere. You can even register for things on Etsy!!! So say I wanted this as a mobile in our future childrens' nursery (not that I would ever be neurotic enough to plan our future children's nurseries..........), from one of my favorite Etsy stores:

Via 

I can do that! You put a little thing on your toolbar that allows you to add anything from any website you're on. It took about 2 seconds to add it to the toolbar.

See it in the top right?

You can tastefully register for cash/giftcards. You can get set up for thank-you card reminders. They also have an app for iPhones that has a barcode scanner. This means that if you're out and about you can scan something that you like, no matter where it's from, and get it added to your registry. If you already have a registry somewhere you can import it into this site and keep it all in one place.

And this isn't just for weddings and babies. Many non-profits use this site as a way to organize what kind of donations they need to keep the organization going. 

I think that this site would also allow you to create a registry with the best prices available on the products you want. The site has a lot of partners already with big companies such as Target, Crate + Barrel, Williams-Sonoma. And they also have sample registry lists if you're stuck. 

I love the thought of being able to register in "one" place, even though your products might be coming from 20 different stores. And some people might not be able to register for the things they really want or need because they don't like a particular store (I'm not a fan of Target's return policies, for example...). Or wouldn't want to give friends and family 20 different partial registries to sort through to find products. 

What do you think? Would you actually use it? I wish this had been around before we got married!!!

Uninspired

So a week or two ago I decided to buy a showcase on Etsy. For $7 your stuff gets a featured spot on the homepage of the "paper goods" section of Etsy for 24 hours. It can be fairly hard to get a showcase sometimes. I was feeling super excited because I had just sold two cards that week to two STRANGERS (that is still a huge deal to me!). I figured I'd at least make back the showcase fee. And I just went for it. 


And I didn't sell one thing. Not one thing! It was kind of depressing. And surprising. And then I felt conceited for feeling surprised that people wouldn't want to buy my stuff. I put so much effort into making sure everything looked good and the best pictures were up, etc. And individual cards got more hits/views/hearts. But no money in my pocket. I've been in kind of a funk since then. I haven't had any real interest in posting to Etsy all the adorable Valentine's mini-cards I've made. And now it's almost February and I'm running out of time for Valentine's day. *sigh* I think tomorrow I'll make myself pull it together and start again. But seriously--these set backs really take a tole on my excitement and energy and enthusiasm for my card business sometimes. 

50s Style Clothing

I find it kind of ironic that as much as I frown upon the 50s for the way women were viewed/treated/pigeon-holed into being housewives, I gravitate towards the fashion of the era like crazy. It's super feminine, classy and just plain "pretty." And in today's world of less is more, I think it really stands out as beautiful and sexy in a sea of unfortunate fashion choices. I've seen a lot of the style around the web lately and it's making me want to go shopping! And I'm especially gravitating towards all the swimsuits. :)

I love love love this Etsy shop!

I shared this shop with you yesterday, but couldn't resist another print! :)

I'm a sucker for polka dots. Swimsuit from Anthropologie.

I love the cut of this dress. Wasn't too crazy about the colors but they've kind of grown on me! 

So that's just a couple examples of the thousands out there. Search online for 50s dresses and prepare to be amazed! Where do you find vintage clothing in Cincy? I've been to Gayle's Vintage Clothing on Main Street in Old Milford, but that's about it! :)

Nostalgia for the Home

I love this Etsy shop. It has combined cute images with one of my favorite things: books! More specifically, pages from vintage books. They're inexpensive and there's a sale going on where you buy 4 and get 1 free! Click on the photos below to be linked to Winterberry Cottage's Etsy shop! I need to spend some time walking around our apartment to see where I can add a few of these. How do you choose!?


For the kitchen:

                                    

                    

For your bedroom/closet/bathroom:

  

For your kids' rooms: 

                                            

                                                

For your home decor:

Welcome to my Fairy Tale Cottage

I started looking up Etsy treasuries today, and what they actually are, who creates them, and why. Turns out, anyone can make them, for whatever reason, about anything! I found this AMAZING bed, decided I wanted to share it with others, and created my first treasury around it. My treasury turned into my fantasy fairy tale cottage. Now I need to find myself a house and a million dollars so I can buy out my treasury. ;-) 

Check out the full treasury here. 



(I'd love to give you some preview pics but they didn't show up properly once I published this post?? Strange...)

PLAY

So the most recent series at church has been about PLAY (they had it in all caps so I feel compelled to do the same). And the last week was about how a day of rest was created for a purpose. And sometimes we just need to sit around and relax for our overall well-being. If you know me even a little bit you know that's incredibly hard for me to do, but I figured I'd give it a shot.


And I think I took it a bit too far. All our fall shows have started in the past two weeks or so, I've been pretty tired, and my business has been feeling a little overwhelming (lots of work + not so much sales = discouragement) and band season is well under way (etc. etc. insert more excuses here). And the moral of the story is I haven't been on my Etsy shop in a week. A whole week. Not a good feeling. So now I really need to get to work and nose to the grindstone and all that good stuff and get some items made and my name back in the rotation of new items on Etsy searches. When you value normal sleeping hours it's really hard to juggle so many jobs. But one thing is for sure--there will be much less tv watching in my future from here on out.


And speaking of the Etsy shop, there are so many things that one should do to fully promote one's store. It's exhausting. It's all such good advice but I simply do not have hours every day to dedicate to researching blogs and making connections and getting my name and products out on other people's blogs. It's such an important aspect but I don't know how to fit it in on top of actually making products to sell. I'll figure it out eventually.


In other news, did not get the job I applied for at my current company. I said from the start if I didn't get it then that means I'm supposed to stay where I am and pay off my student loans more quickly with the promotion/extremely generous raise I just got. But when you've been secretly hoping you got the job more than you've let on, and then you don't get it, it's very hard to put that in to practice and truly believe it. But, once those loan totals start slowly going down even more, I'll understand how exciting that can be--possibly even more exciting than starting a job that you would have loved and that could have propelled you on to other jobs you would have loved.


Everything happens for a reason and I'm sure there's lots for this one. Hope you all have had good weeks....it's almost Friday!!! LaSalle has their band invitational all day Saturday so I'll be the "Timing Judge" for that. (Sounds official...in reality not so much) :)