Favorite Pins of the Week, vol. 2

Max has been sick for 2 weeks and on 2 different antibiotics.  I didn't know antibiotics could turn some small children into satan's spon?   Why did no one (ahem......Urgent Care Pediatrician, 24-hour pharmacist, regular pediatrician, regular pharmacist) mention this to me in passing?  

Guess I'll chalk it up to THING #51,466 that no one ever tells you about being a parent.  Not sure what's worse....not knowing why your child is suddenly throwing epic temper tantrums OR knowing that you are purposefully giving them something that could cause epic temper tantrums.  Good Times.

When all else fails, Pinterest always makes me smile....so I hope this week's pins bring you a moment of happiness:

(I would give a kidney for this island.  So if anyone needs Christmas gift ideas for me....)

do I note a hint of skepticism?

Source:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

oh, oh, oh...and I also wanted to suggest a Pinner you might want to check out....Jen of Rambling Renovators.  (she isn't paying me, she doesn't even know me...I just like her taste) 

and, if you have anyone you'd like to suggest to me, I'd appreciate it! 

It's unlikely that anyone who's in the projected path of the storm on the East Coast is web surfing - but I just want to put it out there that you're being thought for and cared about.  I hope and pray that you, your families, your friends...everyone...are safe and unaffected by the hurricane and its aftermath. 

take care -
 



Favorite Pins This Week....

enjoy!

have an inspired week.

Sources: pin 1, pin 2, pin 3, pin 4, pin 5. pin 6, pin 7, pin 8

take care -
 



Kitchen Remodel - Part 1: The Farm Sink

WARNING:  The following pictures are intended for adult, colorblind highly imaginative audiences only.  If you are primarily a "left brainer," you may want to shield your eyes, as your creative spirit may be forever damaged.

Hopefully, the sight of this horrid kitchen doesn't result in vivid nightmares for any of you. 

This was my kitchen.

(By the way, the  mesmerizing red-orange tea kettle came with the home - it's really what sealed the deal for us.)

Thankfully, everything in the picture except the stove is now GONE.

Quickly moving on to the new love in my life, my new, old sink....but first, a couple obligatory inspiration photos:

source

source

As much as I wish I could reveal the entire kitchen to you, it's not finished. Not even close. 

(hey, it's only been 2....months....ugh)

But I would like to share my very tasty Craigslist score with you...my new, old sink, complete with faucet:

Directly out of a REAL farmhouse on a REAL farm in the REAL country.

$50.

I thought I was going to have to refinish the porcelain, so add another $40 for that, but still less than the cost of a new kitchen sink.

But, after scrubbing the sink, what I thought were "rust" stains, were really lime scale (I think?? Please correct me if I'm wrong).

It was A LOT of work to clean it. First, I soaked it in vinegar (according to Pinterest, this stuff can do everything from cleaning showers to refinish wood?), which helped considerably: 

The sink in the "soaking" process.  I thought we'd have to throw away the faucet, but it turned out looking brand new.

I'm not a patient person, so I took my vinegar-smelling self to Lowes and bought some CLR.  

I chose it because it looked the most lethal. (In my war on lime) 

Nice, right?

The drain is brass - I love it, but we had to remove it to make way for the garbage disposal...blah!

Okay, moment of truth, check out my baby now...

It's not actually installed here...there's a outlet on the left that had to be moved, but it gives you an idea of my new sink in all of it's $50 wonderfulness!

Like my backer board counter tops?  

Please excuse the mess, but I wanted to show you how it looks with the new (non-orange-red) porcelain tile countertops.  (I promise, more on that later).  

If you squint, you may notice my bead board back splash?

We had been given some remnant granite to use, but when preparing to cut it, we realized that it was stained beyond repair....so we had to make a quick (and inexpensive) decision.

My plan is to get the cabinets painted this week...we'll see if management (my toddlers) allows this to take place.

So, fingers crossed, there will be yet another "How to paint your kitchen cabinets like a professional" pin on Pinterest very soon!

Have you ever re-used an old porcelain sink?  How did you seal it?  I don't want to refinish it, as I like the old, slightly dull look. But it stains really easily. My dad suggested car wax?  Has anyone tried this?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks for stopping by!

take care -



The Abandoned Blog

Do you ever come across a blog that just stops one day, without warning?

One day, there's a tutorial about DIY kitchen cabinets made from old diaper boxes and Mod Podge, and then........
(cue deserted ghost town music)
....nothing.

It just stops.

What happened? 

Did she enter an intensive Pinterest addiction program?

source

Maybe she threw away her glue gun in a fit of crafting rage?

Or maybe, she dropped her digital camera in a quart of chalk paint while creating her newest DIY tutorial?

I wish I had a good reason for my sudden departure from blogland this summer, but it was just a matter of life taking over.

I've mentioned before how difficult it is to focus on writing posts with my 2 toddlers constantly vying to destroy our house, dogs, and each other.  A post that should take an hour to write becomes a full-time job.

But, when I took a large order (20 wreaths and 100+ flower stems) for a wedding in Colorado -

 in combination with keeping up my Etsy shop, and making wreaths for Sobo Style, that's when my blog really took the back seat.

I finally dug my way out of the coffee filters this week, but then I faced the pressure of writing the perfect come-back post.  

Unfortunately, it's impossible to maintain a train of thought for longer than 2 minutes before someone needs to go potty, is biting someone / something, wants juice....so I nixed the notion of trying to write a perfect post.

...deep breath...I'm so glad to be back in Blogland, and I plan on hanging out more often.

I have all kinds of wonderful things to share like my salvaged farm sink, my 1st trip to the Country Living Fair, our kitchen remodel, some new wreaths....oh, and I know there's more...

(By the way, if you are here looking for the Mod Podged diaper box cabinet tutorial, I was joking, sorry)

take care -
 



Camp Etsy: 4 FREE Benefits of Great Listing Photos

In my first Camp Etsy post, I went over 5 simple tips to taking pictures for Etsy, now I'm going to explain why good pictures are important.

But first - I wanted to share a couple photography articles I've come across that aren't totally focused towards professionals with $600 cameras...

Photo Styling with Kim Ludy of Trampoline - Even if you don't like photography articles, this is a great read with great pictures.

Studio Quality Product Photography with a $12 Set Up

Shoot to Sell:  Taking Better Photos for Ebay, Etsy, and Instructables

Etsy's Guide to Photography

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So why does all this matter.....

....because....

Great Pictures are More Likely to....

1. Become a "FAVORITE."

Etsy has this fun little feature that allows you to click on a heart and have items or entire shops saved to a list of favorites.  

(Any member of Etsy can use it - you don't need to be a buyer or seller - just have a (free) Etsy Account).

Raceytay

Other members of Etsy can look at your favorites (favorites can also be kept private)

If people like your shop enough and favorite it--whenever you add new listings to Etsy, anyone who has you saved as a "favorite" will get an update to his / her "Activity Feed" ( which is like a dashboard that tells you when you've been added to Treasuries, favorited, etc.)

 

I look through my favorites when I'm looking for a blog post idea or if I'm working on a treasury, which leads me to my next point...

Great pictures are more likely to....

2.  Get your listings featured in TREASURIES.

Treasuries are collections of listings that can be created by any member of Etsy (you don't have to be a buyer or seller to create treasuries)

Here's an example of a treasury that included my green farm table:

Another pretty treasury:

Treasuries are another avenue for your shop to be seen...

This treasury, which includes my Shades of Pink Wreath (which, by the way, I named before the whole Shades of Gray thing became popular), has had 745 views....that's 745 potential buyers, or 745 sellers who might "favorite" you, or 745 people who might post you to their Facebook or   Pinterest pages...and then it's out there to repin and repost to infinite places.

All because you took the time to create a pretty picture.

Pretty fantastic (and free!) - but wait, there's more...

Being featured in treasuries can lead to....

3.  Be Featured on the Home Page of Etsy

The Etsy "Gods" choose the Handpicked Items that are featured on the front page of Etsy from the Treasuries made by its users....

Etsy's Merchandising Desk Articles

Here's a Treasury that was featured on the front page:

Making the front page is a big deal.

Etsy receives 42 million  unique visitors and 1.4 billion (that's Billion. with a B) page views monthly.  MONTHLY.

BIG.DEAL.

To see if you've had an item featured on the front page, check out Craft Cult.

So, it might just worth your time to check out my 5 Simple Tips for Great Etsy Photos for some tips to make your product pictures attractive to treasury creators. 

If all of this isn't the best thing you've seen since Pinterest....there's MORE!

Great pictures are more likely to be FAVORITED, which are more likely to be used in TREASURIES, which are used to create Etsy's HOME PAGE - all of which make your item more likely to....

4.  Be shared via SOCIAL MEDIA.

Have you ever bought anything on Etsy?

How did you find the item that you ultimately purchased?

Did you search through thousands of listings? Or, did you see it on Pinterest, Facebook, a blog, an Etsy Treasury, or any one of the social media options out there?

After I post a new listing to Etsy, the first thing I do is add it to my "Salvaged Whimsy" board on Pinterest.

Now my practically obscure item will at least be glanced at by a couple hundred people who would not have seen it other wise.  If it's repinned, that number is multiplied.

At first, it was hard for me to "pin" my own stuff, so I chose to create a board specifically for my items.

I also have a board called "a la Etsy" where I post other shops' things that I like from Etsy: (Some items I pin to other boards where they make more sense)

I choose these pins directly from my Etsy Favorites .

Every so often, I'll add some pictures to my Salvaged Whimsy Facebook page -

 If you don't have a Facebook page for your business, go set one up here (you set them up as an extension to your personal page)...it's another great way to meet people and share your ideas.

On my Salvaged Whimsy  Facebook page, I also have links back to my Pinterest and Etsy pages. 

In my opinion, your Facebook page shouldn't be one big Etsy shop advertisement.   I have my blog posts automatically uploaded to Facebook using dilvr.it., and occasionally I'll add pictures of my booth or items that I don't share on my blog.  

I try to check my FB page once every one or two days in order to "like" anyone who has "liked" me, and make sure I haven't received any questions comments, etc.

***

Now, these are the social media sites I use, but if you're interested in one of the other options, here's some information to get you started:

Etsy's Guide to Facebook.

Etsy's Guide to Twitter

Using Tumblr to Promote your Etsy

You can network with other Etsy Sellers via the Etsy Forums - I don't spend a ton of time here, but I always learn something when I do - great resource!

Top 15 Social Media Sites (as of June 2012) from SNPlanet.com

***

It's taken me a good 3 weeks to get all of this out in a way that makes sense- so I apolgize for the time lapse since my last Camp Etsy post.   

It's important to me to offer advice that can't be read on 1000 different blogs. 

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or corrections!

Have a great weekend (and try to stay cool!)

take care -