No Thrift Share This Week...

Sorry folks, nothing to share... I am headed to Hawaii (!!!) this week so have spent the weekend getting ready for that.  I plan on visiting a thrift store in Oahu and sharing what I find next week! Aloha!

Thrift Share: Things are Pretty out of Context

This week's post is about using thrifted treasures in new ways...

I love how these thrifted knitting needles brighten up the window.  You can see the gloomy gray we Chicagoans have been dealing with for weeks now.  I haven't been doing enough knitting this winter, as I have overwhelmed myself with other projects, and it is sad to think of these needles tucked away, with no purpose.  Not any more!  I actually have a huge lot of them - in all different colors.  I have about 30 size 6 double pointed needles, and even more tiny tiny metal double points.  I'm not really sure what you could knit with them...

I also have these blocks sitting on my coffee table.  They are in the Etsy shop but I am enjoying them until some one else gives them a home.  Their unexpectedness as a centerpiece in the little Glasbake dish is charming, I think.  I like giving things a fresh purpose.

These swizzle sticks have served one purpose in a cocktail, and are now brightening up my plants!  I love the little whistle.  I have a bunch more I have yet to stick in my plants, and am thinking about putting my knitting needles that have lost their match in my plants as well.

What thrifted treasures have you reinvented?

Linking up at Apron Thrift Girl!

Etsy Shop Update!

Boy oh boy.  Last month I participated in Apron Thrift Girl's Reseller Listing Challenge.  My goal was to list 20 items in the month of February.  I did pretty well - I listed 18 items and sold 2 items from the challenge for a total of 4 total sales since opening the shop in January. 

Then March came...and I have sold 9 items in the last 3 days alone!  I now have a total of 15 sales!  Woohoo! This is so incredibly exciting.  Of course, I check my shop obsessively to see if i have any favorites/sales/views, and when I get a sale it is so gratifying - especially when it is something you have had in the shop for a while that you were beginning to believe would never sell.

My educational charts have been a huge hit.  So far, almost all my sales were on paper items.  I'm beginning to wonder if that is my niche.

I am also looking into selling vintage eye glass frames - because I love them.  I just bought a pair on Etsy but they are a little small - not sure if I should resell them or see if I can make them work with some adjustments....I've been wearing the same pair on my face for four years - it's time for a change.

Anyways, what seems to sell best in your shops?

Thrift Share Monday: More Paper Items!

WooHoo!  Hello!  Thanks for visiting!

I didn't go out thrifting this weekend - there were no good looking estate sales that weren't really far away - and as I have to commute to the suburbs for work during the week, I never really feel like commuting to the suburbs on the weekends.  No wonder.

I did find some things at the sale I went to last week that I haven't shared yet, however. 

Wee!  Don't you just love these?  !!

This one is especially cute!

I found these at the estate sale of a former school teacher... and there are more!  I have an entire set on animals, as well as an entire set on magnetism.  These charts were intended to help teach kindergarteners about science.  The color scheme for the magnet ones is a lavender/ periwinkle type purple, which I love.  I have already sold one on my Etsy, and I just listed them yesterday.  I like selling paper items on Etsy because I can offer a low shipping price, and charge free shipping on the other paper items they buy because they can all fit in the same envelope cheaply.  I think I might take my shop more in the direction of selling paper goods, but with so much cute stuff out there - it is hard to discriminate! 

Linking up at Apron Thrift Girl!

Reselling Listing Challenge: Complete

I'm such a kid at heart...

Well folks, February is over (can you believe it?) and so ATG's Reselling Challenge is complete!  Here is how I did:

Goal:  20 listings (Ebay and Etsy combined)

Actual listings:  18 - not too shabby

Total of items from the listing challenge that sold:  0.  

Yup, big fat 0.   Edit: 2!  YAY I sold two bird prints!

That's ok though because I am still having fun scouting and taking pictures and being creative.  And all in all, 18 listings isn't really that much - especially since most of them were on Etsy.

Weeeeeeee!

Overall I have loved this challenge.  It was a real motivator for me.  I have discovered that I really want to make this work for me, as it is one of the few things I have tried that I am actually motivated to do.  I have spent so much time working for crap money for other people - It is so refreshing to have the chance to work for myself, make my own decisions, and be creative. 

March has begun!

My new goal for March is 20 listings (again).  Let's see how it goes...