Transformations

It's funny, the way things change on you.  

When I started this blog, I wanted it to be a homemaking blog.  I was going to write about cooking healthy, whole food meals.  I was going to write about green cleaning, DIY, sewing and knitting.  If you look at my earlier posts, they follow this format.  It didn't take long for me to catch the DIY, trash-to-treasure bug.  I loved looking through the link parties and seeing these awesome transformations that people were doing and I though, "Hey, I can do that!"  So I began going to thrift stores and raiding the housewares sections, finally able to look at things with a new outlook and see past the ugly to what something could become, and with that, my blog changed.  It became a blog about DIY, trash-to-treasure & crafting.  

The same thing happened with my Etsy shop.  I was going to sell knitted items, handmade jewelry and some vintage goodies that I'd picked up here and there.  It sure didn't take long to realize that those things weren't gonna budge.  I couldn't charge enough for the knitted items to really compensate myself.  Nobody wants to pay $26 for a hand-knit hat when they can go to Target and get a really cute one for $10.  Plus, $26 was ripping me off.  The yarn alone costs about a third of that, and my time is more valuable than $2 an hour (time spent knitting the hat).

 At the same time, I had so much stuff that I'd thrifted, out in the garage, waiting for me to paint it.  There was also the question of where would I put it once I did paint it.  My house is already decorated and there is no room for new stuff.  At the same time, I needed projects to keep my blog going.  I needed that stuff.  Charles suggested I try to sell that stuff on Etsy.  I was hesitant at first, until I started poking around on Etsy and seeing that people WERE selling stuff just like that.  So a few weeks ago, I pulled some stuff out, painted it and listed it, and do you know what???  People started buying it!  I've made 10 sales in the past three weeks.  I feel that the closer it gets to Christmas, the more I'll sell.  By selling this stuff, I'm actually making the profit that I feel I deserve.  The items are inexpensive for me to buy, it doesn't take long at all for me to work on them and so I'm able to sell them for a cheaper price.  Both my customers and I win!

Since I'm here talking about changes and transformations I do actually have something to show you.  

The after:

The before:

Amazing what a little paint and glaze can do!


If anyone is interested, these are for sale in my shop. 




Linking to:
Look What I made @ Creations by Kara

Sugar & Spice @ seven-thirty-three
Whatever Goes Weds @ Someday Crafts   
We Did It Weds @ Sew Much Ado
Cheap Thrills Thursday @ Black Kat Design  
Get Your Craft on Thurs @ Life as Lori 
Transformation Thurs @ The Shabby Chic Cottage 
Under $100 Linky Party @ Beyond the Picket Fence
Strut Your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple
Hooking Up With HOH
Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge 
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest 
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous 
Everything But the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Knack 
Fab Friday @ Frugal & Fabulous Design   
Sat Soiree @ A Little Lovely 
Show and Tell Sat @ Be Different, Act Normal 
Sat Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors  
DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Showoff  
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple  
MMM Day @ C.R.A.F.T. 
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative  
You're So Very Creative @ Me Making Do 
Met Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch  
Make it 4 Monday @ cottage instincts  
Craft-O-Maniac Monday 
Market Yourself Monday @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff  
Trash to Treasure Tues @ Sassy Sites 
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
Make it Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple 

Comments - Responding and noreply-comment@blogger

because felt like I needed some sort of photos for this post

I'm really bad about replying to comments and I tend to beat myself up about it.  Is it rude not to get a reply to a comment?   I think maybe if you've left a pretty long comment or have asked a question, it'd be rude to not get a reply back.  I'm guilty of that... not replying to a question someone has asked.  I really do feel terrible about it.  I also know that I get a reply to maybe 5% of the comments I leave on other blogs, so is it really that bad?  I mean, I think we should try to reply to as many comments as we can (I don't), but it seems like not replying is the norm, so should I stop feeling guilty?  I think my best bet is to stop feeling guilty for the past ones and try to do better in the future.  I personally feel like this blog is my little business and I really SHOULD be responding when I can.

But sometimes...

I really can't.  Like when someone doesn't have their e-mail address set up for comment replies and they've got a noreply-comment@blogger.com.  This means that if I want to reply to a comment, I have to go digging around on their blog to find an e-mail address, which is something I just can't do anymore.  

I'm pretty sure that most people who have this, don't even know they're set up that way.  Do you get replies back on only a few of the comments you leave?   Maybe this is the reason why.  Try leaving yourself a comment and then go to your e-mail and see if you are able to reply via e-mail.  You will see noreply-comment@blogger.com where your e-mail address should be.

How can you fix it?  

I found this post over at Sweet Simplicity months ago and have shared this with a few people who were set up this way.

I hope that I haven't made anyone feel bad when I haven't replied to a comment you left.  I read all of them and love them all, I just haven't been very good and managing them.  Beginning today, I'm going to carve out some time each night to reply to that day's comments.  Hopefully, this will be more manageable than letting them pile up for a few days and then feeling overwhelmed when I think about answering them.