I planned on telling you about my weekend projects and showing pics but I’m having trouble getting going today. I finally ran the last of the consignment selling portion of my Marketing Series over the weekend. I hope some of you gained some insight into the process and wish those of you trying consignment selling for the first time much success. As my articles stated, done right, it can be a beautiful relationship and very beneficial for all involved.
There are several “craft” oriented sites that I frequent just in an effort to keep up with the industry and the craft environment as a whole. One of those I hit a few times a week is the Craft Forum on Craigslist.
The site can be a little unusual depending on who’s riding the wave at the moment when you are there. There are often excellent discussions of new trends, helpful discussions with regard to questions asked by someone new to a particular craft or looking for suggestions as to methods of working with particular materials and some very nice people generally sharing thoughts concerning crafting. At times, the place can be somewhat hostile with a surplus of snarky attitude and mean comments. The former folks are the ones who keep me coming back.
Sometimes I just lurk in the shadows there and read and sometimes I contribute. I’m of the school of thought that if you cannot contribute “nicely” then don’t comment at all.
Ready for some smiles?
Today, I found the nice people hanging out there and it seems they were in control for most of the weekend.
On Saturday, a contributor we’ll refer to as Kelly, related a humorous anne
cdote about cleaning out her surplus craft supplies. It seems she lives in an apartment complex and after weeding through her stock, gathered up a couple of bags of “stuff” and sat it out by her dumpster labeled, “Free Craft Stuff.” Well, her mom lives in the same complex and within a few hours, Kelly received a call from Mom telling her to come on over and take a look. She’d found a whole bag of yarn someone was giving away free. You guessed it -- Mom had been dumpster diving!Among the comments was one saying they’ve had a similar experience and, then, received the same stuff back for Christmas!!!
I can relate. When my sister lived in the same town with me, she actually called one day to ask me to help her bring something home that she’d found near their dumpster at work (a mall). Seems my car was bigger than hers!
We come by it honestly, though. My mom used to walk to work everyday and was known to discover great finds out at the curb on trash day. It took a lot of effort, but she often had to carry that item to work and back. Good thing it wasn’t a long trip!
Oh, and who among us, has not given a gaudy piece of jewelry or a gag gift to the church or school rummage sale, only to have it come back like a homing pigeon, camouflaged in gift wrap, with one of the kids in the family who did their holiday shopping at the White Elephant Table?
Let’s put a crafty spin on the old adage about “if you love something, set it free…”. I think our new version should go something like: “If you dump it and it finds its way back to you, keep it and call it a family heirloom!”
Speaking of family heirlooms, Rose had an entry on Saturday with a fantastic twist on family history. She said her mom had “left several dozen scrapbooks done over a period of many, many years.” Unsure how long they might hold up and wanting to share them with members of the family, she undertook the task of scanning each page and then ordered hard cover books from http://www.mypublisher.com/. What a fantastic way to share the memories and family history there among the family!
One more funny from the weekend’s entries - To protect the innocent (or embarrassed), I’ll simply say “one contributor” provided this story. She sculpted a really cute little old lady out of Sculpey, but not thinking clearly, she built it over a styrofoam ball. Once baked to set the clay, the old lady curled up “like Shrinky Dinks!” Next time, having learned her lesson, she made some cute witch heads using aluminum foil (not styrofoam)! Luckily she uses a toaster oven outside so the smell doesn’t overtake the house. When she came back to check on them, smoke was pouring out of the oven. Those sneaky little witch heads had gotten too close to the coils and had “bubbled up some mighty ugly warts!” She has since decided to live with the smell and only use the regular oven where there’s more room to bake!
So, go on out there and get creative. If it doesn't turn out the way you intended, hopefully you'll at least get a good laugh out of the experience!!
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