Thrifty Shopping: Rugged Wearhouse, Goodwill, and Target

Oh, how I love a good deal. Yesterday, I went to some of my favorite spots for thrifty finds. I found a few things I liked and thought I'd share.


I snagged this nautical looking hair clip at Rugged Wearhouse for a whole $1.99. I have no idea what company made it since it was on a generic black card. Oh well! But I am so happy I can wear things like this now that my hair is finally getting long enough. While I was there, I also got this adorable bird necklace for $4.99. It's like the perfect combination of girly sparkle and vintagey roughness. (Yes, I just made up the word "vintagey.")

I'm wearing this in my previous post... take a look for scale/length. :o)

After Rugged Wearhouse, I hit up the local Target. Aside from shampoo and new nail polish, this adorable little pair of cameo earrings found their way home with me. They we're on clearance for a whole $2.48 so of course, I had to have them! I love that the background is black instead of the typical pink or peachy color.


I also went by the Goodwill... it's my most favorite thrifty place to go! I found a lot of things I really liked but they we're either too big or too small and I hate when that happens! But I did find a cardigan that was my size and there are never too many cardies in my closet! One of the Goodwill stores here always has new Target merchandise that's donated by the store. I got this cardigan for $3.75 with the tags still on it. It's still available at Target.com for $17.59 so that's a savings ooooof... $13.84. Shweet!

(photo credit)

I also love to buy plain cardigans like this so I can add my own personal touches... ribbons, flowers, bead, etc. I'm trying to decide what I want to add to this one, if anything. Ideas anyone? lol

Selling on Etsy

I love Etsy. I can spend hours browsing the beautiful art work and kitschy creations. I've bought a fair share of things from some very talented people. Most of my purchases are things that I can't make on my own or it's something that just amused me to death.

But now I'm trying to venture into becoming a seller, not just a shopper. The competition is fierce. Some sellers have turned their Etsy shop into a full time gig. They advertise online through blogs, Facebook, Twitter... you name it. They devote hours upon hours to their artwork and crafts. I want to be one of them. I just have this whole 40+ hour a week job thing I have to deal with.

I tried once before about a year ago. I make greeting cards for coworkers birthdays and everyone has always really liked them. I started getting special requests and before you know it, I was turning out orders for 100+ wedding invitations. I had a boost of confidence in my talents and decided to sell my wares on Etsy. I listed about 50 cards and managed to sell two of them. It wasn't a successful venture to say the least.

After looking at the tons and tons of the paper crafts I was in competition with, it's obvious that the card market is a wee bit over-saturated on Etsy. I've noticed that the successful sellers were full time wedding invitation producers or they work with antique and custom letterpress. Neither of which I have the time or resources for.

I've decided to give it a second go but instead of selling exclusively cards, I thought it would be a good idea to "branch out" so to speak. I've picked up jewelry making (which I LURVE!!) and I'm starting to dabble in fabric and sewing some. I also figure that it would be a good way to liquidate a bunch of the jewelry and flowers piling up around my bedroom. My re-vamped shop now contains items from all of my crafting obsessions.

I really hope to have better luck selling this time around and so far things are looking positive. I've already had a request for a custom order and I've only have my new items listed for a few days. Definitely a good sign!

Shopping: Conflict Free and Cute

Brilliant Earth is an online supplier of conflict free and eco-friendly jewelry. They have beautiful engagement rings (hint hint BF) but they also have really cute everyday jewelry that I just lurve. I follow them on Facebook and they just posted a contest where they are offering up a silver "In the Stars" pendant. Contest aside... how freaking cute is this thing?


They have all twelve of the zodiac symbols and each one is just as cute. I would definitely suggest checking out their site and go ahead... make a wishlist. I have one and it's 10 miles long now!