"La Belle Poubelle" Doll House!

My sister recently spent 2 months with me. It was so wonderful to re-connect with her. She is 11 years younger than me so I feel I have missed out on her childhood as I left home for boarding school when she was 3. What I so remember of our time with her is that she was always making cool things out of recycled items.

I especially remember her making clothes for her stuffed animals and dolls. She used to use old socks to make the coolest clothing items for her toys.

My parents used to get frustrated at her gleaning things from the garbage can that she used to make things, until they realized how creative she was with these recycled items. I remember being at home one summer and going to empty all the garbages in the house and I was told by Mom that I could not toss out the garbage from a specific (office) garbage until Melissa had her chance to pick out what she needed for all her projects! Mom used to tease Melissa that she should own a shop someday that sold items gleaned and recycled from the garbage and call it "La Belle Poubelle" (French for: the beautiful garbage can). She has now started a shop on Etsy called exactly that. Keep checking back to see when she starts selling her creations.

While she was here living with us, we made all kinds of things. It was the holidays and we painted all our own Christmas tree decorations. She was telling me and my husband about a doll house she made out of a citrus box. It sounded amazing and somehow even with my frequent visits home I had never seen this house of hers.

She recently went home and photographed her house. My Dad was wanting to chuck it and she was trying to photograph it before he could toss it so that she can remember it. She sent me the pictures and I was so shocked at the creativity and craftsmanship. She was I think 7 y/o when she started this house and she finished it around the age of 9. Everything was made from things she gleaned from the garbage at home or things she found (like shells at the beach).

Take a browse at all her pictures. What do you think?

My Personal Tips to Other Etsy Sellers! Tip #3

Tip #3 is: Have a uniform style or theme to your shop.

Style and uniformity is very subjective but I think it is important key to making your store look and feel professional. I feel that your avatar, banner, your product and the way it is photographed make a huge impression on our buying audience.

I will use my shop as an example. I feel that my banner has a rustic organic feel to it as well as the fact that the graphic portrays some of the same geometric lines as my jewelry. I have used a photo of one of my earrings as an avatar that I feel shows the style of my creations. I try to photograph all my jewelry in a rustic and artistic manner with interesting angles. I know my shop is not perfect but I feel that I have followed through with a style theme throughout.

Other stores that have done a great job at creating a uniform style and feel are:

• littleputbooks - her banner, avatar and product all give me a feel of a whimsical fairytale and happy feeling.

• AllInStitches - the banner reminds me of a time long ago and a modern feel to it as well. It is interesting that the wire forms she uses to display her work gives a modern feel to her product of knit wares that once again feel like they take you back in time
  

• shescrafty - She has photos that are stunning and very artistic of little babies wearing her knit wares. Her avatar and banner use the pictures very well and there is a clean simple feel to her entire shop.
  

Once again if you are not sure of your own sense of style and or you have a hard time being objective about your own store then that is where the forums com in handy. Ask others if they feel that your store has a uniform style and or feel to it. If you post and it gets ignored post again. Be persistent.

Pond Hockey?

My home town of Plaster Rock, New Brunswick hosts the World Pond Hockey tournament. It started in 2002 and has grown rapidly since then. There are waiting lists of teams that want to compete. This is an outdoor event and I would imagine the ice will be well frozen on the pond this year as I spoke to my Dad the other day and it was -39 degrees Celsius when he woke up that morning. I am hoping to find some coverage of the tournament on TV here in the States this year. My Dad said there is some coverage but I have not found it yet.

Looks like fun. I have never been to the tournament because it started after I moved away but it is one of those things I will have to go home to enjoy one of these years. Some of my High School friends have played in it. GO PLASTER ROCK!

If anyone finds any US coverage on TV please comment and let me know.

Tired of Catalog Anyone?

I get way too many catalogs in the mail. To make things even worse some of the companies have both my husbands and my name and somehow my business name and I get douplicates and triplicates. I try to be environmentally conscious but I have been stumped as to how to stop them from coming. I found this on another blog. I am going to put a stop to the catalogs. I seriously get more than I can possibly have time to read. Try Catalog Choice out yourself and de-clutter your life.