Cyber Monday SALE!

Time to get your shop on!!! Black Friday for the internet is HERE and it's known as CYBER MONDAY! This sale is for MONDAY DECEMBER 1st ONLY! 12am central time to 11pm central time. YOU MUST PAY by 11pm on DECEMBER 1st to qualify.

All sales are time stamped, so be sure to purchase early to qualify for this sale.
ALL purchases over 20.00 on MONDAY DECEMBER 1st will receive:

Gift Certificate for 20.00 off a future purchase. (Yup it's like getting the stuff FREE!).
Free Bow necklace (8.00 in my shop right now).
Free Pair of Pearl Drop Earrings (8.00 in soon to be Lollishops Shop)

Free lollipop Cell Charm! (6.00)

That's over 40.00 in goodies for FREE!
Be sure to use CODE: BFfree for your goodies!

Rules and Not so Fun Stuff:

*Only transactions from 12am-11:58pm on DECEMBER 1st 2008.
*ONE free gift pack per person/mailing address.
*MUST be paid for before 11:58pm on MINDAY DECEMBER 1st.
*MUST use code at check out, no convos or add ons later please.
*Free bow necklace and pearl drop earrings colors will vary based upon availability.

*Items from MichellesCharmWorld on ETSY Qualify.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Platter Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

Happy Thanksgiving Bloggers! I just wanted to remind everyone to check out my blog tomorrow after midnight and get an eye of my AWESOME Black Friday sale! You don't want to miss out on this!!

Today I am thankful for:

My family. They an amazing group of people and I am luckt to be spending this vacation with my husband, children and father. We're in Frankenmuth, Michigan and loving every minute.

My customers. I have an amazing group of people that are helpingme share my creations with the world! With each sale I get, I hope you all know that I still cheer, smile and jump around like a little kid. You make me feel like a little girl on Christmas Day.

My friends. Though few, I know there are no better people out there than you guys. You are supportive, sweet and so kind. I hope this message finds you and yours all happy and full of turkey!

My readers. That's you guys!! You all are so great with feedback, comments and kind words all the way around. Each comment it truly like unwrapping a gift. I hope that my posts help inspire you at least a little bit.

Thank you everyone. I hope your day is truly spectacular. I will be back to regular posting on Monday!

Sneak Peek at My New Line

A Treasure Trove of Wearable Sweets from MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

So it's almost time for the grand opening of Lollishops! The site opens up on Friday the 28th, i'm on vacation and my shop will not open up for business until December 1st. I'm giving you a little sneak peek at some of the goodies that you will find in my shop when it does open!

The first 5 customers to spend over 15.00 in my NEW Lollishop store will get the cutest little purse full of goodies! These swag bags are limited to 5 because there is over 25.00 in merchandise here!! A perfect stocking stuffer!! You get one of my bow necklaces, a rhinestone heart cell charm, Lollipop Ring, lollipop bracelet, pink pearl earrings, pair of bow barrettes and a discount card off your next purchase!

Shop MichellesCharmWorld on Etsy or Lollishops a virtual dollhouse of treasures and sweets for your body!

Laundry Day Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld on Etsy 20.00

My Etsy Shop is all about the funky and chunky with pieces that are sure to make people turn twice. Pieces for the truly bold and daring! This accessories are all about conversation pieces! Large and colorful!

Sweet and Pretty Bow Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops and Etsy 8.00

My Lollishops Shop is all about the dainty feminine girl that likes a little bit of quirky to her everyday pieces. I still use a lot of bright colors, but this line is more towards the sweet and pretty! Bows, candies and dolly goodness are what you will find in this candy shop of wearable sweets!

Shop Vacation?

Vintage Green Train Case from JessJamesJake 38.00
We all need time away, but let's not forget to convey that message to our customers! Todays posting is going to be short and sweet since i'm on vacation for the holiday! Sometimes, we won't have the time to answer convos in a timely manner or ship out same day when we have family over for the holidays. Let's be sure to let our customers know with an announcement in our shops! I will not be returning until very late monday night and have let my customers know that. I will still ship that night all the pacakges that were purchased up to that date, but it's still a few days away and I felt the need to let them know that. I will still be answering questions, but not until the evenings when i'm back in my room. I let them know that too. I usually answer convos within 20 minutes during the day and within 5 hours during that overnight, so I wanted to be sure to let them know I was on vacation.



Remember to treat your customers just as we want those big box stores to treat us :)

Avatars and You...

Record Player Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 18.00

Ahhh...the little box known as the avatar! It's such a mystery as to what works, what does not and what should we put there. For me it's killing me having my photo over there in the ABOUT ME section <------------------ I'm a product gal, it's one extra spot to have a photo of something dynamic to lure the eye in!

Ice Cream for One Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

I like to think of that little box, known as the avatar, as a window to my shop. A window to what they can see more of if they just click! I like to start a thread every now asking if my avatar is Click-Worthy . Pretty much just asking if it's worthy of your click.

Whipped Cream Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

I like to keep it simple. Photo and that's it. If I was having a sale, a little word saying SALE and leave it at that. Photos of people don't tell me what you sell and if i'm bored trolling to forums to pass some time and wanting to help out someone nice that made me laugh or made me smile a photo just won't do it for me. Yes, it's cool to see what you look like, but save it for a blog :) This is all about bringing your customer in. We all know that once our shops are FOUND people will browse, heart and most likely pick something up! Too much wording in your avatar is just an invitation for me to pass it by. It's usually to hard to read and remember i'm already reading in the forums, all I am doing as I read is glacing to the side to see who posted it. We don't need your name in your avatar. On Etsy the only place your avatar is located is in your shop and when you post in the forums. When we are in your shop, we know your shopname already. When you post, I see your shop name above your post. It's just repeating yourself.

Tall Present Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

I know some of this sounds harsh sometimes, but I just want to help people out. When I was first getting started online selling on Etsy I hung out in the forums trying to get a vibe for the place. I started out with my photo in the avatar and my views stayed pretty low and sales were pretty weak. (Bad photos and such had a lot to do with this too! hhaha) I tried a few of my pieces out in the little avatar and I was getting in more traffic, just looking at views alone. (Before I started the whole Relist, Renew, Repeat Process!) I like judging by views, since shop hearts are a little more difficult to read. Some people heart because you hear them, some people heart because they like you in the forums or are your friend..etc..not necessarily wanting to buy something from your shop. (More on hearts in another post!). As people were buying, I was getting comments in my messages to the seller box saying they found me in the forums! The most obvious part? I was actually selling out the item that WAS my avatar! I was usually selling the item in the avatar about once a week!

Making the Donuts Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

Moving onto sold items in the avatar. SO many times I wanted to keep an old sold item as my avatar, because it was a great conversation piece in the forums, people loved it and I loved it and it garnered a lot of clicks.. My main advice on this is DON'T. I didn't do it because so many times have I clicked to buy and the person didn't have it listed anymore and it had sold days, weeks so on ago. I was sad and of course too impulsive to write about asking for another, I just bought something else that I found. I know if I didn't like it, then there would be others. Jewelry (especially mine) is NOT a necessity and there is a lot of it out there. People don't want to wait, heck I don't! So what are you waiting for? Get that avatar rockin'!

Earrings by Lil922 , Pendant by WireYourWorld, clutch by EmmaGordonLondon, Gnomes by CozyColeman .

This is a collage of avatars that earned my click today in one thread . The best part? They were easy to find once I clicked too. They were either featured in their shop or newly listed! I love that.

Social Networking....Do You?

Retro 80s Computer Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 16.00

With the dawn of the computer era being a great place to shop, it seems that most of our advertising if not all should be online. There are just such a sea of places, it's difficult to know where to start! The easiest of all of these was the blog! It's easy to set up, but the difficult part about it, is keeping it fresh daily! I usually spend breakfast time and clean up of the dishes thinking of what to blog about. If I have a thought in mind, but i've blogged that day, I will usually type it up and save it for posting another time :)

On to happier thinking! There was once a time that I had no clue what-so-ever Myspace and Facebook were and in fact I really wanted nothing to do with them, they were a hodge podge of stuff I just didn't understand. Then there is Flickr, Of course just as I get into the swing of it all a new thing comes up and it's called Twitter. I feel like they are popping up everywhere and anywhere! (feel free to add me on anything by just clicking the links to my profiles).

The question then becomes, how do I make these sites work for ME? I know you all are thinking that! To me, Myspace is still a black hole and I needed a lot of help for my site to still look as less-than-stellar than it does :) To make this site work for me, I really had to find someone that knew the ins and outs way better than I did and that's my cousin! I have several people that are in my niche market that i'm related to and see quite often, so in exchange for putting my Etsy mini in their profiles they get free goodies every now and then. This has helped me a TON! They have loads of friends and the time to spend hours on this site! For my part, I send out bulletins on sales or really interesting blog posts, but I try hard NOT to spam my friends with too much of the bulletins. I remove people that seem to post them non-stop. The newest thing i'm trying is switching around my profile picture every now and then, What make some people click may not work with others! I'm going to start copying and pasting my blog posts from here onto the blog there too, just to give it a little more of a not abandoned feeling! Myspace gets me some pretty good sales from first time Etsians.

Typewriter Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

With Facebook, I feel a bit more comfortable, though this is NOT the place to start if you don't have anything else. People cannot view your profile unless they are your friends and customers usually don't want to add you as a friend since Facebook is a lot more personal than any of the other sites. I pretty much use this site to connect with my friends (old and new) Family (far and near) and Etsy shop owners. To get the word out about sales or new items I use the status bar at the top and I also post a NOTE to my profile. Facebook gets me a lot of blog traffic in the end and a few sales if that from sellers.

Camera Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 13.00

Flickr is defiantely my friend and where I have been most successful! Be sure to follow the rules though! No shop information or links, no for sale verbiage (sold, see my profile, for sale) and not a strictly commercial site (only things for sale photographed). If you break these rules, you risk getting shut down. YES it happens, and it has happened to friends of mine. AND I was one of the lucky ones that got a warning before being shut down. I was able to fix it all up straight away and i'm doing much better now! Just keep it personal too! There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the warnings vs. the shut downs, so play it safe. The admin on this site is verrrrrrry verrrrrrrry slow in getting back to you about anything, so be sure you allow yourself enough time if you need to get a hold of someone. It seems that my studio shots and ones of my supplies seem to get me the most traffic and people into my store that do in fact lead to sales. (remember my previous post about where my sales came from). I keep alot of my family photos visible to only certain people though, just to keep it on the safe side. The key here is to be active in the community. Don't be greedy! I love to join groups, add my photos (Not millions at a time, that is a huge turn-off) and chat in the discussions! (I really dislike seeing tons of photos from someone in group pools and no active participation at all in the discussions). COMMENT on other peoples photos! If you like when people write nice stuff about your goodies, wouldn't you want someone else to say the same about yours? It's common courtesy online people :) That's all! I think the networking aspect of this site is what makes it my favorite, but oft neglected little pearl in the oyster.

Tweet Tweet Bird Bath Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

Finally Twitter! This one is super easy to use, once you figure out there is no deep down secret! haha! You just post what is on your mind, what you are doing, what you re looking at etc. and read what everyone else is doing. Tweeting is a lot fun this way. I can say for sure this one has lead to 5 sales in the month or so that I have been there. With here try NOT to spam everyone with your shop link and items 24-7. That gets annoying and gets you unfollowed. Don't add people and then unfollow them and then add them again when they unfollow you. It's not a game on who can add the most people.

Movie Queen Video Camera Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 15.00

Next on my list is testing out You Tube, I need to make a video first and then I will see what happens from there! That's about it for me! Have any other sites that I should be checking out????

Wasting My Time...

Hourglass Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00
Sometimes do you feel like promoting is wearing you thin? You don't know where your sales are coming from? You are thinking that some places are a waste of time? There are some ways that we can figure what is working!

Notebook and Pencil Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

I leave codes in a lot of places, but the codes are each individual codes that I keep track of in a code notebook. In this notebook I can tell where I left a code, what the code was and who redeemed it. I leave these little codes on posts in forums, in my email signatures, on my blog (code corner)signatures on message boards, on fliers I hang up in places and on business cards.

There are also non-coded places I advertise such as blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and social networking sites like this. I also consider relisting and renewing a form of advertising and I can't put a code there :) Feel free to add me as a friend or heart me on Etsy!

Taco Night Earrings by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

How can I keep track of who is buying what other than my notebook? When you purchase something from my store, a little blurb pops up that is a message to seller. I have something like:

**TELL ME HOW YOU FOUND MY SHOP AND YOU WILL GET A FREE PAIR OF LOLLIPOP EARRINGS!!**

Not sure on the exact wording, but buy something and you can see it! haha! I will soon photograph a pair of the free earrings and put it in my Flickr account, I will keep track of the clicks there to see who is actually checking them out AND it gives the customer a chance to see what they are getting for free!

Relist, Renew, Repeat...

Present Stack Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

Ahhh....the mountains of items appearing on e-commerce sites such as Etsy and the like are making it harder and harder to get noticed! Right? Every sale is like a big present! I subscribe to the old method of promote, promote, promote. I have 1100 sales I think and i've been on Etsy a bit over a year now. I hang out in the forums to help people, promote my blog and read other blogs. I don't go there to make sales. I like making friends and chatting with people.

I figure it's my job to bring people to me, Etsy gives me a place to park and that's it. It's like when I rent a building for my B&M store. The landlord is not responsible for bringing my customers in, I just have to respect the place I am renting and not get rowdy or out-of-hand (darrrn). I promote my shop and my shop only. Greedy? Yes, I think so, but i'm working to bring them in, so I better reap the results! haha! They will find other shops once they've stepped in my doors.

Etsy Button by BauerDesigns 1.00

I always wear a piece of my jewelry, even if it's just a pair of earrings. I carry business cards with me and i'm on the hunt for an Etsy badge to have on my purse too. If people like something enough they will ask. It's happened so often, i've sold jewelry from around my neck to the gas station attendant! A ring on my finger to a lady at the mall shopping for a birthday present! I always keep a Crown Royal bag in my purse full of sample pieces and little organza bags. It's a mini gift shop in my purse! (could be because I carry around a bag the size of a small country since it doubles as a diaper bag too!).

I put up signs and business cards whenever I pass a bulletin board. (yup I have a small pack oftacs in my purse too! It's like a magic bag). I know my niche market and put up information where they are most located. I throw home parties inviting NEW people to my home about twice a year, from those parties I offer incentives for people to book a party with me in their home. At parties, I have a raffle and on the entry forms I have a little box to check if they would like to be on my mailing list. I ALWAYS offer incentives to buy more (buy 2 get 1 free kind of deals). The back of my business cards have coupons for return visits. I offer little secret codes around places for people to get extra goodies. (check out Coupon Corner over there<-----). All of my packaging at parties has my branding information on it. Even if it's just a stamp or a sticker.

Window Box Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00

Online it's a whole other ballpark. To get a piece of the random, accidentally stumbled on Etsy customer, I have to have: a dynamic product. No ifs ands or buts about it. It has to catch someones eye and make them do a double take. Make them wonder if in fact that was just a Scrabble tile they saw. We have one little window of opportunity to get that click and are you getting it?

Girly Scrabble Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 6.00

I like to think of the search pages as windows. Forget your longer than ever Ebay like title:Scrabble initial tile custom personalized brown square letter abcdefghijklmonpqrstuvwxyz alphabet adjustable ring one size fits all funky cool lolita rockabilly geeky girl funky ring. Those are just total turn offs and make a person dizzy! You don't even have to get too creative. I usually just say Initial Me Scrabble Ring or Girly Bow Scrabble Ring. Simple, Sweet! Why?

Because alot of people are not looking at your title. They are WINDOW shopping. They look at the windows (your photo) as they scroll down and they want something to STAND OUT at them. Even if it's not what they had in mind, if it jumps out and makes them think, you've got them. As you stroll a downtown area on vacation, do you look at the names of the stores or what's in the window? Get their click!

Now, get unburied from the back of those category pages and set a budget that your sales can handle. I set a budget of about 3.00 a day in relisting and renewing. I build the price of renewals into the price of my item. So my advertising budget comes from there. I do it at 3 different points in the day to spread the love all around. I try and keep interesting and unique pieces and also ones that are about to expire in all my promos. put them on signs, use them in my blog, promote them on twitter, that sort of thing! I could go on and on with more tips, because I like to chatter on, but i'm sure i've only told you all what you already knew! It's just a memory jogger! If you would like any other tips let me know!

Try a no-holds barred critique. Sometimes you need to hear the fluff about how cool your shop is when you are feeling down, but when it's time to bring in the sales....well then it's time to get real and take the critiques. Sometimes they hurt and sting, but they also could help. It's so easy to come up with excuses when someone offers a critique, but remember if you asked for it, just take it in stride and maybe change it up! I still have to work on my photos, I get told that alllll the time, and yet here I am blogging instead! If I worked on them, I'm sure I could sell more. I should look into a class at the college or the studio down the road! Food for thought on an early saturday morning...

3 Tier Pastry Server Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 25.00

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

Barbie Girl Pouch by NinisHandmades 12.50
Pretty Pink Beads from ProdigalProgeny 2.00

Super Kids Cape by MyBohoBabyStore 10.00

Gadget Travel Case by SmileRecipe 18.50

Get to know me! There are many people out there that don't disclose their favorites, don't want anyone to know what they like or why they like it. Not me, i'm an open book! I'm going to share with you what's on my ultimate Etsy Wishlist! I want to eventually buy each and every one of these! With the holidays coming up though it stinks that I have to buy presents for everyone else! haha! If any of you sellers featured here would love to trade, let me know! This post of Fridays Fabulous Favorites is short and sweet just so you can see the goodies!

Vintage Avon Bottle from RusticDivaDesigns 2.00

Sweet Treats Coin Purse by SWWM 10.00

Fuzzy Navel Relaxation Set by LushMommy 23.00

Polkadot Tote by SidQuilts 35.00

Blow Out Sale

Picnic Basket Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

I have some items ending soon in my shop and I will not be renewing them. It's your chance to get them at an awesome discount! They are all the ones pictured in this post. You can get them at 50% off the listed price just by going there from this post and entering the code: 50BLOG

Boombox Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

This offer is good ONLY on the 4 items pictured. A great discount for my blog readers!! You can get some of these funky necklace for only 6 DOLLARS EACH!! What a great bargain! Don't forget to check the coupon corner <-------over there somewhere to see what other great discounts I have going on too! This offer is only good until these items have sold! Get one, Get 2, get all 4 and I will even SHIP THEM FOR FREE!!!

Vintage 80s Love Charm Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 12.00

Great way to get a lot of Christmas shopping done too! Those pretty pink cameo earrings would only be 4.50!! How fabulous is that?! Don't forget the code when you check out or you won't get the discount. Just check out with the code: 50Blog and then wait for the revised invoice. This is a HOT HOT HOT sale, so payment must be received within 24 hours or I have relist the item. Now get shopping!!

Pretty Pink Cameo and Bow Earrings 9.00 by MichellesCharmWorld

Advertise On My Blog!

Looking to advertise somewhere Fun? Creative? Active? Bold? Funky? It's here at MichellesCharmWorld! Your ad will run over on the lefthand column there and will remain there for 30 days from your purchase date!

Don't know how to make an ad? I can make one for you using your choice of photo. It will be pretty simple, since i'm not a pro and it will be just 2.00 extra. You can then have the copyright to the ad and use it wherever else you would like too!

Just send me your ad and where you want it to link to and I will put it right up. I will also be rotating the ads every 2 days so that everyone gets a chance to be in the top spot.

I post daily except on the weekends and promote my blog everywhere I can. I post daily on other blogs and that also helps bring in the traffic here.

If you are interested it will be 5.00 for the entire 30 day period and you just have to send the money to: MichellesCharmWorld@Gmail.com Subject title: Advertise

Enjoy!

Awesome New Goodies!

Do Not Bend usually means shove me into the smallest spaces you can find!

I love to read new blogs and come across interesting little windows into peoples lives! I rarely enter give-aways as my luck is awful and I love giving others a shot! Well there was one that I just had to enter because the items were so cute and guess what?! I won! Go figure! haha.

I won the giveaway on PinkAndPosh blog. It's such a bright blog, that I got hooked into reading alot there and when I came upon the contest, I entered! It was for a shop called Healthy Little Ones.

Before I entered the contest, I checked out the site and fell in love! So many things that I wished I had had when my littles were in carriers and strollers! She makes signs that say Don't Touch The Baby in the nicest ways!! I used to get so annoyed that people would touch my kids faces, hair, Legs and sometimes EVEN PICK THEM UP! Strangers!! It was just too crazy for words. I also wish I had put one of these signs on my belly while I was pregnant! haha! That would have certainly kept people at bay! They were always grabbing my belly!!



The package arrived so fast I was amazed at her prompt shipping! It was great to open up the treasure trove of prizes!! I wanted to keep them all and not give them to the kids! hahah!

Quality: Superior

Ease of Use: Perfect (kids are 2 and 3)

Packaging: Maybe a little carboard sleeve to put the goodies into once in the envelope to keep from getting to bent when the post man gets lazy and bends anyway! (not her fault my post lady is crazy though!)

Individual packaging: So cute and colorful!!

Overall: A++ communication was fabulous, shipping super fast and best of all the items are GREAT!

Everything is going to be perfect for our upcoming road trip! The kids will definately be entertained! I only regret not going ahead and buying an additional board for my son.

The Goodies:

Drama Queen Bag Tag

Dishwasher Clean/Dirty Tag

Reminder List

Alphabet Practice Sheet

She even threw in EXTRAS!?! and the best part? Everything came with it's own marker that needed one, so I didn't have to run out and get one to complete the sets! I'm in love! hurry up and check her out!

Thankful Times

Lolita Glam Cake Slice Bracelet by MichellesCharmWorld 20.00

WARNING ahead of time, this is a looong one!

November is usually thought of a time to give thanks, and celebrate with family for all we are thankful for. Unfortunately for me it's become a time to think about stuff that I should always be thankful for and not just in a certain month of the year! I wish it wasn't so hard remembering to give thanks. There are so many people in real life that I would love to give thanks to daily. How about you? Don't let time pass you buy and then you will be filled with regrets! Let's let Thanksgiving be a year round thing, not something just reserved for a date on a calendar.

Mainly my dad, my hero. He is the kind of parent that I hope I can be when my kids are grown and married. He's the guy that's always there with his hand out to help you out when you are down, the guy that you can chat with no matter what is on your mind and the guy that can make you laugh no matter how heavy the drama in your life is. I always remember to be thankful that I have an awesome husband at home that doesn't believe in women doing all the housework or cooking or what not and if not for the business he would be a stay at home dad in a heartbeat (or so he claims! heehee). He's the kind of husband that rubs your back at night and snuggles with you in the morning. Yes, I'm thankful for him; but sometimes I forget about the basics. The people that raised me into who I am today (pretty darn fabulous). I take those people for granted so much, because they will always be there. I never forget to tell my dad I love him, because I do, but sometimes I just want to say: Hey dad, thanks for all you do, you don't know how much it really helps! He really is my hero.

As far back as I could remember November would bring it's chilly air to the Chicagoland area and my grandmother and grandfather would be there to take us to the store and get us our yearly winter coats (my sister and I, not my whole family haha!). It was so fun and glamorous picking out a great coat to spend the winter in! So many colors and choices and it was all up to us! I miss my grandma and wish that before she passed, I had told her how much I was thankful for little moments like that. She made me feel like I was the center of her world and I'm sure it gave me the confidence that I have today. She was a great pillar in keeping my self esteem high. I wish she truly knew how much I loved her and was grateful for all she did. Now my grandfather is getting on in years and quite a busy man, so I use that as an excuse to not pick up the phone as often or not make plans for a visit. I don't want to regret all he did for me as I was growing up. He picked me up on days the bus abandoned me at school, drove me home when I didn't have it in me to wait for a late pick up. He was a grandfather that my dad has become to my kids, amazing and wonderful. I only hope that they will be thankful to him every day.

Cheer Bear Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld

We all have a silent cheerleader that doesn't make themselves too well known, maybe they don't want the credit, maybe they just know all along that you can do it and feel they don't need to tell you. For me, it's my mother. She's an amazing woman who has come head to head with me all these years. We don't mesh well personality wise in our views and standpoints, but no matter what I choose to do, I know I make her proud. She doesn't tell me, but I can see it in her eyes, her smile, her voice. When I made captain of the cheer squad, there was no party, no excitement, just a smile that seemed to say 'Well, Duh of course you did'. When I wanted to go study in Europe for college, there was never a No, it costs too much or I will miss you. She let me go and she worked hard to send me, never complaining just doing. She wasn't the type to lavish gifts on me while growing up. In fact the one time she bought me a gorgeous red coat out of the blue that I had my eye on, is a memory I carry still to this day with me. (She doesn't know it, but I still have that coat that doesn't fit and is a bit faded, it's part of a memory that I will always forget). Big ticket things are things we sometimes forget to be thankful for. (home down payments, college, trips to Europe, Disney World). She had an amazing impact on my life and I too hope upon hope that I will one day become that mother that she is to me. (Gasp! Did I just say that?! heehee). Mothers are not made to be your best friend, they are made to nurture you and make you ready for the world and she did that, she made me ready for a world that was so big I never knew it. They were strict parents and at almost 30 years old, if I still lived at home, I bet I would still have a curfew too! That discipline is what I needed and what I know I will carry on as a parent as much as I hated it!

Then there is the online world of people we don't really know, yet helped us out! I want to thank those people!

Mod Business Card Holder by MissKnits 5.00

MissKnits she was a customer on Ebay that pointed me in the direction of Etsy, without her, there would be no online world for me! She had a hand in the success I carry right now! It's been awhile since i've spoken to her, so I will take this moment to drop her a message.
MelissasMagicSpot Missy has been a friend since I met her over on the Dis Boards , she helped me when I need to sound about online problems and I hope that I have been the virtual friend to her that she has been to me!

Gumdrops Kilt Pin by MelissasMagicSpot 3.00

Lists like these can go on and on, so I better stop now before I get carried away more than I already have. I'm thankful for so much this time of year, I wish I could remember to be this thankful year round.

Inspiration...

Little Tikes My Size Dollhouse bought before she could even hold a doll!

I am asked about my inspiration a lot of the time when being interviewed about my work. I would love ot have something incredibly deep to say like 'the weather moves me to work in mysterious ways that even I have only begun to figure out' or whenever I hear a piece of Mozarts work, I envision creations coming together in my head. Instead my motivation comes from cleaning. Yup, I said it, cleaning. Not anyplace though, only one special and very colorful room. The playroom! It's bright, beautiful and best of all it's PLASTIC! From tea parties to tower building, dress up to race car racing, I can always think of something to create!

My Little Pony Pile of Fun

I always find it so fun that something like playing My Little Ponies can turn into something like a funky necklace. My Pretty Little Pony Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 15.00

I love cleaning up after a tea party when everything is a mess and then suddenly I see something out of the clutter.

Pretty Party with Dessert Treats

When something as simple as tea cups and cupcakes can become a kitschy new bracelet.

Cupcake and Donuts Bracelet by MichellesCharmWorld 30.00

Legos are a favorite piece of inspiration for me! The colorful and bold pieces of plastic seem to hold magic in them for me!

Lego Duplo Building Blocks and Table

A pile of discarded legos shows me rings, necklaces, hair pins and bracelets. The colors and textures of toys make creating so exciting when I can look at little things like that and turn them into this:

Lego Fun Bracelet by MichellesCharmWorld 22.00

My daughter has the cutest Little Tikes vanity that i've coveted since before I knew I would have a baby girl in my life! I think we bought it for her when she was like 2 months old! Playing dress up always gets my brain working and makes my hands itch to get into the studio. I love to set up her perfumes and mirrors and other goodies in creative ways to make her want to play with them whenever she passes them!

Disney Princess Vanity Set

Since I can't play with her vanity all day, I knew I needed something for the big kids in life! The adults that love a little dress up in their own wardrobes!

Little and Sweet Vanity Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld 13.00

This post could go on and on, I find so much inspiration in my children and their goodies, that I don't ever want to stop playing with them! I hope this post inspires you to find something that truly gets you motivated into doing what you love! If you are already inspired by something, share it please! (Unless it's deep then I may get jealous again! hahha! Just kidding!)

I find that when I get into a rut, just going and tidying up the playroom does wonders for my brain! Now my husband is hoping I find inspiration in the bathroom next!