Upcycle & Play!

If there is one thing we love to do in this house, it is recycle and upcycle! As you can see from almost all of my posts, I enjoy giving everything multiple purposes. This way items are constantly seeing new life and not the trash heap. 

One of our favorite things to do is Cardboard Building! Whenever we get a delivery of something in a large box, the box is always the hot item. First it gets massive amounts of play AS IS, but then it begins to take on a world of it's own when it's starting to get a bit too warped.

Cutting slits into the cardboard makes them stackable now! They use the slits to interlock the pieces and build away!

The best part about cardboad building? When playtime is over, it stores flat! When it gets too torn up, it gets recycled and when it's time for more fun, the cardboard is always FREE!!

Something else we used A LOT around here? Baby Toy Links!! I use them everywhere to hold stuff up. Here they are on our school cart, holding bags of library books and stuff we need for an upcoming project. In my daughters room they hold her purses on a rod, in my room they hold scarves...on and on it goes! 

YES I DO!!! Enjoy every minute my friends!!

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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.