Friday, May 3, 2019

My Childhood Bone Bracelet is a Beautiful Choker Now: The Destiny of Things, Story 540

 My Childhood Bone Bracelet is a Beautiful Choker Now:  The Destiny of Things, Story 540

Look how an Etsy shop owner transformed it!  It's beyond amazing!  FROM THIS:

This one has sold, but I have another almost like it here.  
Photo via VintageToGoEasy

Here is the email I received:

Hello again! I hope this "reincarnation" of your precious and treasured bracelet makes you happy. Cheers, Marika

www.etsy.com/listing/700330421/father-and-son-custom-designer-choker?ref...

TO THIS!

Order it here at Marika'sSugarFree Jewelry on Etsy.

What a transformation, right?   Here is what I wrote back:

OMG What a reincarnation! Unbelievable, I don't even recognize my childhood bracelet! Thank you for remembering to share it's beautiful transformation with me! It makes me so happy! I'll share it on my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things Blog and link it to your shop!

Best to you and many happy sales,
Kennedy

Here's a close up:

Order it here at Marika'sSugarFree Jewelry on Etsy.

I still can't believe that is part of my old childhood bracelet!  What an amazing choker.... I love the abalone cross dangles.  Can you see the details on it?  for example the tiny gold beads that make the jump rings for the cross dangles?  If I could wear jewelry I'd be thinking of ordering this back in all it's glorious reincarnation!!!  I just love choker necklaces!  and used to wear one a lot when I could wear jewelry.

Saying Goodbye:  I am now allergic to most metals in jewelry and have been waiting almost a decade to be able to wear my jewelry again, but now it doesn't really matter because every time I try and wear my favorite pieces of jewelry, they just feel heavy now and I feel better not wearing jewelry.

Here's what it looks like on:

Available here at Marika'sSugarFree Jewelry on Etsy. Marika also took many beautiful photos of all the details of this choker necklace, so be sure and look at all the photos!

What I Learned:

1.   The creativeness of Etsy shop owners and Etsy buyers never cease to amaze me!  And I have so much evidence to prove it, lol.  I have plenty of posted stories on my blog and I have several more to write about in my "draft" pile!  Yes, my hoard of blog stories need to be released, now if I can only find more time to do so!

2.  I've been spending too much of my time spring cleaning, which I guess is good because I've come to another hoarder epiphany.....  I have way too much stuff to either craft with or let go and I'll need to start prioritizing what I can list and what I'll need to donate!  My second experimental purge pile made it from the door to the trunk of my car.  (I still can't use my truck because it is still housing too much of my camping and other hoard!  There's just room to sit in thre!)

My first purge pile turned into all my Etsy shops, so let's see where this second purge pile actually goes!

3.  So I'm thinking about how to spend less time listing because to list 5-6 items a week means taking 8 to 10 photos of each item to list, which takes about 2-3 hours including editing them, then actually listing one item can take me 30 to 60 minutes, especially if I do research on the item with a price comparison and then pricing the item, depending on it's wear or if it's new old stock, etc....  it takes quite some time.....which means to cut costs I'll need to spend less time in all areas, like taking less pictures, not the full 10 Etsy allows, writing less on listing descriptions by depending on photos and then pricing everything dirt cheap!

Cross my fingers and hope I can do this!  because I like to take my time and be ultra thorough!

Have you been spring cleaning and has it made a difference in your life?  It sure has in mine!  However finding a solution to my hoard is still unanswered.  The best thing I can think of right now is to stop adding to it!  and donate what I can let go of without crying!  Okay, not crying, it's more like letting go without doubt!

I mean, can I possibly sell all my hoard in this life time and is that how I want to spend the rest of my living days?

 Here is my second bone stretch bracelet, which I bought when I thought I had lost my first one!  I was already hoarding back in childhood and high school! Available  here.  Photo via VintageToGoEasy

Thank you Etsy shop owner, Marika for sharing your lovely story and making my childhood bracelet into an unrecognizably gorgeous possibility!   Read her interesting profile here, visit here beautiful shop of one of a kind handmade jewelry here.  Visit some of my favorites, besides the obvious one! I love all her jade pieces and one is here.  This necklace would match my jade bracelet, here.  

And for the grand finale, you've got to see her bead art, this one consists of 44,064 Delica seed beads stitched to make a wolf tapestry of her flag ship!  It's absolutely beyond stunning!  HERE!  It took her a year to make it and it would take me 10 years and that's even if I finished it!

I have to say this again, Marika is an amazing artist and many of her pieces are for the bold, but she also has made pieces that are more subtle.  All are lovable and unique!  Check out here shop here and see all the beauty and talent!  She also explains the metaphysical components of all the materials she uses, which is a bonus in my eyes!

   
 Here is the choker I used to wear until I became allergic to metals, available here.
Photo via Hoarder Rehab


I reached my goal of listing 180 items on each shop, so my new goal is to list 200 items on each shop!  Sales are at a trickle for the past few weeks, but still thank my lucky stars that at least some hoard keeps selling!   Sales usually slow down around after Father's day, but this year it seems to have started before Mother's day.

Visit our spring cleaning sale of 20% off at all our shops at the moment.  They are kind of rolling shop sales, which just seemed to happen again, but I'm pretty sure all the sales are until sometime mid May or sooner.

I've been trying to adopt this new way of thinking, "Be willing to forgo all perceptions of gain, desire or profit and thereby be willing to be of selfless service to life in all it's expressions," but it's really difficult for me, but I've been taking baby steps about it and with each relisting I do my best to lower the price. Anyone out there have any suggestions to help me?

Free shipping doesn't seem to be working for our shops.  I tried several experiments at each shop using mainly free shipping to see what happens and it seems our repeat sales do much better without free shipping.  I was going to change everything back to regular shipping, but this weekend, Etsy is promoting a free shipping deal, so we will try it and see if it helps sales.

How to include the new Etsy shop fees, plus their commission for shipping now and USPS fees increased in Jan of 2019 too by zones, so 4 oz now costs $4.00 to ship to the east coast including tracking and insurance. Yowza!  And on top of all that sales have been down and cross marketing (faving/liking) has changed also, so I'm not sure if cross marketing is even helpful anymore.  For instance does shop hearts and number of followers, even matter anymore?  I never fully understood how all that worked anyway, but now I'm wondering if hearts on listings and shop hearts and followers even help a shop anymore.  Anyone out there can help in either departments?  Thank you in advance! 

Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed weekly: HoarderRehab with 181 items, The Destiny of Things- 181 items, VintageToGoEasy - 182 items and JunkDrawerAndMore - 181 items.   
Maybe you'll find something and give it new life and a new home!  Thanks for looking!
 I just remembered I have another bone bracelet and it's a lot thicker than both of the other ones.  It has an abstract moth or leafy face carved into each bead, available here.

"Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option."---Mark Twain

Thank you for visiting my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things!  Happy Friday!

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