Wallet-Friendly Wednesday: Edition 4

Welcome back to Wallet-Friendly Wednesday!  As a brief reminder, Wallet Friendly Wednesdays are fun gift finds that you can purchase and have shipped to you for under $20.  This week is a little special in that Michael actually picked out some of our items.  It's always fun to see what he comes up with, because we end up searching for so very different things.  (Our difference in personalities and tastes keeps our marriage exciting...)

Don't forget, Friday's Colour My World is yellow and orange! Come back for some mood brightening citrus colors.  

Go ahead and click on the pictures to be directed to the Etsy shops that sell these great items.

 

Colour My World: Red & Black

Happy early Valentine's Day! This week's Colour My World features red & black.  Michael and I are having a "date night" in the workshop and at the lumber yard while my mom watches the boys.  For dinner, we'll have some quinoa and veggies.  Any Friday night date plans for you?

Next week, for Colour My World, we're going with some citrus colors, orange and yellow, to try to bust out of this winter grey.  If you have any orange and grey items that you'd like featured, comment or send me an e-mail.

Instead of linking in the captions this time, I've chosen to link the photos directly to make it easier for you.  So if you click on a photo it should take you directly to the item listing, and you can browse away in these fun Etsy shops!

Thanks to all of the Etsy shops featured today! I hope you have a great weekend.

Our Workshop

Our house was built in 1882.
Hence the limestone basement.
This is where Michael and I work.
Of course, you're missing what's behind me...the big power tools.
And you're missing our upstairs, where we usually end up having to take our stained crates to dry.
But you get the picture.
It's not a "pretty" workshop that would make it on the Etsy blog for inspirational workplaces.
It's functional.
And we don't have to worry about spilling paint or stain on the floor.
And I appreciate not having our dining room be the center stage for our business anymore.

So grateful for a workshop.

Wallet Friendly Wednesday: Edition 3

Welcome back to Wallet Friendly Wednesday, our series of posts of Etsy products that can be bought and sent to you for less than $20. A lot of these items were found while I was searching for other items, and I was pleasantly surprised...(Browsing Etsy can be an expensive hobby---but that's not what this post is about...)

That is one thing I love about Etsy.  You never know what you'll find.  A Pee Wee Herman cross-stitch made it into my search results yesterday; I've no idea how that pertained to what I was searching for, but it gave me a great laugh.

Thank you to the great artists and collectors featured today.   You've brightened my day. 

Vintage 1960's Blonde Man Winking Bow Tie Mug by LeorasMagicCarpetBag

A Whole Bunch of Pearl Chain by WhoKnowsWhat

 

Friendship Plant Jade 4" Pot by SucculentsGalore

Heart With Initials Customizable Stamp by HappyRainyDay

Personalized Mugs by TheHappyNestProject

Vintage Ask For Bennett's Ice Cream Advertising by heirloommarket

Cutter Quilt Star Pieces Vintage Feedsack by TarnishAndTatters

Vintage Tonka Truck by AmericanHomestead

This is a Real Card Woodblock Stamp by myrubberstamp

Frankoma Mayan Aztec Creamer and Sugar Set by chriscre

How Our Shop Came To Be

We started our business by mistake.
A pretty well-intentioned mistake.
I (Heather) thought of this INGENIUS way to fund our next adoption.  We already made candles at home... why not sell them on Etsy?
But why not up the ante a little and make the candles soy wax instead of paraffin? 
And why not sell them in gift sets in little crates?

I looked around for crates.  They were so expensive and not to the dimensions that I wanted. 
Then one day, I asked Michael to try making some simple crates, as long as he stayed under the price that I was thinking about paying per crate.

And he made crates exactly how I wanted them for one-seventh of the price.
So we put the candles on Etsy.  None sold for a week or two, and I got antsy.
Suddenly, it came to me.  Michael could make some crates to sell to other people who might be having the same problem that I had been having.  And he could make nesting sets! And take custom orders!

Very shortly afterwards, we listed our first crates on Etsy.  Soon our crates began selling like crazy, and we were getting custom orders and adding new items to our shop.  In six months, we only had two candle purchases from people we knew.... so we took it as a sign, and took the candles out of our shop and focused solely on crates and crate-like furniture.  And that is how we found ourselves where we are today.