A guest post from Kayla…
I took Spencer’s suggestion to organize the basement a little too seriously and now I have an Etsy shop! You can find me here.
I’ve tried an Etsy shop a few times over the years but haven’t had a lot of success. I’m no good at photography and I don’t like the time it takes to research and list items. This time around I’m doing pretty well, and I think I found a way to make it sustainable by offering mystery items.
For example, I have several dozen doilies to sell. Instead of listing every single one, I have sorted out the ones that are at least six inches large and are of good quality. I separated them into three categories:
White/ecru,
colorful,
and linen.
Folks can purchase a doily and I will pick a random one from my collection and send it along! This way I don’t have to do a lot of photography and listing and I get to pick something special for each customer. My goal is for people to feel like they are getting a special package from their grandma instead of just making a purchase.
I’m carrying this mystery theme into a few more categories that I like to collect:
and cotton crocheted potholders.
One of my favorite things to do is curate ephemera sets for scrapbookers and journalers. All of the sets are made from the same items, but they will each be a little bit different.
Here’s a vintage flashcard set
and here’s a children’s academic set.
Last year I invested in a high-quality large format scanner to format Mary’s (of Country Threads) paper patterns into digital PDFs for her online shop, ChickenScratchCountryThreads. I’m having so much fun looking over all of the pamphlets and books I have collected over the years and scanning them in to make digital collages and stickers.
And here’s one with chickens from a Victorian pamphlet.
People who like to journal can print a JPEG page and cut the images. If they prefer digital journaling I also offer a PNG file with a transparent background. These are a lot of fun to curate and I look forward to expanding to vintage coloring books soon. I think Spencer would appreciate me keeping my sales digital instead of all of the paper coming and going!
My favorite mystery item is my full-size vintage sheet sets. I took all of my full-size flat sheets and picked two pillowcases to coordinate but not match. They were so fun to put together!
I’m letting nothing go to waste with my sheets. I’m also selling twin-sized flats. Some sheets have been cut into fat quarters. Some fat quarters weren’t quite perfect so they are offered as B-quality for a lower price. I also have 2# bundles of scraps and a giant bundle of sheets I can’t use.
Because I’m saving so much time by not listing each item individually I am able to offer what I think are great prices. I also hate paying for shipping so I’m not asking people to either. Products less than $5 have a flat $3 shipping fee on the first item and everything is free after that. Almost everything else has free shipping, or free shipping over $35.
I’m also giving Mom’s readers a 10% discount this weekend. You can use it by shopping through this link or entering code JOJUNCTION at checkout.
You might have noticed I took down my Pins’s Needles blog… It was costing more than not and I wasn’t keeping up with it. I am wondering, would you be interested in my guest blogging more often? What do you like to read about?
Every guest post ends with a Jasper tax. He is spoiled by all of his grandparents but especially Grandpa Jerry or “Pa.”
Here’s Jasper with his new favorite thing: An implement sales catalog from “Pa.” We keep it in the car and he reads it constantly.
He had an appointment in Iowa City. His asthma has been a struggle this summer so he’s moving to a daily inhaler. He’s been doing great and will be counting to seven before long because that’s how many breaths he has to take from his meter- Twice morning and twice night. Here he is in a little bear mask!
Thanks for reading my long and rambling post!
he always looks so kind and healthy but i can totally empathize with what it is like to parent a child with asthma. It can be such a maze to go through finding all the things that trigger the attacks. Our best result came from the asthma testing. There are probably more advances now but the live pin test on the back and shoulders finally solved our issues. the entire back blended into each other on the pricks. It was not as uncomfortable as it looked. For you and your precious Jasper, I wish you the very best. Oj is his hair really as red as the photo shows on my laptop? I hadn’t noticed the red before.
I wish I had room for some of your Etsy things especially the doilies. But I don’t. Antique coloring books oh my!
I love your Jasper tax. He’s so cute. You have a bookworm growing up. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you fro listing the Vintage Linens in your Etsy Shop. I just purchased them and plan on using them as labels for quilts for family and social friends.
I love the looks of your Etsy shop and yes do the visits on your mums blog. As it gives Mum Jo a break from blogging and saves you from paying to run yours and 3 keeps it in the family so to speak. Love the family support all around such a wonderful family
Jasper is so cute! Always seeing pictures of him and his cousins. I think it would be great if you visited on your mother’s blog from time to time. I think it might help her – give her a break, although always look forward to her blogs. Your whole family is great!
I would love you to guest blog with your mom. I enjoy your post and Jasper is getting so big. Those potholders are so cute, I have one my Gram made for my mother(she was my Great Grandmother) and I treasure it.
Love, love, LOVE that photo of Jasper studying the equipment catalog!!!
I would love to see you guest blog with your mom. Two for one!
My grandson Elliott is 2 and has one of grampys Northern Tool catalog that he looks at daily.
Glad you have the asthma figured out. Such a scary thing when your baby fights to breathe
How exciting for you… great job of organizing. Can’t wait to see more.
I guess I don’t understand why it costs to have your blog….I have a blog and have never paid a cent for it. I haven’t kept up with it but am hoping to get back to it soon. I did notice yours was not working recently because I tried to follow your moms link to the instructions for your Weekend Charmer Baby Quilt and the link to your blog didn’t work. Love the Jasper Tax idea! He’s precious. Would love to hear from you about books, toys, etc for young children that you especially like. Sometimes I need gift ideas for small children. My children are grown, so while I still have my likes of things that would great for them as babies, there are so many new things I don’t know about. Would be great for you to be a guest blogger for your mom. It could be a family affair. We all enjoy hearing about and from your family members.
Blogs usually have a standard amount of space that you get for free. You can have that limited amount of content and the limited amount of visits. Once you get to a point that you have been blogging for years and years with lots of pictures and lots of posts like I have, add to that the number of people who view my blog, you can far outreach the free level. Then it does cost money. It’s alright. Just a part of blogging.
Would LOVE to hear from you more often on your mom’s blog. You have so MANY cute ideas, and I would enjoy having you expand on those. Jasper is ADORABLE with that red hair. Looks like my husband’s when he was that age.
Kayla- I have some lace doilies that I was just getting ready to give away. I’d be happy to send them up to your mom if you’d like to add them to your sale stash! Your mom gives so much to others, it would make me happy to help you…if you would like them. I’d also love to read posts from you on your mom’s blog!
Yes Kayla, I would enjoy reading guest posts from you about whatever you wish to share. You’re very resourceful and have some great ideas. I have some of the raffia straw trivets like the ones you have and also some treasured crocheted potholders & doilies from my Mom & Grandma. Wish I could crochet with thread again but aging eyes & dexterity make it difficult. I can still manage regular & baby yarn.
And love seeing pictures of Jasper – he’s such a cutie and makes me smile every time.
Yes, please do some guest posts. I like to see your knitting and crocheting projects. And, of course, pictures of Jasper!
Kayla, Enjoy reading your guest blog postings, and yes please continue.
Help! For some reason the links to the Etsy shop aren’t working for me ☹️
Can you give me the name of Kayla’s shop so I can search for it? Thanks!!❤️
Rhonda
Her shop is pinsthriftvintage or https://www.etsy.com/shop/pinsthriftvintage
Yes, I love your creativity with your Doilies, etc. My son exhibited allergies, had tubes put in his ears way too often to suit me, all those allergy tests & it came down to dairy & wheat.
Good luck with elimination journaling. I used graph paper and check lists!!
Such a cute picture of Jasper “reading” the catalog. I always love to see what he is up to. No kids at our house, but we have three cats with asthma who have daily breathing treatments. I believe one of them has learned to count to twelve, because she will patiently endure the mask until that point, but if I get distracted and forget to remove it after her twelfth breath she becomes very impatient with me. After nine years of this I don’t think it’s crazy to think she has figured out how many breaths it takes to be released. I’m just grateful in this, as in so many other situations, for modern medicine.
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