My First Etsy Critique - Pass the Parcel

Ok, so here it is, my first Etsy store review. Before I start I just want to say that what I’m writing is just my opinion. You may love what I hate or hate what I love. That is your opinion and hey if it bothers you that much get your own frikkin blog.

Teri at Pass the Parcel was very brave and has become my first victim, erm I mean subject. So for starters I like the store design. Both avatar and banner are simple and pretty. The shop announcement is no nonsense which I also like because honestly I’m not a big fan of having to scroll past paragraphs of gumph before I even get to the products. A bit of advice I would give is with regard to tagging. Searches include title and tags, therefore, if it says earrings in the title it is a waste of tag to use it again. For these products specifically I would include the words indy, indie (UK and US spell this differently), girly and possibly boho and hippy. Now on to photos. These are bright and make the products look lovely. The only doubt I had was with the product itself. I genuinely couldn’t decide whether I liked them or not. It isn’t the sort of thing that I would purchase for myself and initially I just could not get past the idea that these earrings reminded me of a blanket my grandma once had. Woolly earrings I thought. No, it just doesn’t work. But then I looked again and again and there is something appealing about them that I can’t quite put my finger on. I particularly like these gold and twist earrings, probably more than the others because they steer away from that blanket squares look. I love that the beading used has been upcycled from other jewellery and that Teri makes gift boxes by hand to send your earrings in for free. The more and more I looked at these earrings the more and more I liked them.





Personally I’d like to see Teri add more of the twist designs and expand away from just earrings. I’d also like to encourage her to try different media for her jewellery and have even presumptuously added a link to a book on crocheting wire jewellery at the bottom of this entry. On the whole though I would have to give this store a thumbs up and encourage you to have a look yourselves. I personally love crochet and this gal is proving that it isn’t just about dodgy granny blankets and boring babies hats. Price wise I’m inclined to say that they are a little on the high side based on how long I imagine they take and cost to make and this is really the only down side for me. Although a nice and original product I could also say that about many other pairs of earrings on Etsy that are half the price. I know that this is always a bone of contention with Etsy sellers and people selling craft on the whole but I think there is a tendency sometimes to over price. In the Uk these would be roughly £12 and that would just be more than I, personally, would be willing to pay. As a seller I would rather sell regularly at a slightly lower price than rarely at an inflated price but that’s just me.

I’d like to thank Teri soooo much for letting me critique her store. If you fancy having your store put under the microscope by moi then drop me a line at cherry_pie_punk@yahoo.co.uk. Now go check out http://www.passtheparcel.etsy.com/ for yourself.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crocheted-Wire-Jewelry-Innovative-Projects/dp/1600594816/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

Hairy men are the way forward!!!

Look I'm blogging again and it hasn't even been three months, woot!!! Anyway, todays blog, as you may have deduced from the title, is devoted to men with much hair protruding from their faces. This is a new obsession of mine but I think I may have the cause for said obsession. I am 31, and no, this does not mean that I myself have started growing a beard. However, through no conscious effort on my part I always seem to date men (or perhaps boys would be a better description) younger than me. My current beau is 24 and the previous fling was with a 20 year old (eek it looks worse written down!!!). They are fun and have yet to develop bald patches or paunches but sometimes when you are dancing away to a tune and you realise that you brought it on vinyl when it was originally released whilst their favourite tune at the time no doubt involved farm animals it can make you cringe. I can only imagine that the new obsession stems from a deep rooted desire to converse with a man capable of growing a full beard if he so wished. I also blame the series Men in Trees. James Tupper (pictured above for your viewing pleasure) is hawt!!!!



Facial hair, it seems, can give a man appeal, where perhaps otherwise there would be none. Hugh Jackman, on a normal Hugh Jackman day holds no interest for me AT ALL!!! However, give that man some wicked sideburns ala Wolverine (making him workout and putting him in a tight vest probably doesn't hurt either) and hey presto he becomes a frikkin 10!!!! With this in mind I have produced some pretty awesome Wolverine undies as pictured below (oh yeah there's a product plug).

It turns out that I'm not the only one giving some love to Wolverine either. I have chosen a few select kick ass pieces from fellow sellers on Etsy including some more traditional Wolverine images. Click on the pictures to go check em out. They are all products that you should sink your claws into. Ha ha sorry but I do love a cheesy pun!!!!