Friday Finds: Gorgeous Things

This week on Friday Finds, I bring you my worst-kept secret - FAB.com, the site where I've spent more of my "disposable" income than is healthy.

The site is a weird mash-up of Living Social/Groupon, Amazon, and Etsy. The way it works is this - a company or artist or designer (someone with a beautifully designed product) offers a limited range of products at a discount for a limited time. Each day, you can go to FAB to see the featured products for the day (in various product categories) as well as get a "last look" at items that are about to age out. Since there are only a limited number of each item, sometimes the coolest things sell out before the sale is finished. That's a huge bummer - but I fix it by going out to the designer/artist/company's website to buy the product directly - and at full price.

I think I'm their favorite customer.

The key to FAB is that everything is gorgeous. Whether you're buying a spatula or a piece of furniture or (I swear to god) a vibrator, the DESIGN of the object has to be exceptional. That's their brand and their mission - to bring beautiful design at discount prices to the masses. I tend to buy in the $50 or under category but you can, easily, spend thousands of dollars on a handmade sofa or a gorgeous piece of art. FAB has become my "spontaneous gift" source since, nearly every day, I find amazing things that my friends and family would love - so I buy it and gift it for no reason. I love doing that.

So... here are a few of the items I've purchased from FAB recently.

We should all shop in style

A necklace for me

I'm wearing this bracelet today

A gift for my son's cat (my son is a DJ)

A gift for my son because, really, these are totally cool.

A gift for my son's girlfriend, the artist.

You can thank me (and curse me) later.  Enjoy!

- Alex

Friday Finds: Evil-Cute Crochet

I can't remember where I saw the first piece of Shove Mink's art - it was probably on Twitter - but I can tell you that, as soon as I visited her Etsy store, I wanted EVERYTHING she's ever made.

She calls her work "anti-gurumi". It's evil, a little twisted, and only "cute" because it's mainly made with yarn. Her store is called "Croshame", which is funny in and of itself, and her work is nothing short of brilliant. Please note that, while these may look like dolls, they are not for children and are priced accordingly.

I often complain that people don't view "craft" as "art" and, as a result, don't value it more. However, this stuff can't be categorized as craft in any way, shape, or form. The attention to detail and the skill is just too fantastic.

So, for your enjoyment, I give you my two favorite pieces of Croshame art - The Krampus* and The Exorcist Playset:

 

* The Krampus will be mine at some point in the near future. I'm just sayin'.

Etsy too, Brute?

Etsy is a savior. A savior for the gift-giver who has no idea what to buy. A savior for the online shopper who is missing out on cool, local artists work. A savior for the artist who's never had the wherewithal or the knowledge to open their own shop or site.

Etsy is not, however, the savior of Mighty Distractible.

Let me 'splain.

As you all know, we did the trunk show a couple of weeks ago. And then I blogged about how we were going to put up the rest of the stock on Etsy. But, as I began the foray into the world of setting up an Etsy shop, I learned a very valuable lesson - Etsy is not for every situation.

The brilliance of Etsy is that, if you're going to have an online shop, they do it all for you - and for a very reasonable cost. Fees are like this:

• Each listing generates a non-refundable "listing fee" of $0.20 per item so, if you list 100 items, your listing fee would be $20. Not bad, except that the listing is only good for 60 days. If you need to re-list the item (it hasn't sold or it's a standard item that you'll always carry) you pay that 20 cents again - every 60 days - for as long as you want the listing active. Also, it's per item so, just like the grocery store check out lane, 30 cans of cat food is 30 items, not one. If you list 10 of the same item under one listing you pay $2.
• Then, for every sale you make you pay Etsy 3.5% of the total sale price (not including shipping). So, if you sell one item for $25, you give Etsy approximately $0.88.
• Fees are paid at the end of the month - they don't come out of your individual sale - so you have to stay on top of it and not spend that entire $25 because at the end of the month, Etsy's coming knocking for their $1.08 (listing fee plus sales fee). This can add up pretty fast so it's important to have halfway decent book-keeping skills. 

For these fees, you get a cool, customizable online storefront where you can conveniently sell your wares. For the average bear, the idea of having to build their own website, with a shopping cart, is too much. It costs money to get set up and then you have all the hassle of marketing your store and dealing with issues like your server going  down or your shopping cart not working. Etsy is a savior.

But if, like us, you really just need a place to sell off some inventory, Etsy isn't really the solution. Can you imagine how sad the Mighty Distractible Etsy shop would be once we were down to five skeins of yarn and two or three embroidery kits??

No... a successful Etsy shop needs to be a living, breathing thing. A constantly restocked, lovely to look at, store. Not a fire sale.

So, we have a question for you all. What would you think if we just posted what we have left out here on the blog and did our transactions via email? We could take PayPal and/or credit cards (thanks to Square!) and just work with you individually. Let us know. Comment below and tell us if you think this is a good idea or complete rubbish (that's for you @pinkundine!).  If you all vote that it's a good idea, we'll put photos, quantities and prices up on the site this weekend and then we can get down to business.

Speak up friends! And thanks. :)

Alex