New Store for the Non-Joiners.

Here is something that comes as a bit of a shock: not everyone loves Etsy.

Personally, I'm a big fan of becoming a member at every single website I want to interact with and handing over my details and having another password to remember.  I'm strange like that.

Some of you, however, don't.  Some of you would rather (gasp!) not purchase things than have to sign up to something yet again.  For you folks I have created this: the Funky Finds SparklePanda Design Store. 

Funky Finds have a couple of things going for them over Etsy.  First, for the customer: No Sign-Up Required!  You just load lots of lovely items from their gorgeous shops into your cart, and away you go.  Well, actually you do have to pay first, and that is done securely through Paypal.  Second, for the seller:  no commission fees.  Etsy charges 3.5% of the sale price on each transaction.  Funky Finds has no commission, just a flat (and very low) monthly fee. 

They have this really cool promotion going at the moment where you pay for one month and get 6 months free, so I figured I would be all sorts of foolish - in addition to my natural levels of foolishness - to not take them up on their offer.

So feel free to check out the Funky Finds shopping experience. There are lots of lovely stores there showcasing a huge amount of creative talent, so you are sure to find something you absolutely.must.have. 

And you dont have to sign up to anything.

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Serendipity

Sometimes the planets align just right so that your life is full of doom and catastrophe.  That has unfortunately happened a lot to me over the last few years.  Fortunately, the planets get it right occasionally and something cool happens.

Late - very late - last night, I was relisting and re-tagging all my items on Etsy.  I noticed, in the process, that my shop had a new Heart and with so few at this stage, every new Etsy Heart gets me a little excited!  Of course I checked who it was.

I was enchanted to find a seller with a plethora of such wonderful vintage Avon perfume bottles as this little beauty, exactly the same as I had when I were a wee-un.  This brought back a flood of memories about all the Avon products that littered my childhood. 

There was the scarecrow brooch with openable head that contained a solid fragrance, the perfume bottles that doubled as oil lamps and not forgetting of course the strawberry lip balm that tasted so good that I did actually bite off chunks and eat it.  Out of the blue, I can still smell wafts of the fragranced soaps that sat on my dressing table until I moved out of home.

At the same time I was about to contact her about said reverie, I received a message from her praising one of my listed items.

Then today, I discover she featured some more of my items on her blog in this blog post about the joy of girly creations.

I love the internet. Where else can you find a mutual admiration society at midnight on a Saturday that doesnt invlove 100 cigarettes and a bottle of tequila?

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The First Post, In Which We Are Introduced.

Hello, and welcome to SparklePanda Design.

Some of you may know me in real life, some of you may know me from my previous Blogger days over at Pandamonium where I wrote of all things to do with getting in the family way and how much it sucked and Oh My God My Life Is In The Toilet. 

Well.  Now, I am most definately With Family.  

As a consequence of being With Family and also With Permanent Spinal Injury, and as a last attempt at retaining sanity, I am branching out and have become a WAHM.*

This blog is the friendly face of my Etsy Store.  There, you can purchase lots of lovely handmade retro-flavoured childrens clothing that wont hurt either the bank balance or the planet.  Here, I have grand plans to write about:

• my current projects
• Treasuries featuring gorgeous handmade items from around the globe
• spontaneous competition type things
• crafty tutorials
• the process of setting up an online crafting business
• the logistical nightmare joys of being a WAHM

I might also get caught in the act of blathering on about my kids, the cats, renovation nightmares, and whatever else pops into my head that should probably be told to my therapist.  It has been known to happen.

There is more detailed information in the About Me and About SparklePanda Design pages.  You can sign up to the Mailing List and receive my Newsletter, in which you will find Shop Discount Codes, secret squirrel announcements and information about which markets I am likely to appear at next.

I've no idea where we'll end up, but I'm looking forward to sharing this journey with you. 

*Work At Home Mum, Woman At Home Muttering, Waiting Around Humming Mindlessly

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