Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Put on your thinking caps - I need opinions!

(to my mom and mother in law - you have to learn how to make comments on the blog - seek help!)


As many of you know, Ansley, our second daughter who is 18, has finished high school and is staying home and working this year.  Next year, she will go to Ecuador for several months, then on to college.  She has some good jobs teaching English and is working a lot and  making some good college spending money.

Bronwyn did the same thing when she graduated from high school.  However, this summer (winter for us), she is home but not working.  It would be hard to get a job for just 3 months and she really needs to be available to help out with family things as well as with Stephen and Weston who don't speak portuguese, but are here to help out (and are doing a great job of it so far, by the way).

So....  she is going to need some college spending money.  We have been thinking of ways that she could earn some money, but I thought I would ask you all to weigh in on some of our ideas and maybe add some of your own....

1.  She is going to sew a bunch of stuff for the next craft sale at the kids' school.  The last sale, I made pillows as well as the cookies.  These little owl pillows I made sold like hot cakes.  I had to go home each day and make more and they sold as soon as I got to school.  It was crazy.  So, there is a sale coming up in October, so during these months, Bronwyn is going to make a bunch of little critter pillows to sell.
(source:  etsy.com)

2.  What about setting up an etsy shop with things from Brazil?  Like she could go to the craft fairs and buy handcrafted jewelry, etc. and resell them on etsy.  Do you think that people would buy from her?  She could also add in other things that she would make - she is pretty good with a sewing machine.  
(this is one example of the kind of thing she could buy and resell - source: etsy.com)

3.  She could get a job at school.  I know this is an option, but I would kind of like to avoid it if possible. Her hours are really full and she also has some other activities going on that she has to do in order to keep some of her scholarships.  She is a great student and I know she could do it, but I just thought something else might be better.  I'm all about thinking outside the box :)

OK, now let's have some of your ideas...

6 comments:

  1. Of course you know me... LOVE The jewelry... :)

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  2. 1. I don't know what POA is like, but cool crafty stuff always has a market in Salvador. I make crayon roll-ups as birthday presents for Jackson's friends (< $1 of supplies, < 30 mins sewing time) and people think it's genius. So armed with an internet full of tutorials, I'm sure there's tons she could sew to sell locally.

    2. My only hesitation about Etsy is just the cost of shipping to the U.S. My experiences trying to mail stuff back have been so $$$. But maybe you know a cheaper way to ship (and if so, please pass it on!) Even still, lots of stuff that is common and cheap here is "exotic" in the U.S. market so the markup could make it worthwhile.

    (I don't really have anything to say about #3)

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  3. Valerie, She would be in the US for college starting in August, so the shipping wouldn't be a problem.

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  4. I am all for anything crafty. Is there anyway she can cross stitch some bibs? I just finished two bibs for my future granddaughter who is due July 24th. I am pretty sure she could find patterns on line but not sure if there is access to the bibs (I got mine to cross stitch at hobby lobby). I will keep thinking and then I will send you some more ideas if I come up with anything else. Have a great day.

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  5. Benay, there are a couple of places that I found that have several crafts that are somewhat inexpensive to make. Not sure if there is anything that you all would be interested in but there might be so I am sharing with you. here are the addresses. http://familyfun.com and http://familycrafts.about.com/od.toppicks/p/teencrafts.htm

    anyway, hope you all are well. I am doing well. got married three weeks ago. can you believe that? I finally found Mr. Right. He is a good guy and we are happy. we are living in Jackson, TN and are doing well. anyway, I will send you ideas if I think of them. what about sock puppets? my niece loves those. talk to you soon. Kim Huffman

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  6. This is probably VERY late to weigh in, but... She might be better off taking a store of Brazilian jewelry & such with her to the dorm and selling it to her neighbors than trying to set up an etsy account. Shipping costs extra, and if you use a PayPal account, they take a cut too. I don't know about etsy, but ebay now takes a percentage of sales as well. As for on-campus jobs, it's probably too late for this year, but desk workers usually can sign up for minimal hours and typically can do homework and study during their shifts. It's only minimum wage, but sometimes that's the perfect job for a busy student.

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