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Wednesday 25 January 2017

Handmade vs Store bought

What is handmade?
adjective
  1. made by hand, not by machine, and typically therefore of superior quality.

What is store bought? 
adjective
NORTH AMERICANinformal
  1. bought ready-made from a shop; not home-made.


So the other day we were having a discussion as you do and my Father said the prices in My Etsy Shop are Ridiculous! 

I wasn't surprised he has said this many times in the past. He also said someone could go to the store and get it much cheaper. I said that's fine with me as the things in the shops are usually mass produced. If that's what customers want to by then that's fine. I can't very well stop them and force them to shop online at my store.

My ideas, my creativity, my time...why should any of that be free? Why should my items be sold for less than the minimum wage, when I put my time and effort into making them. If you go into a shop sure of course you can by 10 of the same item, because it's already made readily available. You go to a genuine handmade shop and you can buy 10 unique items that time and love have gone into creating and you can't find them anywhere else.

So why should I drop my prices? Why should I sell myself short? If I do that then does that mean I don't value my time? The creative process that goes into making something to sell it? I buy the materials, I come up with the idea and the idea goes into motion.

If you sell handmade items you know exactly what goes into making it, the time it takes you to source the materials/ingredients, produce the item and package the item. Sure you can go to a shop and probably buy 5 of them for the price of that 1 handmade one. Do you stop and think.....what makes the handmade one special? Different? Unique?
When you got into a store...Do you know WHO made the item? Or simply just where its made?  When you look at the label/tag do you understand half of the jargon on it?

I'm not saying the things sold by retailers isn't made by hand....it could full and well be, but where is the creativity? The USP? What makes it different? You can go into other retailers and see the same product selling maybe for more or for less.... go to several handmade shops and everything is different. The item you buy may be one of a kind. You wont find it online or in a retailer's ever again, only you own it and why? Because you were in the right place at the right time.

If you can spare a moment or two please go to my etsy shop and let me know if you think my prices are too high.

Thanks for reading

IBeCheraldine =]


Monday 9 January 2017

I have one word for you.......

Contiki!!!!

Please note the following is my own personal review and I have not been paid to review or endorse this company. 

What does it mean you ask. Well pull up a chair and I'll tell you all about it. Way back when i was in my early twenties I saw this website advertised and thought what a cool idea. I then forgot all about it until last year.
Contiki is a travel group that does tours catered to 18-35 year olds. If you fit that age bracket, lover traveling and you're looking for something different then go Contiki!!

I had a look through the site and picked out sooooo many tours to go on. In the end I settled on one close to home and because of my love of Ireland!
Going on this trip was one of the best things I did last year. I met some of thee most amazing people. I went alone and was quite nervous at first, but also filled with excited energy. My roomie and now good friend was one of the first people I met when going to the induction speech! Before you Travel you get sent a cool pack with the tour information


We went from Northern Ireland to Southern Ireland and back again. The trip can be found here - mind you they have altered one of the days as my trip was for 9 days- Ireland Tour 8 Days I went in August when the weather was still nice, but typical- read: mostly sunny with a few showery spells- Travellers from all over the globe were on the trip. There were Americans, Australians, Canadians, South Africans, Koreans, A girl from Germany and another from Switzerland.

We went on a cycling tour around Kilkenny where I may have crashed into metal trashcan, but did end up meeting my Ireland adventure buddy-read: Guy I could hang out with and get out of shopping with the girls and is now my good friend-You know who you be!. To the Jamesons Distillery. A cycle tour around the Aran Islands-That almost killed me-never in my life have I done so much bike riding!-Good thing I had my roomie to cheer me on. Londonderry/Derry walking tour. To the Titanic Experience and the Guinness Storehouse. The Blarney Castle-too think how many people travel across the world to kiss a stone.... The Cliffs of Moher. The Giants Causeway!!!-the whole reason I finally decided to book the trip....



As well as all that me and the amazing group of people I met went on our own walking tours checking out the pubs, the food and the great music Ireland has to offer. Every night was something new and we were never far from entertainment. I love those guys!

Check me not giving a bigger mention to the food! Which lead way to the most hilarious conversations....
Waiter "So which one of you is the vegetarian and which is lactose intolerant?"
My Roomie "I'm Vegetarian"
Waiter "Ok cool so you can have the fish"
My Roomie "No I don't eat any animals"
Waiter-looks puzzled "But you can still eat the fish"
My Roomie "No I don't eat any kind of animals, including fish"
Waiter "Yes but we have fish"
Me "Omg fish is an animal, she doesn't eat meat or fish. Fish is not a vegetable"
Waiter-looking more puzzled..... "Oh....I'll come back"
One day....one day......waiters will learn not all vegetarians eat fish

So almost every night was mash potato! Unless we went out ourselves and got something different. There was also some really good soup! And the largest picture is of the most amazing apple pie I have ever eaten in my life! -unless you want to send me some pie and prove me wrong!-


I would recommend this trip to anyone -providing you fit the age bracket- even if you're going alone you're bound to meet new people and make some friends for life!

As they say in Contiki #NoRegrets!!!

IBeCheraldine =]

p.s My resolution this year is to blog at least once a week and go on more crazy adventures!

Watch this space