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 =]

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

Catching the Travel Bug- Dingle-Ireland

Things have been crazy busy the last few months which is why this entry is sooo late....
So last October I went to Dingle with my best friend. We stayed at Fiona's B+B  The room reminded me of an old boarding school, but it was clean and comfortable. There was a lock on the door and the owner told us the hotel was actually run by her daughter! Our journey to the hotel was longer than the actual plane ride. There is one airport in the area and everywhere else is out in the sticks!
Dingle is in one big circle and is often referred to as the Dingle Peninsula   We walked around town as we arrived in the afternoon and found most shops were actually closed and no real music starts until after 10pm!! We found an amazing Chinese restaurant to eat in.... Disclaimer- *We must have been tired as the second time we went there the food wasn't as amazing*

We found the coolest music shop that held concerts on most evenings so planned to go there the tickets were 15Euros They played traditional Irish songs and did one in Gaelic as well The shop is called Siopa Ceoil An Daingin They even had Cooney and Begley playing one night which we went to see. My phone was being poo so the pictures didn't come out too well :( . We went back in the day and the shop has the cutest assortment of trinkets and gifts all around it. Some you could by and others weren't for sale...

We met a solo traveller who took us around Dingle and we all had a fun day out checking out the Peninsular. We saw the Beehive Huts, Went to the beach... Found some hidden coves as we explored the mountains.

You know how I love my food and in Ireland they sure do make sure you get your money's worth! The portions were huge, but we found ourselves finishing the meal...One day we had 5 meals.... We had no idea how or why we ended up eating so much.... The cup featured in the larger picture. I ended up buying two as the cafe was also a pottery shop.... 

Dingle is a very peaceful little town and is out in the countryside if you enjoy long walks and beautiful scenery. I would definately go again to check out more concerts and enjoy some good food! 

Another holiday down and another great place to go back and visit even if just for a long weekend. 

Watch this space for the next installment....this one won't take 4 months to add...(she says)

IBeCheraldine =]

Catching the Travel Bug-Scotland-Edinburgh!

Hello it's me again with another instalment to the travel bug adventures!
This holiday was to Edinburgh, I went with Mother dearest as a treat for her Birthday and Mother's day present rolled into one. September 2015

We stayed in the Holiday Inn-Waterfront hotel, which the bus ride there was actually longer than the plane journey! It was a good thing there was a lot of nice scenery on the way. There was another couple on the bus going to our hotel as well. The room was spacious the beds were comfortable. The breakfast was complimentary which is one thing I always look out for when booking a hotel as it saves time in the morning having to look for a cafe. The hotel was in a very peaceful part of the town with a good parade of restaurants a stone's throw away from us.

On our first day we discovered we were right by a shopping mall! We went around it and found there were some restaurants on the top floor of which we obtained some menus to take back to the hotel and a few late open shops we mooched around. After going through the menus we decided to go back out and eat at WagaMama  The food was a little disappointing as I was expecting it to have a little more flavour.

We had already booked tickets for the bus tours which was handy as the queue was quite long to buy them! It enabled us to go on 3 different buses which took you to different sites and attractions. All tours began at Waverley Bridge which reminded us of Piccadilly Square in london as it is full of high street shops, restaurants and there was a large park as well.

On our trip we went to

The Scott Monument-All 287 steps up the monument and 287 steps back down! We don't know what inspired us to go up it, but hey You Only Live Once right?! Our legs felt like jelly after we came out and we made the mistake of sitting down! If you can walk it off people! Walk it off!!

The Museum of Childhood-We were both quite disappointed with this museum as we were expecting perhaps a few more toys and games and even some interactive things, but alas it was not to be. Most items were behind glass cases and there was a rather scary room filled with Porcelain dolls!

Our Dynamic Earth- This had a tour of the past present and possible future of the earth in different interactive levels the tour lasted a little under an hour then there was a show on space and possible alien life on planets yet to be discovered.

The Botanical Gardens- Not the best idea when you suffer from hayfever, but it's worth a wander round if you love plants and flowers. They had some beautiful sculptures in hidden places around the garden.

The Royal Yacht Britannia-  We purchased the tickets before the trip as they were at a discounted price and Mother had been raving about it for ages! This was a rather interesting tour where you had a giant mobile phone to listen to the different points of interest around the Yacht

The Leith Mill/James Pringle Shopping Outlet

-Rather Underwhelming unless you want to purchase various pieces of Scottish clothing, food or souvenirs. We were not here for long...

The Royal Mile-Central hub of most of the souvenir shops hiding a few attractions and museums along the way. We went here a few times through the trip to pick up souvenirs, we also go to watch fudge being made

Other than the breakfast in the mornings we didn't really get to sample any proper Scottish food. Mother and I weren't too keen on trying Haggis! We did get our Chinese Takeaway which delivered to the hotel! We ate out at an Italian Restaurant Giuliano's!

We missed out on going to a few museums, which we said when we go back we would visit as they did look rather interesting and it is a lovely place to visit. Where we stayed was perfect as a bus tour when by our hotel so we could catch it into town!

So that was Edinburgh keep watching out for the next holiday breakdown.

IBeCheraldine =]