PayPerPost

I promised that I would blog more often after my little hiatus, so here it is!

With my recent $11,000 purchase of a car (a 2005 Toyota Corolla --so much money, but it's so beautiful!), I've been a little short on cash. After looking at different opportunities to make money and a desire to NOT spend every waking moment of my life slaving away at my "day job" (as much as I love scooping ice cream, there are only so many screaming children and cranky parents that I can handle in a week) I decided to go with something I saw mentioned a few times on the Etsy.com forums -- payperpost PPP is a site for bloggers that allows you to write reviews on websites, products, services, etc. In exchange for reviewing and advertising their product, the company pays you a certain price. Payments range from a few dollars to over $100. This is my first post, so I do not have much to say about how the whole thing works, but I'm sure that is something I will learn as I do more posts. I am hoping that this experience will give me the chance to earn some cash, learn about some new products, and get some more exposure for my little old blog!

To continue...

I found the button maker that I want on eBay. It's the Tecre 1.25" model -- $210, new, comes with 100 button parts. I'm still on the lookout for a used one, but if that fails, this is what I'm going with. I managed to spend nearly $50 at hobby lobby last night (oh so much beautiful paper and stamps and punches!!!!), so I really can't just go out and buy this button maker right now. I made myself promise to myself (trust me, it makes sense) that I wouldn't buy it until I had at least $50 in my paypal account to cover part of the cost. So that means I have to CRAFT CRAFT CRAFT and SELL SELL SELL. I'm taking tons of pictures today, hopefully, so I will be able to list some new stuff tonight and tomorrow :)

Well, that's about it for now. I'm in the midst of doing laundry, cleaning my room, and emailing my professors, and I have a meeting in 2 hours, so I should go get everything done.

Mommy, I want one!!!

So I've wanted a button maker for a rather long time, because I have all sorts of ideas in my head for cute, fun buttons to make and sell. Plus, I'm a button whore (you should see my purse/backpack/etc). But button makers are SO expensive... (for anyone who's never looking into getting a button maker, new ones start at $200 plus...) I want to make sure I get the right one the first time, so it's worth the investment. I've been poking around the Etsy forums, and it seems that nearly everyone prefers Tecre brand over the Badge-a-Minit ones, so it seems like that is the one I will be going with. I'm also pretty sure I want to go with the 1 1/4" sized buttons, although I'm still toying around with the 1" ones. I think those might almost be too small though -- I know for my "personal " use, I tend to prefer the slightly larger ones. However, I also need to know what will sell better... If I'm shelling out over $200 for one of these machines, I need to at least make that money back on it. I'm not sure how well buttons will sell on Etsy, I think it's kind of a hit or miss, but I am pretty sure they will go pretty well at some of the craft shows I will be going to during the summer. I live in a college area, and lots of college and high school aged people like spending a dollar or two on their own little 'pieces of flair.'
Ugh... there's just so much to think about. I'm going to keep poking around on Ebay and hoping that I can find a used one, because that will save me at least $50. It would be awesome if I knew someone personally that didn't want theirs anymore and would be willing to sell it to me for fairly cheap, but so far it looks like I don't know anyone that makes buttons, or used to make buttons and doesn't want to anymore...