Tuesday, August 19, 2008

etsy.com

I am SO tired of hearing about Etsy but I'm starting to wonder if I should be jumping on the bandwagon.

For those of you who haven't heard of it, Etsy.com is an online marketplace for all things handmade and vintage. Think of it as the hipster Ebay.

If I had a dollar for every time that someone has mentioned Etsy to me since I launched my business just over a year ago, I wouldn't need to be in business. The Montreal Gazette just did a feature, The New York Times had a huge profile about six months ago, and there are over 800 Montreal stores on Etsy alone!

They say if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Though I have had an Etsy shop all along, I never invested a lot of time, money or energy in it. Just to keep people off my back (and see whether Etsy is as profitable as people say it is) I have finally revamped www.brazendesign.etsy.com.

Do you have an Etsy store? Have you shopped on Etsy .com?

Friday, August 15, 2008

Crazy 1 Hour 75% off sale!

Le Marche Montreal - a great little store featuring designer and vintage clothes, shoes, accessories and more - is having a crazy 1 hour sale today and tomorrow, on all their summer stuff.

They are located at 24 Pine Ave East, just around the corner from St Laurent. You can't miss their hot pink store front.

Friday, August 15 (today) from 4pm - 5 pm
Sat August 16 (tomorrow) from 3:30pm - 5pm

You won't see me there cause I'm still on shopping hiatus, but take advantage and let me know what you find!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Design is Yummy

My friend Elana has a great blog about design - and I am honored that she just wrote a blog entry about Brazen Design!

Read it here:
http://designisyummy.blogspot.com/2008/08/brazen-licious-bling.html

Sunday, August 3, 2008

m0851

Whoops, I have been on summer holiday from Things that go Bling for a little too long... I had written this in May but never got around to posting it.

You may remember my first post of the year, in which I swore not to do ANY shopping for all of 2008. And you know what? I didn’t make a single purchase that wasn’t food, groceries or toilet paper for FOUR MONTHS. I was so proud of myself. I had resisted temptation from left, right and center.

But THEN. The flyer arrived. For m0851’s annual sample sale. And damn it if I didn’t already have my ultimate purse picked out years ago from their permanent collection. I had to go - just in case THE purse I wanted was down from the currently-unaffordable-for-me $300.
See, I did have a caveat in my new year’s resolution, which was that if an item from my wishlist (which actually isn’t that long) was available at a very good deal OR about to be taken off the market, I could make the purchase.

I am not trying to make excuses, for as you’ll see, I didn’t even make proper use of this caveat.

I arrived at the real sample sale (as a previous customer I knew that the advertised locations of the sale at their two Montreal locations was a red herring and that the real deals would be at their headquarters up the street) and headed straight for the bags. One quick tour revealed that none of their permanent collection bags were on sale, and I headed for the door. On the way there, of course, I found myself slowing down and then stopping to look at their wallets and leaving with a $60 burnt-orange clutch.

And yes, I turn a matching shade every time someone said “hey, nice clutch - WAIT, is that NEW? Did you break your New Year’s resolution?!”

Now that it is 3 months into my purchase, I can safely say it was a wise purchase - the outer and inner pockets separate my business and personal money and receipts, the colour has “aged” well with all the dirt I throw its way, and it comfortably carries my cellphone and keys inside when I go out for dinner.

A friend of mine who has lusted after my clutch recently made a trip to m0851 to acquire one for herself - and left with a burnt-orange laptop bag instead. I got weak in the knees when I saw this gorgeous leather dream and then wept with envy when she told me it was half-off. That was mid-july, so it may be a good time to acquire your dream tote!