Starting on the Give Away Journey

I just cut and pasted this post from my person blog page. (http://elizabethonthego.blogspot.com/) And in the future most Skip To My Room blogs will be updated here, but this started out as personal which is why the following post was on my person blog. Here you go.....

If you follow this blog, you may know that I have been involved in the kids retail industry for well over 25 years. Even when I took a break from the actual brick and mortar stores I was selling on Craigslist when it first started out of my garage. I guess you can say that my hands can not keep out of the retail cookie jar of kids products.

In summer of 2017 I said good bye to the last brick and mortar store. There was no way this small boutique girl could compete with the online giants. I kept trying. Trying new ways to get out and into the communities I lived in but it is the same story for many retailers large and small in my situation. Customers would come into my store, touch feel, ask questions and then buy from the online giant. There was no way I could offer a better price. Why?  Manufactures have levels of buying. The fewer quantities you buy, the higher the price. Also a little thing called rent, and utilities and employees. And so I closed my doors and put whatever was left in boxes and started selling a bit here and there on Etsy. HERE: Skip To My Room   However I know my weaknesses and I am terrible about promoting my own business. Which is crazy because I have also worked as a Brand & Marketing consultant and can hit it out of the park for my clients. Being my own client never really works for me. If you need help with the marketing stuff here is where you can find me.... elizabethtraub.com Check out the links that are highlighted.


I closed down my last and final storage unit last month. I found friends and family to give stuff away to reduce stock. After being packed up and stored it was time to figure out what to do with all these bins of left over adorable products. I took one box out last week and uploaded a few more things to Etsy. I will continue to do that as time allows, but then today I was sitting here thinking...why not give away some of this stuff. Brand new, and vintage darling kids stuff. Why not host online give aways? People have been doing this for years. I could do that, right?  Why not? I then went through all the reasons why or why not. And the why's of "yes" have out-weighted the why's of "no".

I decided to share this outward process on my personal blog. As I have to sharpen up some of my skills and learn the curve of how to and when to. I started reading up and think I am ready for running give-ways on Instagram @skiptomyroom . I am actually kind of excited about this. I think I am more excited to have the space back in my garage. Each week I will promote a new item for a give away. Post the give away on Instagram and write a post about it here with all the necessary links. I will share the give away on both my personal blog as well as on my Skip To My Room blog. This is going to be fun. Join me in first following along by clicking and following all the important stuff. LIKE Instagram where you can follow the give away. Here it is again. And this important hashtag will help you find the giveaway fast #skiptomyroomGA  @skiptomyroom 

Stay tuned as I begin to unpack boxes and bins. It's like Christmas here unpacking all the cool kids stuff.  Please join me over the next year of giving. It is my pleasure and joy to serve you.

Elephant Tea Set

 Kids Elephant Tea Set

This eight piece tea-set is a vintage treasure. I love to collect older tea-sets. They often find their way home with me. I found this set in an old country shop. It was nestled among dusty books and old flatware. I have held onto this one for quite a while and then recently decided to put it on on Etsy. It's made in Japan and we all know that anything made in Japan is considered vintage in it's own right.

Kids Elephant Teaset

I think every child should have a miniature tea set to play and pretend with. I measured this tiny set. From the first picture it looks to be quite big. However look at the next picture so see how it measures up. Check out the collections I have posted up on Etsy and see what you think. If you are reading this, please know that most of the items are one of a kind items. The picture here today, may not be up on Etsy if it sells. This is just a happy blog pace to share some of my great finds.

Kids Elephant Teaset

Designing That Back To School Work-Space

Designing That Back To School Work-Space by Elizabeth Traub @elizabethtraub

In just a few days kids all over the world will be pulling their chairs up to a squeaky clean desk. No doodle, no pencil eraser smudges, no color markers on the desks.  Fresh and clean desks. Our kids neatly tucking their school supplies away, folding their hands on their desks and waiting for the teachers instructions.

At least that is how I remember it as a kid.  It's not always easy to keep track of your kid's school papers, flyers and homework sent home.  I have five kids. At one time all under the same roof and believe me it would get crazy with keeping track of everything.

One thing that is important for kids of any age is structure and consistency.  It is going to help you and your child to design a back to school work-space.  A place in your home that remains THE spot for all papers, homework, books, book-bag and jacket.  If you teach your child the first week the habit of this space, you will save yourself from hair pulling moments.

I have to admit that last school year I tried something new.  My boys (three boys still at home) all have desks in their bedrooms.  Drawers filled with Lego's, paper, pens and treasures.  One child keeps his money hidden in his desk. Which I may have borrowed and put back a few times. I went to Target and purchased three wall mounted bulletin boards with hooks. Pretty dark wood framed. I thought, that having a desk, and then a coat hanger by the bedroom door, and a cork board for important papers in each room was a good idea. Coats, backpacks, important papers all in one place in each room.  If I had one child, then yes, a brilliant use of space. Three boys...noway!!!

 

Mommy monitoring had to happen when seeing that homework was done. Mommy monitoring to see that papers, backpacks, and coats were in order. I was going from room to room like a crazy lady.  Thus the new location was a space in my kitchen with space I could afford. A counter with drawers. Pencil sharpener, pencils and paper. A place for all homework and reading materials.  Then while cooking dinner on most nights, the boys would work on their homework, read out loud to me, and my services were available as the in-house tutor.

The boys ALL developed the habit of dropping their stuff in the same place and went off to play. I could then go through the parent information and note homework and reading that needed to be signed. It helped us all keep track. Once all was done and completed, backpacks were at the top of the stairs that could be easily grabbed in the morning.

It seems that this is no-brainer mommy or daddy stuff, but seriously this takes careful considerations for everyone involved. Designing that special back to school work-space also gives your child a sense of pride in having that space as their own.  There was a season when the three boys were much younger and the dining room table became that work space. I purchased each their own little desk organizers to keep their own markers, pencils and paper.  Often, even when there was no homework, each boy during different times of the day could be found at their only little work-space.  You might see that grades are improved with a little structure and a little working space.

Have a wonderful start to the 2016/2017 school year.

The Story Continues for Skip To My Room

Today I got the keys to a new little boutique. I feel 26 all over again. I started Skip To My Room when I was 26 years old.  Then circumstances closed that store many years ago.  I loved those days, years ago of my young kids hanging out in the shop, learning to work, and helping care for the store. Those days long gone.  New days are ahead.

I have always kept my toes dipped into the kids room design gig. I started a webstore called Hung Out To Buy and then had a small shop in NW Portland. Now living in the The Dalles, with inventory begging to come out of hiding I found this cute little location. "Skip To My Room" has been on the tip of my tongue all week.  I looked under a name registry and it was available so I grabbed it. I decided I wanted to go back to the very thing that launched a very blessed career.   A few years back I started this blog. I had a Facebook page. The name was available on all the Social Media platforms I like to frequent.

 Tonight I just had to take some things over. So I decided to fill the first window. This display will change over a 100 times in the next year. For now it was a few things I could get my hands on. The story continues for Skip To My Room.  A change that I felt I wanted to make. That window is not even near being completed, but the hour was late and I had to leave. It's going to get better as all the product comes over. I am so blessed and grateful for this location, for this lovely community of The Dalles, OR.

One Great Find at a Time

It all starts with a great find and a little time.  For me it was really no time at all.  I was on my way home, car full of boys and saw a garage sale.  So I stopped. Saw these cute pillows and for really cheap I bought them.  Then weeks later another garage sale.  One look at that Posies Dot print and I knew I was in for a steal of deal. First, I had already collected a few other items here and there.  And if the price is right on this chair, this would only add to the story I was already building one piece at  a time and one great find at a time.

This Posie Dot was on a very familiar chair. A chair I had custom made for a client over ten years ago. A designer knows her work and this was my work.  After ten years it was in a garage sale.  I might have thought "ouch" to my ego, but finds like this demand oo's and ah's.  The gal said it was a dear friend's who had it "custom made" as  reading chair in her little girl's room.  But her daughter was a teenager now and passed it onto her. She was moving and had no room to take it. So for less than $20.00 it was loaded into my van. I did not even have to load it.  And the sweetness of this was made even sweeter knowing it was going with a story I was building.

The story is this. I found these cute floral, solid, and check pillows in a garage sale too as mentioned above. Kept them tucked away for future story building.  Then I got my hands on this colorful braided rug that matched these pillows growing my story.  To find a chair, now building this colorful story you can imagine how excited I was.  Take a look at the next picture. WALLA!!!  The story continues to grow.  Who's story is this anyway?

Who belongs to this story?  No one yet, but there will be a client who has a darling little girl, and who wants to make some changes in a room.  Budgets don't always allow all the bells and whistles and the expense that come with all those bells and whistle. So I am always on the look out for great  finds like these.  Providing all the bells and whistles with a smaller expense.

Each week, most likely on a Friday I will be featuring the next "One Great Find at a Time".  I love to focus on kids' rooms as that is where my heart and passions started, but keep checking in as I find other great finds for every room in the house.