Anthropolotique: Cheap and Cute - 99 Cent Store Etsy Packaging

Things have been slow this week in terms of sales at Anthropolotique.... So what to do with my free time? Work on my shop. I used to sell on Ebay and a big difference between Etsy and Ebay is what customers expect in terms of packaging. On Ebay it doesn't matter so much, customers are just happy you are not a scam and that they got what they ordered. Well Etsy customers really like it if you make your stuff cute. And I agree, half the fun of buying something on Etsy is getting something in the mail that is wrapped cute. I'm sometimes amazed at the packaging that arrives, the packaging looks like it cost more than the actual item I purchased! It's hard to make money on Etsy and I'm surprised that sellers are able to afford such cute packaging...

Last night I had 2 whole hours to myself and created a mission for myself instead of staying home and watching trashy reality TV. Mission: find cute Etsy packaging for cheap. So I headed to my favorite cheap place... the 99 Cent store.

First I grabbed several rolls of this brown kraft paper. I like to recycle boxes for shipping and I use this to wrap the boxes. Quite often the 99 Cent store is sold out so I stock up when I can.

I was actually looking for some cute string to wrap with but I felt inspired when I found the yarn. Everyone does string, yarn is different... I think.

My Treasures. A dictionary? Retro looking contact paper? Just wait and see.

My prototypes

No I did not get that tag punch at the 99 cent store. But I did get it for super cheap at Joann's with a 50% off coupon. I use those tags for everything.

Prototype 1 - Kraft paper, white string and a tag punch from contact paper. I can also peel the back off and use the tag as a sticker. I'm going to go back to the store and see if they have contact paper in a Christmas print. Wouldn't that look cute?

Prototype 2 - Kraft paper, yarn and tag punch from the DICTIONARY. I love this idea because it's also like a fortune cookie, what word will they get? One of the tags I did this way happened to be the word "encourage" and another was "transcend".

Prototypes 3 and 4 for clothing. Clothing looks much neater wrapped in tissue vs. the kraft paper, so I think I'll stick with the tissue paper. Also that's a "Thank You" stamp that I bought at the $1 section at Target.