I love these. Things that I am constantly explaining to people. Images link to source.

I had Veteran’s Day off so me and a pal decided to hit up the outlet mall near Columbus. I wasn’t expecting much. I grew up near an outlet mall that was comprised of about three fully functioning stores like Nike, Dress Barn and something else not worth remembering. This outlet mall, however, impressed me. You can see close representations of what I bought above. Each piece that I’ll link to is the current, “in-store” product (which totals to about $360 before tax). All the items that I purchased were also from the Banana Republic, J.Crew and Nine West and everything totaled $150. WIN! So now in my opinion, outlet malls = sweet. Also, I like grey.

1. Dulphine shimmer open cardigan from J.Crew 2. Matte opaque heathered tight from Banana Republic (I bought two pairs…no stretching!) 3. Workbook boot from Nine West (mine look different but comparable) 4. Jen textured mini skirt from Banana Republic and 5. Stretch twill Minnie pant from J.Crew,

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I’m a huge fan of Etsy. Huge. I love the simplicity in setting up a shop, the community that keeps buyers and sellers engaged, and the assortment of vintage/handmade items just waiting to be found. I do, however, have an issue with the alchemy section. This is a section where you can request an item to be made…everything is custom!

If I search in the alchemy section for the word “design,” it brings up about four pages of results. Some of the requests include: round custom designed business cards, blog header/logo design/background design, postcard design for mailer, store design, etc. The shocking part is that 90% of all graphic design requests list $40.00 or less as an ideal price for such work.

If I want a custom leather purse on Etsy, I pay more. If I want a custom necklace, I pay more. If I want a custom painting, I pay more. Heck, if I want to customize my order at Applebees, I pay more. Why isn’t this expected when other Etsy shop owners (or small business owners) are looking to brand their business? Despite the ridiculousness of these requests, I’m even more embarrassed by the fact that each request has 5-40 bids placed by “designers.”

I don’t care if you’re a 32-year-old mom who likes playing in Photoshop, you shouldn’t create a logo for $10.00. Ever.

</rant>