Painted Rock Nativity Sets - An Alternative to Traditional Christmas Decor

Nativity scene figures hand painted on Colorado river rocks and stones are an unusual yet appealing alternative to traditional Christmas nativity decor and a charming addition to a Creche collection.

He is my Rock Nativity Sets

For a delightful and distinctive conversation piece, try something new and out of the ordinary by replacing the figurines in your traditional nativity set with nativity scene figures that are uniquely painted on rocks.

 

Newly completed, painted rock nativities ranging in size from tiny, small, medium to large are available in the Nativity Shop.

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

Identify Your Garden with an Address Painted on Rocks

A way to make your garden and yard distinctive is to display rocks with your address painted on them. Painted rocks can also be used as unique memorial markers.

One-of-a-Kind Address Marker Painted on a Rock

An Address Painted on a Concrete Garden Wall Block

Front of Memorial Marker Painted on a Triangular Rock

Back of Memorial Marker Painted on a Triangular Rock

You can see how different types of rocks and pavestones found at home improvement stores can be hand painted to beautifully and uniquely identify your garden, home, yard, or gravesite.


© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

Hand-Painted Mystery Rocks - Unique Easter Basket and Garden Decor Gifts

Imagine the surprise on Easter morning when a child looks into their Easter basket and hidden among the marshmallow Peeps, colored eggs, chocolate, and jelly beans they find mysterious eyes looking up at them. What are those things? What kind of creatures are hiding inside?

Hand Painted Mystery Eggs Rocks

Those things are one-of-a-kind, hand painted rocks and they are a quirky, unusual gift idea for a child's Easter basket. After all the candy is eaten, these "Easter" eggs will still be around because they're painted stones. They easily fit into a child's pocket and will become their new pocket pet. Children's imagination will be sparked when they try to determine what type of critter actually lives inside these unusual, one-of-a-kind rocks.

Mystery Rocks for Garden Decor

As gifts for your gardening friends, these painted mystery rocks would be an unusual addition to their garden decor. Imagine these small, painted stones in a garden hidden among the flowers and plants, waiting to catch the eye of a passer by, inviting a closer look.


© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

Hand Painted Rocks - Choosing an Online Marketplace

Choosing an online marketplace to showcase my hand painted rocks seemed like a no brainer because of Etsy's popularity for handmade items.

Fortunately, I came across this helpful blog entry -- "Big Cartel vs. Etsy vs. Storenvy" -- which compared those three online selling platforms.

Here's a quick summary of the three marketplaces and their features.

Marketplace Specialty

• Big Cartel - higher-end art and design  
• Etsy - crafts, vintage, and supplies 
• Storenvy - used for whatever you desire 

Costs

Big Cartel has tiered pricing plans:

• Free = 5 listings/1 image each product 
• $9.99/month = 25 listings, 3 images each product 
• $19.99/month = 100 listings/5 images each product
• $29.99/month = 300 listings/5 images each product

Etsy is a pay-as-you-go system:

• $0.20 per listing & item quantity (for 4 months) and 3.5% of the sale price fee (with unlimited listings)

Storenvy

• Completely free to list unlimited items with 5 images for each product

Community

• Big Cartel promotes a small number of shops, showcasing the big names and best sellers. 
• Etsy promotes a limited number of their favorite sellers but a larger number of people on the whole get a promo bump from Etsy. 
• Storenvy has a watered down community you can search

Traffic

• Big Cartel - Bring your own traffic
• Etsy - A lot of traffic from Etsy and Etsy is well-integrated with Google
• Storenvy - Some through traffic 

Mechanics

• Big Cartel - One page listing process but limited features
• Etsy - Detailed dashboard and a five-step listing process
• Storenvy - Detailed dashboard that can be overwhelming

Tone

• Big Cartel - You’re going to find exactly what you expected: the store you were linked to. You are an island
• Etsy -Trash can be mixed in with the gems. However, Etsy is so well known that there is a high comfort level associated with them. You'll always be mixed in with vintage, competitors, supply sellers
• Storenvy - In between Big Cartel and Etsy: people can find competitors work if they look for it. Storenvy doesn’t attract enough attention for there to be a lot of junk on it yet

Based on the tips I learned, I chose Storenvy for my hand painted rocks online marketplace.

I found the Storenvy user interface to be very intuitive, clean and simple. The Storenvy staff answered my questions quickly and it cost me nothing to set up my customized store and add products.

If you're looking for a marketplace to showcase your handcrafted items, I suggest reading the "Big Cartel vs. Etsy vs. Storenvy" blog mentioned above as a starting point.

For me, Storenvy rocks for my hand painted rocks. See me hand painted rocks for sale at:

Update: August 1, 2012

I'm very happy with my choice of Storenvy for my painted rocks marketplace. Since I joined Storenvy, they've added an app so that I can also bring my store right into my Painted Rocks by Cindy Thomas FB fan page. 

Rock Painting Ideas and Patterns Can be Changed Easily to Create Unique Pieces

What I enjoy about rock painting is that one rock painting idea or pattern can create many unique painted rock objects by changing up the paint colors and a few design elements.

Recently, I came across a  Baby Bluebird of Happiness rock painting pattern and painted this baby bluebird.

Painted Rock Baby Bluebird of Happiness

Next, I hand painted two more baby bluebird rocks. By painting the birds with larger mouths and placing them in a basket, I now had a set of Hungry Baby Bluebirds of Happiness.

Painted Rocks - Hungry Baby Bluebirds of Happiness

I then painted another variation from the same rock painting pattern using the colors of robins, and placed them in a twig basket with moss.

Robins in a Basket Painted Rocks

Yet another variation of baby bird rocks was hand painted using shades of tan. I placed these painted baby bird rocks into a green basket.

Tan Hungry Birds Painted Rocks 

In the photo below, you can see how one rock painting pattern and idea produced several unique, painted rock sets by: 

• Using differently-shaped rocks
• Changing the paint colors   
• Varying the design for mouth shapes
• Adding interest with baskets. 

Painted Rocks - A Collection of Hungry Baby Birds

Baby bird rock painting ideas are endless thanks to a simple rock painting pattern, nature, and the inspiration that is all around me.


© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks