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

Protecting & Shipping Painted Rocks

Today is National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!

Bubble wrap is a wonderful invention that's very effective for protecting items from damage when they're shipped long distances. And we've all had the irresistible urge of popping a few bubbles once the package is opened.

Here's a tip when using bubble wrap to pack painted rocks for shipment. Be sure to wrap the painted rocks with parchment paper before cushioning with bubble wrap. Plastic may adhere to the surface of the painted rocks and damage the finish.

For smaller painted rocks, I use bubble mailers and always wrap the painted rock with parchment paper before placing it in the bubble mailer.

Don't pop your gift recipient's bubble with a damaged painted rock. Wrap it in a protective layer of paper first before cushioning with bubble wrap and shipping it.

Click here to learn more about bubble wrap and bubble wrap appreciation day.

Note: This blog post was updated. I originally used tissue paper and plain newsprint to wrap the painted rocks before cushioning with bubble wrap. These papers adhere to the rock and are not suitable. I now use parchment paper to wrap painted rocks before shipping them.

Unique Painted Rock Nativity Sets

Another category of my painted rocks that can be found online is Unique Painted Rock Nativity Sets. This online gallery of painted rock nativities contains sets I've painted over the years.


The nativity set pictured below is my most recent addition to the gallery of painted rock nativity figures. Mary, Baby Jesus, and Joseph have been painted on geometric-shaped rocks. Mary is painted on a round river rock, Joseph is painted on a triangular rock, and Baby Jesus is painted on an oval stone.

Click here for other views of this one-of-a-kind nativity set

My online gallery of nativity sets visually illustrates how various rock sizes and shapes were used to create nativity sets and figures with unique characteristics. I always enjoy watching the Holy Family come to life as I add paint colors and features to each river rock.


© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks