To go from Gold 1 to Crystal 1 I used a strategy of exchanging resources for cups. Since I no longer need elixir, except for troops and spells, I decided to place 2 of my storages outside and hope people would attack me to get 200k elixir and give me cups for the win. Here is how my base looked with the storage outside:
Notice the two elixir storage on the middle left and right hand side of my base.
Here is the result of the third night with the elixir storage units outside: 9 defence wins, total of 211 cups
Here is the result of the second night with the elixir storage units outside: 4 defence wins, total of 80 cups
Here is the result of the first night with the elixir storage units outside: 10 defence wins, total of 213 cups