Been here just busy!! Back to business though!

Hi all!! Well... things have been crazy busy here with Halloween at my retail store, and some major home/life decisions as well.

I reopened my retail gift store, Carroll Creek, on August 26th, and it's going SO WELL! I truly missed having my own store and especially decorating. I'm closing down on Nov. 1 & 2 to transform the store into a winter wonderland! Very excited and I'm ready for my Christmas music!!

Happy Holidays!!!!!

Lots of Treasuries!

I'm thrilled to be included in these fabulous Etsy Treasuries!! Do check them out... so much talent out there :)

This Summer can end now, thank you... :)

My gosh! This has to be one of the longest, hottest Minnesota Summer's I've experienced in my 8 years of living here. Even when we had our 100 degree stretch of weather a few years back, I don't remember it feeling THIS muggy and miserable ... ever! It's being relentless this year.. close to zero breeze and just UGH! I keep dreaming that one morning (very soon I might add) I'll wake up and it'll be like 40 degrees. ... okay, /rant off... :)

(i imagine that porch has a lovely crisp, COOL breeze... dreaming of that...)

We have been busy working on my new store.. painting, removing the old floral wallpaper that actually brought my almost 5-year old son to tears (because he claims he "loves it" and if it gets taken down all the way then he just "wants to sell mommy's store off"!)... what a hoot he is! We got my Etsy business moved over for the most part, still some crafts to bring over, but not until I get nice storage containers. I can't tell you how EXCITED I am to have my Etsy business OUT of our house!!! It's a huge relief :) I can't wait though to be able to set up the store. VERY antsy! This weekend our landlord is having the floors redone, fingers crossed, then I can start making the magic happen!
I am going on 3 hours sleep. Dizzy. But lots of emails. I'm worried about what they will sound like, I'm trying to read them back before I hit "send" but ya never know! I stayed up late watching some DVR shows, fell asleep around 2:30 and Evan got up at 5:30.. or maybe a little earlier. He fell back sleep around 9ish but I'm still awake.

Will have some pictures of the new store very soonish! Have a wonderful day out there, sure hope it's cooler where you are!

... one of my old teddy bears... will probably be offered for sale at my new store...

Pickwick Mill - Pickwick, Minnesota

Can cats be reincarnated?....

 That is a thought I've been thinking about since yesterday.  You know... the new "stray" cat, Chester, that adopted us?  Well, the more he is here, the more I'm realizing he is EXACTLY like the father cat of 6 of my own, a cat whom we used to call "Friendly Boy".  He came with the property when my hubby purchased it, along with his brother (we called him Boots) and their sister (aka Mommy Kitty).  Sure, the kittens were inbred lol, but they are the best cats ever.  But their parents were quite awesome as well. 

So back to Chester...  the day I found him, he was walking down our driveway and just stopped and sat down.  Thinking back, and all of the similarities, I'm now thinking he was acting like "I'M HOME".  He talks the same way Friendly Boy did... he sleeps on the back of either the chair or couch and lays with his head down over my shoulder, paws stretched out as far as they can reach, just like Friendly Boy did, too.  Even his body shape is the same, esp his head.  Being curious and intrigued, I called him the name Friendly Boy today, just to see what he would do.  And he looked up at me.  Kinda gave me the creeps, mind you I am a true believer in the paranormal world and life after death (in some cases). 

Friendly Boy was very calm & collected, never fighting with another soul.  Same with Chester.  We have 9 other cats in the house, and he is not declawed, but he didn't take a swing at any of 'em.. nor even growl or hiss.  He just made himself right (back) at home.

On my old computer I need to pull off the pics of Friendly Boy so I can compare them with Chester.  Oh, btw, he changed his colors to Orange & White tabby instead of grey like before.  hehe :)

Here's a sneak peak of all the antique silverware ornaments I'll be listing on Etsy tonight and tomorrow.  I need to seal & put the wires on the ones that don't have them yet.  I'm proud I've gotten so many done though!  

 

I changed out the CD's in my work room and now they are 4/5 Christmas!  Is anyone else listening to Holiday music already?........... Not that I mind..  It keeps me happy out there :)  And Motivated.  And truly wanting to put up a TREE! 

Time to start the listing on Etsy.  I think tomorrow I'm going to make Snickerdoodle cookies.  I didn't think I had Cream of Tartar but sure enough, it was in the pantry and not expired... woohoo! 

Have not been home...

We've been doing the "family" thing the last few days... helping out at my parents house, TRYING to get ready for a garage sale.  First it's been raining on the possible days to have it... and now on the news tonight they said next week we should be in the 90's for temps!  My mom said she's NOT having a garage sale in that heat.  :)  I think we should just donate everything and call it good lol!  Today was "Clean their Shed" day, and most everything in there was left from the previous owners.  The mice had too much fun with all of it though... otherwise there would've been some neat finds in there!  I did bring home a few things.. old wood barrel and 2 round tin carriers that would be great flower planters.. an old watering can and an old wood wheel chair!  Yes, a wheel chair!  WHY on Earth I like them... I don't know.  I already have one in our old log cabin.  This one is not as old, but it's OLDER.  See.. here's mine now... (taken last year at Halloween, hence the dead tree branches, which was part of a 10' dead tree I dragged into the log cabin room from outside)

So no crafting these last 3 days.. but I did buy some embroidery floss to start stitching again!  Sooooooo many plans... my parents need to get their house in order so mom & I can start crafting full-time.  I truly want and need to get back to selling places again, besides Etsy!  I was featured in these 2 treasuries this past weekend, fun stuff for sure!!! :)

Blessings!

Happy Autumn!

Oh wait... it's only June 8th :)  But, it sure feels like Autumn outside!  I'm wearing a sweater and contemplating closing some of the windows.  It's raining and the high will be 64 degrees today.  I'm not complaining.... I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!  Beats having 90-100 degree temps!  And the 10 day forecast is showing mid-70's for the next 10 days with a chance of hitting 80 next week sometime.

I hope Etsy picks up soon!  I'm so motivated but just no orders coming in.  And besides, I wish I could come up with a quick $16,000 for this car I found!  It's so dreamy!!!  :)  Evan loved it too!

I have a 3:30 eye doctor appointment today to get another exam.  I've been having eye troubles and my eyes hurt all day long and don't want to stay focused on things, they just relax and go blurry.  Hoping it's nothing serious.   

My date was off! I edited a draft :)

Okay I'm a DORK!  lol :P  I was going to do my first "new" blog post the other night, then just saved it... not realizing that when I went back to edit it, it would use that date.  So technically I'm not behind on my quest to post daily on my blog.. the date just made me appear I was.  :)

I've been featured in yet another wonderful treasury!  All these apples are making me wish it was apple orchard time.  The beautiful cool Summer we're having so far is making it FEEL like it's that time!

 

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=134260

I'm watching two little chipmunks in the driveway eating almost in unison.  They are adorable, I could watch them for hours.  The best is to give them a french fry and watch them eat it!  Seriously, it's the cutest thing EVER!

Time to take some pictures for new Etsy stuff!  Hope you love it all :)

Blessings for a happy weekend.....

Okay, I'll admit it...

I truly want to be a "blogger", yet whenever I make the attempt, I FAIL miserably. And I'm so so sorry! But they say that it takes 28 days to form a habit, so I am going to do a post here every single day and see if I can finally GET IT! :) I sure hope so. I know myself, there are blogs I go and read daily, so I feel like I've let anyone down who had enjoyed mine in the past. I hope I can make up for it.

After an Etsy break due to some personal family issues, I AM BACK there as well! I've been fortunate to be included in two treasuries already this week. Sales have been very slow (only one set of tombstone tags sold), this is giving me time to create new designs. I'm all in the mood for Halloween!

If you know of anyone looking for fun ornaments, tags or signs for their retail stores, I would love more wholesale accounts. I'll even reward with some freebies for referrals if they place an order! Thank you in advance :)

Hope life has been treating you all well!

Bekka Boo Is Famous... kinda ;)

I am happy to say that my sweet little kitty that I so dearly refer to as Bekka Boo (her real name is Rebecca), made it to the front page of Etsy last night... yet I missed it because I was sleeping!

Boo is one of my real cats, who is now 18 years old.. still alive and kicking! Everyone loves her sweet round face, so I decided to make a line of my chenille ornaments using her picture. She now has 'family' all across the WORLD that love her :) It's one of my favorite things I've ever done, sharing my Boo with everyone.

Here she is all decked out for Christmas. I also sell these on Etsy. Yesterday I made up some Halloween Boo's for a custom order, she is wearing a green tulle tutu skirt and oh my! She's super sweet :)

Christmas Preview!

Here's a fun Santa Claus ornament that I'm offering directly from my blog here. I've not listed him on Etsy (yet) so will give y'all a week to buy it, first come, first served... then it'll go up on Etsy if it doesn't sell. It's made almost completely from vintage reclaimed materials... even the chenille is authentically OLD! Silver Christmas Light Reflector adds sooooo much shimmer... and the red bulb is his 'tree'. He's a good size... 5.5" tall x 4" wide. Can hang on your tree for just $8.95 plus shipping.

New Easter Ornaments!

I have been super busy working on brand new designs for Spring and Easter of my old-fashioned chenille ornaments! Go shopping at my Etsy store to see these, and some other wonderful ornies I've finished... bunches of OOAK's!! :)