Just who is Melissa...

I guess its time that I sort of introduce myself to anyone who happens to follow/read my thoughts and enjoy seeing the new items that I am designing for my Etsy shop.

My name is Melissa (who da thunk it...LOL).  I am married to my best friend and am the mother to a beautiful daughter and seven....count 'em seven cats (six boys and one girl who is the princess, of course).

I enjoy anything Amish.  A majority of my reading is Amish themed books.  When I heard that Borders was going out of business at our local mall, we went up to start Christmas shopping.  My husband already has a great start on me and we both have a great start on our daughter's gifts.  My favorite author of Amish stories is Beverly Lewis.  Her Abram's Daughter's series was my introduction into stories about the Amish.  My sewing/craft room is Amish themed.  I have a collection of Amish dolls, figurines, paintings, books, and other goodies.  

I used to work for a quilting supply distributor as a fabric buyer's assistant.  I really did enjoy my job.  My favorite part was seeing all of the new fabrics that came in for the different seasons.  I especially enjoyed when all of the fall and Christmas fabrics arrived.  I was able to buy the salesmen samples, which provided me with a very large collection of fabric that I now use in my Etsy shop.  I have some bittersweet memories of working there, but resigning my position to be a stay-at-home mom was the best decision I made.

I always decorate our home for the different seasons and have always wanted to sell my home decor designs, thus was the beginning of Melissa's Cozy Cottage on Etsy.  I haven't been selling as much as I would like to, though.  Everyone says its the economy, its the economy, but if that is the case then why are others in the home decor area selling?  Then I hear, work on your tags, change your tags, change the title of your items, change this, change that, etc, etc.  I do all of that and am still no where farther than before I made all of the changes.  I work hard on all of my designs and make sure that everything is well designed and constructed.   I am thinking of looking into other venues.  My family and I are also thinking about buying a stall at this big fall craft that this large Christian church sponsors every fall.  We went to it last year and it seemed quite nice.  All of the sellers got along and it was well set up.  We'll see.  

Seeing as its the last couple days of August, I'm having my husband bring down all of my fall decor.  I designed most of it.  Door wreaths, table arrangements, wall hangings, etc.  I'm sure he is really looking forward to hauling down my huge box of scarecrows.  I have a great collection of all sizes and types.  I can't wait to get started decorating!

Speaking of decorating for fall, here are my fall wreaths, my cornucopia wall hanging, and an autumn wall hanging.  All are currently available at my shop:

                                      www.MelissasCozyCottage.etsy.com

I hope you enjoy viewing my new autumn designs.  Maybe I'll see you around my Cozy Cottage...

The start of a new school year

Wow, where has the summer gone?  School will be starting here soon.  Its a bittersweet time for me, because I'm no longer homeschooling my daughter.  She graduated high school this past June.  It seems strange not to be engrossed in homeschooling catalogs; such as, Rainbow Resources.  I just LOVE that one!  Its so thick, packed with everything and anything you can imagine.  I was able to find interesting books, not just some boring text books.  I made learning fun for my daughter.  Her strengths were in history, art, home ec, and reading.  When she was in sixth grade, she was offered a position being a tour guide for a historical village we visited.  Can you believe that one?  A sixth grader!!!  The tour guide said that they preferred to hire homeschoolers, because they seemed to have more historical knowledge and were more dependable and reliable.  I guess I did something right in homeschooling her!

My daughter decided to take some time off before going down the college road.  I did the same thing.  I got a job to earn some money for school and what not and also to decide what it was that I wanted to do.  She does have things going to keep her busy.  She has an Etsy shop (www.VampireTales.etsy.com ) when she sells gothic type jewelry.  The two of us have an Etsy shop also (www.JustUsGirlsStudio.etsy.com ) where we sell jewelry.  So between designing jewelry for two shops and all that is entailed in running them, she will be looking for a job.  She is really hoping to get into Hobby Lobby.  She likes the store and buys supplies there, so its a "win win" situation.  She is also going to be looking into other avenues for selling her jewelry.  Etsy is just so saturated, its hard to be seen.  To be honest, sales are non-existant, so trying to get some business...somewhere...is going to be taking a front seat.  We've heard about fashion designers have some of their lines on Ebay (not for auction, but set prices), so we're going to be looking into it.  Its hard to see a young person have a dream, working to see it come true, and struggling.

Well, I started off here in talking about the start of school being just around the corner.  Here is my line of school related items:

This is my Teacher's Door Wreath, my "A is for Apple Country Bears" wall hanging, and my Educational Teaching Wall Hanging.  I think the wall hangings could be hung in a child's playroom and a school setting.  I think the Educational Teaching wall hanging would be great for homeschoolers.  It features all of the states (around the border) with their capitals and each state's industry.  Any of these items would make a great Christmas gift for a teacher.