WHAT was I thinking?!?!?!

Deciding to venture out and do a little (VERY little!) shopping on Black Friday???  You would think I would have learned my lesson from THIS traumatic adventure last year, eh???

Michael got up WAY early to head out and hit the hardware store sales.  We always need new tools.  Since I don’t open the store until noon on Fridays I decided to go to KMart and grab a few Joe Boxer sweatshirts since they were on sale.  I waited until 8:00 to go thinking that by then the crowds would have died down and it would be fine.  But nooooooooooooooooooooo

Fox 12 news was out in front with an empty truck collecting toys, and I thought I’d grab a couple of toys to donate also.  Walked into the store and not an available shopping cart to be found anywhere.  The lines waiting to pay were about ten people deep, but maybe they are moving fast I thought optimistically. 

I headed back to the men’s section to look for the sweatshirts.  Had to go WAAAAYYYY around to even access the men’s department, around the huge line of people with carts piled high waiting in line for lay-away.  Couldn’t find the sweatshirts anywhere!  Couldn’t find anyone to ask if they had them.  Walked around once again ‘just in case’ I had missed them.  But even if I HAD found them, it’s doubtful I would have had enough time to wait in line to pay for them. 

I left empty handed, remembering why I HATE to go shopping this time of year.  Almost couldn’t get to the exit door around the lines of people still waiting to pay!  Was it busier this year for ‘the bargains’ becasue of the economy?  I haven’t been out on Black Friday since I can’t remember when! 

So I just headed to our store and opened early.  Reminded of WHY I love having a small retail gift and decor store.  I love knowing my customers well enough to give them a hug once in a while.  I love having time to help  them brainstorm for a gift or decorating idea, even if it’s not something they will buy in our store.  I love having the time and talent to custom make a special item for someone when they can’t find what they want ‘ready made’.   I love seeing a first time customer walk in and just STOP at the door, and take a deep breath and realize they can RELAX and enjoy THIS shopping experience. 

Now THAT’S retail therapy!

Here’s what’s new in SOPHIE’S COTTAGE ~ August 20, 2008

Traditional and not-so-traditional fall colors are scattered throughout the front of the store.

Sneek peek at a few of the new items for the pink ‘Shop for the Cure’ display:

Yummy smelling little jar candles in pumpkin spice, sparkling cider, apple cinnamon, cranberry orange, sugar cookie, butter toffee and vanilla.

Cinnamon refresher oil for your potpourri or rosehips.

OUR WEBSITE: www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

VISIT OUR ETSY STORE: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981

~ primitives ~ trash to treasure ~ shabby chic ~ cottage ~ Paris apartment ~ repurposed home goods ~ repaired ~ restyled home decor ~ reused ~ recycled art ~ handcrafted gifts ~ one of a kind ~ artist originals ~ second hand style ~ junk market style ~ flea market style ~ beautiful junk ~ beach cottage décor ~ unique home décor ~ vintage home décor ~ unique gifts ~ custom made gifts ~ custom made home décor ~ personalized signs ~ Sophie’s Cottage ~ grubby candles ~ how to craft books ~ Shabby Paris apartment ~ baby gifts ~ personalized gifts ~ AJ Finsand ~

Wall mirror re-do

Picked up this wall mirror at the thrift store.

If you are buying a mirror to repaint, be sure to look at the BACK of it to see that the mirror is easily removable for quicker painting.  You ‘could’  tape off the mirror if it was not easily removable, but that’s too much work for me!  If the mirror doesn’t come out, I don’t buy it!

I thought this one would work well with the new shabby Paris apartment look I’ve been working on for the antique mall.  I painted it black, then sanded and distressed it.

It looks kind of GRAY and washed out in the picture, but it is really nice and balck with bits of the gold showing through.

Close up of distressing detail.  I use a COARSE (yes coarse!) sanding sponge for distressing my smaller pieces.  For big pieces I use the orbital sander, again with coarse paper.

You can just barely see it here peeking from behind the table at the right.  I’ve hung it on the wall with a grouping of other similarly distressed formerly gold frames which have been repainted black.

OUR WEBSITE: www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

VISIT OUR ETSY STORE TO PURCHASE OUR HOW TO E-BOOKS:              http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5876981

New in the store: Saturday, June 7, 2008

Lots and LOTS of new things to show you this week.  I painted lots of birdhouses, frames and BIG candle pedestals . . . played with seashells . . . . got in some new scrapbook embellishments . . .

DON’T FORGET!!!  We are now open Saturdays only; 9 am – 4pm.  Nearly all the new items are ‘one of a kinds’.

Weathered beachy blue birdhouses.

LOVE the way these turquoise birdhouses stand out on this green chair!

There are also some WHITE spindle birdhouses like there.  I just forgot to take a picture of them!

Sugar cookie scent panrty jar candles.

One of a kind primitive red candle holder comes with the grubby candle.

Loooooong black primitive tray with cinnamon dusted votives.

Turquoise pedestal candle.

These next three candle pedestals were made from ONE vintage table leg cut into three pieces:

One of a kind framed grubby flag.

A few more little birdhouses on posts:

Little silicone dipped replacements bulbs have arrived!

LOVE this estate sale find clear ginger jar lamp filled with shells!

Lots of little jars of pretty shells too.

Primitive ‘carved’ black frame.

LOTS more black frames just in!

I ‘tried’ to get up close to show the detail on these . . .

And some shabby white frames:

And of course some turquoise frames!

 

Lots more new goodies in the store!

April 17, 2008

I’ve rearranged the front wall, the beach wall and the ‘pantry’ wall and added lots of new things:

 

 

Here’s what’s new in Sophie’s Cottage: April 2008

Vintage cottage blue twin bed (head, foot-board and side-rails; mattress not included)  Perfect for a small guest room or sitting area to use as a daybed.

An Alpine tree with white lights, stars and wish and dream signs nicely fills in the corner where the bed is angled.

Tilt top lap tray perfect for reading and writing on, and of course, breakfast in bed!

An old suitcase set atop a bench makes a nice little catch all table for the end of the bed.

Everlasting grubby candles are back!  Hollow center to hold a regular or battery operated tea light.

Primitive candle chandelier with grubby votives.  It has holes to use regular taper candles, but I kinda like the look with the votives instead!

A couple more grubby candles and holders.

Primitive repro molds.

New pink shelf sitter signs.

Bench made from vintage headboard.

Tall ‘nesting box’.

Garden stakes and luminaries.

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

It happens EVERY time!!!

I only have orders come in a few times a year, since we make the majority of our product.  But it seems like every time I do order, there is ONE thing that I’ve miscalculated on size or quantity!

The way they list items in the catalogs doesn’t help either!  Since these are wholesale catalogs you typically have to order in quantity, which is understandable.  BUT how they list the quantities just totally befuddles me!  I’ll never figure it out! 

Sometimes an item is priced PER item, but you have to order it in a quantity of three.  So if you order ONE of that item number, you will actually get THREE of the item.  Then there are the little items that are sold per DOZEN, but priced per item.  So, you order one of that item number, and get a package of a dozen of them.  And yes, I made the mistake (just ONCE though!) of ordering a dozen of such an item and they shipped me a dozen dozen!  144 of something that I thought I was only ordering and getting 12 of.  The company was gracious to allow me to return the extras and I ALWAYS re-confirm the quantity on items that come by the dozen now.

So, I placed an order recently from a closeout catalog.  Frequently use that kind of stuff to re-make into other stuff.  And when they are clearancing this stuff they usually require you to order it by the case.  So, I see these really cute FRAMES (I always need frames!) that are shaped like the frame around the peep hole in Monica and Rachel’s apartment door on the TV show ‘Friends’, with the cute swirled corners.  I decide I NEED some of those, even though I have no interest in the ‘princess and frog’ picture the frame is framing.  They are priced well enough that I can just toss the pic and use the frame.  I have to order 24 of them.  No problem.  I go through HUNDREDS of frames a year.

So, I hear the FedEx truck backing up to the door on Tuesday and I go prop the door open for what I’m thinking is a ’smallish’ order.  He rolls in with a stack of six BIG boxes.  WHAT did I order?!?!?  FedEx guy then informs me there is a LOT more!

I start riffling through papers to find my order sheet to see what the heck I ordered so much of.  Turns out those cute frames were bigger than I thought, and came 3 to a case, so I had EIGHT big cases of them!  sigh

Don’t you just LOVE that frame?!?!?  I can certainly use them all  . . . eventually!  But I don’t have storage space for them as big as they are. 

The princess picture is actually a painted canvas, attached to the back with screws, so I can easily remove it from the frame.  But because they are so much bigger than I anticipated, I’m going to have to try and sell some of them at the spring shows because I just don’t have room to store them!

I’m not sure why the frog is grimacing so!  But I don’t like that look on his face.  Guess he doesn’t want to be kissed by the princess and turned into a handsome prince!  And this is probably WHY they were on clearance for such a great price.

I decide to give the frog a bit of cosmetic surgery on his eyes to make him more presentable.  And then proceed to vacuum up all the styrofoam snow that is all over the store from the order.

Now to decide what to fill the rest of those frames that I am removing the picture from with!

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

Spring has SPRUNG at Sophie’s Cottage!

 SPRING 2008

The weather was soooooooooooooo amazingly wonderful on Sunday and Monday, I couldn’t keep myself from going FULL ON spring in the store! 

Michael planted some colorful primroses in the outside flower pots.  (my Valentines day surprise!)

The front window is filled with bunnies and flower pots.

More bunnies inside!  Bunny wreaths.  Bunny garden stakes.  Bouncey bunnies.  Rocking bunnies . . . .

And of course, an Easter TREE!

Giant handpainted paper mache eggs.

Little glittery eggs.

And of course, GRUBBY eggs!

And how cute ate these little egg shaped wood bowls?!?!?!  I was so tickled when I found these at the thrift store.  Been waiting patiently for spring to come so I could paint them up and put them out.

Little ‘decorative’ chocolate bunny.

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

What a difference ‘presentation’ makes!

 RETAIL AND DISPLAY TIP:

I got these BIG ivory colored candles some time ago.  And they have sat and SAT, awaiting an idea for how to display or use them.   They are lovely candles, but a tad bOOOOOOOOOOOring.

Inspiration finally hit while I was putting away my new stash of ribbons from Costco. 

I just took some kraft colored tissue paper, scrunched it up into a ball, then smoothed it back out to wrap around a pair of the candles; then tied on a snippet of the ribbon.

What a difference a little bit of paper and a piece of ribbon makes! 

So many of the items in our shops can be easily ‘dressed up’ to make them uniquely our own.  There are probably THOUSANDS of other stores who have these very candles, but I have put a signature touch on them and made them our own with very little effort.

OUR WEBSITE:  www.cscrafts.com/aj.html

Now see what happens when it’s so darn cold outside that no one wants to leave their house and come shopping and I am left all alone to my own devices in the store?!?!?! PART II

I had originally displayed these vintage blue canisters on the blue step back cupboard.  They looked ‘okay’ on there, but just blended in too much.  So, I decided to move them to this little black shelf on our newest brown primitive table.

I’m really liking this red/turquoise color combination!

Decided this big turquoise platter ‘needed’ this red glitter heart!

This is how this rearranging project got started. 

I decided I wanted to have the scrapbooking section back by the counter.  So, I had to move the stuff that was there to make room for it.  Then I had to figure out where to put the stuff I moved!  At one point mid-day there were five big pieces of furniture just sitting in the middle of the store and I had NO IDEA where I wanted to put it all!

So, I took a break and had my lunch and pondered the possibilities. 

Moved this white shelf (previously in the scrapbook section) to the pink/yellow section and used it to display an assortment of gift items, flanked by the two card racks.

Then the middle section in the previous post finally fell into place. 

A few new ‘little groupings’:

So, did I earn my 25 cents this week?!?!?!