I DID IT! I OPENED AN ETSY SHOP! COURTYARD CREATIONS

I finally did it!

COURTYARD CREATIONS

I have been sewing and creating

Sweet Darlings

for the shop.

I added a few 

Gingerbread Girls

for the Christmas Season.

                              I tried to open my old shop

(Cottage on the Cove)

and it would not let me transfer

my new bank info.

It was a mess and I spent 3 weeks

trying to get it right and contacted

Etsy 8 times with no response.

So, the only option was to 

close the old shop out and 

start a new one.

The bad part is-I lost all my followers.

If you have time could you do me a favor

and just go 

LIKE the shop?

That will give me a following again.

No purchase necessary...nor expected!

Here is the link-

Click HERE

At this point I just have a few things

listed.

After the Holidays, I have a lot

of vintage stuff to list

plus yards and yards of

decorator fabrics.

It is time.

Time to pass things along for

someone else to love.

Bear with me for the next

few days.

I have Christmas pictures of the 

condo to share!

Maybe this old chick is 

getting her act together

after all!

Oh-yeah--and today is

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

SNOWBOYS AND SNOWGIRLS ARE WAITING FOR ADOPTION!

When I went to my friend's house

Kris-JunkChicCottage

for her girlfriend party,

one of the hostess gifts that she received

was a cute little snowman.

I looked at that and thought

I CAN MAKE THOSE.

And-so- I did!!!!

Now--I am not bragging

but I think my own are 

CUTER than the one I saw....

Sorry-gift giver to Kris

I came home and started

STITCHING AND GLUING

and

TA-DAH!!!!!

You will find some sweet little

SNOWBABIES

over in my Etsy Shop

Cottage On The Cove.

Each one is different and 

has its own

PERSONALITY AND A NAME!

Heads are sewn on 
and the bottoms are weighted
(kinda like my own...bottom that is)

I can't get any more of this material

so this is all I have.

My kids might have stolen a few!

I am off for an appointment

but got up early to get 

these posted to my shop.

Take a peek and I will be

back later tonight

to visit blogs and play catch up!

A SNEAK PEEK AT WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON

You know me!

I see something I like 

and I go into

MAKE IT MODE!

I saw something last weekend

that I thought was 

SOOOO CUTE

so I got busy and 

being the copy cat I am

made a few of my own.

I JUST MIGHT

put some of these in my

ETSY SHOP

which has been 

ON VACATION

since Halloween.

Here are a couple of them

A SNOWGIRL

&

A SNOWMAN

As you can see,

He is still in Nana's Workshop!

By the way- 

I am missing a few bits and pieces

of SKIN as I have been working

with a 

HOT GLUE GUN.

The snowmen are 

HAND SEWN

but the accessories are 

HOT GLUED ON.

If you have ever used a

hot glue gun you know

all about 

THE BURNS!

I have a party at my daughter's house tonight

but will be working on finishing these up 

TOMORROW.

Have a 

GREAT FRIDAY.

GOING CRAZY LISTING HERE!

Whoever said 

ETSY IS EASY

might have been telling a lie...

and YOU know who YOU are!

Anyway,

It takes time to get things ready,

photograph them,

resize them for Etsy,

research pricing 

(if you can FIND pricing)

figure out shipping costs 

if you are going to include that...

and then just jump through the hoops

to get the listing up and running.

Yeah--

It's a lot of work

but, so far,

I LOVE ETSY.

(ask me tomorrow- I might change my mind)

Here's what I listed in the shop today:

Cottage On The Cove

Pop over HERE if you have time.

And, as always, 

Thanks for taking a peek!!

A FEW NEW VINTAGE ITEMS I JUST LISTED

JUST A QUICK LITTLE POST

I Listed a few new items

in my Etsy Shop today.

Pop by 

COTTAGE ON THE COVE

if you are interested.

Thanks  for  looking!

Be back in a day with a

REAL POST.

FALL IS IN THE AIR-AND If You Visit Me At The VA YOU Might Be Falling Down

I really need to get myself in gear,

get my pictures loaded onto my computer,

get them to Picmonkey,

 and then share them here.

I am WAY behind in doing that.

Not that I have anything else to do or anything.

So, that being said-

I have a few shots of the dining room dressed

as it was for Fall.

Here is the bombe chest

with Grandmother Clara's 

Silver Tea Service-
It needs a good polishing right now....

From a bit further back...

Did you notice my little lamps are

WEARING HATS?

I got those after season last year.

They are DOG HATS 

from the Pet Section....lol

I think I paid 50 cents apiece for them.

The dining room table arrangement

started with my old turquoise basket.

The little old blue level is from my farmhouse.

It was along the cellar wall.

See the MIX sign tucked down in there?

It was "stolen" by my girls from an abandoned building where my father used to go.

I have no idea where it came from.

The POE card/tag was part of a giveaway from 

Vera-Row Homes & Cobblestones 

a couple of years ago.

My poor crow 

is looking a little worse for the wear.

Looks like he got in a fight 

with another crow and lost.

And just a peek at 

the backside:

I am loving the blue mixed in with 

the colors of fall here this year.

Lots of other stuff to show you

when I get my pictures loaded so 

BEAR WITH ME!

Oh- and did YOU get YOUR flu shot yet?

We HAVE to have them to work at the 

VA Center.  

I never get them but I sure would not want

to infect any of our older vets-

many of whom are already in 

weakened physical conditions-

so, I will have to get one next week.

I have never had the flu in my life-

knock on wood-

(or laminate-your choie)

I am thinking about offering 

those sweet old veterans

FLU SHOTS

right at the front desk.

Aww...C'mon

It's the Irish in me.

It would make me father proud!

And, I would actually give them

out for free.

Don't you wish you were in my line?

Have a Happy Wednesday!


I have a few new things listed today
in my Etsy shop if you are interested..
the LAST of my pumpkins
and a few other things.
A Cottage On The Cove Etsy Shop

THE ETSY SHOP THAT NEVER WAS-ANNA IRELAND BOUTIQUE

First of all,

I want to thank ALL of you

that left me comments and opinions

on opening my

Etsy Shop.

I had it all planned out-

header made, items listed, etc. 

Isn't this a cute banner?

I have had it on hold for over a year

as MyHero's health wavered.

Every time I would get ready to 

OPEN SHOP

something would happen;

there would be a setback.

So, I thought that might be God's way

of saying,

"Don't do it!"

However, being the stubborn person

I am-and the eternal optimist-

I thought maybe I 

MISREAD the MESSAGE!

So, I turned to my good friends,

and blogging buddies, to get 

YOUR FEEDBACK (here)

Many of you left comments on my blog

and I so appreciate that you did that.

Several of you emailed me directly

to tell me your stories and experiences.

After reading all the comments,

and taking everything to heart,

I came to the decision that this is 

NOT THE RIGHT TIME

for me.

I had over 100 listings and have been 

paying the fees for over a year,

but yesterday,

I pulled the plug and closed the shop

before it ever opened.  

I have decided to donate all the 

'household goods' 

to a charitable organization here

that does not sell anything.

They use it to help young and/or single mothers

get on their feet and 

furnish an apartment to help them

 succeed in life.

Some things I will take to an antique dealer

and some of the things--

that don't fall into either category above--

maybe-just maybe-

I will offer on my blog

So- there you have it-

Thank you all for your opinions and input.

Thanks especially to 

Celestina Marie (Southern Daydreams)

and to my friend, Donna, that no longer blogs.

They were both so helpful in the past 

as I was struggling with setup and help with 

learning the Etsy ropes.

I really appreciate the help they gave me.

Good luck to all of you that have

Etsy shops.

Maybe this will help someone else 

make the decision

that Etsy isn't for them after they read

all the comments I got on my blog (here)

or give them the courage to close a 

shop that is causing them stress.

On the other hand,

it may encourage someone to move forward

and open a shop of their own.

At least now I can start packing things up

knowing I don't have to 

MAIL THINGS OUT.

I can clean out the bins and boxes of STUFF

and maybe I will find some 

FREEDOM in LETTING GO

of the things I do not need.

Maybe I will get my butt out in the

YARD and do a little SPRUCE UP.

Or maybe I can encourage 

MyHero to get off his butt

and do a little clean up.

Remember this?

Yeah--he's skinnier now so it

should be even easier for him...

Right?  Right!

Heck, I might even deep clean the house...

or...

maybe not........

WHEN-WHAT-WHERE--Anna Ireland Vintage Etsy Shop

Happy Sunday, People!

I had hoped to be able to

OPEN MY ETSY SHOP

this weekend.

However,

I came down with a nasty sinus infection

(me-that NEVER gets sick)

and am on some heavy-duty antibiotics

to try to get rid of it.

I am resistant to medicines

also-chocolate, lemon-meringue pie, 
suggestions from MyHero, etc.

so I get the 
BIG GUN MEDS 
and orders to

"take it easy".

I know- I am laughing, too.

Take it easy to me means --

I only work 8 hours instead of 16.

So- I will give you a 

WEE PREVIEW
of my upcoming Etsy shop.

(said with an Irish accent).

The shop is called

ANNA IRELAND VINTAGE.

Going back and forth over which banner to use--

Feel free to tell me your favorite.....

I thought I would give you a little teaser.

I won't have a ton of hand-made stuff

this go-round.

I am just trying to 'clean house'

and let a few things go.

My prices are going to be very reasonable...

if you want to bargain on something 

after I open

let me know.

I will put a few things on my blog, too,

that don't meet the Etsy guidlines for some reason

(age of item, etc.)

So- there you have it....

Like I said- shop is

NOT OPEN YET

but I am now working towards next weekend.

Here's your STORY for the day.

Night before last my son, Mama'sBoy (CJK's daddy)

called me just before 10pm.

I was in bed watching the news.

MB:  Mom!  How would you like to drive down to Indiana with me tonight?  We will pick something up and turn right around.  In 12 hours we can make a round trip and end up right back where we started.

Me:  Great- When?

MB:I thought we could leave in about 30 minutes.

Me:  Okay-I'll be there.

MB:Bring your car to my house-we'll go from here.

Me:  Okay.

MyHero:  YOU HAVE A SINUS INFECTION!

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? YOU'LL BE SICK.

Me:  I'm already sick.  

MyHero: JUST TELL HIM--NO!!!

Me:  NO!

MyHero:  FINE!  Suit yourself.

Me:(sweetly)-Thank you!

MyHero:Disgustedly-Fine! I'm going to bed.

Me:  I'm going for a drive-See you in the morning.

MyHero:  No response-Bedroom door shutting.

We drove round trip to my daughter's house
with a TRAILER to pick up a motorcycle.
We talked and laughed non-stop all the way.
I could not believe it when we pulled into Mimi's house at 4:30am (our time).
She had left the back door unlocked-
Like two thieves in the night-
we stole into the garage, 
rolled that baby out of the garage,
secured it on the trailer
and headed home.
It is a specialized bike- 
not many of them around-made in WI
by a retired racer.

Looks something like this.

He better give me a ride on that sucker!

I did not sleep at all on the trip.
So, we were both a little slap happy after
about 10 hours on the road.
I drove while Mama's Boy
 rested for a couple of hours.
We got home, unhooked the trailer
and headed for a family get together 
in Door County.
Ryan looked pretty good.
I looked like death warmed over.
(minus the owl and pretty outfit)

On the way back we were talking and wondered
how many moms at this age would jump
into a truck to drive 12 hours 
in the middle of the night
with something planned for the next day....
My sweet daughter-in-love says that I am
"an enabler".
Lord love her-ya know she is gonna do
the same thing someday with her
'little boy'....she'll see...

I told him I should get the
OLD MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD.

I would also like a PIN to accompany that
just so I could wear it proudly
wherever I go.

I wonder how many moms have 
FUN with their adult kids?
I know that I am blessed and lucky 
to have these relationships!

Have a wonderful Sunday.
I will be working on my Etsy stuff this week
AND
I have a Pumpkin Patch story coming up soon.

I AM TAKING A BREAK

Hi friends,

I am going to be away until 

JUNE 23, 2015.

Please bear with me.

We need to take a family break

and I will be back full of nonsense

in no time at all.

My Etsy Store will also be closed

until the 23rd.

If you have an order in place I will

ship that out this coming Monday,

June 8th.

IF YOU WANT TO ORDER A
COPY OF MY BOOK

while I am gone~

The Mystery of Lucy

you can go to Amazon

by clicking HERE.

You can order a printed copy 

or the Kindle version.

Thank you!

I promise that I will be back!

Please be good while I am gone!!!

Yeah- right!

Sweet Cheeks Short and Sweet

Here is our dear little

SweetCheeks

all dressed and ready for dance class.

Optical illusion-

Which is bigger-her head or her bow?

I watched her dance last night.
She is so happy -no matter what she is doing.
She just makes my heart smile.
She can twirl and pirouette with the best of them.

And to think-we used to call her our little

DANCING BEAR.

You can click on the image to go to 

Amber Alexander's website which is full

of wonderful whimsical animal renderings.

Prepare to be delighted.

I guess that is better than 

Dancing Bare!

(No images available!;>)