Life as a webdesigner

Hello sweethearts,

Did you have a happy valentine's day? I did...I'm grateful for every valentine's day that rolls around and I'm not up to my eyeballs in flowers. haha! This year I didn't do any arrangements.

I've spent the past month tossing around ideas for our website. The new layout and graphics are finished. Now I'm working on creating our pages (like: about us, contact, ect.) Some days I feel like banging my head against the desk; but I have now learned HTML. I've spent most of my time painting and working on the house, which leaves little time for the website and even less time for creating my florals.

Hopefully by the beginning of March our website will be up and running, then we can get on with the crafting! :)

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Re-opening of our site

I've been thinking for a while about this. As you know, I hit a rough patch last year and thought seriously about closing Camellia Cottage. Instead I closed our booth in Salisbury, our lollishop, and our website.

Now that I've got my good sense back, I realize I need a website! So I'm going to work this week on getting us temporary page, so shopcamelliacottage.com won't say the domain dosen't exist.

Camellia Cottage's business plan still needs a little bit of work. I'll be working on that this week, and trying to figure out where I plan to go from here. Keep watching the blog for our exiting plans for 2011!

Have a blessed day, and enjoy whats left of this weekend. :)

Welcome to a New Year!

Hello sweetpeas,

Welcome to 2011! I can't believe it is already a brand new year. I'm so excited about the opening of our new etsy shop. Please take a moment and come visit. :)

I have big plans for this wonderful new year. For a while, last year things looked pretty bad for Camellia Cottage. We were spending than we were making, and eventually I was forced to pull out of both my website and the space I had leased. I even thought about closing the business. So I have been thinking and I've decided to start off smaller this time. Not bite off more than I can chew! haha

Camellia Cottage is starting with the etsy shop. Then maybe...or maybe I'll keep the rest of our year's plan and surprise ya'll as we go along. :)

Creative Spaces

Hello Sweet-peas,

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer, because we are! Its been hot, but the rain has cooled us off and made the garden greener.

Tonight, I've added some photos of our studio to facebook. Read the book Where Women Create by Jo Packman inspired me to work on our little room and share some photos. If you haven't read that book, its about the workrooms of creative women. The photos are simply breathtaking. I never imagined paint brushes could look so pretty in a container. After looking at that book, I couldn't resist painting the walls and putting my own pencils in a vintage cat planter.

Most people seem under the impression that our floral arrangements are created inside Camellia Cottage. The inside of the cottage is filled with fine china, linens, tables, and party guests. There simply wasn't enough room inside for all our parties and the florals. Our studio is actually located in the basement. The room is as large as a bedroom, painted a color called "cozy cottage", and has black and white tile floor. You can check out some of our new photos on our facebook album.

Change is in the air!

Hello Sweets,

I know it has been a long time and there really isn’t any excuse. Things have not been going good for my shop. I thought about giving up; but then I decided change is what we need. I must follow my true passion which is not antiques at all but flowers.

Right now, I’m working on getting the new layout up and all the new site pages. I’ve decided to scrap everything but the domain name itself, shopcamelliacottage.com Everything else will be totally different.

I’m still working on my product line. However the site comes first, then that will give me time to get a plan of what I’ll soon be selling.

This is so exciting! I’m thrilled, and can’t wait to till time to unveil our new products!

Our Photo Shoot

My first show and tell Monday...I'm excited!

As mentioned before, I'm making larger pics of our merchandise. Thursday was my photo shoot, first of all the camera died; but after a trip for batteries it was resurrected. Ya'll should have seen me out there, somewhere between the tree's shade and the dancing sunbeams, dragging the large patio table around trying to get the lighting right. I'm sure the neighbor's think I've lost what's left of my sanity. That table was large and round, with a huge floral; plus all my props because the background must look simply perfect. As the shade moved, I'd pick up the whole kit and caboodle and move to. My traveling studio...larger than me, and to make things worse I still wore my favorite garden hat which tied under the chin. Oh, and did I mention the dog? Yes, you heard right. A strange large dog, I've never seen before wandered through the azalea bushes and tried to get in the photographs. There were several blurry one of a spotted pooch. What a day! But I'm more than pleased with my photos, check them out!

Camellia Cottage now has a flicker account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shopcamelliacottage

The teacup cuties are here!

Yes, you heard right. Our newest line of florals, are made with antique teacups. These miniatures are so cute, hence their name "the teacup cuties".
These usual florals, make wonderful Mother's Day gifts or use them at tea parties. They are perfect for a hostess gift or order in bulk and use them as party favors.

They come in tiny demitasse cups, as well as the larger tea cups. These can be customized, simply drop me an email: shannon@shopcamelliacottage.com

I love these florals, and can see them in bookcases, on tables, or even tucked away in kitchen nooks.