Closing Up Shop

Dear Etsy followers who may visit my blog:

I will no longer be taking birthday/celebration board orders at this time.  I have to begin a new full-time job outside of my home, and therefore, I need to close up shop on Etsy.  If you have ordered in the past, I will gladly supply you needed tags in the future.  But I will not be able to take on new customers at this time.  Thank you for your support and business in the past! I greatly appreciate the opportunity that working with Etsy gave me as a stay-at-home mom to make a little extra money and to beautify the homes of customers, along with helping them remember loved ones birthdays and anniversaries!  :)  Thank you again. 

Sincerely,

Tonya

One Day Only Sale!

Check my Etsy shop out on July 4th!  I will be hosting a one-day sale and discount my birthday boards for the national American holiday!  Happy Independence Day!!!  Let freedom ring!

Go here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheCozyHouse

PS - If you place your order July 4th, please understand it will be approximately 2-3 weeks before your order ships.  Thank you!

Purple!

I recently had a customer request a purple birthday board!  She wanted darker lettering and a lighter ribbon.  I really think this is pretty!  I don't have any purple in my home, though.  Hopefully she likes it when she gets it!  Pretty unique, too!  Especially using the family last name in the title.  :)

Next to Last Christmas Order!

So the next to the last Christmas order I had left to fill went out today!  It was an order of five boards with 250 tags total.  I have been busy this season! I love it, though.  I'm glad people are interested in my product and can use it to remember the important people in their life, while adding some style to their homes.  :)  One more order to go!  But check these out!! 

Precious Moments Custom Title

I was recently requested by a customer to create a celebration reminder board using the title, "FAMILY precious moments."  I really like how it turned out!  She even ordered a second one after she received the first.  I am glad she was happy with my product.  Thank you!

A New Title

I'm still selling the custom reminder boards for birthdays and anniversaries on Etsy.  Here is a title recently requested from a customer, and I really like the way it turned out.  Thanks for looking!!!

Celebrations Board with Multi-Colored Tags

Since I started selling my birthday reminder boards on Etsy, copycat sellers have popped up, which was expected.  I don't mind too much, unless they look exactly like my style and then I get a little perturbed.  It's so dang expensive to get a design patent and I'm trying to make money, not spend it!  Anyway, occasionally I get a customer who wants my work to look like another seller's work on Etsy.  This is slightly offensive and I try to coax them to the other shop if that is what they are looking for.  I like my particular style board.  I can't help it!  :)  It's my creation.  Well, recently, I did agree to color code the tags (which other sellers typically offer and I do not -- it's just so hard to match exactly what colors they want when I am guessing at what they want without pictures or getting shades of colors just right in pictures transmitted over the internet).  Anyway, I agreed to at least bend on the colors for the tags some, and I am glad I did.  I am actually thinking when I FINALLY make my own board that I will do mine similar.  (No, I don't have my own yet, and I've been making these for years now!  And I've been so busy working on these for others I've been missing birthdays in my families.)  So for this board, each color represents a different branch of the family tree.  It really was a good idea for such a large family.  Thank you, customer!  :)  Anyway, what do you think?  Pretty, eh?!

First Shipment to the UK!

I was so excited when someone from the United Kingdom became interested in purchasing from my Etsy shop!  I have shipped to Australia a couple of times before, and even Canada, but was really excited about something going to Europe!!  I am really excited to be an international shipper, though it does present its own challenges.  Anyway, my customer wanted 6 birthday boards and over 200 tags!  I was able to get the work done and ship it and I am happy to say that he received the items, and e-mailed me yesterday that he was impressed and happy with the product.  Thank you, Etsy and customers! :)

Teacher Board Gift

At the end of every year, I try to make my kids' teachers a hallway pass board.  I started this tradition about three or four years ago.  It's been really fun to see my style evolve, and also to see how creative I can get based on what I know the teacher likes.  This is one I've made this year to give to one of Adam's teachers tomorrow.  She is a sweet lady.  She let Adam bring Shelby in for his "show and tell" this year when he earned a certain number of reading points.  Anyway, I noticed her classroom is very "beachy" so I decided to try this out.  What do you think?  I hope she likes it.  :)

Newer Custom Birthday Boards

I haven't posted pictures of these but I wanted you to see the custom variations I like to make and have been asked to make.  :)  Enjoy!

Blue and Green Birthday Board

I'm back to taking orders again for custom birthday boards!  Here is a newer color combo I recently put together.  :)  If you plan to order for Mother's Day, don't wait until May!  :)

Blue Birthday Board

I stayed very busy with my Etsy orders for birthday boards all the way until I gave birth to Shelby.  As a matter-of-fact, I just mailed my first international order to Australia two weeks ago to finish all the orders I received before her arrival.  I plan to resume making the boards after the holidays.  But for now, here is a pretty blue one I made upon request for a customer.  I think it turned out very lovely.

Teacher Gifts - My Latest Hallway Pass Boards

I just created these two boards for each of my school children's teachers.  I hope they like them as an end-of-the-year gift!  Thanks for looking!  PS - I sell these in my Etsy shop.  Look for shop name:  thecozyhouse OR seller name:  ScrapMom8.  Thanks!

Classy Birthday Board

I had a customer want something a little different for her mom for Mother's Day.  Instead of the usual black and brown vinyl with silver accents and such, she wanted something in red and gold.  So I searched and searched my supplies and the stores and I think I came up with the perfect design for her.  Or so she said!  :)  This is how it turned out and I think it's beautiful.  I really like the gold accents instead of the silver hooks I normally use.  What do you think?

Birthday Board with Tons of Tags

I love this one! It has so many tags for a large family (she also included her daycare kids and friends) it just looks great! Thanks for looking!

Busy with Birthday Boards on Etsy

Hello! I have been soooo busy! Not only with being preggers and trying to keep my momentum up through the first trimester (now in the second), but with the kids' school and sports activities, Easter, traveling, etc. And I have had a big jump in my sales on Etsy for my birthday boards. I have sold many since the first of January, and here are a few of them. It's fun seeing how each person wants them to be customized! Thanks for looking!

End-of-Year Teacher Gifts

I decided to make some teacher hall pass boards for the teachers this year as a final gift...just as I did for Mr. Betz last year. But the fun this year was personalizing it to the teachers who will be receiving them. Adam's teacher loves monkeys and has decorated her room in monkeys since Carly had her for Kindergarten a few years ago. So I found some awesome embellishments and ribbons and went with it! I love the way it turned out. For Carly's teacher, I had to ask Carly for help. I haven't been as involved in her classroom, not for lack of trying, but her teacher is very organized and doesn't request much help. Carly said Mrs. Bitler loves dolphins and the ocean...which is evident in her classroom with shells hanging around and pictures of the beach. So that was my theme for her board. I wanted to put the title "Life's a beach" or "got beach?" on hers but I thought it would sound funny to 3rd graders and thus maybe wasn't a good idea? So I kept it simple. It looks fine. I have to say my fave of the two is the monkey board. This style board will be for sale in my Etsy shop in the near future. Thanks!

Hallway Passes

I created another hallway pass board for a customer, and love the way it turned out! She wanted some bright green and pink...and I didn't have vinyl those colors. So at first, I decided to try painting the dots...big mistake! I had to sand the board back down and try something again. I borrowed some hot pink vinyl from a friend to try out the look, but I didn't have green to go along. So I decided at the last minute to try some scrapbook paper, and it turned out great! (in my opinion!) I really do like the look of it and it's soooo different from the one I created for Carly's teacher last year. I hope you like it, Annie! Thanks so very much! :)

Busy, busy!

I have been busy lately with orders that seemed to all come at once! BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING! ;) Here are some boards I made recently, and I have two more to do. I am also taking orders at Lola Leigh which have been time-consuming but I love to crochet so it's not a burden -- only finding time is a problem! The Teacher's Passes board I made for Carly's teacher as a thank you for all of the hard work and dedication he gave all year. (I LOVE TEACHERS! I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU!) And the Family Birthdays board is one I made for an order on Etsy. I had to raise my prices since I lost $3.00 on this order. I didn't realize how much it would be to ship these boards since all of them had been hand-delivered before this one. Anyway, thanks for keeping track of me here!

Recent Creations

Here are some recent creations I have been spending my time doing. Please feel free to visit my Etsy shop for these if you would like to make a purchase. www.scrapmom8.etsy.com. Thanks!