Saturday, August 27, 2011

Save The Date!

Fall Open House
September 12th
through
September 17th

I have been searching far and wide for great items to fill the shop! The Blue Pear will be bursting with:
  • Creepy Crawly Halloween Decor
  • Warm Autumnal Accents
  • New Artwork by Local Artists
  • Salvaged Architectural Goods
  • Soaps & Candles
  • Vintage Curiosities
  • Our New Line of Pillows
And much, much more!

Everything in the shop will be on sale!



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A Walk Through The Shop

August can be an odd time of year in the world of merchandising. Like most of the country, we in the midwest had a really hot summer (like really hot), and I'm ready for the season to change. (Bring on the scarves!) But with warm days still yet to come, I'm reluctant to bring out the fall product too soon. And with summer and garden merchandise approaching hibernation, we seem to be left at a crossroads. I ran through the store and snapped a few pics. Enjoy!




These drawers are from a vintage sewing machine. I love the carved wood details!
  


Last of the mushrooms. I think 2011 was the summer of the mushroom!
 


The glitter birds are still one of my favorites.
 


These birch discs have endless possibilities, but I especially love the way they look under our cloches.
 


These hanging orbs in varying sizes catch everybody's attention.
 


People love anything with numbers...
 

Where is she going dressed like that? These driftwood garlands have been very popular.



A Little French Garden Vignette
 


I love the texture on these pots.
 


This was an actual vintage cheese box I found at a local antique shop - you can rarely find them this big anymore.
I just knew it would look great stenciled!
 

Imagine all the things you could hang on his horn!

Don't Jump!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Do you smell something?

I just put out the new Votivo candles! The great thing about these candles is how luxurious they are. Votivo is known for their quality and their rich scents. Plus they're a natural soy blend, so they burn all the way down! They're amazing! The scents include: Red Currant, Clean Crisp White, Forgotten Sage (my fav), Lavender Chamomile Pear, Island Grapefruit, and Smoke On The Water.  This is in addition to our Spark soy candles.

This antique pine cabinet is the perfect size for the candles!


The tiny elephants love the candles too!

Travel Tins ~ Great Gift Idea!

Such an Intriguing Scent

Designer Matches ~ Pair w/Candle for Gift Basket!

Our Always Popular Spark Soy Candles

Baggage

As any shopkeeper will tell you...Having your own store is an unbelievable amount of work. What really helps balance out the long hours and stressful responsibilities are all the "fun" decisions that come along with the package. 


Speaking of packages (yes, that pun was intended!) is the task of choosing bags. This definitely qualifies as one of the fun decisions. I recently had to re-order bags & tissue and I thought an upgrade was needed! Blue colored bags were an obvious option, but my logo is already a saturated shade of blue, so I went with crisp white shopping bags. They're simple & chic, and surprisingly economical. I ordered stickers with my logo printed on them and added blue tissue paper, and suddenly I felt like my store was really legit! The bags are sturdy enough to use again and again which makes them eco-friendly as well! I ordered the labels from Sticker Giant. They can make any kind of sticker/label you want. They're perfect for the bags.


I love my customers. They're the reason I do what I do and I want them to feel special. At the risk of pointing out the obvious...I wouldn't be able to have a shop if it wasn't for them. In the grand scheme of things, selecting packaging is really just a tiny decision, but at least it's one of the fun ones!