CK Blog

Starting on May 10-May 24(longer if needed). I will be donating 1/2 of your order in support of Devon Shaw. A freshman at Watkins Glen High school who was diagnosed with cancer in his right  knee, which has now metastasized to a lung. Since this will be a fundraiser through our web site no tax will be collected. Once the 2 weeks are up I will see where we are at and then write a check to Devon’s family to help off-set travel, lodging cost for his chemo and /or surgery or where ever they see fit to use it. You can read his story here: Devon’s Story.

Some of you may have seen on Face book that Country Keepsakes is doing a fundraiser for a local high school student. Please take time to read his story on the link above. I have always felt I wanted to help someone local-and this story nagged at my heart for weeks. I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it-so finally consulted with a teacher in the elementary school that had Devon when he was in First Grade. If you don’t feel the “need” to order something wouldn’t you be so kind to donate to this cause? I am putting a PayPal button here in this post for those that do not want to necessarily order something but would like to donate just the same. I am donating as I said above 1/2 of my sales for these 2 weeks, and any donations, I will include names of those that participate so that the family will know that it does not come just from “me” but from people that would like to help make a difference.

I have been told this is a wonderful thing I am doing; but it is only wonderful if we raise something to donate to the family. So I am asking for your help. Please take time to read his story. I feel he is a courageous young man and I believe in his life he will make a difference. I know he has to me. Your donation can be as small as $1.00 or as much as you would like “IF” you would like to donate but not necessarily place an order. I would also like to thank those that have already ordered, it is greatly appreciated. Without you, this fundraiser wouldn’t be possible.

We have added Air Freshners to the site, and some new candles. We have also added some new scents like: Lavender & Vanilla, Mango Papaya, Plum Crazy & Kudzu. You can visit the site at Country Keepsakes.

The Air Freshners come in 12 scents at this time, if I have enough requests of a scent I am not offering them in-I will then add it. So far the feedback on them has been great!

Here are some pictures:

Hurry on over to the “new and improved” Country Keepsakes before our 30% off sale is over. We have re-done our look, added a shipping calculator and now added an “Order” tab so you can see what stage your order is in. We are trying to make Country Keepsakes a place you enjoy ordering from with ease.

We have added scents: Margarita (has that scent of Lime within to tingle your senses), Fresh Brewed Coffee (for those that enjoy the smell of coffee brewing), and Strawberry Cheesecake (luscious cheesecake topped with ripe strawberries). We are planning on adding Carnation for you flower lovers; along with our already Spring scents of Hyacinth, Rose, Lilac, Gardenia Blossoms and Fresh Cut Grass. Or do you enjoy the scent of the Islands? We have IsLaNd Baby, Creamy Coconut, Pineapple Paradise, Pineapple Gardenia, and Southern Magnolia? These are just a few of our over 150 scents here at Country Keepsakes. With 30% off until March 14th why not grab a few of your favorites?

If you are more of a “Bakery” lover we still have Cinnamon Stick, Cinnamon Buns, Vanilla Hazelnut, Almond Butter Coffee Cake, Vanilla Bean, Lemon Meringue and the list goes on and on.

I pride myself on great customer service, quality merchandise and great smelling items. I want your order to be top quality just as I would expect to receive if it was coming to me!

Pictured is one of our new Cake Candles, Pineapple Upside Down Cake which is already becoming a hit. Alittle over 2# of “yellow” cake with pineapple slices and cherries on top, drizzled in pineapple scent. You won’t know whether to keep it for looks or burn it for the extra scents. It is Yummy!

We look forward to your visit and if you have any questions feel free to email me at houseonthehill06@gmail.com.

Until Next Time…..

Coming upon our 3 year Anniversary we decided to have a 30% off sale. Visit us at http://www.cntrykeepsakes.com. We have added some new items like Reed Diffusers, Cinnamon Bun Melts & Small Cinnamon Bun Candles. This sale will go until 3/14/2010. Prices have already been adjusted. We have also implemented a shipping calculator so you know exactly how much your total order will be. I have been pouring candles now going into my 9th year-so you can be assured of quality. If you are looking for wholesale information you can go to our wholesale site via our retail site.

4oz Reed Diffuser Set

I could not believe it when I went to see the date on my last post. Way to long in the blog world, that is for sure.

Thought I could just update on what is new….We have just added Hansel & Gretel’s House for the holidays along with Ole’ Tyme Holiday. You can go to http://www.cntrykeepsakes.com and look on the scent page for descriptions.  We have also added 2 new potpourris. One is Walk in the Woods-a autumn harvesty look along with Winter Mornin’ which is more festive with red/green/and white in it. I also plan on getting Gingerbread Wyntertime added back in and Christmas Wish which have been long time favorites.

I am currently working on new orders and have a fundraiser that is due to be turned in this coming week.

Also I will be adding Merry Mistletoe to the lotions section.

Happy Halloween and Be safe!

With September brings new orders, school back in session and the feeling of fall around the corner.

I have been busy re-doing my wholesale candle site; hopefully to make it easier to use and for me, easier to add things. If you would like to place a link on my links page please go to http://www.cntrykeepsakeswholesale.com and click on Web Site Links and I will be happy to place it there.

If you are looking to set up a business of your own but need an affordable web site solution-contact me at http://www.stonealleyhosting.com . If you need a domain name I can secure that for you for $12.21 a year, and hosting with a full DIY set up for just $10 a month. I enjoy helping others get their business presented on line and I also offer free ad space on 2 of my other sites for added exposure.

If you would like to get added exposure to your business-contact me at houseonthehill06@aol.com and in the subject put Blog~Interview and I will post your business information and information about you.

Have a great Thursday!

Has it really been since August 3rd that I have posted? Usually summer is slower in my business but that hasn’t been the case this summer. I am not as busy as Fall, but for summer-it has been continual.

I feel so behind in my blog, my wholesale newsletter, and my life in general. I appreciate the new customers I have acquired, the new friendships, and the connection I have at Facebook. Some friends I haven’t spoken/chatted with in years and also some family that I don’t get to see too often, and then there are new business contacts.

Daycare for Roger is still full, and with me being his Assistant (that has meant getting training in). So school will be starting in less than 2 weeks, and back to a better schedule I am hoping.

I am trying to figure out new things for my businesses, and some things to attract more orders-as we always want more business, don’t we? I know I do.

Now just to fit in school shopping, and any last minute “summer things”. I was happy to be able to have my daughter have a 13th friend birthday sleep-over; and that went well. 13 is a fun age most times..and this was one of those times.

So although this post is a lot about nothing, I felt I needed to post something since so much time had went by since the last time I posted.

I am hoping to get better organized and post more often. Til next time..Keep your goals in sight and reach for the stars.

Life can be busy at times-and this time of year-the busyness is just starting. I find myself constantly thinking I have forgotten something or second guessing myself as to whether or not I am going to be able to accomplish everything I have to do. Tonight I asked my husband to give me 12 more hours a day and to allow me not to get tired..so he said “poof” you got it…Although we know it isn’t that easy-I am so happy to be so busy.

Wholesale orders are starting to come in from new stores, stores that I have supplied in this past year, and even new stores I have sent orders to in the past month. Along with that my hosting business is getting…busier.  Then add on to that my husband’s daycare is “full”…we reap what we sow…or so the saying goes. Can it be possible that everything is coming together? I dare not question or get too “comfortable”.

In this life we are never promised that everything will be good all the time-but to be Thankful for what we are being given and to feel blessed-those are important things to remember.

I pride myself on giving…as I feel the rewards you get back can be well worth the time you put into something.

I appreciate my friends, my customers…and most of all my family. Life is BUSY…but as I always say Busy is Good.

How are things in your neck of the world? Are you keeping busy?Some people that I know are keeping busy…

The Green Pond , We Cook With Daddy

Take time to check them out. We Cook with Daddy is brand new-but adding recipes daily…I think you will find it well worth the visit. The Green Pond is a site about all things natural & green…it has a great amount of content…Enjoyable reading at its best….

Until next time-Success is not something that comes you to-but simply a state of mind.

First I want to welcome you to my new blog set up-I have imported all of my posts, and all of my links….Now with that being said I want you to know about a great  giveaway!

I am going to quote the information from http://www.mommypr.com blog.

That being said I am going to combine a review/giveaway with some important issues parents need to be aware of.  I will start with a wonderful lady named Kathylee who has opened her heart to the most youngest of victims: children.   A little about Kathylee and her invention Patches the Bear:

My name is Kathylee Forrester and I have been a Children’s Advocate for almost 20 years. It is my belief that early communication with our children and a continuum of that communication through their childhood helps them to understand their emotions and feelings which are so important to their growth and their journey to becoming an emotionally healthy adult.

“Living Light Kids and Patches the Bear are dedicated to advocating for children, guiding them to find their voice. With the help of Patches and the eight expressive emotion face symbols, children can learn to name, understand and appropriately express the emotions he/she is feeling.   During childhood, children begin to develop communication skills, and it is imperative that the adults in a child’s life encourage healthy communication. This enables children to learn, form relationships, build their sense of worth, develop coping skills and express their feelings, all of which empower them to endure challenges, through life’s journey of happy times and painful moments.”

To read more on this please go to: http://www.mommypr.com/?p=3661. This is truly worth reading and learning more on how Patches the Bear is helping children with a variety of issues.

To enter MommyPR’s contest just go to: the above link http://www.mommypr.com/?p=3661 . It is worth your time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post! and Thank You Angela for blogging about worthy causes.

To fill you in, I got an order in the past week from a girl claiming to be in Germany. She didn’t order through my shopping cart-but my email. I knew at that point it was a bit fishy. But I played along to see where this would go. She was wanting to order 40 items of 4 different things that I carry. She said I could pick the scent-she gave me an address to check out the shipping costs through pamshippers. I did-as it wasn’t hurting me to do an estimate. They came back with an amount of $1800…right then I was like she isn’t going to go any farther. But she did-her order total would have been over $3000 with shipping. I told her I would need a valid credit card, with cvc, expiration date, address etc. She then came back with a credit card, but not one in her name. Now I have received orders before where the card was in the husband’s name-but the addresses were the same-the last names were the same etc.
So when I quesitoned her what the relationship was with her and that person-she then changed her story to it was her manager’s card and they would call me the next day. Problem was-this credit card was for someone in a southern state-and she was still claiming to be in Germany.
She gave me all of his information except a phone number. So when she didn’t immediately write me back I googled the white pages for this person’s phone number and called him.
I got their answering machine-but received a phone call back within 15 minutes. As I had suspected these kind people had NOT authorized this card to be used…..Hmmmmm did I catch her? or him? I gave the credit card information to this kind person-to find out YES it was one of their credit cards.
After that person called their credit card company they found that this person had also charged flowers to their card. And upon further investigation this person found out that the “scammer” was a manager for a rental car place out of Tennessee. Seems they had rented a car from an airport back in the spring-and the MANAGER…was the one using their card. Not only did the person go by another name (close though)-they were able to figure out her full name, address, and I had supplied the email. They are now going to be pressing charges against her.
I could give you her name that she went by-but it won’t help as if she were to do this again-she will most likely use a new email and a new name. But beware! I really didn’t think from the start that this order was valid-but I am glad that I pursued it as I might have saved these wonderful people more charges to their account.
I find it outrightly irritating that people out there are stealing other peoples information and using it for themselves. Did she not think that these people wouldn’t notice new charges? Did she think she would get a way with it with me? I led her to believe so. This scammer wanted me to charge the card asap…what she didn’t realize that an order that size would have taken me weeks to complete and IF I had been quick to do it-because heck the money would have been great. But in the end I would have had stock of items I put my money into and lost what I had invested, and these people would be fighting charges to their card that should have never happened. Scammers ruin it for out of country people that are legitimately placing valid orders. I do have a person in Italy, a couple in Australia that are legitimate…but I always 2nd guess them. It isn’t their fault, it is the scammers out there trying to take advantage of innocent people.
The scammer now knows she has been found out-I didn’t contact her again-but the person she tried to take advantage of did…and I am sure it felt good to let her know-as I wanted to say SHAME ON YOU…And to top it off-this person was in the US this whole time…
The person said they didn’t know how to thank me…Honestly? The good feeling I got from stopping if only 1 person was pay enough.
So take it from me-if the order seems to good to be true-then it probably is…and if you have credit, debit cards…check your statements each month-keep track of your bank accounts; especially if you can go online and sign up with your bank to view your statements in a secured setting. It might be the difference between someone taking your money or not. So I am feeling pretty good this week…There are many honest people out there-but you just have to watch out for the ones that aren’t. This isn’t the first time I have gotten an order like this one…but the last person faded off-and didn’t use a card that wasn’t theirs-to my knowledge…so I didn’t “catch” them…I may be a “small business” but maybe that is even better than being a big company that might have processed the order not realizing what was going on…who knows…Thanks for letting me share my story with you! Til Next Time….