My Old Store

Well, I was doing some reminiscing tonight about a business I used to run. I started it with only $300, and it just grew fast. It was pretty much just on eBay. I used to sell Dessert Beauty and Dessert Treats items by Jessica Simpson. I also sold purses, Victoria's Secret lotions, all sorts of girly things that smelled yummy!

It ended up growing so much my hubby started getting involved in the business with me. He would help set up for photographs and we actually made a couple of trips to Canada and countless trips all over New England to buy inventory. I think I was one of the largest sellers of Dessert products on eBay at the time. Here are some photos of my inventory.

These are body mists, frostings...

perfumes, frostings, bath gels...

lotsa lip gloss sets, cupcake perfumes...

lots of stuff...

this is only a small part of all the cases and boxes I had.

I shipped all over the world: Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Europe...

This was one of the most fun times of my life. I love all the adventures I had running all over the Northeast trying to buy up entire inventories from stores.

Mosaic of Goodies

From top left clockwise:

Candied Ginger Truffles, Caramel Pecan chews, Giant peanut butter and caramel cups, caramels, chocolate piggie w/ applewood smoked bacon, snappers, Walnut caramels, himalayan pink sea salt caramels, classic dark chocolate fudge, marshmallow and caramle truffles, fleur de sel caramel, milk chocolate snapper.

I am having 20% off sale today only!! 20% will be refunded via paypal!!

Check out my Etsy shop or online shop for all these goodies and more!!

Be sure to check out Little Red House for more mosaic monday fun!!

Studio Photos

Here are some photos I took in my craft studio this morning.

From the top left corner:

#1 Hot pink german glass glitter, painted tin pail, kewpie doll, chandelier crystal chains, my favorite pink rose fabric, applique roses.

#2 My colored pencils

#3 Basket of millinery posies, velvet ricrac ribbons

#4 Pink roses in an old terra cotta pot

If you want to see the rest of my Flickr photos

What do you have in your studio??

New Handmade Truffles

I have invented a new truffle. It is called the S'mores truffle.

They are milk chocolate filled with ooey gooey marshmallow filling, there is a layer of sweet graham cracker crumbs inside and a little sprinkling on top. They taste like a yummy s'more.

If anyone is interested you can get them in my Etsy shop here.

Hello Again

Well, it has certainly been a while. I haven't blogged in quite some time. I just kept putting it off. I don't even know where to begin now. I have been doing a lot. Working a lot, taking a lot of photos...like the beautiful magnolia above. I only wish the tree would keep its blossoms longer.

What I've really been doing though is just working. I work still at my regular job, but I have also started a candy company. So every spare minute I have is making candy and putting listings up and packaging and shipping.

It is so much fun!!!

Here are a couple of my candies:

Handmade Caramel

Handmade Giant Peanut Butter and Caramel Cups

Yummy!

I have a website, but I do most of my business through word of mouth from customers, and also through Etsy!

Hopefully I will have posts regularly again, I'll have to give myself a kick in the butt as a reminder to just post something and stay in touch. I have been sporadically checking other blogs, but I miss reading and looking at photos, and I have a lot of catching up to do.

Bye for now!!

Hello Again!! Finally!!

It has been so long since I have written a post, I don't even know where to begin. I am fine, just haven't had a free minute to breathe. Since I work at a grocery store, I have been working such long days. November - mid January is our busy busy time of the year as you can imagine. Most of my days are at least 14 hours long right now. Then it is try to cook and clean a little and spend as much time with my family as possible.

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?? I hope everyone had lots of food, family, and fun!!! We had a great day with tons of yummy food and got to see some family.

I have so much catching up to do. I don't think I've read a single blog since the very beginning of November. I can't wait to see how all of my blogging friends are and what you have all been up to. I can't wait to see what goodies you have all been making too.

I have tons of new Chandelier crystal ornaments for sale right now. They make really beautiful Christmas Tree ornaments!! I went to my MIL's house today, she just got finished decorating her tree. It was so beautiful. I will have to bring my camera next time I go for a visit. Her entire tree is decorated with gorgeous crystal ornaments and crystal garland. It is so sparly!! I have something new this year, Frosted Crystal Chandelier Ornaments. I haven't seen the frosted crystal anywhere else, and it is so so pretty. Especially for Christmas Tree decor.

I have a great recipe to share with you. It is the perfect use for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner leftovers. It is not exact measurements, just one of those recipes you have to kind of estimate.

Take some leftover turkey meat (about 1 cup) cut it up into small pieces. Do the same with about 1 cup of leftover stuffing. Mix into about 3-4 cups of leftover mashed potatoes. It works best if the potatoes have been refrigerated and are cold (so they are somewhat firm). Mix them all up with a little salt and pepper and add a little seasoned salt and a tiny bit of Adobo(you can substitute garlic powder, but only use a little dash) I also added a little smoked paprika and some seasoned salt, but you can add any spices you like and have available. Form into balls about 1.5" across. Drop into hot oil to fry until nicely golden brown all around. Try to wait until they cool down a little. Me and my kids ate the whole batch of these in only a few minutes. They are sooo good we couldn't stop eating them.

I wish I had some more photos to share with you. I haven't been out to take any cool pics. I am going to try and visit as many blogs as I can. I miss talking with all of you guys so much. I don't even have a Christmas Tree yet. It was snowing all night, but we barely got a dusting. I wish it was colder so we'd have accumulated more. I love it!!!

♥ Rebecca

Happy November

Why am I up?? I don't know. I couldn't sleep, so I am up and just made a pot of tea. I love this teacup! I got it at the thrift store in Westport for only $1. I love it!! I have these Cath Kidston fabrics displayed on my bakers rack. I painted it blue about 12 years ago and it is very chippy now, as you can see in the photos.

Well, it is officially November. I hope your Halloween was spooktacular! If the Candy is Free, It's the candy for me! That's what my ten year old son decided when we were leaving to go trick or treating.He comes out with the funniest stuff.

Here are my goblins all dressed up. My 16 year old is too old to dress up, so he says. He actually stopped at an early age. When he was 9 or 10 he didn't want to dress for Halloween any more. He thinks the rubber rat is funny though. I really can't believe it, he will be 17 in just a few months. WOW!! Time does fly by.

I wish I brought my camera with me trick or treating. We can't trick or treat up here by my house. The houses are all too far apart. Plus the roads are too narrow and dangerous to walk on with children. So instead, we went down to the Guilford Green. This town really gets into Halloween. All the houses were decorated, people all dressed up. There were even guys in scary monster costumes hiding in the bushes and behind trees waiting to scare us as we walked by. Several of the houses had smoke machines. Alex had the best time ever. Actually we all had such a good time. It was quintessential New England. We walked along in the crunchy leaves in perfect weather. It was very mild, just a sweatshirt was comfortable.

I have been working on another project. This is the before photo. I will have the after photo in just a couple of days. I can't wait to show you. It is totally different. I went bold with the colors too. Usually I use shabby pinks and whites, but this piece wanted a bright, bold look!!

I have created a facebook page for Belle Maison. Please join me on Facebook if you want. I put all my specials up and lots of pretty photos of the new items I have for sale in my shop.

I am having a sale in Belle Maison this week as a Happy November Sale. I will discount any purchase from bellemaisonshop.com 10% off. The sale will continue through Sunday November 8th. Please just send an email with what you want to purchase, and mention my blog and I will take 10% off your entire purchase price. Plus I still have free shipping on all ribbons within the U.S.A.

If you want Chandelier Crystals this is the time of year for them. They make gorgeous Christmas Tree ornaments. Check out the top of my sidebar, I've added a photo for you to see how pretty they are.

You have got to check out this new online magazine. It is totally online with no paper version. It is absolutely fabulous!! The photos and articles are amazing. Go see for yourself. Plan to spend some time there are a lot of pages to flip through. It has home decorating, gardening, some fashion and more. I am sure you'll love it!