There’s something we haven’t talked about in a while…our little Etsy shop.  I’ve had some questions about it lately and thought it was time for a little explanation.

I introduced our shop here for our newbies around the blog.

I started an Etsy shop with my mom and sister because we are so passionate about party throwing, home decor, and making life special for our family.  We wanted to help others do that and so, the Etsy shop was born.

I’ve been quiet about this topic lately and of course, there’s a reason there.

We knew that the idea of an Etsy shop was foreign to us and we weren’t sure if we would like it, but it was something we wanted to try.  We’d had the dream for so long and that seemed like a practical way to give it a go.

It was fun, stressful, and not really what we expected.  It wasn’t bad.  There were parts we loved and parts that weren’t our favorite.

We haven’t closed the door on that forever, but after Christmas, we decided to take a break for a couple of reasons.

Running the shop showed all three of us that what we are really passionate about are ideas.  We are idea people.  We loved brainstorming the party decor and bringing it to life by creating the products and styling it up.  And of course, taking pretty photos to share is fun too.

Remember our Memorial Day party  last year?

And dad’s nautical birthday bash?

These two parties really sparked our thinking to take our party throwing and product making farther than just doing it for ourselves.  We loved creating these parties for our family and this began the talk of the shop.

For the shop, we created several different looks and party table settings.  I still love how these turned out!

For fall, we had Grateful Harvest.

And Enchanted Autumn.

At Christmas, we introduced several different looks.

Seeing all of these again makes me sad that we’ve decided to take a break…a little bit.

Because seeing them makes me remember how much we loved putting all of these looks together. Again, we loved the ideas behind all of this.

But what came after, creating copies of products for those who ordered took away some of that idea love.  We were selling the products after all.  Yes, the ideas were still part of it, but it really became about the “stuff” for us, which was never the intention.

This blog was built on the concept of sharing ideas, DIY, and helping others create things.  Selling products didn’t fit in with that and I wasn’t really at peace with the sales idea.

Turns out, my mom and sister were feeling the same thing.

Also, with the current state of our lives, trying something like that really showed us where our priorities lie.  We each found that at this point, there wasn’t room for the shop.  Well, we weren’t willing to get rid of necessary things to make room.

For me, the shop was taking a lot of time away from blogging and sharing new ideas with y’all.  It really showed me that’s where my passion lies…sharing ideas, not selling products.

So that’s where we’re at with the shop.  It’s on hold for now and we’ll see where the future takes us.

What’s not on hold are our ideas.

I’m planning to bring in a lot more party ideas once things settle with our renovations.  One thing at a time

But we love the art of throwing parties as well as decorating houses and setting a beautiful tablescape to enjoy with friends and family.  I’ll still be creating parties and sharing ones like above, but instead of then selling the products from the party, I’ll do tutorials on how you can do it yourself at home.  Much more fun, right?

There are a lot of changes and new things coming around the blog.  There are some series ideas brewing, some partnerships with other bloggers in the works, and a little bit more structure being created for what you’ll see around here.  Those are my major goals for the summer and am thrilled because some fun things lie ahead!  But one  of them will be party looks and tutorials on a more regular basis.

I’m excited!

On a different note, thanks so much for all of the support, encouragement, and sweet comments we got about the shop over the last year.  Y’all were awesome and I really hope you like the party ideas that will keep coming.