Classic Amy Joanne, my cottage life

…where life is about using the good dishes for ordinary everyday dinners. It’s where aprons are back in fashion, crochet snowflakes hang in our window and making the bed starts the day off right.

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At Home

When Autumn began we just got started on the front porch of our Home ~ we’ve been excited for years to get this started and we finally had time and savings to start ~ and then we waited 2 months for the permits to allow us to build, ugh. The same day the permit arrived we started in late October ~ we managed to build the floor and steps….and it’s been snowing ever since.

I have pent-up excitement for the front of our home ~ picturing a storybook cottage garden with zinnias of course, old school geraniums and marigolds, a few statues, a trellis, a bird bath, bench seating on the porch and a handmade goose whirligig. ...simply excited.

I’ve also been dreaming about new paint colors for our living space, with a handmade all over stencil for the dining room, new curtains, new rugs and more ~ for a layered cottage feel thru-out our home.

Having 3 more big projects to tackle ~ an insert for our gas fireplace, our bathroom with a new pocket door and shower and a new layout for our bedroom.

I love playing with the Sherwin Williams Visualizer (shown below) ~ it’s just a little thing to keep me excited in the waiting.

….All as time and savings allow.

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On Our Table

I love to cook (and eat) good food here at Classic Amy Joanne, and I also love to photograph and share our food and recipes.

Lately we’ve been enjoying a few Paula Deen Recipes. This ‘Burger’ Stack recipe (below) will be shared early next week, and if you missed it the ‘Shepherd Pie’ Stack was shared (here).

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With The Biz

Decisions have been made here at Classic Amy Joanne, and I am pretty excited about a few new things coming up for our ‘My Cottage Life Shop‘. (read more about our business decisions thru our recent posts here on the Blog.)

Bottom Line is ~ the business is all about ‘Spreading the Joy of Creativity & Home‘ and that is what we’re going to continue to do ~ thru Blogging, in our Community and thru our Candles & Home Goods at the ‘My Cottage Life Shop’.

Right now you can find us right here on the Blog. Occasionally on Social Media and still learning the ropes of Substacks. If you’re local we’d love to send you our newsletter ~ simply just message your info thru messenger.

‘Shopping’ has been removed from this site ~ making our site solely a place to rest your creative mind.

Although if you need a pattern just simply email your request (we are working on an idea for pattern sales ~ one day soon).

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In The Studio

The Studio Space is ever evolving, ever changing and ever growing. Our 1300 square foot home, holds our Home, a Studio office, a Studio with seating for 8, a Candle Making Studio and now a Retail Shop!

Oh My!

Right now we are still transitioning from being an on-line Artist and Teacher to a Shop Keeper and Candle Maker with dreams as high as the clouds.

As for the Artist in me…..I have been working on some custom personalized Ornaments. Here is a sneak peek and will be sharing more soon!

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At The Shop

The ‘Shop’ has held 2 Christmas Open Houses in 2024 and 2025 and I am so grateful for what it is ‘becoming’ for our little Community. We are also planning a ‘Travel & Tailgate Take the Show on the Road Shop’ and a ‘Porch Pick-Me-Up Shop‘ ~ thru-out this year.

For our on-line friends we hope ‘The Shop‘ will inspire your creativity thru blog posts about ideas to build a shop, how to market, creating giftsets, coordinating artwork and so much more. The ‘tab’ is set with-in the website under the Blog Tab ~ we’ll get started soon….just wait till you see how the ‘shop’ was built, how we market, and our idea called ‘heart warmers’!

always here to ‘warm your home and melt your heart‘.

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Outside Jobs

Since ‘closing’ (transitioning) the business I have been working 3 part-time jobs leaving enough space to still enjoy ‘Classic Amy Joanne‘.

I work at the ‘Buttered Crumb Bakery‘ and enjoy spending every minute serving their customers and working with the most wonderful team of Baker’s. I have learned so much! One of my ‘job’s is creating the signs and window marketing….how lucky am I.

I also create Marketing and Advertise for ‘Sister’s Stash‘ ~ an antique business. The Sister’s have an Ebay Shop and sell thru WhatNot. (Visit Here).

And I also am Secretary of my Home Church. I have been a member since I was 5 years old ~ along with my Hubby, my Mom, my Niece, and my Brother, my Sisters and their spouses. I prepare each week for the Worship Service ~ I am grateful to serve God, the Church and all God’s people.

Here are a Few of My Favorite Things

Creating candle melts with Silicone Molds, finding many thru Etsy (here)….we like to call them ‘Heart Warmers’ …created with creativity, sharing more soon!

I love to follow Margo Roth ~ she has such a beautiful home-style (here).

I’ve been reading ‘Everyday Faith’ Magazine (purchase here), It starts off my morning with God. An article/story will lead me to a passage in the Bible and lead me to Prayer.

I’ve been listening to Larry Fleet ~thru YouTube (here). I first heard Larry Fleet with his song ‘Where I Find God‘.

We’re still lovin’ this BBQ sauce for anything from steak Stromboli to bbq sandwiches (here).

This is my ‘sweet home‘ board thru Pinterest ~ it’s filled with whatever is catching my eye, see the new additions (here).

I’ve been all about packaging with glassine bags, white cub bags, gingham tissue and ribbon and my own designed business cards, stickers and rubber stamps ~ (I purchase my custom rubber stamps here).

lately we have been enjoying recipes from our Paula Deen Magazine ~ (here)

I’ve always enjoyed painting onto a quality made bentwood box lid ~ Pinecraft continues to be a source for quality goods, including bentwood boxes (find them here). ~

We’ve been creating scented candles and ‘Heart Warmers‘ in fun scents such as ‘Those Brownies’ and ‘That Topping’ ~ and a few Easter favorites too!

Hope you didn’t miss our sweet dessert from 2024 ~ Bunny Pudding (found here) ~ share if you want…….but, you may not want to ~ just sayin’.

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Thanks for hanging out with me, be sure to catch us Daily, on the Daily Dose (found here).

Creatively Yours, Amy

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