The Golden Rule for Being a Guest

​It’s November so you know what that means . . . the holidays are fast approaching!  Thanksgiving dinner, holiday parties, family gatherings and New Year’s celebration, it’s enough to make your head spin.  The golden rule for being a guest?  “Never show up empty handed!”  Don’t worry COTS has your back!

        COTS has the PERFECT hostess gifts and all at affordable COTS prices!

​Add any of these items with a bottle of wine or a plate of baked goods (Ssshh, don’t forget to take them out of the store bought container and put them on a cute plate before giving them away) and you’re set.

​But wait, I’m the hostess and I want these cute COTS gifts for myself.  Go for it, we won’t tell!

- Brenda & Julie

www.cranberriesontheside.com

https://www.facebook.com/CranberriesOnTheSide

OJB 2013 here we come!

COTS is headed to North Scottsdale for a one-day special event, OPERATION  JINGLE  BALL 2013.

It’s going to be a HUGE holiday extravaganza with vendors from all over Arizona and the best of the best Food Trucks will be serving it up.  One of our Farmers Market Foodie vendor friends will also be at Operation Jingle Ball, Mama's Dogs is bringing her hot dog cart with all the fixins and her AMAZING cookies.  Her style is a little vintage, sprinkle in some shabby chic, with a touch of sassiness and you get a whole lot of fun.  You’ll know her when you see her!

OPERATION  JINGLE  BALL  Saturday  November  2nd from  9 am  -  2 pm @Highlands Church, located at 9050 E Pinnacle Peak Rd , Scottsdale

We have a few new items we made special for the Holidays this year, and they will be making their debut at Operation Jingle Ball.  Bring on the shoppers!

COTS is ready to have some fun.  We're offering deals if you buy more than one with discounts on our Fab4.  We're not joking around, those are the facts.

Our Fab4 are our tea towels, wine stops, tile coasters, and dry erase boards.

Our Central Farmers Market dates for the remainder of 2013 are:  Nov 16th, Dec 7th, 14th & 21st.  Central Farmers Market winter hours are 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. http://centralfarmersmarket.com/

Until next time,

Brenda & Julie

www.cranberriesontheside.com

https://www.facebook.com/CranberriesOnTheSide

Happy Fall Y'all!

We’re baaaack!!!!!

Well, if we’re being honest, we never left, we just got a little busy and instead of making the customers wait for their items, we had to make the blog wait. We have continued to produce new COTS items and show them at the Farmers Markets and our online Etsy shop. COTS has very loyal customers that actually seek us out at the farmers markets, finding us in the farthest row, in the corner, just to buy one of our tea towels for a gift.  We love hearing from our customers with stories like that.

We’ve even had a farmers market customer tell us they buy towels “just like ours” in a local specialty shop (Poor Little Rich Girl), and continued to tell us how much she likes her  towels, and of course we let her finish her story. Yep, you got it, of course they were our towels.  Then came our moment of glory. We told the gal that we are the vendor that supplies the tea towels to that very store she was talking about.  DEEEVINE!  Pure music to our ears.

Our Farmers Market dates for Nov & Dec of 2013 are being scheduled so look for that update. OurOCTOBER DATES are 5th & 19th. It will be good to back on campus. http://centralfarmersmarket.com/

Also, COTS is headed to north Scottsdale for a huge Holiday shopping extravaganza in November, Operation Jingle Ball 2013 will be held at the Highlands Church on Saturday Nov 2nd.

COTS Calendar of Events:

OCT

5th​Farmers Market (Central/Northern – Phoenix)

19th​Farmers Market (Central/Northern – Phoenix)

 

NOV

2nd​Operation Jingle Ball-Highlands Church (9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road - Scottsdale)

TBD​Farmers Market (Central/Northern– Phoenix)

- Brenda & Julie

Central Farmers Market Dates

Hey Locals - Mark your calendar. We just got our second quarter Central Farmers Market dates: April 6th, May 11th & June 15th. Starting next month, the night before our market date, we will post a "COTS quickie" via social media (we knew "quickie" would get your attention). Simply visit us the next day and mention the Secret Saturday Saying and you will get two of our most popular COTS items for the price of one! Yep that's right, you can get two tea towels, wine stops and tile coaster sets (or any combination thereof) for the price of one! Make sure to tell all your friends. Central Farmers Market is located on the southeast corner of Central/Northern in Phoenix and is open every Saturday from 9-1pm.

Ring in Spring Stylishly with COTS

I’m going to be honest with you, I “acquired” this blog entry title from a recent Rue La La e-mail but it sounded so cute that I couldn’t help it!  There is nothing like springtime in the southwest!  This time of year takes us back to a more simple time. Especially in the Phoenix Valley home of COTS headquarters.  When we say “simple time” it’s not in a Little House on the Prairie simple way, but envision The Wonder Years, a simple sort of small town way. I think it’s the spring baseball training games, seeing families walking their dogs, children playing outside and, since Easter is around the corner, Easter egg hunts.

Speaking of Easter (do you like my smooth transition?), we have outdone ourselves and have fabulous Easter and spring tea towel designs available at www.CranberriesOnTheSide.com.  If you’re not already following and/or liking us on Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, and even an occasional Instagram pic into our personal lives, you are missing out because our fans get a sneak preview of our latest designs and we’ll toss out a discount code every now and then to our faithful followers.  Don’t forget our tea towels make the best hostess gifts so if you are invited to Easter dinner or an Easter egg hunt, don’t show up empty-handed!

The first quarter of our Farmers Market appearances are now over and we should be getting our schedule any day now for the next quarter.  We’ll make sure to pass those dates along to you.  We can’t tell you how excited we get when we have repeat customers or people that tell us they received a COTS item as a gift and just had to check us out.  We’re starting to see the rewards of our once tiny idea and inching our way closer to building the COTS empire. When we say “empire” it’s not in a Laverne & Shirley moving to Cali empire way, think bigger, think Mrs. Fields cookie empire or Martha Stewart.

Until next time,

Brenda & Julie

Anniversary

It’s that time. We celebrate our first year of learning, creating, making, selling, and all that comes with getting a new venture off the ground. The commitment we made to each other to get this passion up and running was one year ago. It’s A LOT of work, and it takes a ton of time. You know, we could really use a little more time in the day to make tea towels, or more time to get out to the Farmer’s Market. But since we cannot control that kind of time, we thought about our customers and their precious time. As anniversaries go, the 1^st Anniversary is traditionally celebrated with the gift of PAPER, or the modern gift for year one is a CLOCK. At least this is what Hallmark tells us. Hmm, neither one of us  recalls receiving either paper or a clock on our 1^st anniversary. Next month will be 20 years, and I’ve already checked out the gifts for that kind of investment. Yep, looks like I won’t be getting the traditional or modern gift for year 20 either….china or platinum.  

As a thank you and to celebrate COTS’ year 1 with you, our fabulous customers, we want to save you a little time, and money of course. We do not have any paper or clocks for sale (at least not yet), but we do have deals on the perfect gifts and you won’t need to waste time shopping. Mention “Happy Anniversary” to us and get 2 of the same item for the price of 1 on our most popular COTS sellers. This offer is a 24-hour quickie.  It is good in person this Saturday at the March 2^nd Farmers Market http://www.centralfarmersmarket.com and our Etsy internet boutique http://www.etsy.com/shop/CranberriesOnTheSide on March 2^nd only. Here’s the fine print - The available 2 for 1 items for our anniversary special are our top selling products only: tea towels, wine stops, and coasters. That’s a $10 savings for all you couponers out there!

Happy Anniversary Baby got you on my mind!

Hey, that’s a great line for a song.

Farmers Market Dates

Hello Everyone, I hope your week is going well! We just got our FM dates for the rest of the first quarter and COTS will be there on February 9th & March 2nd. So if you're local, come stop by from 9:00 to 1:00 p.m. at the intersection of Central/Northern in Phoenix. There are wonderful fresh produce, local artists and yummy food trucks. Mmmmm!

Love is in the Air

     Okay be honest, how many of you can hear the groovy 70’s song in your head now? But really? Already? You can’t go to any store (umm, including ours www.cranberriesontheside.com) without seeing some sort of Valentine’s Day decoration or candy. Retailers were starting to put it out before Christmas! Sheesh, I’m still trying to recover from Christmas. But here at COTS there is no rest for the weary. Although, we’re not as fast as the major retailers, which is probably a good thing, we have come up with some “oh so fab” COTS tea towel designs for you, your friends, your lover, and don’t forget your mom, who was probably your first-ever true valentine.

     You can continue to find us Saturdays at the Central Farmers Market once a month (see our scheduled dates below), and of course look at our website and shop online at our etsy boutique. Brand new items are waiting to be shipped to your door step today.

     So as you can see, Love is in the Air!



Ring in 2013!

Oh what a year 2012 has been for COTS!  If you have been following our story, you know 2012 was the year it all began.  It has been a year of creativity, learning, laughs, hard work, late nights but most of all, a lot of fun!  What can our faithful customers expect for 2013?  . . . More great designs for COTS’ classic tea towels, tile coasters and wine stops, faster posting of our items on Etsy and a couple more “popular” items to add to the COTS classic designs, just to name a few. 

Before we ring in 2013, I’m sure many of you will be wrapping up 2012 by putting away the holiday décor.  I will admit that I loath dragging out the holiday decorations. It’s more of a love/hate thing. Hate the thought of the actual “dragging” of bins, boxes, and bags, but love the moment when it’s all lit up and you can actually see the finished product. The in-between prep work is a blur!  There’s something so unnatural about “fluffing” up a Christmas tree but I just gave in to the notion that it was an Arizona thing to do and why is it always a struggle to get all the lights working?  After all the work is done, the end result is so beautiful!  Lights, garland and ornaments everywhere, one can’t help but get into a festive mood.  Until Hallmark makes the holiday season a year long celebration, all the beautiful decorations do need to be put away.  Here’s my holiday clean-up tip for you.  Go to your local grocery retailer and get a wine case box to store your ornaments (or if you’re like Brenda and me, wine is purchased by the case so you already have a box or two).  These boxes will hold TONS of ornaments.

Finally from Brenda and me, thank you for helping COTS become our little success story for 2012!  The master plan is that this will be our 1^st success story of many. Not one to make resolutions, but rather reflect and continue to make progress to move towards next year’s success story. We’ve met repeat customers and have received wonderful feedback and support.  We are grateful and will continue to do what we love and that’s Cranberries on the Side!  (Update from our last post:  Our website is up and running hooray!  www.CranberriesOnTheSide.com)

Grand Opening!

I think since I last blogged, we were busily trying to get the last minute things done to open up our online boutique (www.etsy.com/shop/cranberriesontheside).  Our goal was to open in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  We managed to do that and had three sales before the end of the weekend!  Woohoo!!!  Naturally, we aren’t able to retire from our day jobs and run COTS full time but, let me tell you, dreams of cranberries were dancing in our heads.

Of course we’re still working on some major details such as getting our main website up and running - yeesh what a nightmare for the tech challenged.  Once the dust settles, we’re hoping to have our online boutique, blog and website in one location.  Keep your fingers crossed that happens soon.

In the meantime, we just love this time of year and never think there’s enough hours in the day to get it all done.  I have half of the Christmas decorating done, baking still to do and, of course, filling all the COTS orders we’re getting either online or in-person.  If you’re local to the Phoenix Valley, we’ll be back at the Central Farmers Market on Saturday 12/1, 12/8 and 12/15.  We have the BEST $20 and under gifts for everyone on your list so check us out and tell a friend.

Through all the holiday hustle and bustle take time to enjoy each other and the sights and smell of the season. 

Merry Christmas!

Brenda and Julie

Countdown

     Oh my goodness there is so much to do to get a business up and running!  There’s test marketing to find out which products sell, licenses, website, photos, blogging, social networking . . . of course you can’t have a business if you don’t have a product and I know I have must have forgotten something. Luckily, I’m not doing this alone and have a fabulous business partner.  Brenda and I are like most of you, we both have demanding jobs and family (not implying that our families are demanding, well not all the time) and we both have our own successful business.  Why in the world would we take on this endeavor known as Cranberries on the Side?  We just love and believe what COTS is all about.  It’s about life’s little accessories that puts a little special something to what you and/or your children are wearing or have around your home while still making it all look effortless.  Will things always be perfect?  We’d like to think so but there is only one of us and just 24 hours in a day, and besides, the universe (specifically our husbands) can only deal with one invisible crown wearing perfectionists at a time.  Therefore, we may not blog as often or have our fabulous products in as many boutiques (although our towels are currently in three locations thanks to Brenda) our promise to you is that we will never ever skimp on quality or passion that we have for COTS!  So we invite you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, pin all our cute accessories on Pinterest because although Brenda and I have each other, we can’t do it without you.  That’s right, we’re counting on you to tell your friends where you got that great COTS bag, tea towel with the cute saying, one-of-a-kind wine stop and coasters or precious baby onesie . . . just to name a few of our great items.  You know what I find exciting about this whole endeavor, is that like fine wine, it will only get better with time.

     Brenda and I send our thoughts and prayers to everyone affected on the East Coast by Hurricane Sandy.



Fall

It’s the most wonderful time of the year . . . no I don’t mean Christmas, I mean Fall of course.  Living in the Southwest, it’s easy to overlook Fall because it’s still in the triple digits, (that’s code for in the 100’s for non AZ readers) however, it’s the beginning of the holiday season.  You see it everywhere, the stores have Halloween decorations AND Christmas decorations out at the same time.  There are so many decorating options that it can almost be overwhelming to the design challenged.  COTS advice is to use what makes you happy.  WHAT?  you may say, what kind of advice is that?  Let me show you what I’m talking about.  I decorated my buffet and there’s a little bit of shabby chic with the white pumpkins, glam with the glittery silver pumpkins, country chic with the burlap prints, the hurricane glass pedestal brings in some Tuscan flavor and hiding in the back is the large glass vase filled with mini pumpkins, gourds and tall twigs which in a natural kind-of-way, brings it all together.  My point is, mixing the different styles in your home makes the overall design look effortless, and most importantly makes me happy.  Effortless styles is what COTS is all about!

It's All About Trial & Error

We didn’t forget you, we’re just busy making this venture official that the tedious steps barely seem blog worthy.  During all of this, we still keep our creative hats on and have worked on a few new tea towel designs and other creations for the upcoming holidays.

I think we gave you a little hint in our last entry about a new tea towel design that hit us when we were at the Sourcing at Magic convention in Las Vegas.  Let us know what you think?  Our tea towels are a huge hit and living in the Southwest, this seemed just perfect.

As we enter the last quarter of the year, we’re getting ready for the holidays.  WAKE UP PEOPLE, yes, we are approaching that time of year and it looks like you and 3 thousand of our best friends can find us at the Central Farmers Market for the Fall Crafters event in October. We have been asked to set up our fab little shop 3 Saturdays in a row; (October 13^th, 20^th, & 27^th). We’ll take the month of November off to recover (while eating turkey and pie), and gear up again for the first three Saturdays in December (12/1, 12/8, 12/15).  Mark your calendars, plan to visit and get some (or all) of your holiday shopping done. There will also be a gift wrap station at the market to make your life easier!

Here are a couple of Halloween costumes we have available.

Wait, I think I kind of drifted away from the theme of the entry before I even started chatting about it.  What was the topic again, oh yes . . . Trial and Error.  Here at COTS it’s so important to us that we bring to you unique, top quality products.  Our most recent trial and error has been working with freezer paper.  Oh that darn freezer paper!  Brenda was brave enough to tackle the freezer paper and the 18 steps it takes to get a less than acceptable finished product. Earlier last month, I took a different approach with the freezer paper, and unfortunately…..not acceptable.  The moral of the story is that some ideas take time.  After all, it’s not called Chanel No. 1, it took five attempts before Chanel No. 5 was what it is today!

What happens in Vegas . . .

On Monday, we took our “show on the road” to where else…Vegas, baby!  Okay, maybe COTS is not really a road show but we did attend the annual Sourcing at Magic tradeshow.  Let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience.  If you are a designer and/or buyer in the fashion industry, this tradeshow is for you!  At times, we felt like fish out of water but we learned a lot and found some potential suppliers for items like ribbon, bags and hats.  Although we may have been able to find the suppliers online, we are hands-on, 100% involved so we can see and touch everything, and besides, this particular portion of the tradeshow was free (who doesn’t like free), and we were excited to receive complimentary Square readers (again with the free), we got ideas for tea towel designs, and got to share some laughs on the flight home. We cannot wait to share our new ideas and designs with you, and if you’re local to the southwest, we have one you’ll LOVE!  As with any growing business, we want to learn from our experiences and I learned to ALWAYS bring a cloth napkin everywhere I go (it’s just one of my things), and beware of the cab driver that will rip you off…correction, try to rip you off.  COTS may be a new venture, and always learning but we will do our best to not be taken advantage of so we can pass all of our deals onto the best part of this ride, you, our customers.

Just a reminder, our next Central Farmers Market appearance will be Saturday, September 1^st from 8:00 to Noon.  As we are working towards launching our internet boutique soon, we are starting to narrow down our regular product line.  If there’s anything you want us to start carrying, let us know. 

Until next time, enjoy the rest of your week!