Good Morning All, We are now recruiting for participants in the New Year's 2010 Contest. The entry fee is only $25 of which $10 goes toward the Grand Prize gift voucher. The Contest will run January through April. (The current contest winner will be drawn Christmas Day. They then have 48 hours to choose from the participating shops, where they would like to spend their voucher. We PayPal the voucher amount to the shop chosen by the winner.) We rotate the shops to the top of the page and the redirect from the contest entry form goes to each one in turn. See $100 Contest for an example. We will be working on the new contest over the next two weeks and would like to get started ASAP. If you would like to participate or have any questions, please respond to this e-mail. Although we limit the participants to ten, we seldom get that many : ) We make up any remainder of the $100 prize with a gift provided by us. The $25 will by due by December 31st. Thanks!

We look forward to hearing from some of you,
Vic & Jeff

Good Morning Everyone, I hope you have all recovered from giving thanks with great food : ) God is good!

Please take a minute today and check out our beautiful December feature:
December Feature

The ladies at Roses and Teacups really know how to put on a show of wonderful gift ideas!

Thanks to all of you who have weathered the economic storm with us this year. You have touched my heart in so many ways, sharing your hopes and challenges on a daily basis! I am so appreciative of each and every one of you for your support, encouragement, and very personal caring!

May you all be blessed with His saving grace!

Thanks,
Vic

P.S. Jeff will be here at your beck and call : )

November's Feature

Good Afternoon, If you find yourself browsing this beautiful Sunday afternoon, take a minute or two to visit our Feature page for November:
November Feature 'Shelley McVittie's Studio'

The beautiful graphics are compliments of Shelley, from Shelley McVittie's Studio. What a treat it is to visit our neighbor to the north (Shelley is located in Canada) and really appreciate her talent on display! Enjoy your day : )

Vic

P.S. Special announcement either tomorrow or Tuesday about our participation in the Make Mine Pink Shop Hop!

October's Featured Site

Good Morning Everyone, We are welcoming October this morning in New Mexico : ) September seemed to be a rather challenging month for many of us. I hope that those of you who faced some tough challenges see a bright new day today!

We would like to direct you toward our Featured page for October:

October Features 'Swan's Picture Hangers'

Carol of Swan's Picture Hangers has some great deals to offer as well as some historic significance of Victorian Picture Hanging! If you pay Swan's a visit sometime today, you may never look at picture hanging the same again. I certainly never have since first visiting Carol's shop now some five years ago!

Have a great day and let's keep encouraging each other in our endeavors. An internet business seems for many of us our "heart and soul" in cyberspace!

Vic

New Member to Welcome

Hello Everyone, It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon in New Mexico! A great day for thanksgiving, baseball, and barbeque : )

If you are strolling through the internet today, take a minute to visit our newest member's shop: Marianne from Recollections

You will find Recollections' gorgeous product line displayed on our First, Second, and Fifth Avenue Shoppes.
First Avenue
Second Avenue
Fifth Avenue

We welcome Marianne to our community. (See her photo in our gallery: About Us )


Regards,
Vic

Remembering September 11th, our fallen Heroes

Lest we never forget their sacrifice:
Charmed Victorian Remembers

End of summer news!

Good Morning Everyone, We are giving you a sneak preview of our End-of-Year Event! This contest will run from September 1st - December 31st:

End-of-Year Event!

It will take the place of the current holiday page after our summer winner is drawn : ) We actually have room for a few more merchants to join us on this page. I purposely put the prize as a grab bag so we could adjust its value. If anyone else would like to participate, let me know by Monday and we can add you to the page.

Hope you all have great 'end of summer' days!

Vic

Good Morning Everyone, It is a beautiful morning in New Mexico! We are grateful for this mild summer weather : )

Speaking of Summer, cool off with these darling delicacies brought to us by Patty of Pink Hugs Sweet Shoppe:
August Feature
Nothing could top these faux pastries for a summer Birthday party or backyard Tea Party!

We are so happy to welcome Moira of Mostly-Victorian.com to our Second Avenue Shoppes:
Second Avenue Shoppes
This site is packed with information on the Victorian era, well researched, wonderfully illustrated, and a plethora of knowledge : ) Enjoy perusing!

We have gone back to our summer Contest page and will hold the current drawing in late August. We have room for a couple more merchants on the "end of the year" contest. So if anyone else is interested in participating please let us know in the next couple of days. Instructions to follow for all of our participants. See current Contest for more details:
$100 Contest Drawing

Have a wonderful August,
Vic

End of Year Contest Prep

Good Morning All, We got home yesterday from our visit with family in Texas. Long drive from Houston to Albuquerque : ) It was hot and humid but being originally from Minnesota, I am familiar with that kind of weather!

For our own Victorian Laurels website, business has really picked up in July. I'm hoping this is a pattern and has affected all of your businesses as well. August 1st we will return to our summer contest page for the duration of the current drawing. We will be putting up a new Contest page on or around September 1st. I will be out of town with my mom in Minnesota, so everything will be prepared before I leave.

Those of you who want to participate in our year-end contest can notify me now! The contest prize will again be a $100 value of which $10 is taken from each participating merchant's entry fee. I will be building this page in the next three weeks, so there will be plenty of time to get your information and image to me : ) Just respond to this e-mail with a "count me in" message and I will confirm your spot.

Thanks,
Vic

Good Morning Everyone, We have a new friend to welcome to our group this morning : )

Please join me in visiting Lynette from Misty Moonlight Creations on our Third Avenue:
Third Avenue

And see her lovely image in our "about us" photo gallery:
About Us Gallery

Not only does Lynette have some beautiful merchandise, she has the most gorgeous roses I have ever seen! You can almost smell them through the screen...

Our Christmas in July event has picked up considerably after the long holiday weekend. Tell your friends or better yet, put this "event ticket" on your site : )

Thanks,
Vic

July's Featured Page

Good Morning, It's July, WOW! It seems like this summer is going so fast : ) Please visit our featured page sometime today brought to us by Charlotte from Mrs. Charlotte's Boutique:
July's Featured Page

There are some beautiful one-of-a-kind creations featured this month! We are so grateful to have such a talented group of artisans at the Heart Shoppe!

Also, Christmas in July is open to the public. We have posted the link on Twitter and Facebook and it seems to already be drawing visitors : ) Please support each other in this event if you're in the mood for shopping.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!
Vic

Private Showing

Good Morning everyone, We are really excited about our upcoming "Christmas in July" page. We have worked really hard on this event with lots of publicity and our pre-sell campaign : ) We would like to invite all of you to a "private showing" of our event that officially starts tomorrow. Here is a link to the page that will take over the Contest Page for the month of July:

Christmas in July Preview

Each of the merchants involved have worked very hard to display a special product, price, and in some cases page of delightful Christmas sales. We have snail-mailed invitations all over the country and hope that we have an influx of new visitors. We have advertised this event with news blasts at both Qflea and Tea Bureau as well as other places online. We want to put the Victorian Heart Shoppe on the map and in hearts across the country. Thanks for your preview of this event and we would appreciate any comments or feedback : )

Join the fun,
Vic

Upcoming Events: Christmas in July Sale

Good Morning Everyone, We did our second blast of invitations this morning and hope to see an increase in traffic on July 1st : ) Some of you have inquired where our invitations have been mailed! Our first batch went to Victorian shops across the country, the second to Victorian towns such as Cape May, NJ and our third will go to Christmas shops across the country. Again, if you have one such establishment in your area and would like them to get an invite, just send us their full name and snail address and we will see to it. Thanks to all of you who have already put up our special "Invitation Link" below. Direct links to the holiday page:
Christmas in July Sale
This is fun!

Thanks,
Vic

June Feature and our new Wholesale page!

Good Morning and Happy June 1st! We have loads of exciting news at the Heart Shoppe this morning but I will try to be brief : )

Our feature page for June is brought to us by Kellie of "Pretty Shabby". Kellie and her mom, Carol, have a very pretty selection of goodies for the home! Pay them a visit sometime today and be sure to check out their "SALE ITEMS" link.

June Feature

Our wholesale page is up and we think it looks great. More importantly, we think it will provide a much needed service for those businesses looking for uniqueness, quality, and affordability:

Wholesale Page

We have included a bit of "wholesale info" in our most recent Rack Cards which are directed toward both shoppers and business owners.

Lastly, we will begin sending out "event tickets" for our Christmas in July page this month. Look for more on this later : )

Summer is almost upon us, time to shine : ) If your business has been a little down in the dumps, "DO SOMETHING" to perk it up!

Thanks,
Vic

Introductory Offer

Good Morning Everyone, We wanted to give everyone one last chance to participate in our "Grand Opening" of the wholesale page : ) This will be ready to upload on June 1st and we have decided to give everyone who participates one free month at the end of their year. So that's 13 months for only $25. I wanted to let you know that some of our merchants are looking for wholesale prices and believe this will be a quick and easy way to find them:

"As having a brick and mortar shop I am always looking for specialty handmade products to sell in the boutique if they are a good fit here. Those products I usually do not put online but offer locally to my regular customers so I will look forward to viewing some of the wholesale merchants products. I think this could be a good service to offer."
Thanks,
June @ Scarlett Rose

Thanks to June for sharing this with the group! If you are interested in getting in on this great introductory offer, just e-mail us in the next two days and we will let you know what you need to send.

Thanks,
Vic

Coming Soon - Wholesale Page

Good Morning and Happy Friday,
We have already received a handful of interest about our "Wholesale page" so we will lay out the objectives for this campaign.

To fill a need: I receive phone calls and e-mail at Victorian Laurels requesting wholesale prices mostly for "brick and mortars" and "indoor mall" booths. Wholesale orders have actually kept my shop in steady business this calendar year. There are times when these vendors are looking for items beyond my limited stock. I always refer them to the Heart Shoppe, but don't really have a handle on which of you might offer wholesale prices to these vendors.

The plan: We will be adding a page to the mall for our "wholesale merchants". The price will be $25/yr for a listing similar to the "contest page" listing. We will feature an image logo and a 50-75 word description of your wholesale program. We will also include an e-mail link with your name so that it is readily accessible to interested vendors.

Grand Opening: We will have everything ready for a June 1st "online showing".

Those of you who have already e-mailed with your interest will receive further instructions today. Anyone else who would like to join us is welcome, just drop us a note. The listing will begin alphabetical with rotations throughout the year so each merchant will have equal time at the top of the list.

Thanks,
Vic

"20th Wedding Anniversary" Road Trip

Good Morning, We are back and totally refreshed : ) Take a peek at our Blog sometime today and you will see some of the highlights of our 20th Wedding Anniversary road trip!

See photos below on the right!

We just had a fantastic time with the highlight of our trip being Mickey Gilley in Concert at the Tropicana Express! Mickey is responsible for us "getting together and staying together" in a very round about way : )

Have a great day,
Vic & Jeff

Happy May Day!

We have a few bits of news to cover this morning so let's get right to it : )

Our Feature page for May is brought to us by Angela and Jo of Gilded Rose Collection:
"May's Featured Shoppe"

It is nice that so many of our shoppes are a family affair. Jo and Angela are mother and daughter which seems fitting for Mother's Day! Take a peek sometime today at their lovely unique creations!
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We made the Vendor's Spotlight once again at Qflea for May 1st. You can link to their newsletter on our join page under media blitz highlights:
"Join Us"

It is nice to have this international exposure!
------------

Lastly, we hit a bit of a milestone this week on the internet. Our Alexa ranking for the "United States" is 97,958. We've been waiting for five years to hit the top 100,000:
"Alexa Traffic Ranking"

Hit the link above and scroll to the bottom of the page, it is the last tidbit on the left! I know that this is not the "be all and end all" of ranking systems, but they do provide some very valuable information such as time on site, page views per user, bounce rate, keywords, etc. Their Stats don't exactly match our more defined Stats, but it is useful. I have been reading about "Bounce Rate" and anything under 50% is considered really good. This refers to the number of visitors who just "bounce off your front page" and leave your site w/o looking around.

Have a great May Day,
Vic

New Merchant and New Contest

Good Morning, This spring has been a bustling round of activity at the Heart Shoppe. We have some great new friends and of course many loyal old friends! Our hits remain constant in a rather stale economy, along with our Alexa rankings : ) Every seems to be coming up roses!

Please join me in welcoming our newest member, Barbara of Paris Chic Boutique:
Third Avenue
I just love our international flare and the touch romance it brings to an otherwise uneventful day! Visitors seem to get lost in another era on our site : ) Pay Barbara a visit sometime today and you can visit Paris in the spring!

We also want you to be the first to see our new contest page:
$100 Contest
I love the retro look of our new contest page and the items our participants have chosen to feature. Take a look and see what's new on those sites!

Thanks and have a glorious day,
Vic

New Merchant to Welcome

Good Monday Morning, Hoping you all had a very pleasant weekend! We finally got nice enough weather to get out in the yard. Oh, my aching back : )

We are so happy to welcome a bright young face to our group this morning! Please take some time to visit Stacey of Shabby Rose Boutique on our Third Avenue shoppes. Stacey has a lovely shop featuring Romantic Shabby Chic & Cottage Style Decor! It looks like she will see some friendly, familiar faces here.
Third Avenue
Our Photo Gallery

Our new contest is almost ready for its debut. We will let you all know when it is up. Our last contest winner picked Pretty Shabby for her $100 Gift Certificate and had some really nice things to say about our mall.

Have a gorgeous day,
Vic

Welcome New Merchant

Good Morning everyone, It is a beautiful morning in New Mexico complete with a clear blue sky : ) I'm hoping this is a sign of our elusive spring! We have a new merchant to welcome to our mall. Take a minute out of your busy day to meet June of Scarlett Rose:

Third Avenue
About Us

In her own words, "...joining up with a few "kindred" souls online would be fun!" I'm hoping you will all pay her a visit and make her feel welcome!

Also, we have room for three more participants in our next Contest and we will be working on the new page this weekend. Those of you who have volunteered, look for more information coming your way. The current drawing will be held April 15th and the winner will have about a week to choose their shop. Any questions, please just e-mail us.

Thanks,
Vic

Welcome!

Good Morning, I hope you will all join me in welcoming our newest member:

Meet Bertie from Aunt May's Cottage on 3rd and 4th Avenues!
Third Avenue
Fourth Avenue
Seems Bertie has been collecting and creating for many happy years following her love of the "Victorian era". You'll love her unique treasures : )

Also, our contest is in its last 10 days and the drawing is drawing near (April 15th). This means we are taking requests for our next trimester contest. This could be just the thing you are looking for to boost those summer sales. We will take up to ten shops to highlight. The price is $25 and the contest will run from late April through late August. Of this amount $10 will go toward the Gift Certificate. If we don't have ten shops, Victorian Heart Shoppe will make up the difference of the $100 prize. Please check out the contest page for an example of what your exposure will look like over the next four months.
Contest Page
The shops are rotated throughout the contest and each shoppe has a share of the re-directs from the entry form. Our entry winner chooses one of the shops on the contest page to spend their Gift Certificate at and we PayPal that shop the amount of the Gift Certificate. (Could be you!)

Thanks,
Vic

No Foolin'

Good Morning and Happy April Fool's Day! I hope you haven't been caught off guard yet today : ) I have to admit that I was with one e-mail but there was no harm done! Please take a few minutes of your day to visit our featured shop for April:

April's Featured Shop

We thank Karen of Sweet Necessi-Teas for bringing us her new 'floating banner' and wholesale program!

My mom called this morning with "winter wonderland" images of Minnesota. Hope that all of you around the country are safe and warm!

Greetings,
Vic

Spring Cleaning

Good Morning Everyone, Almost April and snowstorms across the country! We're even expecting snow in New Mexico today. Stay warm out there!

We would like to extend warm greetings to our newest member, Nancy of Coeur d'Alene Gifts (maybe I'll learn how to spell that w/o looking). You will find Nancy's inviting shop on First and Second Avenues:
First Avenue
Second Avenue

Please take a minute out of your busy day to pay her a visit. Nancy says she already recognizes some friendly faces here : )

I am attaching a "Spring Cleaning" article that I found very helpful for my Victorian Laurels Shop. It is by author, Terri Seymour. I will also post it on our blog. (To see full article scroll to bottom!) Have a great day!

Regards,
Vic

Good Morning, It is a beautiful March day in New Mexico but I see that the east coast has not been so lucky. Hope all of you out there are tucked in to weather the storm : ) We have just a few tidbits of housekeeping today!

Please stop by our March feature page where 'Roses and Teacups' has brought us some lovely one-of-a-kind items for spring:

March Featured Site

Don't forget to pay our newest member, Mishutka Design Studio, a visit from our Fifth Avenue Shoppes:
Fifth Avenue Shoppes

We have one window open this morning on Third Avenue for a current or new member, so invite your friends over:
Third Avenue Shoppes

We get most of our new members through referrals and are so appreciative of your support : )

Thanks,
Vic

Be sure to check out our new February Feature page:

February Feature

We are so excited to have these beautiful hand painted roses from Bella Rosa Designs for Valentine's month!

Happy New Year

Good Morning everyone! Happy New Year to all of you : ) If you have a minute watching football or kids today, drop by our January Featured page:

January Featured Page

Our own Victorian Laurels shop is starting the year off right with a bountiful Valentine's Sweetheart Box, a fun gift for any woman.

We will be billing January renewals sometime today. If you need an explanation or a payment plan just e-mail us and we will work it out.
Our new contest has had a great start and we are hitting the ground running in '09. As always we welcome your greetings, suggestions, prayer requests, or just a friendly hello! God has richly blessed us with this community and we thank all of you for your support.

In appreciation,
Vic & Jeff