Hi, it's me- the person actually behind Cozy Cottage. Not a warehouse, not a team of ten, just me, a laptop, and way too many browser tabs open with fonts I'm testing out at 11pm.
I wanted to write this post because if you've shopped here before, you might have noticed things looking... different lately. And if you're new here, I wanted you to know the story before you hit "add to cart."
The Honest Version
When I started this shop, I did what a lot of new sellers do: I leaned on dropshipping to get something up and running. It felt like the "smart" way to start- low risk, fast to launch, no inventory to worry about. But if I'm being real with you, the shop ended up feeling like it didn't have a soul. It was all over the place. A little bit of everything, nothing that was really mine. I'd look at my own listings sometimes and not feel proud of them. That's a hard thing to admit, but it's true.
Somewhere along the way I realized I didn't want to run a store that just moved other people's products around. I wanted to make things. So that's what I've been doing.
What's Changing
I've spent the last stretch of time (a good year) pulling the shop apart and rebuilding it around things I actually design myself- a mix of romantacy, cottagecore, and fantasy- inspired art, junk journal papers, and now original print-on-demand designs like t-shirts, all coming out of my own head (and, let's be honest, my own late-night Etsy spirals).
Everything moving forward will have my personal touch. If it's in the shop, I made it, I named it, and I probably agonized over the color palette for way longer than necessary.
Why This Matters (Especially If You Shop Small)
When you buy from a small shop, you're not just buying a product - you're trusting that there's a real person on the other end who cares about what they're making. That trust is easy to lose when a shop is a grab-bag of random stuff, and it's something I want to earn back and keep earning with every new release.
So here's what you can expect from here on out:
- Original designs only. No more guessing whether something was mine or sourced from overseas. If it's here, I made it.
- Slower, more intentional drops. I'd rather release something I love than flood the shop with filler.
- A shop that actually feels like me. Cozy, fun, a little sentimental, unapologetically detailed, and a balance of cussing and praying. And probably too many chickens.
Still Me, Just More Me
I'm not going to pretend this shift happened overnight, or that I have it all figured out. I'm still learning, still tweaking, still occasionally staring at a blank design file wondering what I'm doing. But everything from here forward is going to be something I'm proud to put my name on.
Thank you for sticking around for this, or for finding the shop right as it's becoming what it was always supposed to be. I'm really glad you're here.
Love,
Jess