We are so excited about the Southern Mercantile Curated Collection for February! The inspiration for this month's collection was our love of berries, and since berry season is approaching quickly, we couldn't be more excited! It will soon be time to start putting up strawberry jam and making fresh blueberry muffins, and this collection is just what you need to get you in the berry season spirit!

The February collection includes: The cookbook "Berries" by Eliza Cross, a jar of our homemade strawberry jam, a pewter spreader and a decorative heart dish.

This little cookbook is one of our favorites! It is full of mouth-watering recipes and beautiful pictures to inspire you. From Strawberry Sweet Rolls to Blackberry-Glazed Spiral Ham, you are going to want to try every one! There's even a whole section on Jams and Preserves for those of you that have been wanting to try your hand at putting up your own jellies.

Use this cute little spreader the next time you have guests over to feature The Southern Mercantile Strawberry Jam (or your favorite jam or pepper jelly) served over cream cheese. This is the perfect little utensil for such a tempting appetizer.

You can't get through February without a nod to Valentine's Day. This small galvanized metal heart dish gives just a touch of love to your home during this special month. It is perfect for holding individually wrapped candies or little guest soaps in the bathroom. Line it with a sheet of parchment paper and fill it with heart shaped sugar cookies or red and pink m & m's. (The surface is not food-safe so a lining is necessary for food or loose candy.) The possibilities for this little cutie are endless.

Order your February Curated Collection quick as there is a limited supply! While you are here, check out the store for other great Valentine's Day Gift Ideas, like the Valentine's Day Sugar Cookie kit. We even have a tutorial to show you how to ice your sugar cookies like a professional! Place your orders by February 7th, 2019, to ensure delivery by Valentine's Day.

We hope the month of love is good to you this year!  As you prepare to pass out cookies and make homemade Valentines with little ones, we'd like to leave you with a verse that we have adopted as our one of our favorites at the shop, 1 Peter 4:8 It is always a good reminder of why we must choose to love and not hate, and to use any gift we have been given to bless others.  Even the gift of baking!

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ."

Happy February from The Southern Mercantile!

Who doesn't love an iced sugar cookie?  And the prettier it is, the better!  Sugar cookies are a staple around here, so we are always looking for fun and creative ways to decorate them!
 
While dreaming up our Valentine's Day treats for our brick-and-mortar location, I was inspired by the marbling trend.  I thought that if you could do it with paint and dye, why couldn't you do it with royal icing?  I thought I'd give it a shot and share my tips and tricks with you!

Start with your favorite sugar cookie recipe.  Make sure that it is a sturdy cookie-not a crumbly one!  This will be important when you start to ice the cookies.  If you don't have a favorite of your own, you can find our favorite sugar cookie recipe in our Recipe Archive!  Roll, cut out, and bake your cookies.  I chose a heart-shaped cookie cutter for Valentine's Day!  Our sugar cookie recipe will make about 25 heart cookies per batch.  Let them cool completely before icing.

Whip up your favorite royal icing recipe and separate it into two bowls.  Choose two colors that you want to use and dye each bowl of icing using gel food coloring.  I chose pink and white!  If you choose to use a color other than white, just make sure that it blends with the other color you choose. (Examples: pink and purple, pink and red, blue and purple, orange and red, orange and yellow)

Take a spoon and zig zag the lighter color icing in the bowl with the darker color.  Then take a toothpick and drag it going in the opposite direction to give the icing the marble effect.

Take the cookie and dip it face down in the icing.  Make sure that you are holding the cookie as flat as possible to ensure an even coating of icing.  Also, make sure that your finger tips don't get in the way!  When you pull the cookie out of the icing, allow the excess to drip into the bowl.  You can even give the cookie a little shake to get some of the extra icing off.  Flip the cookie quickly to reveal your beautiful pattern!  Each cookie will be unique--which is what makes this so fun!

I don't like the icing to run off the edge of my cookies, so while the icing is still wet I will wipe the sides if needed.  If you need to fill in certain areas that didn't get an even coating of icing, you an do this with a toothpick while the icing is still wet.  You can even do the marble technique on the cookie if you decide it needs a little extra color in one spot!  Just drop a dab of icing and swirl it with your toothpick.  I always let my cookies dry overnight to be sure that the icing has hardened completely.

If you love the idea of gifting special sugar cookies this Valentine's Day, we've put together a must-have kit for you!  Our Valentine's Day Cookie Kit includes just what you'll need to put together 6 cute cookie boxes.
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Kit Includes:
6 Cookie Boxes
6 Valentine's Day Gift Tags
Red and White Yarn
Valentine's Day Sprinkles
Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutter
The Southern Mercantile Sugar Cookie Recipe Card

We hope you enjoyed this how-to and we hope you'll give it a try!  We'd love for you to tag us on Instagram or Facebook to share your Valentine's Day treats with us!

Happy New Year Southern Merc Fans!  We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying a fresh start on a new season of life!  I am sorry it has been so long since I have put the pen to paper (or rather my fingers to the keyboard!). I wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts with you about how we ended 2018 and where we hope we are headed in the New Year!

2018 started out with a bang, full of hope, and a renewed sense of spirit.  We hit the road March through May and enjoyed getting to see so many of you, old friends and new!

We also had a busy spring welcoming two new babies to our Southern Mercantile fold!  Katelyn blessed us with little Lainey Kate in March and sweet Perry Jacob arrived to Jorjanne in June! These little angels have been such a blessing to all of us, bringing so much joy and fun!

I wish I had a year's worth of bragging, good news, and joyous occasions to share with you, but while reflecting on 2018, I have realized it was a really hard year! Towards the end of the summer my year took a downward spiral and I had a hard time coming back.  Growing this online busines and sustaining our brick and mortar store in Ocilla has been quite a tall task!  Money is always tight (or non-existant), there never seem to be enough hours in the day, and the stress of my day to day life really got to me last year.

On top of other tensions that were already building in my life, our building took a hard hit during hurricane Michael.  The storm was to hit in the night which made me incredibly nervous.  We already had a few bad leaks, so we prepared as much as we could by putting out plastic and extra buckets, just in case something bad happened during the storm.   

Meanwhile, Matt was checking downstairs and discovering all the water that was pouring into our shop from the upstairs.  The night that followed was one of the most aweful and most torturous times of my life.  We called for back up just to help try to get things under control.  My parents, sweet neighbors, and Tara and Phillip ran to our aid, bringing tarps, kiddie pools and head lamps.  They helped hang tarps to try to direct the water into trash cans and kiddie pools.  For over an hour they helped empty buckets, mop up water and try to gain some sort of control over the elements before the storm hit its peak.  To these people I will be forever grateful, and I know there are many others that would have helped, had it not been too dangerous to leave home.

As the storm worsened Matt and I sent everyone home, except my sweet Dad that insisted on staying with us.  He manned the downstairs trying to move buckets and save merchandise.  Matt and I manned the upstairs trying bale water as fast as we could.  The short version of the story is, we baled water for eight hours.  The power went out at 10 so we baled in the dark.  We tried so hard but the water was relentless and we quickly started to lose the battle.  I have never felt so helpless in all of my life.  Around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., Mom, Tara and Phillip came back to help us and I have never been so relieved and overjoyed to see three people.  The six of us worked until 3:00 am, or a little after, just trying to empty buckets enough to be able to leave.  Over the next two days we spent countless hours cleaning, dumping, drying, calling repair men and insurance agents. When it was all said and done, we lost a large portion of our roof and two upstairs windows.  We were only without power at the building for about 18 hours, and about 24 hours at home.  

I didn't want the blog to become so much about the hurricane, but is was such a traumatic experience for me, I have realized that it really affected me more that I thought it did at the time.  Even though it was so hard, I do know that we were truly blessed throughout the whole situation.  I know that what we had to deal with was nothing compared to the folks that lost entire homes, entire crops, and entire businesses.  I know that the Lord was with us through the whole process because I know that my tired body could not have done what we did for so many hours without His strength.  We had countless friends and neighbors show up over the coming days to help and check on us.  Jorjanne's husband, Chris, brought a freezer truck from their farm to help us save most of our food supply for The Cafe.  It really could have been so much worse, and I am truly thankful for the help and support of our community.  This is such a perfect example of one of the joys of small town living!

We powered through Christmas with a spectacular Christmas Open House at our shop and two successful Christmas shows.  Thanks to all of you that shopped and visited with us during the Christmas season.  You don't know how much we needed your love and support this year!

Even in the midst, of trials and uncertainties, I always find comfort in knowing that the Lord is with me and He has written every page of my book already.  I know that the trials in my life have only made me stronger and have given me more of the tools that I need to be able to help other people.  I know that there will be an end to these trials and that there is always a mountain top after climbing out of a valley, even if you don't get to stay there long!

As we now roll into the end of January, I am determined to get out of my funk and leave 2018 behind me! The girls and I have taken the last few weeks to rest, catch up on some things that we got behind on, and try to get ready for a great new year!  We have been working on some beautiful new products for the store and a fun blog schedule of great new tips and recipes. We are finalizing the dates and plans for our Spring travel schedule and we hope you will make plans to come see us while we are on the road!  We are determined to make 2019 the best year yet for The Southern Mercantile and we hope you'll come along for the ride!