Ivy & Innocence Cottages by Susan Reader

 

You are all invited to discover a magical place full of wonderment to find happiness in the ordinary. It is a special place that encourages everyone to dream.

We – us ordinary, simple folk – can have a life of happiness! It’s FREE for everyone! Deep joy is embracing happiness in the midst of pain. With tears on your face, you can experience deep levels of joy. This is when our souls open and we discover life.

Join our journey and explore the path to a life of joy…
Gift your family, child or loved one the keys to happiness, because they are so precious and deserve a life of joy! Help support the things in life that matter most.

Venture with me down the old cobblestone byways, through the gate and into a valley of wonder, both real and imagined to a place called Ivy & Innocence.

Ivy & Innocence is a highly detailed village of miniature cottages, shops, characters and accessories, styled after a quaint English village life adorned with ivy vines and decorative flowers. The detailed pieces are introduced as a chapter set or assortment composed of one brick building and three or four accessory items that compliment the main structure. The new pieces are brought to life in a relating storybook, depicting a community of folks where events and happenings unfold.

Each addition brings additional tales, interacting the new with the old pieces, blending them seamlessly into the magical world of Ivy & Innocence and the village expands.

I continue seeking avenues to develop additional Ivy adventures starting with the Return to Ivy Storybook and one day hopefully release the matching cottages and figurines.

A portion of all pledges will be donated to benefit University of Iowa Children’s Hospital! With the new UI Children’s Hospital affiliation, I can offer patients a unique adventure exploring their imagination by strolling down Ivy’s cobblestone byways into a magical world of hope and dreams to encourage recovery. Ivy’s homespun tales depict an uplifting community that will not only plant the seed of optimism in their young patients but stir up wonderful memories of yesterday for family members and their young-at-heart visitors.

 

If you feel the most important things in life come from the heart… visit a special place in time and become a part of an exciting journey to make a special comeback dream into a reality. “Return to Ivy” Kickstarter campaign.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” ~ Thomas Edison   

This website is dedicated to all the Friends of Ivy & Innocence ~ may they find their way back.

Emily’s Welcome to Ivy 05182

It is a place where Ivy friends can visit, share tales of their journey, how they developed their special place, if they started years ago or are a new collector, what pieces they are looking for, want to sell, what they would like to see in the future. I, in turn, wish to share some of the letters and heartfelt notes I have treasured over the years.

Then, if you have a minute, I will tell you all about a quaint, little village where flowers and ivy vines grow abound… a place where folks are kind, helpful and supportive… a place that continues to sparkle like every star in the nighttime sky. If you open the pages of the storybook, you will learn about this magical place filled with whimsical Victorian shops and houses adorned with ivy vines and colorful flowers and its rugged seaside neighbor, Ivy Cove.

In Ivy there is a deep, long-lasting sense of unity and I search this vast internet for Friends of Ivy, folks that love Ivy as much as I do, old and new alike, to cultivate an online kinship and build a collective Ivy community.

I have been requested to list every piece in the Ivy & Innocence Collection, from the retired to the rare to the exclusive, even those special, extra accessories. Eventually, to track your magical village and for those just discovering Ivy (and there have been quite a few), I would like to feature a ‘wish list’ guide so you can mark the pieces you want or already have. You will be able to see all the characters, building, and accessories in Ivy, making it easier for you to find, buy or sell particular items.

Here you will find every whimsical buildings fashioned from the mauve-colored bricks baked with the mud from Ivy’s creek bed which give the houses a warm glow in early and late light. The folks, full of love, life, fidelity and friendship stroll about the cobblestone pathways of Ivy & Innocence. I open the gate, and invite you in ~ into my World of Ivy, full of tales and adventures from Ivy’s Chapter Storybook. I put in motion the possibilities of creating new storybooks and future chapters to come…

I have opened a window into the internet from my hundred-year-old, ivy covered home in order to bring you some history behind Ivy & Innocence and hope to make a lasting impression on the generations to come.

The foundation of Ivy is strong. It was built around family and their values. We must invest in what will make these values last for generations to come.

This is my husband’s Great Grandfather, John Reader with his daughter, Edith, on his birthday in 1893.

In essence, Ivy is our past, yours & mine. It is our families’ history. It is our grandparents’ history. My intent is to preserve these experiences and memories. We must not forget them, especially in this fast, technological world we live in.

And if you feel Ivy is a place you can support, please follow the journey and share Ivy & Innocence with your family and friends. By creating a presence online, it is my hope the seed I plant (from my little computer here in Iowa) will expand to reach Ivy Appreciators everywhere. A wonderful Ivy Community can grow one ‘follow’ at a time.

It is my greatest pleasure to bring you the original chapters from the Ivy & Innocence Collection first designed many years ago ~ Read all about it!

Warm Blessings and Sweet Ivy Dreams,

Susan Reader
Artist and Creator of Ivy & Innocence

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“How far we travel in life matters far less than those we meet along the way.”  ~ Author Unknown