We are finally done, for real this time!

Just when we thought we were finished, we noticed that the great walls made the carpet look horrible!  Shampooing it didnt' help so we had no choice but to replace the flooring.  We chose a beautiful oak finish flooring. It took 3 days to lay out the new floor but it was worth it, it looks fantastic-a million times better than the carpet.  Of course in this photo the base boards aren't on yet (rest assured we did put them back! 

We also decided that the back wall needed a mural, so we decided on a dandelion fairy theme. 

I started this with nothing but a cheap kids watercolor paint brush and white latex paint.  I think it turned out pretty well, and it only took 2 days to do it!

Nothing wrong with a little mud...

One of our favorite gifts to give an receive is pretty much anything from Mud Pie.  Their high quality, whimiscal and often beautiful designs are sure to put a smile on anyone's face.   Any occassion you can think of, any age, any reason, Mud Pie has the gift for you!  Here are just a few of our favorite things Mud Pie has to offer (and which we will offer in our shop).  This adorable set has a plate, bowl, cup and utensil set, all boxed and ready to give.  Not only will we have one for the prince, but another for the princess all in pink!  But before you have the baby, you have the wedding!  And we have that covered too with these whimsical champagne flutes for the bride and groom!

These come as a set and are packaged as shown!  I wish I would have had these at any of my three weddings!  Here's to you!  And we hope to see you soon!

Product Spot Light

Why should men have all the fun at the last bash before the wedding?  Inviting Company says it doesn't have to be that way-and we agree!  These adorable buttons are just one of the items we will be carrying for that last girls night out!   Created by Naughty Betty for Inviting Company, they come packaged in a sweet organza bag, and are ready to party!

Long days night....

And we have been working like dogs!  Well, that isn't really true, dogs mostly lay around.  But we have been busy!  Did I say we were done??  I don't say this often, but it seems I was wrong.  Hopefully now we have finished and I have some awesome pictures to prove it.  Now I know the shelves are a little bare, but more items are coming in every day.  I will also post some more product spot lights!  As you can see, we cater to children as well as adults, and will not only have gifts but you will have several options to make that special gift extra special.  Some of the several services we will be providing is gift wrapping at our gift wrap station,

you can have your purchases made into a gift basket, with your choice of baskets, or you can even have your gift stuffed into a giant balloon!  There are so many ways to make the day of someone you love, and we are eager to be able to help you do it!  Don't worry ladies, we will have gifts for the men in your life with themes like hunting, fishing and poker.   Half the fun has been choosing all the wonderful things we have purchased for the store (ok, maybe more like 90% of the fun, because I have to tell you, once the paint choosing was over, the redo was not much on the fun side!).  We can't wait to see you at our grand opening!

Calling all Artists!!!!

We are looking for any artist that create handmade gifts who would like to place some of their creations in the Shop.  If you are interested (or know someone who would be) please contact us and we will set up a time that you can bring your items to the store.  Some examples of what we are looking for would be crocheted/knitted blankets or other items, quilts, fabric creations, wood working, paintings, handmade dolls or ceramic bibelots.  We will look at anything you would like to bring and if it is a good fit we would love to have it in our store on consignment!  So get crafty and give us a call!

...Go!

We are finally done!  The painting, the sawing, the nailing...all finished!  The place looks great, and we have even started putting up what items we have received so far!  I will post after pictures later today.  I can't wait to get more product to deck out our shelves!

Day 3

Tria Mera!  Well, we are out of paint, but have no fear, a quick trip to the paint store will solve the problem (quick trip?? The closest paint store is in Cabot-but quick enough I guess!)   The burgundy is almost gone-that is the great news!

Day 2

Ok, day 2.  Paint, paint and more paint!  We have half of a counter (no we are not getting any thing for that product shot....ahhhh!!! Coke!) and we are cutting down the second 1/2 wall.  I am once more going to do some great shopping!  We have run out of green paint and will have to go get some more tomorrow, and the blue is going up over the hideous lavender.  Soon we will be able to say goodbye to all of the horrid wallpaper (yay!!)  We found some fantastic paisley fabris that is the exact colors of our walls-talk about serendipity-and no one but us (well, and I guess you) will ever have to know we didn't plan it that way! 

This is the end of day 2, my stripe narrows on the right end, so tomorrow I get to fix it.  I can't wait to paint over that burgundy paper, I will be glad to see the last of it!

Day 1

We are here, for day one of intense manual labor.  Yeah, me too, I just haven't started yet!  I have taken the before pictures as promised and will  upload them for your visual horror today.  Remember these are BEFORE pictures.  We (I say we in the royal sense, James, the muscle, really did it) have removed the horrible peg board and have begun to measure the groovy 70's style half walls for cutting down to counter height.  We have plans for a "wrapping station" to create beautiful packaging for our beautiful products, and a courtesy area for coffee and drinks for our customers, and you of course, dear reader.  We are in the process of finalizing the "party room" decor plans, to make the perfect space that will be available for rental for parties, meetings and other gatherings.  I get to do my favorite thing today-shopping.  Yeah, it's just for brackets and plug covers and things like that, but hey, shopping is shopping right??  All right, I am getting dirty looks from the "hired help" ( Just kidding James, love you) so I better let you go.  Till next time, dear reader!

The saga of 2.5 inches

2.5", seriously, was all that stood between rolling our new displays into the store.  2.5" was enough to have us locked out in the cold.  And did we have a screw driver....sure,  a huge flat head.  But did it fit, of course not-the displays were held together with little tiny phillips screws.  Well, we did manage to get the displays in...an hour later.  And hey, they are awesome, and it only took a few hours to warm back up.

We have gas!

Ok-that sounds strange, but we are excited to have heat going.  Tuesday brought us light (yay!  Power tools!), Wednesday came with phone and DSL service, and low and behold-the heater wasn't heating!  But all is well now that the fantastic gas man turned us on and got us going.  Thanks so much Gas Guy!  Then to top yesterday off, our "coming soon" banner arrived in the mail all the way from California (you are so awesome Uncle Kevin-I am still jealous of all your awesome talent) Today we expect delivery of 2 awesome product displays (we LOVE visual merchandising! Pretty packages tied up with string....yeah, I'm singing.) Friday we begin cutting and painting (tired of hearing about that wall paper yet?  We are really tired of looking at it!). We can't wait to finish the "bones" of the store so we can flesh it out with fantastic products!  And we are really excited about meeting you, dear reader!

Product Spot Light

We love Inviting Company!  You know who they are....you don't?  Well crawl out from under that rock!  Inviting Company has been a leader in the invitation industry for years, and they are always adding new fantastic items to their line of whimiscal inviations and party supplies.  Some of the new lines they have added are invitations from wedding planner Mindy Weiss, fabric guru Heather Bailey, and hilarious Naughty Betty...just to name a few (no, we havn't forgotten you Erin Smith or Ashley Woodman!)  We are proud to be able to bring some of the fantastic designs IC offers to our store.

Here a just a few of the awesome fill-in invitations and thank you cards we will be carrying for childrens parties.  Each of these designs have a matching thank you for easy gratitiude!

Um-so where are the pictures??

We promise, we will soon upload some photos showing our progress on not only getting rid of that awful wall paper (really-it's horrible!) but also our evolution from dingy building to awesome store front! I promise...really!

Meet the gang

Well, here we are-another day closer to getting to know you. I guess we better give you the low down on our staff!
Gail Hooper is the owner of Dandelion Wishes, and this is her dream. All her life she has made wonderful things for friends and family, and for most of it she has seen the joy these handmade items have brought to the ones she loves. Many of the skills that she has taken for granted have been lost to other people, and she always wanted a place where anyone could showcase the things they have learned how to do. She passed on this love and sense of accomplishment to her daughter, Regina. Gail is the one you will see the most, building her business with the same love and patience she put into crafting her art.

Regina Stiffler (that's me) has had the chance to grow up in a family of artists. She has watched as beautiful things have unfolded from the hands of her family, from painting, sewing, calligraphy, quilting, and crocheting to knitting. And standing at the knee of her mother, she has learned to appreciate the work, time and love that goes into these hand made items, and even to make some of them herself (though admittedly not as well)! While you won't see Regina as much, she will be there to help whenever she can.

Soon we hope we can count on you, dear reader, to become part of our "family" whenever you need a unique creation for yourself, or those you love. Or, if you just happen to need a little retail therapy-we will be there for you!

Ready...set....

If you have ever had a dream come true, then you know how we feel! We are watching this store rise before us, the culmination of 30 years of wishes. There is a lot of hard work ahead (and the first thing we are doing is getting rid of that horrible wall paper!) We hope that people will fall in love with our store the way we have! We will keep you posted, please come visit us soon!