Tis the season.....Spring!

I don't know what genuis designated winter as the "gift giving season" because he obviously wasn't paying very much attention to Spring!  And really, why limit anything as great as giving (and getting) gifts to one season anyway?  Along with Easter, mothers day and fathers day here are some great reason to give and get gifts:
March 30th-National Doctor Day (nothing says thanks for the colonoscopy like a nice box of truffles)

April 4th- Tell a Lie Day (If you celebrate this one you better have some jewelry waiting for your wife to make up for it!)

April 7th-No Housework Day (check out our aprons for a great gift idea!)

April 10th-Golfers Day (how about getting him FOUR gifts?  Ok-that was cheesy....sorry)

April 23rd-Lovers Day (do you really need an explanation?  It's like Valentines Day without the little man in a diaper)

April 27th-Tell a Story Day (how about a great journal for your story teller?)

April 28th-Great Poetry Reading Day (journals would also be great here-for the great and not so great poet in your life!)

May 4th-National Teacher Day (sorry we don't sell ear plugs and Prozac-but I am sure we can fine something nice for the people who put up with our kids at least half the day!)

May 6th-Beverage Day (we have great wine glasses, as well as some adorable friendship tumblers)

May 11th-Eat what you want Day (and we want Ice Cream-a nice ice cream dish set would be a perfect gift on this day)

May 16th-Wear Purple for Peace Day (we have some beautiful purple shawls that would be great on this day)

We are always here to help you find an excuse...er....reason to give and get! Oh by the way, happy Waffle Day!

french fries, french kiss....french maid?

This is not your mothers apron!  Since Adam and Eve made the first aprons from leaves man and woman alike have used aprons.  Now, fashion and function have collided (with a dash of humor) and there are a wide variety of aprons available.   We carry PVC aprons in bright, bold and fun patterns that will repel water as well as that spagetti sauce.  Besides the french maid, we have cheerleader, hula dancer and ballet dancer patterns.   Each PVC apron also has matching rubber gloves.  We also carry fashionable fabric aprons in adorable patterns, for women and girls.  Not to leave out men, we have some great butcher aprons with witty grillin' sayings (I turn Grills on and My grills hotter than yours). 

Super hat!

It's a bandana! It's a hat!  It's a bandana hat!  These things are adorable and they are going like hotcakes!  The great thing about these hats is that they will fit anyone, adults and children!  The basic principle is a bandana with a bill, so you simply tie them around your head and adjust them as needed!  I can't gaurantee you will look this cute, but I promise you your friends will love it!  We carry a variety of colors and the price is unbelieveable!    I wouldn't wait too long though, they are flying off the rack!

20 questions

What is better than a game of 20 questions?  Maybe one of these adorable question games by The  Box Girls!  With fun themes, and hilarious questions, these games cover any occassion!  From baby showers, to wedding showers, girls night out and slumber parties, you will get to know your BFF's better than you ever have before, and have a hilarious time doing it!

Spot Light on Lolita

I {heart} Lolita!  The fun, sassy designs are so bright and energetic you can't help but smile! CR Gibsons Lolita line is melamine (translate as "go ahead, have another margarita, if you drop the glass it won't break) madness, that is perfect for a girls night in!  The appetizer plates feature a cool cut out for your wine glass, so it leaves your other hand free for gesticulating wildly while you rant about your ex!  Then, to make it even better, there are wine glasses that compliment each plate!  On the bottom of each whimsical wine glass is a recipe for a mixed drink.  And they come packaged ready to give (if you can bring yourself to give them away that is!  Are you sure they wouldn't like that hand knitted sweater that Aunt Edith made you last Christmas that you only wore once?)

And if you are going to have drinks and snacks you might as well pick up that staple of girl's night hilarity...Bunco!

Product spot light on Snoozies

Ok, what is a Snoozie you ask.  Snoozies are amazingly soft slipper-sock thingys that will keep your feet warm and keep you from falling on your butt as you run across the hard wood floor to answer the phone.  They are lined with awesomely cuddly fleece lining and they come in the cutest of patterns and styles.  They also have adorable sleep shirts and really make a great gift.  What could be more perfect for the Mom to Be to take to the hospital?  Everyone loves pajamas and warm feet, and with 6 more weeks of winter (thanks a lot Punxsutawney Phil!) what would be say "I love you" better than nice toasty feet (and it goes both ways, Darling Husband buys them for his Lovely Wife and that means he doesn't have cold feet on the back of his legs!)

Product spot light on The Good Bead

We are so proud to be able to say we are the exclusive dealer in our area for the Good Bead Company's fantastic jewelry line!  The Good Bead Comanys Bauble Lulu products are a beautiful yet surprisingly affordable interchangeable jewelry line that is known for their distinctive style and quality materials!  If you have ever found something you loved, but wished it was in a different color then this is jewelry line for you.  You simply choose your foundation jewelry (earrings, necklace or bracelet) and then you choose the beads the will go on it. The best part is that once you have your foundation you can change the beads whenever you want with just a twist!  Bauble LuLu's high quality beads fit on all the popular (and expensive!) brand name chains. Beautiful hand-blown glass beads and unique charms await your inspiration.

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!