Stocking up the newest-new store
These are nearly completed pet gift sets. (They await labels). Each box includes Mrs. Meyer's pet shampoo, a soft dog chew toy (made by yours truly), and a bag of dog treats made by Miller's Hiding. I realized (in horror) yesterday, that I have not paid them for the treats. When they dropped them off I tried to pay them right there and then, knowing my tendency to put things out of my mind that aren't of immediate concern. Now I have to call them and explain that I'm not a dead-beat customer, that I totally love paying for the things I order, and that I'm not evil.
I have been working on this project for months. It's been challenging. Finding the boxes was the first big challenge. Designing the toy was easy, redesigning it was fine. Designing it after testing it out on Chick started feeling a little bit tedious. Oh hell, no it didn't...I love this whole process. Figuring out what to cushion the goods with was interesting. I finally settled on shredding my huge pile of magazines. I love magazines. LOVE THEM. I have loved magazines my whole life. I keep trying to end my affair with them. Not because they're frivolous (I love frivolity), but because they waste so much paper. Paper equalling trees. I like trees. So reading magazines induces guilt in what is otherwise pure pleasure. Unless I can share them with others (I used to donate all of them to the YMCA in Santa Rosa). I haven't found anywhere to donate them to here.
I keep thinking of women's shelters, but I can't help but feel that it's cruel to put fashion magazines in a place where women are wondering how they're going to feed their children and not get beat up by their evil methalated boyfriends. If I was in a shelter I would probably enjoy looking through glossy newish magazines because it would take me away from my troubles, but I'm not sure other women would feel the same. All that just to say that I settled on recycling my magazines in the form of packaging.
This shot is unnecessary, but what the heck! I've priced it out and I will sell it for $22.95. This is a gift you get for your friends or family members who think of their dogs as people with an excess of hairy-hormones. You give them this with a note suggesting they book an appointment with Cesar Milan ASAP. Just kidding. It's just for anyone who likes to indulge their pets. Or for anyone who's getting their first dog. The chew toy will not last long. Chick decimated hers in about two days. But it was super cute-she carried it everywhere with her for those two days. In case some kitty lovers out there are wondering: yes, I have plans for a kitty-specific pet gift set. I have to design a mouse toy though. It won't make it for this holiday season. 
I love wrapping gifts. I love finding kooky ways of embellishing them. But I've already faced it: I'm no Martha. I'm no Posie Gets Cozy. I do things in a funky way. I once wrapped a wedding pressent using spirals of paper I cut out and glued on so that they would boing out three dimensionally. I have covered presents with fringe made from the funnies. You could call my wrapping style "experimental". Ever since opening a store I have felt that it's important to offer gift wrapping services, but not boring gift wrap. When I was the stock girl at Staccato in Mill Valley (A posh cool boutique) it was my job to wrap gifts. They had a couple of options but they all involved the signature look of dried flowers as embellishments. When people got a present from Staccato, they KNEW it was from Staccato and were excited. I want my store to have a signature wrapping element. So I've been working on it. I also want to make some to sell for those who want to do their own wrapping but want something special. The ones that I make for the store wrapping need to be a little different. So the butterfly is one possibility.
This is another. You use it instead of a bow. I will do a sample wrapping using one to show the finished result. But not right now.Right now I have to get the hell off this computer because we are going to Portland. Philip is finally truly feeling better and we have errands. We're going to the Vespa service store to get head-light bulbs because my headlights are out and the UPS guy took me to task for driving without a headlight (it was during the daytime, but still ILLEGAL). So I know it's just a matter of time before the police catch up with me. Then we're going to a store that Kit (one of our new landlords) recommended we go to for used retail supplies. We're going to see about fitting out the new store. SO EXCITING!