Custom Gift Basket - Bianchi Industrial

This fun project was a gift we designed for Bianchi Industrial, a local demolition company. The toy crane and miniature dumpster were filled with goodies for the office to share and we used chicken wire to simulate the chain link fencing they use on their job sites. It was huge - 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet high!

Hunkering Down

NO time to post this week...in fact there's been no time for anything but making gifts! We had the good fortune to have several substantial orders all come in at the same time, all due within the same week. It seems early to be putting in these hours, but we're not complaining! After all, we did take a break last Thursday to watch Grey's Anatomy (our most favorite show ever), right before we crashed and burned for the night.

Hunkering Down has officially begun here in Basketland! The old store fridge is almost filled to capacity with frozen diet food (yum!), yogurt, and Diet Coke. Our little bunk room upstairs will be readied this weekend for the short nights ahead. And, the previously mentioned logo apron/purple Croc uniform is a reality. It's already saving our butts every morning...love it when a plan comes together!

By early next week this batch of projects will be finished, and just in the nick of time. The Big Corporate Holiday Order is due to land on our doorstep by the end of this week... and then the marathon begins. Ho, Ho, Ho!

The Wren's Den

A long-time customer came in recently to purchase some of our handcrafted Wren's Den soaps. When he comes in he buys them in quantity for his wife, who just loves them. We've even made soap-filled gift baskets for him. When we were located downtown, some of our customers came in just to smell The Wren's Den soaps...that really made us smile! Seems as if it was a form of aromatherapy, and customers always left feeling better.

What and where exactly is The Wren's Den? New customers are usually surprised to hear that all of our bath and body products are made locally in Marcellus by our long-time friend Mary Carlic. (She is sometimes also assisted by her husband, whom she affectionately refers to as "The Soap Slave".) We've used Mary's products from the beginning, when her only product was soap. Her line has since expanded, and her products can be found in gift shops around the Northeast. While we've experimented with some nationally made bath lines in the past, we decided a few years ago to use The Wren's Den products exclusively. Why? Anyone who has received one of our pamper/spa gifts knows just how unique these products are. Carefully handcrafted with quality ingredients, The Wren's Den line is available in the most delicious scents...traditional lavender, cucumber, oatmeal and honey, and raspberry are our favorites, as well as Mary's original Yuzu and Day at the Beach. We tuck Mary's Tubby Time soap in our baby gifts, and offer her whimsical Tickle Toes foot care online and in our store. She also creates special seasonal soaps, which we include in some of our Syracuse-themed gifts for the holidays. Besides the fact that we prefer her products, we've always felt it was important to support fellow women entreprenuers.

The other great thing you may notice about Mary's products are the beautiful labels. Every design is an original piece of artwork, created expressly for each of her scents. Why would anyone be that fussy about labels? Mary believes as we do, that her products should always be something special. We LOVE that !!!

For gifts that feature Mary's products, you can click on our company link, then "Gifts for Her".