GIFT
BASKET
TUTORIALS
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
Introduction
by Shirley George Frazier Mix a cup of entrepreneurial ancestors with one clever spouse, and what do you get? Ideas that spawn enough creativity to last a lifetime. When I began searching for a career that provided satisfaction, gift baskets never entered the picture. I trained to be a secretary, but I soon found working for someone else to be boring. In 10 years I worked for 10 different companies. So I began searching for a profession that would challenge my creativity. My great-grandmother, Mary Smith, grew her own strawberries in Virginia and shipped them to Manhattan during the early 1900s. In the 1940s a great-aunt made fudge, and my mother was her delivery person. My father was co-owner of a chemical company in the 1970s. Their pursuits sealed my fate as an entrepreneur, but you don't have to find creativity in your family to be bitten by the gift basket bug. What most designers share is a love of making something beautiful with their hands. If you possess this trait, you'll love gift baskets. My mother enrolled me in sewing classes when I was 10. I knitted and crocheted in my teen years, and I've always loved arts and crafts. You couldn't pry me away from making jack o'lanterns at camp. Were you the same way? That's part of what gift basket designers have in common. In the 1980s computers were becoming a hot commodity. I wanted to start a word processing service, but I quickly gave up that idea and replaced it with one to open an intimate apparel boutique. I'm fascinated by retailing and have worked at small and large stores. Since ladies love lingerie, it seemed to be a good match. Then my husband, John, made a gift for a co-worker. He took a small bottle of liqueur and paired it with a shot glass, gluing rocks to the bottom. He covered it in plastic wrap and added a small bow on top. The recipient loved it. John's thoughtfulness is what led me to a career making gift baskets. If you're interested in making one single gift basket, that's fine. But if you want to keep your hands constantly submerged in the shred and cellophane... Read the rest when you click here to order The Gift Basket Design Book. ***** NOTICE: No part of this page can be reproduced in any form, except for personal use, or copied onto another Web site, without the express permission of Shirley George Frazier.
|
|
|
|
|
| © copyright 2007 Gift Basket Tutorials / Sweet Survival LLC®. All rights reserved. | |