Mary Lake-Thompson - Creativity in the Kitchen at MyGiftee.com

There’s something about the creations of Mary Lake-Thompson that always elicits a smile, and evokes that warm, comforting feeling of a small town homecoming. Whatever it is, the cheerful array of gift and specialty items Mary offers comes by it honestly. Each item in her collection is creation from start to finish, all designed in her studio. Mary is the designer and vision behind all of the products Mary Lake-Thompson, Ltd. has to offer. She oversees everything from initial design concept to the end product. It is in the factory that all of the products are hand made by her very capable employees…it is important to Mary, that all of her products remain made in the USA.
Always artistically inclined, Mary began drawing and painting as a young child, and began her formal training at the University of Colorado.But the siren call of California proved too alluring, and Mary made her way to San Francisco in 1970, where she continued as a photography student at the San Francisco Art Institute. After graduation, she and her husband Richard moved out to Oroville, where her career as a commercial artist began to take off. Meeting with some encouraging successes in selling prints of her original paintings and illustrations, inspired by the natural beauty of her new locale, she and Richard started a small greeting card company. She expanded her line to include items such as address books, diaries, decorative paper napkins and the like, and was soon after approached by the Eddie Bauer Company to design and produce bath and skin care gift baskets for their catalog.
Encouraged by the new opportunity and inspired by the products she was working with, Mary began designing her own packaging for soap and skincare items, as well as fancifully decorated towels, aprons, drawer liners and other kitchen and household goods. Her small company’s sales began to soar as her lively designs caught the eyes of national retailers like Eddie Bauer, Crate & Barrel, Harrods, Coldwater Creek Catalog, Nordstrom’s, Nature Company and Ballard’s.
Gifts from Mary Lake-Thompson, Ltd. make a lasting impression for everyone on your list - and don’t forget a few items for yourself!
Whether or not you or your special someone are handy in the kitchen, Mary Lake-Thompson makes you feel like a pro. Her delicious gourmet cake and cookie mixes are not only foolproof, but they come wrapped in beautifully designed flour sack towels, single hanging flour sack towel, linen guest towels are beautifully packaged in set of two, liquid soaps and hand creme, napkins - each napkin bundle has 6 linen napkins, each napkin has a design printed on it and is hemstitched, placemats, sachets, soaps and soap dishes, soap & towel sets, seach bearing Mary’s lively and colorful artwork.

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AROMATIQUE… Creator of Decorative Fragrance

Aromatique, the Creator of Decorative Fragrance, was created in 1982 by Patti Upton. Patti gave birth to this dynamic company literally “just for fun.” She mixed together a melange of native botanicals such as acorns, pine cones, gumballs and hickory nuts, fragranced them with spices, oils and ingenuity. Patti called her creation The Smell of Christmas and placed it in a friend’s gift shop. Visitors were enthralled. This extraordinary decorative fragrance quickly turned into an overnight success, and customers were consistently asking for more. Often copied but never duplicated, The Smell of Christmas remains the company’s flagship fragrance. As a leader in the fragrance industry noted, “It is great to create a wonderful fragrance, but to keep that fragrance at the top for over twenty years is amazing.”

With the birth of the company, magic and whimsy gave way to deliberation, as Patti began to envision the birth of a new industry: decorative fragrance. It is not potpourri, the traditional collection of sweet smelling dried flowers. Decorative fragrance is rich and full-bodied, with large distinctive botanicals carefully and artfully arranged with a memorable scent. The product is precisely layered into a primary packaging of cellophane bags. The preferred method of display is large open containers. The company now produces a wide variety of fragrance lines, including candles and decorative accessories.

In 1991, Ms. Upton, with the assistance of the nation’s leading personal-products experts, developed a new line known as “The Aromatique Bath.” The bath treatment line was expanded in 1999 to include basic skin care products in several fragrances and continues to evolve as new products are introduced. All Aromatique Bath products contain the finest ingredients at the highest therapeutic levels and are designed to promote and maintain the skin in its most natural, healthy state.

The Aromatique Spa, a specific line of skin care products designed to protect and rejuvenate the skin, was introduced in 2005. It includes a collection of relaxing scented candles to help set the mood for relaxation. Aromatique Spa offers the ultimate in luxury at an affordable price.

Aromatique’s vault to the top of the market has been both magical and deliberate, carefully orchestrated with Patti Upton closely monitoring every stage of the development. Annette Green, President Emeritus of the Fragrance Foundation in New York, declares Patti “as one of our industry’s most creative visionaries. Her trailblazing concepts set the stage for the revolution in the enjoyment and appreciation of fragrance in the home, which is driving the public’s interest in fragrance.” Patti was the first to artfully combine visual elements with fragrance. She is unique in that her business is totally focused on fragrances and their ancillary components.

Patti is quick to call Aromatique a “we” company. She attributes Aromatique’s success to the unique collection of people and talent on her staff that has been drawn to the breathtaking natural beauty of the company’s home in Heber Springs, Arkansas, located in the Greers Ferry Lake resort area of the Ozark foothills. Patti has blended these individual creative forces to produce a support staff second to none. In addition, the talents and ingenuity of local employees have been pressed into service to custom-design and build much of the specialized machinery needed to produce many of its products.

Numerous magazines, newspapers and television shows have featured Patti and Aromatique. She appeared twice on “Working Women,” a nationally syndicated television show from Washington, D.C., and “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” did a segment on Patti and the company. The London Sunday Express and The Washington Post newspapers have both traveled to Arkansas to interview Patti and focus on the company. A Christmas issue of Victoria Magazine featured Patti and the Upton’s Arkansas home. In 1999, the book “The Business of Bliss” featured Patti and the Aromatique Story. An article in the November 2002 issue of “Southern Living” profiled the company and its varied products from decorative fragrance to the bath.

Creating only the highest quality products and keeping Aromatique at the forefront of the decorative fragrance industry has been the company’s mission from the beginning. Patti Upton has been the driving force behind that mission. She states, “The quest for perfection is so important, it sometimes takes up to two years to develop a fragrance. We have always been known for the quality of our fragrances, and as we celebrate our 26th anniversary, our commitment to our customers remains strong and will not change. Aromatique will always provide the best products available and will continue to be the leader in the decorative fragrance industry.”

MyGiftee.com

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Pawparazzi pets from Mygiftee.com

Though we still have a bit of time before Christmas it’s never too early to keep an eye out for great gift ideas, especially ones sure to be a big hit come Christmas morning. We’ve actually got a couple great ideas for you, all from Noodle Head, a company that believes “imagination, creativity, ingenuity, concentration, personal interaction, and good conversation are developed and ignited with real-world projects and toys.”
Noodle Head has quite the lineup of great gift ideas, and we had the opportunity to check out Pawparazzi pets. If any of you have girls at home, a Pawparazzi pet would make the perfect gift. These miniature pet “celebrities” come with a carrying purse, blanket, and celebrity magazine. Be “mom of the year” and go with the Pawparazzi Celebrity Style Set, which includes a carrying purse, leash, collar, blanket, name charm, silver food dish, matching peral collar, and girl’s pearl necklace. No need to make room in the toy box, unless Santa puts the Hotel Pawparazzi and large selection of Pawparazzi accessories under the tree as well!
Pawparazzi Pets, one of the newest and most popular toys under the Noodle Head brand, are collectible plush celebrity pets that come with couture bags and accessories. Each pet comes with a magazine that promotes the personality of the animal and its celebrity status.

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French Look International is an importer and exclusive distributor of high-end and luxury niche brands from Europe. Their brands relate to different aspects of lifestyle and bring something truly unique. Their collections include assortments of fine bath collections, original home fragrances, uniquely scented candles and personal perfumes as well as home furnishings, garden accessories and high quality teas. Their products represent the absolute best from France, England, Italy and Belgium.

“Tade” is one part of French Look International.
Founded in 1995, Tade is a company where craftspeople, artists and merchants combine their talents to bring the traditions of the Middle East into the homes and lifestyle of today.
The ritual surrounding the art of bathing and cooking is symbolized in everyday, familiar items. The simplicity in the choice of raw materials and the sumptuous Middle Eastern design bestow a powerful identity upon these otherwise modest objects.
Ten years ago, while browsing through the Souks of the Middle East, the discovery of these objects sparked off the idea of exploring the mysticism and riches of these lands in depth. Inspiration came from the cooking of oils, the baking of glass and clay, the forging of iron and copper, and from a world rich in vegetables and minerals.

SOAP
The soap has been made in the same way in Aleppo for centuries. Its legendary reputation and mildness come from the high olive and laurel oil content, combined with a nine month drying process.

BATH ACCESSORIES
The wash mitts are made from cotton or sisal and give a rich lather when used with soap. After a long shower, the exfoliating mitts remove dead skin.
The black pumice stone’s rough texture removes hard skin. The alum stone has astringent properties, tightens and lifts the skin, and reduces perspiration. It is used as a deodorant, to relieve razor burn and to restore brightness to drab white linens and garments.

GLASS
The craftsman blows the red-hot molten glass, which gradually takes shape before cooling and becoming iridescent. The process is repeated day and night until the fire in the clay furnace, rebuilt every three months, dies.

COPPER

Copper is a perfect heat convector making it ideal for kitchen utensils. Tin-plating gives it a silver finish and acts as a barrier against its sharp, acid taste. This non-toxic alloy is applied while hot and will last indefinitely provided that it is dried after use. Clean with silver polish.

RECYCLED TIRES

WROUGHT IRON

Modest raw materials are expertly transformed into refined pieces of furniture, representative of the elegant and much celebrated Middle Eastern hospitality. Wrought iron and tin plated (non-toxic), copper consoles and pedestal tables, stools and chairs will extend a generous and characteristically oriental welcome to your guests.

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