May | 2021 | MowryJournal.com

Back in the day … back when I went a-vendoring at craft fairs … I sold Magic Bottle Openers. In fact, I sold a lot of them. They were quite popular, and my demonstration of them became a point of entertainment in the booth.

Honest.

Me. The Entertainer.

Who knew?

But I digress. I would demo the MBOs, people would laugh … and then a small voice was often heard asking, what do you have for wine drinkers?

Uh…..

Well, at first the answer was nothing. And the customers were not pleased.

Then, the answer was Wine Bottle Holders. They were a bit of fun, but, ultimately, I didn’t like making them, so I stopped. I’m an adult, you see. I get to choose. And the customers were not pleased.

So, then, the answer became Wine Bottle Coasters. I still have those (well, I will have them when I make more!), but they were not as much fun as an MBO. And the customers … well, you know.

Which brings me to my latest offering, Wine Gift Boxes. I got an order to make 200 of these a couple of months ago for a local business that wanted to give them to key customers. And you only have to hit me with one big order like that to make me think that I may have found something.

These Wine Gift Boxes come in 2 sizes, 1 bottle and 2 bottle. They come with a packing material called excelsior, AKA bird’s nest. Excelsior is long aspen wood shavings that is just perfect to nestle a bottle of wine into when you present the bottle(s) and custom box to your friend or client.

I am making the boxes out of Baltic Birch, which is a high quality, 7-layer plywood. The wood is left raw, but sanded smooth. I have made a few versions that are available now for immediate shipment … and I have a few designs that can be personalized and are perfect for weddings, anniversaries, house warmings, or other important celebrations.

All of these can be purchased today on my retail website, MrMsWoodshop.com. Click here to go straight to the page with the WGBs. If you are ordering a customized box, be sure to include all of the details for what you want carved or engraved on the lid in the notes with your order.

And … if you are going to a craft fair in May, I just might see you there! I will be at the Fresno Home & Garden Show as well as Bishop Mule Days. Details are on my events page, here.

Passport Stamp: Arches National Park 3 comments

We visited Arches on May 14, 2021. The Lady had signed up to get their tweets, so she knew that park capacity was being surpassed daily. They were closing the park to additional visitors at 11am. Or earlier. The park was re-opening in the late afternoon when more visitors could be accommodated in this “small” park.

Plus, we knew that popular spots would run out of parking fast. So we spent the night in Moab, and then got up at 6a to arrive at the park at 7:30a.

We had to wait in line for 15 minutes to get into the park; they had both lanes open to get the paying visitors into the park. We, of course, had our Golden Eagle passports, so we were in without paying the $30 per car. We elected to drive straight to the iconic Delicate Arch first … and we got there with plenty of parking available. After that picture was captured, we proceeded to drive through the rest of the park at our leisure, stopping at every designated wide spot in the road to take pictures.

The park’s website said we could spend 10 minutes at every Viewpoint, and finish the park’s paved roads in 4-1/2 hours. We beat that time, and felt that we had been there, done that.

Here is what we saw.