Archive for October, 2010

Christmas Wreaths Loaded with Ornaments

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Jingle Bells Wreath               Christmas Dazzler Wreath

The Christmas Forest elves are busy in the workshop making gorgeous wreaths from the exquisite noble fir of the majestic Cascade Mountains. They are ready to help you start one of the best family traditions you’ll ever make! Their customers return year after year because they know this is where they can buy the freshest wreaths and garlands and they want to share them with everyone on their gift list. The incredibly fragrant greens and berries “start the season” for many.

The folks at Christmas Forest have come a long way from their humble beginnings in 1976 when it was just Mr & Mrs Holt designing and crafting the wreaths. The two of them would leave home by 4am to be at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle when the roll call for booths began at 6am. One of them would work the booths (many times located out in the rain) while the other one would go door-to-door on Queen Ann Hill. The wreaths are so nice that they averaged a sale every third door.  At the end of the day, it was back to the workshop to make wreaths late into the night. 

It was a great learning experience, helping the Holts find their niche of providing the highest quality evergreens available, thus beginning a thriving family business 34 years ago.

Christmas Forest provides 50 – 60 jobs each season for residents in a Washington state county with very high unemployment rates.  Because the majority of the Christmas Forest elves return year after year, they’ve become a very close family – they work there because they love what they do and they love pleasing their customers. The production crew and artisans are so proud of the work they do that they put their name tag on the back of each wreath they make. The office staff also gets to know the customers personally and looks forward to talking to them every year.

The harvesters do not cut down any trees to make the Christmas wreaths. In the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, they harvest the tips of the branches, which actually promotes the growth of the trees. Trimming the branches of the noble fir trees is beneficial to the trees and thus great for the environment.

Even the beautiful bows are handmade by the local Christmas Forest elves during the off-season, making Christmas Forest products truly Made In America by local crafters!

The Christmas Forest Mission is to thrill their customers with exquisite wreaths and ornaments; to impress them with unsurpassed service; to respect their employees with fairness and opportunity, and to honor mother earth with responsible forest care.

Christmas Forest ships worldwide and they look forward to sending a wreath to you.  Buy one of the wreaths with ornaments or start with the Rustic Wreath and add your own ornaments.

Article and images used with permission from ChristmasForest.com

Santa's Ornament Shop

Help Win the Fight against Breast Cancer

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

 Buy a pink hat ornament – Become part of the cure!

Personalized Free - Gingerbread Family   PersonalizedFree.com - Pink Hat Ornament   PersonalizedFree.com - Bears in a Wreath

During the month of October, ornaments vendor PersonalizedFree.com has pledged to donate $5 for every pink hat ornament purchased.  The proceeds from this drive will be given directly to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help win the fight against breast cancer.  This noble effort of the folks at PersonalizedFree.com is a win-win situation for everyone. You become a part of a great cause and you get a beautiful ornament. 

PersonalizedFree.com - Bear Family in a SleighYou will find other great perks when you are shopping online at PersonalizeFree.com.  There is a wide variety of ornaments that you can have personalized and you can see after looking around online for just a few minutes that the owner takes great pride in the ornaments and in the careful handwriting that is used for each personalized ornament.  The owner will not send out an ornament that she wouldn’t want to hang on her own family’s Christmas tree.  The personalization is always free,  and the shipping is also free for orders totaling $60 or more.

The well organized company is a family owned business started in 1993 by Wendy Simonsen.  Her extended family is an important part of this business adventure that she started 17 years ago, and she says that they really step up to the plate and help her so much during her busy seasonal time of the year.  

Catch on to Wendy’s enthusiasm for the handcrafted ornaments and her commitment to organizations researching a cure for breast cancer.  Buy a pink hat ornament today and honor someone who is battling, or has lost the fight against breast cancer, or give one as a gift to someone who participated in the SGK 3-Day Race for the Cure. 

Article and images used with permission from PersonalizedFree.com