GRAVETTE -- A new business opened last week on Gravette's Main Street. It's called Granny's Simple Blessings, and the name is appropriate because walking through the door makes you feel as if you're going back in time to visit Grandma.
Owner Holly Wallace has transformed a cozy cottage, once the home of Colleen Dickinson, into a charming craft shop. When Colleen had to sell her home and move closer to her son for health reasons, Wallace bought the property to house her shop.
The sense of coming home is enhanced by the gleaming hardwood floors in the house and the lovely lace curtains Holly has kept at the windows. Paintings of flowers and weathered barns adorn the walls, and the sun shines in on a table and chairs in the corner of the living room. The coffeepot there beckons one to stop and take a break from shopping or relax while waiting on the next craft class.
Granny's Simple Blessings, located at 408 Main Street N.W., just two doors west of the former Gravette Shelling Company, is now open for limited hours only. Wallace is an aide at Glenn Duffy Elementary School and opens the shop after school. Her mother is keeping the doors open all day Thursday, and hours on Saturday are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. When school is out for the summer, the business will be open all day.
Wallace is offering classes for kids. Some of the sessions will teach youngsters to make their own toys, bake cookies from scratch, do simple hand sewing and painting. Groups of children from the Boys and Girls Club and Imagine Before and After School Care will be dropping by after school. Wallace has constructed colorful wooden tables in the back room for the youngsters' work space.
Wallace's mother, Diana Shannon, owns the Painting Place Studio and More in Siloam Springs and teaches art classes at the vo-tech school in Kansas, Okla. Shannon will be teaching advanced painting classes. Her paintings, painted saws, pottery and other items are on sale in the shop.
Wallace's cousin, Crystal Daubenmire, will teach classes in crocheting and sewing. Her crocheted items, including shawls and head warmers with interchangeable floral designs, are sold at Granny's Simple Blessings. Wallace's brother, Clayton Partain, also adds to the shop's inventory with his wooden shelves, some featuring handy hooks and old door knobs. Some of his larger creations, chicken coops and decorative outhouses, will soon be set up outside.
Other items available at the shop include painting kits and dolls for the youngsters, kitchen items such as cookie cutters, pot holders, measuring spoons, sugar and cream dispensers and gift items, including scarves and denim purses. You can also take home a few bars of lye soap, some tasty apple butter or a jar of local honey, from beekeepers in Neosho, Mo.
Wallace plans to hold a grand opening for her shop this summer. She intends to host arts and crafts weekends the first weekend of each month in which individuals or groups can rent a booth, put up tables and sell their own wares.
Simple Blessings will also be available for hosting birthday parties. Wallace will teach a simple craft class for the guests, followed by time for them to hold their birthday celebration.
Wallace, who lives with her husband Tracy on Big Springs Road west of town, will be assisted in her shop by her daughter Kisha Wallace and twin sons Caleb and Dallas, who are students at Gravette Middle School. An older son, Kyle, is in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Virginia.
The strains of beautiful music fill the air at times as local musician Mandy Query teaches piano and violin lessons in one of the back bedrooms. Anyone wishing to study with Query can call her at 479-787-5176.
For booking birthday parties, securing a spot in sewing, painting or other classes or setting up a booth at this summer's craft fairs contact Wallace at 479-212-3519.
General News on 04/01/2015