About Us
Lisa Growing up in North Orange County of Southern California, she learned her craftsman, painting & design skills firsthand by assisting her father with his home improvement service business as a teenager over the summers.
As a young adult she further inherited her stepfather's work ethic that if "it was worth doing, it was worth doing right."
This website is dedicated to her mother whom has consistently encouraged her to follow her interests and pursue her passions in life, and from her earliest memory that has been a love of: art, color and design.
An avid hobby and craft enthusiast, her friends and family over the years have often been surprised with a well thought out, if not "perfect" gift, suited to their personality and matching their sense of style to a "T", only later to discover that she had actually handcrafted it especially for them herself.
As an art lover and designer, professionally she's continued to focus her educational and work experience via the retail, merchandising, interior design and new home construction fields, serving primarily as a decorative products specialist.
"Think Outside the Box"
CIGAR BOXES
Other than the obvious, (meaning the original intent and convenience of packaging cigars) Cigar boxes have been known to take on a "second life" throughout the years ~customarily passed down from generation to generation~ indeed becoming family heirlooms housing a wealth of priceless treasures.
From my own early childhood I can recall several of these types of containers, packed full of nostalgia: Grandma's "old timey" (meaning brown Sepia) family photos, favorite family recipes, sentimental greeting cards and letters, lovely trinkets,"doo-dads" and a veritable bonanza of gum machine "prizes", stray buttons and sewing notions. Even the ones we had as kids held objects endeared- anything from penny candy to imaginary "pirate booty". Some organized Grandpa's fishing lure collection in days gone by, and of late, Pop's tool bits in the woodworking shed.
If at some point in your lifetime, you've had the delightful discovery of one of these special boxes, then you know it's more than just the timeworn appearance and tactile feel of the woodgrain-
Perhaps it's the aroma? For Once the lid is cracked, the "timecapsule" is opened, and the cedarwood fragrance released. This olfactory stimulus triggers the sensation of one being instantly transported back to another time, much like hearing a song on the radio and recalling a certain time period in your life. I know I'm not alone in this because Time after time, I've observed my customers open one of the boxes and that distinct smell will unleash the flow of memories, and they'll begin to reminisce aloud what it means to them. All of their stories are precious and endearing and I'm truly honored in the sharing of them.
What's your story?
One of the nicest things about cigar boxes though, has got to be their versatility. In my early days of retail (Pier 1 Imports) I remember receiving some new intricately carved and inlayed decorative wood boxes from Africa, of which the shipping manifest read :"Anything Boxes".
"So What's an "anything" box?" you ask
My reply: "Anything you want it to be!"
It's my hope that you enjoy your "Think Outside the Box" creation for many years to come. Express your own personal story and fill it full of your own fond memories.
~Lisa
