Category Archives: whimsical window displays

firefly facelift: before and after

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firefly facelift: before and after
After painting almost everything, re-purposing and tossing out some old display pieces and also bringing in some new… I believe we have achieved the fresh look we were going for at our Berkley store.  Of course one of my favorite parts of those ‘makeover shows’ is the classic before/after shots so here are a few of ours… We kept our crazy mannequins and positioned them so they were spilling out ‘paint’ from a few .
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winter wonderland windows

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winter wonderland windows
Tis the season to dress up our front windows for the holiday season.  It’s something I enjoy doing… but it’s also challenging to come up with new ideas every year.  Lucky for me, an Anthropologie catalog landed in my mailbox and it was the perfect inspiration for one of this year’s scenes. Tessa & I had so much fun putting this window together last year, I thought I’d revisit the look, only using shades .
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lemonade 4 sale

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lemonade 4 sale
When June hits, I always have a pitcher of lemonade in my fridge.  Something about that combination of sweet & tart makes it one of my favorite summer sips.  (especially when it’s mixed with iced tea)  Since lemonade is synonymous with summer, I recruited Tessa, our German exchange student one last time to help me with the shop’s windows. After I finished up our other display window, I popped in to find Tessa creating .
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best dressed

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best dressed
We must admit, we were thrilled to hear that we were named Best Gift Shop by Hour Detroit voters for the 6th year in a row!  We truly have the BEST firefly fans & are honored to carry this fantastic title. I love the circus theme they chose for this year’s edition & wanted to use the cover image in a creative way.  Since the talented Tessa will only be with us a few .
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3 cheers for spring!

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3 cheers for spring!
There are many times when I’m not so sure how a display window idea is going to turn out.  I wanted to make some tissue pom poms & work them into a flower theme… however after making my first few, I was inspired to turn it into a cheer leading theme. I can’t think of a better thing to cheer for… although maybe I’m a bit biased since my name is April ;-) I .
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all dressed up for valentine’s day

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all dressed up for valentine’s day
I had so much fun putting together the Christmas window displays with Tessa, I asked her to work her magic for Valentine’s day.  So with some tissue paper, a stapler & tape she crafted up these fabulous frocks. And the finished scene…. Wishing you a mailbox full of fantastic valentines from friends & family this February 14th! Like to see what goes on behind the scenes at catching fireflies?  Then sign up to receive .
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coffee filter snowflake scene

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coffee filter snowflake scene
I get inspiration for my store windows from many things, people & places… one of them being Anthropologie.  I blogged about these amazing windows I saw in New York in the summer of 2008. The thing I love about Anthropologie is they always use common things like cups, books, bags, plastic bottles, cupcake liners… and turn them into amazing art installations.  Unfortunately I don’t have a team of artists on call to implement such .
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paper dolls & pretty windows

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paper dolls & pretty windows
I have to say part of the inspiration for our holiday windows this year came from an art exhibition Tessa was invited to model for this past September.  The artist behind Paper Dolls is Matthew Richmond of Ferndale & he transforms yesterday’s news into amazing dresses of all kinds. I employed the whole fam to help me get all the goods ready to dress the windows ~in case you ever wondered what we do .
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I love “I like you”

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I love “I like you”
I love discovering artsy shops in far away towns… seeing their local offerings, how they display goods, the general vibe of the store and more.  So when I stepped into I Like You in downtown Minneapolis a giant smile appeared on my face because they got an A+ in all of the above. This space used to be an old recording studio but after some love, care and astro-turf Sarah & her partner turned .
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celebrate our 11th birthday!

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celebrate our 11th birthday!
Can you believe our original Berkley location is eleven years old?  We’re pretty proud to have made it to the 5th grade of the retail world… thanks to fantastic firefly fans like YOU! So to celebrate, we’re offering 20% off our entire store on Saturday, September 24 from 10-6 at BOTH our locations & onine. Plus, we’re donating 5% of the sales that day to Camp Casey of Royal Oak.  They brighten days by .
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