About Us - Our Story
Howdy there from Idaho, Sweet Friends! ♥
Charlie Girl here! :) 1000 years ago in my college years (Lol...) it was time to do the decor shuffle again ... but living in a dorm, I didn't have any room for decor to make my space look "like home".
I remember holding up my favorite Halloween pillow I had bought with mom and I thought "I wish I could just rip the face off this one and turn it into a Christmas pillow instead of having to store it up at mom/dads again... sniffle, sniffle!" LIGHTBULB MOMENT.
Life went on and after getting married, we had three little boys. Our little farmhouse brought all sorts of adventures. It's where my babies were born and are currently raised... those babies grew and grew and got bigger things....so we needed more room once again. Lots of my decor had to go to fit all their things they needed. It just so happened that my job was ending at the time and we were discussing what I could do next to help. I saw my old little Halloween pillow while tossing things...hmmm... Was there a way anyone would like a pillow that turned into something different like me, so there wasn't so many pillow covers lost in boxes all over. I just knew other people didn't like pillows as much as I did...lol..
I had a good friend say " oh c'mon, those are cute...go to a craft show..." but I was too embarrassed to tell people I had NINE totes of pillows at the time or what if they thought it was a dumb idea... what if they didn't like it... after all, we couldn't find anything else like it anywhere else... so it had to be dumb... right? I finally got the courage to do a craft show and made that friend come with me....LOL. You guys - we sold out! I was sooo wrong. What I found was an amazing group of people that had my same problem! I couldn't believe it! ..and we all became friends!
We have been in the biz for 9 years now. We have had the time of our lives with all the different shows and what JOY these pillows have brought to so many customers and new friends. We have been to big retreats to learn more to reach out to more, hoping to create JOY in everyone's homes.
It's been such a blessing to meet the people we have, the beautiful stores our pillows are in, and the fun adventures we have endured.. it has taught our kids A LOT about business and only regret is we didn't start sooner! :)
We were so excited.. we cleared out the basement next! We used our dining room table for a sewing machine and I used my boys crayons and markers to design all the panels on paper first (which I still use to this day, btw!) My boys would fill up our truck with orders and daddy would take them to our tiny, little post office up to our "one gas station" town. We worked hard, long hours..but I could at least stay home with our boys this way. They enjoyed making forts with the boxes in the basement... and I only had to stop a few pillow fights.. LOL.
We weren't sure what the future would bring... but it seemed the more craft shows we attended, the more you all loved us. It was time to build a warehouse and get more help to keep up. We built the best family tribe ever (picture below). Each one of these beautiful people hold such a special place in my heart as we grow this family business. We have been to over 350 shows together now. We all work together, raise our kids together, cry and laugh together....we wouldn't have it any other way. We love our sweet customers just the same.. they are family to us. We see many of you come back time and time again and it is our happy place to serve you, listen to you, chat with you over emails and meet many of you in person!
♥ Come join us - we will treat you like family!
-Charlie Girl and the PillowPanels fam
