You'll always feel like a nut thanks to Mixed Nuts! Their CrazyCardboard™ will excite your creativity. Let your imagination guide you into decorative new worlds!

*NUTTY NOTE: Notice she is sitting on our Royal Assets Throne!

After the battering effects of El Niño, you're sick of rain, snow or at least sick of all the news reports about it. Now it's time to take a deep breath and jump into spring with renewed creative energy. If you're just too tired to even think about getting motivated, relax, we'll make it easy for you.

We'll focus on four fun surfaces (card board, glass, fabric & wood) on which to express yourself. As flowers bloom and blue skies return, spring crafting in a variety of forms is definitely in the air.
If you're feeling just a bit grumpy or lacking your usual crafty spirit, then let the charming array of creative potential from Mixed Nuts bring back your playful side! No, we're not talking peanuts, cashews or macadamia nuts here. Mixed Nuts is an Old Hickory, Tennessee based business, owned and operated by two sisters, Diane Garrison and Linda Ragsdale. After chasing, but not finding, fulfillment in the corporate world these two friendly, energetic women developed their own unique company. Mixed Nuts offers consumers corrugated cardboard pieces to accent with their own creativity. These kraftables^TM are made from recycled, cardboard. They go together with ease and are ready to decorate with paint, rubber stamps, stickers, papers .... anything!

Diane and Linda really love to decorate their thrones and rockers (as well as other items). "It's healing after a long crazy work day!" they said. They have great imaginations - check out the adult throne they decorated - which displays decidedly diverse crafting techniques and styles including sponging, painting and decoupaging.

The CrazyCardboard™ open up creative channels for all ages. An adult throne would make a wonderful Mother's Day gift. The kids can take some of Mom's favorite things and make a collage or use photos to make a memory chair!
Diane and Linda said kids really enjoy playing with paints, and that fabric scraps also make a great decorative device! Would't this make a cute gift for the birthday guest of honor?

"We want to excite the creative side of people," they explained. They have! In fact, when people see the thrones and rockers they often exclaim, " you know what I could do with that?!"

They knew they were on to something when the response to their test workshops was overwhelming. "It's a different experience for the kids because it's 3-D; most of the surfaces that they're used to dealing with are flat. The pieces lock together like a puzzle - it's sort of like an inside-outside play field," they explained.

That sense of play is, of course, not just limited to kids. Adults will undoubtedly get a kick out of decorating the chairs, too.

Creative Living Magazine Managing, Editor Cathy Burlinham was up to the challenge when she decorated the mini doll rocker, taking her cue from Diane and Linda's adult throne. Cathy said, "It allowed me to get into a kind of cartoon world. I used to design "real" furniture for "real" people and couldn't be as free with my creativity. This was great fun!"

Kids will have a blast creating the perfect chair for their favorite doll, beanie baby or cat!

The child-size rocker would be a fun project for a birthday party. Let the partygoers' imaginations soar!

Diane and Linda, who refer to themselves as "nut one" and "nut two," point out that these rockers are not only fun home accents but functional too.

The adult throne will hold up to 300 lbs., while the child-size chairs are safety tested up to 100 lbs. "Our products become a palette in any hands," they said.
APRIL 1998