Greetings from “Karen’s Place” downtown Shoshone. It’s been awhile since I posted but it has been worth it. My Art studio has grown to include a wonderful art gallery and gift shop. 
Then in July we added a new fabric room. Here is the tale of how this happened. About a year ago my husband and I agreed that I needed a bigger art studio. So I moved from a 15′ x 25′ room to another part of our commercial building that was about 2.5 times bigger than what I had. He moved his office into my smaller space. We still had another space that was about 12’x 30′ which included the street entrance for businesses. I told him that if we didn’t rent out this street space by December then I wanted to use it for my classroom and gallery. December 1st came and it was still empty so on December 2nd I opened the wall up to make my art studio a 12′ x 60′ foot space which is now filled with my art quilts and other artists hand crafted creations too. In June my friend wanted to put some of her fabric from her online store into the gift shop. As I looked around the fabric would have to be in my classroom. My husband suggested that he move his office into the back of the commercial building and knock the wall out between his old office and my art gallery. And the fabric room was born. 
So now my business is officially called “Karen’s Place” art, fabric, gifts & classes. I have had many little gift shops in the past starting in 1989 with my mom. It was located in Hailey where Shorty’s restaurant is now. It was called “Closet on the Corner” and featured a lot of our friends creations including my mom and I’s hand made cabbage patch dolls. We were only open for the holiday season that year but it was so much fun selling our friends work and the excitement on their faces when they got their checks. I still have the sign from that little shop hanging on the back of my house in rememberance of that creative time.
Now 27 years later I realize that “Karen’s Place” is that business reborn so to speak. I now have 11 vendors selling their creations in the shop. Your will find my art work of course but also anything from barn quilts, purses, bags, bath salts, fizzies and oil & acrylic painting. It is truly a magical place. A wonderful place to create in. 
Of course 500 bolts of fabric provided by Idaho Yankee Fabric is the frosting on the cake. 
My husband asked me the other day “Did I ever think I would be running a fabric shop again?” Reminding me that 20 years ago I ran Mill End Fabrics in Jerome. I was the manager there for 7 years. My favorite part of working there was opening the doors in the morning and thinking I can create anything I want today. While working at Mill Ends Fabric I got the idea to paint on fabric. My art quilt journey began there. As I write this post I realize that “Karen’s Place” is a combination of both of those shops. It is the best of both. And if you are wondering, yes I open the front door each day and say “I can create anything I want today!” Come visit me at “Karen’s Place” and see the magic for yourselves……..
