The Stillroom

My apologies for not updating the shopping guide:(   If you come into the village, everyone is happy to guide you along to not only just the village shops and eateries but also to the few cool little shops on the outskirts!   Pop into The Stillroom at 111 State Street for a shopping map and directory.

The Stillroom Gift & Tea Shop is in full swing preparing for the second half of the year. As the summer soltice is fast upon us,  we are thrilled to announce the opening of  a second shop on Main Street located in the back of Kacey’s Fresh Cup.   So, be sure to stop into Kacy’s Fresh Cup and check out what really cool things The Stillroom has to offer while you sip your fresh cup!  Kacy’s Fresh Cup will reopen on July 7th after a one week hiatus and The Stillroom is preparing for a “soft opening” August first and will be full swing September first.

The second shop will feature fragrant herbs,spices, botanicals, perfume and essential oils , frankincense, myhrr, French blue lavender, dried patchouli, rose petals, cinnamon sticks, cloves, orris root to name just a few things and will also include fresh culinary lavender, vanilla beans, nutmeg, catnip and will be accented with  the beautiful touches that The Stillroom has become known for.  From bath salts to simmering pots we are happy to blow the dust off of our original shop plans from 1985!

  We were joking that I should call it Still A Room or Gypsy’s because it is still a room and we have sort of moved around a few times since we opened our doors in 2001.  Change is good.

We are freshening up the botanicals and spices and are in the process of making fragrant, organic recipes from a long time ago in order to bring out the original idea of The Stillroom before it became known as a gift & tea shop.  This is going to be fun!

One of the great things about our growing business district is that the shops that you enjoy coming to are all so different from one another and make no mistake that there is room for everyone! 

 So, as you meander our blooming Main Street on these lazy summer afternoons to come, know that you can start at the Yoma Room or dog groomers or the hair salon or the bank or Curves or the Hardware store and work your way from A Couple Doors Down Boutique all the way to The Chandlery Gift Shoppe who has teamed up with local shop The Red Squirrel & Friends Cottage Collectibles and Antiques, C. Matus Company hand crafted Amish furniture, games and art for the home,  The Second Time Around better used clothing, and The Stillroom Gift & Tea Shop for cool stuff and The Gray Wolf Gallery for framing services and beautiful rustic artwork and then go next door to Agway and pick up your bird seed  then perhaps after a round of mini golf and ice cream with the kids,  go to any of our fine eateries and grab breakfast, lunch or dinner! 

Too exhausted from a day of everything our area has to offer?  Have a restful evening in any of the great Bed & Breakfasts on Main Street or on the outskirts into farm country! 

 The shop keeps will help guide you around.  Don’t forget we are close to Moraine State Park for sailing and swimming, Rails to Trails for biking and walking,  Todd Sanctuary for hiking and not far from Hartwood Acres (they have a great free summer concert series)and Beechwood Nature Reserve, Saxonburg Museum, The Rachel Carson homestead and Cooper Cabin and are a football’s throw or hockey puck drive away from the Cityof Champions and all that Pittsburgh has to offer in the way of museums, cultural events, The Strip District, Heinz History Museum, Children’s Museum, The Aviary, The Warhol Museum  and you are only a two hour drive away from the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio!  Saxonburg is also close to Historic Harmony and Historic Foxburg (home to the nations first golf course and Divani Chocolate Boutique) and The Black Forest Inn in Parker (five minutes before Foxburg where we had the best German fare in our ENTIRE lives).  We are a pleasant drive from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Waters and Ohiopyle as well as the great little amusement park in the mountains, Idlewild Park.

Saxonburg is a great location to travel long distances to get to because we are such a great central location to lots of places…obviously!  We love living and making our living in this neat part of South Butler County.  It’s a little diamond in the rough that shines a little more every year!

The next holiday weekend will be here quickly and it looks like after tonight, we can stop covering our plants with newspaper and old beach towels!

We will be looking for our weeping pear or cherry tree to plant in honor of arbor day and in honor of all of the warriors who have fought to keep us free including freedom of speech which is one of the most important ones or there would be no Saxonblog!

In addition to planting, The Stillroom has also been tracking down new suppliers for some pretty nice giftware.  We have been very careful with finding gifts to give or give yourself from new tea flavors, beautiful scarves that are hand made by women who are earning money to purchase and plant their seeds of hope that they may become self susutaining,our martini rocks are back just in time for summer cocktail hour! Really nice new tea mugs for brewing loose teas and so much more.

I think you will be pleased with what you find!   Have a safe and happy and memorable Memorial Day weekend!

Even though the economy is still not great, I am always hopeful that we will have a successful fall and winter season this year!  I spend the first six months of the year preparing for the last six months of the year

Saxonburg will be welcoming Sister City guests from Muhlhausen Germany over the next few days.  They will be guided around attractions from Butler County to the city of Pittsburgh.

Saxonburg is the settlement  of John Augustus Roebling, inventor of wire rope and creator of the Brooklyn Bridge.  If you have not been to Saxonburg lately, you should take the time to enjoy this little gem of a village in Butler County. 

We still have vintage architecture that has been saved throughout the village, we have several restaraunts that vary from one another, B & B’s that are housed in turn of the century buildings and we have several gift shops that are each different from each other including The Stillroom on State Street (shameless plug)  which moved here eight years ago at the start of another resurgence of shops after a dry spell.

Here is to our sister city and I hope they enjoy their stay here in our tiny spot of the world!

Oh, and how about those Pens?

Since The Stillroom re-opened after the holiday season on January 20th 2009, I figured I would give a report on our first one hundred days of business this year here in Saxonburg, Pa. 

What a difference a year can make!  The gift business has taken the expected downward turn along with the economy since I opened the doors in 2001 but the tea sales are still on target.  It is not enough to consider going out of business, it just requires careful planning for the coming year.

If Saxonburg is a destination point, I want to be here for you to enjoy what The Stillroom has to offer.  We have  a very fine selection of Stash Teas and Harney & Sons Teas long with fun and useful tea accessories. 

The Stillroom is a very sweet and relaxing shop to browse around in.  The gift selections that we have are the tried and true things that have grown in popularity over time.  For a small shop, there is a sweet selection of giftware for brides, babies, children, for the garden, for the tea and coffee lovers, for the sweet tooth, fragrances for the home, music, DVD’s, books, vintage hats, gloves, odds n ends and so much more.

The Mother’s Bouquet Floral Tea’s are in and make such a cute little presentation with a keepsake tin for mom for under $5.00.  The Stillroom has six new tea flavors including new from Stash, iced tea mixes that are excellent and several oolong blends just in time for when the weather gets hot.  They are great iced or hot!

I am expanding slightly into gently used antiques and not so antique.  Just touches of beautiful tea sets, glassware and along with pretty things and cool finds.

On that note here is a little Mother’s Day history.  Started by Anna M. Jarvis in 1907, she proposed a day be set aside for children to pay tribute to their mothers. The original intent was for a mother who had passed on into loving memory.  It was Anna’s hope that the holiday be intended to inspire simple, loving gestures “through some distinct act of kindness, visit, letter, gift or tribute to show remembrance of the mother to whom general affection is due.”

Remember, it is only the first one hundred years of motherhood that are the hardest!  After that, it’s a piece of cake!  Our Harney & Sons mother’s day tea will go great with that cake.  (another shameless product plug)!

I learned a little something about planting trees in April.  In keeping with the original intention of Arbor Day, I went to my local greenhouse in search of a fragrant lilac bush and a weeping cherry tree.  As I honed in on my final purchase, the woman there was kind enough to let me know that if I bought my bushes and tree this past weekend,  I would either be carrying these large plants from porch to yard and covering and uncovering them until the danger of frost had passed.  I really appreciated that information!  In the meantime over the years as Arbor Day has evolved into Earth Day,  save the planting and your money for Memorial Day weekend or there about.  There are countless other ways to continue “going green” until we can plant the green!  It has been a rather chilly and gray few days as I look out of my shop window and swear I am looking at sleet…but look out for Saturday’s projected high of 83 degrees!  That’s what I’m talking about!

As the calender days roll by we have seen the first spring holiday come and go.  The village is starting to wake up from winter and the shop keeps are dusting off and rolling up sleeves to get ready for the next big thing which I suppose is Mother’s Day. 

But before I get ahead of myself, I must give a shout out to Earth Day (formerly known as Arbor Day), which is April 22.  This under estimated day is probably one of the most important days in the spring.    Arbor Day is the gentlest of holidays, a thoughtful, reflective day that originated in Nebraska in 1872 by one of the courntry’s earliest ecologists, J. Sterling Morton. He became increasingly alarmed with the wanton clearing of the Western plains by settlers and with the land being void of any greenery the nineteenth century maps of the  Nebraska Territory bor the legend “ The Great American Desert.”  It was recorded that our counrty’s first Arbor Day- April 22, 1872- saw the planting of one million trees across Nebraska’s desolate prairies!

“Dear little tree that we plant today, what will you be when we’re old and gray?”"The savings bank of the squirrel and mouse, For robin and wren, an apartment house.  The dressing room of the butterfly’s ball, The locust’s and katydid’s concert hall.  The schoolboy’s ladder in pleasant June, The schoolgirl’s tent in the July noon.  And my leaves shall whisper them merrily, A tale of the children who planted me.” -Nineteenth-century anonymous

Speaking of planting and blooming, The Stillroom has Blooming Spring Tea pods ready for you.   Our blooming teas are a fun way to end a fine day of planting!  Also know as art tea for it’s beauty, when the art tea pod is steeped, a large Calendula and a flurry of Osmanthus flowers bloom in the pot!   We have glass tea pots just for these but they are just as spretty in a mason jar…that depends on your level of fancy or casual. This showy tea  has a distinctive apricot flavor and goes great with our apricot biscotti.  Let the show begin!  These are cool and they may be enjoyed hot (if it’s a cold late April day) or iced if it’s a warm weather day!

As for Mother’s Day, we always have a delightful selection of Mother’s Day Tea Tins with silk tea sachets in addition to this-n-that!

After the toy scare in 2007, The Stillroom started to pay closer attention to how and where we buy giftware.  We always puchased our decorative garden sculptures, nightlights, teas, coffee and biscotti locally and within the USA.

Over time and after going to local gift shows, I determined that every other gift shop in the AK Valley was attending these shows and that resulted in gifty repetition from shop to shop. 

I did however, manage over the years, out of maybe 75 to 100 booths, to find one or two that were showcasing local talent throughout the Pittsburgh area.  From Derry to Penn Hills to Foxburg to Zelienople to name a few, I started finding unusual, and high quality giftware to pass on to consumers in our area. 

This weekend, I found two more artists that are contributing to The Stillroom.  One was a woman from Ohio who makes tea caddies from Ohio clay.  For a shop like mine, that was huge! Not only did it fit in with what we sell, it meant I could finally drop the “big box” distributor.

When I first opened in 2001, I did not have alot of knowledge as to where to buy gifts that my customers would enjoy.  I jumped on the bandwagon that I am sure alot of shop owners do and that was to buy from large importers that served larger chain stores and as well as smaller shops.  As a result, I found alot of everything was made everywhere else but here. As  I walked through gift and craft chain stores, I  found the same merchandise there that I carried only they were always able to beat my prices because of how much they were buying.

That said, over time and with alot of searching, The Stillroom is a local gift shop, buying as much as possible from local artists, some famous and most not. 

This is how I plan to boost my local economy in some small way along with jumping on the “green bandwagon” by changing the way we package items that are going out the door.

It’s all good!

with fragrant smells which yield a certain kinde of nourishment.

-William Coles 1656

With spring coming at us at a welcome pace, it is always  nice to see the winter blahs  blow into the winds of March!   They are replaced with the lively fragrance of hyacinths and  Easter lilies,  egg dying, making a living Easter basket, (instructions to follow) enjoying Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit and enjoying chamomile tisanes! 

Chamomile is such a fresh delicate herb flavor. This herbal tisane ( it has no tea) has a  granny smith apple-like flavor and brews a pretty gold color with a fragrance that is pure and delightful…  not to mention it will help to calm an upset tummy! (As Peter Rabbit’s mama knows!)

Ash Wednesday is upon us and  this special day of observance marks the beginning of Lent , Easter and of course Spring .  Soon we will be picking up the last of the branches and twigs from the gusty winds of winter and raking out the  soggy brown leaves from our flower beds as we greet our neighbors with yard arms in hand. We watch sunny days get longer as the birds slowly return to greet us with their sweet songs in the key of life. 

 The Stillroom is preparing for the spring season with our Harney & Sons Chamomile tea, Blooming Tea Pods, Beatrix Potter books, Divani Chocolates, our new line of pistachio butter cookies, colorful new Laurel Burch designs, all of our fragrant Spring scented hand lotions are in place, new colorful lithophane night lights are on the board and Peter Rabbit onsies are waiting for your littlest bunnies to wear!

If you have been cooped up all winter, take a minute to download our shopping map for Saxonburg and come and enjoy what we have here in our little village!  

The Saxonburg Area Library is preparing for their fund raising Spring Tea party on March 18th which has gained tremendous popularity, The Fresh Cup Cafe is booking weekly Thursday afternoon teas by reservation and  The Hotel Saxonburg is now accepting reservations for their Spring Tea on March 22 from 2-4. Call Lori or Sue at 724-352-4200 between 9-5 for details! 

It’s all about the tea! 

The Stillroom Gift & Tea Shop is a tea retailer and we are open Tuesday through Friday from 10-4, sometimes 5 on super sunny days and Saturday’s from 10-2.  

Come and visit us soon to peruse our selection of  cool gifts, Stash and Harney &  Sons Teas, La Prima Coffee, La Peri Dolci biscotti and Divani Chocolates.  

 The new flavors arriving from Stash  are Coconut Mango Oolong  and refreshing White Peach Oolong.   What is Oolong? It is semi-fermented with qualities of black and green teas. With a distinctive fruity flavor, it is very good indeed!  We also have added the Chanakara Tea Sampler as well as powdered green iced teas made from whole green tea leaves that have been ground into a fine powder.  By the glass or on the go by simply adding to bottled water!  Great for the summer months ahead. 

The Stillroom Gift & Tea shop is a small space so I  leave the tea parties up to the places that have the space to seat you.  We have the pleasure of serving the Saxonburg area by supplying you with the best selection of tea, tea accessories and fine giftware made in the United States of America!

We heart tea. 

Changing the way we do business…buy local and fair trade!  Change you can believe in!

Here is how to prepare a living Easter Basket.  Line a basket with foil then plastic wrap.  Bring it to the top sides of the basket.  Fill with a little gravel or small stones for drainage and add on top of that a good brand of potting soil and plant rye or other hearty grass seeds.  Water and keep in a bright room.  It is real cute and all natural!

Over the years of creating a retail shop, the last few years have  been the most important for me as a buyer. 

It has become  very clear that it is important to stock The Stillroom with as much as I can find that is made locally and in the USA. 

 I have been  supporting the following businesses  in the area such as  La Peri Dolci in Penn Hills, La Prima in Pittsburgh, Fernwold Reproductions of Derry, Divani Chocolate Boutique of Foxburg, and Gemini of Zeli.  Expanding into Harney Teas of New York, Stash Teas of Oregon, Laini’s  Ladies, The Porcelaine Garden from California,  Mailable Greetings along with the baby onsies, copper bubblewands, terrific hand lotions from Illinois and much more.

Take note also that we have finer quilting fabrics from Quilters Delights that went out of business last year.  We are helping the former owner Rosie by giving her shelf space in The Stillroom so that quilters and sewers in the area do not have to go far to find beautiful textiles for hand made projects!

I am going to continue in this direction with  the hope that we all can survive this awful recession.  Now that we have what hopefully is a pro active president in place, the Steelers have the trophy, Phil has seen his shadow, it is time to pull up the bootstraps and get on with the business of digging out.

We will be blessed with some warm weather this coming week and along with that the signs of spring and regrowth should be observed.  Take note of the few birds that will be audible upon awakening, the melting of all of this snow and the back ups at the local carwashes. 

In the meantime, The Stillroom will be doing what it has tried to do best and that is to continue to be here for anyone who wants to come and enjoy small town shopping.  Weather it is for a quick gift or good coffee or tea, I will do my best to bring the best to you!

Now that the holiday season has come to a close, it is time for The Stillroom to reopen for the new year.  Each and every Saxonburg celebration was fun.  It is such a special time for everyone in the village and beyond.

I hope these feelings of comfort and joy follow us all into a new year.

As the January days roll by  we will be witnessing a sea of red, white, and blue and black and gold!  Patriotism and football and tea!

We are celebrating inauguration day through Presidents Day in February with red, white and blue tea.  Who says you can’t have colorful and delicious tea to go along with a themed tea gathering? 

The Stillroom carries red roobios tea and  apple cinnamon that brews red in color.  The White Christmas with it’s wonderful mint and ginger flavor provides the winter white and the blueberry herbal tisane and blue ginger tisane turn out beautiful blue tea.

Football tea party? Oh yes!  Any of our black teas along with egyptian or american chamomile tea will be festive at any football tea party.  Suggested tea menu would have golden quiche along with savory and sweet chocolate covered bacon.  When I first heard of chocolate covered bacon I was thinking, “I can’t believe they found something else to dip into chocolate!” After a sampling in a downtown Pittsburgh shop, I found it to be quite good.  Be creative in your menu planning, it does not have to be complicated!

We can unclog our arteries in March with any of our eight flavors of green tea which The Stillroom designates as green tea month!