Lena and Ole are off to Yuma

Join us as we travel to Yuma for the Scandinavian Festival at the Yuma Civic Center at 1440 West Desert Hills Drive, Yuma, Arizona for the 9-3 Fair on Saturday, February 25. This is a fair that will include Scandinavian foods, entertainment, and booths that will be fun for all ages. In the area, come and see us.

Lena and Ole are in Arizona

Yes, we’ve been here since early December 2011. For those of you in the midwest, our weather is very warm — that’s why Lena doesn’t blog very often!! We had a great time in Tucson in early December at a great Scandinavian Fest — meeting so many Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Finnish folks. We just traveled to Indio, California for the Western Motor Coach Association rally — over 1300 motor coaches (owners and their pets) were enjoying the Indio Fairgrounds for over 4 days — we also found a number of Scandinavian folks there when we showed our wares. We also have some great new field guides — (see other post) that will make great gifts — think Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Fabulous Field Guides of Birds, Rocks, Minerals, Cactus, and the Sky

Lena and Ole have added many Adventure Publications field guides, especially for Arizona.
Some of the guides include “Arizona’s Rocks & Minerals”, “Birds of Arizona” (by Stan Tekiela), “Cactus of Arizona” — all $14.95 each. Fish of Arizona is $13.95 Another great book is “Amazing Hummingbirds” — a 9″ x 7.5″ 144 page guide for $14.95 with extraordinary photographs and fascinating text that makes this a must-have book for wildlife lover and nature enthusiast — also makes a great gift.
Why buy these field guides — the full-page photos are incomparable — bird books include insets of winter plumage and are organized by color that makes it easily accessible to the beginners.

We also have a beautiful book “Night Sky: A Field Guide to the Constellations” with a unique little battery light to light up your page as you are out viewing the sky. Another fun gift is a a set of the Night Sky Playing Cards — play all of your favorite card games while studying the constellations. The cards are high quality and $5.95/pack. Both are great gifts for astronomy buffs.

More unique playing cards in stock include “Rocks and Minerals” and “Birds of the Midwest”. All of these books are available at only $2.00/book shipping. No additional cost for cards if you add a set of playing cards to your order. Call 414-745-4362 to order today.

HOW TO ORDER MERCHANDISE FROM LENA & OLE’S GIFTS!

Interested in merchandise described in the Log — just e-mail or call Lena at 414-745-4362. You can order by credit card (Visa, Master Card, Discover, and American Express).  We charge actual postage with no sales tax for out-of-Wisconsin orders. 

We have lots of merchandise (or can get it for you) that isn't on-line — just call or e-mail your questions. No extra charge for gift wrapping — we can mail the gift right to the receiver.

Some merchandise may not be immediately available for shipping if we are on the road!

Lena and Ole’s Gifts has closed in Woodville and Lena’s Gifts is Open!

Yes, it’s true, we closed our shop on August 6, 2011 We are on the road — taking our wares to Scandinavian shows, festivals, RV rallys. It is giving us an opportunity for additional travel across the country (before we get any older). Yes, our bucket list is growing and we need to get a start on it.

So, part of the business (not our name or logo) has been sold along with our building at 130 Main Street in Woodville. We are very excited that “Lena’s Gifts”, proprietor Juli Lorenz has opened her store at 130 Main. Call 715-698-4111 or visit Monday through Saturday. She will continue to carry Scandinavian items as well as many other interesting gifts from around the world. Limited items will be available directly from Lena and Ole, but Juli will also be offering many items through her website. Please visit her store — we all have to make an effort to save our “Main street” businesses or soon all gift items will be the same around the world!

Lena and Ole are on the road

Hello from northern Indiana. We’ve just completed our first two shows as vendors since closing our store in Woodville. The first was at the Family Motor Coach International Convention in Madison, Wisconsin the second week in August just 3 days after we closed on August 6 — let’s just say that it was more than a little hectic but we finally got set-up and experienced our first big RV show. Then we traveled immediately east to Goshen, Indiana for the Passport America Rally — unlike the 1500! motorcoaches of the previous week, this was a smaller show with about 300 plus motorcoaches, 5th wheels, travel trailers, etc. on the fantastic 4-H fairgrounds in Goshen Indiana which is actually able to handle 900 campers. We enjoyed the Amish region — buying their vegetables, blueberry pie!!, and seeing their beautiful, neat farms and fabulous gardens. Especially interesting — the horses & buggies all lined up shopping at Menards and Walmart (they even have a special shed to shelter the horses there). I think they have the right idea — no $4.00/gallon fuel for their vehicles. Now we headed south a bit to visit my last surviving uncle, Wally, unfortunately in a care center in Winona Lakes, Indiana. This was one of the important reasons we sold our store — the need to have flexibility to visit family and friends.

So, soon, we will begin our journey towards friends in New York and then on September 4th, we will be in Budd Lake, New Jersey to be vendors for the Scan Fest — check out www.ScanFest.org for more informaiton about the festival. From there, we will begin west to Elgin, Illinois for the 32nd Annual Scandinavian Day Festival on Sept. 11th — check out www.scandinaviandayil.com for more information. We hope to see some of our friends and customers at these festivals!

Ole’s famous bar remover

Do you have an Ole’s bar remover in your kitchen utensil collection. If not, you are missing an indispensible item that will help you get out those pesky bars (Scandinavian word for brownies and other delicious “pan cookies”. It’s thin and flexible and actually gets below the crust and gets out every piece. It’s wonderful for tortes and other desserts that have crusts. It’s made out of stainless steel so it can go right in your dish washer.
Call Lena to get one for only $3.99. Check out Ole (he talked Lena into ordering them about 4 years ago and she had to admit!! that he was correct in recommending them).

Janet’s hand-crafted Flip Dolls a Must See!

    We have the most beautiful, creative new dolls found no where else in the world.  Janet, my cousin, is creating art work that is a gift for you, a daughter, or a granddaughter.  These unique large dolls are the old-fashioned flip dolls that I remember growing up.  I think another cousin had one (a flip doll) and I would have liked it also but didn't have many dolls.  The one I remember was little Red Riding Hood on one side and the big bad wolf on the other — a great creative storybook doll.  Simply turn the doll upside down and it becomes a different character.

Janet is creating these individualized dolls and has made them available to our Internet customers for an extremely reasonable price of $49 plus shipping and handling. 

The flip side can be anything — for example a Packer girl! 

The hair is yarn — if custom ordered your color choice.  The faces are embroidered (eye color can be customized).   The vests or skirts or dresses and blouses all are of high quality fabric and meticulous construction on huggable stuffed bodies.  These dolls are keepsakes and will be treasured by anyone who gets one.

She can also do custom orders in fabric from a wedding – the bride on one side and the bridesmaid dress on the other.  Just call me (Lena) at 414-745-4362 to order.  Order early for gifts!