 In 2003 PJ’s Corner was established by Phyllis and Janey Fisher, a mother and daughter team, as a treasure outlet for nostalgic products with a look from the past. The idea of "PJ's Corner Gift Shoppe" formed throughout the years when P. & J. would talk about owning a store of their own. In
an attempt to bring Phyllis out of her lull (that later was diagnosed as
Diabetes) in 1999, they started writing a children's story called "Children of the Desert", a gathering of childhood memories of
Phyllis' childhood on the Arizona desert. At the same time, Janey started creating greeting cards, all the while wishing that she
had a treasure trove of clipart all her own. "Children of the Desert" was put on a back burner, when Phyllis combined her idea of a story about twins "Rueben and Rachel" with her cousin Sam's idea of "Twiglet". Both cousins had children's stories in mind, and with contributions from family members, "Twiglet"
the Little Christmas Tree was written.
  They came up
with the name "PJ's Corner" while on an Oregon trip in late 2002 to pick up a corner
cabinet that Phyllis inherited from her parents. The "P" stands for
Phyllis and the "J" for Janey. PJ's Corner Cabinet was shortened to
"PJ's Corner" as they brainstormed all the way to Oregon and back on what
products they would create. The long trip gave them the opportunity to finalize
years of planning. Since it was a November trip, they decided to
wait until after the holidays to start on their products.
January 16, 2003 found mother and daughter sitting at the dining room table. Russ Allred, with the Small Business Development Center, told
them that it
takes years to finalize an idea. They never dreamed that so many hours
(that turned into years) would be needed for their idea to become a reality.
Early
2007, the name was lengthened to PJ's Corner Gift Shoppe.
 They already had
Janey's paper dolls from 1971. And before she moved to Texas, Janey's late niece, Christina Dawn, gave
them Chrissy and Melly. These paper dolls were created by Phyllis for her
granddaughters, Christina Dawn and Melany Ann back in 1989. Christi wanted
them added to the paper doll line-up. To complete the "Family Friends Paper Doll Set"
Janey pulled her 1989 paper doll "Janae" out of her cedar chest and Phyllis started creating the
treasure trove of clip-art that Janey
would loved to have used on her greeting cards back in 1999! With
these "art sparks", Janey started creating the products that you see available here on
this website. Many, many hours later, they see many, many years ahead of
them keeping PJ's Corner Gift Shoppe a reality! Most of all Janey cherishes
all the time spent with her mother!
 
In PJ’s Corner
Gift Shoppe you will find
greeting cards, paper dolls,
paper doll coloring books, coloring books ,
kids books , stationery,
calendars, post cards, and
bookmarks!!! Items will be added to the website
from time to time. They have many designs that they would love to share with you
and it is their goal to make all of the items available in all of their
nostalgically designed themes.
   OTI OWLS '56
At 75, Phyllis Mae Richardson Fisher still enjoys playing with paper dolls. She
is the seventh of eight children born on the Arizona desert, on the Jago Ranch in Arlington, in the same area her grandfather homesteaded after breaking down on his way to California in the late 1800's. Raised in Ajo, Arizona, Phyllis remembers lots of good times and memories associated with her siblings. One memory is of Phyllis and her sisters making their own paper dolls. As a young teenager Phyllis' family moved to Redmond, OR, where she went on to study commercial illustration and design and graduate
from
Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls.
Diabetes has made Phyllis almost blind and with the aid of jeweler's
glasses, a magnifying
glass, eating right, and plenty of exercise, she still sits down at her
art desk, working on her portfolio!
  Janey
has earned one year toward her AA degree in computer science
from Taft College. Designing and maintaining websites and blogs has been a real pleasure because of
the quality time she has spent with her mother. Implementing Phyllis'
artwork into the designs on the products truly makes PJ's Corner Gift Shoppe an
outlet of original handcrafted items! Janey is PJ's webmaster, so if you have any questions and/or comments about the website, please direct them to
her.
List of the blogs:
 ...Family is very important to PJ’s Corner
Gift Shoppe, and Phyllis and Janey want to express their deepest thanks to
their family members who have worked behind the scenes to make the dream of PJ’s Corner
Gift Shoppe become a reality!!! Thank you Travis, Tony, Doug, and especially
George, Phyllis' husband, for building the office furniture and selling the first book
of Twiglet the Little Christmas Tree!
 ...Thanks
to those
who took part in the survey on “Twiglet the Little Christmas Tree”, PJ's children’s Christmas book! Thanks to all of you for your time and constructive criticism!!! The results of the survey are at the bottom of this page.
Jann Hardy...thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in the survey and for testing our website.
Ralph Swanton...thank you for all your encouraging words as well as editing our website.
Phyllis would like to give special thanks to
Kenneth Patterson, owner of "The Trading Post" in Taft, who gave her a pair of jeweler's glasses. Also, she would like to thank
Catherine Cain for a pair of magnifying glasses. Because of the effects of Diabetes on her eyes, both pair of glasses make drawing possible.
Thank you to Dan Gilbert, (the ferrier
of the horses pictured on our "Mustang 'n' Cowboys" page) for his encouragement.
To Business Associates -
Dana Adams (Small Business Development Center, Bakersfield, CA) Thank you for all your help and your enthusiasm!
A
BIG thank you goes to the customer service representatives and the hosting department at
Register.com. Thank you for helping me while I built my website. As I maintain my site you guys continue to be awesome, you deserve five stars for your attitude alone!
Phyllis, Janey & George would like to give extra special thanks to
Melvin and Marcella Simmons.
Special thanks to
Claude Brown with "Kern's Paper Connection" in Bakersfield, CA. Thank you Claude, for finding the specialty paper & envelopes that we need for our products, and for the tidbits of information on how they were made.
To
You - We would like to thank you for browsing our website and hope that you will return to see what else will show up in “PJ’s Corner
Gift Shoppe”.
Thank you for making memories in PJ's Corner Gift Shoppe!
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