In a small workshop in Carroll County, Jeanne Barnett is hard at work.
"You won't find these at Walmart," laughed Barnett.
Every pin, every piece of lace or ribbon, every crystal is painstakingly hand-crafted to make an Orna Mentz Christmas Ornament. Barnett could spend one hour making just one ornament.
"I think of them kind of as fashion; like a gown on a ball instead of on a person," said Barnett. "And the crystals are the jewelry."
Barnett started Orna Mentz 20 years ago out of her home in Delaware. It slowly grew until it became a full time job.
The hand-crafted ornaments have decorated trees in the Smithsonian Museum in D.C., they've been featured on two HBO TV shows, including an episode of Sex in the City, and they've been bought by thousands of shoppers on QVC.
"We sold 4,200 ornaments in five minutes," said Barnett of her QVC experience in 1995. "And that was when I was like 'ok we’ve got something here!'"
Barnett and her husband moved to Fancy Gap in 2007 to expand the business.
"I figured I'd have three to four full time employees," said Barnett. "That was the way business was going."
After reaching a peak of 4,000 ornament orders in 2008, the economy hit the small business hard. Today, with nearly 1,000 ornament orders, it's just Jeanne and her husband Michael doing the work.
"I am the oversized elf in the house," joked Barnett's husband Michael Flanigan.
It's Michael's job to get the orders ready to be shipped, while Jeanne continues to design and manufacture on her own.
"I truly believe these are pieces of art work that my wife makes," Flanigan bragged about his wife's skill.
And the plan to expand and hire more employees, isn't gone; just put on hold.
"I think things are going to get better," said Barnett. "Because people will always want beauty in their lives, no matter how bad things get."
You can see all of the Orna Mentz designs online.
