Sometimes when you give a gift, you don't always know who's going to end up receiving it. "It all started seven months ago on Christmas day, I made my grown daughters aprons for Christmas," Grace O'Brien said. "They loved them. They said, 'Mom you have to run with this, this is a great idea," she said. For O'Brien, it really was a gift that kept on giving. She started her own apron company in Shelburne, Pretty Snappy Designs, named for the colorful patterns and a feature that snaps a towel onto the hip. Things were going great, selling them online and in local boutiques. But then she decided to gift another apron to, of all people, Kathie Lee Gifford. Then, a call. "I picked it up and they said you're on the Today Show! And there it was," O'Brien said. She says since then, orders have tripled. They're now making hundreds each week.The gift of extra business has been given to a man from Bosnia she didn't even know seven months ago. "We are so happy to have grace with us," said Ramadan Bahic, who runs the shop in Winooski that makes all the aprons. He says with the help of Pretty Snappy Designs, his business has been able to grow even in the down economy. But in the end, maybe the person most touched by the simple, handmade Christmas present was Grace herself.
"I've always dreamed of having my own company, my own designs," O'Brien said. A journey that started with a single stitch, ending with fulfilling a lifelong passion.
http://www.fox44now.com/story/12886924/shelburne-woman-has-pretty-snappy-designs
