Frame shop features custom work

Sometimes a small business can serve as a day care, too. Especially when it’s the owner’s child.

Brenda’s Picture Framing was born out of the need to take care of little Ari Ani, Brenda Mowrey’s daughter, who was born in December.

Rather than someday send the child to day care, she decided to start her own custom-framing business and watch over the child.

“I always wanted to open my own shop, but I didn’t have the motivation until I had her,” Mowrey said. “I love it. We get to raise her and we don’t have to worry about where she’s at and what she’s doing.”

The new business at 15803 E. Sprague Ave. features custom-framing jobs, as well as interesting mat designs.

The idea for the shop was familiar – for 30 years, Mowrey’s father has operated a framing shop, and Brenda Mowrey was raised in the same way while dad worked on the frames.

“It was kind of a spur of the moment thing,” Mowrey said of the decision to start the shop. Her father had enough extra material to help Brenda get her start. The shop has been open since late May.

Customers can have most any framing need met, Mowrey said. She provides a wide selection of frames and mats, and hand-crafts each frame.

Mowrey also can build shadowboxes, a framed box that can feature three-dimensional art. Recently she built a frame to house a young girl’s christening dress. The dress had daisies on it, so Mowrey etched daisies into the surrounding mat.

“I think there’s a touch you won’t find at other places,” she said. “Anything can become art if it’s put together the right way.”

As for her new business, which is in an old brick home on Sprague Avenue, she said she plans to continue remodeling it, and may sometime feature an art gallery for local artists.

Until then, she’ll keep making frames and watching Ari Ani grow up.

“We’re here to raise our family and make a living,” Mowrey said.