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Minnesota Nice Spice - A Company We Love!

3/7/2016

Minnesota Nice Spice is a small Minnesota company with a big heart and an unwavering commitment to crafting unique spice blends, sourcing organically-grown herbs and spices and supporting artists with disabilities.

We met this wonderful company last year at the Help A Minnesota Maker (HAMMS) event as they won the MN Maker Award. Since then, they went on to win the Small Business Revolution winning $25K from Deluxe Corporation and are now going to have 6 of their spice blends in the Minnesota Target Stores. We just love Minnesota Nice Spice and are so excited to share their story and samples of their spice with our customers this month as our first spotlight small business.

Debb Masterson, a self-proclaimed spice gypsy, naturalist, world traveler, is the founder of Minnesota Nice Spice. Lucy Johnson, her very special and amazingly talented sister who serves as her spice muse, and together they handcraft their extra nice seasoning blends right here in Minnesota.

At Minnesota Nice Spice, they carefully select certified organic herbs and spices and handcraft 17 blends using their own recipes for unique seasoning blends that emphasize natural health properties, like antioxidants, to add a little spice and lots of flavor to your healthy lifestyle.

The “nice” about their spices doesn’t end with great flavor and great ingredients. In the true spirit of community, they donate profits from each sale to benefit the Interact Center, a one-of-a-kind organization that supports over 125 theater and visual artists with disabilities, including Lucy. Her artwork graces their labels and her creative spirit inspires people every day.

Whether you are purchasing spices for yourself, as a gift or as corporate gifts, they provide you with healthy,
charitable, unique and custom made items that are handcrafted.

MN Nice Spice LOVES TO HELP YOU LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION.

Nice up your spice or Spice up your nice! Either way…that’s what they will help you do!

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Lowertown Pop- Join Us April 9th

3/3/2016

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Twist Office Products is proud to support Minnesota Makers at Lowertown Pop. What is Lowertown Pop you ask? It is a Minnesota pop-up market; crowd-funding to benefit Face to Face and our Minnesota Makers. Pop in and support the Minnesota Maker movement. The day long event will feature local artisans and craftspeople, brewers, bakers, distillers, artists, and musicians.

MyTalk 107.1’s “Shop Girls” Allison Kaplan and her mother, Harmony, will be streaming “LIVE” from the event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and there will be live demos on the main stage throughout the event. The event will be held in the Waiting Room at Union Depot and will benefit Face to Face, a non-profit organization serving more than 3,300 youth ages 11-24 annually with health care and counseling, and programs for homeless youth. Fifty percent of ticket sales will be donated to Face to Face and 50 percent will be randomly given to one lucky Minnesota Maker and Twist Office Products will award the winning Minnesota Maker a basket full of office supplies.

Here are some of the Minnesota Makers Who Will Participate Include:

Beeline Honey - Jules Loft - Blue Henn - Leather Works Minnesota - Bodylish - Minnesota Nice Spice - Bruno Press - My Little Chickadee Creations - Cravin’ Pie - Muddy Mouth Cards - D8agirl - Scrappy Products - Debbie Wolk Designs - Serendipity Accessories - Duluth Preserving Company
- StormSister Spatique - Eclectic Goat - Superior Switchel - From Your Mat - Sweet Jules Gifts - Grlk - Tattersall Distilling - Hagen & Oats - Tumblewalla.

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Go USA All The Way, Everyday!

7/7/2015

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Just because the fireworks shows are over, the fourth of July BBQ's are behind us, and the U.S. National Soccer Team already took gold in the Women's World Cup, it doesn't mean that it is time to put away that American pride till next Independence Day! Nope, USA all the way, every day!

Here are just some of the ways you can keep that good ol' American Spirit going all year long - and make a difference in the USA along the way!

Consumer Reports survey found that 8 out of 10 consumers would rather buy a domestically made product than an imported one! That's a win for 'merica! Here's how to shop American responsibly:

Read labels to find out where a product has been manufactured
Look for the "Made in the USA" flag on products and websites. Note the difference between "Made in the USA" and "Assembled in the USA". The latter means it's put together domestically, but not all of the products are necessarily from the US. Also, "Made in America" includes products that have been manufactured in the US, as well as Mexico & Canada.

When you buy "Made in the USA" you supportnot only American manufacturers but alsoAmerican workers, safe working conditions,and you help keep the American economy growing!

Take your American pride to the next level by supporting "Buy Local First" in your community! Here's why you want to keep your dollars close to home:

A recent Civic Economics study revealed that for every $10 Million in sales, Amazon creates 14 jobs, Chain Retailers create 50 jobs and Independent Business creates 110 jobs!
Local businesses foster community well-being by building strong neighborhoods, sustaining communities, and contributing more to local causes.
According to a 2014 study, for every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $73 remains in the local economy, while just $43 remains when spent at a non-local business.

Buying "Made in the USA" and supporting local businesses means GREEN because it helps not only America - but it helps the entire planet and our environment!

Transporting products that come in from international sources results in one billion metric tons of CO2.
Local businesses and independent manufacturers reduce processing, packaging and transportation waste.
They are also much more likely to reuse materials and practice environmentally safe manufacturing processes.

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Are you Ready for Wings?

1/31/2014

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With Super Bowl Sunday baring down on us, we wanted to share some of our favorite wing spots. According to the Wall Street Journal more than 1.25 billion wings will be consumed this Sunday. That's four per person for every man, woman and child living in the United States. Wow.

For those of you in Chicago here's our favorites:

1. Bird's Nest

2. Jake Melnick's Corner Tap

3. House of Wings

4. Wild Goose

Chicago suburbs:

1. Gators Wing Shack - Palatine

2. Palmer Place - La Grange

And for Minnesota we love:

1. Blue Door Pub

2. Hickory Hut

3. Spring Street Tavern

Where do you go for your favorite wings? If we didn't mention them, let us know and we can talk wings on Monday. Have a safe Super Bowl Sunday.