New to Our Gift Department

What happens when a witty housewife experiences ordinary events? Unexpectedly funny outcomes! From adventures in marriage and parenting to holiday mishaps, social blunders and more, local author Barbara Scharfenberg of Waconia, Minnesota, brings a good laugh back into daily life in her new book, Go Ahead and Laugh: A Year of Almost Completely Not Made-Up Stories.

Find this hilarious collection of stories and daily observations in the Gift Department now, and stay tuned for upcoming book signings with the author happening in September!

What you see is not what you get when you assemble a jigsaw puzzle from Minneapolis-based PuzzleTwist! Each design takes jigsaw fanatics on a puzzling adventure with exciting and unexpected twists, bringing a little more challenge and a ton more fun to your jigsaw experience.

So what's the twist? The box cover image is slightly different than the jigsaw image you build, making each one a puzzling mystery to be solved!

Find PuzzleTwist jigsaw puzzles in the Gift Department now, including their "Discover the Fair from A to Z" puzzle, just in the time for the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

Sisters Julie and Kathy are the owners of say cheese designs, a company based in Winona, Minnesota. These super-absorbant microfiber kitchen towels are made just across the Mississippi River in Fountain City, Wisconsin, and feature fun graphics and phrases that celebrate Minnesota.

Look for their lint-free, streak-free State Fair kitchen towels in the Gift Department from their "That's a Darn Good Kitchen Towel" collection.

Husband-and-wife duo TJ and Lacy McManus from Traverse City, Michigan, share a love of the North Shore. Together, they have created a line of beautiful hand-poured candles that will help you bring a little bit of Lake Superior into your home. These lightly scented candles are made of gel wax and have a burn time of 90 hours, which is two to three times longer than traditional soy candles. Once you're done burning it, you're rewarded with the lake treasures at the bottom of the jar! Each candle is naturally one of a kind and features hand-picked stones.

Find them in the Gift Department.