ST. CLOUD -- There's a new shop on the block, Green Thumb Etc has opened their doors in downtown St. Cloud.

Ashley Green owns the business. She specializes in custom furniture and wedding/special events floral.

"Six years ago I was spending a lot of time just hanging out at home after my kids would go to bed I was just eating and watching TV. I thought okay, I should probably be doing something else with my life. So I had a cute little table and I wanted a chair to go with it so I just decided I'll do it myself because I couldn't really find anything that I liked."

After learning the ropes, she says her furniture started to pile up.

"I had so much fun doing it and I just kept doing it more and more until I had all of this furniture lined up around the perimeter of my apartment. It was like, this also isn't sustainable so I opened up an online store."

Green started her online store about five years ago. She quickly got involved with going to art shows to showcase her work. Then one day as she was delivering flowers inside the Regency Plaza building, she discovered how to grow her business.

"As I was walking past I thought this is a cute little space and saw it was for rent. I was okay, I'm not really looking for a spot but I'm just going to call and see if it's even feasible."

After finding out she would be able to rent the space, Green says she had to make a scary but necessary life change.

"I went and talked to my boyfriend and I was like, here's the deal, I'm going to quit my job and I'm going to move into this space. He kind of panicked a little bit but he said alright if that's what you want to do then go for it."

Green has been a trained florist for a decade and has worked at several floral shops in the St. Cloud metro area. She says her career started with flowers and she didn't want to let that go.

"When I decided I was going to leave the floral world I wasn't actually really going to leave it. I was just going to leave the everyday, day-to-day floral stuff and I decided I was going to transition into being a wedding and event florist as well as creating custom furniture."

Green Thumb Etc. is at 912 Regency Plaza in downtown St. Cloud. The store is now open, you can also check out Green's work on social media.

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