Have you ever wished that you could paint a snowman green? Well, 5-year-old Seppa Francis did. It was a wish that she went on to share with her mother, Lora Treat, says the Great Falls Tribune.
Her 4-year-old son Ryan Francis then piped up and asked mom for a yellow cat.
Treat grew up in Southern California, and at the time of her children’s colorful requests couldn’t tell you the difference between wet and dry snow.
But she also couldn’t deny her desire to encourage Seppa and Ryan’s creativity, so she began scouring the Internet for products that might help turn her children’s fantasies into reality.
“It’s interesting how much your kids challenge you,” Treat said. “It’s important to me that they can see something that they come up with can become something big.”
When the Web didn’t return much more than food coloring and spray paint, Treat and her kids started mixing their own secret ingredients. They wanted something nontoxic, biodegradable, washable and easy-to-use.
“We would scrape up the ice and sit in the kitchen,” she said.
When they found a mixture they liked, they sprayed it on a piece of clothing, set it on the wood stove to soak through, and washed it to see if it came clean.
The result of hard work, sacrifice and a lot of imagination has become Sepprys Super Snow Spray – an emergent business with two creative kids and one dedicated mom at its helm.
“Having colorful snow was their idea, so came the name Sepp-Rys,” Treat said. “Although I am working my butt off to learn to be a business person and get this into the market, this is and will always be theirs.”
Photo by wwarby