Cashells: Trying to break out

by Todd Nelson
StarTribune.com

Everyone likes getting cash, and Donna Fanning believes people will like it even more if the money comes tucked inside a Cashell.

The Cashell is Fanning's patent-pending, homespun alternative to gift cards and greeting cards.

Each Cashell is an eggshell that Fanning, a stay-at-home Woodbury mom, has emptied, sterilized and then hand painted and decorated in one of 40 designs.

The gift-giver slips some bills in through a piggy bank-style slot cut into the eggshell, seals the opening with a sticker Fanning includes and fills out the coordinating note card. The recipient then faces a dilemma -- if or when to crack it open to retrieve the loot.

And speaking of money, Fanning wouldn't mind getting a nest egg of her own soon, stuffed with the investment capital she needs to automate and expand production.

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