Naperville Mom Anxious To Open “Paint It Yours”

Daily Herald:

Tammy Hockett knows a little bit about craft projects.

When you’re looking for ways to stay close to your 10-year-old twin daughters and keep them and their friends entertained, you get used to working with paint and paste, stencils and stamps.

Tammy Hockett knows a little about adversity, too.

When you’re a divorced mom who’s endured 16 surgeries since a 1987 car accident, you tend not to shy away from challenges.

So here she is, just a day or so before she’s about to open her first store — Paint It Yours in Naperville — and she couldn’t be more upbeat.

Oh, sure, it’s taken a little longer than she planned to convert the former chiropractor’s office into a 1,700-square-foot shop where adults and kids will be able to use a variety of paints, rhinestones, sequins and more to design and decorate their own shirts, hats, bags, banners and just about anything else they can think of.

And, yeah, the plumber’s still got a little work to do and the tables she wanted weren’t in stock and the chairs she ordered didn’t ship on time.

But despite all that, she knows the store’s still on track for its opening at 10 a.m. Friday and she’s positively quivering to get started.

“This is all new for me,” she says. “I’m very excited. With all the anticipation, I just want it to open.”