The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Lea Tauriello

Donna Dewey does up the finishing touches on a chocolate Chrismas tree.

If it's made of chocolate, Donna's probably done it

By Katherine Petersen

Almost everybody loves chocolate, and Donna Dewey does detailed decorating. Owner of Donna Did It in downtown Sunnyvale, Dewey molds and paints chocolate in any shape imaginable.

Formerly a secretary in the corporate world, Dewey watched a friend make chocolates for a Christmas event. Then she took lessons in chocolate molding and began to dabble in it on the side.

"I gave them away or sold to friends and family," she said. "It was something I did out of my home."

Two layoffs later, Dewey made the choice to concentrate on chocolate and opened her store in early September. Donna Did It replaces Sweet Creations on Murphy Avenue, so people who want a few pieces of chocolate to munch on after lunch can fulfill their cravings.

"My chocolates are prepackaged, so you can't just buy a lemon cream or an orange cream," she said. "But I've started making small packages of a few pieces of plain chocolates for those who just want a taste."

Dewey has created some chocolate delicacies of her own, including dipped licorice and chocolate-dipped caramel-covered pretzels. She also offers yummy melts, pieces of candy in flavors such as mint cookie, peppermint, peanut butter, and white chocolate with pineapple, apricots and almonds.

With 3,000 molds, Dewey can do almost any sort of custom order. She has sets of brushes and dryers, golf clubs and balls, animals, Disney characters, holiday shapes, computers, floppy disks and more.

"I like doing the detail work," she said. "A Santa might be wearing a red suit with a white beard, and Rudolph has a red nose and green antlers. They're not plain chocolates." The computers have green screens, and Dewey often hand-paints initials or a short message if there's room.

She has a get-well display basket in the window with a mug, soup mix, a chocolate box of aspirin, a thermometer and Band-Aids.

While baskets such as the one in the window can run about $35, Dewey can make up boxes of chocolates for less money.

"I can customize things to what people can pay, for the most part," she said.

Donna Did It, 152 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale. Hours: Tue. through Thu., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fri..,11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sat., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 24, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.