Painting way out of a corner

Why was the lion frowning? What was with the toucan's backward ankles? And, darn, that monkey was ugly! The former Walt Disney Imagineering designer couldn't help but paint over the offending primate, put a smile on the lion and fix the bird legs.

Wowed, her son suggested she start a business of her own to design murals aimed at parents looking to create some low-cost magic in their kids' rooms.

Four years later, Newton's Elephants on the Wall business sells about $100,000 a year worth of paint-by-number kits. Her 96 designs include pirate ships, princess castles, mermaids and inquisitive mom-and-baby blue dinosaurs designed to look as if they are peeking out from behind a room's door.

The designs, which cost $29.95 to $124.95, have been filmed for Home & Garden Television's "I Want That!," touted in Better Homes & Gardens and praised online for their cheerful, polished graphics.

Last week, Newton shipped her latest round of product and packaging samples from the Altadena business to national fabric and crafts retailer Jo-Ann Stores Inc. A distributor hopes to have Elephants on the Wall on Jo-Ann's shelves by next summer, she said. On Friday, Newton said she had received an order for 114 pieces from a separate distributor for sale at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s website.

Now, Newton is unsure where to focus her limited funds and how to take the next steps to build sales momentum.

"There isn't a closet big enough for the hats I have to wear," says Newton, who ran her own graphic design shop after leaving Disney Co.

Consultant Warren Cooley, a small-business owner turned executive at the Valley Economic Development Center in Van Nuys, met with Newton and her husband, Ross, who handles shipping and accounting while running his own home-based business selling drug-test kits.

Cooley was impressed with the quality of the mural kit, its simple instructions and its functional and attractive tubular packaging.

"What an imaginative product she has created," says Cooley, who heads the nonprofit's retail and business services division. Here are some of his recommendations: