Using steady, almost Zen-like hand movements, Diane Branch of Sweet Temptations built a tray of turtles from the ground up.
"Turtles are probably my favorite," she said. "I like pecans."
Branch's story began on Long Island, New York, but her college career soon changed that.
"I got transplanted here because I went to college here," she said, daubing a layer of chocolate on a tray and then topping it with a pecan-caramel mix. "I went to William Woods and studied home economics and secondary education."
She spooned a top layer of milk chocolate onto the pecan mix to complete the turtle.
"I got a job out at the state hospital teaching teenagers," Branch said. "They said they wanted the teachers to get degrees in special education."
Branch went back to school and gathered two degrees in special education, she said.
"And then they (stopped housing) kids, so I got a job at Fulton Public Schools as a teacher's aide," Branch added.
She was over qualified for that position but added on yet another degree, this one in elementary education, when school officials asked her to. But when she didn't move into a teaching position, she decided to open her own day care and did so at the site of the current candy shop - 520 Ingle Road, on the south side of Fulton off Chestnut Street.
Branch ran the day care for 22 years then morphed it into a fabulous, wall-to-wall Candy Land.
"When I decided to do this, I thought of two things," she said. "Either a craft store, because I like to do crafts, or a candy store."
She thought about the customers she would draw, and the choice became clear.
"Not everybody does crafts, but everybody likes candy," Branch added.
Shoppers Lea Willenburg, of Fulton, and her friend, Welta Lightfoot, visiting from Texas, like candy. They really like Branch's Sweet Temptations, they said.
"She's just got a lot of neat, creative stuff," Willenburg said. "Everybody likes it."
She's currently taking orders for Valentine's Day, with a back room stuffed with boxes to be filled with hand-dipped strawberries. Her strawberries this year also can be ordered through a senior at Fulton High School as a fundraiser for the senior class party (call Brandie Tharp at 573-310-1261).
"I'll have hundreds of boxes and hundreds of strawberries," she said, adding each one will also be hand decorated after dipping. "I won't be working alone for Valentine's Day. My daughter (Melanie) helps me a lot of the time."
After Branch started making candy, everything just kind of snowballed.
"People came in and said, 'Do you do cakes?' and I did cupcakes for a couple people," she said.
She went hard into studying to be a cake decorator with an intensive, two-week course in Chicago. She and her daughter are both trained through the Wilton School of Cake Decorating.
The shop also kept growing.
"I put in a section for wedding stuff - we love to do wedding favors," Branch said. "Of course, after the wedding they have babies."
Her favorite things to make are candy bouquets and baskets for all occasions, genders and ages, and local delivery can be arranged.
She's got all kinds of things for showers and baby gifts including diaper cakes - designed to look like cakes but are actually cleverly packaged diapers. The shop also includes Mylar balloons for every occasion, cake decorating supplies and even personalized candy bar wrappers.
"If you want to decorate, we have stuff," Branch said.
She and Melanie teach cake decorating classes every March through Fulton Parks and Recreation, geared for beginners. This year's dates are March 9, 16 and 23 from 6-8 p.m at Fulton City Hall. Classes are geared for people age 12 and older and are $50. Twelve spots are available for students. Register by March 2 at city hall, 18 E. Fourth St., Fulton.
Branch also has a Facebook page, and she can be reached at 573-642-2601 or [email protected].
Where she goes from here is anybody's guess.
"I always want to learn and try more things - and expand," Branch said.