Laurel Gaffney has seen a lot of wishes come and go.

"Our most popular request is Disney World. Close seconds are shopping sprees and computers," said Gaffney, the official wish coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants reasonable desires of kids with life-threatening illnesses. "But [Emily Davis'] wish is one of the most creative."

Thirteen-year-old Emily, who's living with a form of bone cancer called Ewing's sarcoma, didn't wish for new clothes or a family vacation. She wanted a home art studio.

"I like [art] because I can do it whenever I want to and it's something I can do by myself to get away," said Emily. "It's relaxing."

Last night, her wish came true.

With the help of her father, Jake Davis, the foundation and its volunteers put together a complete studio in the basement of the family's Ellicott City home. The room is stocked with oil and acrylic paints, pencils, paper, an easel, cabinets and shelving, ceramic supplies, a kiln and even a potter's wheel, which Emily's mother said is the best part of all.

"Pottery is what she's really excited about," Carol Davis said. "She's taken some classes at the Columbia Arts Studio, and she really likes it."

The foundation grants about 300 wishes each year for kids between the ages of 2 and 18 in the mid-Atlantic area, with 100 wishes currently in the works in and around Baltimore. To grant Emily's wish, which Gaffney said cost about $5,000, volunteers worked with the family and the community to gather donations and collect the necessary supplies.

Cindy Marx helped buy the materials and set them up in the Davis home yesterday afternoon. Emily's aunt and sister kept her out of the house so the arrival of the studio would be a surprise.

"This was something we were really able to have fun with," said Marx, who's worked on four foundation wishes so far. "It's a more creative type wish, and it's always more fun when it's something unusual or a little bit out of the ordinary."

Emily, who will enter ninth grade at Centennial High School in the fall, said she'd like to use the studio for a home-based art camp for neighborhood kids next summer.

This summer's out because she's undergoing stem cell transplants starting July 9, and they require a 30- to 45-day hospital stay.

Until then, she'll use the studio to hone her skills, her art teacher May Fong Tsay said.

"She's very sensitive to the appreciation of art and how the world looks," Tsay said. "She's a very good student, too. Every time I tell her about some new technique, she picks it up very quick. ... She's works very hard."

"I kind of tossed around the idea of Hawaii, but she wasn't interested," Carol Davis said. "She wanted something that would last for a long time."