many companies do this

you can have a corporation by the name of Grace productions and have companies underneath it with different names :-)
you can ask your local small business office for more detailed information.

I'm not sure if it could be done with a regular DBA

thanks for the info Xio

I would have Grace Productions as the business name (and if your name is Grace you would not need to file a DBA in most areas). Herbal Creations and Velvet Lanterns sound more like product ranges or trademarks than business names in the examples you gave.

Well I would like to file as a sole propietorship and I'd like to file just one business name. Let's say this time the business name I would like to use is "Creative Enterprises". Under this business name I would like to start 3 small business' of different natures. Let's say an herb business, a papermaking/bookmaking business, and a cleaning service. hehe Well what I was considering was to use an additional or even seperate name for each business. I am wondering if I can do this under one business license, under one business name, and whether or not I can advertise say my cleaning business as "Grace's Cleaning Service", and have a seperate business card with that name, and maybe "Creative Enterprises" on there as well.

Hmm maybe you can only do this if you file as a corporation?

well thanks again

Do you need a business license in your state/county for each of those businesses? I would think the cleaning business would need to be bonded and perhaps licensed but not the other two. A business license is not the same as registering a business name. With the example you have above you would need a separate dba (name registration) for each name. You could, however, have one dba as "Food 4 Me doing business as Creative Enterprises" and each of the other 3 as "Creative Enterprises doing business as ..."
You could open bank accounts as Creative Enterprises or individually for each business, and the same goes for tax forms. You would probably only have one Sales Tax ID but you would need multiple EINs if you planned to file taxes separately for each business.
Having said that, all jurisdictions work a little differently, make sure you contact your county clerk's office to find out where and how you need to do this.

And I believe that you will have to buy separate insurance policies on those businesses as each will have it's own insuurance requirements. I asked my agent and he told me that business interests are insured separately - regardless of the corporate umbrella.

You need to look into the "fictitious name" registration regulations for your state. The Secretary of State's office is the place to start. No two states are alike on this.

you have to check out the law in your state or locality about registering business names.
general motors is chevrolet, pontiac, buick, cadallac, saab, and H2...if they can do it so should you.