AROUND THE STUDIO:   

Well, it is official.  The papers are signed.  The business has been sold.  The money is in the bank.J Old Island's bags are pack and soon she will be off to her new life in Lions Bay in the capable hands of Dawne Colly, the new owner.  You have probably heard more than enough of this, as it has been going on for about two years, now.  I am sorry about that, but I did not want it to go to just anyone!  We had to get it right, so you could continue to enjoy Old Island stamps for years to come.

It has been 12 years since I started the business...what can I say...you accumulate a lot of stuff in 12 years!  Especially, if you are working in tight quarters.  You tend to find a place to stick things out of the way.  You wouldn't believe some of the things I have found.  Unfortunately, most of them are as useless as when I had found a place to stick them years ago.  I came across one of our original catalogues dated 1998.  It still looked nice.  We had a definite theme of nature and rustic stamps back then, but what humble beginnings!  I wanted to live in the woods and do mail order.  If you can believe it, the Internet was not part of my original business plan!  I was invested in the Internet, but I did not see it coming with regards to my own business.  Now, I do not see how we could have made it without it.  Between the Internet and our living on an island that is an international tourist destination, the stamps we make here in our little studio are literally all over the world, now.  They are in dozens and dozens of countries and on every continent.  I am very proud of that.  I am also pleased that I made them so well, that they will be there for decades to come, and people will be creating things with them long after I am gone.  That is perhaps a little morbid, but none the less very satisfying.  (Editor's note: Do not read anything into that...my health is just fine!  Quality rubber stamps last for decades.)

Well, as you can tell the whole process of packing-up has triggered lots of memories for me.  In building the business, there has been no end of challenges, and in that sense it has been very exciting at times.  The best memories that I will take with me are of the thousands of stampers we have met and introduced to this wonderful addition called rubber stamping!  If you have spent time with other stampers, you may have begun to wonder if perhaps stampers are actually a special group of people.  Well, I have known and have done business with tens of thousands of them, and I can confirm that, yes, in fact stampers are a very special group of people.  Through the years, I have thought a lot about why that is, and in the end I do not really know for certain.   However, it might have something to do with one of the attractions to stamping being that you take the time to create personal items to give to other people.  That in itself begins to separate out stampers from the rest of the pack.  All I know is a nicer group of people you would never want to meet.  Trudy and I have been privileged to know you.  We never could have done it without you.  Thanks for the memories and Happy Happy Stamping!!   - Steve & Trudy

We should be up and running by late January, early February and I look forward to hearing from you. Can’t wait to show you the new designs we are working on, there is something special for Easter too, so stay tuned.

Dawne