AROUND THE STUDIO:  It was a year ago that I announced our business was for sale and that I hope to retire.  Since then I have received at least a thousand congratulations, etc....all of which were truly appreciated.  I mean that sincerely.  The truth is I have been a little overwhelmed by the response.  However, it has all been a little premature, in that retiring was premised on our selling the business, and to date we have not entered into an agreement.  We are going to continue our efforts to sell the business, however in interim we are going to scale things back a little.  Next month marks eleven year since I started Old Island, and I have been going at it 'full steam ahead' ever since.  So, in 2007 we are going to simplify a couple of things, so as to have a little more time for ourselves.  I will not boor you with all the details.  However, there are a couple of areas where we are going to claw back some time that I do want to mention:

Newsletter - I have decided to go back to a 'newsy' letter as a opposed to the style of newsletter we have been doing (you may not have noticed how comprehensive and polished the newsletter has become!!! J )   The newsletter is a labour of love in many ways, but it is labour and a fair amount of it.  So, I am going to make it much simpler.

The Display Studio - We are going to keep our studio open, however, we are not going to be on the organized tour this year.  That way we can focus on our stamping customers as opposed to tourist in general.  The hours will be the same, but not quite as strictly observed on my part.  So, calling ahead is your best bet.  As a result, we have a new set of signs (above) to keep an eye for.  The white fluff on the sign looks like snow, but it is actually sea spray.  Sometimes it drifts in the air up from the beach when it is stormy...at least I think that's what it is???  We are going to simplify things in the studio as well.  So, look for some very good deals as we close out of some of our accessories ( like dry template and coloured grommets marked down 50%.)

MARGARET'S MUSINGS:  I have lost track of the number of years that Margaret has been doing her musings for the newsletter...many.  I hate to end it now, because I know how so many of you look forward to it.  However, we are going to do so for this year, at least.  In many ways Margaret's Musings has been the heart of the newsletter, and we will be forever grateful to her for her contribution over the years.  (Remember that most of her articles are still available in the back issues of the newsletters...here: Old Newsletters) 

FROM THE E-MAIL BAG:  When we were in Toronto for the One-of-a-Kind show we were experiencing spring-like temperatures there (17ºC, 60ºF), while the "Banana Belt" back home was under a blanket snow with winter storms and extensive power outages, etc.  It was actually fun taking a ribbing from Torontonians about having the tables turned on us.  Fun, because in the end I knew they would eventually 'get theirs' J.  A gentleman named Norris told us he had a video he called "Winter in Vancouver" that he wanted to send us.  Which he did, and I would like to share it with you.  Hopefully, this will work!  Thank you very much to Norris.  I have had such great fun playing this for friends.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have: "Winter in Vancouver"

BEGINNER'S CORNER:  We introduce so many people to stamping in the course of the Christmas shows that I like to answer some of the basic questions about stamping each year.  Questions about cleaning stamps are the ones most often asked.  First of all, I would encourage you to clean your stamps after you use them.  This never was very important in the past.  However, with today's ink formulations it is becoming more and more important.  We have seen some serious damage to rubber stamps from chalk inks, etc that have been left to dry on stamps.  When you are using pigment inks, you just clean your stamps with water.  Dabbing them in a saturated paper towel or rag works great.  The stamp will become discoloured from the ink, but it does not hurt them in anyway.  The discoloring will not effect the new ink colour you apply.  For some great ideas around cleaning read "FROM THE MAIL BAG" in the Summer 2006 Newsletter.  

When you stamp, you basically just push straight down and lift the stamp straight up evenly.  However, each stamp you stamp with is a little different, and you need the experiment with it before you stamp on that 'one and only piece of expensive cardstock'!  Small stamps take very little pressure.  If you are stamping a very small piece of text, you can 'crush' the printing surface if you press too hard.  If it is a long narrow piece of text, you need to practice at applying equal pressure on each end to get an even print.  Generally, the bigger the stamp the more pressure it takes to transfer the ink to the paper.  However, ultimately it depends on how much printing surface there is.  A 2" X 2" stamp which is an outline of an image takes much less pressure than a similar size stamp with a solid image.  Large fine detailed stamps with a large printing surface can take a lot of pressure.  In that case, you want to stamp on a low enough surface that you can get your body weight over the stamp.  With a stamp like this you are imitating a printing press, which puts tremendous pressure on the type set to transfer the ink to paper.  When you are stamping very fine detail, you will get best results with very smooth papers; right up to glossy papers being the best.

My advice to beginners:  In the beginning it is very important to experiment; not everything you stamp is going to be a finished piece of art!  When you begin to make cards it is very important to have a good selection of coloured cardstocks that you can coordinate with each other.  Classes are a great way to speed up your progress, but you will also learn a great deal from taking the time to study how cards that appeal to you are made.  Then experiment with what you have seen.  In the process you will come up with your own creations.  Perhaps most importantly in the beginning is to "take the pressure off yourself" (yes, you spent all that money...now get over it!) and concentrate on just having some fun playing around with your new stamps.  Enjoy!