AROUND THE STUDIO:  The water colour to the right is a painting of yours truly at the Saturday Market in Ganges.  The painting is a limited edition print by Gail Sibley, another artisan at the Market. (wordsandart@uniserve.com)

The Market opened on April 1st, but I can assure you no one was in shorts and short sleeves as depicted in the print.  The weather for the first three weeks has been miserable.  If you are coming to see us on Salt Spring, we highly recommend that you plan your trip to take in the Saturday Market.  In the summer it is wonderfully festive.  It is colourful, crowded, has lots of music, lots of languages, lots of characters, good food, and great crafts and art.  You'd love it!  For more info check out: www.saltspringmarket.com   

Well, the swallows have returned to Old Island punctual as ever, and the hummingbirds are back practicing their dive bombing techniques.  The wild currents are blooming and the fruit trees are leafing out.  In short, once again spring is unfolding as it should...but alas there is no sign of little Kerstin....Hmm.  

The two eagles I mentioned last newsletter are still showing up together making a whole lot of high pitched noise that must be some kind of preliminary to making little eagles, but I have yet to confirm that.  The eagles perch on the top of a two hundred foot Douglas fir tree, which we have nicknamed "Granddaddy".   Granddaddy is about one hundred feet from our front door, so observing the eagles up through the branches is difficult.  We actually get the best view through a skylight in our living room.  I recently heard of another fellow with an even better situation and unique solution to viewing the eagles.  Doug Carrick lives on Hornby Island just north of Salt Spring Island.  He is retired with his wife, and they have an eagle's nest in their backyard.  Doug hired a local tree climber to go up and install a remote camera on the top of the fir tree where two eagles were nesting.  The camera is mounted in a plexi-glass and cedar enclosure and the eagles are completely unconcerned with its presence.  Doug ran a cable from the camera down to his house so he could watch the nesting eagles on a monitor.  A friend of his saw it and said, 'you have got to get that on the Internet'.  So, they did, and now you and at least 30,000 other people can watch the eagles from dawn to dusk.  The eagles have laid two eggs in the nest (on camera with sound!!).  The eggs are expected to hatch around the 26th of April.  So, here is the link and all the background information:

If the link does not work for you, go to www.hancockhouse.com and click on the same as above at the top of the page.  You are going to love this!

OLD ISLAND FOR SALE:  OK, time for the BIG news around the studio: The Old Island Stamp Company Inc. is officially For Sale.  I will tell you more, however, before I go any further, I want to avoid misunderstanding by stating a couple of very important facts.  First of all, the company has not been sold; it is just up for sale.  Secondly, we are not going out of business.  We will continue running the business as normal, and it will have no effect what's-so-ever on our stamping customers.  So why am I announcing it?  One reason is to avoid rumors.  However, more importantly we have about 1,600 stampers on our mailing list, and among those 1,600 fanatics there could be one or two interested in buying the company.  

So, what is happening?  In a nut shell; I would like to retire.  So, with that goal in mind we are putting the business up for sale.  The business was 10 years old in February, and is a full-time venture.  I make a good living at it and get to live in paradise.  There are advantages for the business to continue here on the Island, however, it is also portable and could be located elsewhere.  It is a great opportunity for someone to work at home and sell stamps all over the world.  The most important assets for a potential buyer to have (besides the $$$!!) are good computer skills, reasonable organizational skills and good people skills.  Artistic ability would be a definite asset, but not necessary.  In any case, we would train the new owner(s).  We are offering the business for $150,000 plus the inventory.  The inventory varies from about $45,000 to $90,000 just before the Christmas shows.  For more information click here: For Sale
 

MARGARET'S MUSINGS:  If you have had an opportunity to see our display at anytime over the past several years, you would have seen sample cards by our friend Margaret Appleton.  Margaret is always trying something new, and comes up with some great effects with our stamps.  She has agreed to write a short piece for each newsletter on stamping in general and on techniques slightly beyond the basics.

A fellow stamper told me that she never makes sympathy cards.

" That is the one kind of card that I would never attempt!".

I think, though, that the time of bereavement might be just the time that a friend would appreciate a hand-made card….the very fact that it is made with love adds to the caring message within. I think that making such a card is a very personal matter but it need not be difficult one.

In my mind, cards that are meant to give comfort often have the following characteristics:

1. Simplicity- Stamp a single image and frame it with one or two plain- coloured papers or patterned papers that are subtle and soft. Place the image in interesting positions on the card rather than always in the center. Decide whether you like the look of something big or something small.

2. Elegance- Stamp an image and then emboss gold or silver. A gold image looks very nice on ivory paper. If you choose not to emboss you can still frame your chosen image with gold or silver paper—either a solid piece or strips or small touches.

3. Soft colours- Choose a "quiet" colour for your cardstock and then use colour on your card in a soft way. Try using watercolour or blending techniques for colouring your chosen image or consider placing it on a muted background from a shadow stamp.

4. Natural Images- Stamp an image that comes from Nature. I think that there are healing possibilities to be found in the splendour of Nature around us. Some choices for stamping might be flowers, trees, greenery, doves, butterflies, rainbows, etc., etc., etc.

5. A message of comfort – This may be a worry to some. But the words can be as simple as the card….."Thinking Of You", "You are in My Thoughts", or just "Hello".

Those are my thoughts and only a few ideas about cards that offer comfort. I encourage you to include them on your stamping agenda. I‘m sure that we all have many images in our collections that would be appropriate for the kind of card that we would like to send to someone to tell them that we are thinking of them, care about them, and would like to help, if possible.