Our Brick & Mortar Storefront is Bidding all Adieu

2009 is fast approaching and it will be a new beginning for us. We are closing our store in Greenville, Ohio. We still will have our "petite department store" online- www.mcmasterandstorm.com & we will set up at events like the Country Living fair. Some other ideas are brewing in our heads as well. As many of you know Kara is expecting her 2nd little one Feb. 11 and she wants a slower lifestyle while her children are young. They keep ya bus-y!

We have been blessed with friendships with other store owners and will continue to keep in touch with you all. We promise we won't disappear completely!

There will be our back room sale starting this Friday from 10-5. We will be selling props, display pieces and lots more. I will post pics of display pieces later today. Also, there is an in store sale going on as well. We will be open through January 31st.

Note: Staplers are on there way to the shop. They should be here shortly and there will be no discounts on these.

Questions? Call us @ 937-548-2100

e-mail mcmasterandstorm@embarqmail.com

Happy New Year!

LOL,

Kara & Darcy

Hope all of you had a Merry Christmas!

Highlights of our Christmas Day festivities. We are truly blessed to spend time with our families. We wish you a Happy New Year - 2009! May God bless our friends far & near, we've enjoyed getting to know you through blog-land! LOL, Darcy & Kara






Highlights from festivities yesterday!

Contest Winner!

We knew we could count on you girls!!!
The answer: it's Monique Keegan's "house on the hill" & the amazing Amy Butler sent her in!
This prize of fabric & purse pattern goes to Leslie. Please e-mail us @ mcmasterandstorm@embarqmail.com

Contest Winner will be Posted Later Today!

I will try to post the winner later on today! 

LOL,

K&D

A Visitor & A Contest

The lady of this house visited our store 2 weeks ago! I'm not going to mention names as we feel silly! Darcy was working that day and she even sent an e-mail with lovely thoughts about her visit. We love positive comments! A certain fabric designer sent her in. She drove all the way to the "middle of nowhere"! What a compliment! Their previous home was featured in Country Living as well as this one. We love her style. She has a knack for putting "found" things in her home. Needless to say we could move right in!

{Now this calls for a contest}
Tell us her name {the lady of this house} and the name of the fabric designer that sent her in.
Both of them live in central Ohio. We gave enough clues above and we know one of you will figure it out! We won't post comments until the contest is over which will be Friday morning at 10:00 am EST.

We'll mail out a prize to the winner!

Good Luck!
k&d

photo: Country Living Magazine

Talented Sara's Gifts For Us

Sara came into the store with the most wintry treat of a gift. Plus the packaging was just wonderful eye candy. I didn't want to open mine as I love to savor the wrapping, but she insisted I open it.
Ok, lets have a look......


Sara took a German Christmas ball that's actually a box, painted and embellished it with flakes of sparkle. She then embellished the top with berries that look like they have ice on them and greenery. Sara tucked a bird tag as well. She made this from Martha Stewart's holiday idea book. Sara used her own twist for the top, which I love.

Tucked inside was darling hand knitted fingerless gloves! Sara can knit and well do just about anything with creating lovely things. {she's busy creating @ this moment!} The gloves were wrapped in tissue inside with bakery twine around the package. They are made with very soft yarn, Baby Alpaca D.K.

Now, I just need a manicure and I'll be set.

Darcy will open hers on Thursday, hopefully she won't see the blog. Regardless if she takes a peek on the blog, she'll love this!

Enjoy your last full week of Christmas preparations and don't forget to drink lots of hot cocoa!

LOL,

Kara & Darcy too

Fastner fiasco...

Well the weather outside is frightful but our European fastner is so delightful... let them come, let them come, let them come... well the only trouble is they will not arrive before Christmas morn.

We so do hate to spread the news of this to our dear customers who are patiently waiting {as we are also!} We'll keep you updated on the arrival and get them in your hands as fast as our little legs can carry us!

Blessings to you and yours,

D

We Love This....

We just received our new Domino and
would you believe they had these
King James Version bright colored bibles.

They stated it like this
A best-seller for eons, the Kings James Bible
gets a makeover with candy-bright goatskin cover
and 4 colorful ribbon markers.
$198

a note from k&d
Now just because it's bright colored and fun
it still takes commitment to read every day!

Bravo for Domino to stick this in their magazine!
Yay for the Kings James Version our favorite!

LOL,
k&d

Simple Idea

This past Saturday after picking up an inexpensive sweater, I thought of a vintage "L" letter from a varsity jacket that I stashed somewhere. I actually found it-- a feat of its own! I grabbed some funk-y green embroidery thread and sewed it on the back.
You could actually use new wool felt and cut your own letter.
Now Luke just needs a haircut, aaack!
k

Breaking News!!!! The Staplers are Coming!!!!

How Exciting!
The staplers are coming before Christmas they tell us! If you would like to be on our order/wait list, please e-mail us and we let you know the moment they are available on the website. Thank you for your patience.

Our e-mail is mcmasterandstorm@embarqmail.com

Kara & Darcy

Lola B in the House! {aka Kasey}

Thanks Kasey for coming to the "middle of nowhere"! Darcy wished she had more time to chat. We have enjoyed getting to know other shop owners and love the friendship that we are able to have. It's truly a blessing to our "shop girl life"! Kasey and her husband plus kiddos
came to the store this past Saturday on their way home from visiting family. They drove out of the way to come to the shop. Kasey is getting ready for her Lola B's Christmas Open House this weekend. If you are lucky to live close by we recommend you check it out!

Thanks Kasey for stopping by!!!!

Luke's B-day & Thanksgiving in Washington D.C.

Checking in after every one's busy last week! We
celebrated Luke's 3rd birthday. This age is fun as he knows what Birthdays are all about now. We celebrated with a ship theme {sorry for blurry pics it was evening and didn't want to use flash plus left my memory card @ the shop so couldn't use my camera....grrrr} I used old graphics of ships for his invitation. We had salt water taffy in party cups that had a banner that said "Because where your treasure is, there your heart is also." I did little wooden treasure boxes filled with treats for Darcy's kids. I found the wrapped chocolate coins for display. The ship on cake was a model ship from Joanne fabrics which my hubby spray painted entirely. Sailor hats made out of our mercantile paper bags from the store. I made them for the kids plus Luke's Snoopy. Whew, then on to our trip to D.C.

Washington D.C.
One of our favorite displays for the Christmas season was at the botanical gardens. A landscape architect who is also a model train enthusiast did quaint fairy-like buildings plus the famous monuments & buildings from D.C. out of plant materials. Imagine the time. They were so detailed plus there was a train that ran around the woodland wonderment. This was a beautiful place and loved the smell of fresh plants!

Thanks Darcy & Sara for running the shop while I was gone. I do hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and today marks the first day of December which starts the Advent. Blessings to you all this 1st day of the Christmas Season.

Up next: Lola B's visit {kasey} and Darcy's Birthday!!

Kara

Baby Jesus Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar

A Family Tradition

Advent means "the coming" and refers to the 4 week season of preparation for the coming of Jesus on Christmas Day

and anticipation of His coming again. Advent begins the Sunday nearest November 30th and continues until December 24th.

The Advent calendar, which originated in 19th Century Europe, has 24 numbered flaps concealing a biblical scene and verse about the coming of the Messiah. Children especially enjoy opening a new door each day

as Christmas draws near and we come once again to the Birth of Christ.

12" wide and ribbon for hanging. Ribbon will vary. Available at our "petite department store"!

We wish everyone a Blessed Christmas Season.

Picking Christmas Wrapping Colors from an Outfit?

We were smitten by the combo of the colors of J.Crew's outfit-
the deep royal blue, melon and contrast of a greenish yellow. We dove into ordering a collection of velvet ribbons and paper ribbon for packaging, inspired by these colors. As for gift wrap none other than our favorite foil paper. Here we'll show you some packaging supplies inspired by j.crew's picture.
{by the way did any of you see the J.Crew's creative director's home in the latest domino? very fun I tell you!}

The display Darcy did of the bracelets is delightful. Love the texture of the wood in contrast to the jewelry.

Have a lovely day!

k&d

Forty-Three New Products

From #56-#69 on our peek page is new product. I just finished with 43 new products and whew I think I will call it a day! There are gifts for children too!

I'm heading to get supplies for Luke's birthday party and then going home and snuggling in my new girlie pink flannel pajamas!

I'm plum worn out!

Christmas 2008 Open House

Here is a flurry of open house pics.

Slightly rested up from last week and on to the next thing!!!! {There's always something brewing it seems like!}
Darcy is out front snapping pics for website and I'm back here blogging. Now is the time to focus on new things for website so they are up before Thanksgiving.
If you make a purchase online and want it wrapped as a gift let us know to whom through our web site's e-mail & we'll wrap in McMaster & Storm style.
As always all of your purchases receive some type of special wrapping.