Countdown!

July 29th brings a sudden realization....Country Living Fair is not too far away. Sept 12, 13 & 14th and to us retailers that is in a blink of an eye. BUT, first things first! We are going to enlarge pics that we have left on our website tomorrow! We're going to accomplish this before we upload some fun new products {linens, new petite fleur colors, fun creative supplies, etc}! I hope to have new things uploaded by Thursday or Friday.

August 1st then marks our official countdown to the Country Living Fair 2008! We have lots of ideas that are beginning to bloom in our "back room".
Sara {our talented seamstress} has made a custom pattern for darling________! We are excited about bringing our petite department store to a 10x20 tent at the fair. We'll keep you posted on our creative process along the way!

Also, a congratulatory note to Abby of The Blissful boutique in Canton, Ohio for her successful trunk show she had this past weekend!

Annie Oakley {So Charming}

Famous quotes

"There's no business like show business" from Annie Get Your Gun musical.

Our favorite quote from Annie

"Aim at a high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time

and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting

for only practice will make you perfect.

Finally you'll hit the bull's-eye of success."

Necklace with trio of horseshoes, trophy cup, and McMaster & Storm

brass tag

Necklace with boots, letter "A", western hat, gun,

& brass McMaster & Storm tag

It's Annie Oakley days here in Greenville, Ohio. The event is marked by sidewalk sales downtown and going-ons at the fairgrounds. To crown the Annie Oakley queen there is no swimsuit contest just shooting a gun {not a real one} and hitting a target and whoever comes close or hits it dead on is QUEEN!

Charm bracelet chock full of western themes

plus, eiffel tower, trophy cup, letter A, Crown,

and engraved McMaster & Storm brass tag.

So holler if she's your hometown gal! She was amazing.

We celebrated her this year with charm bracelets and necklaces representing her travels. There is a medley of charms on the bracelet to do with the old west and then her world travels:

Our custom charms in the mix are these:

Eiffel tower for shooting at the Paris Exposition

Crown for the Queen of England as she did a show with her in attendance----I believe she even met her plus some other dignitaries at that time.

Letter "A" let's hear for Annie

A trophy cup that is the same shape from her beloved hometown fans in Greenville, Ohio---she treasured that trophy more than any other one.

&

of course a brass tag with our store name McMaster & Storm engraved.

These goodies are uploaded on our website.

Come in the store as our end of summer sale is in full swing----

A LOAD OF A SALE

{PACK IT UP & SHIP IT OUT}

Take a Peak at New Goodies!

Velvet ric-rac, a new favorite!
{Take a peek!}

A bundle of wide crepe paper in nostalgic
pink & white diamond pattern.
{Take a peek!}

Restocked green leaf ribbon and 2 new colors
glitzy gold & brown.
{Take a peak}

Our loose weave ribbon with new color added:
chartreuse!
{Take a peek}

Narrow fawn faux suede ruffled ribbon restocked with
a new color dark woodland brown.
{Take a peek}

Wide f aux suede ruffled ribbon
{Take a peek}

Baby diaper pin, in pink too!
{Take a peek}

Baby carriage with ribbon tied on handle,
perfect gift topper.
{Take a peak}

More goodies to add to website over the next week. We'll be restocking some of the dresdens and adding other "treats" that we've been working on in our back room. Also, waiting on our petite crepe ruffled trim as we are adding more colors! All the new pics I'm uploading you can now make bigger on our website, after you go to the product description & price page. We will be working on getting all of them done as we go along.

Oh, and just call Darcy Mary Poppins as she just snapped her fingers and the back room: it's o-r-g-a-n-i-z-e-d. I should show you pics of all the cute things she did.

I'm sure all of you are enjoying the farmer's markets and of course your own garden produce! We are!

"Going Postal"

{"good morning, darcy, this is your wake up call!"}


{"goofing off at a warehouse"}

Yesterday our usually-handy-dandy-click-n-ship decided to act up and as we would print labels it would decide to charge our credit card a few times too many. I'm worried that by this evening we'll have a million air miles too many. We had our first lost package and our shipments are not coming in fast enough. Glitches, yes lovely glitches and since we don't have an employee that has a title "troubleshooter" we get to figure out all this "un-creative stuff" out! The USPS sent us an e-mail a few weeks with technical questions for us to answer, needless to say they went unanswered as to technical for us! Matt, {kara's husband} will need to come in and figure this out for us. AND, our air conditioner quit yesterday as the filter has not been changed for 3 years! When we rented the building this was never discussed and the basement is not a place we like to hang out. It never crossed our minds, there again we don't have an employee with the title "maintenance". As shopkeepers we wear many hats sometimes too many at once! It's a delicate balancing act and easy to stress out over too "many little things"!

{"sometimes you just need to have a good laugh"}

We now have decided to devote one entire day to only internet as keeping track of inventory from the actual physical shop and updating inventory levels when we sell something "out front". We have two stores now with internet. We still have new product to photograph and need to re-load pictures so customers can look at a larger picture. One day at a time.........."inch by inch life's a cinch, yard by yard life is hard"!

Thank you patient, kind & understanding customers, you keep us going! Also, to our lovely shopkeeper friends far & near your support means a lot! Life is about cheering each other on!!!

Preserve Me, O GOD,
For in THEE do I put my Trust.
Psalm 16-1

Wrappings, Confiserie Display & Somerset Life Press

Our press in regards to our petite european stapler

in the summer issue of somerset life.

{Our candy area in the store}

Gifts wrapped in vintage wood berry baskets

gifts are for the wedding help.

Our petite bushel basket wrapped

with baby tears tucked inside.

McMaster & Storm's Gold Bird Perched on Design Sponge Today

Our gold bird was featured on Design*Sponge today! This blog is a fun read and is great for shopkeepers to check out.

"Under Construction"

Vintage cabinet all wrapped up for a wedding {wrapped by Darcy}

This picture will make Darcy sing when she arrives at the shop this morning! {she'll probably shoot me in the foot} Anyway thought it would wake her up. She was in a construction area and was required to wear one.

We have had an interesting week and here what's up at McMaster & Storm. The store is on it's way to being totally changed around. Tuesday morning we arrived and was on a mission to follow through with our harebrained-last-minute-we're inspired-to make the store even a more quirky "petite department store" feel! {We made a huge mess in the process--thanks, Sara for helping us with our famous "piles"! Well we love it so far and so will you. It's cozy, cozy and summer-y. On our ordering list is more sweet treats, paper goods, ribbon & soaps.

Also, thank you for you patience in regard to the petite and grande bird decal. We sold out of our first batch, and our next batch is on order. Parts of these are hand cut as that's why there's so much detail! They asked us for "camera ready artwork" so it would be easier, but of course our faces got bunched up and contorted and said "but, that is so not McMaster & Storm." These should ship around July 9th. You can go ahead and place your order and we'll fill it when they arrive.

In regards to our e-commerce new things will be uploaded soon along with making all 100 or so pictures so you may enlarge the them to see product better. We hope to have this in place over the next 2 weeks. We have re-stocked most things or they are on order. The petite double ruffle is on order and we're getting more colors. Customers have loved this.