Egyptian Museum Glass Signing

This Saturday, October 24th, Linda Abdelhameed will be in the store to sign your purchases from our Egyptian Museum Glass collection.  These beautiful Christmas ornaments, vases, compotes, and jars are mouth blown, then etched by hand and decorated with 24 kt gold.  Each piece is a work of art, and my photos here really do not do them justice.  They are sparkling, elegant creations that you’ll want to display in your home year round.

Red Cut-Glass Compote

The signing will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  If you are unable to be here but would like to purchase a signed piece of this lovely glass collection, just give us a call at 1-800-445-3396 and we’ll take your order.

In addition to the red and lavender pieces pictured here, we offer blue, gold, green, and even black glass pieces, as well as a group in pink with cut-glass ribbons in support of the effort to defeat breast cancer.  There is also a wonderfully unique assortment of glass ornaments.

Lavender Vases and Jar

 For a truly grand gift or a special addition to your personal collection of glass, be sure to stop by the store this Saturday.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Date Set for Christmas Place Artist Signings

November 7th – mark your calendar! 

We have not one, but two important and popular artists visiting the store on the first Saturday in November.

Timberland Woods Fairy

Mark Roberts, creator of the beloved line of Fairies and Elves (and lots of other beautiful things) will be at Christmas Place for a signing – we had such a delightful time meeting Mark last year, and cannot wait to welcome him back to the store!

 

 

Candle Shop, Dickens Anniversary Edition

 Barbara Lund, daughter of Nieland Lund, originator of the Department 56 Dickens’ Village Series, will be here to sign D56 buildings and collectibles.  This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Dickens’ Village Series, so you know we’ll be putting on quite a party.

 We haven’t yet set times for the signings, so  please stay tuned for further information.  Watch for a special offer in conjunction with The Inn at Christmas Place and the Dickens anniversary celebration.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

One great road trip!

Whew!  Just got back from a two-and-a-half day business trip with three colleagues, and boy, did we have a great time!  Not only was the conference tremendously informative, the food was even better.

This is the first conference I’ve attended that afforded us the opportunity to actually GAIN weight, the food was so good.  We may judge all future events by the gold standard set this week.  Hot breakfast every morning, with the most delicious bacon; hot lunch both days (a divine apple pie on day one);and a cocktail-and-hot-hors d’oeuvre reception (I just had to include that to prove I could spell it), with everything from jumbo shrimp to a freshly roasted turkey served with rolls and cranberry sauce (with crab cakes in between), thank you, Google.  They served us food about every hour-and-a-half, including an ice cream sundae bar, fruit smoothies, and popcorn and pretzels.

It almost made up for the trip down and the fact that we had to leave before they gave away the iPod Chromatic Nano and the Chumby.  There’s a bit of a story there ~ had I won the Chumby it would have been surrendered to our driver as his Christmas gift.  Does that sound fair?

Next week I can share more tales of the trip…how, on the way down, they were all “this better NOT show up on the blog, what happens on I-75 stays on I-75″, and how, on the way back, they were all “this BETTER be in the blog, because this is too good not to talk about.”  Hmmm.  I still need to do some “editing,” if you know what I mean!  Oh, and gas went down to $2.19 a gallon while we were in the parking lot of one station near Athens at 8:30 pm last night.  Since we didn’t need gas at that point, we felt that they did this to get even with us for being not quite bad enough to call out the local constabulary…

Anywho, we have the lovely Egyptian Glass artist signing at the store, 2 to 5 p.m. tomorrow, and it’s going to be around seventy degrees here in the foothills, a nearly prefect day to come out to the store and meet the artists behind the collection.  We carry several styles of their Christmas ornaments, in addition to all the novelty gifts in this decorative line.

See ya’ll tomorrow!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Signing successes!

Yippee! Our two artist signings on Friday and Saturday were great!  I hope you were able to come by the store and meet Mark Roberts and Dean Griff in person, because they were each a delight to host here for their exclusive product signings.  These were the first such events I have experienced, and it was terrific to meet the creators and their collectors as well.

Friday night, we had fun “fluffing fairies” under the tutelage of Mark Roberts and his associate, Peter.  We learned to twist-twist-twist those fairy wings as well as curl their toes and caps properly.  That’s it, we have to redo all our display pieces – well, those that are left after the event!  The fairies, Santas, and elves were all gorgeous and were leaving the store at a brisk pace.

Mark, on how to display fairies on your treePeter, expert fluffer

My favorite family of the evening decided to purchase their first Mark Roberts item, one of his new elves, to start a collection of their own ~ and not only was Mark here to sign it for them, it was Number 2 in the Limited Edition, numbered collection ~ they were thrilled.  Several long-time fans and collectors came to visit with Mark, and he greeted them warmly, answered questions, and shared tips and laughs throughout the evening.Mark makes Fairies, Santas, and Elves like this Peppermint Fairy: 

    

On Saturday, Dean Griff, creator of the aptly-named Charming Tails collection, greeted many old friends in the store throughout the afternoon.  Some of his devoted followers even went through the line several times, they purchased so many new characters ~ and each piece was signed with care.

Waiting in line

   

Turns out several members of staff are collectors of both artists’ works, and they took turns in the signing lines as well.  Our representative, Iris, has hopefully inspired Dean to develop a piece featuring her namesake flower next time around.  Keeping our fingers crossed with yours, Iris!

Dean’s creations include the cutest woodland characters like this Christmas Elf figurine: 

As we head into the “dog days of summer” (thanks to Sirius, the Dog Star- which doesn’t appear in our modern skies until sometime in August), we’re already thinking about October and our next signing events, including Ne’Qwa hand-painted glass ornaments, Department 56 & Snowbabies collectibles, San Francisco Music Box, and Jacquelyn Kent dolls.  Keep checking in for further updates.

Have a super week!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Artist Signing at the Store ~ Mark Roberts

Throughout the year, we have the opportunity to host in the store some of the delightful artists whose work we carry.  For collectors, these are wonderful times to meet their favorite designers and purchase signed works, increasing the value of such pieces and enhancing their enjoyment of a collection.

On Friday, July 18th, we are excited to be hosting Mark Roberts, the designer of a truly unique collection of  whimsically designed and intricately detailed Santas, Fairies, and Elves.  He will be in the store from 4 to 7 p.m.  Mark will be making a special introduction during this visit of his “Fairy of Miracles,” sales of which will benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, one of the recipients of Mark’s charitable donations in 2008 and 2009.

We are currently pre-selling his items in the store and online, and will hold them for signing and pick-up or shipment to customers after July 18th.  You can see his product line here in the store and in our on-line store.

A couple of other elves, from among the many styles we offer:

Come join us on Friday the 19th to meet Mark and view the collection through the eyes of the designer!  Take advantage of the pre-purchase for signing offer, too.  We’ve just received a new 2008 collection of fairies and elves that are the cutest yet.

 ~Janet @ The Christmas Place