making our dreams come true...

deb and i were talking tonight (as we do most nights) as we finish up final prep for the show - about when we were little. i have talked about in the past we used to help our cousin maisie out with her trade shows. i can remember we were probably 10 or 11 years old. maisie was an older cousin of ours. she had a fairly successful business importing traditional chinese art. and she would have my mom show her things at tradeshows. sometimes we would tag along and yes we broke the rules and snuck into the show to help.

sadly my cousin passed away a couple of years ago from cancer but each time we do a trade show, i do think of her from the catalog folding to the booth setting up to physically being at a trade show for hours.

but along with the tradeshows, she would subscribe to craft journals for us. i remember deb and i used to POUR over them of craft opportunities - some were simple - like making your own buttons and selling them for $1 a piece with that badge machine. but one of them caught our eye. it was a stamp making machine. and from what we could tell from the picture - you could make your OWN polymer (aka clear) -stamps. and the machine was from japan and cost like $169. we were SO EXCITED. we tried saving up our money to get one but we couldn't work out the logistics of a wholesale ID (LOL). issue after issue, we would eyeball this machine trying to figure out how to get it.

but it never happened.

so when i look at our stamps today,

it is really like a dream come true. except we don't have to be making our stamps on our kitchen table. and the scale is a bit bigger too! wow.

but what this reminds me is that it is never too early to DREAM BIG. even at the ages of 10 and 11. we had a vision. and it isn't just our stamps this time - it is everything else. someone mentioned to me that we are known for our ribbons and chipboard - true but as with all things, we don't adhere to the status quo. we want to try different things for our customers and ourselves. that is how you grow. that is how you learn.

so for that, i want to thank our cousin maisie for the inspiration - i only wish you could be here to see what we have done with MR. i think you would be proud.