Thinking of Mary

Mary has worked for me for 30 years. We are kind of like sisters and so when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year it was a very difficult time. Now she's back in the hospital for reconstructive surgery and she's doing well.

When Tanya Tahir submitted this Tube and Card set using SRM's Thrive Quick Card I wished that she lived nearby and we could send it to Mary. I love everything about this project. Mary would love it since she loves chocolate and Tanya put mini Oreo cookies inside the Mini TUBE. What a darling combination.

It's amazing how far medicine has come in treating breast cancer. Each of us has people we know who have valiantly fought this disease. Mary is one of them. She is in my thoughts and prayers.

Countdown to Christmas!

Is it possible that there are only 44 more days until Christmas? YIKES! Now is the perfect time to start sharing with you lots of wonderful holiday ideas, so let's get started! No time like the present, don't you think? :)

Day #1: Ornaments

Here is a wonderful trio of Christmas Ornaments from Design Team member Elizabeth Carney using SRM's Quick Cards Merry, Jolly and Believe.

And more ornaments from Melanie Jarocki using SRM's Quick Cards Merry, Jolly and Believe.



Using the very same stickers, I love how these 2 designers acheived such different results.

Are you bneginning to feel inspired? If you want more Christmas Inspiration, visit the SRM Blog where our designers have been very busy elves, working to make treats just for you! :) Here's a link to all the Christmas posts: http://srm-stickers.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas

Loving all things Macintosh

This is a story of coincidences, admiration and inspiration.

When I was a child, my mother, who was from Vermont, loved Macintosh apples. It was the only kind of apple she bought. I never really liked them but they were my apple and so I had a very early connection to the Macintosh.

When I graduated from UC Berkeley I headed back to Southern California to work for my father. He was an inventor. His Patent Attorney (and now mine) was Ed Taylor. One day Ed in the 1980's told me that he was moving to Northern California because he had been hired by Apple Computer (yet another Macintosh) to be their patent attorney. From that day forward I loved Apple computers.

In the early 1990's I got my first Apple computer because John brought one home from school to do his grading. It was a Performa. I was thrilled. I taught myself word processing and connected to the internet. I thought that this was as good as it gets.

In 1993 I was shocked to see an ad for Apple Computer where one of my products was featured. At that time SRM made pens and pencils with toppers. In this ad there was a little girl using my Star topper on a pencil sprinkled with stars. You can imagine my surprise and pleasure at this!

In 1995 I got my first new Mac and have been upgrading ever since. I think I'm due for a new one and I can't wait to get my hands on one and see what new things my computer will be able to do.

When I heard the news of Steve Jobs resigning for health reasons I was surprised by my reaction. I was stunned and profoundly sad. But then I realized that for many years I have felt connected to his company and to his products and to his genius. But it is more than that. I have been inspired by him. By his creativity, his passion and the extraordinary person that he is.

iAdmire
iRespect
iHope
iPray

God bless Steve Jobs in his struggle with his health. He has taught all of us so much and in so many ways enriched our lives. If you never heard the commencement speech that he delivered at Stanford University in 1995, I encourage you to view it on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

I for one intend to take his advice.

1. Love what you do (i Do)
2. Your time is limited so don't waste it. (i know)
3. Follow your heart and intuition. (i am)

Most of all as I continue down the road, I intend to be adventurous, stay hungry, and stay foolish taking chances and loving what I do.

Turning Over a New Leaf!

Being busy is no excuse for not posting to my blog so I've decided to turn over a new leaf...I'm posting a brief post at least 3 times a week. Right...sure...you've heard it before. My new strategy is to make it short but sweet. Here goes...





It's back to school and everyone is looking for great ideas for teacher gifts. Fortunately, you've come to the right place because the design team of SRM Stickers has been creating lots of school related projects lately. Here is one of my favorites from Kim Arledge, mason jars re-purposed to be holders for school supplies and the perfect back to school teacher gift. Love these! Will be back later this week with more!

Where in the world is Susan McShirley?

Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I have been crazy busy with CHA and the aftermath of CHA and then the Southern California Shop Hop.

CHA and the Shop Hop are so different. I love them both! CHA is meeting all of the stores that we do business with, seeing our reps, teaching a class for 200 store owners that requires weeks of preparation (thanks to my husband John for all his help on that).

The Shop Hop is where I meet the end user, the consumer. And I love to watch them play with our products and have so much fun with them. It gives me a lot of pleasure to see the pleasure that stickers and TUBES can bring to young and old, men and women across the board.


This past weekend was the 3rd and final weekend of the Shop Hop. I went to 3 stores and enjoyed each one. I worked with well over 100 consumers. We made Tubes and Magic Wands in Christmas, Halloween and Princess. I love seeing little ones use the products. We had them as young as 3.

The high point of the weekend was when my niece brought her 5 kids ages 10 - 4 1/2 months to a store to see me. The two youngest did not participate but the 10 year old girl (Aine) and 5 year old girl (Lillian) made wonderful Princess wands. Lillian has decided that she wants to use these for her next birthday party. She was so excited that she was practically jumping out of her skin! And the 8 year old boy (Hollis) mad a very crative Halloween Wand. I love how he used stickers to attach the paper to the wand. Who needs adhesives? LOL!

So now I can rest and relax on the weekends at least for a while. I better take advantage of that down time because not too far down the road it will start all over again! :) Thank goodness it just keeps coming at me! SRM Stickers is now 32 years old! Maybe it's time we gave a birthday party and made birthday tubes and wands to celebrate! :)

New Products Revealed

This is always a super hectic time of year. There are so many things to do in preparation for a show and inevitably there is always a snafu! I usually get super tired and get sick right before a show. Knock on wood....not sick yet! :) The printing of the stickers is exciting but also fraught with anxiety. There are always a few misprints and that holds up the shipping of the product. That has happened this time but I'm good with it. We are shipping now and I love that feeling.

And the catalog is printed and mailing and that is always the key to the beginning of the cycle. People like getting a printed catalog. The internet is amazing, but people like to have that catalog and turn the pages and touch the sample. Everyday we are sending out another batch of catalogs.

And the show is just around the corner. We are pretty much ready. The booth has been shipped. The class for 200 people (yes...200) has shipped and the class is almost full. YAY! The make & takes are done and shipped. Just a few more things to do and a few things to carry in my suitcase and then we will be done.

One snag... you are not really ever done. The show is HUGE and the work is grueling. After the show you have lots of shipping and lots of following up with the people you met at the show. And immediately after the show I'm doing a Shop Hop here in Southern California visiting 15 stores and doing make & takes with our new products.

Like I said, it's a busy time of year. Want to see a few new products? Here are a few. Enjoy!

Fancy Sticker Sentiments:



And the Mini Calendars abd Mini-TUBE {{SIGH}}:




If you want to WIN all the new stickers, hop on over to the SRM Blog this week and leave a comment!

Gallery Idol 2011

Between now and July 4th is Open Auditions for Gallery Idol 2011 sponsored by Paper Crafts magazine. I love this competition, just like I love American Idol. Last year 2 of the top 10 used SRM in their cards. And in 2009 one of our current design team members, Rae Barthel, won Gallery Idol.

This year I'm facinated by the fact that about 1 in 20 cards posted so far to the Gallery Idol competition have used SRM Stickers. WOW! That's so impressive. I love that so many of the top card makers use SRM Stickers as their sentiment of choice. I'm hoping that some of our biggest friends and fans move into the top 20 that will be announced on July 8th. So much fun.

If you feel like getting your craft on, head over to the Gallery Idol Flickr and post your card. The guidelines are at the bottom of the Flickr page. The "Open Audition" round is "Congratulations" as the theme. Here's the link if you are interested: http://www.flickr.com/groups/gallery_idol_2011

and here are just a few of the cards using SRM Stickers that are in the competition. Best of luck to all of you SRM users. We are cheering you all the way!

Here's a card from Laurel Seabrook, a big friend and fan of SRM. Recently she was Moxie Fabber of the Week! Go Laurel!

And how about this beauty from Jan Tatomir! Jan LOVES her SRM and we love Jan! Go Jan Go!

And last, but not least, here's a card from Karen Baker who was in the top 10 of Gallery Idol last year. That's where I first spotted Karen and I've loved her beautiful graphic style ever since. And Karen loves her SRM! Best of luck in this year's competition. Beautiful card (as usual)! :) Love the combination of stamping and stickers. It's a winner!

So here's hoping that lots of SRM Stickers make it to the top 20! Thanks to all the designers that are making our product shine!