With The Nutcracker coming out on November 1st, I have a couple of book signings coming up here in and around St. Louis that a few of you might be interested in. One of them is at my beloved County Library on the 19th of November from 1 to 2pm, which is always a lot of fun. While you’re there, you can buy one of my exclusive library totes, the proceeds of which help keep the library up and running.

The other signing is at my friends Jane and David Arnold’s gallery, The Art Center, on Saturday, the 5^th of November from 3 to 5:30pm in the charming little river town of Washington, MO. Not only will I be signing The Nutcracker there, I’ll have 10 original pieces of art for sale as well—some of which are pictured here in this blog. You can call The Art Center 636-239-5544 and buy them over the phone if you’re interested. There are six covers from children’s classics like The Secret Garden and The Wizard Of Oz and there are 4 Christmas-themed drawings, any of which would make an excellent holiday gift for you or yours. If you live in St. Louis or thereabouts, I can think of no better way to kick off the holiday season than to take a drive out to Washington, visit all the great antique shops and galleries, have lunch at one of the many fine restaurants there, and end your fabulous day in the country with a visit to David and Jane’s wonderful establishment. I hope to see you there!

~Mary

Only a few more weeks until our holiday Home Companion Workshop! We’re already gearing up here at the studio to provide a mini winter wonderland for those who are attending, skipping right over Halloween and Thanksgiving, decoration-wise, and dragging out all our Christmas glitter. We’ve also added a few more workspaces so we can all spread out a little AND we’re going to have a mini ME store going full tilt both days in Will’s old office.

There are still a few spaces left and we’d love to see you there!

~Mary

Our online store is up and running! It’s going very well and we’re all very excited and very proud of it’s proprietors, Will and Ian. We’re offering several exclusive products, including totes and bundled Holiday cards, although the cards are running a little late. But they’ll be here later this week— plenty of time to get them in the mail and check that seasonal task off your list.

The store is just one step in the revving up of my business again. Things happen, tastes change,people leave, new people come, stores close, economies crash……. All just part of doing business in this day and age. Or any day and age, for that matter. The trick is to bob and weave your way through it and land on your feet.

We feel like we’re firmly on our feet now and have lots of upcoming projects to prove it! Stay tuned to this blog so you’ll hear about them right away, and for crying out loud, don’t forget to SHOP! Otherwise, as you know, the terrorists will have won, and we can’t have that.

~Mary

P.S. GO CARDINALS!!!

Hello out there! My name is Will Delano. I’m Mary’s son/trusted employee/biggest fan and this week I’ll be your guest blogger on the Engelblog. My mom is a busy lady, what with all her important business stuff and fancy meetings– not to mention all the drawing (always with the drawing!). Anyway, it’s not always easy for her to find time to write this blog, so I thought I’d step in and lend a hand. Besides, I’ve got a few things I’d like to talk about.

It’s a little known fact that our official online store has been owned and operated by a third party since it opened on our website about ten years ago– that is to say up until a few months ago, when my mother made the decision to bring it in-house and do the thing ourselves. I’m proud to say that she’s tasked me with getting this new endeavor of hers’ up and running, and has even given me a shiny new job title (which might come in handy at my upcoming high school reunion). I immediately went out, rented a warehouse and hired my best friend, Ian Dalrymple, because let’s face it, nepotism is nothing new to me. I’m kidding. I hired him because he’s basically the hardest working person I’ve ever known– perhaps, second only to his lovely fiancé, Joanne, who is the most AMAZING administrative director in ME Studios history, and quite possibly the world.

Ian and I have been friends since kindergarten and in all our many adventures over the years I can safely say that we’ve never started a business before. We’re learning as we go, and we’re learning a lot. Quickly. It’s very important to both of us that the new Mary Engelbreit Store is a success when it’s launched on October 10^th—and not just because it’ll make us look good! No, we look good enough already. It’s because this company is important to us, my mother’s work is important to us and, most importantly, my mother is important to us. And I really think you’re going to see the difference that makes when we launch the new site. On October 10^th.  Which is Monday. Did I mention that the new site launches on October 10^th?

Now, I’m not going to lie to you good people; mistakes might be made along the way. That stuff happens. Like I said, we’re new to this whole thing and figuring it out as we go along– but I can assure you that we’re doing our very best to make your shopping experience on our site as pleasant and hassle-free as we possibly can, and we’ll keep right on doing our best until we have the greatest Mary Engelbreit Store that the world has ever known! Point is, this site will never stop getting better. Just to start things off, we focused primarily on Christmas items and the best sellers that you can’t live without, like ME calendars and a few exclusive items that I’ll talk about a little more in a sec, BUT– eventually we will carry the ENTIRE line of ME products, without exception. If she makes it, we’ll have it. Period.

Now, let’s talk exclusives. We wanted to have a few special things lined up for opening day, so first, we had these vintage-looking tote bags made that will only be available on our site:

We printed these with an up-and-coming little company located right here in St. Louis, called Knollwood Lane, and we’re really happy with how they turned out. Next, we printed our own bundled greeting cards, just in time for the Holidays:

These come in eight different designs, each design shrink-wrapped (to save a tree or two) with eight cards and eight envelopes, so you can send them to your friends and family and maybe some neighbors that you don’t really like, but feel obligated or something. These will also be exclusively available on our site.

And last-but-not-least, we’ll be printing our own lithographs and fine prints! We’re starting out with a limited number of designs and will expand on that number over time, but we hope to eventually be able to offer ANY drawing or illustration my mother has ever done. EVER. Framed or un-framed. How cool would that be?

Well I’d better get back to work. Lots of stuff to do before October 10^th.

~Will

P.S. OCTOBER 10^th!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

Our intention was to introduce the new website to you with great fanfare as a completely done deal, but it turns out even website geniuses like our Alex at insiteadvice.com are only human after all. You may have noticed some of the changes– new logo, more contests and giveaways, new patterns, etc., but there are lots more changes coming! However, we need to concentrate on the new and improved e-store opening October 10th, so all of our energies are zeroed in on that right now. As a matter of fact, we’re running a contest as we speak to celebrate the Grand Opening– click here or on the Halloween-looking button above to register for one of three great prizes! First prize is three original Halloween drawings by moi, framed. Second prize is 2 tickets good for 1 day at our next Home Companion Workshop and third prize is a signed and framed lithograph. All you have to do to enter is spread the word about ME on your favorite social network or networks, as the case may be. Click on the button to find out exactly how, because I’m operating at my technological peak right now just getting this blog out. And please send an e-mail to Ian at the new Mary Engelbreit e-Store (ian@maryengelbreit.com) if you’re interested in being a part of our new, super nifty affiliate program.

Also new on the website is our official petition to BRING BACK THE MAGAZINE! If you’ve already commented on my last blog, you don’t need to sign this, but for crying out loud, make sure all your friends sign up if they haven’t already– we need thousands of signatures to impress a cold-hearted publisher and penny-pinching advertisers.

And don’t forget, you only have until September 30^th to enter Essilor’s Breit Eyes contest for your chance to win an original drawing, by me, of YOUR own little bespectacled child, among other fabulous prizes!

And last but not least, a photo of our new puppy, Sophie (a shitzu/toy poodle mix)– just so you you’ll leave this blog smiling.

~Mary

It’s been 3 years since we stopped publication of the Home Companion magazine and not a day goes by– LITERALLY NOT A DAY GOES BY– that we don’t get 6, 7 or sometimes even 20 letters and emails asking that we publish it again. So we’re going to give it another shot, but we need your help. It’s still a very risky business to put a magazine out in these tough economic times, so to convince a publisher and advertisers that this would indeed be a worthy endeavor, we need you to write in and tell us why you’d like to subscribe to the magazine again.  A petition, if you will.  Because if we can show that a gajillion people want the Home Companion, need the Home Companion, will BUY the Home Companion– we will have a better chance of success.

So tell us what the magazine meant to you, or if you’re short on time, just write in and say “Count me in!”  The more names, the merrier!  Barbara , Kathy, and I are all ready to dive back in if you are.

~Mary

On September 15th, we’ll be closing down our on-line store temporarily– but don’t panic! Actually I doubt that news will inspire panic in you, but when we reopen on October 10th I promise you will be thrilled with the new and improved site.

We have been getting many complaints about difficulties with simply placing orders and about the lack of help when there was a problem, so we’ve taken the on-line store back and are doing it ourselves. As a matter of fact, my son Will Delano and his friend (and my pseudo son) Ian Dalrymple, who have been BFFs since they were 4 years old, are going to be running the whole show. Now, there might be a few bumps along the way when we re-open, but believe me, these two will take care of you and make sure your on-line shopping experience with us is efficient, pleasant, personal, and completely frustration-free!

After all, you’re the ones keeping me drawing everyday and since I want to keep drawing, I want to keep you happy. Please come back to our store on October 10th and see how fun it can be to shop on-line again!

~Mary

I know you’ve all been wondering “Hey! Whatever happened with that Robert Tonner doll giveaway???” Well, wonder no longer, my friends– here are some photos of the lucky winners with their new dolls!

Eileen Schneider of Indianapolis, IN won the larger, eighteen inch Ann Estelle doll. Here she is with Eileen’s great nephew, Eddie…

…and then there’s Rebecca Mohr of Tyler, TX, pictured here with her daughter Meredith and their new little friend, who won the somewhat smaller ten inch version.

Thanks to everyone for entering, and special thanks goes out to Eileen, Rebecca, Eddie and Meredith for the great photos! This was so much fun that we just HAVE to do it again– so stay tuned for more giveaways in the near future!

~Mary

Is your favorite bespectacled character Harry Potter or Ann Estelle? Or, more likely, is your favorite your own little glasses-wearing child? If so, you’ll be happy to know I’ve partnered up with Airwear Lenses this month to promote healthy vision and lighter, safer, greener eyewear. You can click on this link or visit my facebook page to get all the details, but– in a nutshell you can enter a photo of your child in the “Breit Eyes” contest and have a chance to win a drawing of your child by ME and an all-expense paid trip to St. Louis to meet me and the rest of our team and take a tour of my studio! And there are signed books for the next 6 runner-ups!

So get on over to my facebook page and sign up! Celebrate “Four Eyes Pride Week”, Sept. 5 – 11, and see how beautiful the world really is!

~Mary

We’re moving into the Fall and Holiday season and you know what that means– it means your life turns into a living hell of endless running around to various school and sporting events, dealing with homework, business meetings and deciding how to plan the ever-mutating family holiday dinners. WELL, if you’d like to step off that hamster wheel for a weekend, join us at our holiday Home Companion Workshop this November 12^th and 13^th, here at the studio. It’s ostensibly to make gifts for loved ones on your list, but let’s face it— it’s fun and relaxing to get together with like-minded souls and make stuff. And talk. And laugh. And don’t forget the eating and drinking part!

We had a GREAT time at the last one and this one will be even more fun (if that’s even possible) because we added a wonderful all-day class with Nancy Wethington, memory-booker extraordinaire.

So click here to check out the fabulous classes by Nancy, Kathy Curotto and Charlotte Lyons. Tell everyone you’re coming to make things for your friends and family— we all know you’re really coming for the sheer fun of it!

~Mary