Spring Celebrations
by Judi Kauffman
As I write this, the thermometer reads 23 degrees.
There is snow on the ground; I'm wearing furry slippers and a down vest while I sit at the computer. But the mere mention of Spring Celebrations makes it feel a lot less chilly.
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| Bazzill's Cardstock with an Edge quickly folds into this clever card shape with a cute scalloped edge already cut for you. |
I can picture a robin hopping across the back yard, bright bursts of color peeking up out of the ground, the dog romping in the sunshine. I'll have lavender and peach cardstock on my stamping table, surrounded by flower stamps and glitter pens in orange and green. When the seasons change, so does my stamping. Creativity flows in different directions—the warmer temperatures give me a kickstart same as they've done to the trees and grass.
Spring is a wonderful time of year for stamp store owners. The weather brings winter-weary customers out of hibernation. The spring season is filled with opportunities for fun and profit.
Here are some ideas to get the Spring Celebrations rolling.
Spring Flowers
Start with birds and flowers. Prominently display stamps and sample cards that incorporate feathered friends, daffodils, crocus and tulips. Stock up on flower and leaf punches, books that show how to use them, and offer classes that help customers explore all the possibilities. Teach your customers how to use paper bouquets and blooms to top boxes or accent books, as well as dimensional cards. Offer a workshop that teaches how to stamp on glass and ceramic vases. Include a fresh bouquet in the cost of the class. It's an opportunity to cross-promote with the local florist shops.
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| From The Paper Bouquet: Using Paper Punches to Create Beautiful Flowers by Susan Tierney Cockburn. Due out in Summer 2008. |
Put out spools and racks of ribbon in bright spring shades and soft pastels. Sell them by the yard, or in color-coordinated assortments. Pile up the brads and other embellishments with spring themes and colors. Sell small baskets to decorate or use for storage.
Create a buzz. Bee and butterfly stamps may seem more like summer than spring, but there's no reason not to incorporate them into the spring celebrations.
Think in terms of spring holidays. Sell stamps, cardstock, and other supplies for Easter cards, Mother's Day, baby and bridal showers, weddings and graduations. Show how to use monogram stamps to make notecards, thank you cards, stationery sets. Show how to use band stampers to create save-the-date postcards. Teach classes devoted to invitations and party décor.
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| Spring celebrations call for colorful pens! Rejuvenate spirits with the twinkle of glitter, glitz of metallic and vibrant tones found in Shades. |
Sell pens and more pens. Doodling has never been more popular. Your customers will want glitter, dimensional ink, metallic and gel pens, pens for writing in a journal, and so will their kids. "Plant" a silk flower surrounded by pens in small terra cotta pots filled with dried beans or wild rice. Like potato chips, it's impossible to stop at one pen—everyone wants an assortment of colors.
Spring Foods
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| Cookbookin' recipe scrapbooking supplies from Sulyn Industries make a good starting point for food-themed stamping projects and events like recipe swaps. |
Healthy foods take center stage after the excesses of the winter holidays. Invite a Weight Watcher's
® group to come to your store to create cookbooks. Host recipe swaps that focus on outdoor cooking in preparation for the summer season. Cross-sell cookbook kits, recipe cards, brads shaped like kettles and rolling pins, stamps with images of hot dogs and chefs' hats.
Reach out to beginners. Make sure to schedule basic classes and offer demonstrations that focus on simple techniques. Keep the experienced stampers excited by giving them something brand new. Bring in teachers who offer advanced techniques and unique projects.
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| These 3/4" brads from Hot Off The Press are already decorated with dots and stripes for festive Easter projects. |
Ask customers to donate cards for a worthy cause. Display them in the store before they are boxed and sent, with a party to celebrate the generosity and creativity of your customers. On the day of the party offer a discount to anyone who donates (1 percent per card up to 15 cards, for example). With advance notice and a clearly written and compelling press release, the event could gain extra publicity with the local newspaper or television station. It will make a great photo, and how about this for a headline: "Local stamp store sends 785 cards to soldiers in Iraq."
Coordinate books and spring issues of magazines with products to make the projects featured. Display spring color cardstock and envelopes on a rack near the cash register. Invite a local book club to meet at your store and offer a class in how to make bright, colorful bookmarks (laminated, if you have a laminating machine). Sell CDs with antique Easter postcard images. Invent a series of classes called "Seasonal Stamping" that starts with spring and continues throughout the year.
Spring Splurges
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| Artist and designer Anne Gibson, owner of Movable Parts Rubber Stamps, pays homage to photographer Anne Geddes with her Baby in a Flower card. |
Have you noticed how people go to a garden center each spring intending to buy one or two items, but instead fill their carts with plants, seeds, gloves, a wheelbarrow and trowel rather than the rake that was their intended purchase? Spring is a flurry of activity. Take advantage of the urge to clean, renew and organize brought on by the change in weather by selling all sorts of organizers, stamp cleaners, storage racks and boxes. Call it "Spring Cleaning" and bring in professional organizer as a guest speaker to talk about the products and options.
There are endless ways to celebrate spring at a stamp store. Here's hoping these ideas will be useful and will plant the seeds for others. Boy, will I be glad when it's time to put away the down vest.
Here's to a fun-filled, profitable spring!
Resources
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Judi Kauffman is a lifetime stamper and nationally known designer, writer and teacher. Her new book, By The Batch: Creative Cards, Postcards, Envelopes and More (Watson-Guptill), includes 13 foolproof layouts and a wealth of ideas for how to create one-of-a-kind cards in a series—a batch at a time! Contact her by e-mail at judineedle@aol.com.
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