NEWS
Chris Rush Designs, LLC
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Newsletter November 2024
Bon Dia!
Well, we’ve made it through Labor Day, Halloween, Election Day and Veterans Day, and are on the cusp of Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Chris Rush Designs, LLC has successfully participated in SunFest in Ocean City, MD and the Northern Virginia Christmas Market in Chantilly, VA. Our final show for the year will again be the Bizarre Bazaar (December 5 -8, 2024) at the Richmond (VA) International Raceway. We hope to see many of you there!!
Before we get into the message of this newsletter, let us ‘cut to the chase’ by announcing the details of our Last Sale of 2024!. The Sale begins this Friday, November 15, and extends through midnight Monday, November 18. During that time, all items on my website, www.chrisrush.com, will be 20% off the usual price. Note that this pricing applies only to orders placed on our website during that period. Have fun Shopping!!
As longtime readers of the newsletter know, in each issue we try to include some interesting and/or useful information about subjects related to our business such as: history, cursive handwriting, tatted lacemaking, topics related to mailing and the US Postal Service and some personal insights based on our experiences over our MANY years.
The first thing almost all customers notice about Chris’s note cards are the wide variety of colorful, hand-drawn designs, all with tatted lace embellishments. Most customers pay only passing attention to the paper card on which the design is printed. But Chris has invested a significant amount of time and effort to select high quality card stock for making her cards. For more than 15 years, Chris has worked with a premium paper wholesaler in Brooklyn, NY who periodically supplies her with shipments of 10,000 notecard blanks and envelopes. Chris then does ‘her magic’ on these cards to create the finished product.
But going behind the scenes, it is interesting to look into the processes used in papermaking that led to today’s multi-billion industry. Paper is a combination of milled plant (usually wood pulp) and textile fibres. Frequently the ‘pulp’ is sourced from recycled paper after the impurities are removed. Higher quality paper like Chris uses frequently contains a percentage of cotton and/or linen fibres. Most importantly, the texture of the paper used in the notecards (and envelopes) must be suitable for handwriting using a fountain pen, ballpoint pen, rollerball or felt-tipped marker without bleeding, smudging or blurring. The smoothness or ‘glide factor’ of the handwriting writing process is also a key characteristic in providing a satisfying experience for the writer. Chris keeps all these things in mind when selecting what paper to use in her note cards.
So the next time you buy, send or receive one of Chris’s cards, in addition to admiring her artistic handiwork, please notice the ‘feel’ of the card itself. All of these factors contribute to a more pleasing experience for both the writer and the recipient of these notecards.
With that, dear friends, we end this newsletter and this year. Despite some ups and downs it has been a great year and a privilege to have the opportunity to meet and talk with many of you face to face. Alan and I wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving and a truly blessed and wonder-filled Christmas and New Year holidays.
Looking forward to a happy and healthy 2025 for all of us.
Sayonara.
Chris and Alan
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Newsletter September 2024
Hi again everyone. Well, its September and time for a site wide (www,chrisrush.com) 15% OFF sale. See details below. It’s also the beginning of the Fall craft show season. We love doing these shows but as mentioned in an earlier newsletter, due to ‘old age’, Alan and I have cut back on the number of shows we are doing. Nonetheless we look forward to seeing many of you at the shows we are doing, although I’m sure many of you opt not to attend shows anymore (which is why we do online sales!) We kick off with the Sunfest show on the beach in Ocean City, MD, October 24th through the 27th. It’s a relatively easy (and cost effective!) show for us to do since it is only a few miles from our house. Yea!! Then we go to Chantilly, VA for the Northern Virginia Christmas Market November 8th through the 10th. Then we close out the year at Bizarre Bazaar in Richmond, VA December 5th thought the 8th. As usual, I’ll have some new dog designs, a new assorted greeting set, and several new music and Christmas note cards to offer.
But the best news is that you don’t have to wait for the shows to buy them! They have just been added to my website (www.chrisrush.com) and are, as all the other items on my website, included in this 15% OFF Sale which runs from today, September 7th through September 10th.
Before I end, I’d like to share with you a bit of the history of my business. I recently found a newspaper article I had cut out from the Beaver County (PA) Times, from May 18, 1997 (27 years ago). It contains an interview I had with the reporter talking about various aspects of my business. It highlights the fact that for the first few years, I made a series of hand cut stencils to create each design – one stencil for each part and or color in the design. Back then I had about 20 different note card designs as compared to the over 700 hand drawn designs today. I do not use AI in the creation or production of any of my card designs. The $6.25 price referred to in the article is about half of today’s price (in line with general price inflation over that period.)
So, enjoy the beauty of the upcoming autumn season and I look forward to seeing those of you who can make it to the upcoming shows.
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​​​​​​​​​Newsletter – June 2024
40th ANNIVERSARY SALE!!
25% off of everything!
plus, a free gift with every purchase!
Yes! It’s been 40 years since I started making note cards!! Chris Rush Designs (formerly Chris Rush Designer Notes) has been continuously operating since 1984. It began as my hobby creating stenciled note card designs embellished with my handmade tatted lace pieces (One of my first note card designs is shown below.)
Over the years, it evolved into a registered small business offering more than 900 note card designs as well as a line of glass coasters, place cards, hand-painted tote bags and similar creations. In the beginning, I sold only at local art and craft shows but, with the growth of the internet, I (with the help of our daughter and son) soon established an online presence with my own website: www.chrisrush.com. I also began displaying my products at wholesale market shows in Atlanta, New York and Philadelphia, gaining acceptance of my note cards into more than 15 retail shops and catalogs nationwide.
My first craft show was the Garrison Day Sale in Beaver, PA. in 1985. That was followed by the organizing of ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ Christmas craft show at a friend’s home and later at rented venues not far from Beaver. It continued for 20 years! Soon I began participating in other craft shows in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, later ranging out to shows in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia. I was (and continue to be) joined at the shows by Alan, my husband of 52 years, and sometimes by thoughtful and supporting friends I have met along the way (you know who you are!!)
As Alan and I ‘ripen into maturity’, we have stopped participating in almost all outdoor craft shows – especially those that require us to set up a tent and possibly lug ‘our wares’ a significant distance during the set-up and tear-down processes. Alan and other helpers continue to fold, count and pack the card packages with Alan acting as the postage printer and mailman for shipping online orders. He enjoys pointing out to customers that, like my tatting, his folding, counting and packaging of cards is a ‘special talent’ of his that is very much underappreciated.
For obvious (and not so obvious) reasons, we continue to support the teaching and use of cursive writing in our schools as well as at home. University of Pittsburgh occupational therapist and assistant professor Kelsey Voltz-Poremba points out in a recent article that “…handwriting is about more than just communication and legibility. The very act of forming letters helps imprint them in the brain making learning the alphabet and reading much easier…a crucial part of a child’s development.” California just passed legislation that requires cursive writing be taught in all public schools.
Chris continues to donate a substantial portion of her business income to selected charitable organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Covenant House and local food banks.
I feel truly blessed that Alan and I have been able to travel this road for the past 40 years and look forward to continuing as long as our health remains supportive. We plan to continue participating in at least 4 craft shows annually: Sunfest in Ocean City, MD, the Northern Virginia Christmas Show in Chantilly, VA, Bizarre Bazaar in Richmond, VA and the Virginia Beach Spring Market. But we continue to look for other possible shows that fit our schedule and criteria.
Because it’s our 40th Anniversary we are thanking you, our loyal followers and customers with a week-long ‘Sales Party.’ All customers who make a purchase between June 8th and June 15th will receive a free set of assorted gift tags as well as having their names entered in a drawing for a hand-painted canvas bag (a $15 value!)
In closing, let me express my sincere thanks to each of you for your loyalty and support over the past 4 decades. Have a great summer! Looking forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming fall shows. More details in our next newsletter.
May God bless you!
Chris
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​​​​​​​​​​​Newsletter March 2024
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Hi, it’s a sunny but cold day here in the eastern shore of Maryland. That does not stop me from being excited about spring because the daffodils, and my new mini irises are blooming. I’m looking forward to getting out and planting more soon.
I am also excited about a “new to me” show I’m doing in Virginia Beach on April 19-21. It will be their 38th year at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
Check out my new designs on my website. I have been drawing some new floral designs, mushroom designs, and new dog breeds, Afghan hound and a Newfoundland.
We will be celebrating 40 years of making original art on my note cards with tatted lace. I’m so thankful to the Lord for the number of people who still send handwritten notes out in the mail. I thank you and many who receive the notes thank you also. It means so much and can lift the spirits of the sick and lonely to know you care about them. More information about our celebration to come in the June Newsletter.
How about a flash sale 15% off internet sales only for 3 days only March 22nd, 23rd & 24th!!
Go to my website now! www.chrisrush.com
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Newsletter January 2024
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Hi Everyone,
I want to begin this first newsletter of 2024 by saying a bit belated ‘Happy New Year’ and to thank both my longtime and more recent customers and friends for their support and loyalty. 2023 was a good year – both personally and business-wise. It seems that people are rediscovering the joy and fulfillment in corresponding by the handwritten word – even if only in a brief note. (By the way, I missed sending this out in time to remind you that January 23 was National Handwriting Day. Hope you celebrated anyway!!)
One of my favorite Christmas carols is ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ based on a poem by Christina Rossetti which was put to music by Gustav Holst (of ‘The Planets’ fame). It begins with a description of the possible weather conditions in Bethlehem on the night of Christ’s birth:
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow on snow.
In the bleak midwinter, long, long ago.
Whenever I hear this description of winter, it brings me back to the winters we experienced growing up in northwestern New Jersey (long, long ago!) While winters these days don’t seem to be ‘as hard as iron’ as they used to be, the days can still be cold and overcast and, frankly, a bit depressing. There are several possible antidotes for this condition – maybe a sunlamp for your work area or a trip to a tropical island – but I’ve found that pulling out a few of my notecards and writing to an old friend or a ‘misplaced relative’ can be a powerful elixir. And it probably has a similar, or even greater, positive effect on the recipient. You might even want to send them a pack of my cards (maybe with a pre-stamped envelope) for them to reply or to continue the ‘greetings chain’ by sending a note to one of their friends or relatives.
To help you refresh your supply of notecards that you may have exhausted over the holidays, I’m announcing a 20% off sale on all notecards. (Coasters and place cards are currently out of stock but will be replenished and placed on sale later in the year). The discount applies to online orders only and will run from today through February 4, 2024. If you are ordering notecards for Valentine’s Day, we encourage you to order as early as possible to assure that the cards arrive in time for you to send them out.
As always, we really enjoyed the chance to say hello to several of you at the various art and craft shows we participated in last year. Lord willing, we plan to do most of the same shows in 2024, but we will update you in our next newsletter about the shows we will be doing and what their dates are.
In closing, our sincere best wishes to each of you for a happy and healthy 2024. Let’s celebrate that it’s a leap year so we get that extra day to enjoy!
(Too bad it’s in February.)
As Always,
Chris and Alan
