January 4, 2009

My Apologies - We're Still Here

I apologize to all of our customers for the lack of contact, birthday drawings, gallery updates, new image releases and sales over the past several months. We have had some extraordinary things happening here lately. It all started with a vacation last September. While I was away playing in the Caribbean, Hurricane Ike hit the Third Coast. We didn't suffer terrible damage, but we did lose the roof and fence and suffered 10 days in the humid heat without power. During this same time, my boyfriend proposed, and we started looking for a new property that would accommodate the two of us, his two children, our dogs and cats, as well as Third Coast. We found a great place, but the space for Third Coast needed to be built. It is finally complete!

The planned Second Halloween Release was delayed, and then cancelled, as well as the Holiday 2008 release, with our new Christmas and winter images. I apologize both to our fans and the stamp artists for those designs not making it to market this year. I really did try to get them out, but with so much other work going on, I just couldn't deliver. The up-side to this is I have a jump start on 2009, so watch for many, many fabulous new images from your favorite Third Coast artists to debut in the coming months!

We've Moved

We are still in the process of moving into our brand new location. This is very exciting, but also very time consuming and there is much work yet to do. I am taking this opportunity to reorganize and modernize many of the out-dated processes that have been in place since we sold our first stamp in 1995. A new, fully searchable Web store complete with shopping cart is in the works and will finally be available this year! Watch the NewsPost for details of when we go live. Shipping times will continue to be slow for a few more weeks until we are all settled in, however, feel free to place your orders and get in the queue for the quickest delivery.

Please note our new mailing address and phone number, effective immediately.
Our e-mail address and Web site are the same:

Third Coast Rubber Stamps
PO Box 70456
Houston, Texas 77270-0456

24/7 voice and fax: 713-869-9899
Toll free order line in the US: 1-888-738-8922

www.ThirdCoastRS.com

stamps@thirdcoastrs.com

RubberStampMadness Magazine
Now you can subscribe through Third Coast!

RubberStampMadness is a quarterly magazine that has been celebrating rubber stamp arts and crafts for the past 30 years.

RSM's mission is to reach newcomers, to encourage veteran stampers, and to continue to expand the universe of self-expression through art. To that end, we take pride in offering the finest art and the best-written, most comprehensive articles in the world of stamping. As always, our focus is on the wonders of the rubber stamp!

Custom Stamp Deadline Extended
Hurry! We have extended the deadline for this round of custom stamp orders until January 8th.
Get yours now, prices will be increasing in 2009!
If you have been wanting a custom rubber stamp, now is the time to order.
Samples of our large selection of designs are below.
Click here to see them all.

Chinese Brushstroke	Egyptian Cartouche	Paw Stamped
Big Funky Block	Personal Motifs More than 80 designs Your custom text!	Personal Motifs More than 80 designs Your custom text!
Sloop	DecoSpira	Chopin
Initial Sketch	Double Vision	Times Past
Cygnet Monogram	Personal Motifs More than 80 designs Your custom text!	Celtic Symbols More than 60 designs Your custom text!
Ambassador	Rough Draft	Svelte
Mod Grid	Nouveau Studio	Custom Critters

Featured Art
By Cindy Roland

Image used: CO-140-M, Give a Dog a Bone (2.8" X 3.3").

A patterned and inked harlequin paper which was torn on one side was attached to the front of the black cardstock base. The dog was stamped onto a beige square of cardstock and then matted with black and more beige. Watercolor crayons were used to color in the dog. Colored chipboard letters were inked and attached to the bottom half of the card. 3 brads were added to the D for accent.

Materials: Black, Chamois Cascata Cardstock (WorldWin Papers); Harlequin patterned paper (7 Gypsies); Chipboard letters (K & Co), (Heidi Swapp); Watercolor crayons (Lyra); Double-sided tape (Ad-Tech); Charcoal, Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalks (Clearsnap); Black India ink (Stewart Superior); Brads (Making Memories)

Birthday Winners
Congratulations to our NewsPost birthday drawing winners.
My apologies for being several months behind with the drawings.

January 2009 Birthday Drawing Winners:
Euda Adams - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Kristan Gregory - Richmond, Virginia
Trudie Vick - Columbus, Ohio

December 2008 Birthday Drawing Winners:
Sandy Veit - The Villages, Florida
Christine Marti - Berne, Switzerland
Melanie Brough - England, United Kingdom

November 2008 Birthday Drawing Winners:
Linda Fonslow - New Berlin, Wisconsin
Lucinda Giguere - Hudson, Ohio
Rita Dukes - Fletcher, North Carolina

October 2008 Birthday Drawing Winners:
Gabrielle Wanner - Long Beach, New York
Louis Urrutia - El Paso, Texas
Judi Markel - Warren, Michigan (I need your current e-mail address!)

September 2008 Birthday Drawing Winners:
Aleide Reynders - Aalst, Belgium
Nancy Almand - Banning, California
Kellie Lang - Houston, Texas

Winners: Please e-mail me if you haven't already received your coupon via e-mail. Many winners are reporting not receiving them. I believe the spam filters are often too over-aggressive.

All fans of Third Coast please take note: When you join or confirm your existing NewsPost subscription, you will be entered to win FREE Third Coast stamps in our monthly birthday drawings. Simply fill out the form completely to be entered. If you are already on the NewsPost mailing list, filling out the form and including your month of birth is required to be entered in the drawings. (You only need to update your subscription with your birthday once.) We'll draw three names each month from the list of active NewsPost subscribers, and each winner will receive a $25 Third Coast Gift Certificate as a birthday gift!

If you enjoyed this NewsPost, why not share it with a friend?
~ Val, on the Third Coast