Father-Husband-Marketer-Geek

Fresh in my mailbox was a brand new issue of Village D-Lights , a magazine designed for village collecting enthusiasts, featuring great articles, display tips product information and much more. This edition's cover features the "Canton Tea Trading", a new piece for 2008 for Dickens' Village. Here is what you'll find in this (February/March) issue: * The cover story describes some of the 2008 introductions for Christmas in the City, Alpine Village and Dickens' Village. * A great feature on Randy Miller, president of the NCC . * A spectacular ad by D56 for the "American Diner". * Ms. LitTown writes about the new Department 56 showroom, which is being prepped for the 2008 convention. * A letter from Mrs. Dickens * Brandon Taylor's take on variations of some of the pieces * A Valentine's Day feature on themed pieces for that special day There's also many regular sections of the magazine: reader submissions, letter from the editor, trivia, di

Ebay launched Kijiji.com last year amid little hype, but their intention was to take away some of the traffic going to Craigslist.com. There are 48 results currently for "department 56" on kijiji.com Comparitively, there are 447 Dept 56 results on Craigslist The winner: Amazon.com returns 5410 results for Department 56 We'll check again in a few months.

ChristmasDepot.com has a new dollar store and two-dollar store featuring many clearance items from the holidays. It looks like they also are always seeking new suppliers who will drop ship, so if you are looking to get your amazing new christmas products distributed, this is one potential resource. Couldn't find any D56 items in these sections, unfortunately, it's mostly lights and tree decorations. Remember, I can feature your shop's specials and website, here. No fees or anything, just eager to spread the word about sales and promotions of D56 stuff. If you're having a sale or promotion, let me know . Getting quite a bit of traffic to this blog, even post-holidays.

Yes, this blogging for the D56 industry is my hobby, but I'm looking to use the reach of this blog now to help myself find some interesting side projects. If anyone knows of any business/shops who could use a little help with their website or blog, I am available for side projects starting next week. My expertise is in search engine marketing, managing Google Adwords campaigns, website content development and distribution, website redesign project management (I'm not a designer in any form of the word, however, I have started and sold a web design business which has been very successful and I still on occasion outsource design work to them). I can act as a general contractor, if you will, if you have a web-based marketing idea or concept. In the past I've created detailed blueprints for success in this area. Soon I plan on turning this blog into a full-blown website. More to come on that. For now, I'll appreciate any referrals you may have!

Going to the 2008 NCC Department 56 Convention ? Here's a handy map of nearby shops put together by Penny Miller (you may need to click back to the original blog post if your email software/rss reader doesn't support javascript): View Larger Map

Showing that just because Christmas is over, doesn't mean it's time to take down your snowy scenes...I found this article in the Villages Daily Sun : "Walking in a winter wonderland takes on new meaning when anyone enters the home of Don and Lorraine Crowley. The couple have snowy scenes from the North Pole and Elfland set up in the living room, while the garage is filled with a huge Christmas in the City display, complete with streets, bridges and a baseball park. But for Lorraine, president of the Tri-County Department 56 Collector’s Club, the displays are nothing out of the ordinary, considering many of the club members have similar displays in their own homes. “Everybody has different ways of displaying it,” Lorraine said of the Department 56 collectibles. “You find different things. When somebody comes up with a unique idea, you try and share it. It’s always nice to see somebody do something different.” ... click here to read the rest of the article

The two main groundhogs which are monitored for the sake of Spring's early entry had two different experiences with their shadows on saturday. One saw it, the other did not, thus the appearance of Spring is not definite as of yet. Still, it makes you think of gardening and flowers and sunny days. This got me thinking -- Department 56 should come out with a line of village buildings and accessories to place in your gardens. What a marriage this would make! Dept 56 already is sold in many garden specialty stores, so it appears to me it would be a natural fit. There could be a series of fanciful buildings with names like "Lancaster Gardens", "Sunshine Farms", "Greenthumb Guild", etc. There could be combination buildings and flower pots. They could make a series of Krinkle-themed garden stakes. The ideas are endless. I hope they read this post!

Browse the many versions of " A Christmas Carol " in print Browse Dickens' Village buildings and accessories from Department 56 Read Chapter One Read Chapter Two Read Chapter Three Read Chapter Four Read Chapter Five Read Chapter Six Read Chapter Seven The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved. "I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?"