Join me throughout November for a series of exciting book and ornament signings in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Tampa.

My new book A Magical Night Before Christmas and coordinating trim and ornaments are in all Bloomingdale’s stores nationwide.

I have collaborated with Candy Spelling on an ornament to benefit The Lange Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving homeless and abandoned pets. Meet Candy at the signing event in Hollywood, California on November 6 and 7th.

Look for my custom ornaments for Magnon Jewelers in Tampa and Bergdorf Goodman in NYC.

Subscribe and get the latest news, updates, and collector’s information on my blog Sketch Upon a Time, at http://www.storrings.com/blog/

Give your family and friends a unique holiday gift, signed and personalized for each recipient.

I look forward to seeing you at these events:

NOVEMBER: MARK YOUR CALENDAR.

Dee’ s Flowers with Candy Spelling
November 6   6-8PM
November 7  12-2PM
Studio City, CA

Bloomingdale’s
November 10, Wednesday 1-3PM
Century City, CA

Bloomingdale’s
November 11, Thursday 1-3PM
Las Vegas, NV

Bloomingdale’s
November 12, Friday 1-3PM
San Francisco, CA

Magnon Jewelers
Friday, November 19 11-3 PM
Tampa, FL

Bloomingdale’s
November 26, Friday 1-3PM
Lexington Ave.
New York City

Bergdorf Goodman
November 27, Saturday 1-5PM
New York City

Check out my website http://www.storrings.com/news.html
for the latest times and events.

Stay tuned for more events in December!

michael@storrings.com
Blog: http://www.storrings.com/blog/

If you will not be near Hollywood and want it to support the Lange Foundation, ornaments can be ordered by calling 818-769-3000 .

Tampa ornaments can be ordered by calling Magnon Jewelers (813) 872-9374.

A Magical Night Before Christmas available at the events or online at http://www1.bloomingdales.com/search/results.ognc?Action=sk&pageid=1&startpos=1&Keyword=michael+storrings&cKey=1&sortOption=*&resultsPerPage=96

A Very New York Christmas available at the events or online at www.amazon.com, www.borders.com, or www.barnesandnoble.com

Ornaments available at the events or online at www.s5a.com, www.bergdorfgoodman.com
or www.bloomingdales.com

I love to sketch when I travel. Inspiration seems to appear on every corner. The color, sounds, light, and experience of a new place makes you think differently of something you might do or see everyday.

The museum room at the Glow convention in July was also full of inspiring things.
Things like illustrated covers of envelopes, baskets made out of Christmas cards, and whimsical Santa nodders on elephants.
Until the next sketch!

2010 has been exciting  year so far and busy. My 2010 ornaments are in production and I am gearing up for  a busy Fall.  Lots of events are planned  and for those of you who subscribe to the Landmark newsletter already know that I will be doing a five city tour- including stops in Tampa, LA, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC. Stay tuned for more in upcoming blog posts.

Also  this year,  you will be seeing  a line of stationery in stores that I am launching with a  Louie Award winning company called a la cards.

For all of you that know that I also work in Book Publishing- I am now VP Creative Director of St. Martin’s Paperbacks and  continuing to work on packages for  Emily Giffin, Kristin Hannah, Janet Evanovich, Lisa Scottoline, and others.

I am excited to share that I have  also illustrated  a book on the retelling of the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for New York Times bestselling author Donna Van Liere- who is known for her wonderful book The Christmas shoes. The book is called The Christmas Journey, in stores this fall

As I said, an exciting year for which I feel very lucky.

Looking back on 2009- what a wonderful season it was.   It was so great to see so many of my collectors at my events.  I had the energy to decorate my home withsix trees- photo highlights are posted. As you can see my pugs are always there to help me out…and they are honored with their own tree!

Soon I will be  attending the Golden glow convention in Milwaukee- I hope that I will get to see many of you there.

Until the next sketch!

Yes, is the answer!

In my home, I have a large  8ft prelit tree that I have all of my painted ball ornaments along with my molded designs.

I call it my travel tree.  All of my ornaments are inspired by trips that I have had, soon to have , and memories  that have happened.  I am lucky to be able to fill a tree with all those inspirations.

I love Christmas and  even before I started designing ornaments, I collected them—and still do. In addition to my large tree, I have 5 feather trees with different themes and I will be talking  about those in upcoming posts.

My suggestions for decorating trees are as such:

• have  a focus/theme for your tree- it could be as simple as a color that is carried throughout or a shape.  To me  it bestows on the tree a meaning and story- the viewer is able to look at the tree and take home a memory.
• I love feather trees for displaying ornaments- a prelit tree is great as well as the wires do not get in the way.
• mix antique with new ornaments- with my ornaments I mix antique shiny brites that were given  to me by my parents and grandparents. The solids , stripes, and various sizes create a great backdrop for the newer designs.
• you can never have enough ornaments!
• finish your tree off at the  base with an antique fence or beautiful tree skirt. Under my travel tree I have a city themed skirt that  helps anchor  the ornaments.
• find a topper that fits- I actually have in my line a Times Square tree topper- right now only a few prototypes  have been made but I hope to release it in 2010
• most of all, have fun!

Until the next sketch!