Earlier this year, one of my staff members had a class reunion to go to. Now, this was not your ordinary class reunion…it was held at the White House. Donna Hunsinger, who is the assistant manager of my Atlanta showroom went to school with Laura Bush, and graduated from Midland High School in 1964. Donna wanted to take a gift with her, and asked me to sign the Fairy of Miracles for Mrs. Bush. As many of you already know, the Fairy of Miracles benefits St. Jude Children’s Hospital, as I have guaranteed through the sales of this Fairy a minimum of $20,000 each year for 2008 & 2009. I had the opportunity to get a tour of St. Jude last summer and was amazed and impressed with the work they do in the fields of research and medicine. With the amazing research, and resulting miracles performed at St. Jude, I hope through your support and purchase of the Fairy of Miracles, even more money can be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

OK…back to the White House story…

Being at the White House, everyone wanted their picture taken with the President and First Lady. Well, when it came time for Donna and her husband Ray to get their photo taken, Donna was being a bit ornery, and when the President put his arm around her, Donna looked up at the President and said “…well…is this the time when I pinch your butt?” Before he could answer, Donna had already pinched the President of the United States on his butt and at the same moment, the camera flashed! You will have to click on the photo to the right to enlarge it and see if he enjoyed it. You can also see the nice letter our First Lady, Laura Bush sent to Donna & Ray thanking them for the gift of Fairies. (The President was given a VOTE Republican Fairy…we figured that was the way he was planning on voting this fall.)

The Fairy of Miracles

Benefiting:

St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital

Click on the image of the fairy
to the left for moreinformation.

Click on one of the fairies above to view the Mark Roberts Straw Polls.

A few months ago, I had been spending a lot of my time out in my warehouse, signing newly retired Fairies…and there are quite a few of them. At least it seemed that way since it was pretty darn cold out there at that time of the year!

As I often do when I am at a Signing Event, I have this curious tendency to look at the Limited Edition number of many of the Fairies & Santa’s that I am signing. What surprised me was how many low numbers I have been signing…

#130 of 3,500 for the Della Robbia Fairy, Med. (51-56438)
#3 of 500 for the Lemon Drop Fairy, Lg. (51-61652)
#40 of 1,000 for Mr. Easter Bunny Fairy, Sm. (51-75620-LAV)
#6 of 2,500 for the Della Robbia Fairy, Lg. (51-56440)
#1 of 1,500 for the Christmas Ornament Fairy, Med. (51-56456-PUR)
#38 of 1,500 for the Christmas Tree Fairy, Lg. and (51-56452)
#’s 1, 2 and 4 of 1000 of the Christmas Ornament Fairy, Lg! (51-56458-PUR)

I was telling my warehouse shipping & receiving manager that this seemed odd to me, especially since many of these newly retired Fairies were originally introduced 2 or even 3 years ago. As it turns out, as shipments from the factory come in weekly, oftentimes, the earliest shipments are the ones farthest back on the shelves, especially since we start getting a seasons first shipments up to 9 months in advance. Thus, many of the lower Limited Edition numbers that come in first get pushed to the back, while the most recent shipments are pulled to fill orders.

I’d like to see more of the lower numbers get to the retailers, so we are now improving how we manage our inventory…but in the meantime, don’t be surprised if you find a retired Fairy or two at your favorite retailers with a very low number! You can also go the PRODUCTS tab and then to the RETIRED COLLECTIBLES tab of the website to see all of my Fairies that have made it to retirement.

Since the summer tradeshows are going on in June & July, let your favorite retailer know now which Retired Fairies you are interested in so they can reserve them for you before they are completely gone!