tokengifts

Farewell...For Now

As of December 31st, 2008, we shuttered the doors to our shop at 888 Queen Street West.  I would like to thank you so much for your support and patronage these past five years.  I've met so many incredible and inspiring people, both customers and vendors alike, all wonderfully talented, creative people, during my stay.

I also wanted to thank everyone for all the lovely emails I received. My customers were as much of a source of inspiration for me, as hopefully, Token was for you.  

I will be on a short hiatus to spend some time with my family, my wonderful husband, Kevin, who worked tirelessly these past years to help me bring Token to fruition, and my clever and adorable baby girl, Alice, who, in a few days will celebrate her 5th Birthday.  

For those of you who did not get a chance to add your name to our mailing list, please email me at info@tokengifts.ca for updates regarding the next phase of Token. 

And for those of you who visit our blog, thank you.  I have had requests to continue, so I will for the time being, continue to post under tokengifts.typepad.com, but I will let you know in advance if this will change.

I want to wish everyone a truly Happy New Year and a great 2009.  I look forward to seeing everyone soon.  

With Warm Regards,

Karen Sykes.

HOLIDAY HOURS

We have extended hours during the Holiday Season.  

Tuesday, Dec. 16th 11am - 6pm

Wednesday, Dec. 17th 11am - 8pm

Thursday, Dec. 18th 11am - 8pm

Friday, Dec. 19th 11am - 8pm

Saturday, Dec. 20th 10am - 7pm

Sunday, Dec. 21st 11am - 5pm

Monday, Dec. 22nd 11am - 8pm

Tuesday, Dec. 23rd 11am - 8pm

Wednesday, Dec. 24th

CHRISTMAS EVE 10am - 2pm

We will be CLOSED on Christmas Day on Thursday, Dec. 25th, and Boxing Day on Friday, Dec. 26th.

And join us for our BLOWOUT BOXING DAY SALE starting Saturday, Dec. 27th to Tuesday, Dec. 30th. Keep posted for hours.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

 

FYI...

Kids say the funniest things...I guess the "whole Santa watching you be good or bad" message is really sinking in...

Alice's Tree

So, I REALLY liked the snowflakes this year, as you can tell from all the photos from the earlier posts. And I wanted to have a go at a minimal tree.  I wanted calm and serene this time, but not cold.

Alice appropriated all the colourful ornaments because I let her have her own tree this year.  We made the paper chain-link garland, and there is a collection of home-made ornaments she has made since she was a baby.

This angel sits a top Alice's tree.  I love her matted ballerina bun hair-do and sparkly head-band/ crown. It's so fashion-y.  She even has slightly rouged cheeks if you look carefully.  I think I saw a fashion spread in Lucky magazine with this look!

I embroidered Alice's name on the skirt of this bear for her first Christmas.

And we've been collecting these fairies for her.  We get them at Tin Taj down the street from the shop every year.  They "magically" appear in her advent calendar (see below).

I rue the day she's "over" all this!  But let's save that thought for a long, long, long  time from now.

More Holiday Decorating...

We don't have a set date to put up our holiday decorations at home, but this year Alice was quite persistent.  I can date our ornaments according to the years of our shop.

The following is a collection of not-so best sellers that have found a place on our tree at home.  I take no offense to this, I love everything that comes through the shop, so I am more than glad to take these things home.  I especially love what I call my "Charlie Brown" felt tree topper. And of course, I couldn't resist the snowflakes from the shop this year.

Holiday Decorating

It's a good thing I love decorating for the holidays, I've decorated 5 trees this season, and re-arranged them all at once or twice already.

I stripped down our main tree at the shop from top to bottom to re-arrange the bare patches, as customers can pick and choose their ornaments right from the tree.

I sort of liked the bareness of the tree with the white felt snowflakes.

These snowflakes are $1.95.  Such an affordable way to make an impact on your tree.

But I opted for a more festive look and re-filled the tree.  

Voila...

Holiday Merriment...

Thank You to everyone who joined us at our Holiday Sale this past weekend.  And Thank You to Xenia Taler for joining us on Saturday.  Our shelves are filled to the brim once again (but not for long) with her beautiful ceramics, including some new pieces from her collection.

And to continue with the deals, Xenia will be having her first Studio Sale in 5 years on Dec.13 & 14 from 11am to 6pm.  Xenia and Steven will be selling their "seconds" and of course, they will have a vast array of ceramics from their current collection.  Please visit Xenia's site for further details.

We've been busy unpacking lots, and lots, and lots of boxes here at the shop...

It's my Christmas morning for me, unpacking all these packages filled with orders I placed back in August.  But my skin suffers for it.  All the paper and cardboard suck all the moisture from me, but I make sure I have these things on hand at all times...

But all the hard work paid off.  Christmas has definitely arrived here at the shop.

Some snippets...

The folks at Sheridan nursery were so happy when we picked up our tree, we were the first ones for the season!  So, yes, for all those folks wondering, this is a real tree.  I didn't even have to prune it this year. We will definitely be going back to get our tree for our home there this season.

We always do a wonderful selection of felt ornaments every Christmas season.  It's been great for customers who have been collecting them every season.

If you remember from Easter, we had these adorable felt pencil covers.  These Christmas versions make great stocking stuffers.  And come check out our selection of Holiday Greeting cards, such as these Egg Press ones peaking out from the background.

And our porcelain cranes and reindeer ornaments are back...

...along with these gorgeous porcelain flower ornaments...

...my wish for everyone this Holiday Season!

SALE

Join Token & Xenia Taler this 

Saturday, November 22 

from 11am to 6pm for our HOLIDAY SALE.  

Early-bird Holiday shoppers will enjoy 10%- 40% off Sukie and Orla Kiely products, Designers Guild leather accessories, Perch ceramics and much more!

Help us ring in the Holiday Season with great deals and holiday refreshments.  We look forward to seeing you this weekend!

(Sale excludes holiday items & new arrivals.  Sale while quantities last)

OPEN on SUNDAY

Thanks for everyone's patience while we were closed on Sundays.  We'll be back open starting this 

Sunday, November 9th from 12pm to 5pm.

See you then!

The Little Guys...

A fellow retailer told me about the story of Wildhagen and the Gap and coincidentally, it was mentioned in passing this weekend in the Style section of the Globe & Mail. It can be compared to the proverbial story of David and Goliath. 

Wildhagen, a local milliner, seems to have had one of their hat designs knocked off by the retail giant and posted this information as a message to the Gap right on their website.  Kudos to Sheri and David of Wildhagen!

Now I know this kind of thing happens all the time, believe me I know.  It is an industry norm.  I don't think the job description of "designer" is really a legitimate title anymore.  If you are in the business of being in "product development", it is a euphemism for knock-off central.  It is what is dictated by corporate culture.

For a company like the Gap, this one hat is a blip in their extensive product assortment for all of one short season. For a small family-run company like Wildhagen, this hat was probably a long process of many patterns, fit sessions, and careful fabric selections.  But I guess no one at the Gap is losing sleep over it...just thought you might like to know...

And oh, by the way, copying is not nice, and it is not a form of flattery, I think the term is called...stealing.