Greetings!:
Hello friends & family of Cornerstone! Inthe blink of an eye here we are in October. I love October. I love the crispness of the air, the vibrant colours of the turning leaves, all the delicious home-grown produce, and of course
Hallowe'en!
It's hard to believe that it's fall let alone the fact that we have been in this Covid-19 situation for 8 months. It's been a topsy turvy ride on the merri-go-round in both home life and work life. Many parents have opted to home-school kids and have now become teachers in addition to parents with careers of their own. Businesses (including us) have been forced to learn how to implement new healthcare guidelines and use up valuable resources that would be normally dedicated to new product, to instead buying hand sanitizer, acrylic barriers and a multitude of PPE. Not going to lie.... it has not been an easy road for any of us to travel. But when life throws you lemons, you make lemonade and that is precisely what we have set our minds to doing. As we approach the long weekend, it is an opportunity to just be grateful. Not to get too philosophical on everyone, but with all the insanity happening around us, Covid-19 numbers rising again, lets just appreciate all that we have and everyone we have in our lives. I'm especially appreciative of the great fresh vegetables that our farmers are providing for us at markets right now and for the great customers, artists, staff, friends and family who have continued to support us these last 8 months. Thank you. Please note that as always we will be closed on the Monday of the long weekend so that our staff is able to spend some time with their friends and family with-in their "bubbles".
The staff have worked hard on our front window change-up for fall and we are receiving a ton of positive comments on it. Come check it out!
Our featured artist this month is wet-felter, Sue Steffes. Sue was a member of the Cornerstone staff before spreading her wings to pursue her passion on a full time basis. She will always be a part of the Cornerstone family and we are happy to have her stunning pieces up on our feature wall once again.
Speaking of featured artists...We are excited to announce that we have a new artist at Cornerstone! Lisa Ferguson was a featured artist from February 2020 and her work was very popular. When Lisa approached us looking for a permanent home we were delighted to say "yes"!!! We invite you to drop in and see both lady's work.
Cornerstone will again be organizing the Great Pumpkin Hunt throughout downtown Kingston. We have 12 participating stores this year. The idea is to find "The Great Pumpkin" and get signed off at all 12 locations to be entered into a draw for a gift basket worth over $300.00. The gift basket consists of product, gift cards &/or services for the lucky winner. Please note that we have everyone's safety in mind and if the Covid-19 case numbers in Kingston get too high we will be forced to cancel the event. Monitor our FB page for continuing updates and in the sad event that we are forced to cancel the event, we will send out a separate email to everyone.
October is also referred to as "Inktober" by many artists. "What's involved you ask"? Well, depending on your medium, you will usually find posted a list of prompts for daily inspiration for the entire month. Not to be left out, we have a list of "Inktober Prompts" for our Zentangle enthusiasts as well. Your Zentangle can be as simple or as complicated as you want &/or have time for. Take another step and join our FB group the Kingston City Zentanglers and post your pieces there. Our group is small & kind. We are there to help each other and offer encouragement. Like the store, we want posters to "Be Kind". While we try to do a little tangle each day, sometimes our lives get busy so it's also ok to combine the prompts for a couple of days too! We are not "judgey" and just want you creating :)
Although I know it's a little early (is it really though?) to be starting to talk about holiday shopping, it may be prudent this year to start your shopping early. While we hope that no further restrictions will be required, we are encouraging the "shop early" strategy in case of another lockdown. Always remember that gift cards are available on our website and additional items will be up and offered soon!
Since we are looking to the future, we have Cape Dorset Calendars and First Nations calendars to begin planning 2021. We also have some new planners, notebooks and colouring books for the kiddies (& adults too). I read that we had a full moon and changed the clocks forward on March 13 and we have a full moon and change the clocks backward on October 31! Perhaps this will be like hitting the re-set button! (We can only hope :)
Please continue to follow us on Instagram, FB & Pinterest to keep up on the latest news from us. Share our newsletters so others can sign up, and share our social media posts too. Hang in there with us and let's be there for each other and most of all, let's BE KIND.
From our heart to yours,
Penny & the staff at Cornerstone
P.S. We are continuing with enforcing the mandatory mask /facial covering requests. If you cannot wear either of those items we will accept the wearing of a face shield too. Without any of these, we can offer a "by appointment" shopping experience. We will also ask you to sanitize your hands upon entry. If you are allergic to hand sanitizer then we ask that you bring the kind you are not allergic to with you. We have staffers who have very compromised family members and we need to keep everyone safe. If anyone swears at a staff member that person will be asked to leave the premises. We thank you in advance for your compliance. Only a couple of people have been inappropriate and it's very distressing to everyone when it occurs. Pass it on....
(Autumn Leaf Pieces by Diane Soward)
