Got a Hot Holiday Display Idea? Submit it Now in Midwest-CBK's 4th Annual Holiday Retail Display Contest!

We're looking for the best of the best in holiday retail displays! Back by popular demand, Midwest-CBK announces a call for entries in its fourth annual "Design Style Sparkle" retail display contest. Enter your original, creative holiday display ideas for a chance to win up to $1,000 in product credits for first place!

Here's how: Submit up to two photos of your best holiday displays and a 150-word description to your local Midwest-CBK account manager, or email photos directly to contest@mwcbk.com. Criteria for judging include creativity and impact. Prizes include Midwest-CBK product credits presented for first, second and third places.

Winners will be announced on Saturday, January 15, 2011, during Midwest-CBK’s “Design Style Sparkle” party in the company’s Atlanta showroom located in Building 1, Suite 16A7. Photos of the award winners will be on display in major Midwest-CBK showrooms during the winter markets.

Good luck, and stay tuned when winners are announced in January!

Go Green with New Email Shipment Notifications, Invoices

To help our customers and our company Go Green, Midwest-CBK is excited to now offer e-mail shipment notifications and invoices. These notifications include tracking numbers with live links to track shipments and images of the products in each shipment, sent the moment a shipment leaves our distribution center. To check out a sample, click here.

The new shipment notifications also provide a new level of convenience and speed to busy retailers.

For more information or to sign up for this service, please contact your local Midwest-CBK account manager, or email customerservice@mwcbk.com or call 800-394-4225.

Felicitaciones a Cristina!

We're excited to announce that our celebrity design partner behind Midwest-CBK's wildly popular Casa Cristina home decor collection, Cristina Saralegui, received the prestigious National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) 2010 Raul Julia Award for Excellence! Felicitaciones, Cristina!

The Raul Julia Award is presented annually to the person or persons who most advance the mission of NHFA. Previous awardees include: Film Director Robert Rodriguez; Creator/Producer Roberto Orci; Film Director Patricia Riggen; Film Director Gregory Nava; ABC News Anchor Elizabeth Vargas; and TV Executive Producer Sandra Bullock.

Cristina is the 12-time Emmy® award winning host and executive producer of "The Cristina Show," one of the most recognizable and trusted names in the Hispanic community. Time magazine selected her as one of the "25 Most Influential Hispanics in America" and Home Furnishings News (HFN) Magazine named her one of the "50 Most Influential People in Design and Home Furnishings." Cristina began working with Midwest-CBK five years ago to bring her Casa Cristina home designs to life.

This year, Midwest-CBK expanded its popular Casa Cristina Home and Lighting collections, with more than 50 new designs in best selling formats such as hand-painted tabletop and serveware inspired by the citrus groves of Spain; dramatic Moroccan- and Cuban-inspired candleholders made of glass, iron and mirror; elegant metal wall décor and mirrors; metal garden benches, crosses and angel statuary and fountain; iron and woven metal accent furniture such as accent and console tables, and plant stands; and elegant blown glass candleholders with pewter filigree cross details.

Designed in partnership with Cristina, this exclusive new line blends the design sensibility of her Spanish heritage interpreted for today’s elegant, gracious homes. The Casa Cristina Collection complements a wide range of home décor including Tuscan, Mediterranean, Spanish, European country, rustic and southwest styles. Suggested retail prices range from $12 to $200.

To view or order the Casa Cristina collection, please contact your local Midwest-CBK account manager, visit Midwest-CBK or call 800-394-4225 for a catalog.

Martha Stewart Wears Midwest-CBK for Her Halloween Costume

D&G. BCBG. YSL. Yes, Fashion Week is in the air in NYC, and now MWCBK joins the ranks of labels and couture, dressing the likes of (drum roll, please): Martha Stewart. Yes, you read that correctly - on the cover of her new Halloween Handbook, the superstar of all things home, is WEARING an enchanting necklace made of Midwest-CBK's Gold Starburst Mini Ornaments!

We're thrilled and honored to have our ornaments selected and featured by Martha - especially in such a creative way. Martha Stewart Living editor Shane Powers worked with the Midwest-CBK team to select just the right star ornaments to create her dazzling look.
We love the idea of using ornaments and garlands in new ways, especially when it comes to retail display. In fact, in our showrooms, we've turned ornaments into napkin rings, placecard holders, drawer pulls, chandeliers - and now jewelry. Do you have an out-of-the box idea to "ornament your life"? We'd love to hear it - please share your ideas in the comments below.

In the meantime, if you'd like to stock up on Martha's fave Gold Starburst Mini Ornaments, call our Direct to Consumer Line at 866-445-9993, or sign up to receive email notification when stock hits the Colonial Candle website, Martha Stewart Necklace Ornaments.

By the way, Martha's Halloween Handbook is fabulous - loaded with oodles of spooktacular decorating, costume and food ideas for Halloween. It's on newsstands now.
In the meantime, throw on a string of sparkling ornaments and Manolos, and strike a pose - you're red carpet ready!

Pink Ribbon Sisterhood: Supporting Each Other in the Ultimate Fight of Our Lives

This weekend, the Twin Cities hosted our local Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure 60 mile walk, and we salute the more than 2,400 walkers, volunteers and spectators who supported the event and raised more than $6.2 million. What an inspiration!

As the 3-Day makes its way to a city near you, Midwest-CBK is proud to partner with renowned artist and author Suzy Toronto to honor, inspire and comfort breast cancer patients and survivors, or anyone affected by the disease, with new Pink Ribbon Sisterhood gifts. The new collection features pink ribbon graphics symbolic for the fight against breast cancer in Toronto’s signature style, with copy that reads “Supporting Each Other in the Ultimate Fight of Our Lives.” The Pink Ribbon Sisterhood collection includes four best-selling gift designs including a mug, nightshirt and tote bag set, ceramic tile wall plaque and versatile journal/notebook. The Pink Ribbon Sisterhood collection is in stock and available now.

Toronto, an award-winning artist and author of The Sacred Sisterhood of Wonderful Wacky Women, is recognized for her signature, vibrant watercolor paintings that showcase whimsical, contemporary images of women, paired with sassy, witty text that celebrate “ordinary women who have accomplished extraordinary things.”

“Everyone has been touched by breast cancer – either personally, by a family member or dear friend. As women, we are part of a worldwide sisterhood, supporting each other in the ultimate fight for life,” says Suzy. “It’s a battle we know we can win. So for our mothers, our daughters, our sisters and our friends, we all wear a pink ribbon.”

For more information on the Pink Ribbon Sisterhood collection, please contact your Midwest-CBK account manager, call 800-394-4225 or visit us online.