Greetings from Snowy Rhode Island! Here we are working in the yard on our fist day (Monday) back from our various trips to the West Coast! With piles of boxes, suitcases, emails, orders all over the place, raking leaves and cleaning up piles in the yard was about the only thing we could manage! Now it is looking like a winter wonderland!


Sue and I headed for Tucson at the beginning of the month to do a show at the Manning House.
We squirmed around our lovely hotel room at the Best Western as we suffered through a stressful football game watching the Giants grab the Superbowl win. The skies were very wet over Tucson on Monday, set up day. After a few problems with rain under and over our product in a tent, we moved all of our stuff the morning that the show opened into dry territory. It was our first trip to this bead and gem extravaganza, so with nothing to compare it too, it seemed rather slow. We did however meet some new best friends and found some great new wholesale customers!

We loved it when Joelee Furrier (Bella Quilts, Tucson) and Kathy Smith were jumping with excitement as they ordered goodies for the store!! What a joy to meet these other two light beams Juliana Marquis and Thad tripping through Tucson spreading smiles! They were ready to help prepare an Artgirlz On the Road Vehicle with painting and welding skills... we were also offered an invite for fun in Wenatchee, WA!!!


And Super Mom Renee Palting supplied her daughter Edyth with our Big Beads, felting needles and roving and within a day or two they were back with friend Kylie Faber and Edyth's Amazing Needle Felted Necklace! Nice work I say!

Speaking of Inspiring, I met Jean Baruch, RN, BSN and President of Beads of Courage, Inc.
Check out the website and the programs that have been set up for children with cancer. It is a very cool program for kids going through treatment, their sibs, families and kids in the community. I am happy to say that we are designing and producing a "Courage" charm for them. They need donations of beads and findings, so if you have any contacts in that area, let them know!





It was off to LA and CHA very early on the Monday after the Tucson show closed. Midge picked us up with coffee and breakfast for our trip from LAX to the Anaheim Convention Center! We missed a day of the show, and it took us a while to land. Had fun meeting new people, seeing old buddies and spreading the word about Artgirlz!

Here is Linda Jones from 2 Scrappy Sisters, Kansas City, KS....I had just gifted her with this needle felted bag! We were both very happy with the exchange and I hope she is enjoying it!! As you can see, my scrappy sis is giving me the two fingers behind your head sign!!

and then there was Alexandra Underhill and her book "Alternation: Transform. Embellish. Customize." We didn't get to meet her co-author Shannon Okey, but Alexandra joined about 15 or so women for a fairly spontaneous, high energy dinner after the show. Women just kept showing up...we would just squeeze down, add tables...It was an amazing group with lots of talent, vision, energy and brains!! What's better than that!


...and then there is Candy Cooper, Margot Potter and Tracy Bautista...Tracy has a new line of goodies with Duncan...can't find it on their website...and Kathy Cano Murillo the Crafty Chica, also now with Duncan, has an amazing line of glitter, shrines, saints, among other very cool things that aren't in my brain anymore (sorry Kath)!! Nice work girlzzzz! Keep up the good work!

I've got to go and do something else...I've been at this task for a long time....below is a project we did for the Ranger Booth in Anaheim...we were assigned the yellow colors and the canvas and could go for it! Used our new Inchies!!

It's still snowing!