Artgirlz

2010-07-29T12:55:00.000-04:00

Summer Greetings from Steamy Rhode Island!

Allison and I are both working on the transition from our Artgirlz life back to that of individuals. It has been a lot of contemplation and work, trying on ideas, organizing piles and I am happy and relieved to say that I (Tracy) finally launched a new blog this week. I kept trying to come up with a clever new name but ended up keeping it simple (I often forget that approach) and went with my name...Tracy Stilwell. The best thing is that I know how to spell it!!

I invite you to check it out, become a friend, tell your friends, add a link....you know all of those things. I have been organizing ideas for fall classes here in my studio...former Artgirlz World Headquarters and will share that info as soon as it is ready.

Getting ready to prep some photos of my Blueberry Pin Cushion for the New and Exciting Tracy Stilwell Blog. Hope to see you there!!

Stay cool and keep making great stuff!!

xxx

2010-06-16T12:51:00.000-04:00

One of the best things about going to the Squam Art Workshops was just having the time to sit materials and play. The first day I did "Painting in a Day" with Marisa Haedike. After voicing fears and hopes, we picked up brushes, paint and a great 6x6 wooden canvas and got to it. There was painting, collaging, sharing, and satisfaction! Perhaps it was the green tree environment that brought out the greeny paints...I had a wonderful time layering colors, paints, crayons, chalks...

The following day Marisa was joined by teacher Christine Mason Miller and they taught us about putting books together. Most participants started with an old book that taken apart and reassembled with new innards. I brought three stitched pages that were started pre-Artgirlz. They have been sitting patiently for 6 years or so and got to go to camp. I made two book signatures out of wool felt, hand made paper and a piece of felted sweater. They were sandwiched with the stitched pieces that I brought along.

I took a very fast and fun mobile class with Lizzy House. There were whimsical colorful items hanging all over the place. I immediately made some for home. Have to get better pics...

Meanwhile Back Home

The newest at home project was started a couple of weeks ago with Miss Linda. We started with a piece of muslin, used Modge Podge and or gel medium to apply tissue paper, paper and fabric scraps. I got back to it this week and went over it with some paints and gesso applied with an old hotel key or credit card. You can see the layer in the background. The face is stitched paper. Flowers applied with gel medium. She is a work in progress and will patiently await my return from Seattle. Heading out tomorrow morning with Sue for a vacation, graduation/wedding combo!! Midge and Al will be holding down the farm!!

2010-06-15T10:56:00.000-04:00

I left for Squam Lake, NH early on June 2nd. I was headed for Squam Art Workshops. The sessions were primarily focused on knitting, but there was also a mix of other options including mixed media, stitching, pattern making, yoga and painting to name a few. The event was beautifully orchestrated by Elizabeth MacCrellish and crew on the grounds of the Rockywold-Deephaven Camps. As a stitcher it was amazing to watch the "knitters" enjoy the evening programs with needles flying and some never even taking a glance at the work!!! The link above has further links to the peeps that were teaching and entertaining.

I was feeling humble, inspired, excited, wired and exhausted. It was a great place to take it in the energy, take a class, focus on something for more than 10 minutes, see what's going on. No teaching or selling!

and then there were the roommates from Mapleshade...

Connie in from NJ with her coffee pot and Leslie (practicing her spinning) from the great Southwest met at Burning Man...who would have guessed?

Polly (drove in from western MA) and Dominique our French Speaking Canadian brought laughs and stories of their adventures!

Mona a former local and now from Portland OR joined me on my porch sleeping location for coffee and chat very early each morning

The dynamic trio below includes singer Jonatha Brooke, new best buddy Polly, and Jen Grey. All three are fashion inspirations! Polly even brought her Muck boots to camp!! Clearly she rocks!

Allison and I used to rock out to Jonatha and our sewing machines when our studio was in Newport and we were the Weird Sisters...listening to her music over and over and over! ( I am listening right now!) I was a pleasure to hear her sing in person (and practice from her porch next door) and meet her little bad self around the paths of camp. Ms. Grey is another light beam and bundle of energy that was busy behind the scenes making everything fluffy and beautiful! It is so good for me to get out of the house and sweat pants every now and then!

I will post info on the classes that I took tomorrow!

Packing for Seattle...

2010-06-01T11:29:00.000-04:00

OMG, I can't believe that it is June 1st...and we haven't checked in here since March...Did more inside painting and have been sculpting the garden most recently. I've actually had time to sit down at my sewing machine and stitch!!! What a miracle!! And, I had fun and satisfaction!!

Sue and I went to NYC with our friend MT Silvia to see a sneak preview of her movie "Atomic Mom". It prompted me to finally do the jacket that I promised her. She had a great light weight wool jacket that I stitched the name of the movie, text from the website and a picture of her mom. All were pleased with the results and the movie is an amazing piece of work! Check out her website if you haven't already!! There is also a trailer for the movie on YouTube!! Nice work MT!

I had fun doing a "found by the side of the road" chair for Sue's B'day but I haven't taken any pics of it yet. I am getting ready to go to NH for 3 day event...Squam Art Workshops. I am very excited to just be taking some classes, relaxing, meeting new peeps...no teaching, no selling for a change. It is hard to leave my girl, the chickens and the gardens but I think it is a good thing!

Will take pics of the chair and post it. It is one of my favorite things...

xxx

2010-03-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

WOW it's March.

It has been cold here in Florida and no one from up north wants to hear my complaining.

But I didn't move far away from those I love to have cold weather here in sunny Florida.

I have been busy entering information into Artgirlz books to be able to close them soon.

It is still a bit sad except the extra time I have to do creative stuff.

Imagine that.

Midge and I loved going to estate sales when we first moved here.

Bargains usually abound because the kids want to sell all their parents junk and get back home.

One of our first finds was this mid century chair we purchased for a $1.

We refer to it as our dollar chair.

Well, in perfect Artgirl style, not knowing what I was doing,

I reupholstered the dollar chair.

I painted the legs and arms black.

I covered the icky old chair with polyfil and then covered that with muslin.

That allowed me to work out some of the problems.

Not being patient was one of the them.

Not having enough fabric was another.

Tracy and I rarely buy more than a half yard.

But with the help of Google I found more fabric at Cia's Palette.

She even had the heavier weight I was looking for.

The red cotton ball fringe was the perfect kitschy topping.

I also wanted to add some of the color from chair to the rest of the living room

so I worked up this big pillow with a giant flower.

It still needs some finishing touches like filling

and definitely some red ball fringe.

2010-02-25T11:38:00.000-05:00

The frustrating and disappointing news is that our "deal" fell through...aakkkkkkkk...

attempting to take a zen, calm, stay in the moment mode I realize that I have hit the Artgirlz Wall...

coming up with the next step seems exhausting...

so an emergency vacation is in order...

Sue and I are off to Providence (just up the road a piece) until Sunday. She will actually commute to work tomorrow and I will have a day in our fancy hotel to do what ever I want...away from the house...will leave in a couple of hours...Christy will be our loyal and competent chicken/rabbit sitter!
As thoughts of my, our, the biz future whirl around my busy brain we have

been doing one of the things we do best...painting a room!

This is the bathroom connected to our bedroom which has had a recent lovely pink update!! The bathroom is lavender...well was...and we picked out a dark red paint. This was the first time I had used a tinted primer...what a miracle thing that is!! Nor did I know that it would be grey...
The lovely little girl pictured above lives in the corner of the bathtub tile project...

Bathrooms are small but extremely tedious to paint...and we had to be very careful around the little tiles above the sink and around the tub. Nothing like painting your bathroom with a quarter inch brush!

The toilet is right by the short red wall front left.

To the right of the sink is an open area...like a cupboard without doors...

Both very challenging paint areas...but...4 dayz later...

So off to do a few sniggley things for the biz, put our travel goodies together and will head off to take a break from the action.
Thanks again to all.

2010-02-15T07:55:00.000-05:00

I just took what was left of our product off of the website...not much I am happy and sad to say...

We have officially entered a new phase! I don't know how to thank everyone for their support and kind words.

And since it is Presidents Day I thought that I would do a brief bit about the President of Artgirlz (Pictured above)! I don't remember just how Big Al became the President...Maybe it was because her name started with "A" or because she is taller, or because she is bossy or because she is the smartest but President she has been and a fine one at that! We have had our moments, but considering, they have been very few...we could barely stop doing product development...ideas always flying around with no time or money to carry them out.

We flew many miles, ate piles of bad food, drank gallons of Starbucks, put lots and lots of product in bags, spent hours at the computers together. She spent more time than I can personally imagine putting numbers into QuickBooks and making spreadsheets. She mixed easily with the rich and famous! She made upc codes...phone calls...crunched numbers for gross margins, discounts, shipping, ordering.

She was at her best standing behind me telling me where to move little shapes here and there as I put packaging, copy, catalog sheets together!

Always on top of fashion and never missing fashion forward moment even at the airports of the world! What's better than a "Best Tail in Town" Rhode Island sweatshirt!!

Always an artistic inspiration I miss her very much and am grateful that we took the chance to take this adventure together. Our mother would have proud!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooo

2010-02-12T14:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our lovlies!!!

Have been shipping, organizing, cleaning, and have to venture out into the cold to the post office.

Sending lots of love out into the world!!

xxxxxxxx

2010-02-09T12:56:00.000-05:00

Greetings Earthlings! Oh No, Oh Yes...What will I dooooooooo?????

Artgirlz

will

stop selling at

Midnight

Valentine's Day.

We still don't know what the next step is going to be. We are waiting patiently...sort of.

We will let you know as soon as we know!!

Actually Allison and Midge are driving (as I write) to Jacksonville, FL to see the Black Eyed Peas in concert tonight! That should be a great shaking up of the senses!!

In the mean time, we in the great northeast are awaiting a snow storm and putting bundles of Artgirlz Goodies together. Linda is cutting felt and collecting little gems to combine and send out into the world. They will be tied together for your creative pleasure. Just let me say that we are down to it...I don't think that I can conjure up too many more...Sue is taking care of nagging little details with credit cards and Paypal, and doing some shipping...I can hear the tape ripping off of the roll.

I have been enjoying working on a sweater that I started when Artgirlz was just a glint in our eyeballs and hadn't touched since...except to move the basket around when necessary. I visited our local yarn shop and with some guidance jumped right back into knitting and pearling. It has been very relaxing and a soothing way to get back to making things. I have missed having a project to take along with me .

2010-02-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

I don't know why Sue and Linda were laughing at yet another one of my "clearly I don't live in Florida outfits"! What's better than striped fingerless gloves with a skulls and bows with coordinated stripy dotty hat...inside...

so it was the chicklet pictured here that went to the bank yesterday and paid off our business loan!!! We are $%#@***&^ psyched about that situation!!!!

and it is the same one that is picking hundreds of charms one by one (with the back up of the two mentioned above) trying to get it right...packing orders, inputting everyone's addy and printing the labels, visiting our friendly post office and answering emails, and getting cc info and fixing glitches, making charm orders trying to keep ahead of the game, staying calm and in the moment most of the time...

I just want to assure everyone that we won't be "going away" until everyone is happy, so if you have an "issue" please don't fret!!

We continue to be very touched by the support and love that has been flowing our way! Thanks again and we will be keeping everyone informed about any important news!!

xxoo

2010-01-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

Wow is all that I can say...I have been picking and packing charms and beads for dayzzzzzzzz...that is the good news and I want to thank everyone for all of your support and so many kind and encouraging words!! Practicing being in the moment and practicing gratitude!

We wanted everyone to know that we are working on a deal to keep the wool product and our zany charms out in the world. It is the goal to #1 come up with an agreement and #2 make the transition as quickly and cleanly as possible. We will keep Artgirlz Nation informed as we get details!! This is a particularly important opportunity to practice the above mentioned items!!

In the mean time, we will decide just what to do with the shrinking pile of goodies left in the Artgirlz Mother Stash!!!

Allison is teaching a class in Florida this morning...I am sorry that I don't know the name of the Bernina Dealer, but she can fill you in on all of the details! I am sure that it will be a wonderful experience for all!

I am taking a break from shipping today and I am going to clean the house...it is 8 degrees outside and the house is screaming for a dust rag and vacuum!!! Who knew it had 2 "u's"!!???

So stay tuned...thanks so much!! We love you!!!

2010-01-17T16:24:00.001-05:00

I think that I have been avoiding writing this little paragraph relating to the ending chapters of Artgirlz as we have grown to know and love it! MANY people have worked LONG hours to help us get things in and out of the doors. We have traveled far and wide...met amazing talented, funny, smart, irreverent, hardworking folks always willing to share, support, advise...and to all of you I am very grateful.

It seems like I was always exhausted quickly moving from one event onto the preparations for the next...designing and producing products, catalogs, dealing with import issues, pricing, shipping, websites, email, customer service issues, photographs, blogs, class proposals, class prep, class teaching, clean up and shlepping of materials...setting up booths, cc machines, cash registers, products, give always, business cards, membership cards, bags, props, price tags, samples, snacks, pens, accounting, money in money out...packing up booths and organizing the shipping of the goods back to world headquarters...filling out the paper for each box leaving on the pallet...airplanes, taxis, hotels, convention centers, bad food, too many snacks, no exercise, no oxygen...

Trying to stay emotionally stable...hoping, wishing, expecting, not getting, getting, trying another way...

So now that the decision has been made to close the business, I have been organizing and counting product that is left...Al has been working on a proposal to keep Artgirlz Charms out in the world...time will tell on that one...so it seem like the next step is to put what we have on sale. What a perfect opportunity for the creatives of the world to add to their ever shifting pile of supplies!

Although we don't know exactly what we will be doing next, we will still be around doing our thing and keeping you posted right here! We will actually have "time" to do creative things...something that has been hard to come by!

Stay warm. Thanks for all of the support and love that we have received over the last 6 years!!!!
Stay Tuned!

Check out our 30% Off Sale!!!

2010-01-13T11:05:00.000-05:00

January has been flying by. Baby sister Beth has been visiting again. We spent lots of time crafting so that she would have lots of ideas to take to Alaska.

Beth's biggest project was a sweater she wanted to make for her grandbaby, Ivy. She had purchased a 100% wool sweater at a thrift shop and washed it well in hot water. We used one of Ivy's coats for a simple pattern. We marked it with large basting stitches and used our wonderful Bernina aurora 440 to lay a decorative stitch along the basting and then cut a quarter inch from the stitch. It was fun and simple and the hardest part was getting the courage to cut it.

Beth spent the evenings chatting and adding a blanket stitch around the edges.

She added a piece of felt for a pocket and embellished the front with felt flowers and leaves.

I took the scraps and made a simple bunny rabbit. I needle felted her eyes and nose and embroidered a big smile. The bunny insisted on having a sparkly skirt for dancing but if her new mom Ivy is anything like her grandmother and her sisters the skirt will end up as a curtain in one of her forts.

2010-01-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

Wow, It is hard to beleive that we are entering the next decade already. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were all sitting tight, waiting for the start of this new century hoping the tech world didn't implode because of the huge date change.

And sadly as we head into this next decade, Tracy and I will be closing Artgirlz Inc.

It has been a great ride. We have met so many wonderful people and had many life changing experiences so that it has made this a very difficult decision. But times are hard and we are a bit weary of struggling and waiting for things to pick up.

Be on the look out for our news letter so that you will be in the know about all of the upcoming sales.

We don't have any big plans for our future but you can bet it will be full of art and scary babies.

It is also hard to write about the loss this weekend of Sue's father,
C. Shepard Desillier.

Those of us that loved him called him Shep. A wonderful family patriarch who lovingly embraced our nutty Stilwell family. He was an institution in his small community of Watch Hill RI.

He was wise, kind and inquisitive.

We will miss you Shep.

2009-12-18T13:27:00.000-05:00

One of our favorite employees, Rosie and her mom Laura have been chosen as finalists in a contest sponsored by Better Homes and Gardens...folks have to register to vote at the website and then vote for them and they are behind!!!

The Website isn't the most user friendly but these are the instructions that Rosie posted for her friends!

The Finals Voting period is December 16th- 21st.

    * You can vote once per day per log-in
    * Go to the site
    * Look for our team:

VOTE for "A Hoot Garden" by Rosie and Laura
    * Our quilts are pink with owls of course!!! See attached photos.
    * Register to VOTE! Remember your password so you can vote everyday!!!
    * Please note: Step 2 of registration asks for your address- you do not need to provide this info- once you complete Step 1 and create an ID and PW, you are all set to go to the link above and vote!

There are a few steps to take but if you knew Rosie, you would take them happily!!

2009-12-16T15:03:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a wild non stop month. I am back in Florida after closing the books, enjoying Thanksgiving with the family and doing the Foundry in Little Rhody.

Midge and I got rid of so much when we moved that it left us with very little Christmas stuff. So now we have a two foot green foil tree and a cloth wreath that our daughter Sara made. We thought we should step it up a bit because we are having Midgies family here for Christmas dinner with a special visit from our daughter Beth from California.

We didn't wanted go out and consume so we looked around and noticed we had an abundance of paper scraps. Ahh Haaa ...... paper chains. So we spent last weekend around the dining table equipted with a paper cutter and stapler and worked up about 100 ft of artgirlie chain. We draped it around our living and dining rooms and it added the perfect touch of celebration.

We took a bike ride around the neighborhood to see if we could find some greens we could abscond with to give a boost to our decorating. No luck, there just aren't a lot of pine trees in this neck of the woods. So, you can imagine how happy were to find a night of wreath making with the local native plant society. We arrived to find piles of local flora to make great holiday decor. It was nice to break out of our Yankee box and make old things with new material.

Midge made a center piece for our holiday table and I made a wreath. We had a great time, met some like minded people and will be looking forward to future Florida holiday decorating with new eyes.

2009-11-30T10:02:00.000-05:00

With Trees being an important icon for many folks this time of year, we have come up with a couple of variations to add to your creative collection. Variations on the theme are easy.

STRIPPY TREE
• Make yourself a pile of fabric strips, just ripped apart...1/4 to 1/2 inch wide and 3 inches long or so.

• Starting at the top of the cone, wrap a piece of string or yarn around the cone to determine the length of your finished strip wrap.

• Sew the small strips onto the long piece to create a fringe.

• Once you have finished your long piece of fringe, start at the top point and attach to the green cone. You can stitch or glue this step. Check photo at the top of the page.
• Felt beads added to the fringe add more color and texture. Just place the tree on a dowel or stick to create a trunk. This beauty has an embellished stitched star at the top! I placed our tree trunk in a jar filled with colorful beads.

• FOR ANOTHER LOOK, try zig zagging 3 or 4 lengths of yarn together.
• Using the long strip as a base, tie or stitch yarn fringe along the length.
• Embellish yarns with wool felt beads and sequins.
• Tie pieces around the tree.
• Cut a piece of cardboard or foam core to create a circle that will fit inside the bottom of the cone. This will keep the tree base "round". Make a hole in the center about the size of a pencil.
• Drill a hole in a small wooden round to create a "trunk" with a small straight stick or dowel. Secure dowel in the base.
• Place trunk through the hole in the bottom and set the tree onto the trunk.
• Place embellished yarn on the tree.
• Top off with felt star!
• Make another one and enjoy.

LITTLE PINS

Our Artgirlz Mini Tree Pin Kits come with all of the goodies needed to make an embellished tree pin. Or, mix things up by making simple little trees with Artgirlz Mini Cones and a piece of twig! Green, purple, red...trees of many colors!

2009-11-24T14:28:00.001-05:00

I decided to put a piece together using our 4"x4" felt squares. The felt is actually a variety of blends of rayon and wool...depending on the color. I decided to make six simple shapes and put them together to create a hanging decoration that could hang on your door, the wall, or in a window.

• Pair the colors together. Just move them around until you are happy with the combos.

• Use colored pencils to draw the shapes onto the felt once you've decided on your colors.

• Set the sewing machine on a medium width tight zig zag.

• Stitch around your shape leaving an opening for stuffing.

• Trim around your finished shape. You can cut a decorative border shape, use pinking shears or just create a clean cut around the zig zag.

• Stuff your shapes lightly with polyfil. Finish stitching around the shape.

• Use your longest needle to go through each shape adding wool felt beads between each piece.

• These of course could be embellished for dayz with beads, sequins, fibers, bells and whistles!!

• Rather than string them together, use them as decorations for your tree or fancy tags for packages.

LINDA'S HAND WORK

Miss Linda in all of her wisdom made up some shapes out of recycled cardboard.

She cut out her felt shapes and proceeded to stitch them together with a very wonderful blanket stitch.

As usual, her layering and textured stitching make for a wonderful little felt nugget! This piece includes a small felt bead and flower.

2009-11-23T14:43:00.002-05:00

Name Tags for Your Holiday Table!

If you are having a dinner anytime soon, you might want to make some place cards like these great pieces that Linda Willis..."our" Linda...whipped up! She collected some hand made paper, Artgirlz scraps, wool felt beads, wool flowers, fibers and beautiful old fabric leaves. She mixed and matched all of the ingredients and came up with three examples.

You could mix and match styles...make multiples of the same style. They will add texture to your table and will help guide friends and family to their assigned seats.

2009-11-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

Stockings, Stockings, Stockings!!!

We are going to share a pattern, images and tips for making some Artgirly Holiday Stockings! The piece shown above is made with Artgirlz Patchy Fabric and lined with a piece of cotton. This gives the stocking an interesting surface with visual interest and texture. The top was folded down with an added beaded fringe. One of the nice things about this shape, is that it can be made up in any size and used as table decorations, or super sized for the mantle!

By stepping out and using some non-traditional fabrics you can twist the feel of the work. The stocking shown above has a fringe made of small white wool beads and a mix of small glass beads. This particular piece is only 6.5" high with a 2" fold.

The stocking below was constructed out of a piece of black felt and the finished size is 12". By using felt, you avoid the necessity of a lining. Just cut your shape, embellish before stitching keeping the edges clear for stitching the two sides together. The body of this piece is embellished with wool flowers and beads.

The other side of the stocking is hand embroidered with standard embroidery thread. The toe and heel are embellished with wool hearts and flowers. The top fringe is constructed with torn strips of of cloth and yarn sewn onto a strip that would fit around the top of the stocking. The strips are further embellished with wool felt beads.

Al made this Super Duper Santa Friendly Stocking that measures 20" long and 10" across the top! You could expect a load of goodies to fill this puppy! The best part of this piece is the snow people and cloth bead fringe around the top cuff.

To make the beads, just roll scraps of your patchy fabric and wrap with wire, metallic threads or ribbon. They can be as long or short as you want. Simple or complex...

We have a pattern and directions available for you to download.

2009-11-18T07:32:00.000-05:00

Well Allison flew in from Florida yesterday and we all arrived at Artgirlz World Headquarters around dinner time. Lots of work to do to prep for the Foundry Show that opens in a couple of weeks. Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner and most of us will probably be setting tables and feeding friends and family, Linda whipped up this very easy and very colorful Napkin Wrap!

She used a strip of cotton that was stitched ( 12-15 inches), turned right sides out as the base. To eliminate the machine sewing step, you could also use ribbon or trim.

Gather your fancy yarns and fabric scraps (tear strips) and make a pom-pom. Stitch the yarn bunch onto the middle of your tie and add a wool felt bead or two by going up through the middle of the bead and back down to the tie.

Repeat to secure the layers and you will have yourself a very festive addition to your table!!

Any non-traditional Thanksgiving festivities going on out there?

2009-11-12T12:16:00.001-05:00

I am trying to keep all of the jiggly feelings that arise this time of year at a distance. One of the things that can bring them on is preparing for our The Foundry Show. It is always stressful. This year we thought we were set because we had the same booth space as last year. We didn't have to reinvent our booth. No problem. This week as Tracy left the last foundry meeting, one of our fellow artists screamed across the room "Oh, we changed your booth space." Damn it! Back to the drawing board.

I always need a project to do while I watch bad reality TV or a Patriots football game. God forbid I rest and relax. Recently the project has been sewing a lot of Curious Mind and Menopausal Maven pins for the foundry. So to take a break from that, I started needle felting polka dots on beads. I added polkadots to different sizes and colors. Last week I incorporated them in a necklace.

To make the necklace I sewed three pcs of yarn together with a zig zag stitch to string them on. I made enough for three strands. For a wider strand with more texture you need to make sure one of the yarns is bulky.

Give it a try and experiment with different yarns until you get something you like. The rejected ones always get used in another project. I made it long enough so I could just knot the three strands together and still get it over my head and then I didn't have to deal with a closure.

To start building the necklace, I knotted three strands together. I kept adding beads on all three strands at once. Occasionally, I would twist one yarn around the other or string two yarns in one bead. If you give it a try, you need to keep in mind how it will lie around your neck. I gave it a bit of pop by incorporating a strand of black and white "e" beads. To finish it off I just knotted all of the strands together.

Tip: Make your own needle to get the yarns through the beads. Fold a 12" pc of wire in half, stick it through the bead hole until the wire sticks out of the other end. Put your yarns through the loop and pull them through the bead.

To add another look I embellished the felt beads with seed beads. It makes them look like small lampwork beads.

I used the same technique to make a bracelet only I added a closure.

Voila! ...an ensemble.

2009-11-04T09:44:00.001-05:00

I just spent 45 minutes trying to figure out how to get a Twitter and Facebook link onto this blog and I feel like I have fallen into the dark ages because I can't seem to get it. So I will move on with the day and do things that I already know at the moment!!

We received this wonderful photo of the charm bracelet from Lezette Thomason last week!!! We met Lezette in Chicago last Feb at a gathering of Bernina Teacher Reunion. She designs children's clothing and has written books about smocking, crazy quilting, doll clothes. Her talents are clearly much wider than the world of kiddy clothes!! Thanks for the beautiful work!!

Neighbor, friend and artist Kate Bussey stopped by last week and bought some roving. The next day I found these wonderful little acorns hanging on my door! If you are in the Southern New England area, her little store... Mills Creek Natural Market 4436 Old Post Rd, Charlestown, RI is a wonderful collection of handmade, organic lotions, clothing, jewelry and munchies!

Off to World Headquarters to continue organizing and making things up. Blogspot seems to have a new editing format and where is the $#@& spellcheck???

2009-10-30T12:27:00.007-04:00

I am almost back to normal from my trip to Venice, Italy. Midge and I went for about a week and it was just incredible. Every where we looked or traveled was filled with awe inspiring age and beauty. It was so magical it gave you a feeling of Disney but the good news was it was all very real.

We were lucky to find an apartment to rent from HomeAway.com, so we had our very own Venice studio. It was in a perfect neighborhood with a canal and bridge just outside our window.

The studio was in the Dorsoduro section, away from

the hustle and bustle of tourists and it was just a short block

from a sunset walk along the Zaterre.

It was dreamy.

Our little studio had a full kitchen so we shopped at the local market and cooked at home while we watched the world go by on our bridge.

The city is all about water.

There are no cars.

Everything is delivered by boat through the canals. Police, ambulance, UPS, postmen and even some markets moved and did all their business on the canals.

We spent hours walking from place to place, enjoying being lost and then finding our way. It seemed that every turn held some new, but incredibly old site to take in. We went from museum to museum trying to take it all in so we would remember it all when we were back home. It was a biennial year so there was modern art everywhere. The contemporary art displayed through the old city was quite wonderfully paradoxical.

It was a fantastic trip of a life time and I can't wait to do another one!

2009-10-23T11:03:00.001-04:00

October 7th I took off with my car filled with Artgirlz goodies and headed for Cromwell, CT and a weekend of learning, sharing and fun at Art Is...You. We weren't officially on the teaching list because we thought that we would at this years Quilt Market...but we weren't and off I went to assist our Linda Willis with her classes, make new friends, sell a few Artgirlz goodies and to take a wet felting class with the amazing Nicole Chazaud Telaar. Her blog is filled with more wonderful color and delicious visuals!!

Linda's Classes went very well...folks were excited, doing great work, and most importantly pleased with themselves. We had a lot of laughs, shared stories, met new best friends and urged people to trust their visions!

I was very excited about taking a one day felt flower making class. The morning of the class I had the privilege of talking with Nicole at breakfast. We shared biz stories and experiences and hope to do some skill sharing sometime soon! The class was set up by the hotel pool and under the glass dome, giving the feeling of a tropical location. The first task was to make a long thin snake shape with little flower buds at the end.

Once that was done, we went on to the bigger flower project. The pictures above show set up for the flowers. It was then combos of water, soap, rubbing, rolling, shaping, oohing and aahing.

We each made flower components and were "supposed" to put it together and bead them in the afternoon. I don't know what I was doing...making more doodles or something...the leaves were made the next day as I peeked in on the Wool Felt Bag Class.

I was very grateful to be taking a class and learning something new. Thanks to all that made it possible!! There are more pictures on Nicole's blog!!!!

2009-10-21T17:56:00.005-04:00

My sister Beth visited Sue and me last week...here in the lower 48 to visit family. Her youngest son Ben will be going into the US Navy next month. We were charged with the task of making him a necklace. So, we pulled out beads, Artgirlz charms, findings and a long piece of ball chain and proceeded to put a piece together for him.

I wish him the best. To be safe, brave, open, kind.

2009-10-13T10:07:00.010-04:00

I spent the weekend in my studio challenging myself to make a mini quilt to match a paper project we had done for Ranger. I used the same stamps for both project. I was curious about what I could come up with. The paper project was stamped directly on to painted chip board. But for the cloth project I filled a 9.5" X 11" sheet of paper with Artgirlz inchie stamps and then I copied that onto fabric using my ink jet printer. To truly make your own fabric, you can add paint to the cloth it at this point. I use plain old watered down acrylic paint. It gives a nice water colored effect.

You can stamp directly onto fabric but it is really difficult to get a clear clean image. The fabric I used in my inkjet was a heavier weight and so it absorbed a lot of ink giving the stamps a greyer look. So I would suggest using a finer, lighter weight fabric to get a real dark, clear stamp and it will also go through your printer easier. I backed my stamped fabric with a fusible web. I cut them into tiny squares and ironed them onto larger squares that were also backed with fusible web and then ironed them onto a piece of Patchy fabric. I added a backing, did some simple quilting and attached a binding using my Bernina aurora 440.

To add the finishing touches I ironed a little Artgirl on to the front and added her arms and legs and of course a sparkly petticoat. You can add color to our metal charms with a good gel pen. I used Sakura.
Voila, my mini quilt was done!

Well Baby Beth is visiting Tracy in RI. I wish I was there. But Midge and I are packed and ready to head off to Venice on Thursday. That's not too tough to take.

What are you up to?

2009-10-08T11:03:00.017-04:00

Some things just don't change. Here I am 45 years later still
braiding my baby sister Beth's hair. She has been visiting from Alaska.
Being the baby, Bethie spent a lot of time saying "wait for me!".
Beth is a chatty whirlwind and she teaches me patience
and compassion.
It was very nice to see her.

This year seems to be slipping by. Perhaps it only seems that way
because we are so busy. When our good friend Linda was visiting,
we took a trip to St Petersburg on the west coast of Florida.

St Pete was a beautiful city. Everywhere we went we met
friendly, like-minded people.

I had my heart set on an outsider art festival there sponsored
by Creative Clay. What a fantastic organization. It is a cultural art
center that makes art accessible for everyone no matter their
age, gender,ability or race. Having worked with people with
disabilities years ago I have a special place in my heart for them and
was blown away at what an empowering special space they
had created. There should be one in every town and city across
the country. It was an idea conceived by one person and is
a testimonial to how one person can make such a difference.

The art show was great too! Full of colorful, quirky works of art.
My favorite was Theresa Disney.
Check it out. Not only is her work fabulous she is a wonderful spirit.

We spent the rest of the day searching out and enjoying art.
One of our stops was the Dali Museum. Midge and Linda had
trouble drinking coffee with their mustaches.

We ended our trip with a stop at Fort DeSoto Park.
It is the most beautiful place I have seen in Florida.
A dip in the warm gulf at such a exquisite spot was
a perfect ending to our west coast trip.

2009-10-02T08:05:00.004-04:00

Chilly here in little rhody this morning. We have been working on a sign for our driveway. To get to us, one has to drive down a driveway from the main road and then at the fork, take the right hand choice..."B". "C" will take you to our lovely neighbor Bill's front door. We made a sign to direct new friends, oil delivery people, UPS, Publishers Clearing House Prize Delivery People, to the correct door. We can check that project off of the list and get on with the next thing!

I just pulled out the acrylic paints, black markers and poly sealer. Checked a few details on the computer to see just how far away we are from our loved ones. Brickley's is our favorite ice cream destination!! Chocolate Malt is amazing!!! George set us up with cedar posts and we were good to go! Thanks George!!

Getting ready for Art Is. Linda and I will be heading out next week. If you are free next weekend and looking for a relaxing, creative situation, check it out!!!

2009-09-25T07:49:00.007-04:00

Friday Morning...the sprinkler is doing it's thing on our very dry gardens...the Florida Girlz with our visiting Linda are on their way to an Outsider Art Festival in St. Pete...and I want to share pictures of my latest project. The great thing from this end, is that I actually spent a bit of time in the studio with fabric, glue gun, needle and thread!
Somewhere and time this summer I picked up an old sewing basket with the intention of doing a make over. I finally took out the dirty scary insides and did my thing. It was one of those "make it up as you go along" projects that we do best!

The main technical detail that I fail to consider was the closure loop that is right underneath the front felt triangle (you can see it in the pic below)...but I'm sure that I can come up with something! It would make a great pocketbook too. I think the next one will have more little pockets and slots for holding the essentials!

Yesterday I put some Felty Surprize Packs together, and they would be perfect for embellishing this and countless other projects. Next step, get them up on the website!! Have a great weekend!

2009-09-15T14:13:00.007-04:00

LOOKING FORWARD TO WITCHES AND GOBLINS!

We have been conjuring up goodies within the walls of Artgirlz World Headquarters! Felt, net, beads, papers, spiders, witches and scary types running around, flipping things in the air and coming up with ideas and packets of materials to bring you slowly into the spirit of fall!!!

We've come up with a way to make this little green bag perfect for carrying around plenty of candy corn!
More things going on sale tomorrow...09/15 around lunch time...
Enjoying the weather and trying to stay focused!!

2009-09-04T15:26:00.002-04:00

ARTGIRLZ THANK YOU!!!

Thanks for all of your support and Have a Great Weekend!!!!

We are grateful and feeling good!!!
More things coming your way!!!
Enjoy the weekend!
xxoo

2009-08-27T07:48:00.021-04:00

Marcella Welch

Sue and I had the privilege of attending a surprise 60th birthday party for Marcella Welch in Atlanta, Georgia. Marcella is an amazing artist that we met many years ago at a doll conference in California. I'm not exactly sure what it was that brought us together in the back row of conference gatherings...observing, commenting and weaving a friendship. We only saw each other at these events, took part in a couple of collaborative projects, met up in DC when we both had a doll on Bill and Hillary's Christmas Tree.

I emailed her a couple of years ago to see how things were going and she let me know that she had just been diagnosed with brain cancer. After a couple of weeks she said that she wouldn't be able to communicate for a while because she was going in for treatment. I didn't hear anything after that. As time went by, I kept wondering if she was okay...I rehearsed a phone conversation a million times but never made it...

An email arrived this spring from Marcella's daughter LaShawnda inviting us to Marcella's Surprise 60th Birthday Party!!! Yea, she lived!!! So, Atlanta in August no problem!! We went, we surprised her very much, met her beautiful mother Hellon, other family and friends. We cruised around Marietta, GA on a lovely Saturday morning...the farmers market, had an amazing breakfast, had eyeball popping fun wandering through Fit for a Queen and found Artgirlz product at Rubber Stamp Fantasy, 115 Church Street ...The Party was beautiful, and we were thrilled to be there!!!!

Due to the weather we missed our flight home and ended up staying with Marcella, husband Curtis, mom Hellon for another bonus day!! Fresh carrot juice, a beautiful home and art and art supplies were everywhere. Projects and piles of supplies were spread throughout the home...paints, dyes, cotton, wool, clay, yarns, beads, sewing machines...flowing over and under tables...

It was very inspiring to see her work, works in progress, piles of materials, hearing what she had been through, seeing how the family supports her, and knowing that she is back at her work and wants to continue to teach, and work her magic.
We will be selling her rubber stamps very soon! Look for them!

2009-08-24T14:37:00.005-04:00

We are back to our home in Florida and to enjoying our life at the "resort".
I am not sure if it is the abundant sunshine,
the warm temps or our turquoise pool that makes me feel like this way
but I am trying to practice living in the moment so that I can really relish this resort living.

This weekend, when we weren't riding to the beach to check the big surf,
I was working on a new bracelet.
It is made on simple elastic thread and "e" beads
and strung with little felt beads.

Be sure to check the website for the pattern which should be available soon.

After making my bracelet
this is how my studio table looked on Sunday night.
Are Tracy and I the only ones who can fill up a large horizontal space in a matter of minutes?

We would like to thank all of the people that responded to our last blog,
with either an order or a few kind words.
Your support was very uplifting
and it helps us to continue doing all of the things we need to get done everyday.
Thanks for being a part of Artgirlz Nation!

We couldn't do it with out you.

2009-08-17T16:14:00.010-04:00

Midge and I arrived in RI about 5 days ago. It has been heart warming to see all of our friends and family. We must be getting to be more Floridian than we think because we are looking at the New England country side like it is the hills of Worcestershire. We keep comparing the temperature to Florida and all of our friends add to this by asking us "is it this hot in Florida?"

It is good to be back at Artgirlz World Headquarters, around all of the creative energy that Tracy and Linda have been cooking up. The bad news is our business has been slowing over the past year and now it is getting so slow that we are constantly fighting off stress, worry and big questions about what the future holds.

"OH NO"

We have worked so hard over the past five years to build Artgirlz Nation and it is hard to think of letting it go. We have built our little company from our little investment in our basement. We learned all aspects of business as we went along, from how to design a fabulous trade show booth on a shoe string, to how to get, organize and print UPC codes. It has sometimes been stressful but often fun, invigorating and worthwhile. It has given us the opportunity to travel and meet new people from around the world. The greatest gift through all this has been the loving encouragement we have received from our customers.

I keep trying to find a space of comfort. I find myself worrying all of the time. I try to be grateful and know that there are others that have it so much harder than I do and be open to the idea that all is well in my happy little life. My self-will can't fix it but Powerball is $217,000,000 and I have a ticket.

While the wonders of Powerball and the quirky ups and downs of the universe do their thing, we are having a great sale...as we carve out some breathing room, ideas are still floating, diving, whirling around just waiting to come into being!

Any tips?

2009-08-07T11:24:00.015-04:00

PaperArtsy Stamps are in the House!

We have had the pleasure of meeting Mark and Leandra about 5 years ago and have loved every minute that we've been able to spend with them on both sides of the pond. Picture above was in England in '07 I believe. We visited their lovely home in the middle of a field with 4 children and and their rubber stamp studio/production area! To watch Leandra work is most amazing. She is fast and produces wonderful mixes of materials. Mark's brain is filled with wonderful and abundant amounts of information about all of the techie things I always want to know about. They both make a mean rubber stamp from beginning to end. Sadly we haven't seen each other in a while but they are still rockin'!!!!

We finally put our collection of PaperArtsy Stamps (p. 3) up on the website. Rosie and Linda put some great PaperArtsy/Artgirlz Bundles together that will give you lots of creative options! They include two random mini stamps with lots of other materials for making ATC's, Inchies and a blank Book.
Because this stamp makes a great background visual texture we used it on all of these samples!
These surfaces were colored with Ranger Distress Ink sponged onto the paper.
PaperArtsy bubble stamp with Ranger Distress Ink
Random application of gesso with credit card
OR
"Splodger" as it is called in PaperArtsy world.

Simply add Artgirlz Charms to make one of a kind jewelry pieces!
Check out their website to see the whole collection of stamps and other goodies.
The PaperArtsy Blog is filled with visuals and great ideas!

ATC layered with inchie, Artgirlz and PaperArtsy Stamps

Check out their website to see the whole collection of stamps and other goodies.
The PaperArtsy Blog is filled with visuals and great ideas!

2009-08-03T14:10:00.006-04:00

OK, now there are no excuses.
The boxes are empty and all of the important tools are unpacked
and in place (if I could only remember where).
So it is time to get to work.

I thought I would share with you a couple essential tools
that Tracy and I find helpful in our studio.

The first is a black board.
This is where we keep an on going list of all the current things needing attention.
If our schedule is crazy, it can be quite full.
We use it to keep our focus.
It helps us to stay on task
because we are constantly being drawn to some new creative idea
or off to something that needs to be taken care of at Artgirlz.

We even use them through out our homes.
Tracy has one in her kitchen that always has a loving reminder to focus on.
As you can see I have been worrying to much.

To make your own,
all you need is a wall and some black board paint.
You can find the paint in any hard ware store.
We like to use chalk pastels to write with because they offer such yummy colors.

The next tool is a felt wall.
I just installed mine last week.
I couldn't find old fashion paper gypsum board so I used ceiling tiles.
They were easier to install because they were smaller.
It is simple to do.
I just use dry wall screws and an electric drill to attach it to the studio wall.
I make sure I hit an occassional stud to give it strength and then
it is off to the fabric store to find felt to cover it. Look for felt that is 72" wide.

We use this felt wall to create on.
It is perfect for fabric projects because the fabric naturally sticks to the felt.
So you can put up different colors and textures
and stand back to get a better perspective.
Or paper projects
because it is now a giant bulletin board.
You can use pins to fill it full of things to inspire you.

Mine is filling up with a project I am doing for Bernina with my
aurora 440.

2009-07-29T09:34:00.006-04:00

ARTGIRLZ CROWN KIT!
Royal Greetings from Artgirlz Nation!
We wanted to share the photos of these crowns made by Susan Kennedy from one of our Crown Kits! She made one for a friend that was turning 65 years old,
and who doesn't want a birthday crown at any age...
so, she made another one for the Birthday Girl's 4 year old Birthday grand daughter!!!
Nice work Susan! and Thanks for sending the pics!
I think that we have three kits left and they include beautiful hand painted paper!!
Midge and Al are heading for CHA tomorrow to see what's happening in the wholesale craft world...
Sue and I are heading for Atlanta early early...

2009-07-11T17:10:00.004-04:00

Summer is full on here in Rhode Island...well, it has been very very rainy and it was 52 degrees this morning when I got up, but the tourists are here full on and the gardens are a bit out of control! I have actually gotten my butt up and into my sneakers every day this week. This lovely salt pond is at the end of our street and on the walking route! The Atlantic Ocean is just over the dunes in the distance! I don't think my iphone photo translates all of the beauty, but you can get an idea. Not a bad view to help the exercise program along!!

Sue and I decided to paint our room and move back into it after the Midge and Al left for Florida!
We went from School Bus Yellow to Pink. After spending 5 minutes looking at wall paper books, I thought I would just paint something. I started out with white on the pink, but it only showed up about 15 minutes a day if you happened to be in there at that special time. Then I went at it with color and I grew to hate it even more....so it took me more time to cover up my over sized flower garden than it did to do it in the first place! Some of the best ideas.....
Lots of weeding and pruning to take care of!

2009-06-29T14:30:00.008-04:00

It has been a long, tiring
and emotional six weeks
but
Midge and I have made it to our new home in
Florida.

We are even unpacked
and ready to enjoy life here.

One of the first things I did in the stuio
was make a cloth tiki for our
good friend Linda.

I have been dying to carve a tiki after seeing them all over Cocoa.
But time, tools and skills stood in my way.
However, I came across
cloth tikis
while searching for tiki inspiration on the web.
Mimi Kirshner had made these great tikis in wool.
I was inspired.
So I set to work creating my own Artgirlz tiki.
Linda loved it.

2009-06-21T13:06:00.010-04:00

Happy Solstice from Soggy Rhode Island! We have brief moments of sunshine all month, and one of them in all ways was a visit from Lesley Riley! What's not to love about that!! After taking a class at Pro Chemical she landed at Artgirlz World Headquarters. We had a great 24 hours talking family and business. I was very grateful for the opportunity to talk with another artist trying to figure out the next direction!! Miss Allison made it up from FLA in time for the visit and Linda got to meet one of her heroines!!! Good day!

Al has been around the Rhode Island Headquarters this week. We had to prepare for our class and continue slogging through the process of figuring out how to do our business when we are miles apart. That has been somewhat painful but coming along. Lots of pots on the Artgirlz stove...trying to make good decisions around the mix of ingredients...that would promote mental health, creative satisfaction and a profit!!! I keep telling her to get a grip but she just won't listen! Did I mention that we are both tripping off of our anti-depressants?#$@? Who knew???

Our class went well! We got to paint paper outside in the morning and proceeded to the secret underground location to continue working with paints, stamps, bubble wrap, stencils, gesso....etc.etc.etc. The folding and combining of the painted paper and the pages pulled the pieces together! We of course had a delicious lunch...rice salad, bean soup/stew...(stewp as Christy came up with!) Christy's ginger snaps and Linda's Mother's Blueberry Cake...It seemed like all brave attendees had a great time. We thank them for joining us. We missed Ellen, Sallianne and Jacqui...

2009-06-12T08:25:00.015-04:00

Arty Goodies for the Garden

Greetings from rainy rainy cloudy Rhode Island!

Midge and Al have unpacked their Pod in Florida and Sue and I are moving things here and there, filling in empty spaces...picking up treasures at flea markets and garage sales. Al and I had to split up all of our fabric, beads, threads etc, so I have been trying to make sense out of the stuff left in my work space and trying to set it up so that things are easy to find and use. What a concept. We have been so busy with Artgirlz for the last five years that we really haven't had time to use all of the must have objects in our collection. I am hoping that will change a bit!

Last month on another rainy day, I brought the base of this old bird bath into the house with my collection of broken plates and tiles. It was very satisfying to break down the dishes and cover up the grey! What a great way to recycle old dishes and miscellaneous garden objects!

The base is finished and waiting in the green house for a great topper. Hasn't shown up yet!Linda is coming by today and we are going to get the goodies together for our book class next weekend. I am hoping that we will be able to work outside for a bit, but the weather map isn't looking good. But, staying in the moment, it will be fun working with papers today!

If you haven't seen the latest copy of Studios from Cloth Paper Scissors, you should check it out! There are stories and photos of a wide variety of work spaces and a couple of lovely shots of us doing a project in the garden!

2009-05-20T13:36:00.013-04:00

It is a most beautiful day here in Little Rhody...my latest office area is on what was a screened in porch and was done over with windows and heat last fall...not too shabby. Windows all around. Can see the bees, the chicken coop and if I turn to the right, I can see and hear the pond and waterfall!!

So many things have happened since my last post! Allison, Linda and I went to Somers, NY a couple of weeks ago to do a quilt show. We had heard nothing but wonderful things about it, and it was as lovely as we had heard. We had a booth set up to sell Artgirlz Goodies, and we gave two presentations. They seemed to go well, but of course I thought of a million things that I would change if we were to do it again! The hard working women that put the show together were gracious and helpful. Hopefully we will get invited back! The quilts in the show were very good. The work was wonderful, thoughtful, creative, and inspiring!!

Midge and Allison spent last week packing up a POD with all of their stuff! It was amazing that all of that stuff came out of this house and we still have plenty of stuff left here. Now they are waiting for the POD to arrive in Florida and then they can unpack it into their new place....exhausting.

But, they are excited about getting set up! Sue and I moved furniture and rugs around last weekend to fill in the gaps! It is very strange in our quiet house!

We spent last week helping Cathy, George and Dan get ready for their plant sale. We stuck a lot of nicely painted price tag/tongue depressors into plants. Moved things around. Put up Signs. Weeded and cleaned up paths. Had lovely lunches and the Sale was a huge success! It was crazed for the first two hours. As things slowly calmed down, plants marched home with happy shoppers, pizza was served from the outdoor pizza oven and it seemed like hundreds of home made biscotti disappeared from the scene!!

2009-04-28T13:14:00.028-04:00

SELF PORTRAITS!!

Allison in various mediums and colors!

The weather is seriously wonderful here on the coast of Rhode Island and it is hard to concentrate on work work. We have 10 yards of compost sitting outside just waiting to get spread around!!!
But, back to Artgirlz and the Nation. We had a wonderful Self-Portrait Class last weekend! It was very gratifying to see hands and spirits at work! We used fabrics, papers, the sewing machine, glue, gel medium, the scanner, and the camera through out the day. Christy was once again our competent lunch server and superior scone maker. Linda brought oatmeal cookies to help the energy levels up.
We started off the class by doing an exercise from "Mixed- Media self-portraits" by Cate Coulacos Prato. Kelli Perkins instructs how to do a portrait in a mirror with transparent paper and a marker (p. 51). Tape the paper to the mirror, close one eye and outline your face. It is quite an interesting spacial and visual exercise.

I love this image of Jackie with the crack in the face! She mixed paper and fabric and was having a great time with our Bernina and the Stitch Regulator!! What a better way to do needle doodling!!

Linda (above) first did a drawing, added color, rubber stamps and and outline of the original sketch. She painted up leaves and machine stitched plain and painted leaves for a hair do.
Friends Elaine (L) and Alayne (below) showed up a bit nervous about their Artgirlz Adventure but I think we managed to put them somewhat at ease and they just rocked!

We were lucky to have the two big cheeses from "Art Is You" join us. Ellen and Sallianne dove right into their projects and shared some of their visions for their most wonderful fall gathering in Connecticut! Sallianne added some wonderful words about the class on her blog... and below you can see two images of her work.

Ellen's smiling self!
I believe that a good time was had by all! We formulating plans for the next class in which we will work on book components and celebrate the Summer Solstice!!!

Does anyone have any self-portrait tips?
Bye Bye for Now!

2009-04-10T16:00:00.008-04:00

COCOA BEACH...WARM BREEZES...FRESH OJ...SWIMMING POOL

Sue and I headed to Florida with Al to check out the Artgirlz Southern Headquarters and say Happy Birthday to Midge! It was very relaxing...reading, sudoku, hanging around the pool, jumping in the pool, eating, walking, biking, and generally enjoying the warm weather! It was all about palm trees, surf shops, fresh orange juice!

The girlz have been working hard on their new digs and it is almost ready to welcome their furniture! As it is, it is quite easy to move things between the porch and the dining area...modular living at its best!
They have reported that garage sales are excellent sources of furniture and odds and ends and that garbage picking is an endless source of creative supplies! Just walking around the neighborhood one finds palm tree parts, leaves and pods that are just begging to be wrapped, painted cut up and put back together.

Sunday morning we checked out the Cocoa Beach Farmers Market and came home with some delicious mangos, beautiful hydroponic lettuce, and oranges. Al bought some local organic honey as a gift and Sue and I brought fresh lemon grass and brought it home. We've stored it in the freezer for a refreshing addition to home made treats!

We arrived home last Monday to very rainy, windy, New England spring conditions!! And back to work building Artgirlz Nation!

2009-04-10T11:44:00.014-04:00

PEAS ON EARTH!

With spring in full swing, it is all about the gardens! Raking leaves, digging, moving rocks, trees, shrubs, constructing new veggie gardens, planning, scheming...Sue and I planted peas a week or so ago, and Allison and I have been forming lovely large pea pods out of fabrics, felt, wool beads and threads...Ours happen to be green, but in this wild world we live in, I don't see anything wrong with blue, red, or yellow peas, or a combination for that matter!

Al made up some patchy fabrics from a variety of green cottons stitched onto a piece of batting.
A piece of green cotton was used for the backing. After cutting a pod shape out of the pieced cotton, the top edges are finished with a binding. Stitch along the bottom of the pod and add your peas. This particular pod has four 3.5cm and two 2cm "peas". The leaves are just shapes cut from patchy fabric and the tendrils are "tubes" filled with a piece of wire.

The pea above was put together with a sewing machine, embellishing machine and hand stitching! I used two layers of green felt for the pod to give it stability. The word "peas" and the leaves were needle felted with an embellishing machine. The machines are great to play with and don't use any thread, just 5-7 needles that punch fabrics together. The possibilities are endless!!!
On this side, I went over the letters with French knots.

The other side of the pod has needle felted leaf and pea shapes with a bit of hand embroidery. I used a Bernina decorative stitch around the top of the pod and to hold the piece together. The peas can be stitched or glued in place. Using Artgirlz wool felt beads, you can make pods of all sizes!!!

Check out our Peas on Earth Economic Recovery Package!!! ONLY five bucks...with goodies to make a little pea pod pin, and charms to help you through these tough times!

Have fun! I think that we are going to do a survey...have to figure out the details, but would love to hear from you!!!

2009-03-25T10:37:00.010-04:00

Looking Into

I took this picture in St John in 2004.
Doesn't it look yummy!

I am excited about my move to a tropical zone.

It seems appropriate that I investigate the color turquoise.

Although turquoise is a cool color,

it reminds me of warm tropical water,

a color that easily hypnotizes and relaxes me,

and one that I can easily swim in.

Turquoise is a calming feminine color. It is also a very spiritual color, used by many ancient religions. Perhaps this comes from the use of the stone turquoise.
The color turquoise identifies with
love, healing, generosity,
emotion, feeling , the unconscious ,
intuition, individual responsibility, creativity ,
communication, self reliance ,
and independence.

Turquoise is a mix of blue and green.

Turquoise is a hip color for decorators this spring.

I think it is a lot like the color yellow. It can easily go with any other color.

It's compliment is orange.
It also looks fabulous with red.
This combo is very reminds me of Mexican folk art.

2009-03-20T11:38:00.006-04:00

We wanted to share some of the Pin Cushions that we've put together with Artgirlz Wool Felt Beads! Using our Big Pin Cushion Monograph as a guide, you will find endless combinations of bead sizes and colors. What a great way to keep your pins together! No pesky magnets to mess up your fancy computer driven sewing machines...for those of you luck enough to have them. The Pin Cushions are so cool, that they will fit right into your living room accessories on those days that your projects are flowing all over the place!!

Lots of options for adding your own special touch with needle felting, embroidery, beads, sequins, found objects. Never too many and great gifts for all of your friends!!!

Stay tuned for the Pea Podz for Pinz!!!

2009-03-18T11:35:00.002-04:00

When word went out in our family that we had purchased a house in Cocoa Beach Florida there was no one happier than Tracy's son Don. He was ready to book his plane ticket from California for the shuttle launch for Feb 12. Well it turned out that the lift off didn't happen until March 15th. Midge and I left our family's St Patty's celebration of corn beef and cabbage to hurry up the coast to our new beach to watch the launch. It was spectacular! We missed you Don.

2009-03-18T10:09:00.003-04:00

The first International Women's Day was celebrated in 1911. It was planned as a day of demonstration for the rights of women, primarily the right to vote. It was a great success. It still amazing to me that we have had this right for such a short time and I think that we all take it for granted.

This year International Women's Day was officially on March 8 and it's theme was "Women and men united to end violence against women and girls".

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/default.asp

I made the quilt above about 15 years ago. I spelled out around the quilt how women are still beaten, raped and killed everyday for little or no reason, simply because they are women. I asked that it be stopped. I saw it as a way to put it out there, to say it, to break through our denial and remind us all that it goes on everywhere and we are all responsible do something about it. So check out these links and don't forget to spread the word. Thanks

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/violence_against_women/facts_figures.php

2009-03-09T14:05:00.004-04:00

How about this tribe of Artgirlz from Marlayna Telfer! They look like a strong and forward thinking bunch! Thanks for the good work and sending the picture our way! I love the way that you combined all of your materials! They look like they are ready to take off on a wonderful journey!!

2009-03-06T08:44:00.004-05:00

Artgirlz Alert!

We are trying to get in touch with Fine (Fina) Gelfand! If you read this Fine, or if someone knows her, we have orange beads for her...but we don't know how to get in touch with her! Thanks!!!!

2009-02-26T16:46:00.009-05:00

Sarah Lawrence: Wild Women Stitched Art Brooches

This is who Sarah is in her own words:
"Sarah Lawrence is a well-established contemporary textile artist based in Newark, Nottinghamshire. She combines her innovative approach to felt-making with embroidery, beadwork and gilding to produce rich, textured pieces that are exhibited worldwide."
One look at her website and blog will bring inspiration to anyone interested in beading, felting and embellishing!!
Mix up Sarah's Ideas with Your Ideas, add Artgirlz faces, arms, legs, shoes, and hands and make up your own tribe of Wild Women!!!! Take a minute to look over other little doll samples on the Artgirlz website!
Now, if you need your Creativity Crown plopped on your head before you begin your Wild Women Collection, we have the pattern and directions that will guide you through a perfect project! One side could be the Creativity Queen and the flip side might be the Queen of the Organized Life!!! You will be happy!!!

Keep on Keepin on!

2009-02-23T11:29:00.004-05:00

BERNINA 830
SUPER DUPER AMAZING
SEWING AND EMBROIDERY MACHINE

Al and I just came back from three days in Chicago with the Bernina Education staff and 75 Bernina's National Artisans!! Wow is all I have to say! The first night (after a candle light dinner due to no power in the hotel) we did 2 minute introductions of ourselves (we won Bernina Mugs because ours was under 60 seconds) and I have never been in a room where so many women had written so many book and produced so many videos, magazines, websites and produced so much beautiful work etc!! Very impressive!

We spent most of the time working on or learning about the new 830 machine which I have to say is unbelievable! First of all the sewing area is huge! The lights are very bright, the bobbin is big, the engine rocks, and for those of you that are machine embroiderers, it is the best! The good news is that we worked in teams as we dove into stitches, winding bobbins, auto threading, cutting, setting embroidery patterns, switching out feet...all brains working as quickly as possible, imprinting material that was flowing quickly and only scratching the surface...

We made new best friends, found inspiration everywhere, had a lot of laughs, shared information and came home exhausted!

Yesterday was spent napping, catching up on bad tv, napping and preparing mentally for this week. Al had the power to even start needle painting last night!!

Thanks to Bernina, the bright, focused and loving teaching staff, brilliant sr. management, and all of the folks that spent time putting the event together! We both felt very grateful to be a part of the team!! Oh, the machine is seen here in Artgirlz fantasy colors...

2009-02-17T18:22:00.006-05:00

We were very excited to find five boxes at our door containing our little project booklets lovingly referred to as our Monographs! They were a collaborative project with Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies and we are very grateful and happy with the results!
Now they are available to you and yours. They include directions and great illustrations that will guide you through the projects. Then there is the option of taking them all in your own directions!!

We will be coming up with kits to go along with them very soon...stay tuned!

In the mean time, we have just put our big wool bags, roving and felting needles on sale!!!

Al and I are off to Chicago tomorrow morning to attend a Bernina Teachers Event! Sure to be a lot of laughs and learning. Always fun to see the most energetic and knowledgeable teaching crew. They taught me that one should change sewing machine needles more than once a decade!
On that note, I am sending out our newsletter, packing my suitcase, adding a bit of purple to my hair and having a bit of dinner!

2009-02-13T20:10:00.009-05:00

My new favorite thing
I love to do here at Artgirlz south
is ride my new bike.

Midge and I try to take time each day for a ride.
Sometimes on the weekend it is a ride to the farmers market or the library.
But usually it is just a spin around our little neighborhood.
Like two little kids,
we pedal through the warm breezes
looking for new landscaping ideas,
checking out the sights on the river or
watching the young osprey trying to build a nest on a light pole.

Wow Florida is a place full of big birds.

I miss the small ones that we always have
at the feeders in Rhode Island.

Although up north we do have the visits from the turkey family,

here in Florida the big birds are everywhere.

Pelicans,
Osprey,
Great Blue Heron,
Egrets of all sorts,
Cranes,
Ibis,
and Vultures.

Yet it was still shocking when I found this
strange red bird slinking
around our yard.

Oh, on closer inspection I saw it was
the Artgirlz LOVE BIRD!!

Happy Valentines Day !

2009-02-11T14:12:00.003-05:00

Don't you hate it when your sis calls from Florida and says "I called to tell you about my accident"? Turns out that she tripped (don't we all?) carrying two dishes and had one go into her right hand...good news she said that all of her fingers work, it didn't get an artery or tendon...

whew!! good news for the other half of this enterprise!!
take it easy sis! the bees are going crazy today...the temp is a balmy 56 degrees...
we will be off to a Bernina extravaganza next week...

2009-02-06T09:05:00.023-05:00

WOW this is my first blog post.

Tracy has always done them before.
Late last fall Midge and I bought a house in Cocoa Beach, Florida
so the Artgirlz won't be creating in one spot but two.
This has been a big change for us and at times painful.
But we pick up our life tools,
try to use them well
and blast off on a new adventure.

We arrived in Florida in time to surprise Midge's family for Christmas.
We have spent the past 8 weeks updating our mid century modern pad.
Having brought only what would fit in our car,
we are managing with yard sale bargains
and borrowed beach chairs.
We have spent a lot of them time painting, painting and painting,
ripping up floors
and making way too many decisions in a short amount of time.

We have so much to learn and experience here in Florida

.

We need to relearn gardening,
because
house plants can live outside,
Veggies are planted in the fall and winter
and what the hell is that grass they have on their lawns.

And we can grow bananas here!

From flowers to fruit

We are also finding eating locally a bit challenging.

One of the nicest things about our move
is that Midge has the chance to be with her family.
Last weekend her Italian cousins
were visiting her brother Michael in near by Indialantic
and on Sunday we all gathered to cook.

As the kitchen filled with yummy smells,
Philomena patiently taught us how to make pasta
with a shake of the head or a nod
because she didn't speak English
and our Italian was nil.

We made made little pasta caps called Priest's Caps or Agnolotti.
The results were MAGNIFICO.

It was a heart warming time
hanging out with Maria, Philamena and Franko.

So now Tracy and I are learning how to telecommute.
I am trying to set up a studio in our house that is still in transition,

Midge keeps painting

and Maxine watches over us,
happy to be back in Florida after leaving when we lost Margaret.

2009-02-02T14:29:00.012-05:00

TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEART!

While I am in the RED zone I wanted to share some info and links for Women's Heart Health!
Heart disease is the numero uno killer of women and we have to spread the word and encourage each other to take care of ourselves!! Here are some things to look out for:

There is a lot of information online for women looking for support, facts, ways to help each other. Here are just a few.

The National Coalition of Women with Heart Disease
American Heart Association
Go Red For Women
Heart Healthy Women
Sister to Sister

And some thoughts that might help our daily situations!

So, put on your red dress and your red walking shoes, take a walk, breathe in some fresh air and be grateful, and share the information!! Do you have your own heart stories?

2009-01-31T17:54:00.022-05:00

F.A.T. Girlzzzzzzzzzz Part II

I decided to play with some of our wool roving, felting machine, and misc goodies around the studio to make and embellish a postcard. I have been working the the color Red this month making Valentine samples and pulling red info and pics together. Al is working on Turquoise for next month, so I put them together for this project.

The embellishing machines are so great! They look just like a sewing machine, but No thread, no bobbins to fill...just a bunch of needles punching materials together in a very interesting way. If you don't have one yet, you can put this together with a piece of foam for a base and hand felting needles. It would take a bit longer of course, but you would benefit from some stress reduction!

Criss-cross three layers of roving on a flat surface a bit bigger than your finished project. You can always add to the edges if it is too small or fold over bits that are too big.
Place roving "sandwich" onto the machine (or your piece of foam) and go over the surface of the layers until they become one piece. Shape the edges as you go along by folding over or adding as needed.
For stripes, add another layer of roving in the direction and width that you want. Place in machine and "stitch" in place. As you work with the roving, you get the feel for how much it reduces in size as it is worked into the base. You don't loose much, but it is a factor.
You can continue to embellish the surface by shading the edge of strips with darker roving. Make polka dots by placing little circles of roving onto the base and working them in. By adding bits of gauze, silk, felt, open weave scraps of silk, netting or yarns to the surface you will start getting a more interesting and complex look and feel going.
Then come the beads, buttons, sequins, hand embroidery, ribbons, do-dads...endless possibilities with the treasures tucked into the studios around the world!

I tore a piece of painted watercolor paper to fit the shape of the felted piece.
Tearing gives you that nice uneven edge that is perfect for taking on inks.
Place the felted, embellished piece onto the torn paper and zig-zag in place. I made the paper a little bit bigger than the felt to give it another border.

Combine Stamps, Inks, Pens, Collage to add your message on the Back!

Wouldn't someone you love like to get something like this mixed in with the the Bills!!

Now if you are feeling very inspired and just can't stand it, just go to Artgirlz.com and add some new and unique items to your ever growing fabulous stash!!!
Have fun and Spread the Word!!

2009-01-31T07:56:00.026-05:00

Welcome Fiber Art Traders!!! F.A.T. Girlzzzz Rock!

We were invited to participate in this Yahoo Group and their yearly online Flea Market by fiber artist, Normajean Brevik who is a writer, designer, teacher of fiber arts and "owner" of the group. In the warmer weather we are especially lucky here at Artgirlz World Headquarters to have a live and in person Flea Market a mile down the road. Since it is closed for the winter, this is a great opportunity for us to share our world with you!

If you are new to Artgirlz, we have a Rubber Stamps, Lead Free Pewter Charms, Wool Felt Shapes, Roving, Needles, Kits and Special Collections every now and then. Our charms were designed by us are made here right in Little Rhody and our wool is imported from Nepal. The Rubber Stamp collection is manufactured in California. All of our components would be perfect additions to mail, ATC, pin and doll making projects. There are lots of images on our website and in the past posts on this blog!

Since you are a Mail Art Group, I pulled together and added to some some samples and put a new piece together just for you!!!

This is an inch square colored with acrylic paints and pencils then wrapped with copper. The "A" is one of our rubber stamps. The charms and a bit of yarn for hair make up the rest of this charmer.

This is an ATC sized piece of "patchy" fabric layered and stitched together on the machine. Charms tell the metal story with red yarns for hair. The edges are finished with multi-colored beads.

On the left an orange and blue patchy ATC with a wool felt flower, beads, charms...

Another ATC with Ranger Crackle Paint on top of wool and rayon blend felt. I like the look of it with more paint rather than less. Usually needs to dry overnight. Another use of charms and yarn to create an ATC and a doll!! Good Button added too!

Layers of stitched felt, hand made paper, charms and rubber stamps combine to make up the front and back of the ATC shown above

A pelmet Vilene postcard from a Tentakulum Painter Potpouri Pack was the beginning of this piece. My sis needle felted our little wool felt 9 patch pieces and hand stitched them onto the base.

The back is a piece of painted water color paper, cut to size and attached to the back of the card with with gel medium. I used clamps to hold the edges together, and some books to flatten it out!

This is another pelmet Vilene postcard. It is embellished with a silk hankie, pewter charms, mini wool felt beads, mixed plastic and glass beads, hand made paper beads, yarn for hair and a piece of water color paper for the back.

I used the Bernina Stitch Regulator to stitch doodle on the base of the card. You could just do free motion stitching, decorative machine stitching, hand embroidery or additional beading and stamping.
Then stitched the backing paper to the card.

Artgirlz Rubber Stamps and Doodles!

Front Bead Detail

Off to have some Roasted Potatoes and Work on Section 2...Dry Felted Postcard!!
F.A.T. Members check your Mother Ship Posting Board!!!

2009-01-28T08:26:00.017-05:00

There are so many things that I haven't covered in our ever changing world around here. It is snowing again, (it's not really that cold this morning) the house and studio are quiet. The chickens and rabbits are fed and the best news is that I was able to get up and continue my life after I fell on my butt in an instant this morning! That pesky ice was sitting right under that little layer of snow.....

Our "doll in a box" class was great! We had lots of materials and ideas flying around and of course the best part is being able to talk, share and laugh in a very safe environment! Thanks to Christy for being our Lunch Boss! We are looking forward to the next one "the many faces of you", an exploration of self portraits. We have started gathering samples and ideas together, for it is sure to be an interesting journey!! Easy sign up in the Artgirlz store!

Friday night we hosted 16 women from the Apple Valley Quilt Guild. They were here for a weekend sewing, shopping and girlz gathering in Westerly, RI. It was so great! I stood at the end of the driveway in the dark and snow with my flashlight a "Create" sign and signaled their safe arrival. We had just baked cookies and little goodie bags waiting. After a brief chat, the women made quick work of finding the treasures around the room. It seems like a good time was had by all. We sold some stuff, they went home with bags of stuff and hopefully some ideas and inspiration! What is better than that! Maybe next year...purple hair dye!

Allison has set up her new Artgirlz office in her new house in Cocoa Beach, Fla. Her new monitor died about 48hrs into the new gig, but we are trying out this new living, business model. One of the first long distance projects is to tackle a color a month. I thought of it while working on the Valentines as I gathered up all things red.

I have been taking pictures, digging through beads, buttons, ribbons etc, checking out websites about color, theories, history etc...Observing red around the house, book covers, file cabinets, dishes, pencils, the table cloth, what colors are with it...what feels good, looks good...

Adobe has a great website and dynamic color tool called Kuler. You can see color combinations that have been put together by a huge community of folks, make your own to test color mixes to share or just use as your own visual reference. Check it out. You just have to log in and get yourself yet another password, but once that is done it is a great place to loose ones self for a bit! By checking on the "Complimentary" link, you will be able to spin the dial and see opposite colors on the wheel working and changing before your eyes. Green and red are on either side of the color wheel and always make a good combination.

• enchanted learning is a site for children, but gives color names in many languages
• worqx color theory tutorials are really cool. lots of visuals to inspire and inform
• for a historical view, Pigments through the Ages has great information about the use and meaning of color in different cultures and how it has changed.
• color chart for the color blind...

• study colors by mixing paint

This book is a great study of red and green marbleized paper. It is the smallest thing that you can imagine...a gift from son Don from his visit to Venice, Italy...

Speaking of red, I want to share info about v-day and women's heart health issues..

Al is working on turquoise for the next chapter.

2009-01-27T11:16:00.006-05:00

I had fun making this little Valentine Book...I used three layers of criss-crossed roving and the felting machine to create the cover. I used three pages of water color paper to make the pages. The edges are torn a bit bigger than the outline of the finished cover. Tim Holtz's Distress Ink was the perfect thing to add color to the edge of the torn pages. Artgirlz stamps and Ranger Archival Ink combined to add the inside message.

In addition to these supplies, the watercolor paper could be further enhanced with paint, chalk, pencils, pens, cut out shapes or words...

Staples, stitching, glue, pins, brads, grommets to hold things together! We have a great packet of papers, stamps and embellishments for you to make your own master pieces!

Change up the size...from tiny to huge love messages!
What ever you do, spread the love!!!!!!

2009-01-21T09:23:00.003-05:00

We spent most of yesterday glued to CNN, munching on goodies and watching with large sighs of relief as the government changed hands!
So now it's back to work spreading our own joy and energy out into the world!
We felt like it was better than Christmas!!

We made the Obama Slap Bracelet Pin Cushion on the way to Quilt Market in the Fall!

Back to Valentines tomorrow!!

2009-01-14T15:21:00.019-05:00

Well, onto the wool roving, needle felted Hearts!! I have moved a little slide show to the top right corner of your screen to get a few visuals that can guide you along your needle felting journey! The pieces shown here were made by rolling and manipulating the roving with a felting needle while working on a piece of foam. These can be downloaded from our website!

Please Read the Tips Before you Begin!
The needle is very sharp and fragile compared to a sewing needle.

To help the fibers hook together the end of the needle is barbed.

It will break if you bend it while it is in the felt.

You want the needle to go in and out in the same direction...any direction...but the same direction!

You can be a bit aggressive with your “stabbing”.

You can use the needle as a "tool" much like a sewing needle as long as the roving is still somewhat loose.

If you are a beginner you may break a needle or two before you get the hang of it!

You can make new color mixes by blending two or more roving colors.
Simply gather two or three little puffs together and pull them apart until mixed to your liking.

These tips can be applied to clothing, wool beads, felt cones, flowers, hearts...any felted wool and more!

Artgirlz Heart Felt Hearts!

Pull a 7 Inch length of roving from the bundle.

Make into a loosely rolled tube rolling from the short end.

Gently pull one end away from the tube a bit.
This will become the pointy part of the heart.

Working on a piece of foam, start working (stabbing) the needle in and out of the roving to shape the end. Don’t be shy!
Turn the roving on the foam as you go to get the shape started.

Flip the piece and begin to work on the other end of the heart.
Pull the top apart a bit.

Holding onto what will be one side of the top, begin to shape the other top curve.

Begin to make the center indentation by working the center point down.
Keep your wits about you to prevent self inflicted stab wounds!
Working on the foam will help.
Turn the piece as you work down the whole shape.

Once you can see the basic heart shape, keep working the piece by turning it
over on foam and using the needle to tangle the fibers together.

You may want to add roving to fill out little dips, or to add dimension to the top curves.

Work the whole piece by turning the heart on the foam base and punching the needle in and out.

The heart can be embellished with other roving colors:
Roll little balls of roving and felt into the heart to make polka dots, lines, little hearts!

Add charms, beads, buttons, sequins, glitter, ribbon, yarn etc!!!!!

2009-01-13T11:32:00.009-05:00

Greetings Friends...Calling all Love Bugs! I actually had private time in the studio last week and spent time playing with Artgirlz Red Roving, recycled, felted wool sweaters and Artgirlz Love Rubber Stamps. I figured out a way to make a 3D heart with the roving. Had fun doing it and loved the way that they came out.

I made up three pin cushions. The top two pin cushions in the picture on the left are made from recycled sweaters. On the white one I used our felting machine to add roving and bits of silk and organza to the mix. The red one has a heart shape cut out of the white sweater and felted onto the red, white roving edge felted around edge of the sweater and embellished with beads, fiber and ribbon.

The bottom piece is one of our felt squares with a heart shape cut out of the middle. Placed on top of another piece of felt I used the Bernina Stitch Regulator to apply a squiggly design onto the red felt. The center heart shape was built up with layers of roving, sparkle net, and silk scraps. They are all stuffed with a bit of polyfil and the edges connected with the felting machine. All of the projects could be constructed by hand or with a regular sewing machine using straight or decorative stitching!

We have put Felted Heart Directions together. If this technique is new to you, they can be downloaded from the website to guide you through this kind of project. We have also put kits together that include roving, felting needles, a piece of foam, and embellishments.

The main thing with hand needle felting, is that you have to keep your wits about you so that you don't stab yourself. It doesn't take too many times and you will become very aware!

Check out the downloadable directions and give it a try! Try it with friends and family!

Tomorrow...Felt, Paper and Rubber Stamps!

2009-01-01T10:42:00.003-05:00

We received a card from a friend this week with a very heart warming surprise. Kerry Cudmore has been in our lives for many years. We don't see her very much these days but know that she is still doing good work out there in the world! Kerry wrote a note and said that as part of her spiritual practice she circulates money to folks that inspire her and added that we had given her such a gift...and there was a check for $100. I was certainly surprised and very inspired by the idea and the action of the gift. The first thing that I thought about was passing on a similar surprise!! Thanks Kerry for your support and thoughtful gift!

2008-12-31T10:51:00.005-05:00

It is New Year's Eve here in Rhode Island. Just read that it is already the new year in Australia...hope it's going well down under!! It started snowing about two hours ago. Midge and Al are in Florida pulling their new house together. Yesterday afternoon Al said "I hate to tell you that it is perfect!" Good for them enjoying the sunshine!!!
Sue and I have been sending out orders, cleaning out the factory and studio for the new year. We've been doing a bit of painting in the kitchen, and bath...just to freshen things up a bit. We are loving our pellet stove...got new glasses yesterday after loosing my long time fav's somewhere before Christmas...also let go of my so called "secret stash" and got a new camera!! Looking forward to a quiet, warm evening.

Prepping for our Class...Jan 17th...after doing a bit of organizing in the studio, I gathered materials to come up with new samples. It has been great to actually be working on something. I still have a lot of work to do, but I am looking forward to getting back to it. Also working on preparing it for an online class!

We worked on our veggie seed order for this spring and summer. Exciting and a bit overwhelming, but looking forward to it very much. Our chickens started laying eggs December 10th and have been popping them out since then !!! That is very exciting and heartwarming.

My next step is to set up a 20% Super Duper Sale on our website. It will run from Jan1 through Jan 8. I'm sure that it will be a piece of cake!

2008-12-05T15:53:00.005-05:00

I can hardly believe that we are 5 dayz into December! We are trying to remain upright and focused!! The Foundry Show opened last night. It is always a relief to get the Artgirlz corner set up with little felt snow people and Christmas trees. It was fun to see those folks that we only see there! And we love seeing our fellow craftspeople putting their hearts and souls out into the world. I know how hard they all work to get their goods to the table. I hope all of the artisans in the world have a great season!!!

Looking forward to watering the plants, regrouping a bit here in the studio, trying to stay in the moment, and relaxing this evening with my girl. Tomorrow we have serious focusing to do for a two day business meeting that starts Sunday evening. We are up to it I'm sure!!!

Oh, we have a new addition to the Artgirlz family...Beth,one of the Alaska sisters has a new grand baby. Little Miss Ivy! This looks like an immediate landing on earth photo!

I picked up a little shirt and overalls and added a little Artgirl treatment. I stuck the shirt into some pink dye to give it a girlie color and machine embroidered her name on the bib. Allison added a few flowers with embroidery floss. Now the next step is to get it into the mail before she's too big for her hip artgirlz outfit!!!

I hope all of you are staying calm and having fun preparing for the festivities ahead...what ever they may be!

2008-11-19T10:51:00.007-05:00

I think that I already mentioned that our new shopping cart is up and running and I am very happy that it is still going very smoothly! For your creative pleasure, we are offering two Artgirlz Special Bundles of goodies at Artgirlz.com. The first collection, The Hope Bundle, includes rubber stamps, accordion book, papers, fibers, wings and charms. Secondly, we have beautiful goodies for crown making. It is fun, easy and a great group project!!! To make it even easier, we have a page of Artgirl suggestions that can be downloaded! I mean how much fun are these girlz having!!

Speaking of fun, Midge and Al are still in sunny but I understand cool Florida. They seem to be enjoying the family, the sunshine, and their private condo getaway! Back here at World Headquarters, the troops are busy putting things together, sending out orders, making up new things, slinging ideas around, and generally moving things forward. I am very grateful to them all!!

Hope, Yes Hope!!!! Here is the Hope sign to replace the ripped off Obama sign and my always able and willing sidekick Sue. It was rather drizzly when we hiked around the fence to put it up, but it is still on the fence and that is good news!!

2008-11-13T07:33:00.006-05:00

Whew, the new shopping cart went live last night and I am hoping that the transition is smooth!
So far, so good! It has taken many hours of tweaking photos, making new graphics, going over and over to make sure everything is hooked up properly. Time will tell! Thanks N.B. for guiding us along! So, check out the new Artgirlz look...

Midge and Al left for Florida early this morning and will be relaxing and celebrating Midge's dad's 90th B'day!!! We'll see if they return...

Sue and I are here holding down the fort with the support of our loyal workers! I can say how much I appreciate the work that everyone does around here to keep us going! Speaking of workers, we've had a new crew of pin makers come in this week and learn the ins and outs of our "Weird Sisters", "Menopausal Mavens" etc. Linda is the Boss of the Pins and she did a fine job leading everyone through the paces. It is good to have a group of lovelies helping to spread Artgirlz energy!

We seem to have an abundance of red roving, so Linda, Jo and I are trying to come up with some exciting projects for the world stay tuned! And just wanted to share this pair of snow people that were made at Quilt Market by a talented couple visiting from Europe. Love to watch folks work!

Made a new sign to put up on the fence..."HOPE". Sue thinks it will get ripped down again. I will get photos when we get it in place! Keep on keepin on!

2008-11-06T10:34:00.012-05:00

We are all very happy around here since the election of our new president!! Will get a new sign up to replace the stolen Obama masterpiece! Still chewing around ideas for the special word...
Al and I went to Quilt Market for a couple of days to help Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies....They are carrying most of our Product so we were support services in the Artgirlz section. They made beautiful signs for us and gave us an A+ spot on the main isle! We saw some of our old buddies like Tina Givens ,who by the way always looks so beautifully put together as is her work(pictured on the left with Al)!

Then who walked into our area but Mr. Jay McCarroll of Project Runway fame and fortune! (See photo above with Miss Al) Jay has a new line of fabric with Westminister and the women were just wild for autographs and photo ops! His lovely sisters seemed to have the big job of being his handlers!!

We had a great "School House". It was basically and infomercial for shop owners for our goods. It was there that we met Andree (L)and Wendy (R), representing Happiness is Quilting in McKinney, Texas! We were all gleeful to meet each other and hope to head that way sometime to teach! Hi Girlz...
The weather was lovely in Houston as was the completed park right outside of the Convention Center. I missed being at Festival this year, but heard it was wonderful as usual!

We came home to the news that our first chicken became hawk food and the rest turned out to be roosters.
We now have a whole new chicken family. Check out The Green Girlz Blog for farming updates...they aren't done yet!

Holiday Ideas!

We are gearing up with samples and suggestions to inspire hands and minds as the Holiday Season approaches. Above is a garland that Linda put together for us. It has a family of snow people threaded onto mixed yarns and further embellished with yarn and ripped strips of cloth!
I put up a new slide show on this site this morning on the upper right hand side of this page. If you click on any of the slide shows in the side bar, it will take you to a page with larger images... Pictured below is one of our 3.5cm beads that has rolled onto an embossing pad and sprinkled with embossing glitter. I hit it with a heat gun to melt the glitter and added a bit of ribbon on the top. With an additional ribbon or thread, they could be hung on the tree or mantle. Smaller versions would top off a beautiful package! Have fun with them and experiment with the goodies in your own stash!!!

Midge and Al are off to sell Artgirlz goodies at a quilt show this weekend in Hartsdale, NY. If you are in the area stop by and check it out!

2008-10-28T10:37:00.010-04:00

Thanks to an invitation from Cate Coulacos Prato, features editor at Quilting Arts/Cloth Paper Scissors, we became part of a great book that has just been released by Interweave, "Mixed-Media Self Portraits". All of the women listed below have contributed their images and many "how to's" to the book!

Donna Anderson
Ricki Arno
Kathie Briggs
Juliana Coles
Debbi Crane
Larissa Davis
Susan Else
Karen Fricke
Janet Ghio
Chrysti Hydeck
Carol Kemp
Katie Kendrick
Jane LaFazio
Sylvia Luna
Loretta Marvel
Jenn Mason
Karen Michel
Kimberly Montagnese
Kelli Perkins
Yvonne Porcella
Cheryl Prater
Lesley Riley
Kelly Rae Roberts
Mary Beth Schwartzenberger
Beryl Taylor
K. Wayne Thornley
Elin Waterston
Linda Edkins Wyatt

Al and I both started without knowing it, with a self portrait that we had done in a class. After scanning and printing it out, we started the projects. I printed mine onto transfer paper and then to cloth. Al continued hers by coloring in the printed image and then translating it into cloth. We both struggled in our own special ways with time constraints being the main issue. Running Artgirlz takes up more time than ever imagined, and I still always feel about 3 weeks behind. Having a project like this forced us to focus on pencils, chalks, fabrics and paints for at least a little while.

It was great going through all of our boxes of Stuff looking for just the right thing to go into my box...I loved finding those special scraps of fabric to help send the message...

Al spent a lot of time painting the inside of her box...putting on color, scraping and sanding it off...applying it again...She then stitched a version of the paper self, placed them together and into her box!

I searched, cut, stitched and glued things together. Using mat medium, I collaged the inside walls of the box with words and images, added a paint wash on the outside.

Then that day comes that you just have to send the project off and then it's on to the next thing. We have had the book for a week or so and it is very inspiring to see all of the different approaches to oneself.

Check it out and give it a try. You can use any materials, any size, any part of yourself. The hardest part for me is turning off that pesky judge and just enjoying the process!

Take some time to wander through the sites listed above...always a twist here and there! Have at it and have fun trying something new!

Always...well, mostly trying...

2008-10-17T10:47:00.003-04:00

We have unpacked from Art - Is in Connecticut! We had a group of at least 40 women making paper crowns on Saturday. It seemed like everyone had a great time, cutting, stamping, gluing,
coloring their crowns and all took on quite a royal posture!! Looking forward to spending more time there next year. Will keep everyone posted!

Al got hit with a nasty cold and is finally feeling a bit better. Midge is off to LA for a few days to see her daughter Beth. Sue and I are packing up again and heading across the bridges and the Sea and Stars Quilt Show in Portsmouth, RI. Looking forward to sharing our wares with local stitchers!!

Then Al and I will head to Houston for a couple of dayz at Quilt Market. We will be supporting
Brewer and their sales staff, helping to get Artgirlz out there in the world. We will be doing a School House Presentation Friday afternoon. We will be in the Brewer Booth on Sat from 2-4 and Sun from 10-12 doing demos and photo ops with Artgirlz props!

Somewhat in denial about my own cold situation....

Keep encouraging folks to vote....did we tell you that our Obama sign was ripped off! Eekkkk...

2008-10-06T10:24:00.006-04:00

Trying to get a post in before another month flies by...I am so behind in my social networking!!
About three weeks ago we took Artgirlz on the road locally, and did the Farmers Market at Casey Farms and the Peace Festival in Peacedale, RI. We sold some goodies and mostly had paper, glue and scissors set up so that the kidz could do their thing!! And they did!! We all love watching the kidz get into it...concentrating, looking for just the right thing, and explaining the story behind their decisions!!
This week we are pulling it together for the Art-Is gathering in Cromwell Ct. I think that all of the class kits are together, so it is the rest of the tasks that go into preparing for a show! It should be fun, and I think that we have about 50 folks signed up to to a Saturday Night Extravaganza with the Artgirlz!!

We have had lots of tasks around the yard, and we decided to do a second blog, TheGreengirlz on which to put our farming stories. That will leave this site for Artgirlz business and creative updates!!

I also wanted to say that we will not be in Houston for Festival this year. It was a very hard decision, based on the financials involved with the whole event. Al and I will be at Market for a couple of days but will miss seeing all of our buddies at the Festival!!!

2008-09-16T10:43:00.005-04:00

Working with our web person, we are putting a new shopping cart together and hope to have it up in a couple of weeks! That is very exciting for us! In the mean time, our Holiday Goodies are available from our current store. New Halloween Kits for your fall creative times! If you go to the "What's New" page of the website, you will find directions for downloading...Spiders, Pumpkins, Witches and Ghosts...

We are having a pin making extravaganza day here at Artgirlz. The good news is that we have so many orders and so few pins! So it's an all out push with sewing machines and needles and thread!

We are also dealing with our dead printer that has put a large damper on things since last week. We thought Xerox was going to approve us for their "free machine, you buy all of your ink directly from us" program. Now it seems like too many managers have to talk to their managers which is now seeming like a way to blow us off...Heading to Providence to work on that!

And finally, I worked on the defaced Obama sign and am ready to put it back up!
It is getting more interesting!!

2008-09-15T14:14:00.014-04:00

In the midst of attending to many tasks around Artgirlz Nation, we harvested of our honey. Midge and Al did a masterful job last spring getting our very first honey. Sue and I were on an emergency vacation in St. Augustine when we received a phone call from the girlz saying that they were up to their eyeballs in honey...in the kitchen. Using foil tents over the stove, they managed to harvest a nice crop.

This time we had a lot of honey and borrowed a honey extractor from the Rhode Island Bee Keepers and spun out over 100 pounds of honey. Our little bees have been very very busy!!! We gathered glass jars, cleaned them up and got them ready for the goods.

Al, Sue and Midge brought the frames from the hives to the porch. After lifting a frame out of the hive, they used a soft brush to remove the bees. The walk from the hives to the porch put a bit more space between the bees and their goods. I then stacked them in plastic bins.

I think that Midge was the only one that avoided getting a sting or two.

We had two plastic containers filled with frames for our first round of spinning.
After combing over the tops of the frames with a fork to break up the wax, the frames were put into the extractor, two at a time.

Spinning the frames forces the honey to the sides of the container and down through the spout,

into the first strainer and into the bucket!

The very first drops!

After a second straining the honey through a finer sieve, we bottled it up.

We learned this weekend that we probably should have waited a couple of days to jar it up. The time allows the little air bubbles to rise to the top. For the most part we are all very pleased with our project. We have learned many tricks and have so much more to learn.
We are grateful to all of the local bee people that have guided us along!

and all of the while a whole gang of babies was gathering by the pond and were drying off after a rain storm!

2008-09-11T14:29:00.003-04:00

Our Obama Sign was defaced last night....
going out to fix it up and put it back up!

2008-08-29T07:22:00.007-04:00

Whew, trying to get pics up from last weeks farmers market before we go back this morning! It is tasting day in Charlestown, with vendors offering tid bits for the shoppers. Although it is hard to believe, it is also Labor Day Weekend. How did that happen??? Sue and I went to check out the market at Casey Farm in Saunderstown, RI on Saturday. Known as the Coastal Growers Market, we will be there with our goodies next week providing glue, paper and crayons for the kiddies!!

We worked very hard here at the Artgirlz Farm! Sue and Al checked the bees. We will be harvesting honey soon! We pulled down so many bull briars, removed poison ivy, scrubby brush and tiny trees to help keep the mosquitoes down, and open up the back! Midge worked on the chicken coop, making a safe and healthy little yard! They are growing so quickly and getting used to all of their mothers!

As mentioned, I made a big Obama sign to put on the fence and have been reprimanded by the Building Inspector. Haven't had time to take it down.......or cut it into 4ft sections...

We have decided to get a new Shopping Cart for our online store, so there will be a new look to that portion of the website very soon!!! so it's off to get some chow, head to the farmers market and do some Artgirlz Brainstorming!

2008-08-28T07:35:00.006-04:00

Freedom of Speech?

It is quiet at Artgirlz Nation at the moment. Things will start moving more quickly as the minutes tick by. I have been prepping images this week for the next post. We worked our butts off last weekend pulling poison ivy, prickery vines that grow up through trees, cutting brush, tweaking the chicken coop, etc. I also took a used drop cloth, house paint from the cupboard and made a big Obama sign for our very long fence that faces the road.

So who shows up yesterday at lunch time but the building inspector telling me that I have to take the sign down because it is too big. I questioned the private property issue and that didn't work.
It seems that you can only have political signs up for 60 days prior to the election and that they can be no bigger than 16 sq ft.

So we are sitting tight for the moment...
in the mean time, take every opportunity to express your self!!!!!!!

2008-08-20T16:04:00.012-04:00

We had the nicest time last Friday at the Charlestown Farmers Market. Midge had talked with a couple of folks about setting up a table and doing arty things with the kids! We were right next to our buddies George and Cathy Hill of Indigo Farm. The weather was a bit iffy at the start, but it turned into a wonderful morning for all that attended! The girlz had packed up Artgirlz goodies, glue sticks, scissors, felt pieces and some official product. We set up a little table with the supplies and Midge started recruiting the kiddies! It was an amazing feeding frenzy with glue sticks flying around, paper and felt stuck in just the right place, words and shapes applied with love!

Cathy Hill, mentioned above, is not only a most wonderful grower, but an inspiring yoga teacher and member of the dance group "Ladies of the Rolling Pin". The Ladies and their families were hosting the British version of themselves, "The Wreckers". They all danced at the Market and added a festive international flair! They went on to entertain folks all over the state!

Having the community Farmer's Market a half mile from our house is an amazing gift! It has a wonderful warm feeling and has been a place to meet local farmers, bee keepers, mushroom growers, purveyors of sea food, interesting neighbors and new friends! We never leave without a couple of bags filled to the brim with beautiful goods to add to our CSA! By showing up and sharing our glue sticks, we were invited to the Coastal Growers Market, Peacedale Peace Festival, and The Alternative Food Cooperative.

2008-08-19T09:51:00.018-04:00

Had the slightest hint of Fall the other day. Just some little smell in the air, change of wind direction, quality of the light, darkness coming a bit earlier every day. With that in mind, we have put together some ideas for the Pumpkin, Ghost and Witch events that are heading our way. All ideas are suggestions only and ready for additions and alterations! This Spidie has been hanging out on my desk seemingly exhausted!

We have a Ghost and Witch Pin Bundle for sale on our website that will get you set up for making these little characters...Not to be missed is the lovely bag of Wool Felt Beads for your Pumpkin and Spider making pleasure!! Check out the simple directions for these Projects...great for a girlfriend getaway weekend, party prep or activity with the kids, presents for the grandkids...We'd love to see what you did!

Download Directions from the Artgirlz What's New Page:
Ghosts and Witches
Pumpkins and Spiders

SLIGHTLY SHORTENED GHOST PIN DIRECTIONS

Insert little bead into the mini cone and push up towards the top of the cone to create a head.

Stitch the gauze onto the cone just under the head at the neck.

Stitch little hands onto the side of cone.

Add facial features with black thread, tiny felt shapes, beads, needle felting or permanent marking pen!!

Sew or hot glue pin back onto the back of your Ghost.

Here is Witchy being rescued from evil forces by her Spider Friends!

2008-08-19T09:50:00.000-04:00

Picked up three more chicks last Thursday to go with little Miss #1 Chickie...Midge and I went back to the Washington County Fair to find them. They are smaller than their other sister! I have to say you just want to sit and watch them peep around their little area. They like their house much better now than they did the first night!

It is a beautiful day today and hope to get a lot of good stuff done! Hoping to get the newsletter ready to go for tomorrow! Been working on setting up my new fancy iphone...I feel very grateful and spoiled!!! Here is a picture taken with said phone of Allison and our talented, prolific Linda Willis starting off the day at Artgirlz Nation.

2008-08-14T08:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was filled with deliveries here at Artgirlz Nation! Felt Arrived from Nepal. Our new Freezer arrived to fill up with goodies for the winter. Speaking of winter, our pellet stove arrived and was installed...

The best thing was a little munchkin that arrived to go with our Chicken Coop! Midge and Al headed for the Washington County Fair first thing in the morning and pick up a 6 week old Blue Silkie...we haven't settled on a name yet: China Blue, Twitch, FeFe are a few of the options! Off to the fair again this morning to get her a sister! I let her out this morning and she immediately found and chowed a juicy worm!

2008-08-13T07:58:00.006-04:00

The Good Folks at Cloth Paper Scissors are pre-selling Cate Prato's "Mixed Media Self Portraits". The books will be available in October and will make great Holiday Gifts!!! There is a link on that page that will offer you a sneak peak inside of the Book...My sis and I have work in the Book and can't Wait to see it!

Spent all day Monday working on Picasa Slide shows of Artgirlz Samples and Needle Felting 101! You can watch them on the Side Bar of this Blog or click on the images on the right and they will take you to the Picasa Site. Will continue to add to the visuals for Ideas and Instructions!!

Happy to say that the links page is settled thanks to our Faithful Web Queen! Thanks Norma for fixing all of my code issues!!

Off for some breaky and more work!!
Keep Making Great Things!!

2008-08-07T13:37:00.002-04:00

I thought that my link project on the website went well yesterday until my son Don who works for Adobe called this morning to tell me that all of the links went to Margot Potters site. Love you Margot! So then I tried to fix it and Norma our web person is going to be so annoyed with me for trying to "fix" code....

2008-08-06T14:15:00.001-04:00

We are back from the Bernina excitement in Kansas City, MO and the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA. I actually got some work done today. I am also feeling like a Bubble Girl stuck in the Bubble House due to an unbelievable number of voracious mosquitoes buzzing around our estate!

Bernina introduced with great enthusiasm their new, fancy most amazing sewing machine, The 8 Series. I think my sister bought her first house for the same cost, but for folks that have the dough, it is a beauty!

We met a lot of great new stitchers, did our first-fourth powerpoint presentations which were included in our class and lecture schedule, had delicious frozen custard, and perhaps russled up a few more official converts to Artgirlz Nation. It was less stressful that the having your own booth! Didn't see much of Kansas City, MO except through our 29th floor window. Hallmark world headquarters was in the middle of the view.

Then onto Long Beach for the International Quilt Festival. We stayed with Lisa Engelbrecht (above) who was a very gracious host! We were very excited to Lisa's new book and were very grateful to receive one of our own. We were joined by Traci Bautista (below) who is always entertaining with tails of the gypsy life, teaching, storage units, 100 lb. suitcases and generally trying to figure it all out like the rest of us!

The show was great with crowds lining up the first morning and filling the aisles and consuming the too small amount of food that was brought into the venue for all of those hungry women!

We sold lots of wool beads and charms. Saw old friends, met new ones, had a lot of laughs...One of my new favorites was Justin, the very charming son of our rubber stamp maker, Harry Ortiz. He looked better than anyone in The Artgirlz Crown!

Thanks to Lisa, Traci, Sarah, the girlz at Brewer and Bernina for making it a great trip! It only took us about 4 daze to recover. I am happy to say that this morning, after 4 years of have 3 links on our website, I added a bunch!!!!! Hope to keep up that good work!

2008-07-07T11:10:00.023-04:00

Welcome once again to Artgirlz Nation. We have regrouped at Artgirlz World Headquarters now that the holiday is over.

We are offering a deal on Artgirlz Rubber Stamps! Check out the Artgirlz Special Offer for Almost Everything You Need to Make These Cool Dollz! A $35 value for $25!!!
Get the Free PDF Direction Download to guide you through the steps needed to make little mixed media dolls for yourself and all of your friends and family! So to give you a visual, we have made up some staffer dolls. This crew keeps everything moving along in countless ways!! The hard core includes from top left: Sue, JoAnn, Rosie. Second Row from the Left: Lovely Linda, Jessica and Midge!

Using Artgirlz Rubber Stamps, Doll Backs and Charms

Ideas of the steps involved...

The Doll Backs were created to give the girlz more structure and texture. Above is an image of the Doll Back and suggested placement for arm and leg charms. The Doll Backs can be inked, painted, decorated with pens, pencils or stamps.

The bottom of the Doll Back can be cut to make pantaloons, a curvy or pointy edge.

Layer the Backs to make a more complex outfit!
Add a piece of lace, ribbon or fabric scrap to create a new layer and added texture.

Again, you can use distress inks, water colors, pencils, glittery embossing
powders or pens to add color and texture to the dress.
Place the dress on top of Doll Back, line them up so that the shoulder of
the dress fits within the edge of the Doll Back, for this is where
they will be held together with the arms and brads.

Depending on the shape of the dress, the Backs will need to be
trimmed to fit the profile of the dress.

Once you have your dress and back decorated, make two holes at the bottom of the Doll Back for the legs. We are very lucky to have a Japanese Screw Punch that makes quick work of hole making. Attach the legs with brads...also refered to as paper fasteners.

With the two layers together, make holes at the shoulder for the arms.
Attach the arms with the brads by putting a brad through the arm
and the two layers of paper. Open the brads in the back to secure.
Glue the head onto the "neck" section of the back!

See the work of Friends of Artgirlz in our Creative Ideas section...
Use your imagination and have fun!
Enjoy! Make another one or two or three!!
Send one to a friend. Prepare them for Halloween or your Holiday tree...

2008-07-03T08:59:00.004-04:00

Happy 4th of July!
Midge and Al have been in Florida for a week and will be back tomorrow!
Sue and I have been on half vacation and half work...cleaning the house and gardens...
Next week we have to get product together for Quilt Festival in Long Beach
and class kits for Bernina University...

Getting an Artgirlz Newsletter together for next week and
it will include directions for a project!
Enjoy a few dayz off!!

2008-06-25T07:40:00.008-04:00

This wonderful little book "Wild Women: Stitched Art Brooches" by Sarah Lawrence, is filled with inspiration and direction! The bonus for us was the inclusion of lots of Artgirlz charms! Sarah is a very accomplished textile artist from England. The gallery section of her website has amazing bead work and juicy felted, embellished pieces! Amazon is selling the book offering a few peeks inside! Check it out!!

Midge and Al are off to Florida this morning with grandson Gabe...they will be visiting Midge's brother's family, Michael, Betty and Jared....all prepared for a 10 day surfin' safari!!! Sue and I are staying here after attempting to make plans for a visit to Nova Scotia to see our doll making buddies, Kathryn Belzer, Margie Hennen and Pam Hastings...Without going into the insanity that Sue and I go through trying to plan a get away, we finally with great regret decided to stay put and hold down the fort....started saving for a trip to France with them next summer!!

Speaking of saving money...Sue and Midge (with her AARP mag and Barack Obama book) made their second trip to the local flea market with a truck load of our "Stuff"...Sue said that Midge sets the prices and walks around in circles with her tape and pen and slashes prices as the morning goes by. The whole thing ends for them around noon ...giving the rest away. So the cash is going into the France fund!

Al and I worked on a project for the next Cloth Paper Scissors Issue of "Studios". Well, we hope that they like it and use it...we like it and were just taking a rest in this lovely moment...

So I want to get back to my task of writing directions for a project and finishing the artwork for the packaging so I can play vacation for a few hours!! We are also preparing "projects of the month" that will be announced in our newsletter and linked up to direction downloads and products! We have been trying to get that together for years!! Thanks Rosie and Linda!

2008-06-06T09:37:00.010-04:00

Once again Greetings from the Bunker at Artgirlz World Headquarters!
L-R...Jessica, JoAnn, Sue, Rosie, Midge and Linda....
I don't know what we would do without them!!!!

Holy Moly...We left for Portland so long ago or so it seems...We had a great time visiting friends, seeing Portland (Japanese Gardens are pictured above), back to Voodoo Donuts (had an amazing Artgirlz cozmic happening at Voodoo), and the other point of the trip was Spring Quilt Market.

The girlz headed home to Rhode Island and I went to San Francisco to visit son Don, see old friends and to attempt to relax and take a break. It was great to have that time with Don, see his life in action, meet his peeps...went to see the Red Sox loose to Oakland from the 14th row, saw the Annie Leibovitz exhibit,

Meanwhile the girlz were here in Little Rhody and got to experience the Charlestown Memorial Day Parade and orchestrate one of Miss Aiden's 6th Birthday Parties...

The garden kept growing while I was gone and was and is so beautiful right now!

We've had two bee swarms leave, fish being born, frogs looking for mates, veggies sticking their heads out of the ground, things to move and water, chicken coop to paint and prepare...

We are having a great sale on our beautiful Hand Made Paper Blank Books and Felt Goodies. The crew around here put a Grab Bag together filled with Artgirlz Supplies...it is a bargain!!

Looking forward to a great Weekend...and wish the same for all of you. Will get back to this much sooner next time!

2008-05-12T15:21:00.009-04:00

I nternational Quilt Market/Spring
Portland, OR
Booth #2518
May 16-18, 2008

Leaving today for our trip to Portland to meet new wholesale customers and say
yahoo to those already hooked on Artgirlz!

Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies is also carrying Artgirlz Products and will in Booth #401.

For those of you going to Market, we will be doing:
School House Presentation
Thursday May 15 • 3:35-4:05
Room B112
Make and Take At the Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies
Booth #401
Friday 5-6
Sat 12-1

Please come by and say hello!!

Belinda-Crazy Art Girl did a great job making a mini quilt like the one that was featured in the Cloth Paper Scissors Newsletter. She does wonderful work and lots of great mixed media ideas on her blogs. Check them out!!!

Also wanted to mention "The Big Book of Needle Felting" by Kay Kaduce, Judy Jacobs and Rona Horn. There are lots of Artgirlz goodies sprinkled around the book and some great ideas!!