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...

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!!

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!

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!

International 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!!

So much has been unfolding around here since the last post...this is going to be a quick photo essay...between these photos, we work!

Midge and Allison: April in Paris! Five of Six Hundred
They had a wonderful time, beautiful weather, good food, museums, and a lot of walking. Lots of great chocolate, olive oil and balsamic vinegar around here..Thanks girlzz!!





May Day at Dawn, Narragansett, RI
"Ladies of the Rolling Pin" welcoming the Day!


Cathy Hill, our friend, yoga teacher, serious earth mother!!


Sue's Surprise Birthday Pedicure Extravaganza!




The Chicken Coop Arrives with George, Cathy and Dan!!
Sue's Actual Birthday Day!



Setting Up the New Veggie Garden
Set Up: Each One of Us Cooks one Night a Week! What a Great Plan!!



Lots of Rain for the Flowers!

Hopefully the girlz are winging their way back to the good old US. Things are quiet here this morning and that usually means a higher level of concentration for me...usually...

While we were in Chicago at the Quilt Festival, we were lucky to spend a wee amount of time with two amazing talented sisters, Deb Silva and Judy Coates Perez. I believe we all met in Chicago a year or two ago. They both do extremely beautiful work that is well worth checking out!

Deb went home with one of our new Big Bags and sent me this photo the other night. I love seeing what comes out of someone else's head, heart and hands! She did mention that she raided Judy's felt stash...but that's what it's all about! Thanks Deb for your inspiring work...thanks to both of you!

It is raining! I am so happy for the garden!!

Greetings from Artgirlz World Headquarters! The girlz...Midge and Allison have been in Paris for a week and will be back on the scene, in some spaced out shape no doubt, tomorrow evening. Sue and I have been holding down the fort. I managed to call in the payroll, answer the phone, did a bit of stitching, photography and direction writing, and even made a few decisions by myself. We look forward to the safe return of the bosses of everything!!


I was caught passed out in the garden last weekend, but this weekend Sue and I had a very busy time frolicking around the estate! It was the first A++++ Day this spring. We wanted to plant eight little lettuce plants and ended up sifting mulch, moving shrubs, rebuilding a small stone garden edge, moving just about everything in the area, and finally plopped in the lettuce...it took most of the day, but I'm sure that we will have a few wonderful salads! We continued to ADD around the garden today...put the bunnies in their play pen, checking the pond for a leak, trimming and transplanting trees, cleaning leaves, edging, moving shrubs, digging up weeds, checking the bees for babies and found them (yea!!)...I actually pick up my own piles and deposited in the compost pile...

This week will bring a flurry of activity as we prepare for our trip to Portland OR for Quilt Market, getting orders out, learning about my social networking tasks, and most importantly Sue's Birthday next weekend! Hopefully the girlz won't take too long to get back on the planet...they sent and email today and said they've had it with butter, sugar, excellent chocolate and coffee...

Oh, I just remembered that we have a very nice profile this month in Cloth Paper Scissors! We are very grateful for the time, energy and support they have given us over the last couple of years. If you are not familiar with the magazine, this would be a great time to pick it up! You will not be disappointed!!!

FAMILY FUN!
So much has been happening, that I can hardly keep up with it! Let's see, wanted to mention that we had a surprise party for Midge's 60th birthday a couple of weeks ago...Beth, her daughter, flew in from LA and 4 long time friends drove up from NY, and we managed to find a Wii to top it all off...friends and family and meatballs!!

Then it was off to St. Augustine for Sue and Me for an Emergency Vacation...see below...




QUILT FESTIVAL

Then Allison and I went to Chicago for the International Quilt Festival. Our two hour plane ride turned into 7 hours...the good news being that we arrived and didn't have to catch another plane from O'hare...the next day, American started it's cancellation thing!

We had the greatest class! Everyone brought a piece of clothing to embellish and everyone did an amazing job!! Al and I both felt very gratified and energized from the experience! This is Gigi the Amazing..."I don't sew" she said. Well, she brought a denim jacket on which she had painted colorful rectangles...We were lucky enough to have Bernina machines with the Bernina Stitch Regulators and it took her about 3 minutes to get the hang of it and at a very high speed, 7 bobbins and 4 needles later, she had transformed her jacket and a pair of overalls!!


It was a joy watching Jeanne move from the world of straight lines to making up her own thing and loving it!
Everyone in the class was successful! It was fun to see them on the show floor with their goodies. Thanks so much!

Also a huge thanks to Barb the Bernina "Ambassador". She spent the day, helping people change bobbins, needles, explaining the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) and generally making the whole day go smoothly!

Things went well on the show floor...seemed a bit slower than last year, but considering the state of the world, it wasn't a surprise! We still loved seeing friendly faces from the last couple of years, new fans and our buddies selling their goods!



THE RUNWAY...
I was having a lovely discussion with one of those women when my sis called down the aisle and gave me a big wave..."They need you at Make it University!"
Little did I know that I had been recruited to the ever popular "Runway Challenge" organized and pulled off by the clever Pokey Bolton...editor of Cloth, Paper, Scissors and Quilting Arts!
My initial response was to pummel my sister after the show, but it turned out to be a fun filled hour of slapping paper, doilies, paint, record covers, matte medium, fake flowers, records, together, parading around for prizes and fame!

The President on the Last Morning of the Show!

Now, Midge and Al are off to Paris....Bon Voyage!
Sue and I have the house and garden! Checking on the new bees, cleaning out the pond, raking leaves, watching plants burst out of the ground...Yea for everyone!!!

Sue and I had an emergency vacation in Florida for a couple of dayz last week. I just couldn't take it any more! We had 3 sunny, warm, beautiful dayz and had a glorious ride on the most beautiful beach in St. Augustine! A couple of cloudy, wet dayz of cruising around shopping and eating...

Now it is serious crunch time...Al and I leave in about 3 hours for Chicago for the International Quilt Festival. We set up tomorrow, teach all day Thursday and haul in the cash Thursday night through Sunday. We also have a couple of make and take thrown in there in the Make it U section of the show! The info is on Pokey's Blog. We will have our pewter charms, Artgirlz Rubber Stamps and our wool felt beads, cone, kits, bags and more...like the rockin' bag pictured above, needle felted by our little hands!!! It will be a wild week no doubt!! If you are there, please stop by to visit!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO MIDGE
THE ROCK MOVING
NUMBER CRUNCHING GENIUS
HERE AT ARTGIRLZ NATION!!!!