Another Monday...busy weekend dealing with Sue's dad and hospitals, old friends and family visiting, Al's grandchildren Aiden and Gabe checking out the wildlife in the pond, Tracy 2 and Jeff arriving, hot weather and crowded beaches...
I put one of our necklaces here to share. We made it with our charms and beads from our current stash. Speaking of beads, Angie Pederson (pr, web, blog consultant) let us know that Katie Hacker mentioned Artgirlz in her CHA report blog post (thank you)...needless to say, we were happy to see that. While checking out Katie's blog, I discovered the work of Stephanie Sersich. She is a glass bead maker and her work is just amazing...makes you want to get a paying job to buy lots of handmade beads...not only that, it sounds like we would enjoy just hanging around their "office"!


Last week we heard from Paula Hardesty, Sis Designs, (paigertata@insightbb.com) in Louisville KY and she was looking for some charms for a class that she is doing for Stamp Away USA in Cinncinatti August 10th. She will be teaching the bag that is pictured above. What a great combo of texture and color! Check out the event if you are around Ohio! The black and white stamp on the bag is from Teesha Moore...Zettiology.... It is hard to see in this picture, but there are little Artgirl hand charms stitched onto the girl...

Spent time today figuring out where to spend advertising money, discussing new products, Houston quilt festival make and takes, felt ordering, newsletter production, and when to go to the beach.
Hoping to get our Constant Contact newletter together and out into the world this week. Trying to stay cool and move forward!

Well, we made it to the Craft and Hobby Show after a long wait on runways, in airplanes and on more runways due to very bad weather around Chicago. The good news was that we did make it, and we didn't have to catch planes to go anywhere else. We saw lots of friends, sold product, talked to press people, taught a class of 50 people, did a couple of demo's, had a lot of laughs, hung out with Mark Franich (Mr. PaperArtsy on the right, below), did our first video clip, ate bad food and made it home in one piece. Al (grinning above) made her way around the show floor, meeting new people, getting her picture taken, and spreading the spirit of Artgirlz Nation. We were very excited to meet Helga from ARTchix Studio and Traci Bautista! ARTchix is a rich resource of ideas, products and links to a world of visuals! Robin Beam brought us another amazing necklace and new bracelets! We are back home regrouping...resting, getting groceries and making lists for the next events.



We are teaching in Connecticut next weekend and will be putting product together for the quilt festival in Houston, working on our rubber stamps, and discovering Skype. Mark turned us on to this amazing technology that allows us to talk thru the computer for free! As soon as we get a camera, we will be able to have a cup of tea, build empires, and share ideas together while sitting at our computers. So off to take care of the endless lists that seem to spring up everywhere. We weren't home from Chicago and there is a list for CHA Winter...

Went out early this morning to water pots and collect a few Japanese Beetles and the mosquitoes were driving me crazy! There are alot of happy bugs, worms, catepillars, butterflies thriving on the estate! Our pond is also alive with baby fish of various ages, polywogs, frogs, waterbugs, dragonflies of many colors and sizes, and beautiful tropical water lilies. The deer have managed to devour most of our hostas and land lilies...they must be having lovely buffets!
Off to build the nation!

Leaving for Chicago tomorrow morning for Summer Craft and Hobby Association Show. Finishing models, getting details for our class together, packing clothes which is sometimes the most distressing. Will be taking and wearing some of our new jewelry and that is the main thing. Will do another pink hair treatment...Will be good to get there and get on with it! Looking forward to meeting new members of Artgirlz Nation in Chicago and meeting up with old friends!

Had a great chat with Judy Luther at the National Gallery and we will be designing a collage kit for their NGA Kids line. That will be a great project and look forward to working with her again. The website is very cool with lots of interactive arty "games".

My son Don has been doing stone sculpture and I was excited to see his latest piece...

As usual, we are crazy busy...went to the Boston area on Sunday and did a fund raiser for the Germaine Lawrence School at Artbeat in Arlington, MA. Jan put on a beautiful party in her small but mighty fine store/studio space. We, with the help of , guided folks thru the process of making little pins and loved watching the girlz take off and make their own adaptations! And, isn't that the point. I think everyone had a great time. The food was wonderful and the range of spilled glitter was an indication of the creative energy that was flowing thru the gathering!


The Craft and Hobby trade show is coming up next week in Chicago. We are trying to take care of details...finish planning and preparing for our sold out class (we were very excited to get that detail!), demos that we are doing the the "Sewing Pavilion", rubberstamp images to develop, hair do's to finalize, jewelry to complete, embellished clothing to stitch...and working all day today for our friends at the Umbrella Factory Gardens...maybe it will be good to spend the day with the plants! Off to the printer...The sun is out today...time for a deep breath!

Last week we received a very festive gift from Robin Beam, one of our wonderful supporters at Ranger...she put a necklace together using our felt beads, felt flowers and charms, adding beads, sequins, and a few other special trinkets! Tim Holtz is teaching the construction style in his classes...We are as usual very grateful for her time and vision!

I have been trying to get to this task for some time now...It seems like so many things have been crunched into the last couple of weeks. The garden tour seems like it was ages ago. It was a beautiful day, with lots of folks coming through and enjoying all of our work. I was gratifying to share our labor with others who are interested in plants, dirt, trees, rocks, water...speaking of water, our baby fish are very fun to watch!! We put the scary babies together for the tour...power in numbers! They continue to bask in the sun together...


We went to NYC for the Licensing Show. We took some classes...licensing 101, using technology: website, blogging etc, licensing artwork...There was quite a difference between sitting in the classes and walking the floor with the Michelin Man, Nickie Hilton...huge sections for Warner Brothers, Disney etc and a good sized area of individuals trying to sell their work. We had fun cruising bead, trim, and fabric stores..looking for "trends" in color, style, texture... New York is a bit chaotic for country girls, but we had a great time and will attempt to apply some of our newly found information to Artgirlz Nation this summer!

It is a couple of dayz until the garden tour, and the weather is supposed to be wonderful! We have done all that we can do to prepare and will just keep working on it. Hoping that our climbing rose will come out. It didn't bloom last year...it's first year, but promises to be quite beautiful any day now. The girlz are still spreading mulch, touching up painted surfaces and creating new spaces...Looking forward to meeting the others at the Sat night pot luck! Al and Sue checking the bees...


Well, we made it thru Ranger U and had a great time meeting new people and seeing our old favorites! Knowing close to nothing about stamping, we had everything to learn. We worked madly, keeping up with sample production, snacks, meals, tips and general chatter. We had an official graduation and we are now feeling very in the know! Here we are with Tim Holtz and Robin Beam. We all had a project to produce and present to prove that we were most excellent presenters of Ranger information !

















Off to the licensing show in NYC onMonday to check it out, take a couple of classes. Will be back in the studio on Thursday...
The new studio space in the basement is coming along...put in a snap together floor in 24 hours with the superior help of Son #1 Don...in from SF for a family reunion...will post the time elapsed photos of that project next week or so...

Well, I am happy to announce that our new shopping cart is up and running and the only thing on the new website that doesn't seem to be working is the "What's New" page and I'm sure that
it can be figured out by our most helpful and patient web woman! Above, is Miss Allison on her newly (by her) painted bench and the beautiful pots. It has been raining like crazy and the flowers have been beaten down...Midge repainted the birdhouses and they look great! This is one of the garden areas at Midge and Al's house, just outside of the outdoor shower, tub spa area!

We are trying to get things done around here today, because we are leaving for Tinton NJ for Ranger U to learn about stamping with Robin Beam of Ranger Industries and Tim Holtz and 20 other creative types...it will be great to use some new materials and learn some new techniques! We thought about studying on the way down to NJ because we don't know our dye inks from our alchohol inks...We put some goodie bags together, well, JoAnn one of our star employees actually put them together for us...to give to everyone at the event. We will take pics and give a report when we bet back!

Just have to add one more picture of Aiden, the blessed granddaughter with her birthday cake!

Fun Friday here at Artgirlz and I am hoping that the main event will be to get the new shopping cart done and the new site live...The new Scrapbook Retailer must be out, because we are getting iquiries about the felt...I will be thrilled to have that project finished! We saw our lawyer yesterday and we are officially Artgirlz Incorporated! My sis is the Pres, Treas so on top of my VP, Sec job, I have taken on the title of Chief Lifestyle Officer...someone has to do it!


We put alot of product together this week. We need goodies for our CHA Summer Class, classes we are doing this summer, and Ranger U, and Houston. We are very lucky to have an excellent staff that takes care of a million details! I am very grateful for that situation! We had an informal meeting last night going over all of the issues that need further development...sales, new product, business plan, old product, shows, hurricane prep, money...

We received this beautiful photo from Mark and Leandra at PaperArtsy. They are smart, savvy, clever and I love what they have done with our charms and images! We are excited that we will see Leandra in NJ next week and will miss Mark who will be taking care of business and children!


The garden tour is in two weeks, and it is supposed to rain on Saturday...we can take the rain time to tape the new walls in the basement...that will be a big job! Just a couple of pics of Al's grandchildren Gabe and Aiden, taken at the Memorial Day Parade/Aidens 4th Birthday Party.
Here is the birthday girl striking a pose with her new bracelet...Gabe is with his girlfriend Sam and young Noah chewing on chips as the parade goes by!

I am so behind on my blogging...we have been so busy and had an Artgirlz At Home class, a Memorial Day party to watch the Charlestown parade that goes right by the girlz house, sent out product, worked on the website, on and on, and then there is the garden...The Charlestown Garden Tour is June 17th, with tickets available at the Cross Mills Library...so, we are going from one project to the other. We would be doing that anyway, but there is a focus...Here is Sue dividing the lotus for the pond. Projects are moving along, but there is still lots of compost and mulch to hump!

Al and I taught a class in the studio to work out some kinks in a class that we are offering at Quilt Festival in Houston in November. We decided to make shrines, and actually managed to pull off a Fun Friday a couple of weeks ago....worked on structure and materials. Our "students", who have said that they will help us work out kinks anytime, were great, teaching us as much as we taught them...as it should be!!










We are very excited about our new charms! I think that they will do very well, and we have a few more up our sleeve...am working on getting them out into the world...pdf's for reps, and putting our first newsletter together to send to the lucky people in our address book. Waiting for the new website to be done before we send that out!
We are getting samples together for classes that we will be doing in Connecticut and Boston and will put info and links in tomorrow. I guess I'll go and have some breakfast and get ready for another day at Artgirlz World Headquarters. My goal is to get back here tomorrow morning and add links to some other spots!

Well, it has been raining for days and the good news is that the plants will be happy, and I am grateful to say that our basements etc are dry. There is bad news further north. We...Al, Midge, Sue and I did some damage at the North Stonington Plant Sale on Saturday...it was misty but there was a great selection of goodies and lovely, helpful people to help. We managed to load up the back of the truck and make a stop at Stonington Gardens. We gathered a few things from there. They are also very knowledgeable...The photo above is a tree peony that Sue and I snatched up. Below is a shot of the back of the truck upon our return!


I puttered around in the green house on Sunday morning...Mother's Day...working in the rain for a couple of hours. It was great to be out and know that it was too wet to haul soil or mulch!
#2 son Pete came over in the afternoon and we all had soup...had a call from Don....Heard from Norma, who has been working on our new shopping cart and some changes to the website. I can't wait for them to be done!



Back to building Artgirlz nation today. Taking care of emails, trying to get product for our CHA Summer Class...things that seem like they should only take a couple of hours, and then it is 5 o'clock and there you are asking yourself what did you really do today? Al spent some time this afternoon working on a couple of pieces for Cloth Paper Scissors. We have a full blackboard wall that is filled with things to be done. I guess I'll go watch bad TV...catch up on the Sopranos
and see what trouble Jack Bauer gets into...

Friday evening, just before Sue's 3rd birthday celebration, I did a tour of Midge and Al's botanical paradise...on the way were our first year crab apple trees...

The bunnies should be the first to be introduced...they are sisters, and came to live on the compound last summer. They were tiny little things and have grown up and seem to be very happy!

Now there is a mother robin living in the newly stained wood shed. She has been sitting on her 4 lovely blue eggs for a couple of weeks....will keep you posted on that situation. The birdhouses seen above will go back onto the shed...

Yesterday was an all day graduation extravaganza for Sue's niece. We had a great day driving around, cleaning out ascary dorm room, driving some back roads of Conn and finding some new garden shopping spots....and then a great dinner! Sue is doing a couple of hours of work this morning and then it will be out to shovel compost etc. It is a beautiful day and am looking forward to heading outside...just had a red winged blackbird fly by the window.

Yesterday was Sue's 49th birthday and she got to do her favorite thing for part of the beautiful spring day. We got these pictures from the studio window. She was planting cosmos seeds that had sprung up happily in the greenhouse! We then had another spectacular Artgirlz Birthday Bash with BLT's, potatoe salad and JoAnn's most excellent Whacky Cake with white frosting...

This is my third attemp to post some Artgirlz news today. My other two were lost in cyberspace, much to my dismay. So with new energy, I will try again. Above is the current state of Midges' shed. With a bit of early help from Don, she was off, creating a 2nd story deck on the back, side garden and rocky front patio. With the Charlestown Garden Tour (to raise money for the library) only 6 weeks away, the four of us have been shoveling dirt, mulch, moving plants and rocks, buying and sharing plants, painting, staining on and on...Sue and I finished a bench mosaic project that we wanted to do 5 years ago


We finally got our fancy press kits off to Starr Hall. We have been trying to get those out the door for a couple of months and just couldn't get to it. Now we are having our shopping cart overhauled and the website tweeked, working on new charm designs, fabric designs, making samples for distributor sales people, projects for a couple of magazines, and hoping that we can get it together for Summer and Winter CHA before chaos sets in. We are also looking forward to going to Houston for Quilt Festival and perhaps the Market portion of the program.

We are going to NYC in June to check out the Licensing Show and to take a couple of classes to get us thinking.

We have been trying to have Artgirlz Fun Friday's for about 2 years, and can never get to it for one reason or another. Consequently, we never have any new work, or learn new tricks, and scramble to get models made for shows. So, two weeks ago we grabbed about an hour and a half to spray some Ranger products onto water color paper. It was very windy so the paper kept flopping over, so we now have some very fancy rocks in the pile...got about 5 minutes in last week and maybe this Friday will be filled with many exciting creative moments for all!!

The bees arrived at the post office yesterday afternoon, and Al went and picked them up. Sue and I were quite surprised to see them in the garage, in 3 boxes hooked together, buzzing very loudly!! I don't know how I thought they were going to come in the mail. You can see the Sue and Al taking the boxes apart. After lunch today, we put them in their new homes.

The queen is in her own little box with a screen on one side so that her people can feed her. There was also a can of food...some mixture of sugar and water for the trip. Once the can was pulled out of the box, the bees wee dumped into their respective hives. We made up a batch of sugar water for them so they have some munchies while they get settled.

This is Sue and Al dumping the bees into the hive

Earlier this week I took a photo of our mini tulips that we are loving...the squirls didn't get too many. The special treat this week, is the intoduction of two more of the scary baby family. Clearly they are loving it here in the garden by the pond.


















Sue and I spent time on Sat am cleaning out the green house and planting seeds. The greenhouse looked like this for less than 5 minutes... They are popping up already, and we are all keeping our fingers crossed for rain this weekend. Every thing is so dry!
Well, tonight is a dinner party for Sue's mom's 80th birthday, and my sis is madly working on our fancy press kits that we wanted to have done 2 months ago for Starr...so I should go back to work!