Cloudy, hazy day here with thunderstorms threatening...My sis is officially on vacation and Sue and I will be heading for Portland, OR on Monday. Looking forward to it very much...

In the mean time, we are working on gathering goodies for new kits. They will include for your creating pleasure, a Witch Kit, Christmas Girl or Santa, and Snow People. I realize that summer just officially just started, but the life of one trying to sell stuff, forces a thought process way into the future...thus the snow family is growing and the pumpkins are very endearing I must say. Pictures will be coming soon!! With 5 felt bead sizes there is an endless variety of pumpkin patches and snow people villages and tree decorations!! Stay tuned...

Just a warning...I received a video camera about 6 months ago and have just started working with iMovie...and, I just read that we will be able to post mini movies on this site...look out!
Could take me another 6 months to get it together, but the possibilities are just waiting to blossom.

Off for coffee and AG's work.

Monday morning and it is another beautiful day here in New England...spent a lot of time in the garden this weekend. Here is Victor lounging in the coreopsis...when I figure out how to use my video camera, I have a great shot of a gold finch chowing on seeds, hanging in front of Victor!! Sue and Midge went clamming and came home with goodies. Had yet another raucus Artgirlz meeting, going over products, orders, teaching, shows, a vacation???...time will tell on that one...a lovely post meeting dinner at the girlz house consisting of an informal buffet of clams, cereal, toast, microwave dinners and pudding. Nothing but the best!

We decided to vend at the ArtFest 4 the Soul . It will take place at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell, CT October 18-21, '07. We had the option of teaching, but since we will be taking off for Houston Quilt Market and Festival right after that event, we decided to pass on that this year. They are offering a great range of classes, a breast cancer fundraiser...make a bag from a bra...and of course good shopping and no doubt a lot of laughs!!!

Did I mention that we will be doing Mancuso's World Quilt Show XI - New England? That show is August 16-19 in Manchester, NH! We have heard great things about that show and look forward to checking it out. It doesn't seem like signing up for this show helps one get thru the 7 year waiting list for their Santa Clara show...but looking forward to it anyway!

Pictured here is more damage from Bead and Button...you will see these little beauties stitched onto future felt projects!!

Gotta go and get to my list...fabric to paint, felt to cut and CHA is looming and we will be playing for a week around the 4th...the girlz have family visiting and Sue and I are headed to Portland, OR...looking forward to it very much!

Speaking of that...a note to shoppers...we will be "closed" during the first week of July! Shop your hearts out until then...and now off for some breakfast to get me thru the morning...or at least to my first snack!

It's a hazy day here at Artgirlz Nation. I'm hoping that it will rain on the gardens today!
I wanted to mention that Barb Schemmer from the great state of Illinois won our Artgirlz drawing at the Bead and Button Show. We had a coupon in the show book and Barb was the big winner of an Artgirlz Extravaganza (Super Duper Gift) Box, a felt Cone Kit, Pock-A-Book Kit, and a dozen of our new Big Wool Felt Beads! I hope that she is thrilled with her package!


As usual, we were busy making samples before the Bead and Button Show and came up with this bracelet that includes Artgirlz Pewter Charms, hand made paper beads, charms made with shrink plastic, wool felt beads and Artgirlz Rubber Stamps...also included "charms" made with printed twill from Creative Impressions.
Some of the components are shown here...I made up all of the dangles before adding them to a chain. Because the some of the parts are paper and felt the piece is very light weight and fun to wear. As we like to say, the possibilities are endless...Making the paper beads is a bit addicting...any kind of paper, embossing powder colors, glitters etc!
Hoping to get a class proposal together for this project...

Off to continue email catch up...desk clean off and list organization!

It has almost been a month since my last post. I hardly know where to begin! We spent a lot of time in the garden, and things were just blasting out of the ground! Nature is quite remarkable and just continues to amaze me. The flower above was the only blossom on a tree peony that we aquired last summer. It was beyond beautiful! There is so much up now, and still weeding, digging, mulching, watering, avoiding the poison ivy, planting....the pond is alive with the fish that survived the last visit from the malard duck, and their babies are about the legth of a finger nail! The frogs are lounging and there are water bugs of many sorts making themselves very busy!

We were busy last month getting ready for our first adventure at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee. Trying to decide what and how much to take of everything. I was very excited when our shipment of new wool felt beads arrived! We now have larger (3m) and smaller sizes and they are great! They are not up on the website yet but they will be very soon! We had them at the show, so some of them are out there in the world! My first try with the big beads was a tomatoe pin cushion...more to come! I'm thinking pumpkins, pea pods and snow people!!
I worked on some samples for Bead and Button and put this two level necklace together. I embellished a group of 1cm felt beads with seed beads, sequins and embroidery stitches and put them together for the top row. The longer string is a combination of 2cm embellished wool beads, charms, misc beads from our stash and shrink plastic pieces made with our rubber stamps. I must say that it is quite festive and fun to wear!

It was my first trip to Milwaukee. We flew into Chicgao, rented a van and with the hope of saving cash on shipping, filled it with bags stuffed with our goodies. We also had our new cash register that was padded with charms, and beads! We drove to Milwaukee, enjoying the lovely summer air, the green fields, ads for cheese and fireworks! The architecture around the city was beautiful and the waterfront was lovely. The biggest challenge was finding food. We had delicious Thai food at the King and I!


The show was overloaded with rock star bead makers and volume of over the top jewelry that was walking around was amazing. The shopping scene was overwhelming. I could hardly concentrate on anything long enough to care! We did manage to find a few goodies to bring back to the studio!! And most importantly, we met some new best friends...Paula Best...with a line of rubber stamps and sterling charms...the first thing we had to do was chat about hair dye...and Heidi Viau the heart and hands behind Lillypilly Designs. They both had lovely partners in crime that we enjoyed very much!

Spent yesterday filling out and organizing contracts and proposals for teaching and selling at Quilt Festival and Markets for Houston '07 and Chicago '08, Long Beach '08...and sending off a book proposal to Lark. We also just found out that we passed the test to be part of the Bernina Professional Loan Program, and will be receiving an "aurora 440" to use for a year! Thanks Bernina!!

When I last saw my sis yesterday, she was seriously miserable trying to consume the special tank of liquid for her colonoscopy. Those of you that have been down that road will surely share a shiver....Should be just about over by now...

Off to help our buddy Patrick at the Umbrella Factory Gardens sell plants and pots for the next couple of days...hope to be back soon!

My son Peter and his lovely girlfriend Karen got married last week in Newport on their 9th anniversary. It was a small, simple ceremony with the family weeping, smiling, and taking pictures of the event. The sun was setting and the fog came rolling in from the water but the view of the bay was beautiful. We found out about the wedding about 3 weeks ago...we were surprised, excited and grateful for the low stress (for the most part) style of the event. The two families had a great dinner at Vincents on the Pier...

Here is the happy group of family members after the high holy event!!

On Sunday, Mother's Day, we had a great party for them at Ed (father of the groom) and Maggie's... their new place is between 2nd and 3rd Beach in Middletown so the views were amazing, families sharing food and stories, children playing, dogs doing their thing and some of us actually relaxing...below you can see the President of Artgirlz away from the books!!

And a very unexpected gift was meeting our new fashion idol!

Sue's 50th Birthday is the third in the May High Holy Birthday Series! Things around here would not exsist in any familiar form without her! Those little hands have eaten tons of potato chips, moved tons of dirt and compost, spent many hours in the ocean, slapped on gallons and gallons of paint, promoted the healing of many hundreds of lucky individuals, put thousands of charms in bags...
She goes to work and brings home the bacon, goes and buys the bacon, takes out the trash, does the laundry on Sundays, makes sure the water filter is changed, that the cars are taken care of, pays the bills, does repairs, builds walls, loves to caulk, is good to her parents, and is very practical and clear thinking...
Happy Birthday, you are absolutely the best and appreciated beyond words!!

Happy Birthday to our youngest sister Beth! This is the second in a string of high level May b'days! She and Heather, sis # 3 live in Alaska and are probably both working on garden prep in one manner or another. We miss them both and would love to have a birthday blast with them!! From l-r above is the Birthday Girl Beth, Heather, Allison and Tracy...The picture was taken at Heather's college graduation in Eureka, CA many years ago...she just retired of all things! We were all in full hippie bloom!! So Happy Birthday Beth! We wish you a calm, healthy year one second at a time! xxxxxx

Today is my friend M.T.'s birthday so I thought that I would link folks up to her latest film project "Atomic Mom" . It deals with her mothers experiences with atomic testing in the 50's. I recommend taking the time to check it out...

"Smartgirl Productions, along with the San Francisco Film Arts Foundation (fiscal sponsor), is producing Atomic Mom, a documentary portrait of an independent and strong woman, Pauline Silvia, whose ambition to do cutting-edge scientific research led her to conduct experiments that would haunt her many years later. In the 1950’s, Pauline worked in the Navy as a biologist in the Atomic Testing program conducted at the Nevada Test Site."

Nice work M.T. Happy Birthday!! We love and support you. You and Pauline are very brave!

Spent a bit of time in the garden this weekend inbetween rain drops! Things are popping up so quickly! The daffodils are beautiful and new things are crawling up from under the dirt everyday...our favorite time of year. We clip, dig, move plants, watch the frogs and fish in the pond...there is a pair of cardinals hanging around, chipmonks and squirrels running around taking care of business!


Speaking of business, my goal is to have this message finished and the newsletter out by lunch! It is 7:30 am so that gives me a fair amount of time.We have wanted to get our Pock-A-Book Kits up...the name is a Rhode Islandeeze translation of the word "pocketbook". We have included lots of goodies in the kits for your creative enjoyment. To turn it into a shoulder bag, just snip off the wool handle and add a piece of ribbon or braided trim. If you just want a bag, you can add your own goodies. It is a perfect size for your phone, money, cc's and lip balm! This is very easy sewing!! No stress involved and if you are absolutely not a stitcher, the felt can be glued onto the bag.



The first time that I saw these cones, my brain went right to our charms and I saw families of cone girlz sprouting up all around the world! Now, they are finally up on the site so that you too can start your tribe! The images shown are characters made from the goodies in the kit, but you could go wild with your own creative fingers! I meant to make a little cone bag before this moment, but will put it on the list and share it with you. The solo cones are also available without all of the goodies. Like the bags, the wool is very easy to sew thru and the projects can be finished in a couple of hours. The details on the left show the rainbow hemp strung with beads and with a simple knot holding the beads. Stay tuned for more samples!!

Onto the newsletter details and hopefully sending them out thru cyber space!

The International Quilt Festival was filled with talented, interesting women, just looking, shopping and some doing their work in the "Virtual Studio" that was set up by
Pokey Bolton the fearless leader of Cloth Paper Scissors!
An area was set up behind the Make It University section of the show and
Julaine Lofquist-Birch
Kelli Perkins
Cheryl Prater
Deb Silva
Debbi Crane
Judy Coates Perez
Lesley Riley
Virginia Spiegel
were doing there magical creative things...It was very inspiring and energizing to see their work and them working! Took me a while to do this because I had to check out all of their blogs...well worth the time!
And Kelli Perkins had the best purple hair details and after seeing her paper beads, I have been trying it out myself! Thanks for the push! My sis, who is currently on a vacation of sorts, snatched up my new pile of paper beads and took them off to Florida to include in her long list of projects....see above!
Will be sending out a newsletter next week!

Greetings! Last week, we made it into Chicago just before the snow created havoc. Had a great class at Carolina Moon in Des Plains and did a little damage at Bodacious Beads that happens to be next door. It was there that we started down the road to 5 days of bad food. We started setting up our booth on Wednesday and finished up just in time to change our clothes on Thursday evening. We had a wonderful and somewhat exhausting time...teaching, demonstating...meeting new folks, seeing repeat customers from last year. We enjoyed seeing little things that people have made with our charms. Above is a piece done by Laura Melohn, and just below is another springy girl done by her mom Jane Melohn. Thanks!
Just checked my last post to see what I put up and found a comment from someone who left this great link! Betz White made this piece with felt beads and posted it on her blog. I believe that the person that led us to Betz was trying to describe the project to me in Chicago. If you have any interest in textiles, particularly felted wool, check out the work of Betz White! It is beautiful. We went right out and bought old wool sweaters!!




Below you can see photo from in Vanessa Feuillade, owner of Crafy-Ness in Caerphilly, South Wales (UK). They did a class with tags, felt flowers and charms and sent these photos of all of their work!! It is gratifying to know that the girlz are multiplying around the world!

We leave for Chicago early tomorrow morning. Getting last minute goodies together...now packing the clothes...rumor has it that it is pretty cold in Chicago right now...tomorrow...wind, rain, snow and in the 30's....














All of these wonderful images are from Sandy Bartholomew owner of Wingdoodle - Studio Workshop & Gift Gallery, 19 E. Main Street, Warner, NH 03278. Sandy had a Party at the store and participants made little dolls and felt ATC's...Jen is pictured below with her Artgirl! Thanks for the great pics!

Catching up again...almost feeling like we can take a breath before we get on the plane to go Chicago for the International Quilt Festival next Wednesday morning...Check out the Blog at Cloth Paper Scissors...We will be doing two Make and Takes on the show floor...

Thursday night 7-8 Artgirlz Bracelet

Saturday 3:30-4:30 Rubber Stamps

We will be teaching at Carolina Moon next Wed night, 1952 River Road in Des Plaines...you can call 847.297.9622 for information. We will be making little Artgirlz rubber stamp girlzzz. We are both looking forward to seeing this well known art spot!



Just a couple of things left From our trip to England...One of the participants had made and was wearing this lovely little don't panic pin...I am on the look out for her name! She was as wonderful as this little character!




Based on a memory of a beautiful piece done by designer Erikia Ghumm we did this project with 83 folks in England at the Card Fairy...


4.3
Meanwhile back at the ranch, a Mallard duck pair that landed in our pond on Tuesday morning, seemingly looking for a place to build a nice nest, feasted on all of the fish that had made it thru the winter...

We have all been sick around here, and I am happy to say that it seems like the germ population is finally heading out of here! We are checking off tasks that have been hanging around for far too long. Just have to tackle the last phase of my email list. Looking forward to our trip to Chicago where we will see lots of old friends and will no doubt meet new creative types! There was ice on the pond this morning...looking forward to above freezing!

Well, we are alive and well and it is 9 degrees and sunny in Rhode Island this morning. I am beginning to feel like I am catching up a little bit after being away for so many weeks. I am still behind on my emails, but one can only do so many things in one day!!


We had a great trip to England! At the beginning of the trip, Al and I did the International Craft Hobby and Stitch show in Birmingham. We shared a house with the PA's in Kennilworth. It was a perfect village complete with large castle ruins, hedge rows, little gardens and a great pub. Daffies and crocuses were up everywhere and it was sooo green! We had the smallest booth on the planet, but it worked out just fine. We met lots of great people and were lucky to spend time with show buddies. Good food, lots of laughs and stories!

Before and after the show we got to stay with Mark and Leandra Franich, the very funny and smart people behind PaperArtsy and their four charming children! This is the east view from the studio that is set in the middle of a huge farm. Young Hugo is studying beads for his macrame project. Which he did with great focus and skill!

The girlz, Sue and Midge (known as Smidge by the PaperArtsy kiddies) flew into London and joined us at the farm. We all spent time putting rubber stamps in bags, adding stickers and header cards, learning new swear words (that I tried not to say in public), drinking lots of tea, doing crafts with the kids, and preparing for the weekend in Oxford. We managed to slip into London for a day before we headed to Oxfor to check on hairdo's and fashion trends! Skinny skinny jeans and boots... We managed to find our way "home" in time to enjoy yet another evening with the traveling duo from Ranger...Tim and Alain. The train trip back to the suburbs was a bit tricky when we all got off at the wrong station, realized it as the doors were closing and proptly dove for the doors that were closing. Sue and Al were back on train as Midge and I attempted to pry the doors and prayed that the train wouldn't take off with us stuck between the doors. We didn't know about the "open the door" button...

Mark and Leandra wanted to prepare the children for the suprise arrival of Tim and Alain, so as a family, we watched Tim's CD Bloopers which brought all of us many laughs...so beans on toast took on a whole new glow as the kiddies chowed, joined by Mr. Holtz.


Late start to Oxford on a busy Friday...trying to get everybodies stuff together...We made it to the hotel where 90 women were set for a week end of classes with paints, glues, charms,
stamps, wire...a constant supply of cookies and tea, more snacks...a lovely dinner on Saturday night for everyone in the ballroom. Three class rooms were set up. "Students" stayed in their spots and the teachers moved around to the class rooms...and of course there was shopping...

We were very lucky to have had a private tour of around Oxford on Saturday afternoon with Janie. We saw real live Harry Potter's, a beautiful college campus, botanical gardens, churches and tea with scones, cream and strawberry jam at Janies club.

Back at the hotel, women were madly making books, altering tins, shopping for inks and stamps and preparing for dinner...where we found our seats by our names "Artgirl 1", "Artgirl 2", "Artgirl 3", "Artgirl 4"...I was, according to my food choices, #4...

For our class, we adapted an idea that was brought to us by Erikia Ghumm at CHA...she had created a beautiful necklace made with a spool and our wing charms. It had a lovely picture of her grandmother, buttons, and made us drool. The week before we left for England, we were still trying to figure out what to do for our class, having gone thru many project options...so we went to the vision of Erikia's necklace and made one up. Here is our first group of happy students!

Followed by the next group...all of whom did very well twisting wire, wrapping cloth, and using a needle and thread!

We didn't have to teach until Sunday afternoon, so after checking out we walked to a little organic market that had a mix of hand made crafts, cheeses, honey, meat, and bread. Took a little walk around the town and headed back to headquarters. Our last class went well despite the fact that all were very tired!


Mark, Midge and Al headed back to the farm to collect the children while Sue and I helped Leandra count and get paid for sold stamps, had dinner at McDonalds in Oxford...does that make any sense?? We were very tired and still had to drive back to Essex...

Back at PaperArtsy World Headquarters, it was back to getting the unpacking, getting orders out, organizing the children who were missing Mom and Dad madly and, had been sleeping on camp cots so we could have their beds...We had one more trip into London on the train. Took a walk through and around Westminster and saw this guy making his statement across the street. It was very cold and windy, so we took a very quick, brisk walk by Buckingham Palace and back to the Neal's Yard section of town. I was cooked! Back onto the train to pack up and prepare for our long journey back to Artgirlz World Headquarters.

It was hard leaving the beautiful green farm and our buddies. I miss them as I plow thru our piles of projects, knowing that they are digging thru their own piles with an additional 4 children!! All of us trying to figure out the smart things to do! We are very greatful for everything that they did for us while we were there, and look forward to more adventures together.

I think that I can say that we were all exhausted as we made our way home, and it took a few days to feel have way normal. We are still catching up. I am hoping to get thru the rest of the emails this week. Below are lovely images of #4 flying home from England last year and the day before flying home this year!!!