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!

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.

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!

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!!

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....

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!

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!