oh my aching back

Well I really don't know exactly what I did do to my back but I did a good job on it. About 2 weeks ago I twisted and heard 'crunch-crunch. The next day I had some pain in the spine and surrounding muscle. The next thing I knew my sciatica was flaring up. I started on mega doses of ibuprofen but really didn't help. So I got a doctor's appointment and he ordered a CT scan. I can't have MRIs. My pain is much lower then what is highlighted in the picture.

I scoot around the Artfull Hand on my wheelie chair from the office. I can't sit, walk or stand too long. Laying down is OK. Of course I got some nice drugs.

Nothing much is new at the Artfull Hand because I have slowed down. But we are looking forward to the Halloween Card submissions and have several now....

Linda's latest 3 for $3 is Tuesday the 23rd. Hope to see you.

Silly-ness

What will they think of next? Skeletal Flamingos.!!! I just had to buy these when I found them in the grocery store. Aren't they a hoot? Those who know me know that I like Flamingos. These are great for Halloween and will make another appearance during the March of the Flamingos Sale in March. Okay enough silliness for for now.... Down to the important stuff. A large order came in today from Product Performers so I am now restocked on the Fantasy Fibers all colors.... Impression Obsession came in today too. We have all of the Christmas Chickadees. They are so sweet. Last Friday brought in an order from Inkadinkadoo with a nice selection of more Christmas Stamps....And finally the Ranger Distress Crackle Paint arrived! We can wait to play with that....Come in and play with us!

Fall

AAAhhhhh....Fall has arrived at the Artfull Hand. Carol caught me while I was decorating the shop for Fall. We have a good collection of Fall stamps and of course Halloween ones too.

We've all ready received several enteries into the Halloween Card Contest.... There's still time to enter. Why don't you stop by and visit for a while. I've got the candy corn out......

Laughing out Loud

We are having a good time laughing as Jane does her little skit. She put on this horrible wig and an apron. In front of her was a table with a bottle of wine, a rubber chicken and a few other things.

As soon as she open her mouth we all knew that she was doing Julia Child. She was instructing us on how to roast a chicken. Her fail safe method was to stuff the chicken with popcorn. When the popcorn blew out of the chicken's rear end then it was done!

Here you see Jane as Julia. She was tieing up the birds legs with hemp rope instead of sewing up the bird's butt. She said that the burning hemp rope gave the bird a smokey flavoring..... You know Julia was very fond of cooking with wine. As you can see on the table so is this version. Through out the demonstration Ms Child would hit the bottle. I never did see her put any wine in or on the bird.

We all laughed so hard that we had tears streaming down our faces.

It was a really good birthday. One that I won't soon forget. PS> Can you imagine what the regular type customers thought as this was going on? Linda waited on a couple while we hysterically carried on.

Lunch

Here the two Sues fill their plates with a wide assortment of delicious salads. I won't bore you with the types but there was everything from greens to pastas.

What was in the box

A Flamingo Santa was what was in the box from Terry. She knows I like Flamingos. This one sings "Santa's coming to Town" as he flaps his wings and his legs stretches several inches higher. He also wiggles his tail feathers and shakes his head. It is a hoot. Of course he will come out at Christmas time. But he will also make a return appearance in March for the March of the Flamingos Sale.

Happy Birthday to me

Yesterday was my birthday. I am well over 50 years.

The girls, Carol, Linda and Jane plus several of my regular customers gave me a salad pot luck lunch. Oh was it fun. And very delicious. We laughed and laughed. Ooohhed and aaahhhhed over the cards that were made for me. And filled up on several different kinds of salads. Plus there was cake and cookies, no ice cream. But that is ok as I am more of a cake girl.

I am so very lucky to have these talented women working for me. And I am even more lucky to have the customers that I do.

Of course non of it would be possible if it weren't for Terry another friend and a relative to boot. In the picture I am opening a box she sent to the shop. The 'card' I am holding is her way of making a birthday card. In the next few post I will show you what was in the box and some of the shenanigans that went on at the shop during lunch.

Bugawumps Class

The Bug-a-Whumps class was a great success. Everyone enjoyed the color theory lessons plus the coloring. Laura(in background) is a good teacher and came well prepared. Some of the ladies were a little confused by analogous and complementary colors. But I believe by the end of the evening they had it figured out.

Here you can see some of the progress made on the worksheets.

Bev received a gold star from the teacher for following directions. There was one or two in the class that struck out on their own and didn't exactly following the directions. But Laura said this challenged her and made teaching this class fun.

Here some of the class members are coloring in their bugs on the worksheet. I believe everyone had a good time. Laura said that this group was some of the best that she has taught. And that reflects well on the Artfull Hand. She is ready to come back next June when she does the Collinsville Convention. We will be glad to have her.....

The Big Sale

Well the used stamp and art supply sale went really well last Saturday. We had 3 - 6 foot tables covered with stamps and stuff, the counter that divides the classroom from the shop and one 4 foot table. After we had set everything out we were a little worried about the turn out. This was the biggest sale thus far. But the customer turn out was equally as large. We thank everyone who came and bought. By late afternoon on Saturday we were down to just two of the 6 foot tables and there was plenty of table top showing through.

The sale continues today, Monday. But as of 5 o'clock we will be packing up was is left, sorting it to return to the owners and doing the final tallies.

We'll have another used stamp and art supply sale late in the Spring. But don't wait that long to come and visit us.

USED STAMP & ART SUPPLY SALE

Just a reminder that the used stamp and art supply sale is this coming Saturday from 10:00 to 5 pm. My office looks like the above picture. We have a lot of stamps to sell... We will only accept cash and checks for the used supplies and stamps. Of course the credit card machine is waiting to be used for regular store purchases.....cash and checks are good there too.

And there are NO road closures this Saturday. So you have no good reason NOT to visit the Artfull Hand. Come and shop to your little heart's content. See you then!

Tour of Missouri

This past Saturday a Tour de France like bike race came through Washington. I was able to catch a picture of the leaders as they sped by the shop. I had hung out my fabric sign on the neighbors fence in hopes that if there was a camera crew following the racers it just might get seen. These guys whizzed by so fast that by the time the shutter clicked they were gone. Following the leaders came several chase cars. Then nine Highway Patrol cars that I counted. I got bored and went back in the store. Bev stayed out side. She saw the rest of the pack come through being followed by 11 more Highway Patrol cars plus several sheriff cars and a few Washington Patrol Cars... I hope there wasn't any accidents on the major interstates that needed to be investigated.
I heard on the radio this morning that this was such a successful event that it is expected to be repeated next year. And that the whole thing was estimated to have added 50 million dollars to the State's pocket book in one week-end. Well I sure didn't see any of that windfall. Fifth Street in front of my shop was shut down for a good forty-five minutes. The whole afternoon I had only two customers to brave the street closures. The bridge over the Missouri was closed too. so that meant no one from across the river could get to me. Sure you could get to me from the back streets but you would have had to be a local to find your way through. If this goes on again next year I hope they find another town to disrupt.

DOA

The shop computer had to be taken in to a repair shop on Saturday. The clerk writing up the work order put DOA on it.. I had to laugh at that. It sure was....

OF course the timing is bad. But is there a good time for things to break down??? No probably not. Day stamp club is this Wednesday instead of the usual fourth Wednesday. Laura from Bugawumps is coming next Wednesday. So I really needed to get the word out about the change. Carol agreed to help out with sending out e-mails.

Water color pencil technique class

Well September is here as well as a bit cooler temps..... On September 26th Laura Jacobs from Bugawumps will be at the Artfull Hand to teach her water color pencil technique. She will do only ONE Class at 6:30 pm. I'd like for her to do more but her schedule does not allow it.....drats! Spaces are limited so you need to stop by the shop or call and give us your credit card number. We are going to fill up quick....

Dreamweaver stencils

The dreamweaver stencils came in today. I am so excited about them. I have some old favorite designs and some new ones.. I also got their Picasso stencil. It is a tool to help the artist in the coloring of their work. It is really versatile. I also got their video. I have watched it repeatedly and learn something new each time..
Stop by the shop and check out all the new stencils.....See ya soon.

New stuff

We got the new Elements from Art Institute Glitter yesterday. They are natural bits and pieces that you can add to your art. And.............most of them have the most delicious aroma.....I know from the picture you can't appreciate the aroma or texture that most of these little jars contain. So you will just have to come into the shop to enjoy them in person. See you soon.

Summer Time Flies

Where Do Dragonflies sleep? by Roseanne Awebry

This is the time of year when dragonflies are plentiful. Flitting about showing off their jeweled colors.... What attracts us to them? Their color? The lacy wings? Their freedom of flight??? I don't have the answers.

We have a number of dragonfly stamps captured at The Artfull Hand for you to take home as your very own.....Yesterday a large shipment of perfect pearls arrived. They are the very thing to colorize your dragonfly stamping....Linda, Jane and I will be happy to show you different methods using the perfect pearls. Stop by the shop and visit a while. Maybe a dragonfly stamp might land in your bag.........

The Handy Stampers

Three of the members of the Handy Stampers got pbulished in the Sept/Oct issue of The Rubberstamper Magazine. Above is the section about us. It is on page 51.The people who were published were Bev Cupp, Sue Finck and Patti Frick. Their cards are left to right. The rest of us are so proud of them. I believe we sent in 7 or 8 cards. It was so long ago I don't remember.

Congratulations to Bev, Sue and Patti!

Whew!

Cartoon by Ralph Hagan

I feel like the witch in the cartoon. Last Sunday at my house two different thermometers registered 106 degrees. That is too damn hot for this part of the Country.
The Anniversary Celebration at the Artfull Hand has been going well. We had a nice turn out last week-end for our special promotions even with the high temperatures.....
I've been working on September's Calendar we have a stampscapes class, more 3 for $3s, Linda's Mosaic Card again and a special guest instructor from one of my favorite companies.... The name will be revealed in September's Newsletter. We will have a fall used stamp and art supply sale too. Down the road a bit we will have a doll making class starting in November. Sue Brown has agreed to teach us her methods of doll construction. I can't wait......
But until then stay coool.

Happy Birthday Artfull Hand

Dorothy and Linda

Wow! It’s our second birthday all ready! It seems like we were just moving displays and products into the store. OH! We have been. He..he..he….
We have a new stamp company called Rubber Soul. They have the cutest(and I hate to use that word)little critters, animals of all kinds. Penny Black and Stampendous have been restocked as well as Art Impressions. We also have new Sticklers Sets. They are peel off shiny stickers that come with either a 3 piece Glaze or Souffle` pens! Real Cool!

We start the month’s activities on Aug. 2 with a Mosaic Card at 10:30 for $5 lead by Linda. Then on Aug 3 Dorothy will be stamping on Dominos at 1pm for $10. August Fourth will be the ATC and Altered Book swap beginning at 12:30. Then at 2pm Dorothy will lead a Beginner’s Class for $10. Aug 6th Linda will do free Make ‘n Takes. On the 7th Linda will have a Free Demo. On Aug 8 Linda will do her 3 for $3. Ellen will teach her Concertina Book Class on Aug 9th at 10:30 for $20. Also on Aug. 9th, 10th and 11th we will have FREE cake and Drinks as well as special discounts.
On the tenth Dorothy will give a watercolor crayon demo. On Aug 11th, Dorothy will lead her Pop up & Out action Card Class at 1pm for $15. On the Thirteenth there will be a free make ’n take. Night Stamp Club is that evening at 7pm. On the 14th Carol will do her 3 for $3. The 15th there is a free Make ‘n take and on the 16th a free demo. On the 17th there is a Free Demo of Dry Embossing and Chalking. The 18th will be Jane’s Butterfly Card at 1pm for $7. The 20th and 21st Carol will be demoing. Beverly will give a free Outlines Demo on the 22nd at 3:30 – 5pm. Dorothy will have her 3 for $3 @ 3pm on the 24th. On the 25th Bev will have her 3 for $3 at 11 am only! On the 27th there is a free make ‘n take. A free demo will be given on the 28th. The 29th is Day Stamp Club at 10:30 and 1:30. On the 30th there is a free demo. And finally on the 31st Dorothy will have a free make ‘ n take with Iris Folding.

Come and Join the fun this month at the Artfull Hand. If you have any questions call the shop at 636-239-5995

New stamp Company

The Artfull Hand is happy to announce that we are stocking a new rubber stamp company called Rubber Soul. They have a wonderful assortment of whimsical critters with appropriate sayings. For example the lively crab as pictured above. Or a happy octopus with the words I can't wait to wrap my arms around you. Or perhaps a cherry chameleon saying I'd go out on a limb for you!

We also have been restocked with Judikins and River City Rubber Works Stamps.

So come in and check out our new supplies!!!!!!

July 4th

Happy Independence Day!

Bev's 3 for $3s

Carol reminded me that she had scanned Bev's cards and sent them to me. thank you Carol. I really wanted you to see the cards. The stamps used were all Hero Arts. Bev did a wonderful design job. I am so lucky to have her, Carol, Linda and Jane.

3 for $3s

Bev's 3 for $3 was last Saturday. I have yet to scan her cards. They were really great. Carol's 3 for $3 is today. I bopped in around noon and the place was jumping.. There was so much activity going on.

My 3 for $3 will be this coming Friday June 29th at 3pm. Here are my samples.The Patriotic one just doesn't show up well scanned. The fireworks are all glittery. The stamp I used was a Fred Mullet, the sea urchin.
This is an Outlines Stamp.

color

A friend and I were walking down Main St. in St. Charles, MO last Saturday and spotted these hanging baskets. Wow! The color was glorious. So it demanded that several pics were snapped. Aren't digital cameras wonderful. You get to see your shot immediately and throw it away if it isn't any good.

This Saturday Bev is doing her 3 for $3 at 10:30 only. Sorry I don't have scans of them. They are wonderful. I will try to have some photos of the session if I can remember to take my digital camera!

Exhausted!

The Holy Moly Mackeroly Mini-MO-Treat of 2007 has now come and gone. Here is the group in the shop. SueP is demonstrating some of her metal techniques. We had 12 in attendance including two significant others. The group arrived on Thursday and most of them left Monday morning. It has taken me this long to recover to a point where I can arrange words into sentences. It was non stop from the day they arrived. Friday we traveled to Hermann, MO to visit the Red Barn Antiques. Think cool rusty stuff and you will get the idea of what we were shopping for. Then it was onto Columbia, MO to meet up with the HOly Moly Momma herself, Gloria Page. We met at Brady Commons on the University of Missouri Campus. We shared stories, lunch and art. From there we visited Poppy's. A unique gift store where Gloria started selling her hand made cards. On Saturday we traveled to St. Charles, MO and the Art Foundry. After a briefly history lesson we got to tour the galleries on our own. The work there is outstanding. Unfortunately the same week-end was a big art show in St. Louis County and the artists in residence were there instead of their own studios working. So the group didn't get the experience of talking with the artists. But everyone still enjoyed the exhibits. Then on Sunday we stayed in Washington and had classes at the Artfull Hand. I taught the group how to make a flag book to hold the ATCs that we had swapped. I also exposed them to bees wax collaging... Then Sue demonstrated ways to patina metal and to image transfer onto metal. All very cool. She had made up packets for each of us so that we could make a technique book. I have all ready made a visit to the hard ware store to purchase copper tubing and a little tool to cut it.... I can't wait to start patina-ing little copper beads.....

June Thirteenth

We got all the new stamps priced and on the shelves at the shop. In the rush to convention and the preparations for the make and take Linda just got her 3 for $3 samples completed last night.

Her session is scheduled for today. We didn't have time to get them up on the Internet. I'm hoping to upload a picture of one of them tomorrow.

This week-end the Artfull Hand is hosting an art retreat. It is for my yahoo group Holy Moly Mackeroly. I have 13 people coming to Washington, MO. I know a lot of them and have met several in person all ready. But it certainly will be fun to meet the others and show them this part of Missouri. It really is beautiful right now. One of the girls from southern California is so excited that she is going to get to see lightening bugs for the first time....SueP and I are going to take her out and let her catch them. I just have to laugh at the thought of that. Here we are middle aged(some of us are older)and we are still giggling and catching fireflies....I'll never grow up.

Make and Take at Collinsville Convention

We had a very good turn out for our Make and Takes at the Collinsville Convention. Our tables were full for the whole hour that we did them.
In the above picture you can see me 'telling' someone what to do next.

In this picture Linda's back is to the camera. I am happy to say that several of our regular customers stopped by to make the card. Hi to Tom and Linda N.
Laura over at the Bug a wumps booth was very pleased with the sales of the stamps that we used in the cards. It seemed to work out really well. So I think something similar will be done again next year.
Our ultimate goal of reaching new customers was met as well.
At the end of the convention I was able to pick up some more bug-a-wumps stamps, lots of clear stamps from Impression Obsession and stamps from a new company called Rubber Cottage. I think you are going to like them. One of my favorite sayings from that company was....Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver.
Come by the Artfull Hand to check out the new stamps. We have just a couple of sets of each make and take left over. If you ask nicely we'll let you do it.
see you soon.

Hello Everyone,

Here it is the 5th of June all ready. My word!

We are busy at the Artfull Hand preparing for the free make and take at the Collinsville Convention this coming week-end.

In addition to that we got stamp orders in from Hampton Art and Outlines as well as general merchandise from Gary Burlin. I was finally able to get more rolled copper.. However those mega and giga scalloped punches by Marvy seem to be really hard to come by.

Don't forget that Ellen's tunnel card class is coming up on the 7th. Go to the web site to see the example www.theartfullhand.com.

Hope you are enjoying this wonderfull weather. I'm sure the summer heat is just right around the corner.

Bye, untill next time..

Memorial Day 2007

These are ATCs of mine and a friend. The theme
was War. These were done about the time the
Iraqi War started. Mine the one on the left is
one of the most subtle things I have done.
My friend's on the right is titled, "War Tears".
what is not evident in the scan is that there is
a tear coming from the corner of the eye. Also
notice the torn upper right corner. Think about
both of them. There is a lot going on in these
two little pieces of paper.





Being a daughter and neice of WW II veterans, sister and cousin to Vietnam veterans and now mother of an Iraqi Freedom veteran I sometimes question the need of war. Just sometimes you might ask? Yes, just sometimes. And this was one of those week-ends. On a Sunday morning program I saw a story about two young American women who were wounded in combat in Iraq, one lost a hand and the other her whole arm. Both were very pretty. One was a mother of a 9 year old and the other was single. Both had been fitted with prothesis but they chose to wear them only at certain times. Neither of them were whining or crying about their injuries. They were going about their business of daily life. Both were proud of their completed military duty and said they would do it again knowing what would happen to them.

Then sometime on Monday I watched a news story about the curious revelation that people who serve in the military and saw combat have a 60% chance greater then people who did not of developing Lou Gehrings disease, ALS. It is a wasting away of muscle tissue. The man who was being interviewed is a Vietnam Veteran. He survived the jungles of Vietnam only now to be slowly wasting away.

And of course there were the pictures of row upon row of white head stones in cemeteries from around the country. In one cemetery they were 'celebrating' the erection of several new head stones. I was only half listening to the TV when the word 'celebrating' caught my attention. It seems that time had erroded some old head stones from Veterans of the Civil War and that the locals in the community had had fund raisers to replace them. And it was done on this Memorial Day.

So many dead, so many hurt and wounded. Why? And for What?

Ah....that's the question!

It is so we can sit in front of our computers and write in our blogs or play stupid games. So that we can picnic and bar-b-que on a Monday in May winding up a three day week-end. Drive our cars and cut our grass with now very expensive gasoline. Mindlessly going about our trivial daily lives. Being able to open a small business. We are so lucky to live in the USA. Even with all of its problems this is the place to be. Thank a veteran. And remember some of them are Females.

I know this doesn't have anything to do with the Artfull Hand and rubber stamping. Sometimes you just have to think about somebody else rather then yourself. And don't forget to question -- somtimes.

Bug-a-wumps make and take #2

Here is card number two. We will do one design per day and will be doing the make and take for one hour only per day. So these cards will be very limited in production. But if you go and buy the stamps from Laura you can make as many as you like at home.

Bug-a-wumps Make and Take #1

As promised here are the designs for the FREE Bug-a-wumps make and take that the Artfull Hand will be doing at the Collinsville Convention June 9 & 10, one design per day. Laura from Bug-a-wumps has agreed to discount the stamps used in the make 'n take when you take the finished card to her booth. The only stamp in this design that is not bug-a-wumps is the grass at the bottom of the card. Both Linda and I felt that the design needed more grass. That stamp is from Stampscapes so Laura won't have that stamp available for sale.

New Look

Hi Ya'll,
I messed around yesterday with some of the blog templates and came up with a new look. I hope you like it. I do. I was getting tired of the pepto-bismol pink look.
I also been asking around trying to see how many of you actually look at this blog. I was surprised to find out that there is quite a number of you...... I guess that is a good thing.
So for the time being I will continue along letting you know what is going on at The Artfull Hand.

The June Calendar is done and will be posted very soon. So be sure to check the web site in the coming days. www.theartfullhand.com

Collinsville Convention

The Collinsville Convention is June 9th and 10th.
This year the Artfull Hand will be doing a FREE make and take on Saturday and Sunday. We will be using Bug-a-wumps stamps. The cool thing is that if you take the completed card to the Bug-a-wump booth you will be able to buy the stamps we used in the make-n-take card at a discount!!! But the stamps can be only purchased at a discount on the day we make the card. There will be a different design each day. As soon as Barb lets me know what time of day we are doing the make-n-take I will post it to the blog.
Linda, Carol and I are working up the designs as I type this. I guess you are wondering how I can type this and work up a design at the same time? Talent- my dears - talent! No---actually I worked on it last week-end and then handed over my ideas for Linda and Carol to refine. They are doing a wonderful job. When we get the designs finalized then I will post pictures here.
Don't forget to buy your tickets early. IF you wait until you get to the door then they are more expensive and you can't get in as early.
We have tickets for purchase at the Artfull Hand.
Toodles!

Another 3 for $3

We will have another 3 for $3 on Tuesday May22 at 10:30 and 1:30. Carol will be leading this one. Here are the three cards that are going to be made.

Carol has a wonderful sense of design and color. Come and join in the fun.

Carol asks that you bring an exacto knife and cutting mat plus your basic class kit.

See you then.

3 for $3 at the AH

Hello Friends, The Artfull Hand is hosting a 3 for $3 on Friday at 10:30 am and again at 1:30 pm. A 3 for $3 is a card making session where you the customer makes 3 cards for three dollars. The card above is one of the cards we will be making on Friday morning. Come and join us. The next three for $3 will be next Tuesday the 22nd, again at 10:30 and 1:30. Check out www.theartfullhand.com for the full schedule. Hope to see you soon.

Frida Kahlo

Being close to Cinco de Mayo I was thinking about the Frida doll swap I was in last year. There were 6 dolls. They all started out naked or barely dressed. By the time they got back to the owner they were endowed with creatively beautiful clothes and accessories...

For those of you who don't know who Frida Kahlo was she was a Mexican Artist who had a surreal life. Her body of work is known for the self portraits she did. She was in a terrible accident early in life and suffered from it for the rest of her life. She spent many long hours bedridden. Her father gave her a paint set and the rest is history as they say. She only had herself for a model.

The Artfull Hand is anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new product from Luminaire Art-(the makers of Twinkling H20s) . It is a metallic spray wash. The samples that we recieved were enough to convince me that this was a really cool idea...
The order should arrive Tuesday next week. The Collinsville Convention Tickets have arrived as well. This convention looks to be really good. And..... The Artfull Hand will be leading a make 'n take each day. So be sure to get your tickets early and then visit us.