What's New at Turtle Arts dot com!

2009-05-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Has dog eared magazine run away to Mexico never to be seen again?

No. Promise.

When will there be another issue?

ASAP. Which we understand is a very difficult date to put on a calendar! but don’t worry, it WILL, as soon as we are able to, again be published. Hopefully for many many issues to come.

If I email you about how ashamed you should be of yourselves, will it make the next issue come out sooner? Will it force you to feel more guilty?

Um. No. We’re already guilty. Actually, if you make Kerrie cry, it’ll interfere with production.

How can dog eared have a new issue soon??

Thanks, I’m glad you asked! There are a few main reasons for the unplanned sabbatical, and while some of the reasons are just due to life shit, some are reasons can be defeated with YOUR help. I realize not only can I not do it alone, but I also need a loan of your inspiration and good vibes!

1. life shit: if you have ideas or advice on foreclosures, clearing out parents’ homes, adult family homes, nursing homes, caregiving, chronic illness (Parkinsons or spinal surgery failures in particular), being broke, sleep apnea, pregnant little sisters, iBooks with blank screens, underemployment, debt, broken arms, lack of health insurance, being hit by cars while innocently walking across the street, zencart, job searching, ADD, ADHD, sleep disorders, or upset customers, please let me know.
2. Writing: dog eared needs some darn good writing. We long for sentences with structure. We have some really awesome articles in the queue, but we need more. I love to write, but I need help!
3. Editing: do you like to whip great ideas into shape, do you own a copy of at least one style guide and dictionary?? The pay does sucks (there’s actually no money for pay… But we’ll only ecpect you to work hard at all hours, while remaining upbeat and sprightly). You’ll be a hero- one of the reasons dog eared gets back on track.
4. Evangelism: please spread the word that we’ve had delays but are still around.
In summary, we are still trying to publish, we don’t have a life of luxury in Mexico paid for by our gentle subscribers, we need to beg you for patience and help. We are already trying our hardest to get things back on track.

One final bit of trivia: like many small press publishers, we live financially from issue to issue. I’m sorry that we don’t, as a result, have funds to do refunds. I promise you’ll get all the issues in your subscriptions. It’ll be eventually, and I know you’d rather know a firm timeline, but I just don’t know that right now. I promise not to disappear like some publishers have.

Thank you for your patience and support and for hanging in there. And let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions.

2008-10-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

We're back. I know we have been gone for a while and really haven't made our selves available. We are sorry about that, but there is a short story behind it.

About 3 months ago we were in the process of reorganizing Turtle Arts and Treehugger books including creating a new website, changing out web hosting company and a bunch of other stuff. In the middle of this process our entire network crashed. EVERYTHING went down and almost all of it was lost because our hosting company apparently didn't back any of our information up. We did have some back-ups on our own computers so we were able to get up the barebones site you have been seeing lately but we lost literally thousands of hours of work that we had put into our site. Even worse we lost practically all of our data on you guys, our customers.

Through a lot of hard work, Kerrie has managed to rebuild a site and get us up and going again. We haven't listed all of our products yet so if there is something you want get in tough with us at kerrie at treehuggerbooks dot com or scott at treehuggerbooks dot com, and we'll work it out.

We thank all of you for your patience and understanding and we feel the annoyance that many of you have directed our way is understandable and we regret it.

Thanks for hanging in there with us. Please come by our new site and look around and tell us what you think.

Scott & Kerrie

2008-04-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

Do I hate computers?
Why, yes, I do.

But, I think (crossing fingers with all my might) that the web site is all fixed now. Go buy stuff and check it out for us? If you find mysterious errors, email me at kerrie@ you know where. :)

We're so sorry for any inconvenience that our downtown may have caused!

Kerrie and Scott

2008-04-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

Hey all! We are currently having some issues with our website right now so you may not be able to get to the catalog section to buy stuff. We're working on it as fast as we can and we'll post here again when its up and running ok again.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Scott & Kerrie

2007-12-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of linking around blogs like a puppy chasing his tail, check out this very kind, sweet review or our Tree Hugger Sketchbooks by modern gypsy.

Thank you so much, Eliza. You made our day. :)

2007-07-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

Dear gentle readers, I want you to know right now that we're still publishing dog eared magazine. We still will be publishing. If you have a subscription, you'll be getting as many issues as are left on your subscription. We're going to come out with an issue before the end of the year. Maybe issue(s) before the end of the year.

Do you want more in the way of dirt and details? My personal blog is at lastmango.blogspot.com.

2006-10-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

I know you haven't heard anything from us in a while but we have been a bit busy dealing with a few computer related disasters and assorted interesting events. But, we're back and we have a couple of cool announcements.

First, Kerrie has re-established our eBay store under a new name: We will be filling it with all sorts of cool stuff. We are planning to add new items every week, but no promises. We also have a number of rubber stamps on eBay in the auction area. Right now we have some great cat and dog assortments, cool Halloween stamps and lots of unmounted stamp bargains. Remember, we have a NEW store and auction name: http://stores.ebay.com/Turtle-Arts-LLC-Outlet-Store, or search for: turtleartskerrie.

Second, and a bit more dramatic; as of November 1, 2006 we will no longer be offering MOUNTED alphabet rubber stamp sets. That's right. It’s the end of an era. Kerrie and I didn't come to this decision lightly. We have been thinking this idea over for a while and came to the conclusion that our mounted stamp set sales didn't seem worth the time and additional costs of mounting the sets. We can get unmounted alphabet set orders in the mail to you so much faster, too, and that is very important to us. So, if you want to get any mounted stamp sets, get your orders in soon!

As always if you have any questions, just drop us an email Have a good one.

Scott & Kerrie

2006-10-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

Our eBay Store is back!

2006-10-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

We have a bunch of eBay auctions ending soon. Some stamps are going for as little as 99¢!

eBay Seller: turtleartskerrie: Rubber Stamping Embossing, Magazine Back Issues items on eBay.com

:)

2006-09-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

Greetings! It's been a while since we sent an announcement out to you that wasn't about our web hosting/email disaster. But this post is all about good things ... so it's safe to read on.

First, we seem to have fixed our website and email problems by moving everything to a new server and a new hosting company. If you do encounter any problems please drop us an email at: webturtle@turtlearts.com. Also, Kerrie's personal email address of turtles at drizzle dot com is soon going to be gone... if you've been emailing her there, please instead email her at kerrie at turtlearts dot com.

So. On to some fun stuff! Have you been filling up your Tree Hugger blank books? We want you to send in your photos and stories about where you've used your Tree Huggers or photos of cool places you've been with your Tree Huggers. Of course you let your Tree Hugger play tourist, right?

If we use your photos or stories in our blog or our web page then we'll give you a free Tree Hugger journal or sketchbook of your choice and some cool pens of our choice to use in your new book.

We'll have two separate categories:
1) Photos with Caption: Send us a photo or two of you with your Tree Hugger or just your Tree Hugger in a cool place, or just the place you like to journal or sketch. We know some of our books go to South America, across the UK and on the Appalachian Trail; where have you been?
2) Your Adventure: Tell us about the trip you took with your Tree Hugger. We are just looking for a paragraph or two about what you did and why you were journaling or sketching with a Tree Hugger. If you have a photo that helps illustrate your story that would be great too!

Note: If you send in a photo or story you are giving us permission to use it and your name, on our website or blog or as a testimonial in our advertising. Submissions should be sent to scott@treehuggerpaper.com and put either "Photo with Caption" or "Your Adventure" as the subject. Please limit the size of your photos to 500K or less. You can also just email us a link to a blog post about your Tree Hugger adventures --- (such publicity might just get you a bribe er, present, too!)

Above, Tree Hugger Sketch lounges on a comfortable park bench in Ballard after a long walk at the Ballard Locks. So...what has your Tree Hugger been up to?

2006-08-20T23:34:00.000-07:00

Hello all. :)

Inspired by our recent troubles with our old ISP, we have made some changes. (Our ISP who we did love so...so much that it pains us slightly to have to break up with them. It was a relationship of eight years, a century in internets years! But, well, the important thing about an internet provider is that they PROVIDE INTERNET, meaning, they don't let your web site randomly disappear for days at a time, but anyway. That is not a rant for our news blog.) So, we're switching all our web stuff over to a new ISP. You shouldn't really notice anything at all different, we HOPE.

But here's the thing. If you do notice anything weird, like missing images, dead links, misc. funkiness, please let us know. If you're the first one to notice a goofy thing, we'll send you a surprise to thank you.

So, get to work helping us find the bugs. We'll make it worth your while.

Kerrie & Scott

2006-08-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Something bad is going on with the turtlearts.com web site. It's broken, but we're still here. Kerrie's email is bouncing too, because it's a turtlearts.com email. So, if you need to get in touch with her, temporarily use this email: turtlearts at speakeasy dot net or kerriecarbary at gmail dot com.

Broken web is bad, bad, bad for us, so please help us out by letting folks know that we're still around, if you hear of anyone "looking" for us!

Thanks all.

XOXOX
Kerrie

2006-06-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hello!

You're invited to

For stuff like this on sale:

2006-06-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

Dear dog eared magazine subscribers,

If you haven't received your Issue 16 yet, you may email me at kerrie at dogearedmagazine dot com. We'll try to figure it all out and get you your magazine.

2006-04-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

We've been quiet, we know. Our excuse is that we've been moving our apartment yet again! Yes, we're tried of moving. We've moved the business 4 times and our home 7 times all in the last ten years. No wonder we're tired! That's not even counting helping my parents move out of their old house, where they lived for 30 years, into their new house, which was horrifying enough. And, just before landlord told us we must move out, we "helped" (meaning, we did it) my parents clean out their garage.

Enough with the moving and the spring cleaning already. I just want to stay put and be messy for a while.

However, one good thing about moving is that you're forced to straighten, clean, and be reminded of art supplies you own but haven't played with in quite some time. I packed away all the art supplies for the big move, then was hit by an overwhelming desire to draw. The irony! The dismay! Where are those colored pencils of mine packed? In one of the million boxes marked "art supplies," of course. The one supply not packed away was my Parallel Pens.

I love Parallel Pens, as you may remember. They are a calligraphy tip cartridge pen that you can use as a calligraphy point, or you can draw with the edge for thin fine lines. They take any kind of fountain pen ink, but they'll also draw with thinned watercolors, walnut ink, even, I'm told, thinned acrylic paint. I haven't tried the acrylic paint, yet, because I just am still in love with the way they draw with plain and simple drawing ink. I love to blend the colors in the nib or on the paper, and add a bit of water for a sketchy look. Want to see a recent Parallel Pen doodle of mine?

This was done on tracing paper, so the colors blend nicely together without becoming a big blobby mess. Then, I like to collage my drawings on top of found papers and failed collages, using that background as an active surface.

So, if you haven't played with your Parallel Pens lately, pull them out and give them a refresher session. Remember how wonderful they feel to draw and write with? And, if you haven't tried them yet, you really must. You'll like them, I'm almost sure of it.

What kind of paper works best with ink drawings? Well, I love vellum and tracing paper, but sometimes that translucent look just doesn't feel right.Plus, the ink does take a long time to dry on these slick papers. We've discovered that the paper we use in our own Tree Hugger Save the Earth pads is just wonderful for pen and ink drawing. We use the same paper in our Tree Saver Hard Bound Journals and in our Tree Hugger Journals, too. It's a nice paper for just about any media I've tried: pen and ink, pastel, colored pencil, charcoal and even light watercolor wash. And, the paper in our Save the Earth pads and our Tree Saver Journals is 100% post consumer recycled, too. (The paper in our Tree Hugger Journals is 50% sugar cane, 30% post consumer recycled, 50% recycled.)

So, what have you been making with your art supplies lately? If you've been using any supplies you purchased from Turtle Arts, like collage supplies, rubber stamps, and other goodnesses, we'd love to see what you're making. We'd like to start featuring art by our customers on our blog. If we use some of your art on our blog, we'll send you a free gift to thank you, and give you a link on the blog to your own personal or business web site too. To submit art, email me a URL where I can go see, or if you don't have digital files, perhaps we can borrow your art, photograph it, and safely return it to you. Of course, if you're making books, we'd also love to have the chance to consider them for dog eared magazine, as well. (Issue 16 is being prepared for mailing right now, in case you've been wondering!)

Well, we'd better get back to packing and cleaning. You'll have to do the artmaking for us this week, so have a happy and creative end of April!

peace and art,
Kerrie (and Scott)
www.turtlearts.com
and www.dogearedmagazine.com

2006-03-23T16:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Spring! Our Treehugger Sketchbooks are on special for 15% off!

Our own Treehugger Sketch Books are what we call the 'ideal sketchbook. Each book contain 40 sheets of 100% Post Consumer Recycled hefty drawing paper that is delicious for use with pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, pastel, or even a watercolor wash. The paper is acid free and process chlorine free, making a perfect surface for sketching or art work that you want to not only last a lifetime, but will help save trees and save the planet.We make them right here in the USA, out of all USA made materials.

Take advantage of our Happy Spring Sale and stock up on these awesome and well-loved sketchbook journals.

2006-02-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hello!
How are you? We hope you're well. We know a lot of our friends are down in the dumps lately, worried about things, or just having bad luck. We wanted to email you to let you know that right now, in these times, it's extra important to take some time for yourself to make some art, give back to people that you care about, and do something nice for someone.

Why not combine all of those ideas, and take on a secret project? Create a little piece of art and leave it for someone, a friend or stranger, to brighten their day? It'll make you feel very good, we promise. Plus, it'll really put a smile on someone's face. Everyone loves a surprise present! No matter how crabby and cranky they are, their hearts will lighten and it will all be a little better for them.

I have a friend who used to leave small trading cards (before they were official "Artist Trading Cards") on the bus. Another friend used to leave art postcards. I've been known to leave mini photocopied books where an unsuspecting person can find them. And, I very well remember the joy at getting a little surprise sticker, bookmark, or miniature letter from my mother in my lunch sack. Remember how it feels to get mail art or a special letter in the mail from a friend? It only takes a few minutes, but doing little bits of good in the world will reward you in uncountable ways.

To get you started, we want to offer you a special treat with your order this week. Each order of $25 or more will earn a free sampler pack of Artist Trading Cards, in sized 2.5 x 3.5 inches. A Dozen Different colors of fun recycled paper cards, all ready for you to art up and trade or pass on to unsuspecting recipients! Be sure to order before March 1st to get your present!

Alphabet Brads
Anything alphabet can't be resisted among us obsessive journal keepers- can YOU resist any new way to add text to your art? Didn't think so. :)

Around the Block has come up with these wonderful new brads and we're excited to bring them to you. Alphabet Soft Brads are soft on top, a brad on the bottom. They are squares featuring a letter of the alphabet ad a word, perfect for your own alphabet inspired journal entries, of course, or to use as drop caps on any paper arts project. For example, the letter "i" is pink and yellow, and the word "incredible" runs up the right side. Very Cool. Preorder to get yours first; we'll be shipping these out in March.

You can see Alphabet Brads and a bunch of other new word art tools on our Language Arts Page

NEW! Trading Card Paper Collage Packs!
Our own Trading Card Sized Paper Collage Packs are just right for miniature collages! Our Rummage Pack contains 60 2.5 x 3.5 inch vintage recycled paper bits, most double sided, in various texty patterns. No reproductions here! Our Decorative Pack contains 60 stationery weight paper bits, in various handmade and decorative papers. Use these for backgrounds to your miniature art, or cut and paste to create larger collages. Each pack contains 60 pieces and is $5.00.

Go look and see.

and NEW from Zazzle

We'd been working on our Zazzle store, too!

Do you like? We thought you would.

Turtle Arts Outpost on eBay
Don't forget to check our eBay store every week for some new deals and closeout goodies. Kerrie's thinking of adding some small artworks there later this week too.

Always know what's new...
You can always go see what's new, and get gossip to, at our new blog, right here. If you use Bloglines, be sure to subscribe.

OK, go get to work. Make some art and make someone smile!

Kerrie

2006-02-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

NRDC: A Shopper's Guide to Home Tissue Products Made with Recycled Paper

I'll bet you didn't know that if every U.S. household used just one roll of 100% post consumer waste recycled toilet paper instead of a roll made with virgin wood that it would save nearly 424,000 trees. Or that using one box off 100% PCW recycled facial tissue or a roll of paper towels would save 1.7 million trees. Heck I didn't. I know what you are probably thinking...recycled tissues will be scratchy or bad or expensive. Well they are a little bit more expensive, but we have been using paper products made by Seventh Generation and I can't tell the difference.

So how do you find recycled tissue and paper towels? Well they are probably in your grocery store right now. Look at the packaging, if a product has recycled content then it should say. Beware of items that just say "100% Recycled", because what you really want to buy are products with high Post Consumer Waste (PCW) recycled content. Some products that say they are recycled really contain 10% or less PCW.

Post consumer waste is the percentage of the product that came from the paper that you recycle at the curb or at work. The reason it is important to buy tissue with high PCW is that it encourages more consumer recycling which keeps paper trash of land fills and saves trees.

Check our the article I linked to above for more information or you can go here for a .PDF of a handy dandy wallet size card that will tell you the best brands of tissue and paper towels to look for when you on your next shopping trip.

2006-02-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

We've just added a bunch of lovely new colors of Artist Trading Cards to our online store. Chocolate. Wine. And others that are just beautiful, even if they don't have anything to do with chocolate or wine. Check them out: 100% Recycled Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and Decks

2006-02-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Sunny Seattle! That's right, today is a nice sunny winter day here in Jet City. We don't get too many of these days so right after we send out this email we are heading out to go for a walk down to the Ballard Locks and do some birding. Normally we can see Great Blue Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Double Breasted Cormorants and a variety of ducks and sea gulls. If you ever get to Seattle I would highly recommend it for any of you birders out there.

Anyway...spurred on by the great reaction to Kerrie's collage sheets Scott has been working on his own alphabet collage sheets based on his Alphabutton designs. He's got 5 designs up (Bumble Bee, Tree Hugger, Jessie's Letter, Sketchbook, and Hot Stuff) with more to come soon. These are his first collage designs so be nice. ;)

Scott also has some 1 1/4" environmental, patriotic and logo button designs for sale on our Artbutton page. Look here to find out how you can get custom buttons made to order as well.

Plus, Rad Red Art Supplies!

Not to be outdone, Kerrie has assembled an array of RED and PINK coolness in honor of Valentine's Day. (BTW the Hot Stuff buttons and Collage sheets are great for Valentine's Day too.) If you need pens, paper, blank Artist Trading Cards, or other goodies... it's all here!

Click here to see Red.

Now, go make stuff, and happy Olympics Weekend!

2006-02-03T10:54:00.000-08:00

We've had a lot of stuff going on, it's true, with closing our store and getting the next issue of dog eared magazine ready to go to the printer (soon, we promise!) But we're always here for you. Email us if you have any questions.

Looking for a bargain? Check out our new Outlet Store on eBay!

2006-01-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

NEW EMBELLISHMENTS IN THE THIRD DIMENSION

dogs and cats
turtles and phrases
crows and ravens
little critters by K. Taylor
Seattle and the Pacific Northwest Rubber Stamps

Totem Art Journals

featuring art by Kerrie
Sometimes your inner artist needs a little extra treat to convince it to come out and play. A beautiful journal will almost always do the trick.

Every time I bring up totem animals to someone, I get an immediate reaction. Everyone seems to have an animal that is special to them in some way. Maybe a butterfly shows up before a big change in your life, a heron flies across your sky when you've been thinking of trying new things, or a crow reminds you that you've been neglecting the tricky creative side of your life. Whatever your special animal means to you, I feel that it's very important to embrace not only your favorite animals, but to keep yourself open to all animal spirits, as well.

So, I've been working on series of totem collages. Eventually, they will become a deck of cards. For now, they are available as prints or as covers for a series of special journals, waiting for your own dreams to fill them.
Check them out.