Looking back at the events that unfolded during 2020, and seeing what happened at the US Capital this week, we have even more reason to keep Isaiah 30:15 in mind as we look to the rest of the year ahead of us. Though we are living in "critical times hard to deal with" (2 Timothy 3:1-5) and much of society is becoming "faint out of fear and expectation of things coming" (Luke 21:26), we have good reason to believe that soon Jesus, as King of God's Kingdom, will bring an end to all of the wicked things happening in our era and we will finally see what it will be like when God's will is being "done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9,10) Is that last phrase familiar to you? Perhaps you have heard it recited at church or at a funeral. You may have said these words yourself when reciting the Lord's Prayer.
Do you, like many others, find yourself turning more frequently to prayer as a means of coping with the seemingly innumerable sources of stress that emerge at an alarming rate? Some find comfort in knowing that our heavenly Father will hear us, even when there is no one else to talk to. Note how the Bible describes God at Psalm 65:2 -- "O Hearer of prayer, to you people of all sorts will come." (Perhaps someday I will add this scripture to my Acrostic Ambigram Scripture Art collection.) This verse tells us that God listens to all sorts of people, in all sorts of languages. After all, he is the one who divided the languages of mankind at the Tower of Babel. As the source of language, he will understand us no matter what language we speak. Today, the website www.JW.org, in whole or in part, is available in over a thousand languages. The No.1 2021 issue of the Watchtower magazine, printed in 380 languages so far and available as a free PDF/EPUB/RTF/BRL download, features the topic "Why Pray?" It uses the Bible to answer questions such as Does God hear our prayers? Why does God not answer all prayers? How can you pray and be heard? and it discusses how the Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father Prayer, can be a model for us rather than something to be memorized and recited. I encourage you to explore the JW.org website to find more Bible-based answers to life's big questions, and to follow along in your own copy of the Bible. Also... In "Product News"... I am considering adding another product line to my collection: Letter Writing Stationery. For my personal use, I have designed some "US Letter" sized lined paper with a photographic image and scripture caption printed near one corner of the page, and I have started sharing this custom stationery with my family for their use in letter writing as well. While we are more likely to use "regular" font typefaces for scripture captions on this type of stationery, Acrostic Ambigram Scripture Art would definitely be available upon request. To go with the "US Letter" size paper, which can be neatly folded in quarters, I would include small invitation size envelopes. To request more information about Letter Writing Stationery or to submit a suggested scripture and/or photo, please Contact Me. Take Care, Stay Safe, and Be Well, Rebecca May
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By now, most of us have been affected by the current pandemic, whether someone we know has contracted the virus, or we have been laid off from work during a shut-down, or for some other reason. Be assured that during this time of social distancing, self-quarantine, and personal isolation, you are not alone. You may not be free to visit people in person, or shop your favorite stores, or dine-in at your favorite restaurants. However, you can talk with friends and family on the phone or via an internet chat service, and you can support your favorite businesses by ordering online and/or getting take-out. Even the museums are presenting virtual tours so that e-visitors can still enjoy the exhibits from the safety of their own homes. Life may be different than what we're accustomed to, but it will go on.
To reduce the risk of exposure and/or bringing COVID-19 home to higher-risk family members, I encourage you to do most of your shopping online, avoid congregating, and PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN! Get adequate sunshine and sufficient rest, drink plenty of fresh, clean water, eat a wide variety of good-for-you foods, and avoid a sedentary lifestyle. These are distressing times, indeed, but rest assured this is a temporary situation. Did you know that our era was accurately foretold in the Bible? We are now living in what is called The Last Days. When these Last Days come to an end, what comes next? The Bible answers that question. Please consider visiting www.JW.org to find Bible-based answers to life's big questions. This website invites you into your own copy of the Bible to find comfort and hope for the future. It is the most widely translated website, and is available, in whole or in part, in over one thousand languages including many sign languages from around the globe. In light of all the troublesome things that are happening in the world right now, I am working on adding more Greeting Card options and Scripture Art that include encouraging and comforting thoughts. Please look for updates to the Greeting Cards and Scripture Art pages, and feel free to submit a Scripture Art request if you don't already see your favorite Bible verses listed. Please take care, Rebecca May I've been mentioning the idea of Ambigram Fundraisers to some of the schools that are in my area, and I received an enthusiastic response from the director of the Music Boosters program at Plainfield High School (Connecticut, USA). While I was at the vendor/crafter event that he hosted at the school a week ago, he saw my designs and the flyer that I had printed up to promote the suggested fundraiser, and was really excited about the idea of supporting a local artist who wanted, in turn, to support the schools. He said he would much rather support a local artist than a big corporation. We discussed what products and designs he would like me to include in the catalog, what time frame to cover, and some of the other logistics, such as how to give customers the option to pay by credit card via my Square-Up e-store and being able to track sales per student. In between my day job and the other weekly activities that fill my schedule, I've been working for the past week on setting up the e-store fundraiser items and designing some lettering that was requested, the catalog, and the layout of the order sheet. I am nearly done setting up the artwork, and I hope to run some test prints tomorrow. When I'm satisfied with those, I'll be in a better position to complete the catalog pages. I used a spreadsheet program to build the order form, and I've built an order summary worksheet to auto-calculate the sales totals as I fill them in after collecting all the order forms from the students. There are 160 students in the Band and Chorus programs. I'm going to have to print at least that many catalogs and order sheets. Hmm... I'll have to research whether it would be feasible to outsource the printing of the catalogs, or if I should just buy a few extra ink cartridges and print them myself.
Look for images to be added to this post. I'm a little too enthused right now to step away from the computer and retrieve the thumb-drive that has my working images on it, and I'm also late for bedtime, so if I do get up from my chair, I'll have to forego the images in favor of catching some shut-eye. Have a great day, Rebecca May d.b.a. Ambigram Greetings It has been quite some time since my last post, so I figured I had better check in with a news post and update my Calendar page too. The holiday shopping season will be upon us at any moment! For crafters like me, this is probably the busiest season of the year. People are trying to find a unique gift for the person who has everything. This is where ambigrams often find their purpose. As an uncommon art form, ambigrams make great gifts. Not everyone will already have "one of those." So far, for October through December, I have events lined up in Norwich, Lisbon, Griswold, and Plainfield, Connecticut (USA).
I recently added some new formats to my offerings. If I recall, I've already posted about the Tote Bags. It seems I'm not the only one excited about the bags. There is a local artisan shop who has agreed to carry my "Norwich" Ambigram Tote Bags that feature a stylized drawing of a rose -- Norwich is called the "Rose of New England" -- and the shop keeper contacts me every few weeks to say "Bring more bags. I'm running out again!" I'm thrilled that there's such a positive response! Since I also started getting my designs printed onto ink pens, I brought her a handful of "Norwich" Ambigram Pens too. What's so great about putting an ambigram on the barrel of an ink pen is that both right-handed and left-handed people get to see the image "right" side up! I also brought her some "Norwich" Ambigram Bookmarks. These smaller items are selling well too, and I'll have to bring her some more of those too. She will be setting up as a vendor at a Beer Fest event on Saturday, 2019-October-5 in the nearby town of Taftville, and I will have to miss being a vendor myself, so I am preparing a small batch of "Taftville" Ambigram Bookmarks for her to bring with her. These bookmarks feature a drawing of the familiar landmark, Ponemah Mill, which has recently been renovated into condominiums and where this upcoming event will be held. If the bookmarks sell out, I might be inclined to add "Taftville" with the drawing of the Ponemah Mill building as an option for Ambigram Tote Bags and Ambigram Pens too. I might also have told you about Iron-On kits. There are several prepared designs that you may wish to order, or you may submit a custom request. I've had a few custom requests for Iron-On Kits in the past few months. One order in particular that I especially enjoyed filling was for a person who wanted "something unique" to wear to a class reunion. The school she attended was in Tiverton, RI (USA). I was having difficulty getting the letter shapes to play nice, as I call it, so I took a different approach. The letters "Ti" by themselves invert nicely, and so do the letters "verton." Taking this into consideration, I made an infinite chain ambigram of the lettering arranged in a ring so that the word "Tiverton" could be read repeatedly in a continuous circle going both clockwise and counterclockwise. In the middle of the circle, I put the graduation year in "regular" numbers. I printed the finished design onto an iron-on transfer, trimmed it to size, included an instruction sheet, and mailed it out to her. I invited her to send me a photo of her completed shirt. Is your school interested in an Ambigram Greetings Fundraiser? If I don't already have your town/city name drawn as an ambigram, I will offer to sketch up a preview of the lettering. If your school has a mascot or other emblem that you would like included in the design, please provide a decent-quality file (PNG, JPG, PDF, or the like) of the image you would like me to use/replicate. School/City Name items can include tote bags, pens, note/greeting cards, sticky notes, bookmarks, and iron on kits. You may also choose to include some of my Ambigram Greeting Card designs in your fundraiser package. For example, "Awesome" has been a hot item at live craft events, whether a greeting card, pen, or tote bag. And that reminds me -- It's time to print up some "Awesome" Ambigram Bookmarks! I have a busy day of catching up on things tomorrow, so I had better get some rest tonight. Have a Great Day, Rebecca May d.b.a. Ambigram Greetings I have added a new item to my product selection: Ambigram Tote Bags! OK, so you might not want to turn one upside-down while it's loaded, but go ahead when it's empty! I had a batch of "Awesome" Tote Bags printed up, and I am quite pleased with how they turned out. ;-) I got them in time to bring to the Holiday Shop & Auction event at the Lisbon Central School (Lisbon, CT, USA) on Friday, 2018-November-30. During the craft fair season, I will accept orders for "Awesome" and other Word Art Tote Bags, and have them batch-printed on an as-needed basis. The two-tone cotton tote bag measures approx. 15" H x 18.5" W x 4.7" D. Handle height is approx. 11". Printed area measures approx. 8" x 8". For visual comparison, the photo at left shows an Awesome Ambigram Tote Bag on my kitchen floor. The tile grid lines are 12" square
With the addition of the Ambigram Tote Bags, I have also worked out a school fundraiser option. When I am scheduled to set up my booth at a school crafter/vendor event, I will accept orders for Ambigram Tote Bags featuring a paw print (or other appropriate emblem) in that school's color(s) and the city/town name as an ambigram. In the event that the letter shapes don't "play nice" together for an ambigram, I will use other hand-shaped lettering. For each fundraising bag sold, I will donate a portion of the sale to the school and/or its PTO/PTA. The more bags sold, the higher percentage I will donate -- up to 45%!!
For a current list of School Ambigram Tote Bag Fundraising Deadlines, please see my Contact-Calendar page. To submit a fundraising order without attending the live event, please visit my Square-Up storefront and place your order up to the deadline. Orders taken after the deadline date will not be counted in the fundraising effort. https://squareup.com/store/rebecca-may Would you like to set up an ambigram tote bag for your school fundraiser? Please email me with the subject line "School Fundraiser Request," include details about your school colors, emblem, city/state, preferred dates, etc., and I will work on your fundraiser package. The 2017 craft season has been a whirlwind of activity! Between craft events for my Ambigram Greetings and Bubbalah's Beadworks, dance classes and performances, and designing promotional materials and building a new website for my dance teacher and our troupe, I've had very little time to update my own website here! Oh yeah, about that new website for the dance troupe ... http://sites.google.com/view/sultansdelightct ... You will find descriptions of dance classes that the instructor offers (bellydance, hula, and jazz), a calendar of class schedules and special events, a photo gallery of the dance troupe at various performances and events, and other features that will be added along the way.
Back to "Event" News... The 2017 craft season is nearing its end as we draw closer to the holidays. So far, I have two events scheduled for the month of December, both supporting local schools and their parent-teacher organizations (PTOs). See my Contact-Calendar page for more details about the events at Fields Memorial School in Bozrah, CT, and Griswold Elementary School in Jewett City, CT. I expect the 2018 craft season to start up sometime in March or April. Check in on my Contact-Calendar page from time to time for updates. Have a Great Day! Rebecca May a.k.a. "Bubbalah" 2017-June-11: I had a good day yesterday at the Lisbon Community Center, where I ran out of "Awesome" Ambigram Greeting Cards! Yes, it really is a Greeting Card that features an ambigram of the word "Awesome" on the cover. It's time to print up another batch of those, and check my Scripture Art Bookmark inventory for verses that I'll need to restock. I had one customer yesterday who bought two sets of four Scripture Art Bookmarks ... and a few other items. I'm signed up for the Artisan Event at Chace Building Supply in Woodstock, CT (USA) on Saturday, 2017-June-17. Check my Contact-Calendar Page for more details and an interactive map. This is truly going to be an Artisan Event -- no vendors of mass-produced items, no sellers of hand-made things they bought from other crafters/countries to sell here in the USA, no yard-salers or flea-marketers -- only people who made the very things/services they are offering for sale. In other Craft News: I am branching out into other "marketable hobbies," as I call them. Last summer I added Face Painting to my repertoire. Over the past winter I started hand-beading my own jewelry and barrettes, and now I am also offering my own "Bubbalah's Beadworks" for sale at my vendor booth at live craft events and on Etsy. So far, I can still fit all three categories into one 10'x10' vendor space, and carry it all in one rather small Kia Rio! You can see some of my beaded items at BubbalahsBeadworks.Etsy.com. I will have more items available at live craft events than on my Etsy site. Most of the items pictured below are either sold out or in my personal collection. If you see something you like, but it isn't in my active Etsy listings or in your preferred color, submit a request to [email protected] and I'll see what I can do to replicate your desired item in your choice of colors. Gift box mounting also available.  I decided it's a good idea to include the list of which of my offerings you will find at my booth for each event. You may not find all three of my categories listed for every event. Sometimes, the coordinators of these events already have a face painter signed up, so I would prefer to have my kit on stand-by in case they need backup or cannot make it to the event. Since most jewelry artisans tend toward necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, my main focus on beading is barrettes. I feel this may help get my "foot in the door" when an event coordinator is trying to avoid having too many duplicates of crafters/artisans categories. But I have yet to see another ambigram artist making Greeting Card phrases and Scripture Art!
As usual, mention my news post or website(s) when making your purchase at my vendor booth at a live craft event for $1.00 off your total. Have a Great Day! Rebecca May a.k.a. "Bubbalah" 2017-May-26
The craft season is underway, and I've been to a few events - but I had forgotten to update my calendar ahead of time! Whoops! So... Now I've updated my calendar with the latest additions to my event schedule: 2017-June-3 The Norwich Technical High School Class of 2019 is hosting a Craft and Artisan event at the school. More Details on my Calendar. 2017-June-10 The Boy Scouts Troop 73 is hosting a Craft, Artisan, and Vendor event at the Lisbon Community Center. PENDING EVENTS: I have heard of some events that I would like to sign up for. Once my plans are made firm, I'll add them to my calendar: 2017-June-17 Chace Building Supply of Woodstock, Connecticut, is hosting a Craft and Artisan event. 2017-September-23 The Lisbon Fall Festival Committee is holding their annual Fall Festival with 5k race, craft and vendor market, and fun family activities. New England style clam chowder and other fresh hot food items will also be available for sale. Well, Foster RI got rained out today, so the next Danielson Pike Artisan Market won't be setting up until probably the fourth weekend of June 2017. Suddenly having no place to go, I got to stay home and work on some chores. I have a goal of rearranging some furniture in one of the rooms here at home. It will require some heavy lifting and furniture dollies, shifting the TV/cable/speaker wires ... and for my husband to be feeling better so I won't have to take on the task without his help. I also want to better organize my sewing corner. That should happen around the time I finish building and installing some cabinet/shelving in that area of the house. But for now, I'll stash my supplies as best I can. My cousin was up this way from down south, and he stopped in for a few minutes today. We get to chit-chat a lot via FaceBook, but I don't get to see him but maybe once a year since he relocated to "where the work is." I was glad he could spare a few minutes between necessary errands for a short visit.
But back to Event News... My next event will be at the East Great Plain Fire Department's "Fall Festival" in Norwich, CT (USA), this coming Saturday, 2016-October-15 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There will be a 5k run followed by a pancake breakfast, a DJ, face painting, fresh-made cotton candy, live demonstrations, and at least 30 vendors/crafters/artisans. As always, mention having read about the event on my website when you visit my booth, and you'll earn $1.00 off your purchase. As I register for more events, I will update my Calendar of Events on my Contact Page.  Welcome to my newly-registered site "ambigramgreetings.com." Although this site is new, I am not new to the World Wide Web. I have a lot of work to do here at my new site. If you see a section that starts with "Lorem ipsum," please recognize that I haven't removed the place-holding filler text or finished updating that new page or section of the page. In the meantime, please visit my existing web sites:
sites.google.com/site/ambigramgreetings -- online and regularly updated since 2009! and squareup.com/store/rebecca-may -- still relatively new in comparison to my Google Site. If you are already familiar with my existing sites, business card, or other printed material, and you can pick out what specifically makes the new logo, shown above, different from my previous version (besides that it is more readable), send me an email with the subject line "Logo 2016" and tell me what you think it is. If you're right, you'll earn a $2.00 coupon toward your next purchase -- coupon valid at any of my live events (see Calendar of Events on my Contact Page), or at my online store (either here or SquareUp, linked above). I am still working on this site's online store. It will take a while to upload images and descriptions of my "extensive" inventory and custom-order options. Meanwhile, you may find more info about available items at either of the sites linked above. Currently, I have over four dozen original Ambigram Greeting Card designs and over two dozen original Acrostic Ambigram Scripture Art designs which can be printed in multiple sizes and formats. I haven't taken the time to count how many other Ambigram Word Art designs I have, and how many different ways you can order them (full page, half page, quarter page, PDF, t-shirt, bookmark, etc.), or how many different names I have been able to "turn" into an ambigram (pun intended), whether a single name or a symbiotic pair of names. So have a look around and come back soon while I work on more updates. If you would like to place a custom-order request, please email me: [email protected] or [email protected] |
Meet the ArtistRebecca May has always enjoyed puzzles and language and the visual arts. She has maintained her first website since establishing it in 2009 (sites.google.com/site/ambigramgreetings), and has regularly participated in "small town" artisan and craft events as an ambigram artist since then. Archives
January 2021
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Unless otherwise indicated, all images and works pictured and described herein are Copyright © 2009-2021 Rebecca May d.b.a. Ambigram Greetings.
Please do not use any of these images without written permission from the owner(s).
Please do not use any of these images without written permission from the owner(s).