Casey and Sloane, Author at The STUFF Sisters

Champion of Small Business

For over 17 years, we have followed our love of art, creativity, living out loud, and focusing on people not product. We couldn’t have done it without you. YOU are the champion of small business.

For over 17 years, we have followed our love of art, creativity, living out loud, and focusing on people not product. We have allowed ourselves to get excited, share our passion, and even show our concerns at times.

We have lived out loud. We have joined hands with our greater community in so many ways. (We will leave it to you to read more on our colorful and rich website.) We are living the American dream. We have been told many, many times that “that can’t be done,” and we have stubbornly dug in deeper to prove “them” wrong. We have never given up, and the odds have been against us many times. Truthfully, the odds are against every small business.

So why do we – and we mean all small business owners – do it?

This Saturday – the Saturday after Thanksgiving – is “Small Business Saturday”. A handful of years ago a BIG corporate giant deemed it so. It stuck.

First we would like to say we are tickled turquoise that American Express chose to champion small business. Considering all their other choices of how to spend millions of dollars in marketing and brand development, the fact that they choose little ol’ us is remarkable. For this we are grateful – honestly and truly.

So…here we are, two short days from SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY (said with a booming voice), and we would like to pause from our hurried holiday lives to think about what this day means to us – the “STUFF sisters.”

Much like each piece in our store, this store is handmade. There is no greater reward than to step back and witness something you have built with your own hands.

We want to thank our community for its long tradition of giving. We want to thank American Express for becoming the champion of “small”. We want to thank our artists for their art. We want to thank our parents and grandparents for raising us among small businesses. We want to thank our team at STUFF for pouring their hearts into their work. We want to thank our children and loved ones for supporting us during busy times.

And we want to thank you. You are the real champion of small business. Thank you for shopping in our small store.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Casey & Sloane

Casey & Sloane Simmons
Sisters & Co-owners

You Are Our Gift at the Holidays

Our whole community came together at our fundraiser – Wings of Hope. You are our gift at the holidays. Never forget that.

When asked if she wanted gift wrap, our friend Mary Anne reached across the counter and held onto Sloane’s arm and said, “You know, my gift is sitting right outside.”

And she was.

This past weekend we had yet another celebration of the power of the human spirit over cancer. We drank punch, we munched cookies, we held customers while they cried, we emptied candy bowls of their sweetness, we laughed, and our customers shopped with smiles on their faces. It was a glorious way to start the holiday season.

Mary Anne’s daughter is our friend Susan Miller. She was here the entire weekend selling T-shirts and telling of her continued victory over cancer. Casey was with her in the sunshine and shade as they raised money from donated T-shirts. A longtime friend of STUFF, John, who has had cancer visit his family one too many times, brought us custom shirts from his business to sell. All monies for charity.

Our whole community came together at our fundraiser – Wings of Hope. We are dedicated to helping find a cure for cancer through research. The KU Cancer Center is doing heaps of that – alone and in collaboration. The fund that Susan’s family started years ago while she was suffering and triumphing is still rockin’ the research.

To our parents, who have both battled cancer, to Susan, to John, to Mary Anne, and to all of you who believe in our dream business: we thank you for believing with us that together we will find a cure for cancer.

You are our gift at the holidays. Never forget that.

Sweet Liberty

Our family has always been partial to holidays. Birthdays, too. We celebrate, but not over-the-top crazy celebrations. Simple seems to rule the days. Have a Happy 4th.

Our family has always been partial to holidays. Birthdays, too. We celebrate, but not over-the-top crazy celebrations. Simple seems to rule the days.

July 4th is a good case in point. When we were growing up, the 4th was a day to swim and barbeque. When our parents owned a boat, we swam in a lake. When we had a pool in the back yard, we cooled off in chlorine. The meals themselves were from our grill but are forgettable in their simplicity. But the dessert was always something that included whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries. In a pattern – possibly a flag – or jumbled together in a trifle. Cake was part of it. Or home made ice cream. Red, white and blue.

This photo of our mother shows her on a 4th of July probably 20+ years ago. Our parents had separated, and she decided to take us all down to the deck on the back of her office near 25th and Holmes so we could watch the fireworks that would burst over Union Station. It was a wonderful night, and we all remember it. Not only was she dressed for the occasion with suitable head attire, she was dressed in white with red toenails and blue sandals. Red, white and blue. But the dessert that night, served after take out from Gates Bar-B-Q, was a three layer cake. When you sliced it, it revealed the flag. Not to scale, but to perfection.

Throughout the years she has been known to quote the Constitution while holding a jumbo sparkler in the darkening gloam of night. She has decorated our childhood homes with all forms of US flags. “Don’t Tread on Me” was always a favorite, and a reproduction of an early flag by Betsy Ross was good for feminist conversation.

Mothers give us much. This one, however, gave us never-ending lessons in freedom and justice. She didn’t so much wrap it in the flag as hand it to us gently and tell us to be careful.

Have a Happy 4th, and enjoy your red, white and blue.

Embracing Simplicity

Parades are funny things. Not just because of clowns and puppets and dogs. Not because of men in tutus and babies in top hats. Parades are funny because they bring out the best in America.

Parades are funny things. Not just because of clowns and puppets and dogs. Not because of men in tutus and babies in top hats.

Parades are funny because they bring out the best in America. The slowing down of time, the sitting still and watching the world go by, the embracing of simplicity.

Last month’s Brookside St. Pat’s parade was the 11th time we have marched as a unit for STUFF. Every year we start thinking about it the minute the calendar clicks over to the new year. And every year we don’t start working on it until March starts. Lots of time in there between the thinking and the working, which is not like us.

We’ve learned to slow down and not rush into decisions. We’ve learned to let the magic of an idea sink in and then rise to the surface. This year we simplified and let the people who walk with us – the customers, the dogs, the children – tell our story.

We are about people, not product. We are about hand-crafting, not production. For one short parade route a year, we are about the color green and candy and laughter and shouting and smiling.

It’s that simple.

Remission. The word that makes your heart soar.

We just got the call. Our Dad is in remission!

Thank you all for your support, words of encouragement, prayers, wisdom, hugs and kindness.

Hopes and Dreams

Earlier this month, an artist we represent visited the store. He shared with us a bit more of his personal history. The pain was apparent in his words and in his eyes as he told stories….

December 24, 2012

Earlier this month, an artist we represent visited the store. He shared with us a bit more of his personal history. The pain was apparent in his words and in his eyes as he told stories of his parents – who have passed – and his brother who has no time for him.

What causes our friend the deepest pain is not knowing his brother’s children. As a man who educates children for a living and who carries a deep love of art into his personal and professional life, he is at a loss. The love of family is missing. But the love of the family he has built with his adoring friends is what holds his heart intact. He has built a home for himself – a place where he lives a happy, joyful life – with just a few bricks missing. He told us that he follows our family history as it evolves in our blog, and he admitted to being a wee bit jealous.

We are an open and affirming family. To us, that encompasses our lifestyles and our “mode of being”. Our house has no room for hate. The windows and doors are shut to those who judge people based on their sexual orientation, skin color, or choice of faith. We reminded our friend that the greatest loss is the one his brother is experiencing – which is not knowing true brotherhood.

It is our dream, in this joyful season of wishes, that our children continue the fight we are waging to ensure civil rights for all of Earth’s people. We are handing this dream to our children because we believe they are finally the generation that may see beyond all the silliness to look deep within the human before them before making a judgement.

Our children continue to be our hope for a free and just world.

Happy Holidays to you.

Casey & Sloane SImmons
Sisters & Co-owners

Thankful

With all our love, Happy Thanksgiving.

Every time a stranger applauds us for bringing them a smile during the public radio fund drive, we are thankful.

Every time our Dad reaches another lymphoma milestone, we are thankful.

Every time a customer thanks us for donating to their school auction, we are thankful.

Every time an employee verbally appreciates payday, we are thankful.

Every time our Mom says another year of being cancer-free is behind her, we are thankful.

Top-02 — Sloane calling home from The Big Apple.

Every time a new artist joins the mix in the store, we are thankful.

Every time you say our name lovingly in a group of friends, we are thankful.

Every time our children remind us what unconditional love is, we are thankful.

Every time the store fills with customers, we are thankful.

And every year we thank our lucky stars for getting the chance to try and make a difference for local artists, for American hand craft, for community charities, and for small business.

With all our love, Happy Thanksgiving.

Wide-01 — Kicking off the AIDS Bicycle Challenge.

Tall-01 — Our children asleep on a road trip.

Wide-02 — A bit of fun at inventory time with Ryoko.

Tall-02 — Pretending to be Vanna White with Women’s Employment Network.

Wide-03 — Ladies & Gentlemen: The Red Ribbon Regatta

Tall-03 — Casey giving it her all at KCUR’s fund drive

Wide-04 — With our parents at the Rising Stars of Philanthropy Luncheon

SuperWide-Cropped — The Family Load Out from the Smoky Hill River Festival.

Top-03 — Casey and her daughter having a good hair day.

Heart of a Champion

Today we learned that one of our amazing artists – Lori Hale – passed.

Today we learned that one of our amazing artists – Lori Hale – passed. She battled cancer with the heart of a champion. She was inspiring to us all. We were so deeply blessed to be chosen to share her creative spirit, ideas, joy and work with the world. We will miss Lori. We will miss her little company Blue Raven. We will miss her art.

Art is life.

Life is art.

A Pot of Gold

On March 10th we had the time of our lives. Again. For the 10th year in a row.

On March 10th we had the time of our lives.

Again.

For the 10th year in a row.

The Brookside St. Patrick’s Warm-Up Parade is a Kansas City tradition that is equal in its grandness to the main parade held downtown every March 17th. Over 125 entries were in this year’s parade, and the crowds on every block were huge. The weather was amazing, and small business was shining throughout the parade. Another example of the small businesses in and around Brookside giving it their all…strutting their stuff and making magic for children and families.

One of our greatest fears as a small business in a global economy is that events like this parade will cease to exist if small business falters. Who will walk in parades showing off a 1964 Ford F100 pickup? Who will hand out over 100 pounds of candy? Who will hoot and holler and respond to every “shout out” from the crowd?

We saw the most amazing floats this year – dogs in wagons, rainbows over pots of gold, giant lawnmowers and shopping carts. A motorized potato. People on stilts. The list is endless and wonderful. Target didn’t have a float, Walmart didn’t have a float. PetSmart didn’t have a float. But Noah’s Ark did. And The Roasterie, and Cosentino’s.

The St. Pat’s Parade in Brookside was another reminder for us of why we work so hard to keep the neighborhood cultures alive. Because we love what we do, and we don’t want small parades in great neighborhoods to go away.

Please continue to shop with small businesses. You make pots of gold appear in all the right places and for all the right reasons.

Casey & Sloane

Kisses

We wish you the happiest holidays and we hope you get everything you wish for. Hugs and kisses – Casey and Sloane

Kisses linger.

Kisses warm.

Kisses soothe.

Kisses bless.

Kisses carry silent messages and lasting emotions.

Every kiss we hand out during the holidays carries all of our well wishes and dreams for our customers. You have lingered with us over great stories, and you’ve warmed us when life got too chilly. You have blessed us with your business, and you’ve left the artists we represent soothed by the knowledge that their hard work is well received.

We wish you the happiest holidays and we hope you get everything you wish for.

Hugs and kisses.

Casey & Sloane Simmons
Sisters & Co-owners