Donations are pouring in for the 26th Annual Dinner Auction on October 12th. We already have a number of great auction donations including trips, the green seats at the ball game, and much more. Register for the auction here.

The Green Seats

Free food and drink, VIP parking pass. Right behind Cardinal’s on deck circle.

Citizen’s National Bank

Colorado Getaway

1 week vacation in Breckenridge, CO condo

Jeff Glass

Scotch Tasting

Single malt scotch tasting. 3 sessions tasting 5 different scotches each session then take home a bottle of your favorite.

Consolidated Design and Construction

Pizza Party!

Party for 10 with pizza and beer at The Post.

The Post Sports Bar

Jenny Rearick of Tiny Little Monster took some time to answer a few questions  about her business. Here’s what she had to say…

There’s one tiny little business in Maplewood that you may not have heard of yet but they deliver a monster product. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in printmaking and schooling in graphic design, owner Jenny Rearick can merge her talents to make your order stand out. They welcome your input in the design process so they can give you exactly what you want. Tiny Little Monster offers a great product at a good price. The skill and knowledge of Tiny Little Monster is evident in their products. We used them for our pub-crawl t-shirts and they turned out great. TLM picked out a great and comfortable material for the shirt and gave us just what we wanted with the design.  Jenny took the time to answer a few questions for me:

What has been your favorite printing project to work on? Why?

Last fall we printed t-shirts for Tenth Life Cat Rescue for their Hiss N Hustle 5k. Sloan (designer at Tiny Little Monster) created the illustration for the shirts (cats running the 5k). When we went to the event it was a great experience to see everyone wearing the shirts we printed. Working with non-profit groups is something that I enjoy doing.

Could you give me a quick walkthrough of the screen printing process?

Screen printing has many steps. First, I coat my screens with a photo emulsion that is light sensitive and let that dry. Then, you print your artwork in black on transparencies. When your screens are dry you tape the transparency upside down on the back of the screen and then use a powerful light to burn the artwork into the screen. After that you rinse out the screen and your image is ready to print.  You set up your screen on the press, make sure everything is registered and aligned and taped up, then you squeegee the ink through the screen onto a shirt. After the shirt is inked up, you put it through a conveyer dryer to cure the ink. Then on to the next shirt!

Do you have any set goals for Tiny Little Monster, and what are they?

Yes! Eventually I would like to expand the business outside of my home, and hire a small staff of artists and even a sales person/account manager to help grow the business.

Anything else that you want people to know about Tiny Little Monster?

We’re local, independent, and artist owned. I think about the environment in my studio and use eco inks, and find ways to be green like using soy based cleaners and often times print on sustainable/organic t-shirts for my own designs.

Tiny Little Monster can be found at http://www.tinylittlemonster.com/ or follow them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/tinylittlemonstertees. They will be at the Strange Folk Festival in O’Fallon, IL this weekend. Thanks to Jenny for taking the time to provide some insights into her business.

Auction items continue to roll in! Here’s what we have so far: (9/25/12)

Lunch And A Ride-Along On A Fire Truck
Value: Priceless
City Of Maplewood

(10)Coupons For Two White Castle Hamburgers
Value: $20
White Castle

A Vip Brewery Tour And Tasting
Value: $100
Schlafly Beer

Three Gift Certificates For Free Oil Changes
Value: $35
Dobbs Tire & Auto

A Complimentary Consulting Service For Workplace Conflict Management Issues
Value: $800
Mediation And Communication Solutions, LLC

Complimentary Round Of Golf For Four

Value: $186
Trustees Of Four Seasons Country Club

Free Night Gift Certificate At A Drury Hotel And A $100.00 Gift Certificate To Bartolino’s Restaurant

Value: $200
Drury Development Corporation

Hand Knitted Wool Sweater
Value: $55
Pickett Lema

Two Bicycles
Value: $475
UHY LLP

Two Certificates For The Cleaning Of 1 Bedspread Or Comforter And 2 Pillow Shams
Value: $150
Morgenthaler’s Drapery Cleaners

A Half Hour Massage Gift Card
Value: $21
Massage Envy

The Gift Basket With Candles, Music, And Wine Gift Box
Value: $109
Soft Sorroundings

A Deluxe Hotel Room For Three Days, Two Nights, Welcoming Cocktails For Two, Use Of The Holidome
Value: $400
Holiday Inn At Six Flags

Milo Prov4 Firearms Training Simulator
Value: Priceless
City Of Maplewood

A Visit From Santa.
Value: Priceless
Maplewood Mystery Santa

A Two Hour Tasting Party And A Morocco Gift Set
Value: $515
Vom Fass St. Louis

An 8 Week Adult Class Gift Certificate
Value: $145
Folk School Of St. Louis

Pet Boarding For 7 Days
Value: $150
Liz Gibbs

(2) $20 Gift Certificates
Value: $40
Guido’s Pizzeria & Tapas

Gift Basket With Sauces, Pastas, Dressings And Cheese Grater
Value: $100
Olive Garden

(4) Passes To The Garden
Value: $32
Missouri Botanical Gardens

(4) Passes To The Magic House
Value: $38.00
The Magic House

The Local Artist Chalk Print Of A Firefighter
Value: Priceless
Shur-Way Auto Body, Inc.

(4) Club Level Tickets To Rams Vs. New York Jets
Value: $420
First Bankers Banc Securities, Inc

(2) Certificates For A 2 Hour Introductory Rock Climbing Class
Value: $80
Upper Limits Rock Gym

(5) $20 Gift Certificates To Humphrey’s
Value: $100
Humphrey’s

A French Basket
Value: $200
Gisele’s

1-1/2 day Trout Fishing Extravaganza
Value: Priceless
Marty Corcoran

Turkey Hunting Extravaganza
Value: Priceless
Andy Hummert & Marty Corcoran

(5)Gift Certificates
Value: $10
Chris’ Pancakes and Dining

Painter for 4 hours
Value: $240
Robert Kleine Painting Co

Operate a backhoe for one hour (ages 7-14)
Value: $200
City of Maplewood Public Works

Gift Card
Value:$50
Water Street

Gift Card
Value: $100
Wal-Mart

Gift Card
Value: $20
San Sai Japanese Grill

(5) Gift Certificates
Value: $20
Wong’s inn Restaurant

(2) Certificates for 18 holes for two
Value: $60
The Courses at Forest Park

Weight loss program for your business or workplace (up to 10)
Value: $1500
Barron Family Medicine

50 Wings
Value: $67.50
Porter’s Fried Chicken

(4) Gift Certificates
Value: $10
Porter’s Fried Chicken

Car Wash Bucket
Value: $75
Fillmore Carquest

Briggs & Rile Laptop Case
Value:$200
J&E Office City

Santa Collection
Value:Priceless
Anonymous

Dancing Santa
Value: $25
Anonymous

(19) Free Sub Cards
Value: $115
Jimmy John’s

(4) Tickets to the Museum of Transportation
Value:$32
Museum of Transportation

Two Hours of Social Media/Online Marketing Assistance
Value: $200
The Hermann London Group

45 Minute Individual Respiratory/ Sinus Wellness Session
Value:$35
St. Louis Salt Spa

Gift Cards to The Post and Home Wine Kitchen
Value: $50 each
The Enterprise Group

(2) 100 Color Copies/Month for 6 Months
Value:$100
Gene Del Printing

SH/P OfficeJet 6700 Printer
Value:$170
S P Richards Company

Train Collage Photo
Value:$200
Doug Houser

Two Hour pizza and beer party
Value:$200
The Post Sports Bar and Grill

Catering bar for 20 people
Value: $200
Qdoba Mexican Grill

30 Minute downtown carriage ride for two
Value: $50
St. Louis Carriage Company

World Series Replica Trophy and other Cardinal’s memorobilia
Value:$200
J&E Office City

Char Griller
Value:$175
Summit Distributing

Private facility rental including unlimited bowling, shoes and pool
Value:$650
Saratoga Lanes

Party for 5 couples. Includes tickets to a movie, 2 hours of bowling, five appetizers and a $100 bar tab
Value:$400
Moolah Lanes

Single Malt Scotch Tasting and bottle of Scotch
Value:$500
Consolidated Design and Construction

Pro Shot Session
Value:$150
S. Carmody Photography

12 Weeks of one free dance class/week
Value: $120
Studio Forte Dance & Fine Arts

David and Jean Cowell have a unique partnership. They have been married 21 years, co-owned Cowell Engineering for 16 years, and co-owned their building at 3008 Sutton in Maplewood for 8 years.

Cowell Engineering is a small business focusing on structural design and engineering solutions for commercial construction. David and Jean’s combined 5 decades of engineering experience give them the depth of experience and knowledge to solve the variety of interesting problems presented to them. As structural designers they are typically members of a multi-disciplined design team which includes architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, civil engineers, interior designers and contractors. They are responsible for assuring that the building the team is designing is safe for all environmental and human actions. They are experts in understanding the effects of wind, rain, snow, earthquakes and occupants on buildings. Their profession is highly technical and requires continual learning to keep pace with the latest research in building performance. 

David and Jean are proud of the work they have done in the St. Louis region and across the country. Projects of note in the St. Louis area include Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Maryland Heights, the Lamborghini Dealership in Chesterfield valley, High Performance Automotive Training Center at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis and Webster Groves Animal Hospital in Webster Groves, MO.

In addition to running a successful business, David and Jean volunteer their time. Jean was a member of the Forest Park Master Plan Executive Committee which assisted in crafting and ultimately approving the Forest Park Master Plan. She continues to be involved with the restoration of Forest Park as a 16 year member (4 years as chair) of the Forest Park Advisory Board. David and a small group of concerned citizens spearheaded a ballot initiative in the City of St. Louis to change the City Charter. A Charter Amendment requiring a public vote to sell, donate, give away or otherwise use public park land for non-park uses was approved with a 70% majority by City voters. Both David and Jean have attained their LEED Green Associate credential through the US Green Building Council extending their knowledge and reinforcing their commitment to sustainability in the built environment.

David and Jean value their membership in the Maplewood Chamber and the Chamber’s hard work in creating and sustaining an interesting, forward-looking and vital community for both small and large businesses.

To see more Cowell Engineering projects, visit their website at www.cowelleng.com, find them on facebook at www.facebook.com/CowellEngineering or follow them on twitter at @CowellEng_DLC.