My image of him is totally blown.....

Why Jon, why? When I first heard the rumours of his debauchery I thought, no, not him? People love to make stories up, there was no way such nonsense could be true. Especially with an army of kids, and the new million-plus home he's now living in. They just bought two dogs too! Would he really ruin all that? But with photographic evidence and his weak rebuttal to the tabs, it may just be true. We were discussing this "important" matter in the studio tonight and have come to some conclusions. Kate is real, the way she is on the show is the way she is in real life. She's been accused of not being so nice, but with eight kids, what do you expect? She is a genuine person, what you see is what you get. With him I think it's all an act on his part. He loves to play the "poor me" card, and it's certainly advantageous to his dating life. The title of my post says it all....shame on you Jon.

Eek, need a happier topic! I'm ready to ship a custom order vase, I really love how it turned out. Very minimal but pretty, built from white stoneware and glazed in white. The flowers are handbuilt and added after throwing the base. I think more are definitely in order!

On the swap front, I shipped out 5 of my 6 birds for the Bird Swap on craftster.org. Just waiting for the organizer to green-light me on the final bird. I was so worried about shipping to Finland, and it ended up only being $2.20. :)

My First Treasury!

I made it into my first treasury on Etsy! Thanks BlushingMermaid, I'm definitely in good company with your picks! Here's the link to the Enchanting Raindrops Treasury:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=55177

My favorite would be "Raindrops" by NoWhereRanch. I have a thing for trees, and the photography is just stunning.

My April Showers dishes are one of the featured items. They were created from dark brown stoneware clay and glazed in floating blue. I have another set getting ready to be bisque-fired, hopefully next week. I chose the light brown speckled clay for the new set, the glazes seem more vibrant when that clay is used. Only one more day and then here comes May Flowers!

On the swap front, we are at 7 swappers for the "Deck Out Your Outdoor Space" swap. Sign-ups close Saturday, hopefully we'll end with an even number! If anyone is on the fence about joining, c'mon and sign up. The list so far is FULL of amazingly talented craftsters, this should be one of the best swaps to date.

My Favorite Tree

With my pottery, I definitely get most of my inspiration from nature. Now that the long cold winter is finally over, I just cannot *WAIT* for the trees to finally get leaves on them. I have so many ideas that have been spinning around in my mind all winter long. I did finally identify my most favorite tree that this vase was inspired by:

The Great Northern Catalpa. It has got to be the most amazing tree in Ohio, it has the largest leaves I have ever seen. The seed pods resemble string beans, and the tree is just massive in stature. This vase was made by taking a leave from the tree, impressing it in the clay and handbuilding the resulting vase. The Daffodils are from my yard, unfortunately the deer ate up all the tulips. I did throw down moth balls, which keep the deer away, just a little too late. Hopefully they will leave the Hostas alone!

Cleveland Rocks!

We have more to offer than Drew Carrey:



Who doesn't love Journey? I just had to post this, these kids seriously kick ass. And they are from Cleveland! They also did a cover of "I Remember You" by Skid Row:



Completely brilliant. I can't even play Guitar Hero past the medium level!

So now what am I going to do on Sunday Night?

I am not proud to admit this, but I am going through "Rock of Love" withdrawal tonight. I have never been a fan of Sundays in general, but watching "ROL" was the highlight of the day for me. Synthetic horse hair and all, it was an entertaining show. The reunion show was pretty good, I am so glad Ricky told him he made a big mistake with his choice. Ricky gets it, why doesn't he? I shouldn't worry, I have a feeling there will most likely be a fourth installment. If history repeats itself, I doubt he found true love this time around. But I can say I will not be watching "Daisy of Love", by seeing the commercials alone I felt as if I lost brain cells listening to her stupidity.

So far there are 4 swappers in the "Deck Out Your Outdoor Space" swap! Not a bad turnout for day 2. Now is the time to start brainstorming what I will be making. Anything pottery related will have to be started soon in order to have it finished in time.

My bird swap packages are all ready to be sent out, this will be the first time shipping overseas. To Norway! Hopefully the postage charges will not break me. :) I like how they turned out, different birds embroidered on fun fabrics. I'll post pics once they are received, I don't want any swap spoilers.

Stay Golden

What a sad day......Bea Arthur is no longer among us. At 86, I suppose that she lead a very full life. I don't know why it's so upsetting to me, but it is. I just saw her on a Comedy Central Roast not that long ago it seems, and she was funny as ever. The Golden Girls was one of the best shows ever made. RIP Dorothy, you will always be Golden.





On a happier note, the Deck Out Your Yard Swap is officially open. I did change the name to Deck Out Your Outdoor Space. If you live in a condo you probably have a greenspace, or in an apartment you probably have a balcony, so I didn't want to exclude anyone if they didn't have an actual yard. I have yet to fill out my questionaire, I have to decide what I want! :)








I am working on some ying yang buttons in pottery, and so far, I think they will be pretty awesome. I may use the word awesome a little too much but hey, I'm a product of the 80's! I also keep meaning to incorporate embroidery into my pottery. For the embroidery swap I made an embroidered pendant from polymer clay:
which I also posted on craftster, and got positive remarks. I'm thinking some sort of vase or serving platter? Maybe using rope or twine so it's more durable? So many ideas...

Today is National Etsy Day! Support all things Handmade!

Today is National Etsy Day! Time to get out there and support the handmade movement. If you haven't already taken the handmade pledge, go to :

http://buyhandmade.org/

and take it already! I tried to do a completely handmade Christmas last year. I managed to give everyone on my list at least one handmade item, either made by me or by local artists.

For all sales in my shop, I will send a SURPRISE gift as a thank-you for supporting etsy. So what, are you waiting for? :) Click on the link to my shop at the left of my blog. Make sure to browse all the other local shops, just type "clevelandteam" into the etsy search bar. Happy Shopping!

Wake her...on your feet missy..this ain't no rest home!

Todays's blog post title is courtesy of one of my favorite quotes from The Breakfast Club. It immediatelypopped into my head when I took this picture of the new puppy:


The poor little lamb, she's an American Bulldog and needs eye surgery. Apparently Cherry Eye is common in dog's with smooshy faces, and she has one. After Monday's surgery she will be a pretty girl again!

I haven't had a puppy in years, I didn't remember they peed so much! It seems like every half hour I take her out, she even wakes up in the night to go out. She actually slept almost the entire night last night, she made it to 6 am. Progress finally. And now that I think about it, no accidents today! Yay!

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my *favorite* days. Those are the days I go into the studio. I worked on a toothbrush holder for an alchemy bid I won, and I really like how it's turning out. It's wheel thrown and handbuilt, in a leaf motif of course. I may have to make one for myself. I also want to work on some sugar skull spoonrests, I got the idea from an alchemy bid as well.

I received my last pendants from the pendant swap on craftster today.They were totally awesome, an embroidered skull and bird, plus a deerhead cameo. Definitely a great way to finish up the swap. And it was totally successful, no flakers!

What the heck Kodak?

Last night I decided to take photos of my sushi sets to post on craftster. For whatever reason, I couldn't open up the photos. They were in the picture folder, but had little question marks in the corners. I eventually gave up and went to bed, seeing as I had work the next morning and it was already after 1 a.m. I decided to try again in the morning, same problem. Then I remembered some kind of stupid email from Kodak that I ignored, saying the picture storage was being changed. After downloading the new software, and retaking the photos:







I have a very bad feeling that all my old photos are lost. I've tried to move them over to the new software, and it's not working. :(

On the swap front, I'm thinking of organizing a "Deck out your Yard Swap." I am SO happy the snow might actually be gone. I cannot wait to sit by the fireplace on the patio and watch lightning bugs. And MAYBE drink a beer. Or a Margarita would even be better!

Swaps and Sushi Sets

Hmmm, I'm not a very good bloger. No new posts in practically a month. What excitement has gone on lately? Over the weekend I finally became a Friend of Craftster. If you've never been on, craftster.org is the coolest craft site. Post projects, comment on other people's posts, swap, get cool tutorials, the list goes on.

I never joined a swap and now I cannot stop! Currently I am organizing a pendant swap, and am a participant in an embroidery swap, bird swap and a business card swap. I really want my etsy shop to take off, I dream of owning my own pottery studio some day. There is so much more to life than sitting in a cubicle 5 days a week. I definitely identify with Peter Gibbons, the lead in the fantastic film "Office Space."

I'm currently working on stoneware sushi sets, so far 2 are complete. One is already promised to an MS benefit I am attending next month, and the other 2 may find their way onto etsy soon.

First Post

Welcome to my innaugural post! Do I have anything interesting to add to the blogosphere? That remains to be seen, now doesn't it? I've recently opened an etsy shop, http://www.craftygurll.etsy.com/. A year ago for Mother's Day my sister and I signed our mother up to take a pottery course at a local studio. The three of us went and I was instantly hooked! Now when I am not creating one of a kind creations, I am brainstorming ideas for what the next project will be.