A Day of Hearts

 I love Valentine's Day. Not because I am expecting flowers, candy, or dinner out. I enjoy it for completely unromantic reasons. Valentine's day give me the opportunity make and deliver simple surprises for people that I love. This year I decided to make a string of hearts for my special great niece, Arianna.

It ended up being a little more involved than originally intended, but it was a nice break from clay. I worked on it in the evenings, when my work was done for the day.

"Happy Valentine's Day" is a lot of letters when they are all strung together!

 Tonight I boxed the hearts up along with a siamese cat figurine that was a gift to me from my Memere when I was just about Arianna's age. My Memere would have been her great-great Memere.

We have been enjoying some warm days here in Seagrove, NC. I took advantage of the weather and did a good mopping and cleaning of the studio, while the bisque kiln is firing. Jeff is busy making glazes. We will fire a glaze load in the next few days.

Always Open to New Ideas

Last year I had a couple of requests for sugar pig dispensers. Last week I took a couple more orders, except this time people wanted them for candy jars! They are perfect for that, and I hadn't evern thought of it. If you keep candy on your desk at work, people can pour out their portion without getting their hands all over the candy... much more sanitary! Ok, so yeah... I am sort of germ freak.

These sweet little pigs will also be a perfect Valentine gift, filled with conversation hearts, or M&M's. How about Skittles? If you are into that super sugar buzz. Do Skittles do that to you? Or is it just me?

Events for Pottery Lovers

It's been a busy week here at 505 E Main St. We are packed and ready to head for the opening of "Treasures of the Earth" in Shelby, NC. Each year, the Cleveland County Arts Council hosts this show of local and regional potters. This year there will be 28 of us participating. The opening is at 5:30 this evening. If you are in the area stop in, visit with the artists, enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres, while adding to your pottery collection.

Can you believe it's Valentine's Day this weekend? I feel like Christmas was just last week. To celebrate the day of LOVE, we will be offering some sweet treats this weekend. 

All the info for both of these events are in the sidebar of the blog. Right over there on the right.

Have a great day!

Winter Blooms on Valentines Day

6:00 pm is closing time around here. Not for studio work, but for the sales gallery. Last night I was heading out to bring in the open flags and I mentioned to Jeff that I was taking scissors with me to cut some daffodils that were blooming in the yard. He quickly dropped what he was doing to join me... he had planned to cut some for ME for Valentines Day! We went out together and each picked a few for each other and proclaimed, "Happy Valentines Day".  We like to keep it simple.

and wouldn't you know, our flowers were photo bombed by a pig.

Be Happy

I like to recognize Valentine's Day with simple gestures of friendship and love. Little surprises. Each year I send Danielle and Jason a small box with candy and cards. I either make the cards or I buy a of box of kids Valentines... which don't come with envelopes anymore, what's up with that?! In the past I have made peppermint bark and chocolate covered pretzels and sent them to random people who had been kind to me during the year. Giving a simple gift makes me happier than receiving a dozen roses.

But I certainly wouldn't say no to candy.

Wishing all a Valentine's Day filled with kindness, friendship, and love.

A Hot and Spicy V-Day

We are not big celebrators of Valentine's Day but it did seem like a good excuse to make a dinner that was fun and new. I found a couple of recipes on Pinterest that combined all the flavors we love so I decided to go for it. Lime Chipotle Chicken stuffed with jalapeno pepper and wrapped in BACON! The jalapenos are roasted and stuffed with a little cream cheese and cilantro. The rice is very simple, I cooked jasmine rice and as soon as it is done, mix in cilantro pesto. It wasn't the lowest calorie recipe but I liked that it was all made with fresh ingredients... only the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce came from a can. It was flavorful and VERY spicy... to the point that it gave me the occasional hiccups! There were a couple of extra stuffed jalapenos so I broiled them and we had them on the side, along  with a cool broccoli and cabbage salad.

 On the pottery front, I have been making garlic jars and hope to get them finished today. I had never made garlic jars before, I don't know why. John used to make them and they sold pretty quickly. There are also some small pitchers that will be needing handles at some point, hopefully by the end of today. Tomorrow we have a full day of mini pottery lessons scheduled, so there may not be much time for making new work.

There are a couple more spots open in the next "Practice Makes Perfect" Workshop on February 23rd... for more info click HERE.

Feeling Nostalgic on the 14th of February

I am feeling a little nostalgic since it's Valentine's Day. I mailed Danielle a little surprise box but she won't get it until Friday night. She is in Dallas this week for Pfizer's annual convention... here is where I get to brag a little... there was an awards banquet at the convention and she won a trip based on her 2012 sales and for one of her products she was #3 in sales for the U.S.! I am one proud Mom.

I love going through old photos. This is Danielle with two of her cousins in 1992. This photo makes me laugh because there is the glass of chardonay on the table and these kids look like they are having too much fun. The two younger girls are my sister Anita's, l to r - Stephanie, Kayla, Danielle. Alicia must have been napping. The partying must have been too much for her.

Luckily Danielle rarely reads this blog. She absolutely despised this prom hairstyle and would cringe to see it here! I thought the photo was appropriated for Valentine's Day. Danielle and Jason are still together, sweethearts since high school.

Happy Valentine's Day!

memories of Valentine's long ago...

When I was a kid I loved celebrating Valentine's Day at school. We made a mailbox for our desk and decorated them with lots of glitter, construction paper hearts and paper doilies. Everyone brought those cute little cards and dropped them in your mail box during the week leading up to the "big" day. On Valentine's day we celebrated after lunch with cupcakes, conversation hearts and opening up all of our cards in those special mail boxes. A simple celebration that I am not sure is still done in schools today.

Every few years I have bought a box of those little cards... I have slipped them into the mailboxes of all the real estate agents in my office and tucked them into surprise hiding places for family or friends to find. Having not done that in a few years I decided to buy some this year. I carefully chose Peanuts cards because I just love Snoopy... when I opened the box to my horror they are now made of thin paper! Not card stock, just printed paper... and here is the kicker: they no longer come with ENVELOPES! What is a card without an envelope???

There were some stickers in the box along with flimsy cards...

and a poster...

but I would have much preferred card stock and envelopes. I sent my daughter an early 60's vintage necklace and bracelet set that belonged to my grandmother and I tucked some of the cards in the box and addressed them to her, Jason and all the pets. Next year I will have to make my own Valentines... and maybe a mailbox too.

Pass the cupcakes please.