Painted Pottery of Passion

On Valentine’s Day, Erik and I went to Color Me Mine to paint some pottery as our romantic date! Art + Love = A Happy Vickie.

I painted a bowl for eating big delicious dinner sized salads. The pink I chose complements green leafies very well. Once it was painted, I used a toothpick to scratch away the glaze to make the vine pattern. It turned out better than I thought it would have.



Erik chose a rice bowl with holes for keeping his chopsticks from rolling away. The technique he used was all about bubbles, huge piles of soapy, painty bubbles. He mixed dish soap with his glaze and blew into it with a straw. He let the bubbles overflow out of the cup and onto his bowl. I looked up from my paining and saw this huge billowing pile of bubbles on the table. I wish I had brought my camera. It was hilarious. The detail left by the bubbles is amazing. I didn’t think the little ones were going to show up that well.

Going to paint pottery is a bit expensive but lots of fun. I could see this happening frequently for gifts and whatnot. Plus, who doesn’t need more bowls?

Rainbow Popcorn Party

Monday, at my niece’s house she made us play “Rainbow Popcorn Party”. What you ask is a “Rainbow Popcorn Party”? She just made it up. She’s 4 ½ going on 9. It involves rainbow balloons, streamers and party hats.

We drew balloons and made a sign, and I drew streamers and she taped them to the walls. Then she said we needed party hats. So I cut out circles from construction paper and made cone-shaped hats. They didn’t turn out too well and some were either too big or too small. But they ended up fitting all the stuffed animals, from Pinky the Dog to a big frog. I even made hats for my sister, my niece and myself. Any excuse to play with paper and you can count me in!

We served our guests play food and real popcorn. My sister is a popcorn nut. I gave her an old fashioned popper you crank on the stove and she uses it all the time. She makes the best popcorn ever.

I love how creative my niece is. She always singing or making up funny stories. She spends hours in front of the mirror making faces and doing dance steps. She’s a performer. I love her so much! She says she wants to be an artist “like Aunt Vickie!” when she grows up. I would have to say she is already on her way. She can write all her letters and does the most wonderful drawings. She’s getting good at using scissors now too. We have so much fun together. And, of course, I indulge her every whim. So who am I to say no to a Rainbow Popcorn Party?!

Art Journal: Qualities

I finally finished these pages with the writing. I’ll just let it speak for itself.

click image to see it bigger over at flickr!

Art Journal Pages: Unfinished

I have a lot of pain problems, one of them being almost constant migraines and cluster headaches. The cluster headaches make me restless and agitated. And I have one today so I used my agitation to paint pages in my art journal. My poor art journal has been neglected very much lately. I had planned to keep a page a week going but my pain does not always allow me to work when I want to work.

I thought I would share a bit of my art journal process. These pages were done with specific words in mind that still must be written on the pages. But this is how I start out… painting or collaging backgrounds for future writings. Frankly, I like these pages as is but it’s an art journal so some writing should happen.

The first layer I do is gel medium to add the texture. I also glued some kraft paper down for more texture. Then comes a layer of gesso. Paint colors were picked kind of randomly today as was their placement on the page. I get impatient for paint or gel medium to dry so I force it with the heat gun. This can alter the texture and color a bit, and I like not knowing what I may end up with when it has cooled off.



I looked around the studio for things to print on the pages. A plastic cup, a piece of that rubber non-slip shelf liner stuff, a rubber stamp of a compass, and my own fingers were carefully painted on and printed. The smaller circles are stenciled from sequin waste punchinella I bought on Etsy. Love that stuff. So useful for collage!





This is my paint palette. It is just a plastic plate. I let the paint dry on it and reuse it over and over. This one could easily be three years old! I like to use something up until I cannot use it anymore. Less waste that way.

When I get the writing part done, I will share it with you. Right now I need to go pace off some cluster headache pain. See you on the flip side!

If you click the pictures you will visit my flickr page!

Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: Paw & Claw Designs

Die, Die, My Darling - Scarab Scarlet

Nichole Jeske of PawandClawDesigns.etsy.com creates a mix of many different types of jewelry from traditional earrings to fun, geeky necklaces for “one-of-a-kind people with one-of-a-kind taste”. Paw and Claw Designs is filled with necklaces made from 20-sided roll playing game dice, stamped sheet metal earrings, wire and beaded pendants, and beaded earrings. Truly something for everyone can be found in her shop, even for the geeky man in your life. Her shop has been open on Etsy since October of 2006. She offers free worldwide shipping on all her items.

I asked Nichole where she gets her inspiration from and she said, “I'm most often inspired more by the materials than anything. I'll see a beautiful die, or notice a random bend in some scrap wire, and just run with it. I'm a bit of a ‘geek’ and I love to incorporate that into my work. Little elements, 20-sided dice, and other obscure pop culture references make me happy. Since making jewelry makes me happy, too, it was only natural to me to mix the two.”

“When you buy something I made, you are essentially buying a part of me. I would never sell something I was not 100% in love with. If I wouldn't present it as a heartfelt gift to my best friends, you won't see it in my shop. I pour my heart into every piece, and I think it shows in each and every item.”

"Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything" Earrings

I asked Nichole to tell me how she makes Twitter work for her and her shop: “I'm a HUGE fan of TwitterFeed. I have it set up to automatically tweet when I list an item in my Etsy shops, upload a new image to flickr, and post a new blog post on either of my blogs. Basically anything I can RSS gets put onto TwitterFeed. This frees me up to tweet about ME. The ‘promoting’ is automatic. I tweet about what I am doing, thoughts that amuse me, funny or interesting links, and to chat with my pals.”

“On Twitter, everything has ‘been done’. I worry less about getting people to look at my shop and more about making friends. Real good friends. That's the stuff of Life. More important than sales, more important than making money, more important than most anything.”

I have to agree completely about that… creating relationships is key to using Twitter to make sales.

When asked how Nichole promotes her shop, she pointed me to an Etsy forum thread where she outlines her daily, weekly, and monthly promotional plans. If you need some promo ideas, read this thread for some great information. I have to say, this gal is organized as well as very talented!

Paw and Claw Designs’ Special for this week: Use the coupon code "Twitter” in "Notes to Seller" for an upgrade to free gift wrapping with every order.

Order and shipping deadlines for Valentine’s Day: Domestic - February 6th; International - January 31st

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Paw & Claw Designs

All photos © Paw and Claw Designs/Nichole Jeske