motivation

The sun is slowly returning to our shady little home, thank you fall! To freshen up I bought a bunch of succulents. I've been seeing them around on the nets and felt inspired, we need some new life in the house and this is just perfect. Now, to make the perfect little pots to put them in.(we have more, but this one is my favorite) I dug out my old "studio" glazes and thought I would re-discover them and hopefully reinvent them on some newly styled cache pots. I'm excited to change things up.

I've been organizing the studio, office and house, it's funny that each time I get a little more organized I declare I am done, then sure enough I find a new level of organization to aspire to. I'm 99% sure the office will be done today, I have a new computer that has been a wonderful dream and a nightmare all wrapped up in its pretty high-tech self. But I think I now have it set-up and will try to make it my main computer later today. I'm mentioning this in case things go haywire and I disappear for a bit!

Have a beautiful day, and keep California in your thoughts.

mother earth

Dear Blog,
3000+ miles away, California is on fire and it makes me so sad. With all that water just off the coast, a gentle yet large wave would be very helpful right now. Mother Earth, can you please help California? Hopefully the winds will subside soon.

I wish there was something I could do, so I'm sending good vibes to those put out by the fires. Here in my little corner of south eastern PA it is hard to imagine severe weather like that. I get nervous when the wind blows a little too hard. Let's all hope that things settle down and they can recover quickly.

I'm busy doing all my usual bizzy type things but wanted to somehow send CA a little love.
xoxo,
Linda
ps- thanks for the Baltimore ideas, I replied in the comments : )

update

Dear Blog,
It's thursday and as I stated a few weeks ago I would update you on what is going on in the studio. Well, its grey(grey clay!) in the studio, I've been working hard on orders and reworking a few of my designs. I've also been making holiday ornaments for the upcoming Art Star ornament show. I'll be posting some pictures next week of at least 3 new designs and hopefully I'll have some one of a kind pieces as well.

The studio is a mess and today I will need to unpack my show bins and get organized. Which includes taking a real inventory of what I have. My to-do list is insanely long but, what I'd really like to do is clean out my closet because there seems to be too much old office type clothing and I need to buy some cool fall/winter pieces. That's part of the distraction of working from home! The good thing though is that the dishes are done and Marley is content so I have some time to breathe.

I am finally done with craft shows for a bit, my next one isn't until December 1st when I'll head down to Baltimore for the Holiday Heap show. I am hoping to make a nice weekend out of it since we haven't been away this year and we're really starting to feel it. Any Baltimore suggestions? hotels? stores? sites? We love seafood and I know of one nice place on the waterfront but would love to know more. I don't know the name of the restaurant but its in a cedar shingled building!

So now that I have a good 6 weeks to settle into the studio I am hoping some fresh work will emerge and hopefully a fresh blog too! Well, dear stale blog, thank you once again for reading and I'll be back soon.
xoxo, Linda

someone's one today

Can you believe little Miss Marley is one today? Wow! The year went fast, I guess its time to train her! Just kidding, she's mostly well mannered just a little too much energy when she greets people. We'll work on that.

Pictured is Mars is all worn out from a day of shopping then romping with her pals. She's turned into a happy little beagle-ish girl and seems to bring joy to everyone that crosses her path. So Happy Birthday Little Miss Marley, Thanks for being a good pal, the entertainment, my walking buddy and most of all my friend.

item of the month

Something new! This month the pictured tea cup is on sale! This is the Blue Dahlia Polka Dot Tea Cup, it is hand thrown, carved and glazed. It feels lovely in your hand while sipping your morning caffeine fix or while winding down at nite with some chamomile tea (my fav!)

Each month going forward I will offer one item at a discounted price and I'm starting with this gem. It is modern and classic and who doesn't like a little color to brighten up their winter. Give this sweet tea cup to a friend that is stuck in the office and needs a little handmade goodness to make their day!

I just came up with this idea today - so starting in November a new item will be posted on the first of each month.

Now for catching up! The Chestnut Hill Fall for the Arts Festival was such a nice show, it was jam packed with crafts both traditional and modern. It was such a huge show and I only got to see a small portion of it. Thank you to everyone that stopped in to say hello - it was a friend filled day! And thank you to everyone that shopped and for those who went home and bought online!! Fun! I was so happy to be recognized from some of the great magazine features from the past year and as always, I am amazed that so many people know my work from Art Star - Megan and Erin have been great supporters of my little biz and for that I am eternally grateful. It was a great day - and if you can go next year remember that there is good food and everyone was walking around drinking beer! Steve loved that! Yet it had tons for kids to do and it looked like one of the most dog friendly events I've been to in awhile. Miss Marley is almost well mannered enough to come - hopefully next year she'll be hanging in the tent!

This week is a big shipping week with a stack of web orders to pack and ship this morning and a very nice sized order from O'Suzannah, an awesome store in Charlottesville, VA. And I'll be ending the week with one last outdoor show in the Headhouse Square Shambles at 2nd & Pine in Philly. It's a jammed packed week - and for any philly designers that are free on Thursday eve. Grace from Design Sponge as well as a few other well chosen speakers will be at DWR to talk about running a design based biz.

Drying Out

Here's a peek at some new vases drying out on the patio. It's been too humid the past week and things are going so slow that work is really backing up to get fired. Pictured are a few pageant, some of the new black birds, the pinwheel flower and that orange one is something really new, a goldfish. To keep things fresh I am trying to do a few" just for fun" pots in each firing so this week its all about goldfish and I love it. I have been drawing goldfish for months and doing little watercolors and finally they are making their way onto my pots. If all goes well in the firing I will have some goldfish themed items at the show on sunday. What makes this goldfish special is that he was my goldfish, I used to keep goldfish and have been drawing from pictures. They were so friendly and fun to watch and this one was my favorite because he liked to be pet. And on a funny goldfish note, Steve's grandmother had a goldfish that she'd pick up out of the bowl each morning and give a kiss - he said that fish lived a long happy life!

Music can be such an intense inspirtation, whenever I hear a song I like that mentions birds(there are tons from the beatles to nelly furtado) I smile. I am wondering if there are any goldfish songs? I'd like to come up with a nice name for the new pots and have a musical reference since they are swimming and have good chiaroscuro.

Have a great thursday, I'm going to take a few hours right now to fool around then its back to work for me!