Dogs do the cutest things...

...and this one does his share. My daughter is home visiting with her 2 dogs this week. She came for the weekend, but it snowed and she ended up staying for a few more days. So last night I hear Radar, the Papillon, chirping (that is what I call his bark when he wants someone's attention). So my daughter went to investigate. She called me in there to see this...Radar perched on top of the basket of towels in the laundry room! Just sitting on top and looking at us, looking at him. No amount of coaxing would convince him to come down. I had time to go get the camera and take several pictures. I have no idea what he was doing or wanting from us. But he seemed very content.



And yes, that is his Razorback sweater. Isn't he cute?
~Beth

Snowy Weekend!

We rarely get snow, but we had a snowy Friday that ended up looking like this photo by Saturday morning. I love snow! I don't have to deal with it all the time, so its not so bad to get a pretty snow once or twice a year around here. I don't have to get out in it because school has been closed for 2 days and will be closed again tomorrow (Tuesday).


Because of the time off, I've been able to get the three Extra large houses finished. Now they have to dry and get fired and glazed. These large houses get much more detail than the mini houses. They were fun, but much more time consuming! Here are a couple of photos.

Here the walls are going together. I had my husband take photos when I put the walls together, but...the memory card was not in the camera! So, maybe next time I'll get it!

And here are the 3 houses. Next I will fire them, glaze them, and they will be done.

If you double click on the photo, you can see a larger version. I know its a little hard to see in this small photo.

So I'm thinking that I might make some that are 6" or 8" tall. I think they would be less difficult to get together. You know, its funny how one idea leads to another! This all started with a clay tile with a fish, that led to a tile with a doghouse, that led to a whimsical house, that led to a mini house made from clay scraps...

Happy Snow Day!
Beth

Custom Homes in Clay

My apologies for being very quiet lately! I was contacted by a new customer, who wanted some hearthomes, but she wanted larger homes. Ok, I can do that. She ordered 3 very large, 17 inches!, homes. So that is what I've been working on for the past 2 weekends. I'm about half done. In between working on the large houses, I've been working on some mini hearthomes. I will be participating in an Art Festival in Georgia in May, so I have alot to create by then. I need to have enough to make a good display for this festival. It will be my first! So, I will try to keep up with updating what I'm working on for the next few months.

So here is a sneak peak at one of the large hearthomes...

...I will post photos of the finished version when it has been fired and glazed.

Looking forward to a possible snow day tomorrow to work with paint and/or clay! Its already sleeting!

~Beth

Sale in Original Etsy Shop

Etsy Shop Sale

$50 purchase...FREE Shipping!

To go along with the celebration of my birthday, I am having a sale in my original Etsy shop. I have marked everything down in the shop and I am offering Free shipping with a $50 purchase. This shop has paintings, drawings, and fish tiles. I have been so busy working on clay houses that I offer in my 2nd Etsy store, that I have not promoted this shop, Beth's Art and Clay Designs, much at all lately, so I thought I was time to offer a sale and give it some promotion. If you stop by my Hearthome shop on Etsy and make a $50 purchase, mention that you saw this promotion, and I will give you free shipping over there as well! Come check out the mini hearthomes that I've been creating! New designs will be listed soon!

So stop by and check out what I have in both of my shops! Celebrate my birthday with me!

~Beth

Half a Century? Really?

I can't believe it really! I don't feel like it, but I had a big birthday this week and turned....gulp...5..0! I really do not like that number, but I'm trying to get used to it! I had a wonderful day of birthday wishes on Wednesday...the big day. My students hugged me alot and brought me birthday cake and my sister sent me flowers to remind me that I was turning this number! My friends who are already past that number assured me that it wasn't bad at all...that is was actually pretty good! Really? Ok...We'll see. They tell me that you don't put up with crap from people anymore. That you get to the point where you don't care what everyone thinks. Well, that does sound pretty good to me. I have always been one who worries about what other people think of me, but I have noticed lately that I have been caring less and less about those things. So here's to being...5..0! I sure hope that it is a good year and decade!

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Teresa!

New Years Eve is the birthday of a longtime friend of mine. I met Teresa 20 years ago. We instantly got along and became good friends. We've both been busy raising our kids, but we've always managed to keep in touch and get together on many occasions. She even worked at the same school, where I teach, for awhile. We are the same age too. Actually, she is 14 days older than me. So her wonderful son gave her a surprise lunch party for her yesterday (during her lunch hour). For this big birthday that we are having, I had to create something special just for her. Here is a photo of Teresa and I right after she opened my gift! So, here is to Teresa! Happy Birthday and a Happy New Year to all of my new friends!

"It takes a long time to grow old friends."

~Beth

Happy Holidays!

Well I survived the Christmas rush! Yesterday was our last family get together for Christmas. We travelled to my parents house for Christmas dinner and gift exchanging with the family. The trip took about an hour longer than it usually does because of flooding on the highway! Many areas got snow this week, but we got lots and lots of rain. My parents part of the state got about 10 inches of rain over a few days, so many creeks, lakes, ditches, and some roads and homes were flooded.

But we finally got there, ate the wonderful food, exchanged gifts, watched some Christmas special music and said our goodbyes before leaving for the trip back. The highway was still closed for flooding, but the traffic seemed to be moving more quickly going to other direction.

Above is the Tree House tile that my niece asked me to create for her. She gave it as a gift for someone special. The tile has special meaning or him and he really loved the tile.

Hope you were the recipient of a special gift this year! I was! I received an unexpected box of candy in the mail on Christmas Eve for no reason! It meant so much to me that she thought of me at this time of year! Thank you so much!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

~Beth

From the Workshop...

Whew! I think I can breath out and relax a little now! The past month has been a very busy time for me. I've been busy creating tiles for custom orders and trying to keep up with school stuff too. But I'm almost finished with the custom orders! Not quite, but I'm too the point that I'm pretty sure that it will get done in time for Christmas....short of an ice or storm storm that knocks the power out! Thank goodness, that is not very likely, here at least, for the next week! Anything is possible, but I don't believe we have any major storms in our forcast yet. January and February is usually the time that we have more winter weather.

I have been working on custom tiles of clay, like the one shown above. These two were done of the same house. I created the whole house first. The details were so small that I thought I would create it again, but closer to the house. I decided that I liked both just as much! So much for deciding after they were finished! I guess my customer liked both too, because she purchased the 2nd one too! But I did give her a discount. She was a good customer.

I've been to the post office and other errands today, taken photos of new mini houses from the kiln, and had a nap, so now I'm ready to go do more glazing. The kids are home for the holidays, so I have plenty to do this week....along with a good nap each day!

Hope you are having fun preparing for Christmas!

~Beth

Tree House Tile

Well I sound like a broken record, but again I have been very busy! I have been creating custom home tiles for several people. So when I get home from school, I tried to get busy working on tiles and glazing mini hearthomes. I am excited to create some custom tiles, but they are more difficult to create. Having customers that give you a few photos and say...do what you want!! That is pressure! But it is fun. I just wish that time was not so short right now. Christmas is coming quickly! I have to finish my shopping and finish these tiles.

Thanksgiving Activities and Clay Houses

Unglazed Bisque Tile

Well it has been another busy couple of weeks. I don't know where the time has gone lately! It seems like it was just last week when school started and we will be winding down this semester in just a few weeks! Thanksgiving is behind us and the holiday season rush has begun! My Christmas tree is up, thanks to my daughter and husband! They took care of that last weekend. So now I can enjoy the next few weeks and not have to worry about setting up the decorations.

This week we traveled to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Wednesday we had my husbands parents over for dinner. Both kids have been home all week, so we have had a full house, and the 2 granddogs! They are like having babies to take care of! But they are cute.

Small bisqueware Mini HeartHomes

I've also been busy working on some new mini houses and tiles. I posted a photo of the mini houses a couple of weeks ago, when they were freshly made. Here they are after they have been fired once. I have also put the black glaze wash on them. Next I will be adding the rest of the colored glazes and fire them again and they will be done. It usually wouldn't take so long to get one or two finished, but I made several, so it will take me awhile to glaze them all. Plus I've been very busy with school and family, so I hope to finish them up in the next week. I hope to post them in my Etsy shop soon. This time I made Small, Medium, Large, and Extra wide sizes for different price points.

Extra wide Mini HeartHomes

Medium Bisqueware Mini HeartHomes

Stay tune for pictures of the final version of the little houses. If you think you would be interested in buying one of my little house, just click on my Etsy shop and send me a convo about what color you would want it to be painted. I haven't listed them yet, but the prices will be: small - $12, medium - $15, large - $18, and extra wide large - $20.

Hope you all had a wonderful week of Thanksgiving!

~Beth