Just wanted to share...

I thought this was really cool, so I thought I would share.

Lost in the shuffle...

Yellow Cottage Heart Home Tile

5" x 5"

♥Beth S. Macre © 2009♥

This tile was finished a couple of weeks ago, but in the process of opening my second Etsy shop, listing many new things, blogging about the new things, I forgot to blog about this tile. The excitement of being out of school usually sends me on a whirlwind of activity trying to get as much accomplished in 8 or 9 weeks as possible! This years it no exception, but this week I've haven't been feeling so well. I am nursing a severe sunburn that I got last weekend on a trip to the lake...which was very enjoyable, but...I'm paying for it this week!

Home Tweet Home!

This is one of my newest Hearthome Tiles.

Of course birds have homes too! This lucky bird already has a home. It was made especially for a member of the AREtsy Team (Arkansas Artists on Etsy). The team had a swap for the members that wanted to participate in the swap. We were to make something to go with the theme SpringTweets. So I created this Hearthome for this little birdie.

The second photo is the tile before it was glazed and fired the second time. After it is bisque fired (the first firing), I then glaze it with a thinned black glaze. After it is dry, I wipe off the excess black glaze from the raised surfaces of the tile. Then I add the other glaze colors. Once I get all of the colors added, I glaze the entire tile with a clear glaze. When that is dry, it is ready for its' final firing.

What do you think should live in a Heart Home?  ~Beth

It was so fun painting with texture...

...that I did another one! Earlier I painted a larger painting with 5 red flowers for our guest (my daughter's when she's home) bedroom. I liked it so much that I decided to do a smaller version of it with 3 flowers. I had fun painting it also. I plan to do some other things using this texturing medium. It is a heavy gel medium that you mix with the paint to make the acrylic paint thicker and hold its texture. You can use a pallette knife to smear it onto the canvas like icing on a cake.
This one is finished and listed in my Etsy Shop.

Santas Vacation?

Have you ever wondered what Santa does during the summer? Well apparently they go meet with other Santas! And they dress very cute!

Apparently this group meets here each summer and learns how to be great Santas! Of course Santa needs to be good at what he does, but he also needs to stay up to date with technology and the latest toys and gadgets that kids like these days!

So I guess Santa does get to leave the North Pole and go on vacation! This one seems to like barbecue. Of course you have to come South to get a good barbecue!

Doesn't he look cute in his red and white flowered shirt?

These two must be discussing the latest in Santa furniture!

Only 6 more months till Christmas!

~Beth

New Clay Tile...

'Evening at Home'

Heart Home Clay Tile

4" x 4"

See here on Etsy

...is finished and listed on Etsy. This is the tile that I blogged about here: Textured Tile. I thought I might not get to fire it because earlier this week I went to fire some things in my kiln, but it wouldn't turn on! So I had to get an electrician to look at it. He was able to fix it up for me, so I fired it up yesterday. I had another tile in the kiln that I will post later. It was made for a trade with another Arkansas artist on Etsy.

I am featured!

...in an Etsy Treasury...

Etsy Treasury

Set of 3 Heart Home Clay Houses

A big thanks to Oakleafhollow , a fellow Arkansan on Etsy!

AND....

...as I mentioned earlier, in At Home in Arkansas June issue.

A sweet friend of mine found a copy of the magazine in another town and brought it to me! Here is a picture of front cover and my hearthomes! I'm pretty excited to be in print! You can probably tell by the goofy grin!

The Longest School Year...

...is finally over! I didn't think it would ever end! Because of the ice storm that we had in January, we had 6 days to make up, so they added all 6 of those days to the end of the year! So yesterday was our last day to work. We go back around the middle of August, so the summer will seem very short. But I plan to make the most of all of my time out! I have plans to work in my home studio at least 4 to 5 days per week, if not more. So I got started today. I worked on glazing some of my small clay pieces that I will be putting in the kiln to fire next week. I have to go back to my classroom to fire my pieces, but I do have some paperwork at school that I need to work on. I also plan to work on paperwork throughout the summer to get organized for the next school year. So even though school is out, I do still have school work to do. But I will work on it when I feel like it, at my leisure.

Above is a picture of some of the small clay pieces that I have been working on. I will be listing some of them in my Etsy shop. I have a few more houses to glaze and fire, then I will be working on some colored pencil pieces...maybe even some acrylic paintings. I feel like experimenting!

What do you do in the summertime?

~Beth