It's (almost!) the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Fall is finally here! Last night as I was leaving my parent's house it was so cold I could see my breathe. All I could think was one thing...the holidays are finally here!!! My boyfriend quickly reminded me I was getting a little ahead of myself. Before I can start thinking about Thanksgiving dinner and what I want for Christmas, we need to get through Halloween. So, now I've decided to focus all my festive energy on Halloween. Here's what I'm going to be:
I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I know there will be quite a bit of Royal Blue Tulip Permanent Fabric Dye involved. Not feeling festive this year? Visit ilovetocreate.com for fun and easy projects that'll get you in the spooky spirit in no time! The Spooky Smiles Plate is a cute way to display all those treats your ghosts and goblins love to nibble on!

I didn't realize how much I liked Satin Glazes until I saw this plate in person. Check them out! There's plenty of other cool Halloween projects and costume ideas at ilovetocreate.com. I love these Twilight-inspired tees (Team Edward!) and this super cute Boo Buffet! Somehow you can never have enough candy corns! If you need EVEN MORE Halloween inspiration, pop over the Swell Designer's blog. She's posted a TON of Halloween projects. Seriously, more Halloween projects then you ever thought possible! There's definitely something for everyone. Here's one of my faves:

Happy Holidays everyone!

Ceramists in Training

These are my favorite little cousins, Risa, Lea, and Vida. I know you’re not supposed to pick favorites, but with personalities even cuter than their little faces and trendy outfits, it’s hard not too. Ssshhh, don’t tell the others.


The girls took a ceramics class earlier this summer, and their Mom, my Aunt Ver and the mistress over at the Nesting Ground, sent me this picture of a plate made by Lea.

She’s only 7 people, and already way more talented than me! She molded the organic shape of the plate herself, and then used shells to form the flower petals. Super cute, right? The sweet design perfectly matches her sweet little self. My aunt wasn't sure, but I like to think she used Cover-Coat or E-Z Strokes to paint her design. I wish I could tell you the name of girls’ teacher, but my aunt couldn't remember and no website exists. The teacher’s a true artist who couldn't make a living doing her art, so now she gives classes out of a studio in her garage on the side. My aunt used the word “studio” lightly, as no attempt was made to make it look like a class or a workshop. It was literally just a garage. How cool is that?! I’m sure Indie artists have taken quite a hit in this economy, as people cut back on luxuries such as art. I love that this artist is capitalizing on the DIY movement, and at the same time sharing her love of ceramics with eager young students like my cousins. The girls are coming to visit this weekend, so I’m hoping these budding artists can give me a few pointers! That is if we’re not all in a food coma after our visit to the big, big, big, big, BIG Fresno Fair...

i LOVE to create with Color Bazaar!

It's been so hard for me to keep quiet about my FAVORITE new program, Color Bazaar! Finally, after a long and painful wait, I can tell you all about it! As I mentioned in my CCSA Recap, Color Bazaar is an innovative color process that transforms ordinary objects into a treasure. Color Bazaar gives bare surfaces a vibrant and magical personality with an easy-to-master technique designed for every skill level. With Color Bazaar, anyone can create a beautiful piece of art. Yes, even me! This program is SO easy and SO fun, I just love it. Here's how it works:

First, you choose your object and pigments. I went with Sapphire, Amethyst, Gunmetal, and Onyx.

Next, you pour a small amount of Sparkle Fuse adhesive into your object, and roll it around until it completely coats the inside.

You then drain the excess Sparkle Fuse. This step is SUPER important. I left my object for a minute or two to make sure I got it all out.

Next I scooped my pigments into the object using the Pigment Spoon (not pictured), and shook and turned my object until the pigment covered the entire inside of the surface. Here's my object halfway through...

...and here's the finished project!

As my last step I embellished with Tulip Glam-It-Up PDA, and hung it proudly outside my cube. As you can see, I have quite a collection forming!

I promise, anyone can be successful with Color Bazaar! Everyone at iLoveToCreate has fallen in love! Look at all these objects I stole from my co-workers:

Aren't they so pretty?! So do I have you convinced? Want to learn more about Color Bazaar?! Visit www.ilovetocreate.com for all the details!

All about Inspiria - cirque du CCSA!

After a crazy four days, we clicked our heels and made it safely home from Kansas! We had SO much fun at Inspiria - cirque du CCSA! CCSA stands for Contemporary Ceramic Studios Association. This was my first time attending their annual convention, and it was an AMAZING time. I might be a little biased, but I have to say our iLoveToCreate booth blew the competition out of the water! Thank you to Alyson, Mandy, Pattiewack, Michelle, Sam and everyone else for all their hardwork! Here's some pictures:

Beginning to setup the booth on Friday

It's coming together!

Finally done and we're ready to go! Here's the Crafy Chica demoing our Duncan Make It Take It! It was a super cool project using our Duncan Oh Four Bisque Slant Star Box, Concepts, and sand!

One of the MOST exciting parts of the convention was that we FINALLY got introduce Color Bazaar!

Color Bazaar is an innovative color process that transforms an ordinary object into a treasure! Here's Traci Bautista demoing our exciting new program to excited Studio owners!

Color Bazaar makes it easy to experience creativity and the excitement of personal accomplishment! Here's Larry Duncan and the Crafty Chica showing off their treasures!

Here's some pictures of Valerie and Dean showing customers what the iLoveToCreate booth is all about!

My favorite part of the booth was our Duncan Oh Four Bisque Seasonal Blooms Collection painted with Concepts. This picture hardly does them justice, but aren't they gorgeous?!

I also loved our Color Bazaar wall. Check it out:

Well, that it's for now folks! Thank to you everyone at cirque du CCSA who stopped by our booth and tried out our products. It was so nice to meet all of you! See you next year in Reno!

Tune into Inspired at Home and Dippin' Dean!

Inspired at Home with Tiffany Windsor is a creative lifestyle program that treats listeners to lively conversation including creative tips, project ideas, product reviews and creative lifestyle interviews. In case you didn't know, Tiffany is the daughter of America's favorite "Tacky" lady, Aleene Jackson. Yes, THAT Aleene, as in Aleene's Original Tacky Glue! This weekend's program with feature Ceramic guru (and my boss!) Dean Saether!
Dean has been involved in ceramics since childhood. He used Duncan Ceramic Arts products for the first time when he was 7 years old, and hasn't stopped since! His love of ceramics eventually led him to employment at Duncan Enterprises (now iLoveToCreate), where he has worked for 17 years! Dean is truly an expert in the field of ceramics. He's also an all-around fun guy, so I know this will be a great segment! Dean and Tiffany will talk about how iLoveToCreate and the Duncan Ceramic Arts brand has made the ancient art of ceramics accessible to people with varying levels of creativity and ability by providing the products and education to guide their success! Tune in and post your thoughts here!

She's Creative! Part Two

So awhile back I shared a dark Creativity Confession with you, my faithful followers. The truth is, once upon a time, I was creative. I wonder to myself, what happened? Was there some event that utterly convinced me I had no creative bones in my body? As I got older was it no longer cool to ride my bike to Color Cafe? I guess I'll have to do a little more soul searching before I can reveal the answer to that one! In the meantime, I'll continue to post evidence of my past glory days. I'm finding it is SO much fun to stumble upon these ceramic pieces I haven't thought about in years! Here's my latest discovery, which, as you can see, is circa 1998:

Call me crazy, but I don't think that's half bad! I was clearly partial to the French Dimensions and Concepts back in those days. I still am, actually, with a new love of Crystals Glazes! For this project I used FD 258 Pure White, as well as CN 261 Light Grape, CN 041 Light Papaya, CN 061 Light Salsa, Cn 181 Light Kiwi, CN 121 Light Nautical, CN 123 Dark Nautical, and CN 142 Bright Aqua. Wouldn't it be so fun to try to do this project now?! I'm totally inspired to give it a try! Stay tuned to see how it turns out. Until then, I'm going to keep digging around my parents' house to see what else I can find. Do you guys have any long forgotten ceramic pieces laying around? Send me pictures and I'll share them with everyone! Happy hunting!

Interview with Ceramic Superstar Suzie Shinseki

iLoveToCreate, a Duncan Enterprises Company is known by many as "the most creative company in the world"! We got this name in large part due to our AMAZING team of designers. These people are so creative, it's ca-razy! All of our ceramic pieces are designed by Suzie Shinseki. Check her out in our Duncan ad!

I asked Suzie a few questions so all of you could get to know our celebrity a little better!

So Suzie, how old were you when you first started doing ceramics? I was in my 50s!

Really?! So what drew you to the Ceramic Arts? It was the other way around - Ceramics drew me. I was introduced to ceramics in my first position at iLoveToCreate (then Duncan Enterprises) as Color Tile Technician. It was my job to learn about ceramics and cleaning greenware, and to paint small tiles using our product. Today we have so much more product!

I bet! Speaking of Duncan product, what's your favorite product to create with, and why? If I had time to do anything of my own, my product of choice would be E-Z Stroke™ Translucent Underglazes, Concepts® Underglazes, and other products (like Crystals™ Glazes) t0 add interest in areas. My background is in Fine Arts and illustrative work, and these two products lend themselves to achieving the details and capturing the realism in a piece.

What's a typical day like for you? Give us the inside scoop on being an iLoveToCreate designer! A typical day as an iLoveToCreate designer? Let's see... I start off the day at the computer checking e-mails and our computer system for my daily tasks. From there, it's juggling the jobs and taking on the most urgent. My tasks may range from one end of the spectrum to the other, so it can be challenging!

It's true! I've seen you go from designing a ceramic piece to sewing an apron, all in one day. I know it's probably tough to choose, but what's your favorite piece you've created? I think my favorite would be a piece I created with E-Z Stroke™ Translucent Underglazes many years ago!

Any words of wisdom you can pass on to aspiring ceramists? The only thing I can say (and I apply to myself, as well) is to do what you enjoy and keep at it. Keep painting and creating...you can only get better each time and learn!

A big thank you to Suzie for taking time out of her busy day to chat with us!