Mary Engelbreit Takes My Cupcake

Mary Engelbreit and Heather Morrow

I have just returned from the 2009 Craft & Hobby Show in Anaheim, California. It was a crazy four days filled with 10 art classes and a huge wholesale vendor show with a ton of "make-and-take" projects to highlight how to use their products.

I ordered quite a bit for my Creative Souls Workshops, so look out -- the projects this Spring are going to be out of this world.

One of the highlights of the show was, meeting Mary Engelbreit, artist and entrepreneur. Her magazine (ME), which is no longer going to be published, has taken crafting and scrapbooking to a whole new level. In addition, her illustrations have been published in hundreds of books and licensed for everything from Christmas decorations to cookie jars. In my world she is best known for her "Henry" Scottie design.

My friend Marie and I had heard that she was going to be at one of the booths, but we had no idea where, let alone when. About mid-afternoon, I stopped at a "make-and-take" project table at the Plaid booth. We were using their new line of glitter paints (which I ordered) to decorate ceramic cupcakes. While I painted glitter on the cupcake, Marie went to pick-up another project we had done earlier in the day.

Marie returned and we moved onto the next "make-and-take" project table in the booth; however, it was being closed down. When we asked why, we were told that Mary Engelbreit would be arriving at any moment and they were using the space for her. We couldn't believe our luck and we were not about to give up our front row space.

When I met Mary, I was holding the freshly glittered cupcake (bottom of the photo) and she asked if it was for her. I told her sure, but that it was still wet. She didn't hear the it is "still wet" part and went to grab it. Needless to say, her hands were covered in glitter paint. As they scrambled to get something to help her clean-up, I left the cupcake off to the side to dry and my business card.

It was great fun and I don't think she will ever forget me because of the glitter painted cupcake she took home.

Alphabet Soup

The theme of the Creative Souls Workshop on Saturday, January 10 was Alphabet Soup. Each participant got an 8" 3-D Letter of their choice to decoupage. Each piece is as unique as the artist who created it.

Vicki's S - For her new granddaughter Serena.

Leann's L - The diamond mirrors give it a mosaic quality.

Heather's Q - Queen Bee.

Laurel's L - unLeash the Goddess within.

Michelle's M - her nickname is Micki.

It was a great Southern California day, so we were able to have the workshop outside in the backyard of Heart & Soul.

I do have extra Alphabet Soup kits available for purchase. It includes a letter of your choice and the papers and other embellishments to decorate the letter. The kits are $20, plus $10 for S&H.

The next Creative Souls Workshop is on Saturday, February 7. The theme is "The One You Love." We will be decorating a picture frame using found objects -- just in time for Valentine's Day.

Holiday Ornaments at Heart & Soul

On Saturday, December 13, 2008, I held a Creative Souls class at Heart & Soul in Pasadena. We each made 2 different types of ornaments. Unfortunately, they did not photograph well, so there is only one picture of my second ornament.

For the first ornament, we took images from holiday cards and glued them to paper mache ornaments. We then applied a special double sided sticky tape to the image and covered it with tiny clear glass beads -- giving it a very reflective quality.

For the second ornament, we found a small image that was cut down to the size of a monocle. A special crystal clear glue was applied to the glass and then the image was adhered to it (see below).

As a bonus, I brought my Revolution die cut machine with the template to cut gift tags. Donna and Vicki really had a blast cutting out the tags from old Christmas card images.

Happy Holidays!

Surface Decoration Class - Decals

Over the past six weeks, I took a course at Xiem on Surface decoration. The final class was to create decals to fire onto pieces of pottery glazed pottery. With a little help from Pottery Barn (hey, I've been busy), I applied my photos of my artichoke in the progression of blooming to these 4" plates.

The image is sent off to a guy who makes the tranfer "paper" and then it is applied and fired.

These are not for sale, yet. But check out my new blog. http://heatherspottery.blogspot.com.

Creative Souls Workshop - Spirit Houses

Yesterday in the Creative Souls Workshop at Heart & Soul, we created Spirit Houses. This idea came from a ceramic artist I met many years ago. He was selling Spirit Houses that would welcome in the souls that came for a visit.

I've been looking for a way to recreate the concept (not using clay) and I finally came up with the idea of using chip board (heavy cardboard) and decorating the house with paper and other embellishments. I used a ginger-bread house pattern to cut out each house. They were pre-assembled for the workshop, so we could spend the time on creative part of decorating the house.

Each is Spirit House is a unique work of art, inspired by the artist's own vision.

Vicki had an idea of using twigs and moss (which she brought to share), but she ended up working with the papers and embellishments provided to create a little house with siding (see below). Her sign above the door says "Dream".

Joanne used all sorts of papers to create a colorful house. Both she and I capitalized on Vicki's idea of using the moss. We used small mirrors to represent windows.

I started using the dark rose paper on the roof - completely intrigued by the rich color. My little sign says "Believe".

There are additional Spirit House kits available for $15.00. If you are interested, please contact me directly at clare1121@aol.com.

The next Creative Souls Workshop at Heart & Soul is December 13, 2008. We will be making Christmas Ornaments. It is sure to be a lot of fun.

The Stupid Hearts, Cute Boxes, etc.

Few things are more frustrating than being foiled in your vision of a piece of art work. "The Stupid Hearts," as they have come to be known around here, were processed similar to the butterfly and flower ornaments featured in the last posting; however, something went horribly wrong.

I applied 4 coats of a low-fire glaze called "Red Dragon". Let me just say that applying low-fire glazes takes a considerable amount of time as each coat must be painted on and then allowed to dry before the next coat is applied.

When I went to pick-up the "Red Dragon" hearts, they were completely white. The red colorant had burned away in the firing. I was devastated. So many hearts, so little time.

Junzo, the kiln master at the studio, suggested I refire the hearts using a glaze called "Hot Tamale." So, once again, I spent a huge amount of time painting 4 coats of glaze on each heart. As you can see below, most of the hearts turned out okay, but a few have broken spots within the red glaze (probably caused by dust).

Despite the drama, "The Stupid Hearts" came out looking pretty good.


Somewhere in this process, I was inspired to create small boxes, using the same cookie cutters I had used to make the ornaments. It required cutting out thicker pieces of clay and then stacking them on top of each other. The lids were made at the same time -- the knobs made from a Sprig mold.

Once the stack of clay was leather-hard, I carved out the inside. This is more time consuming than reglazing "The Stupid Hearts." They are still drying on the shelf at the studio, so I am not sure how they turn out after being glazed. After my disappointment in the hearts, I am hesitant to invest my heart into their success.

Last night, I started my six week course on Surface Decoration at Xiem Clay Studio. I think it is going to be a good class and I can take what I learn to apply to my other pieces.

Preparing for Xiem Studio Sale

As ceramics (on my schedule) take about 5 weeks to complete, I have been working on pieces to sell at the Xiem studio sale in mid-November.

I used cookie cutters to cut out the shapes of the flower and butterfly ornaments and then carved out the petals and wings. They are glazed with a low-fire glaze to get the brilliant color.

Brilliant Black on the bottom and then the bottle was dipped in Rutile Pink.

Apple Green Celadon Vase

Kei-Ito Red Bowl

Matt-Black on the bottom and then bottle was dipped entirely in Korean Blue Celadon.

Matt Black with Non-Iron Blue