merry christmas to all...

i wish each and every one of you a very merry christmas. i hope you enjoy warm and special time with family and friends.

twigs

i just finished up my latest commission last week. i had the owner of a local florist shop, Twigs asked me to make custom necklaces for her employees to give them for christmas. each "twig" necklace is one of a kind and different. i hand cut each design out. every necklace had a green twig and a blue leaf. i was delighted with the final products! i have really enjoyed my past two commissions and look forward to doing more!

a new little lily use :)

my friend just sent me these pictures of her friend's dog Lilly. she came down about a month ago to buy one of my "little lily" hairclips for her friend's dog! what a great idea!!!! i LOVE it!!!

Modish Giveaway...

just in time for the holidays, Modish is hosting a lovely giveaway. click here to enter. 

GOOD LUCK!!!

etsy love

i have always been a fan of cicada studio. i found these lovely lavender and chamomile sachets in her etsy shop. they make great stocking stuffers.

Flatiron Studios open all day and tonight!!!

lily pottery will be open today 11-4 and 6-9. we want to help your locals find the perfect unique gift for christmas! i do hope you can stop by tonight 6-9 all of west greenville will be lined with luminaries. from Flatiron to the Art Bomb, you can drive by candle lit luminaries.  this is a fun and festive way to experience great art and maybe pick a few gifts while you're out!

don't forget in Flatiron studios "To All A Good Cup" will be serving coffee and tasty treats for you to enjoy and will be taking orders for their yummy banana bread.

join us today if you still have a few on your christmas lists. from handcrafted ceramic jewelry to wall sculptures and beautiful wheel thrown vases to lily pottery gift cards, come get your shopping done!

new rings!

many of you know, i don't have rings very often. the reason behind it was i've never found a source to get good quality ring bases from in bulk. i have good news...i found a girl to make them for me and it gets even better...they're adjustable. now i know when you think "adjustable" you think "cheap", but these are adjustable from the top under the pottery piece, so know one, except the person wearing the ring knows it's adjustable! I am so excited about these rings, they come in square and round. I made a big batch of 20 for last week's first fridays and they flew out the door. i've made a bunch more to help with your christmas list!!!! i've put a few on my etsy shop for sale, but will be adding more soon!!!

i just finished up yesterday a pretty large commission and delivered it; i loved this project and i'll be blogging about it soon...

hope you all are having a wonderful week!

whew!

well, as many of you have contacted me wondering why i haven't been blogging...i've been a "studio hermit" lately! i have had some large commissions come in this past month and on top of getting ready for Christmas, i've been BUSY!

the commission i just finished up for Popcorn Initiative, was my favorite commission yet. i thoroughly enjoyed working with Chris on his custom chirstmas ornaments he sends to his clients every year. i loved his ideas and we worked together to come up with 120 of these sweet birdies. He came in this past week with the finished product and i was floored! i absolutely LOVE what he did! his close attention to detail was stunning. the label on the square tin, christmas card, and tags on the ornament were all letter pressed. the bird was nested in the metal square tin under the card that was perfectly cut to the size of the tin. then he pulled out these lovely letter pressed bookmarks with my logo, a little yellow bird on a branch, and website as a "thank you" for doing his commission!!! how cool is that?!?!?

i told Chris, if i were one his clients, i would be checking the mail every day in December for his package to come!

First Fridays!!!!!

I haven't posted on my blog in it seams FOREVER!!!! I have been so busy working on a couple of pretty large commissions and trying to get ready for Christmas! Well, tonight you can come down to my studio and check out what my busy little self has been up to! I'm open tonight 6-9 and tomorrow (saturday) 10-3. I hope you can come tonight for a very special First Fridays. My good friend April Schwingle has joined me for this show. We have worked together on nature inspired forms and sculptures. I have a whole new batch of rings for those of you who've been waiting. I have lily pottery gift certificates available, and plenty of ornaments for stocking stuffers and gifts. I also have my friend Jay Albright coming to preform live music tonight!
We at Flatiron have collaborated to make this show a little bit special for you as well, we've put together a Flatiron Studios Giveaway. Each of us have pulled together some special handmade goodies and anyone who comes tonight can sign up to win these fabulous goods!
Also, my good friends of Royal Buffet, Annie and Mollie will be in the guest gallery of Art and Light as well as "A Good Cup Cafe" will be serving delicious homemade goodies and coffee.
My ghope to see you locals this weekend :)

...And no worries, I'm back in commission and will be posting everyday again starting Monday! ;)

the gift basket you can win from Flatiron this weekend!!!!!
Kyle's gifts- a famster and garland

Barb's gifts- two cake plate stands

Teresa's gifts- a jessica gonacha 12 month calendar and bottle cap magnets

my gifts- a $25 lily pottery gift certificate and ornamnet

the newest addition to the stratton fam

this is my new kitty named "trooper". she's a trooper alright! trooper came to live with us when she was about 6 weeks old. she's SO tiny and i've been bottle feeding her. the story behind her name is crazy, but i was on my way to the pound to adopt a kitty. when me and sister got there, the pound wasn't open yet, so we decided to sit on the bench and wait for it to open. while we were sitting there, a really old red trooper struggled up the hill to find a parking spot. the lady in the passenger seat rolled down her window and asked , "any of you want kittens?" i went to the window, and in her lap was a box of three TINY kitties! they said they had found them in the bushes. i was so afraid to take one because they were so tiny and needed lots of care without a mommy at such a young age. after much deliberation, i decided to take a kitty. the lady and man in the car became emotional when i decided to take her. they told me they were so happy she was going to a good home. they went on to explain that, the man had recently lost his job and they had been living out of their trooper for the past 7 weeks and couldn't afford to raise the kittens anymore. i felt so bad for the couple and couldn't believe they had been living in their car. i gave the couple the cash i was going to use to adopt a pet, and they became even more emotional. between tears they tried to refuse the money, but i insisted they needed more than me. they thanked me a million times calling me an angel, then took the other two kitten to be adopted. 

so, i named the sweet furball trooper. since she's come home with me, she's grown and become quite the playful kitten. penelope, my other adult cat, still isn't sure what she thinks of her, but she's coming around...

i'm so happy to have trooper, this sweet little kitty as our newest addition to the fam :)

thanks etsy and shellieartist!

a big thanks to shellieartist for including me in her post on the etsy blog, storque. she featured the carolinas and the art we have to offer and included me in her list of south carolina artists. check out the post here. thanks shellie!

check out Reya Veltman

I found this talented girl on etsy and i adore her felt work! she's a self taught artist living in the Netherlands. click here check out some the lovely items she has for sale in her shop right now or go to her website here

" boulder bowls"

"felt pebbles"

"tree folk"

photos via reya veltman

birds of a feather...

my friend mollie of Royal Buffet has been busy been creating and stocking up for the holidays! you can find these lovelies in her etsy shop. I am in love with all of her paper goods! mollie will have a show with a menagerie of her beautiful work on display at Flatiron Studios this December First Fridays in the Art and Light guest gallery. i can't wait, and i'll be sure to post more details when First Fridays gets closer. For now check out her etsy shop and find the perfect gift wrapping accessories to make your gift giving special this holiday season!

photos via royal buffet

inspiration trip to Charlotte

my husband took me to charlotte this past weekend for my birthday, and i was so excited to see their arts district called NODA. we strolled the streets of an area really similar to Pendleton Street Arts Dist (where my studio is in greenville) an area being revitalized. cool old brick buildings with funky and fun galleries inside lined the streets. there were some fun little sandwich shops along the way, a coffee shop, a theater/music house, a cool book house, a "pamper your pet" shop, a french bakery and a nice restaurant. It wasn't that far ahead of my arts district. the gallery and boutique owners were so nice to share their experiences and offer their advice. Some of my favorite galleries and boutiques were, lark & key owned by Sandy Snead and boyfriend Duy Huynh, both talented artists themselves. This was a gallery/boutique with a mix of jewelry, clothing, fine art, and ceramics. they are what and where i want to be in the future with a nice mix of all things creative. another really cool gallery that also included working artist studios was green rice owned by Carla Garrison. she had a super great mix and was so kind to share how she got to where she is and share some tips. Both of these ladies were young professionals which was cool for me to see them young and following their dream, and achieving it! they both have done such an awesome job with their spaces and have really nice collections of affordable artwork.

A few other cool places to check out are the Boulevard this boutique/gallery carries some really cool local goods and artwork. also, Center of the Earth Gallery was a very nice higher end gallery that had a really great collections in. another funky place we stopped in was Beet a gallery of contemporary craft and functional art.

I'll be posting more about some of the individual artists this week. if you're ever in charlotte, be sure to check NODA out. i was so happy i had the chance to go this weekend, and i'm ready to get to work in my own artist district and studio :)

fabulous pottery show this weekend!!!

Two fellow potter friends will be having a show in the guest gallery of Art and Light Gallery tonight. You've got to check out the lovely work of these to lovely ladies, Carrie and Sara. Their work compliments one another's so well and they've been really busy getting ready for this show. Come down to Art and Light Gallery this weekend to see the show, Friday, Novemeber 14 from 5 pm - 9 pm and Saturday, November 15 from 11 am - 6 pm. You won't want to miss it!

photos via art and light

now available on my website...

the metal hoop earrings are now on my website to purchase! click here to see them...