Who's great idea was this again?????

During the weekend workshop, Wendy said we should set aside a day when we can send the rest of my family out and take all the studio stuff (except the heavy shelving) out into the rumpus, then paint wash the floors in the studio (Massive job, but one I've been wanting to do for ages).  Glenna and I also then talked later that night (or rather early the next morning) about de-cluttering the studio a bit more and having a clean out and re-arrange.  I felt so motivated afterwards, that on Sunday I decided to start with the end two shelves.  Problem was, once I started, I didn't want to stop.  Now I am half way through, with a kids class after school tomorrow and this is what my studio currently looks like, Yikes!

Now I guess it could be fair comment if some of you say - hey it looks like that quite often, but in reality, it is a lot worse than I ever remember it (except for that one crazy Friday night when I said to Gypsy that I'd quite like to switch the studio around and she said OK, let's do it and we were going till well after 3am the next day - it sure did look pretty bad right in the middle of that clean and switch around).  Also, before the weekend workshop, I actually had all the customer tables clear and cleaned.  One does however have to pull everything off the shelves to clear them out properly and give them a clean down, so it was inevitable that the tables would end up full of stuff.  It's bloody hard work - (Gypsy I'm appreciating your efforts all over again), but I know the end result will be worth it.  Once it's done, I can also start thinking about getting those floors done and then getting the new (to me) tables here and selling off these high ones.

I'm sure I'll thank the motivators later on when it's all finished and looking good, but right now I'm tired and sore, full of dirt and dust and have loads to go before tomorrow's class, so back to it!  Will post some photos once completed.

Vienna at the show

Whilst at the Ceramic and Craft show, we had one very well behaved little girl to keep us company.  She had loads of fun exploring under the tables and in the boxes and bags.

Emptying out my wallet (I did give it to her, so it was all cool - only wished I had caught a photo of her trying to get another wallet out of a handbag from the next stall along!!!)

Then she decided it was time for a little walk.

Then a bit of time for some nice cuddles with Carrie and with Mum.

Then chill out in one of Carrie's display boxes!

Play peek-a-boo under the table.

Laugh out loud (I'm not sure what the joke was here?)

And finally show off her new trick.  Standing and balancing all by her self.  Wendy said she had done this before for about 10 seconds, but on Sunday, she stood there for what must have been nearly half a minute?  She even managed to keep her balance whilst turning her head and looking up.  Wont be long now!!!

Thanks for making the day so much more fun Vienna and thanks to Glenna for taking all the pictures on the day.  Whilst I remembered the camera, was just too tired to remember to take the photos too, but Glenna spotted the camera and away she went - yay!

Ceramic & Craft Show

On Sunday 22, we went to the Ceramic and craft show in Takapuna.  I had a scrapbooking stand and Wendy and Glenna shared a stand for their goodies.  It went OK.  Not a lot of people through the door, but it seems harder and harder to drive people to these shows ans then once there, even harder to get them to spend money. I guess however that is the reality of things with the way most people's finances are these days.

As for the ceramics part of the show, I entered 3 pieces from the studio.  1 of my own and 2 of my junior students.  Both kids got a first, with Brooke's sun getting a 1st overall for her age group as well.  My piece got a 2nd place (I guess at some stage the student will surpass the teacher.... isn't that how the saying goes?).

Anyway, here are the pictures of the piece.  My black and blue glass bowl, Kyle's gorgeous copper bowl and Brooke's sun plaque (photos do not do these pieces justice).

Well done to all who participated in the show and received an award.

Japanese Homestay

Taryn's school had visitors from Japan and so we took on 2 home stay at short notice, but just for 4 nights.  Yuzuki and Nao arrived Wednesday evening and settled in well.  They brought heaps of gifts for us, including lollies for Taryn and Jayden - some of which were pretty interesting, like the grape flavoured candy floss with popping candy in the middle - Yum!

They also brought some paper balls (that we'd seen from previous Japanese Home stays) and played with them in the lounge and the rumpus.  They tried out the trampoline, the Foosball table and even had a go at darts (lets just say to that one that standing well back was a very good idea).  I also let them paint a mug and a tile each to take home to Japan and they seemed to enjoy that.

They were both super helpful and enjoyed helping with the cooking and were polite and well mannered too. Overall another good home stay experience.

Busy Fortnight

Wow, what a busy fortnight that was.  Between last minute Japanese homestays, the ceramics show, the 100's of tiles and mugs for school and kindy fundraising and getting organised for kids camp and ScrapCamp, it's been non-stop around here.  I think I could sleep for a whole day before catching up!  So, in the following posts, a quick catch up on photos from the events.

16 eh?????

This weekend I decided to make my popular 'Ugly Biscuits (as we call them in this house).  They are super yum, made with jersey caramels and apple rings all chopped up and cooked in an oat biscuit base.  They are not however in any way 'pretty' looking biscuits!

It had been a while since I made them, so I had a quick look at the recipe - makes 16 - it said!  Hmm, 16, better do a double batch, 16 wont last long in this house.  So, I doubled the batch. I don't know how big their 16 biscuits were, but after 5 & 1/2 trays of baking, I had 64 biscuits.  64!!!!!

I filled Michael's large Tupperware biscuit box and still had biscuits left over, so I filled the kids biscuit box and then everyone happily taste tested at least 2 each.  Guess I won't have to do any baking for a while now huh?

Right place, right time

Don't you just love it when you or someone else just happens to be in the right place at the right time!  I'm convinced that the universe makes it so most of the time.

Last week I decided to create a forum on my Caz Dezign Blog.  I always understood it couldn't be done on blogger and found many instances where people had tried and failed.  I started to search alternatives and then found a site that said it could in fact be done in blogger.  I set about getting it started and created the forum. It didn't look like I wanted it to though as it had taken on the format of my other pages in the blog, (ie with side panels etc).  I wanted it to take the whole page.  On Friday night, I found the instructions to do this, but just couldn't find the right place to insert the html code.  Even Taryn had a search for me.

Then Ashley arrived for a visit on his way home. He sat down and had a look for me.  Turns out I wasn't quite looking for the right thing, but regardless he just went 'bing, bang, boom' and it was done.  YAY!  If it hadn't been for him I would still probably be here trying to figure it out, instead I have an active forum.  Thanks Ashley - You Rock!