LuLu is smiling!




lsk

We've had some great sales the past few weeks and still might have a home sale the weekend of Dec. 19th. I'll keep you posted. I just thought I'd post a few photos!

lsk

Please join us at : We are in Room 121

Holiday Crafts Fair & Sale
Saturday, November 21 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

The NCSU Crafts Center presents its 25th Annual Holiday Crafts Fair & Sale, featuring work by The Crafts Center’s own artists and craftspeople. Pottery, wood, jewelry, baskets & more! Meet the craftspeople and enjoy complimentary refreshments while shopping for unique items for yourself or those special people on your holiday gift list. Enjoy demonstrations by several craftspeople, and have your picture taken against our new "green screen" and inserted in a scenic digital location. Join the Celebration of Art at NC State!
Location: Thompson Hall, lower level - on Jensen Drive, across from the entrance to the Coliseum Parking Deck. Map & directions available on our website.

Admission: $1 per person or $2 per family; Free to NCSU students.
Visit www.ncsu.edu/crafts or call (919) 515-2457 for more information.

Finally.......the kiln is working and I am firing the load that has been in the kiln for 2 weeks. Now the fun part begins, getting caught up with the back log. Turn around time on a kiln load is 4 days. It's going to be fun!!!!!!!!!!!

lsk

Walk the Dog Arts upcoming sales!

If you get the chance, come by the Artful Hands Holiday Sale. It 's the first weekend in Nov. 5th, 6th and 7th. Thursday night is the wine and cheese preview party from 5:30 - 8:00.
Hope to see you there!

located at 5938 Ponderosa Rd., Raleigh


I have also added the list of upcoming sales to the blog!



lsk

Deb traded in her CRV for this VW bus! Peace all!










just kidding!
lsk

The Craft Center Re-opens!

Here is my small (bad picture) claim to fame. Click on the following link and scroll through the photos! http://blogs.newsobserver.com/multi/nc-state-arts-center-re-opens

lsk

Waiting to bisque

This batch wasn't quite ready for the bisque kiln.








lsk

"Peace of Art" show

Walk the Dog Arts is part of the "Peace of Art" show starting 9-11 at the Holly Springs Art Council. All of the art must have the Peace sign in or on it. We have Peace mugs and a Journaling to Peace journal. If you get the chance and are close enough to stop in at the reception tomorrow night, it is from 6:00-9:00 at the Holly Springs Art Council on Ballentine Street in Holly Springs.

lsk

Today's angel card: Harmony

I'm not sure I get all the hubbub about whether school children should be allowed to listen to the President of the United States on a school day ... in school. When I was growing up I was taught by my parents to respect and listen to my elders. My mother would NEVER have even thought of denying me the privilege of listening to the President of the United States, regardless of political affiliation.

Today's Angel Card: HARMONY !


lsk

Journals at Larry's Beans

Go to www.larrysbeans.com to see some of our journals. Take a look around the website.... it's pretty interesting.

The weather was beautiful today! It seems crazy that it is already September! Where does the time go?

DLL

Air Guitar!!!!

A little Air Guitar from a wood fire not so long ago! You have to have music when the stoking is slow!!!!!

Shino's

Here are some pictures from the last firing!


lsk

The Laptop!

So today Matt from Apple Buddies took my laptop away :( to remove the hard drive and try to retrieve my pictures, documents and everything else!!!!! I've been informed it is time to think about a new computer. I miss my laptop! I'm leaning towards a Mac. I'll need to decide soon.

lsk

Saturday, 08/22/09

Good God..... another humid, gray day in Raleigh, NC! It is so depressing here. Everything is so over-grown...& the bugs are so big.... it's like a freakin' tropical rain forest! It is SO difficult to find my creativity when the environment is so drab & ugly.
THANK GOD for LuLu!!! She keeps me smiling! :)

dll

Deb's Birthday!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Deb! LuLu sends big kisses.
Have a great day.




lsk

"I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind. I should not be ungrateful to those teachers."

-Kahlil Gibran

lsk

The Big CRASH!!!!!!

Last night the lap top crashed when I was getting ready to download things to an external hard drive! I don't know what this means really other than I have a ton of pictures, documents, emails and the mailing list on there! Hopefully Apple Buddies can help me out with this. SO .........no pictures today kiddies! And I'll post when I can.

I want to send a SHOUT OUT to my friend Katie Wilson who is a little under the weather right now. Katie I wish you a speedy recovery and keep your chin up. Things are looking up. I was going to post a nice picture of a lady bug that I know you would appreciate BUT..............

:(lsk

August 13, 2009

I've been in Wisconsin this week; tomorrow is the last full day that I'll be here. Today we went to a Brewers' game... they beat the Padres 12 - 9. Fielder hit a 465' homerun in the second inning! Tuesday we went to the State Fair, which was fun. Lots of people & lots of food! Tonorrow evening we'll go for a fish fry at Glenda's in Okauchee; then Saturday it's back to the airport for the trip to Raleigh. :(
I miss my BooBoo (LuLu), but I'd rather be in Wisconsin than back in the humidity of NC.
dll
PS: I did sew 3 journals while I've been here!

LuLu's Birthday

Today
is LuLu' s designated birthday. Since she is a rescue pup and was found with her siblings, her exact birthday is unknown. So today is the celebrated day. For breakfast she had her favorite: blueberries mixed with her food and salmon oil drizzled on top! As you can see by the picture below, she is pretty in different to the whole thing. My guess is that she is dreaming of the above left picture (beach), but will settle for the playing with the ball in the picture to the right. She'd like to play frisbee, but is not really interested in going outside since it is 100 degrees.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LULU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Firing the Craft Center kiln

We fired the Craft Center kiln this week for the first time since the renovations. The new chimney worked fine. With the new ventilation system and air tight room we will need to do some adjusting to get it right. The day we started it up we had our typical afternoon thunderstorm which meant we had to stand in just the right position to get the kiln to start. Supposedly, we weren't suppose to have this problem with the ventilation system and air tight room. After about 20-25 minutes and a little adjusting of the burners, she lit up. The rest of the firing went well. We played around with different settings on the 2 vents and the intake air supply ......... these vents and intake air supply are for the kiln room. It almost seems like these 2 vents and the air intake can act like another damper for the kiln. INTERESTING. I can see some possibilities here. In the mean time, there is still some fine tuning to get the basic firing down that will fit the whole glaze palate. In this firing some of the glazes were over reduced and some were beautiful. We will see what happens in the next firing.

lsk

07/25/09 at Uwharrie Ridge

Today I worked in the studio for a while, cutting & folding paper for journals. This afternoon we took a ride to Carrboro for a stop at the Open Eye Cafe & then on to Kathy's at Uwharrie Ridge. The hens & rooster had grown quite a bit since the last time I saw them....they are eating well! ( Soon there will be eggs, I think.)
Kath made a fantastic salad with fresh greens from the Farmers Market & tomatoes from her garden.
The butterflies and hummingbirds were abundant in the garden!

dll

Getting journals ready

I spent time today cutting paper and folding folios to match them up with covers. Next they will be marked so that I can drill them. Each folio will get a colorful cover page. Extra goodies will be added to each, then they will be sewn together with the coptic stitch.

lsk

After dinner espresso

After dinner tonight I made some stove top espresso. I should use this espresso maker more often. When I make it I usually put just a little fat free vanilla creamer in the top part. That way it is more like a latte (with out the foam).
Boy was it tasty!!!!!

I used two espresso cups I made a while back.
lsk

Digital Photo Workshop with Joy Tanner and John Britt

Yesterday I attended the Digital Photo workshop at John Britt's Studio http://www.johnbrittpottery.com/. The workshop was taught by John and Joy Tanner
http://joytannerpottery.com/. It was a great workshop. We learned how to make a light box and create a photo set-up. I learned a lot about white balance, f-stops and shutter speed. But what was most helpful to me was how Joy helped me figure these things out on my camera. You know sometimes when you try reading the provided manual ........... it really is a requirement that you are a rocket scientist. Anyway, a lot of valuable information was provided and we were fed a wonderful lunch. Check at John's website to see other up-coming workshops at John's studio.


lsk

Morning trip to the Arboretum

I took a quick morning trip to the Arboretum. Here are just a few photos.

lsk

LuLu's New Ride

LuLu always likes to play ball & go for a ride in her new vehicle! She's not too happy being in the cargo area of the car, but until I get a seat cover/protector for the back seat, she'll have to ride there (with the back seat folded up, so she has lots of room!) I had intentions of working on books this week-end, but never did get to that, although I did work on a few 'tags'. It took me awhile to 'decompress' after making the purchase..... it was difficult to be creative. dll

Bumper Stickers

While I was driving around the Midtown region of Raleigh the other day, I saw the following two bumper stickers on a car.
If you call one animal a pet how can you eat another and call it dinner?

Torturing one animal is called cruelty, torturing many is called science.

These bumper stickers have reminded me of a few things I have read lately. Such as.... According to Diet for a New America, over a billion people could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock every year.

And......From the National Geographic Mag......... With sizable brains and dexterous arms, octopuses are known to block their dens with rocks and amuse themselves shooting water at plastic bottle targets and lab staff. They may even express basic emotions by changing color, according to the Seattle Aquarium.

so, Going Veg..........reduces personal annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 tons
........ saves forests and wetlands from conversion to pasture and feed cropland
........ conserves water supplies

Just some food for thought. I'll get down off my soap box now. I know, I know this is suppose to be an 'artsy' blog.

lsk

More OBX

If you travel North from Hatteras up Hwy 12 to Manteo, Nags Head or Kill Devil Hills, make sure that you stop at one of 3 (or all 3) locations of the Front Porch Cafe. You can see a picture of the mugs I have made for them with their logo. They roast their own beans, aka Kill Devil Coffee Roasters. A blend that I like is Surfer's Organic Roast. They also have a large selection of lattes (try the Milky Way Latte, Deb likes the Blackbeard's latte), cappuccinos, and teas (Chai tea is awesome!).
At the Manteo location, Susannah and Paul have created a true coffee bar. This location is spacious with couches, chairs, tables, a coffee bar with all the beans displayed behind the bar, a great sound system, big screen TV, a comfy front porch and of course its"wireless". They often run dvd's relating to fair trade coffee, such as the movie 'Black Gold'.

Stop in and check it out!!!!

lsk

On the Outer Banks

This past weekend we made a quick trip to the Outer Banks of NC to deliver coffee mugs to the coffee house pictured here. (The "Mugs" were shown in an earlier blog.) I really wish we could have spent more time there, but we had to get back to Raleigh. Every time I am out there I think I really would like to live there! I know the winter cold and wind can cut through you like a knife, but there are down sides to everything. Picture this...... me as an old lady being a beach bum!!! Scary huh? Especially when a hurricane comes along.
So if you make it out to the Outer Banks, make sure that you stop in the Uglie Mugs Coffee House in Avon. The place is great and they have a killer s'mores latte!

lsk

Please Sir, may I have another!

A friends husband brews his own beer. I was lucky enough to get a taste of the Weisenheimer Wheat. It's pretty good stuff. As you can see this one is empty. I've put in a request for some berry flavored brew. Blackberries are in season right now. Doesn't that sound good?
I'd love to brew my own beer and roast my own coffee. Huh.....Like I need another hobby.

Anyway, Thanks again to the brewmaster and the delivery service that brought it to my hands! The bottle will be returned ASAP!

lsk

"Muggs"

Here are the Muggs for the coffee shop. They are all packed up and ready to go. LuLu, Deb and I are going to make the drive to OBX, NC to deliver them today. I hope they like them, there are 50 of them total. ( If you click on the image you can get a closer view of the image.)



lsk

Collage 'Tags'

I've been making tags that are collage....they're kind of cool....each has a little message. Collage is defined in this month's 'Cloth Paper Scissors' magazine. The term collage derives from the French verb "coller" meaning to glue or to paste. It was originally coined by George Broque & Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art; it entails much more than the idea of gluing something onto someting else. Collage began with paper, moved to canvas, & then graduated to wood. Collage in any form is a creative & rewarding way to express yourself!
My Mom has become the 'Queen of Collage'!!! She has altered an entire book & a few of my journals totally in collage & doodle. It's amazing!
dll

PS: The sun finally came out & the sky was nice & clear.... no hazy humidity!!!
It's been warmer in Wisconsin the past 3 - 4 days than it has been here!!!

Another Gray, Dull Day

Wed., 06/17/09
It's been gray and dull again, with a little rain. I miss the clear air and blue sky of Wisconsin..... the "HD air" (high definition), as my brother describes it! I finally finished the handmade, hand-sewn book for Dad, for Father's Day. It's not a journal because I didn't think that he would write. I wrote out the 'Desiderata' poem by Max Ehrmann on the first pages, and I added many other sayings, prayers, & pictures that I thought he would like. It's in the mail now; he should have it by Sunday, so I'll be anxious to see what he says once he opens it.
Now I'll begin work on 2 'special-order' books, & on more of my various types of journals so they are ready for the craft fairs in the Fall.... I wish that each little book that I make is somehow a source of inspiration to someone... that is what I'm thinking as I make each book.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring a brighter, clearer day.
dll

Wishing!

This is where my girl and I wish we were today!!!! However it's not in the cards for us in the near future. This picture was taken on Hatteras a while back on a beautiful December day. LuLu loves to play ball on the beach!!! She is a beach bum!!!


lsk

Promethea Moth

When I went out to the mailbox today I saw this promethea moth on the outdoor light outside the studio. It was just hanging out there opening and closing its wings like it was fanning itself ( in the shade). The right wing had some damage and a small portion was missing. The promethea moth is found in the eastern half of the United States and into Canada. I wish I could have seen the caterpillar that produced this moth because they are blue-green and mostly smooth, with rows of different colored knobs or tubercles. I know this thanks to my Peterson butterflies and moths guide. I'll bet the colors were brilliant.
Peace

lsk

My Best Friend, by Red ( of Red & Rover)

My best friend is a kissing fool. She'll cover your face in a slippery drool.
You'll be clean as a whistle yet wet to your neck
From a single, slobbery "LuLu"-dog - peck!

It's been rainy & wet outside. Everybody goes to work all day. Life's been a little boring.
I feel like playing a good game of frisbee.
LuLu

Getting LuLu's Approval

I've been getting a few journals ready to send to a gallery near Penland. As I was poking the holes into 'signatures' for a few of the smaller sized journals, LuLu came over to pay close attention to what I was doing!
She is one very nice girl!!!
dll

Mugs

I've been working on some "Muggs" for a coffee shop. I've been having some fun with these. Deb helped me come up with the faces and then make stamps with each face. Here are just a couple of greenware examples. I'll post more pictures after they are glaze fired.

lsk