Shop local... HELLO WISCONSIN!

A Wisconsin shout out for my neighbors...

1. MooShooPork

2. CottageHomeDecor

3. BuyHand

4.CraftPudding

5. ComfyCreations

6. DosPalomas

7. JenniferLadd

8. RetroMama

9. KnitzAndFeltz

10. GreenieMarie

11. TwelfthDimension

12. DanaCastle

13. Studio5115

14. PravinaStudio

15. EclecticWendyDesigns

16. JennaDesigns

17. SugarAndFlour

18. RedBootStudio

19. ArtAndPhilanthropy

20. FeltMates

21. DishfulsOfDoodles

Featured Seller, Jrisco...

My husband and I met at work.  We both worked at a pottery in upstate NY that makes hand painted and decaled tablewares & furniture.  While working there I gained an appreciation of hand painted ceramics.  Each piece a bit different.  All made with pride and attention to detail.  When I saw this shop that's what I thought of!  I love the whimsy and clean look of these pieces.  Jeanette Risco has a wonderful eye for balance and harmony.  She has the same feeling about her pottery as I do about my journals... they should be used everyday!  These little bits of pretty things are definitely too nice to let collect dust on a shelf!  And I can just imagine how impressed people will be if they actually get to use something that is this pretty when they come to visit!  She has wonderful things to gift also... my kids love tea sets.

She sent me a little something about herself...

Porcelain painting is a completely new venture for me. I graduated in 1995 from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles and for several years I worked as a designer in architectural and interior firms in Southern California and Seattle.

While living in Uruguay from 2005-2008 I had the opportunity to take the time to explore and learn some new things. I took classes in weaving, sushi, and pastel painting. I taught architecture to 4^th graders, learned Spanish, and played mahjong. I spent 2 years as the VP of the American Women’s Club and…I learned how to paint on porcelain.

From the moment I began exploring this new medium I found the anticipation and technical requirements of the medium very challenging. (Almost like the first time I drafted on AutoCAD – but much more fun!)

Please enjoy my pieces and know that I am having a great time creating unique one of kind treasures on porcelain that make people happy.

Use your china everyday!

Great workspace, Jeanette!  Keep up the good work!

Visit her shop at Jrisco or...

follow her on twitter, twitter.com/jnettrisco or...

join her facebook fanpage, Jeanette Risco Hand Painted Porcelin!  

He finally did it!

My husband finally opened his shop!  Yay!  You can see it here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lamplightpottery

He is having a Grand Opening Sale... buy one get one free button set until November 2nd!

You can see the kids helping with these buttons in this blog post... http://nightowlcraftworks.blogspot.com/2009/10/working-in-pottery.html

Or see some of the finished product in use in this post...
http://nightowlcraftworks.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-hubbys-buttons-tons-of-etsy-glitter.html

For now we have buttons up, but we will be adding mugs, and other gorgeous hand thrown pieces of pottery!

Andrew Zimmern, enough said.

OK, maybe some people don't know who Andrew Zimmern is.  He is the host of Bizarre Foods on The Travel Channel.  He usually eats things like bugs, rats, and bats.  YUCK!  When my husband heard he would be in town and doing a presentation he nabbed us tickets.  Apparently just in time, because the "show" sold out.  It was a great hour.  As anyone who knows me, knows I CAN'T COOK!  I love food, and I love to eat food.  To be sitting in a tent with about 100 people drinking wine and eating food while watching Andrew Zimmern cook, and even better tell stories was amazing!  I am always so envious of people who can cook, this man is an artist!  We sampled Latin cuisine.

The menu:

Cebiche a Tonno (Brazilian Fresh Tuna Ceviche)

Ecuadorean Salt Cod Fritters with Table Salsa

Yucatan Shrimp with Green Chiles with Avocado Sauce 

My favorite was the Tuna.  Superb.  He was very gracious, and put all the recipes on his blog.  As soon as he mentioned his blog, the guy next to me piped up and said that he must not want too many men to visit the site because the color scheme is pink & chocolate.  Andrew took it in stride.  No one pointed out that the guy that was calling the website "girly" was wearing a tasseled jacket... one that matched his wife's.  My husband and I got a chuckle out of that.  After the presentation there was a book signing.  So, I got to have my picture taken with Andrew Zimmern.  I wish we had the good camera and not the camera off of the phone.  Oh well.  We had such a good time!

What a great visit!

What a fun visit!  My mother-in-law came from NY to Wisconsin just for a visit.  She spent 5 days, which was almost not enough time to get everything done.  We decorated, shopped, and ate!  She had such a great idea for these "Boo Brownies"  She made some royal icing ghosts ahead of time and the kids had so much fun decorating these.  They were very rich.  I think we'll do some more with cake mix instead of brownie mix.  We went to get some pumpkins.  We went to a few pumpkin places... we like a deal.  The first place we stopped had some animals, a hay ride and a bounce house.  We opted to get our pumpkins somewhere else...    we ended up with some really nice pumpkins, doesn't our pumpkin family look adorable?

I think the sun was in everyones eyes, but aren't those the cutest girls?  I think the baby thought she could climb through there!