Arts & Carafes with Kristin Miller

Pretzel jello and coffee…a black friday tradition. I like being in retail and sleeping in on Black Friday. We open at 9 and have plenty if specials, and really, it’s the perfect place to send the kids who don’t want to shop. It will get busy later today, but for now, I will enjoy Mom’s pretzel jello. (the Kristin version has very little cream layer and heavy on the jello).

A quaint little corner of Lakeland was just bustling with indie charm today. We stopped after Katie’s soccer game at the northside YMCA to visit friends of ours from Highland Park Church. Their charitable mission project is for a whole other blog post!! I will write about Birds of Hope tomorrow! It was a lovely visit and I’m just so proud of my community in so many ways.

Any flat surface is fair game. I bought this for maybe 8 bucks but after I mosaic’ed it I realized it would be perfect for holding our flyers and calendars at the studio by the front door.
I used tiles we painted this summer with leftover customer paint…and some we just painted when we were consolidating bottles. I cracked up about a dozen 6″ tiles. Katie helped me butter and set them!
As u can tell from the close up, they are “casually” painted, but from a distance it looks just fine.

A pool contractor donated these sample pool tiles last year instead of throwing them in the garbage. Our customers are so thoughtful! I was waiting for the perfect project to use them on and low and behold…this $2.99 thrift store gem caught my eye.

This will be a conversation piece at our MoZaic Art Fest on Monday. Still need a way to set it though…I wanted to go to the Habitat For Humanity Restore to find something but didn’t have time, so I suppose I need to be creative. Will clean and polish shortly…
Here’s the Finished sink

Finished sink

We fell in love with the Fancy Nancy books this year, about a imaginative little girl who “repurposed” things around the house, embellishes & “foofies” to make herself, and her room, and her family “fancy”.   At our studio, we organized a princess camp a couple years ago, where little princes and princesses  could dress up and have a pottery party.  It was very popular, for the kids, their parents, and especially my staff.

This year, we decided to do a twist on princess camp and make it a “fancy fest”, which puts more of a focus on using clothing they or family already has, like scarves, gloves, ribbon (or christmas ornaments as earrings)…feather boas and tiaras from the party store were quite acceptable.

Well, Katie was quite displeased (that’s a fancy word for ‘mad’), that i put mini pig tails in her hair to keep it out of her face during crafts, and cute underneath the black tophat tweeted with a small pink boa and silky scarf around the ban.   Yes i took out the pig tails and substituted barrets instead and all was fine…but you have to admit, the pouting princes is adorable.

It’s MY shoe. Last night our 8 year old golden retriever decided to chew. Underneath the plaster wrap was a Bjorn sandal I wore yesterday. My fault…thought I’m only have convinced. Ive always wanted to mosaic a shoe and had all the supplies and a pair of thrift store heels, I just needed the inspiration. Thanks Ginger.

If it works out well and not completely a diseaster, I will make some to keep at the studio for my customers to create without the mess. It’s a HUGE mess, and that’s the perspective of a mosaic artist. HUGE. I have another coat to do on these pieces before I begin to design a mosaic. Depending on how the next plaster session goes, I might have to charge like…$500 a shoe.

This happy silly booth will be a great addition to out quirky pottery painting studio, though I’m not sure where it’ll go. I just knew I had to have it. Thank you once again, Family Thrift. The question is what to paint on top of the table? Any ideas?

My younger sister shares my taste for hand-spun home decor and broken arts. Our mom actually did the fireplace mosaic, to cover up stone that looked very dated. Life’s more fun with a bit of whimsy. My 14 year old niece Audrey is much of the motivation and inspiration in this house of fun. A crafter in her own right, Auj specializes in repurposed art materials and anything quirky. Shelly will be leading a “Broken Art Fest” at PicassoZ studio this summer.