iLoveToCreate a Christmas Party!

Behind the scenes with Pattiewack is fabulous this month, because as you can see.... last night the Marketing and Communications departments at iLoveToCreate were invited to celebrate the holidays by our Creative Director, Michelle Martin.

Michelle is an outstanding Creative Director, and is always full of great ideas and imaginative ways to improve marketing, graphics, and the craft studio. She has been renovating a contemporary home in the beautiful area around Fig Garden in Fresno, and we could hardly wait to see the results of her hard work and artistic flair.

The crowd of party peeps were instantly impressed with these absolutely AMAZING works of EDIBLE ART. Would you believe, these are cookies?

A local baker was commissioned to make these beautiful baked goodies to resemble the ceramic discs on the front of our corporate headquarters!

Check out these pics of the iLoveToCreate Headquarters and see for yourself:

What a creative idea. I don't "see" cookies, but apparently Michelle did.

Of course there was live music, because Michelle's brother, John Martin III is a global percussionist with the Latin jazz band Cerro Negro, along with Dusty Brough and Frank Giordano. They were fabulous!

The home is huge, with granite, cement, teak, and pewter throughout and is built in a horseshoe design around a lanai.

A ginormous wreath was hung above the fireplace with feathers and ornaments.

The pink Christmas tree was a perfect fit for modern home.

My hubby Scott, got acquainted with Zoe, who was happy to give tours around the pool.

Giant paper lanterns floated lazily above the pool.

The birds of paradise form a natural curtain in the dining room.

One of the most amazing features is the stucco screens. Red up-lights turned them into instant holiday jewels.

Modern artwork added warmth and flair to every room.

Everyone was drawn to the ceviche in martini glasses, and rows of crudite's standing at attention in long ceremic serving dishes.

After stuffing ourselves with goodies, we walked through Christmas Tree Lane and enjoyed the spectacular lights.

It was unbelievable!

There were kids, dogs, musicians, caterers, and of course, Santa hanging out with no cars, lots of music and giggles.

Alexa (aka Swell Designer) had fun taking pics and posing. Too fun!

But then again, who can forget those cookies that look so much like ceramics??? They were as delicious as they were beautiful.

I love this pic from the '70's showing the installation by the ceramics artist, Stan Bitters. Now, when I look at the front of our headquarters, all I see are COOKIES!!

Thanks again Michelle, for a FABulous iLoveToCreate Christmas Party...

Happy Holidays!

Pattiewack & Scott

Ceramic Fountain in progress

One of the most challenging and exciting things about the CCSA Convention is that Duncan Ceramics presents a huge ceramic showpiece for the charity auction every year.... and this year I get to be part of the iLoveToCreate team that's designing it!

It starts from a brainstorming sketch that the designers collaborate on, and then the ceramic artists get busy. This year we are building a humungus fountain that is covered with ceramic flowers.

I've been scared to death that I'm going to accidentally break a plate and have to start over because they are so delicate. The ceramic artists really came through on these as you can see, I have a flood of flowers covering my design area.

I've been selected to decoupage the column with handmade papers in the background. Some of the papers have teeny little ferns and leaves in them. I love all the saturation of colors.

Each of the 4 sides of the column will represent a different season. Here is the winter side, that will hold the christmas florals. The Collage Pauge has been perfect for placing a coat of glue on the column and then covering the paper with a coat of the matte finish. The empty spots were drawn with pencil around the ceramic pieces and marked with the same code on the bottom of the pieces. You have to be careful not to decoupage where the ceramics will be glued to the wood, otherwise the glue will not hold the heavy pieces. Huge project, huge fun, lots of Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage.

Allee Marderosian gave me a hand on the "Spring" side. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we painted the wood first so the sheer papers would be more vibrant.

I know, I know... it's not finished yet. I just left the studio where I glued hundreds of crystals on the ceramic flowers... whew!

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the rest... yep, what a tease :-)

Inspiria- cirque du CCSA!

Our trade show team has been working their happy butts off this week to prepare for the largest convention of the year for the ceramic arts industry in Kansas City next week. Our booth will showcase the latest in bisque to the attendees of the Contemporary Ceramic Studios Association and also have some pretty snazzy make-it-take-it goodies, too. And the designers on hand will be our very own Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo and Traci Bautista to kick things off to a crafty good time for everyone.

I took these snappy pics of just a teeny few of the massive amount of bisque from our Duncan Ceramics that will be shown in the booth. How exciting! If you own a ceramic arts studio, you won't want to miss it on September 11 - 14th.