Feeling thankful

For all this season has brought!  We are so thankful for family and friends and enjoying time together this past week.  I am lucky to have had my work load scheduled to be completed before Christmas this year and days off to enjoy the holiday.  Mom and dad came up to Greeley to hang out and dad installed another outlet for our second kiln! He is one master electrician and I'm lucky he doesn't mind doing handy projects for us -- can't wait to have more firing power either, if there is anything I realized with all the making this holiday season it's that I really need more space in the kiln.  Which is why we are upgrading :) hooray! 

We got to celebrate Christmas at shanda and chads house in Mead this year, it was so fun cooking homemade pizzas and exchanging gifts together - love playing with the girls and seeing them so excited by Christmas!

Payton is so cute, the first thing she said to me when we got to their house is, "when I grow up, I want to be an art teacher!" Just like her uncle jared!!  She is so cute!  It's also not surprising that they share a love for playing Pokemon too :)

On Christmas Eve we spent the night in Arvada with lynn, David and Justine.  It was a wonderful night of football, games, and getting cozy by the fireplace.  

My little heart is just so full of love for the kind and generous people we are surrounded by.  It is hard to measure what your examples of sweetness have done to impact our lives!  I am ready for the new year and excited to set goals for an even brighter year and better me!  

Feeling festive

It has been a beautiful October in Greeley, I love watching the tress change color and feeling the air get crisper.  One of my favorite sounds is the crunch of the leaves under the pups feet as they trot around the backyard. 

I am so lucky I got to watch the girls last week while shanda was working and chad took a hunting trip.  Doing their morning routines and school pickups was a trip (I have a lotta respect for the moms out there!) and we tried to throw in some fall fun together!!! We took a trip to Rocky Mountain pumpkin ranch and did their hay bale maze and pumpkin painting.  Love these beautiful girls!

Thank you!

This one goes out to all of our amazing friends and supporters who came out to see us this weekend, thank you for making arthaus what it is today!  We thrive on your feedback and it brings me joy to send you home with pieces!  Thank you for supporting local art and making us a household name, it's an honor to be in this community that truly loves handmade! We heart you Greeley <3

Incase you were wondering...

what's been happening in the studio lately?!

well.

quite a bit has been happening.  

It's that time of year where i may have signed up for too many holiday craft shows and dipped my toes into too many creative experiments.  I say, why not?  It is amazing the creative energy i am feeling out in the studio right now and wake up excited each morning to get out and continue right where i left off the night before!  As some of you can relate to - what you're passionate about - sometimes you just fall in love all over again... 

dear clay,

you push me in ways nobody else does.  you are there for me when i need to loose myself.  you recreate that feeling i felt all those years ago in wheel throwing one, and it's like magic all over again.  thank you for being so playful and allowing me to grow.  you can be stubborn and tricky, but you always have a lesson for me to learn or a surprise around the corner.  

thank you for that, and for keeping our love alive... 

despite glaze.

yours truly,

Danyelle

Even though i see clay everyday it felt appropriate to share my love.  there is something about the repetition, process, and connection working with such a tactile medium.  who wants to sign up for a pottery class now?!?! haha thanks for letting me nerd out for a moment, and now to in-progress projects happening!!

there is a forest being built of my whimsical Dr. Suess tress.  I took a year off from making these guys, but it was time to revisit.  these little friends will be making an appearance in november at the madison and main gallery for our Winter Lights show.

I have been playing with an old slip cast bird mold of jareds and attaching them on anything I can get my hands on!

In the words of one of our fave tv series "put a bird on it." -portlandia

Speaking of Portland... I am so happy to be involved with the "funding" of my friend Michelle and Joel's new business relocation - they did an indie Gogo campaign to help move into a new space with their very successful Eisenhower bagel house that lived in NE Portland for the last 2 years out of pinkys pizza.  The move meant getting a space of their own and doing some serious renovating!  For their biggest donors I am creating mugs that will live at the coffee shop - if only we lived closer!!! Bagels are a diet staple in our household :)

This weekend means the mailing of the dainty bean's scare mail package - loaded up with lots of handmade goodies I was able to do samples of the clay club subscription to include in 25 packages!  Because of the surprise element of clay club I won't reveal just what it was until I'm sure they have all been delivered and discovered.... 

And one of my favorite treats of the season, ornaments!!! New designs for this year are in prototype phases except for the Broncos keepsake - 2015 mini helmets!!!

If you are looking to see some of these creations in person, you totally can! Starting in just 2 short weeks we will be on a holiday show schedule, I am so excited about our new venues and of course our old favorites!!!

Summer Re-Cap part 2

I'll pick up where I left off!  July....

While jared was away at Pokemon nationals, Carlee came to visit and hang with me!  It makes me wish Utah wasn't so far away and she was still here teaching in Colorado... 

That's because I'm selfish!  Love my lil sista 😘

We had some good times in the backyard doing bbq nights!  And our new fave tradition was born, walking to tcby for a cool frozen yogurt treat! 

There were many hours spent in the studio getting prepped and ready for the one and only arts picnic, it was another amazing year with tons of collectors who came out to support us.  It feels so great to see the familiar faces who have been buying our art for years, it's a rewarding feeling knowing our pieces are going to happy loving homes.  Thank you to everyone who continues to love our ceramics 🙌🏻💛

Our sweet friends scott and Amanda tied the knot on August 1st in Boulder - they had the most beautiful ceremony at sunrise amphitheater - overlooking the Boulder valley - it was absolutely gorgeous!!  They had a very sweet intimate ceremony that was officiated by jared!  His first (and possibly only) wedding went very smooth and of course he cracked some jokes for the bride and groom! 

I love weddings a lot, especially this one! It was an adventure to get up the mountain and find the venue lol and so wonderful to celebrate Scott and Amanda's love!! Way to go Ehrlich's :)

This is jared on his last official day of summer, it is so crazy when the day actually comes for him to report back to school and we sit there wondering where did summer go?!  In a flash it's over and he's back to the early morning grind with students and teaching art! 

During his first week back, I took off to South Dakota with Lynn for a week of Vaycay! It was a blast staying with Gma and Gpa Almond in Parker - we did it all!! visiting the turner county fair, eating chislic, seeing old McDonald's farm, morning walks around town, touring city hall, hanging with Sena & Scott and all of Jared's  cousins, playing with baby Hadlie, walking tacos, late nights at the kitchen table, Monday night at Bruce and Wendy's, scrabble, laying by the pool, going to a movie, eating funnel cake, eating cheese ball, eating watermelon, eating everything haha driving the black and white, going through old pictures... It was a great week and I am so happy to have the amazing family I do!! 

I also had a lot of fun snapping pictures of young jared photos all around the house. He really was the cutest baby....

Which brings me to my birthday shout out.

I'm so lucky that you were born!  You are he most amazing, funny, caring, and mostly funny person in my life and spending each day with you is a treat.  Happy birthday Jer