Our window

Patrick sent us this photo of our window - thank you Patrick!

 

We have fun decorating our windows and try to change them every other month. One year we put up the wavy red lights and they've become a permanent fixture. Last year - 2011 - put up the white stars for Christmas - like them so much we've kept them! For next Christmas we have a really cool forest of white trees. 

Thank you Lou, Donna, Irene, Lori, Donna and David for coming up with great ideas for the windows, year after year.

What's coming up at Carolina Creations

Through February 14, 2013 daily, Art from Our Hearts. 7th Annual Valentine Card Show and Sale. Hand crafted cards made by Craven County school children, $3 each, ALL proceeds go to the Craven County School Arts Programs.


March 1 - April 30 TWINS:  INTUITIONS One 20ft wall divided in half presents the artworks of identical twins Jane and Nancy Horner.   Expect to see diverse expressions of two quite individual time-lines:  watercolor collages, bejeweled spirit dolls, boxed memory portraits.  Which one is which?

March 8, 2013, 5-8 pm - ArtWalk, Twins: Intuitions - Jane Horner and her twin, Nancy Horner, featured artists.

April - May 10, 2013, 5-8 pm - ArtWalk, Opening of our Annual Garden Art Show. Garden Art created by Potters, Painters, and Metal workers. Featuring Paintings of gardens, Peace poles, garden sculpture, whirlygigs, plant stakes, oversided metal flowers, birdhouses, and birdhouses by local and regional artists.

May 11-June 30, 2013 Daily Annual Garden Art Show. Garden Art created by Potters, Painters, and Metal workers. Featuring Paintings of gardens, garden sculpture, whirlygigs, plant stakes, oversided metal flowers, birdhouses, and birdhouses by local and regional artists.

July 12, 2013, 5-8 pm - ArtWalk Featured Artist Janet Dixon - show runs through Aug 31.

September 13, 2013 5-8 pm - ArtWalk Featured Artist Lou Plummer

November 8, 2013 5-8 pm - ArtWalk

November 29 and 30 Annual Holiday Open House

I Heart This Heart shaped plastic cutlery

IHeart Cutlery

When I was in NY last winter I met with some young people who belonged to a group of inventors from Brooklyn. One of the things I was most drawn to was this cutlery. 

 

Here's what the artist has to say about her invention.

 

How cute and clever are these!  Wait, what are they, you ask?  They are a fork, and a knife.  Oh! and a scooper!  Yup, three in one.  And that is on each side of the heart!

 

I hope you think about how good looking the Heart Parts are before you throw them away into the sea of 40 billion other plastic forks that contributed to the landfills in the US last year. They have been made with so much love, that i hope you will love them too much to throw them away.

 

First you'll think about hand/dish washing them, next you'll think about whether it will fit in your wallet. I thought about that too and designed them dishwasher friendly and small enough to fit in your pocket. 

 

Do both for as long as you can, and when you're ready to throw them away, know that not only are they made with 6% less plastic than regular cutlery, but they are also 100% biodegradable. I hope you enjoy disposing of them guilt free.

And when you break the whole heart into parts, I hope you know you are in part sharing your meal with someone in the world who really needs one. With my 'Have a Heart' program, i am committed to contributing a % of my profits towards causes that are close to your hearts.  

 

These clever utensils fit nicely in your lunch bag and come in a package of 10 for $10.95. To order click here.

 

Houston Llew Spirit tiles

We are excited to introduce a new artist for us, Houston Llew!

… The Artist Houston is a man of deep southern roots, so it’s only natural he’d plant his studio in the vibrant city of Atlanta. Formally educated at Auburn and schooled by the great art museums and masters of the world, Houston dabbled with careers in logistics, accounting and poker before finding his true calling … abstracting the levity of life in art. … The Art Every Spiritile is handcrafted in Atlanta, from American made copper, glass and wood. Finely ground colored glass is handpainted on copper, then fired by kiln at 1500 degrees. It’s like drawing with sand, Houston says, then toasting it on a very hot fire. Spiritiles visually share the brilliant moments that make up your unique story. As gifts, they share brilliant moments with the people you love. They can wall hang or stand alone, and will never fade or tarnish.

To see more of these beautiful pieces visit our website by clicking here.

New pottery design for new year

I hand decorate each piece of our Celebration Pottery. The pieces are variations on a theme, a house, flowers, fence, path with or without words, or a beach, house, boat, flowers, people, with or without words, or a boat on the river/sound/ocean, or flowers with or without words, etc. Each piece is different.

This year I decided it was time (and in previous posts I've talked about taking more time off - time off from the business of art and spending more time on the creating of it) to add a new theme. It will take me about 20 pieces to work out the best colors but my new theme will be a basket with flowers and bird or birds.

Here are my first two!

I've also decided to redo my basic drawing for the churches that I do tiles of. I'm changing them all into a square format so that I can have coasters/trivets made of them. I hand paint each but use the same basic layout over and over. Here are my first two - original format - new format.

Original First Baptist tile design

My new First Baptist design!

Original First Pres tile design

New First Pres tile design

Next will probably be Christ Church. I already have Centenary in a square format.

I'm excited at the thought that this early in the year I am getting some new ideas! I'll keep you posted as I come up with more.

Thanks for reading!

Jan Francoeur

A windchime story

We had some customers come in the other day looking at these sweet windchimes, made out of drift wood and fused statined glass. 

"It's all in the sound. Do you have any more?" 

This couple tinkled every one, "this is IT!!"

Then they told us the story.

They moved here from the end of Long Island. One winter day they were walking on the beach, the surf had splashed and frozen, making the entire beach look like diamonds. The blowing wind across the ice made a tinkling sound, just like our windchimes! 

 

They were thrilled to find the exact sound. We were thrilled to!!

Each one sounds a little different, it depends on a lot of things - how thick the glass is, how long, where each piece hits one another. 

We have an assortment of these windchimes, in an assortment of colors and sizes. EVERY one is unique, from the drift wood to the glass.

New pewter work added to our website

Today I added these beautiful pewter pieces to our website.

Of these beautiful pewter pieces is handcrafted in USA (imported glass). First, a model is sculpted and then cast in pewter. The various pieces are then soldered and finished to create a multilayered, natural appearance.
Click here for more information or to purchase!

7th Annual Valentine Card Show and Sale Benefit

7th Annual Valentine Card Show and Sale

We are pleased to announce our Seventh Annual Valentine Card Show and Sale from now through February 14.

    The cards feature original works by K-12 Craven County Schools art students, representing a wide range of thought, style, and expression along with a wide variety of materials, including hand-made paper, oil, pastel, collage, watercolor and ink.

    The cards are $3 each and ALL proceeds are donated to the Craven County Art Program.

    Each year we're excited to see what the classes have come up with. They often study a particular artist then do work that is inspired by that artist.

    Stop by during ARTWALK on Friday, January 11 from 5-8 pm to meet some of the students.   

Our January Newsletter is now available online

Here is a link to our January Newsletter  Link

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with what is going on at Carolina Creations and in our Downtown by clicking here.
We send it out once a month - there is always a drawing you can enter and news you won't see anywhere else.
 

St Nick at Carolina Creations

We had an amazing Christmas at Carolina Creations. We were busy every day and had visits from Santa, St Nicholas and Bernie the Bear!

Now we're cooking up exciting shows and contacting new artists for 2013.

We always wonder what the new year will bring but we're planning on it being spectacular!!

A look back through 2012

2012 was an interesting year. We had several heath crisis, lost a dear friend, did some traveling, met some great new artists, lost an employee then got her back, hired  two new people, painted many pictures and hundreds of pieces of pottery, rode bikes and kayaked, although not nearly enough.

We went to 4 shows in 4 weeks last year NY, Orlando, Philadelphia and Baltimore. At each we found beautiful art for the gallery, connected with some of our artists and friends but were exhausted by the time we were finished. In 2013 we're swearing to only 1 per month!

We took a 2 1/2 week vacation in florida but spent the 1st week in recovery from the shows. We read a lot of books, sat, read and slept. Michael officially retired from Carolina Creations and has enjoyed being home being the house husband and finishing projects around the house.

Business was good! Had five of our best ever months (in 23 years) and am thrilled with the way our Downtown is coming together. Won 3 important awards this year and sold LOTS of our own paintings and pottery.

I retired from the CRAFT Board, and retired from the Chairmanship of the Downtown New Bern Christmas committee. Both were a relief with all we had going on.

We're looking forward to 2013 being a year with few crisis, lots of art being created, and enjoyment of life!