Planning a Baby Shower: Skip the Games

Baby showers are a great way to honor and support Moms-to-be. But planning a shower can become overwhelming—deciding on location, theme, food, party favors, and games—turning an otherwise happy occasion into a daunting task. Before you know it, you are wishing you had never volunteered to host the shower.

A successful baby shower comes down to thoughtful planning and organization. You want the party to be fun and memorable and part of this involves coming up with fun baby shower games. But let’s face it, sometimes the usual shower games are not so fun and often are the dreaded part of the festivities.

Why not skip the games and do something fun and functional for the mom-to-be: pottery painting. Pottery painting is a lot of fun and a great way to bond with friends and family. And with the help of the staff at VanGo Pottery, your baby shower can be a memorable occasion that guests will be talking about for a long time.

You and your guests can paint a variety of items using colors and themes chosen by the mom to be. And with the guest of honor’s help, each piece will be a gift she and baby can use and treasure for years to come.

For the nursery, guests can paint items such as picture frames, light switch covers, tissue box covers, trinket boxes, piggy banks, and decorative tiles and plaques. For the kitchen, guests can paint matching plates, cups, and bowls as well as serving dishes and trays. Or how about a special tea set for mom to drink her favorite tea during those rare quiet times after baby is born. The possibilities are endless!

Here’s how it works: Contact VanGo Pottery (http://www.VanGoPottery.com) to discuss ideas and themes. The guest of honor can select pieces and colors ahead of time. We will come to your location and provide pottery, paints, brushes, and design tools. We will stay for up to 2 hours, providing assistance as needed and clean-up afterward. We then take the painted pieces back to our studio where we glaze and fire them, making them shiny, food-safe, and ready for delivery in about a week.

So put away the diaper pins and tape measure and call VanGo Pottery: 602.468.3136. Pottery painting is a great alternative to the usual party games and much more fun than guessing mommy’s tummy size. Less embarrassing, too.

Photos courtesy of http://www.ilovetocreate.com/.

Happy Accidents: Making Art from Mistakes

I am in the process of bringing in a new line of glaze and have been testing new colors to see if they are compatible with my current colors. During a recent round of testing, I decided to paint a salsa bowl, as one can never have too many salsa bowls. My salsa bowl was actually a drip tray from a flower pot set that was rescued from my “discard” box, because it had a small chip in it. Nothing that a few coats of paint wouldn’t cover.

After painting the salsa bowl with the new colors, I decided it needed a little more pizzazz, but I was pressed for time. What could I do quickly that would look good? A stamp would be perfect! After some consideration, I chose one of my cute frog stamps, even though it was not a particularly good stamp to use with glaze. I sponged a bit of Java Bean (yes, it looks as yummy as it sounds) on the stamp and stamped away. One-two-three- lift! Ugh! It looked nothing like a frog. It was basically a brown blob.

Now what? I couldn’t leave the sorry looking blob frog at the bottom of my salsa bowl. So I decided to have some fun and get creative. I grabbed the sponge, dipped it back into the Java Bean and sponged over what was left of the frog. Then I created a flower outline using the Sgraffito technique; a technique in which layers of color are applied to the bisque (pottery) then lightly scraped away to create an outline. In this case, I lightly scraped some of the brown to reveal the blue underneath. For the finishing touch, I added some splashes of Sour Apple.

The results? The colors are very happily cohabitating with each other and I love my new piece! Time for some chips and salsa…

Happy New Year from VanGo Pottery!

Hello, friends and Happy New Year! We hope you’re as excited as we are to see what the New Year brings. As of this writing, we are happily awaiting the arrival of some new and exciting bisque pieces. Check out our Facebook page for more information on our newest arrivals: https://www.facebook.com/VanGoPottery

Back by popular demand, we will be offering clay handbuilding classes in the spring. These are 2-part classes in which students of all skill levels create a clay masterpiece during the first class and then paint the fired masterpiece during the next class. Classes are very laid back and lots of fun. We will have a schedule in place within the next few weeks; you can call the studio at 602.468.3136 or “like” our Facebook page to stay on top of the latest happenings.

As always, when you paint your own pottery with VanGo Pottery™ you never pay a studio fee. You pay only for the pottery you choose. All of the following is included in the price of your pottery:

• Pottery (bisque)
• Use of our paints and brushes
• Use of our design tools
• Staff assistance for up to 2 hours
• Cleanup
• Glazing and firing
• Delivery of finished pieces to the party host

Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy New Year! Hope to see you soon.

Peace, Love, and Pottery.

VanGo Pottery™ Offers Art Enrichment Classes

VanGo Pottery offers art enrichment classes to children of all ages—from preschoolers to middle school and beyond—both during and after school programs. We also offer programs for homeschoolers!

At a recent enrichment class, we presented our preschoolers with fun, age-appropriate information about artist, Jackson Pollock. Then the children were given a pottery “canvas” (in this case, a medium size serving dish) along with a variety of paint and tools so they could paint in the action painting style of Pollock.

The children had great fun squirting, throwing, rolling, and splattering paint at their serving dishes, all the while learning about different painting styles. One child commented to his mommy at pickup, “Mom, this was really fun. I want to do this at home.” After looking at the paint-filled tables and floor, mom replied, “Well honey, this is why we do VanGo Pottery classes. So you can learn and have fun and I don’t have to clean up the mess!”

School and Childcare Facility Directors: Contact your VanGo Pottery representative at 602.468.3136 to learn more about incorporating our enrichment programs into your center.

Parents: Inquire at your child’s school to see if they offer VanGo Pottery enrichment programs.

Homeschoolers: Call us at 602.468.3136 to see how we can tailor an enrichment program to your homeschooling needs.

Invite VanGo Pottery™ to Your Next Mommy and Me Event!

Hey moms, are you looking for a fun activity to do with your Mom and Me Playgroup? Then please consider a pottery painting party with the staff of VanGo Pottery™ as your hosts. We will come to the location of your choice – your home, church, park, community center, you name it! – and provide everything needed to entertain your group with pottery painting fun.

The kiddos can paint plates or other dinnerware items and then embellish them with their very own handprint. The finished pieces not only become beautiful works of art, but are precious heirlooms that can be used and treasured for years to come.

Or we can read one of your favorite stories and then paint an item related to the story. One of our favorites, “Eat Your Peas,” by Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt, is a hilarious story about a mother who tries EVERYTHING to get her daughter to eat her peas, one of which is the promise of ice cream. At the end of the story, moms and kids can get together and paint an ice cream bowl for the special occasions in their lives.

We have lots of ideas and suggestions for your group. Please call our studio at 602.468.3136 for more information.

VanGo Pottery™ Solves the Birthday Party Dilemma!

Looking for something fun and creative to do at your child’s next birthday party? Then consider having a pottery painting party with VanGo Pottery! We will come to the location of your choice and provide everything you need to entertain your guests with pottery painting fun. And with the nice weather upon us, it’s the perfect time to plan an outdoor party in your backyard or at your favorite park.

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes!

One of our most popular birthday party packages allows you to choose from a huge assortment of boxes. The boxes come in a variety of shapes and are not only fun to paint, but are great for storing your child’s favorite trinkets and knick knacks. The cost is $15 - $20 per box (plus tax) and includes all of the following:

• Choice of box
• Use of our paints, glazes, and design tools
• Staff assistance for up to 2 hours
• Cleanup
• Glazing and firing
• Delivery of your finished pieces

And with no studio fees, moms and dads can help children paint their pieces at no additional charge.

For an additional fee, our staff will help the birthday child and his or her guests decorate a dinner-size birthday plate to commemorate the occasion.

For more information and to book your party, please call 602.468.3136.

Thrift Store Inspiration

Recently, I was with a friend engaging in one of my favorite past times: thrift store shopping. If you’re like me, you don’t need a reason to shop in thrift stores. It’s simply fun to browse through aisle after aisle of knickknacks and whatnots that others no longer want with the goal of finding a hidden treasure at a fraction of the original cost.

During this particular outing, I came across a small ceramic goblet that caught my eye. It quickly went from merely “eye catching” to “must have.” Though the photo in this article doesn’t do it justice (I blame it on poor lighting and a crummy cell phone camera), it does provide a semblance of what my new found treasure looked like.

The goblet was quite small, only a few inches tall by a few inches wide. The colors consisted of varying shades of blues and browns with a whimsical, fish-like object on either side. It was truly a fun little piece that was worthy of shelf space on the curio in my family room.

As I was applauding myself for having found such a cute piece at such a great price—$2 during the half-off sale—my friend pointed out a chip in the goblet’s rim. It wasn’t a huge chip, but the goblet was so small that the chip became significant. Rats! I found myself trying to overlook the defect and thinking of how I could display it so that the chip would not be seen.

Just as I had convinced myself, again, that I should make the purchase, my friend took it from me and politely advised me against it. She told me I could make one myself—a better one! One with no chip. And in true friend fashion, she went on to “remind” me about my artistic abilities and talent. And with that, the decision was made. I am now in the process of making my own cute little goblet (perhaps, a series) and all it took was a little inspiration from a thrift store find and the gentle nudging of a wonderful friend.