Super Cute Sunday!

If you didn't notice, my blogging energy has been on a serious level of empty lately. I've been too busy with too many other things, and every time I sat down to write, nothing would come out. Really. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

I finally had to admit that it was time to spice things up a bit on this blog and figure out a way to add some more smiles! So welcome to my very first "Super Cute Sunday!" Hopefully, the first of many to come!

If you know me at all, you know that I usually spend a good part of Sundays at the stable with my daughter. And usually, I bring along a bag of clay to help pass the time. Today, I also brought in some delicious mini cupcakes (pastelitos en espanol) that were left over from a party I went to last night. Many thanks to Leo for baking those tasty treats! As I was offering the cupcakes to the riders and grooms, I realized that I HAD TO make a mini cupcake out of clay. :)

When I got home, the cute clay creations continued (it must be letter C week somewhere out there) and I created two cute cats! And just in case you're wondering about the size of these clay creations...I threw in a coin as well :)


Criminy! It's a cacophony of C's!! Oh well...just call me crazy! Let me know if you find any extreme cuteness in the world, and I may add it to next Sunday's post!

Till next time,


Cute as a button!
-Ralph Ganzer
(my high school geometry teacher!)

Creating an Easier Life!

Well...summer is quickly coming to a close for this preschool teacher/director! So I've put the clay away for a while and put some of my remaining summer energy into making the school year easier for our teaching staff.

With many thanks to Nikki for her gift of the Zutter Bind It All...I present my new ABC Assessment Record Book!!





For those of you who teach, you can understand how assessments and record keeping can take up a HUGE chunk of time. Well, this preschool teacher is ready for some extra free time!

Here's how our record books will work...There's a booklet for each of our classes and each child will have a different page (I'll try to put them in alphabetical order by first name, though our late starters sometimes mess up that plan!). Each month, we always focus on a different color (Sept - red, Oct - orange & black, Nov - brown, etc...). So, in September, I will have red pens handy to circle the letters that our children recognize or can write. In October, we'll have black pens available, in November, brown....etc. When one of our teachers is working at the literacy table, we'll just whip out that assessment book, and off we go!! Hooray for creativity, friends and the Zutter Bind It All!!

I'm also putting together booklets for our number assessments and our scissor assessments - hee hee!! I'm already imagining how much easier parent teacher conferences will be!! (and I'm imagining selling these on my Etsy shop, too!)
I must be a preschool teacher if I get this excited over keeping accurate assessment records!

Have a wonderful day wherever you are, and until next time...


Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone's knowing how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.
-John Dewey

Horse Crazy!

I've been in a super busy mode getting ready for a horse show! It was very different from how my equestrian daughter was preparing. My preparation involved carving clay ponies at warp speed, but the result was well worth the effort!

It all started 3 weeks ago when I showed one of the riding instructors my (finally completed) 12 little clay ponies that I had been working on this summer. That's when she said, "You should be a vendor at our next show on August 23rd!" Of course, I could have settled for having 10 or 20 ponies at my table, but I decided to set a goal of 50!

Well, I exceeded my goal, and ended up with 51! It was a terrific learning experience to create so many little horses in such a short period of time. As I continued to create, I found ways to improve the basic form, and figured out some new techniques that would speed up the process. I bought some new glazes so I could make "paint ponies" - all of which sold at the show yesterday (I'll definitely be making more of those!!).

For each pony, I also sewed a small bag for safe transport to the show which doubled as "packaging" for the buyer (I guess I could call them my shipping wraps!). I started making them out of felt, but then realized that I had several old pairs of riding pants that I could recycle for this purpose.

The best part of the show was watching the faces and listening to the comments of the people who stopped at my table. I loved hearing about their favorite color glaze, and hearing their "oohs" and "aahs" about how cute the ponies were.

Of course, making a sale was fun, too! Not only for receiving a financial return for my creations, but also to hear the reason behind the purchase. One woman bought a blue pony, because she had an old "retired" horse named Blue. Another woman bought the black spotted paint pony for her young daughter who was riding a similar REAL pony in the show (was it Kiki?). She said, "Don't tell my daughter about it if she stops by. It's going to be a surprise for her at the end of the show." (I hope she likes it!!)

I also brought along a "rescue pony" that I ended up giving to a young girl. It was one of those creations that I just wasn't completely happy with, and I almost took a hammer to it and ended it's very short life (artists do that sometimes). In the end, I'm thankful that I brought it along, because now I know that it has a good home with a young lady named Amanda :) I'm also glad that I met Amanda because she taught me that people aren't short, they're fun size!

So much fun!! I can't wait to do it again!! By the way, if my first pottery teacher at the local community college is reading this....Tony, I know we weren't allowed to make anything cute while we were learning at your studio, but it turns out that cute is my niche! I kind of wish it didn't take me 10 years to figure that out...but at least I know it now!!

Last but not least, I wanted to say thank you to some of the people who have been such an important part of my creative journey...Neil, thank you for always being so supportive of my sometimes crazy creations, and thank you, thank you, thank you for selling me your old reliable kiln. It's actually been fired up 11 times (hard to believe from someone who would only make 4 pots a year in your studio space, eh?). Serena, thank you for giving me such a great deal on your old pro camera. While I still have a long way to go, your camera is being used almost daily, and this blog would be pretty ugly without it! Nikki, Rob and Judi...you have all been such supportive and encouraging friends in so many ways. I'm so blessed to have all of you in my life! Hooray for friends!!!

And hooray for real ponies, too...



Have a marvelous Monday wherever you are, and until next time...