Askmestudio New Poodle Dishes

Fun Poodle Dishes for all those Poodle lovers out there

There Dishes are great as a

 ring holder

paperclips 

on a desk 

or a spoon rest

I'm A What Poodle Dish

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179337281/breeders-poodle-envy-stamped-dish-dog

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179323334/perky-as-a-poodle-stamped-dish

You can also order a Dish in any glaze color and Personalize what it says

Just to here

www.etsy.com/shop/Askmestudio

Askmestudio Facebook Page Celebration Bee Dish Giveaway

I began my Facebook fan Page at the first of the year and I am Celebrating with a Give-a-way

Anyone on Facebook can Enter!

Just Like my page

share the photo

and leave a comment on what you would want your dish to say

enter here

www.facebook.com/Askmestudio

Standing out from the crowd Inspirational Gift Bowls or Dishes

 Unique gifts that are not found in every store are hard to find

until now!

Welcome to the World of Ask Me Studio

Buy it now

You Inspire me Gift

This dish was inspired by those in my own life.

They inspire me to be a better person.

This dish is so much better than a card or flowers.

The rose is hand formed from clay  and so is the dish.  No molds are used

Buy it now

In my younger years, I tried to fit in...do what others thought I should do.

Then I grew up and started following my own destiny.

I had to stand up to a lot of people and tell them I was not going to do something anymore.

It was hard at first.  I cared too much what they thought.  Then something kicked in.

I don't give a hoot what they think anymore

It is a great freedom to follow your own path with a smile.

Buy it now

This little dish has a hand painted, hand formed owl on the side.

I have been able to do what I love.

I want that for my children too

Here is a gift you can inspire someone else to follow their heart and do what they love too.

Buy it now

I feel like I am repeating myself, but in a different way.  

This dish says, "It takes nothing to join the crowd but it takes everything to stand alone."

Sometimes you have to not follow the crowd especially if they are doing something destructive.  And it takes courage to stand up from the crowd for a cause even if everyone else is too scared to stand up for it themselves. 

this dish has a little red owl that was hand formed and hand painted. 

All of these dishes are available on 

Askmestudio @ Etsy.com

Be Inspired

Great Little Handmade Ceramic Bowls for Gifts

 These Little Bowls/Dishes are just the greatest for a gift!

Each one is Handmade from a slab of clay

then Hand Painted

Think Outside the Box Bowl

Buy it now

This dish inspires you to embrace thinking not like everyone else

All great inventions came from thinking outside the box!

Out of Suffering

Buy it now

We all have events in our lives that are devastating.  

Whether a divorce, the death of a loved one, an illness.....

They leave us feeling cut and bleeding

with time the cuts heal, but they leave scares.

I have know women who have survived so much and yet they have reached out

to comfort me and have a joy that is infectious.

What does not kill you, makes you stronger.....

Yet strength with great character is a thing of beauty.

A Beautiful Life

Buy it now

When you love and laugh, you live a beautiful life.

When the time has come to leave this life, The only things that will have mattered is the love that you gave and received from others.

You are Special Bowl

Buy it now

We all need to feel loved and important to someone.

What a great little gift to tell that person that they are special to you!

Click here to find all these items

Askmestudio on Etsy

Collecting Antique Victorian Majolica

I am in love with Antique Majolica Plates and pitchers!

Here is a short history of Victorian Majolica Ware.....

Victorian majolica was originated by Mintons Ltd, who exhibited it at the Great Exhibition of 1851 under the name Palissy ware. The debt to the eccentric 16th century potter Bernard Palissy is obvious from its naturalistic plant and animal motifs molded in relief and splashed with bold color and clear glazes.
Mintons had for some time been making tin-glazed pottery (which is opaque, white and shiny and painted in color) somewhat in the style of Renaissance Italian maiolica, which they called majolica ware, anglicizing the Italian maiolica.wikipedia

I do have only one Palissy Plate because their prices are outrageous!

I got this one on ebay one lucky day

Palissy takes it's design from Living creatures 

 While Antique Victorian design was embossed or molded into the clay and painted

in a semi transparent glaze that ran into each other easily.

I paint my own clay art with majolica glaze myself
because any stamping I do really pops

etsy.com/shop/Askmestudio

Here is my Majolica Pitcher collection

I also have collected a few Majolica pictures.  They have chips and cracks, but I don't care

The center pitcher was the very first thing I ever bought at an Auction...age 8

Here is a great Plate from Germany on ebay right now

ebay.com

 I think I could keep collecting forever.....I hope my kids learn to like them too!

BE INSPIRIED

Turkey and Eggplant Spaghetti Dinner with Garlic Pesto Sauce

This dinner was so incredibly yummy, that this photo does not do it justice!

This is a healthy dinner

Ground turkey, whole wheat pasta, eggplant and Pesto sauce

So, here we go

You need the following:

1 package Ground Turkey

1 plastic jar of Garlic Pesto Sauce

1 eggplant

3-5 cloves garlic

angel hair or thin whole wheat pasta

Nature's Seasoning

 tiny tomatoes

First start boiling the water for your pasta 

as you are browning the turkey meat

and take the skin off your eggplant with a potato peeler
The skin is the bitter part!

now cut your eggplant into slices, place on a cookie sheet

you can coat them with olive oil or spray on I can't believe it's not butter

Cut up a few cloves of garlic and place them in the pan with the meat

add 6-8 shakes of Nature's Seasoning to the meat

add the tomatoes that you cut in half

and add the Garlic Pesto Sauce

Turn down the burner to 2.8 and cover while you finish the dinner

Now add your pasta to the water and let boil 8-10 minutes

Right after you start the pasta

Stick your eggplant in the broiler

Cook 4 mintues on one side

then turn them all over and cook 3-4 more mintues on the other side

Now the pasta should be done, your eggplant is done and your sauce is done

now stack your plate anyway you want to

  I made a plate for my son when he came in....the eggplant had time to juice up

but it tasted the same

He had this mountain of food and still asked if there was anymore

It is that GOOD

This is definitely a monthly standard dish at my house from now on!!!

I think this dinner took less than 30 minutes to make too.

BE INSPIRED

Amazing Chocolate Gifts My Chocolate Secrets

I received these chocolates for Christmas

and I had to blog about them!

They taste as wonderful as they look!!!!

 Each bonbon is handmade in small batches with organic cream, premium chocolate and natural ingredients.

I am so hooked!  The next time I go home, I am so buying myself more.....

I am telling you these chocolates are going to put Godiva to shame.

They even have a Valentine's box assortment!

You can buy online at

http://www.mychocolatesecrets.com/

or if you are in Dallas, you can stop by their store at

3926 Oak Lawn Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75219

www.MyChocolateSecrets.com

Hours of Operation:
Monday – Tuesday 10:00 A.M. – 9:00 P.M.
Wednesday – Saturday 10:00 A.M. – 11:00 P.M.
Sunday 11:00 A.M. –  6:00 P.M.

Give us a call

CPhone: (214) 252-9801
Fax: (214) 252-9803

Laying Tile Under Appliances

So, the Kitchen Remodel is inching along.  

I made enough small square tiles to start laying them down under all the appliances.

First thing buy some pre mixed Tile Mastic

Now here are the photo directions to lay tiles

I don't like spreading mastic on the floor when I am working with small tiles or doing a mosaic.  I just glob on some mastic with my finger.  This way, if the phone rings or I need a "Back" break, I can stop easily without dealing with mastic hardening up on me. Then I press down firmly on each tile.  The mastic comes up a bit on the side and I think this holds the tile down better too.

I decided to lay the tiles off center that way the tiny size imperfections seem to disappear.  As you can see, each row either has a whole tile or a half tile on the ends.  If I had stacked the tiles then the edges would have looked not so good.

Personalize Tile in the Corner of the doorway

I just had to leave my mark somewhere..... So I did our initials in grey and the year we started this renovation and place it in the inside edge of the doorway.  

Now here are some of the spots I have finished tiling.  The refrigerator is the only spot left to tile now

Under the Range tiled floor

 Under the dishwasher Tiled floor

Now here is a sneak peek at what the mosaic leaf pattern I will be free-handing as I go.

One more step forward in my Kitchen remodel!

BE INSPIRED

Painting walls can Transform a Home

 My First Home

After my divorce 10 years ago, I bought this cute little house.

I painted the walls first.

Before picture on the top and after photo below it

Dining Room

I painted the dining room walls my favorite color of red!  Benjamin Moore "My Valentine".

It has a pink tone to it and is so much softer than really red. I also took out the blinds and hung orange raw silk drapes that I made.  

Orange and red are a perfect marriage!

Next

Would you believe someone painted over the wall paper in the kitchen?  Yep, and I tore it all off and painted it correctly with this musty yellow color.  Ralph Lauren Paint.

If I find the photos, I will show you how I resurfaced those kitchen cabinets and stained them over the painted wood.  But I think my computer hide them somewhere, as usual.

onward....

 I loved their bed, but could not find it for myself.  After I had lived in this house a few years, I painted the walls a rich chocolate brown.  You would think it would have been too dark, but it was wonderful!  The whole wall were windows, so it was never dark during the day and at night it felt so cozy because the room was so big.  (Ugh, I still miss this house).

 The floors were laminate planks that look like wood, but way easier to clean

Next....

 I painted the inside of the bookcase unit the same red as in the dining room.  I distressed the doors, wainscot and bookcase then applies the Minwax stain over the surface and wiped a few times to my liking.  (wish I had those pictures too)

mosaic tiles fireplace

 I had lived in my house for about a year.  Staring at the really ugly white painted brick on the fireplace.  So I went to Lowe's and found these terrazzo tile sheets.  It ended up costing me about $1500.00 to do it myself.  The original brick was not a flat surface but it looked like someone had run their fingers through the wet clay, so it took a lot of extra mastic to adhere the tiles.  I put a bull nose tile around the seat and at the top of the fireplace next to the ceiling to it looked built in.  Then I put the stain on the mantle to match all the other woodwork that I re surfaced down the road.

I hope this gives you some ideas for your own home!

BE INSPIRED

Personalized Crosses for Every Occasion

 When I first started doing my art, I saw I stamped cross that was simple with some unusual stamps.  Well when you give Galen an idea.... I run with it

The first picture is the Wedding cross in the Camel Glaze

Ask Me Studio Personalized Wedding Cross

Buy it now

 

This is the fun cross with all the different stamps! 

 The groom goes first since he is called to be the head of the family.

  Next is the bride with their wedding date. 

 The house stamp is for their new home together,

 the lion is for courage to take life's challenges together, 

the tree is for growing in faith

the double wedding ring reminds then they are as one

The stars are for hopes and dreams

For a small budget or if you just need initials, I have this style

Ask Me Studio Small Personalized Cross Buy it now

Great price so you can order a lot as graduation gifts too!

Next...

Ask Me Studio Medium Personalized Cross Buy it now

This cross is great for a New Baby, Baptism or as a Graduation gift.

I write on the back, "You have been created to do great things."

now if you have a long name, or want a first and middle name on a cross....

I have this style, for example in the Cobalt Glaze

Ask Me Studio Medium Long Personalized Cross Buy it now

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitchen Remodel Handmade Tile Floor

Here are step by step photos on how I am making my Kitchen tiles.  

 

My inspiration was this mosaic tile floor called Jacqueline Vine by Sara Baldwin

Stone Mosaic Floor

Remodeling a kitchen can be expensive.

The price was high, as it should be because they are cut stone mosaic,

but my budget didn't allow me to do that,

So

Being a clay artist

I am making my own!

First, I begin by rolling out a slab of clay

Rolling out slab of clay

then I began cutting the square tiles that will be under all the appliances and around the boarder of the kitchen.

Making Clay tiles

Now, I turn them over to dry and make grooves in the back so the tile and tile mastic hold to the floor well.

Every time I am rolling out clay for orders I am making leaves

Handmade Clay leaf

I also make grooves in the back of each one of these!

Next I sand the square tiles to smooth up the sides and make sure the tops are even.  Sometimes if the clay dries too fast it will warp a bit and I have to adjust them a bit before I fire them the first time to a bisque stage.

Here are some tiles after one firing.  There are other do dads in the basket that are for art projects, so ignore them.

Next I brush on a clear glaze and let them dry.  Then I fire them again in the kiln.  Here is what I have so far....

I hazard to guess how many 100's of leaves I am going to end up making....but it will be worth it when I am done.

More Kitchen remodel updates forth coming so check back!

BE INSPIRED