Do*It*Yourself Crafts Blog

National Paint-Your-Own Pottery Day

Saturday, October 21, 2006 is the first-ever National Paint-Your-Own Pottery Day, and we're really excited to be taking part!

We have lots of great things going on all day long... food, fun and fabulous prizes! Balloons for the kids! Did I mention the food??? Well, there will be cake, and everyone loves cake, right!

What else? How about the first 50 people get to paint a FREE MAGNET!

Want more? Every hour we're going to have door prizes. If you are in a seat and painting at 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, or 3 p.m. you could win a gift certificate, free pottery, an ornament painting party and more!

At 4 p.m. we're going to have a drawing for someone to win our grand prize -- a dinner plate a month for an entire year! That's right! A set of twelve plates -- you can paint an entire set of dishes for yourself, or make twelve holiday plates, or let your kids make all their Christmas presents, or give them away to your friends! Whatever you want! This is a prize valued at $240. You don't have to be present to win, but you must enter on Saturday before the drawing at 4 p.m.

We'll have more, but you have to come see us to find out! Call if you have any questions -- 205/868-4346, or email us!

Santa Claus is coming to paint!

Santa is coming!

Santa is coming!

On Tuesday, December 5, we're having Breakfast with Santa! He and Mrs. Claus will be at DIYC from 10 a.m. until noon. This is a GREAT Santa -- he's the same Santa that Zoolight Safari uses! We're really excited, and plan to make this an annual event.

We'll have three "seatings" for breakfast: 9:30, 10:15 and 11 a.m. Paint a "Cookies for Santa" plate, a special ornament, and take tons of pictures. All this for only $30 per painter. Younger siblings are welcome to join an older brother or sister who is painting.

Seating is *extremely* limited, so reservations are necessary. Call to reserve your spot today! 205/868-4346 -- or email If you have any questions!

Fall/Winter Holiday Closings

It's early to announce, we know, but DIYC will be CLOSED for Thanksgiving day, November 23.

We will close at 6 p.m. on Saturday December 23 and will reopen on Tuesday December 26. We will NOT be open Christmas Eve, not even for pick-ups. We currently anticipate that the last day to paint pottery for pick-up on 12/23 will be 12/15.

Fall Classes & Diva Nights

We're still working on all the details... and they'll be coming soon, along with sample pictures of all our classes, but we wanted to get some basic info out there:

Classes are going to be offered on Thursday nights beginning October 5. They will start at 6, and each class shouldn't last more than two hours. While the schedule is still being finalized, it should be something like this:

• October 5, Pumpkin Plate
• October 12, DIVA NIGHT
• October 19, pottery project to be determined
• October 26, Glass Plate
• November 2, Glass Jewelry
• November 9, DIVA NIGHT
• November 16, Family Christmas Platter
• November 30, clay handbuilding plate
• December 7, DIVA NIGHT

All of these classes will require advanced registration with a $10 deposit to hold your spot.

DIVA NIGHTS will begin at 6:30, and will last until 8:30. The $10 fee for Diva Night will be in addition to the project you pick for the evening.

In addition to the adult classes listed above, we'll also have a few special kid class events.

We're trick-or-treating at the store on Saturday October 28 AND October 31... special prizes for anyone who comes to see us in costume.

On Friday, November 10, we'll have two classes.

• 10:30-noon, ceramic Christmas tree. This class is appropriate for all children who have at least started first grade
• 1-3, Glass Class. We're going to have a special kid's glass class, for anyone who is in at least the fourth grade.

Pictures and details about these classes will be coming very soon!

On Saturday, December 2, we'll be having a super-secret kid's gift making day. Kids can make a gift for mom or dad, a grandparent, or even a special teacher. The item will be wrapped and ready to pick up the following week, and it can go straight under the tree.

We're also trying to book a breakfast with Santa - because I don't want to go stand at the mall!

It's just a tease of our fall happenings, but more details to come!

DIYC Delivers!

Picking up your finished pottery isn't always convenient, we know. And there is nothing that breaks our hearts more than throwing away pottery that someone has forgotten.

We are now happy to offer home or office delivery! This is a once-a-week service, with deilvery currently offered for Thursdays each week. It's just $5 per delivery address, within a limited delivery area.

It doesn't matter how many items are going to to each address. I can bring you the items from your daughter's birthday party, or all the items from an office party or Sunday School get-together.

Be sure to ask about this service the next time you are in the shop!

Clay hand- and footprints

Want to preserve hands and feet in clay?

We're now making clay prints available. We'll get a print in the clay, bisque-fire it so you can come back to paint and decorate your piece.

These round tiles are 6.5" across, and cost $20 each (which includes your return trip to paint). These are great for baby's hands and feet! We're also able to do pet paw prints!

We will only be able to do these by appointment, and it will take approximately two weeks to get your tile back in bisque, and then another week after you paint it for it to be glazed and fired.

Call to make your appointment today!

Fund-Raising at DIYC

Auction Items
Purchased at a 30% discount, students work together to paint items for auction at your annual fundraiser. We will be happy to send the appropriate paint with you to the school to get hand- or fingerprints. You then bring the item back to finish painting, and then we'll glaze and fire your masterpiece.

There are several great projects we can suggest. Entire classes can work on a joint platter or tile tray, or a set of dessert dishes created by a specific group. Flower pots, cookie jars and vases are all creative ways to show off fingerprints. We have several wonderful idea books we'd love to share with you.

Want to raise even more money? We've got a few good ideas...

Plates: Have a group-, class- or school-wide plate-painting event. These plates regularly sell for $15, but for schools and non-profits we offer them at a discounted price of $10. If your group then sells them for $20 or $25, you have a built-in profit of $10 or $15 per plate.

For a class of 30, selling the plates at $20, you will have $300. If you buy 100, and sell them for $25 each, your profit will be $1500.

If you sell 500 or more, we'll give you another dollar off each plate. Selling 500 plates at $25 will net your organization $8000.

Tiles: Just like the plates, but with tiles! Our 6" tiles are regularly $8, but for groups of 20 or more are only $5. Sell them for a table-top, a tile wall, or for everyone to take home.

Multiple-Item Offering: Take the idea you were going to use for the auction item, and offer it to everyone! For example, you have a plate with everyone in the classroom's thumbprint turned into a frog. In a silent auction, it might bring your group $200. But if you offered it to everyone, you might make even more. If you buy the plate for $20 and offer the *limited edition* plates for $50 each and you sell 10 of them, you've made $300. Even better, 10 people have a wonderful memory of the year.

Pumpkin time!

We're carving pumpkins, and I know it seems early... but the cut-off to get your pumpkin by Halloween is September 1! Each pumpkin is $45, and we can customize it with as many as eight letters for the teeth.

Here's one of our favorites from last year...

Gift Ideas for Paint-Your-0wn Pottery

Paint a coffee mug and fill it with gourmet coffee beans, or a gift certificate from your favorite coffee shop.

ANYTHING with children's handprints.

Paint a cookie plate or cookie jar, and fill it with homemade cookies.

Paint a wine cooler and fill with a bottle of wine.

Paint a pasta plate and give a bottle of special sauce and gourmet noodles.

Paint ornaments as extra-special gift tags.

Pair candlesticks with fragrant candles.

Fill a mug with nuts or candies.

Give a bottle of favorite lotion with a lotion dispenser.

Paint a flower pot and fill it with a plant or garden tools.

Make a platter to commemorate a special time in someone's life.

Create a special teacher's gift, using the children's fingerprints as flowers, animals or bugs.