pottery painting: blog header inspiration?

hey all!  i'm back with a different crafty project to share.  this time it's from a vacation that i took with some friends at the beginning of June.

that's me on the bottom left, i was the dog :D

i know that not everyone who visits my blog has been to Washington, so i'll fill you in.  we have beaches.  but not like other states or countries have beaches.  we have different beaches (which mostly means that they're not as sunny/ they're kind of rocky/ you can count on getting some rain while you're there).

this was the view FROM OUR DECK! lovely. *le sigh*

BUT, me and my friends went with a big group of ladies for a little retreat at Ocean Shores.  it was great.  one of the activities that our hostess planned (solely voluntary, of course) was to go visit the town's little pottery painting studio.

so we went.  and i ended up painting quite a few things, which was TONS of fun, and i totally recommend!

it's sort of a peaceful activity, almost like coloring.  i think one of the hardest things to do was figure out how to LIMIT what items you wanted to paint--there were so many options!

so the first thing i painted was a little catch all oval bowl.  i added some sea-themed littles to it (the coral, starfish, and sand dollar).  definitely LOVED looking at all my color options!

and then as i was waiting for one of my friends, i decided to paint a plate.  not necessarily ocean inspired, just something that i really loved because i just did.

so i came up with this idea.  this is a medium sized plate, and i painted banners in two monochromatic color schemes.  light blues and the yellows/ oranges were so awesome together.  i love how i can have my food on this plate and look at one side of the plate, and then next time i go to eat off it again, i can switch it around and check out the other side with the cutie banners too!

so when i got back from the vacation, and i was thinking bout re-starting the blog (which by the way, took a few months to convince myself), i began messing around with some editing software and some freebie downloads online.  and then my blog banner (as it is now) was born.

and i think it was slightly inspired by that plate, and the ocean vacation (despite having nothing to do with the beach!)

so there you have it!  hope you enjoyed, and that you come back soon!

tomorrow is manicure monday, so if you need some ideas about what polish to put on your nails, be SURE to check it out!
xoxo