A great start to a new year!

Wow, I can't believe 2009 is here! I have been reflecting on the events of 2008 and I am so thankful for the loyal customers and good business that came our way, it's because of you that we had a great year. In fact this morning when I opened my inbox a customer of ours sent me an email that truly set the tone for this new year. We're excited to be entering our 3rd year of business and we look forward to helping you create a great day in 2009! Happy New Year!

(A great email to start off the New Year!)

Hi Jessica,
Just wanted to say THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for rescheduling our reservation!
We had sooooo much fun today!
I took my daughter, her friend, & my niece and we really enjoyed our time at your store! Your staff was soo kind, even thought they we sooo busy! The
atmosphere was wonderful! THANKS for making our day! I just love it that
you have a flat rate for painting, and don't charge by the hour, it makes your time MORE ENJOYABLE and LESS STRESSFUL while you are painting! It was
even nicer that it was two for Tuesday! This is the 2nd time that my
daughter & I have been there since you took over, and let me tell you, it is sooooo much NICER and MORE ENJOYABLE !!! Keep up the GREAT JOB you are doing!!!!! Have a Happy New Year! and we look forward to coming again in 2009!!!
Thanks again,
Lisa

Top 10 Holiday Gift Ideas Countdown - #1

Leave the crowded malls to the masses - Take a cue from Santa and

cast a little Christmas magic in your own holiday workshop

Can you believe the holidays are already here? We've been planning and preparing for this season and wanted to share our top 10 Holiday Gift Ideas with you! Some are brand new and others seem to never fall off the list but each one is sure to please that hard to shop for person on your list. Each week we will be counting down the top gift ideas so be sure to check back with us for more great gift giving ideas from Creatopia Pottery!

#1 - Handprints, Footprint, Fingerprints here are just a few. Any of these will do! Capturing their little hands and feet will make BIG memories for a lifetime.

CCSA raises 30K for Breast Cancer

I'm back from our annual Contemporary Ceramic Studio Association (CCSA)convention feeling refreshed and ready to share all the exciting new tips and techniques the Creatopia staff learned! This exciting conference comes once a year and gathers together all the pottery studios from across the world! My husband and I traveled to Phoenix for the big trip and boy was it hot! 112 degrees was the temperature most days, good thing we were inside listening to great speakers and learning about the upcoming trends for 2009. I always enjoy this convention because not only are pottery studio owners a BLAST to hang out with, but this is our chance to say, "hey what fun things have you been doing in your studio??" and how can we make that happen in our studio? Great ideas always come from that conversation starter :)

If I had to call out two major highlights of the conference one would be the opportunity I had to teach a 4 hour workshop on Internet Marketing to a room full of 30 pottery studio owners just like me! For those of you who don't know my background before pottery was in Internet Marketing and my husband (Corey) has written a book, eBoot Camp (due out on shelves Jan. 2009), perfect for small business owners just like me. The opportunity was amazing and I really enjoyed sharing some of what I have learned over the past two years on how easy it is to grow your business on the internet, increase your search rankings and best of all how to get my name to the top of google!

The second highlight of the convention was the CCSA auction to benefit the Vera Bradley Breast Cancer Foundation which raised over $30,000 (the clock pictured above raised $8,000!!). It is truly amazing to watch a live auction and see the energy flow through each person in the audience. It is full of excitment and generosity all for a good cause and the best part is all the items donated were created by studio owners or their customers so I don't even have to tell you that the items were created by some amazing talented people. The item we donated didn't make it into the LIVE auction, so we will have to think a little more creatively next year :)

Some of the great studio owners at convention!

Creatopia Needs YOUR Vote!

I am happy to announce that Creatopia Pottery has been nominated for the WDIV 4 THE BEST list! This list is comprised of all of the Detroit area’s best local businesses and YOU the consumers get to nominate a winner! I am very excited about this nomination but need your help to make Creatopia #1!

Visit www.clickondetroit.com/4thebest
Scroll down to the “SHOPPING” category
Select “ARTS and CRAFTS”
Scroll down and find CREATOPIA, we are up against some stiff competition!
Submit your vote! (ok, so you do have to sign in and create an account but it is worth it!!)

We appreciate your support and don’t forget - VOTING ENDS AUGUST 31st

Feel free to pass this link along to your friends!!

Theraputic Joy

About twice a year we get a visit from one of our favorite groups, Canton Leisure Club. This is a group of individuals ages 15 and up with physical and/or mental impairments who participate in a program that promotes participant social skills and independance in the community and boy do they have a lot of energy!

The moment this group walks in the energy in the studio changes. With huge smiles on their faces and excitement in the air we begin helping them pick out their pieces to paint, from animal figurines to plates and bowls, this group really knows what they want and most of them make something for a family member or friend which makes the project even more special.

There are always wild stories to share and lots of laughter floating around the studio. On top of the group being so much fun the counselors who are in charge are wonderful too. They are super patient, attentive and really in tune with what their group needs. That doesn't surprise me though because Canton Leisure Services always does an excellent job of hiring a fantastic staff - kudos to them!

I truly enjoy the opportunity to work with this group each year. I love to see the smiling faces enter the studio and I'm sad to see them leave. It not only reminds me that painting pottery can be fun but also theraputic and is such a simple thing that can bring so much joy to a group of people.

Thank You Jon & Kate Plus 8!

Have you seen the new show Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC where one mom (Kate) performs the role of superwoman and manages her two year-old sextuplets and six year-old twins?! The show follows this family as they tackle seeminly ordinary life events that become extraoridnary when you add 8 kids into the mix. I've always liked this show and just recently in one of their episodes Kate (the mom) took the girls to a pottery studio to have some creative fun. What a great idea for a fun day out with the girls! The kids had a blast and ever since that episode pottery studios across the nation have been experiencing a wave of new customers excited to try the activity of painting pottery.

Many new customers have ventured into Creatopia either by finding us on the web or hearing about us from word of mouth from friends. They have commented on how the show made painting pottery look like so much fun and they just had to try it out! I don't think Kate realized it at the time but her pottery studio experience was the perfect commercial for good clean fun with the family and has not only created a new buzz around the pottery industry but sparked a new activity of interest for families across the nation. So THANK YOU KATE! For what it's worth I appreciate the opportunity you have given Creatopia to reach out to a whole new audience, sure to become the next wave of pottery fans.

Summer Workshop Projects

Summer is quickly approaching and the staff at Creatopia is very excited about our summer workshop program. This is something new and different we are offering this year and we have included a sneek peek at some of the projects we will be working on with the kids below. If you're interested in more information feel free to swing by the studio to pick up a brochure or email Jessica at: jessica@creatopiapottery.com for more info!