Snowflakes of Christmas and Other Stuff

These are five of my snowflakes . . . They went pretty quick!

Yes, I've been busy and have been selling some of my glass on Etsy.com. Thank goodness! It helped finance some of Christmas for me!

Then a friend "commissioned" two cardholders as gifts for friends, so per his guidelines, we designed the palm tree and a cardholder fit for a "Princess!"

Somewhere in there, I designed and made a glass "puzzle." It is themed as a seashore puzzle, is filled with sea and pirate trinkets buried in blue sand. A list of the contents is included, and older children (and some adults!) can spend hours tilting, shaking, and twisting the tube hunting for all the trinkets.

Also, finally made it to the doctor and gave him his "Gold Star" cardholder. I designed this because when I lost weight, he came into the exam room and stuck a gold star that he drew and colored with a highlighter on my forehead!! Not sure whether he enjoyed the cardholder, of the pound of homemade English Toffee I gave him more!

I have also been making "Leaves of Winter" and "Valentine's Day Leaves" to list on Etsy.com.

O, Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!!

I found a picture of this online somewhere, and decided it was too cute!! So, I made a stained glass Christmas Tree! This has colored "lights"made from multi-colored beads strung on 20 gauge wire an soldered to the tips and center of each snowy branch. I added a copper "star" at the top, just because it looked rather naked without it.

It came out so cute, that I'm not sure whether or not to put it in my Etsy store. I am thrilled that in the course of two days, my little store sold out of stained glass snowflakes. I had every intention of making more toay, but this tree begged me to finish it first.

I didn't even have time to post the pictures of my last two snowflakes! So here, for a "last hurrah!" are the two that were shipped out this morning.

Some of My Newest Stuff!

Ok - so I've been bad and not posted in quite a while! So, here for your viewing pleasure are some new additions to my Etsy.com store!

Star of the Cardholders

A short story:

About a year ago, I had some bad test results on a visit to my doctor. He urged me to make some changes, which I took to heart. On my next visit, three months later, my tests came back better than they'd ever been and I had lost 35 pounds. I was thrilled!

Apparently, so was my doctor. He came into the exam room, a big smile on his face, and - believe it or not - stuck a gold star on my forehead! He'd actually drawn one, colored it in with hi-liter, and put glue stick on the back. Yes, he missed his calling as a comedian!

Anyway, that has always tickled me - that he would do that. For quite a while, my thoughts ran to just how to repay his silliness. So, I designed the following cardholder for my doctor. It will be given on my next appointment!

Etsy.com New Additions

These cardholders have been added to my
offerings at my Etsy.com shop. The orange cardholder is composed of 31 individual pieces of glass, including a translucent orange with white wispy, and a clear red with dark red wispy, and a red gem "blob." I used a copper patina instead of the silver or black to enhance the oranges.

The other is a mineature golf bag made of heavily textured clear blue with dark blue wispies, and a less textured very light blue with a darker blue wispy. Decorations are hand-made tiny golf clubs, a shoulder strap made of wire, and nubs of solder that look like nailheads. This cardholder is basically for Father's Day - for the dad who'd really rather be golfing than sitting at a desk!

I'm enjoying making these and adding to the shop's offerings!

It's . . . . . . Another Birdhouse!!

Couldn't believe the orange birdhouse sold on Etsy in just a few weeks! So, in celebration, I completed another one and posted it for sale, as well! This one is a navy with white wispy body, a brown/cream glass roof that kind of resembles wood, and very pale green/yellow/brown roof accent pieces. These houses have a removable slide on the bottome for cleaning and are fully functional with ventilation slit above the sides to allow cooling air flow.

I Am So Thrilled!!!!

After about five years of buying the pattern, frame, glass saw, countless pieces of glass, foil, solder, flux, patina, glass polish, and a buffer head that fits on my drill, and playing dumb blonde at the hardware store to buy silicone adhesive,

IT IS FINALLY FINISHED!!!

Saturday, I polished the glass and solder on the backs and fronts of all three panels for about three hours by hand, then lightly ran my buffer wheel over all the surfaces.

After everything was clean and sparkling, each panel was finally mounted in the frame and sealed with silicone adhesive. Of course, that has to dry for two days (and fully cures after two weeks), so it sat in the basement over Easter and at last this afternoon the entire piece made it's debut in the livingroom.

This, of course, was no easy task. Those of you who've seen my basement stairs know there's a turn at the bottom, and a landing by the back door, and this thing MUST weight at least 50 pounds . . . . I had to rest a couple times on the steps and never thought it would make it to the livingroom! But, oh, once it did! It took my breath away!

But that couldn't come close to how it looks at night with a fire behind it!! Absolutely stunning, if I do say so myself! The way the flames twinkle through the clear glass pieces and make the entire piece glow is so beautiful. I can't believe I actually made this! It came out more beautiful then I ever imagined!


Here are a couple shots of it at night in a darkened room with the fire going behind it - kind of like the world's largest night light!