Etsy Treasury

One of my beads was featured on an Etsy Treasury today! This makes me so happy, even though it's virtually meaningless. Haha.

Check it out: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10074

A Message From Luke

My school's Annual Fundraiser with Innisbrook has begun! Innisbrook Wraps has great gift wrap, fun gift wrap accessories, delicious gourmet foods, Fine Helen Grace Chocolates, Time Inc. magazine subscriptions, unique gift items and more.

For every item that is purchased, Innisbrook will donate up to 50% of the purchase price to my school. I also earn prize credits for every item sold except school supplies. The more prize credits I earn, the more Prizes I win!

Attached is a link to the Innisbrook website. Please visit the site and consider making a purchase on my behalf. Our sale will be over soon, so hurry and place your order.

Thanks for your help!

Click the link below to visit Innisbrook.com and they will recognize me and my school automatically.

http://www.innisbrook.com/index_students.cfm?id1=R104069C&id2=&id3=

If the above link does not work -
1. Click below
2. Enter the Seller ID# R104069C
http://www.innisbrook.com/id.cfm

How he knew true love

My grandmother and grandfather hung out in the same crowd somehow way back when. My grandmother was an art student, my grandfather a scholar of all things scientific, mathematic, philosophical. My grandmother thought my grandfather too good looking, too many girls were interested in him. I don't know what he thought of her, she was beautiful too. But somehow, one day, they were paired up on a double date. The first thing my grandfather said to her (and this is so typical, if you had known him) was: "What is the center of the Universe?" I don't know what kind of answer he expected to get, but it wasn't the one she returned: "Why, THIS is the center of the Universe." Apparently he was struck speechless (a first) and they were engaged to be married a week later.

More Acorns

Spooky Tree Beads (and more!) on Etsy Now

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade BlueBetween.etsy.com

bird in a tree

A Bat... and more Spooky Trees

More Spooky Trees

Boo!

Have been spending some great time in the studio, Halloween is coming a little early... maybe by the time it's really here, I'll have perfected these. Introducing my Spooky Halloween Trees.... stay tuned for more.

A Fresh Start

There is just something about September... it feels... like a fresh start. Time to get organized and into a routine... and back to work. I'm looking forward to it.

I've been organizing my studio - I put together some new storage racks for my glass rods. It's beautiful - it makes the glass just sparkle.



Luke starts school in five days. We are all very excited about it - it's a new school, another one of those "I'll never do that when I'm a parent" things - we are putting him in private school, even though we have a perfectly fine public school next door. It's going to be the best thing for him though, really great: small class sizes, great teachers, he'll be learning computers, Spanish, art and art history, music, drama and of course the regular stuff, reading, writing and math. They have a photography club, chess club, astronomy club and some discovery club and he wants to join all of them. And in the winter they have Ski Fridays - and parents get to go skiing with the kids too. When he's older he will go on the best field trips - learning to sail, mountain climbing, NY City and Washington DC... such cool experiences coming his way.

So, five days and counting... I'll be back with some pretty things to show, and sell, soon.

End of Summer Days

We've been enjoying the last few days of vacation - took a trip to the ocean beaches and around the Olympic Peninsula. What a huge state Washington is, seriously huge, and wild, for the most part. It was refreshing to see. And then it kept going on... and on... and so it was good to get home again, too.

This is the Dungeness Spit, in Sequim, WA. Miles of sand and driftwood and rocks, leading up to a lighthouse:



And here is Luke, hamming it up:

Glass Goodies

Oh, I'm not so good at this blog thing lately am I? I wonder why that is... I do think of things I could write about, but then I usually forget what they were by the time I have time to site down and write. Maybe that will change soon.

Anyway, here are some glass goodies I've been making. Lots of fun things, just playing around. Will get serious about listing things for sale once Luke goes back to school.















In other news...

Luke lost three teeth this month - he looks like a jac-o-lantern. I should take a picture, huh?

A jack russle jumped into my car this morning at swim lessons, got me all muddy, and stole my heart. I found his rightful owner though so his heart isn't broken.

Luke can now swim the length of the pool for swim lessons - not well, mind you, but he can do it.

Frank and I went to the Frantz Glass Bash last weekend, it was very cool, I got lots of new glass colors, saw the best demo by Kimberly Affleck (check out her seahorse beads!) and won a door prize of glow in the dark glass powder... fun!

Yummy Chocolate Flowers

Three new delicious chocolate caramel flower necklaces - one is around my own neck and is not coming off any time soon, the other two are for sale on my Etsy store. Check them out!

July Update

Goodness, it's been a long time since I've updated here. Let's see, where should I start. I guess I'll start with a confession: I've been sick. Really sick and it's gone on longer than it should have because I didn't want to face up to it. Yes, my autoimmune thyroid disease came back, this time not Graves but Hashimotos - turns out it's a lot easier to manage this one than the first one - that's the good news and I feel pretty lucky about that. The bad news is that I also have some adrenal issues, a rare recurring virus (Mono/Epstien Barr) and a ton of food allergies. The food allergies are causing me the most struggle at the moment, everything else is finally under control. But February, March, May and June were hard (really hard) and July finds me finally feeling a bit normal again (heh, no comments!).

I just finished a really long and drawn out project - my last client website project ever (please, Universe, don't make me eat those words). Have a look at it if you like - www.celebrationgiftbaskets.com/ - I think it came out nice - the client loved it until a couple of her friends suggested she re-do it in brighter colors - hmn. Oh well, just one of the reasons I'm glad to be out of web work once and for all. I'm excited too, because it means I can finally focus my energies on MY dream: creating beads, jewelry, art... pretty things that make people happy to have them and wear them.

I have not had a whole lot of time in the studio to create, but I did make some cute glass acorns:



Stay tuned for some beachy beads or jewelry made from them (not sure which yet). I'm having fun making waves in glass right now.

On the homefront, we got one of those huge blow up party pools for Luke - he's been enjoying it SO much - it looks like this:



And that's about it - can't think what else... the bathroom remodel projects are still moving slowly forward... the green beans plants are as tall as I am and my tomato plant is almost up to my neck... Oh, Frank got his motorcycle license (and is looking for a bike) and we saw Lyle Lovet in the rain last weekend and it was actually really fun, even in the rain. And Harry Potter 7 - DONE! Loved it! Hope everyone is having a nice summer too. Xoxo - Pam

Teacher Gift

This is for Luke's teacher for the last day of school. I made the beads today, it was GREAT melting glass again :)

My Working Studio

Well... what a crazy week (or was it two?) since I last posted. First of all, my hood did not work and it was SUCH a disappointment. After several days of trying things, the best solution ended up being a sheet of metal acting as a baffle. It works fine now, but is definitely not as easy on the eyes as before. I will probably change it to something else, down the road...

But here it is, mostly done on the outside, it just needs a little patio and path so I don't have to walk in the mud to get to it.



Inside, it still needs the trim painted, but we rushed getting the stuff out there because we have a house guest and needed to make some room in my old art room for a guest bed. So it will get painted eventually, and shouldn't be too much of a hassle to do it even though all my "junk" is now out there. I also need some storage, shelving, art on the walls... it's definitely not feeling homey yet, but it sure is NICE to hang out there and melt glass!

Here is my lampwork bead making side:



And here is my jewelry creation side:



Thank you everyone for all your nice comments along the way - it HAS been fun watching it go up! But I sure am glad it's just about done and I can get back to work again creating beautiful things. xoxo, Pam

lotsa progress!

Oh, what a good weekend this was for the studio. Frank just about knocked himself out though - he had to dig this ditch so the electricians can come this week and electrify my studio -and he dug most of it in torrential downpours:





Then he started hanging the trim inside:


And while he was doing that, I painted some trim outside (just the corners - I think it looks better, don't you?):


AND THEN!!! We hung the hood - oh, we are SO close now!!! It's just too exciting!

painted

This is Big!! We got the studio painted and it's SO cute! I just love it, though the "cape cod grey" I picked out seems a little lighter than I was really thinking. I'm just not the best paint picker am I? I think it has something to do with lacking patience. Anyway.... It's done and I'm happy.



Not too much left to do before I'm out there melting glass and creating again. Interior trim, hanging the hood, punching a hole for the propane hose, cleaning off the dusty grouted floor and sealing it, and getting the electrician back out to do the finish work. Outside just needs a lattice skirt and some plants!

Fan box installed

Frank built this for me. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it's rock solid and will keep the fan noise out of my studio - or at least, that's my hope. So we are ------ THIS ----- much closer to being done!

THIS was satisfying

Tiles are a little darker than the picture shows, walls a little lighter - strange. Will try to grout tomorrow maybe.