Artsy Lady

My way of saying THANKS!

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:13:29 -0500

To celebrate the 200th post on my creativity blog, I'm offering a free giveaway... please go here to get all the details and enter to win! I'm giving away this small vase, three guest soaps and small dichroic glass pendant, all of these are things I made. =)

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October days

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:39:06 -0400

I finished up baking the wedding cake… in a range that now has a (temporary I hope) wooden handle, that’s right ladies and gents, my kitchen range is sporting a 2x4 where the handle should be. One side of the handle came off yesterday as I was putting the first cake in the oven. Later, the other side came off as well, right in my hand. With the new chunk of wood, I can get in stuff in and out of the oven much easier. And that was all that mattered while I was baking the wedding cake. Tomorrow I will ice the wedding cake, Saturday morning I will deliver it and then enjoy my cousin’s big plain Mennonite wedding.

Just about the time I was headed off for a nice leetle nap, I saw that the USPS had delivered my box of broken NASA glass… which sent me downstairs to the kiln. I played with the pretty bits of dichroic glass and put a round in the kiln to fire up. I spent some quality time with the whammer, making broken glass into more broken glass, managed to wham my own finger like the genius I am. Owie! I just finally pulled that batch of glass out of the kiln just now, they were still 102 degrees, but that’s better than 1500 that they were earlier. I think they turned out beautifully in spite of the fact that three of the six have crack marks in the center. I’ll ask a glass friend what that was about but I’m pretty sure it’s because I opened the kiln door to peak at the wrong temp and the glass just couldn’t contain it’s joy at seeing me and it's heart just burst right there in the middle. Or something like that. Temperamental stuff, peaking in the kiln at the wrong time is a bad idea.

I was serious about getting that nap so I tried again. This time the phone rang just after I had dozed off. The hubby was on his way home and bringing the father-in-law with him. He was just passing through but we managed to talk him into staying the night. I would have cooked but he just wanted food, a shower and off to bed with him. He’s driving some kind of big rig through the area. We ordered a pizza and that was that. I like to cook, and I would have loved to cook for them but they were looking for something a little more instant. To bad, their loss.

I managed to put some glaze on a series of wine glasses. It seems like wine glasses were good for me this month in sales. The second round of glazing will come tomorrow and then I’ll get a feel for whether or not I like them… so far myeh. That's how they always look after the first round, the second round is what makes them beautiful.

While I was working on the glaze my friend Michelle called. She was here for a few nights last weekend and I made home made hot poppers. She was making them and trying to remember what I'd done. Just cut the peppers in half, remove the seeds and membranes. In a microwave safe mug put half a block of cream cheese in the mic for 30 seconds. Stir in some salt and peppa, onions, paprika, garlic and some swiss or sharp cheddar (in fine chunks) or whatever your favorite cheese is. Stir it all together and put in a pastry bag (or a ziploc bag with the corner clipped if you don't have the other) and pipe it into the pepper halves. Line a pan with foil, put cracker crumbs in the pan so the peppers don't stick, top the poppers with more cracker crumbs and some parsley. I popped them in my toaster over at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, served with cold sweet n sour and duck sauce and YUM! Michelle was trying to remember what I'd done, she'd been watching while I made them when she was here. She'd found a recipe online from Emeril... but she said it was too complicated. Michelle liked my recipe better than Emeril's!! *wistful bits of happy joy and smug self approval*

I just put another round of glass in the kiln and set it off. By morning I hope it is back down to a temperature that I can get in there and see what they look like. I love working with glass, you never know what is going to come out of the kiln, but honestly, waiting to pull them out after they are back down under a hundred degrees is really hard. I am curious and impatient.

It’s time for full tilt production for the holidays. I want to get my work into a few more galleries and see if I can rock this holiday season. I hope so. That would be cool.

Then maybe the first of the year I can work on transforming my kitchen. I’m thinking a new floor – which I think means the old vinyl will have to come up. And since it’s been down there since 1975 I don’t know how hard it will be to get up. And everything needs a coat of paint. The walls, the cabinets… everything. It’s going to be a really big job but it will turn out fine, if I can ever make up my mind on the colors. I fear that I don't really want to live with the gray I've chosen. It would be beautiful in someone else's home, but other people can live with colors I can't handle and the opposite is true. (I remember well my fuchsia bedroom - it rocked - but to be fair it was mostly concrete, steel, glass and hardwood... but still the one fuchsia wall ROCKED!) Hmm...

I still hope that we can get the adoption in by the end of the year, mainly for tax reasons but honestly, hope is waning for that. And the possible financial repercussions of that kind of suck. But whatcha gonna do? There isn’t anything I can do but wait. Well... I can blubber over it, but I've already done my share of that. Honestly I don't know whatever possessed me to say that I'd pay thousands of dollars and wait hundreds of days for something I'm not sure I can handle when it comes. I'm just sayin.

That's a day in the life of an artist. Never a dull moment.

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Turtle Squish

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:22:40 -0400

I pulled up in front of my house to park and *bump…* uh… what was that? Did I hit the truck? So I parked Vincent and got out to see if there was some damage. Yeah. There was damage. I ran over a turtle with Vincent Van Go. And the shell was broken, the bits had squirted out and a puddle of blood was forming as the lil bugga looked up at me.

I felt like a horrible human just then.

Later when I visited the site he had tucked in his little head and died. Sigh.

And now there are flies.

I have told hubby, he shall visit with a shovel to remove the remains when he gets a chance. I told the lil bugga that I was very sorry but it didn’t help. Hubby said some apologies are like that.

I love turtles.

La Sigh.

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Art Glass Pendants

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:37:47 -0400

Hey everyone, I’m trying to raise some money to get a new floor in my kitchen before the kids come. And since I’ve just started learning how to fuse dichroic glass in my kiln, well… this is your shot at getting a great deal on a new piece of jewelry for yourself or a gift. Check out the options here.

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Mad Props

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:28:35 -0400

To this guy who waded into the loony bin tea party people with a simple sign and a smile.

See it on flickr

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QotD: Kickoff the NFL Season

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:05:13 -0400

Which NFL team are you rooting for this season? Who do you think will make it to the Super Bowl?
I don't know, and I couldn't care less to be honest. I don't like football, I never have. And I watch it when I am forced to, but generally the ADD kicks in and I start getting really fidgety and acting like I'd rather be elsewhere... mainly because I would really like to be elsewhere. I guess football is that major contest of the warriors that is missing in our culture since we don't feed Christians to lions, or watch the battle raging in the valley below, or have a bull fight in the city square, or a duel, or public hangings... or whatever life and death blood sport that we long for as a only slightly more evolved (appearances can be deceptive) looking people.
Thing is, my facebook updates from people in my neighborhood are all about sports right now, which is growing really old really fast. I went on a delete facebook friends spree lately and deleted the people I kinda semi know but wouldn't speak to if I saw them at Food Lion. That helped.
Ok then, that was random.

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Mmm Hmmm! Preach it Brother!

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:13:53 -0400

Ken Robinson

I was watching this tonight with hubby in the room, he laughed at me cause I was "mmm humming" my laptop, agreeing with this guy. Some excellent material here! It is 19 minutes, but it went by in a flash for me, he's talking about creativity which is near and dear to my heart as an artist!

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Hmmm... kitchen makeover?

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:21:52 -0400

I am giving some thought to a kitchen transformation. I painted it, but it never felt right. I didn’t take it far enough, I didn’t touch the cabinets or the floor. And those things need to be transformed!!! So…

Hubby is going to be away for the weekend, I’m considering buying some paint and seeing what I can do about another transformation in the kitchen. It would be more fun if he were here to do the back breaking parts, no doubt. But I’m a big girl, I can do this. Now… do I really WANT to tackle it ALONE? THAT’s the question!!

I have it worked out in my head... I can almost see it... almost taste it... maybe even SMELL it. It's nothing I haven't done before only not quite this boldly... Hmmm... The ideas, there are just SO MANY!

Here are some of my fav inspiration photos: over at my la bloga

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QotD: Technology & My Future

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:03:25 -0400

How do you think technology will impact your future?
Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.
I think it will annoy me a great deal as each big change comes down the line. But I will eventually learn to use and appreciate the next new thing technology offers up.

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QotD: What Makes You Feel Sexy?

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Lady) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:24:41 -0400

What makes you feel sexy?
Sponsored by Body by Victoria® from Victoria's Secret.
Closely fitting (but not tight) clothing on my body, high heels, short flippy hair and big dangling earrings. I've lost some weight, I'm the thinnest I've been in years and I feel pretty good. I am trying to walk and stay active though I had a real lazy day yesterday. I want to keep the weight off and keep getting stronger. And strong agile bodies are sexy. That's my opinion anyway.

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