New Stained Glass

Here is the newest stained glass panel I finished. I just finished this on Friday. I put the cement in it on Friday and so now it is just drying. I designed the window around a Moonlight Blue Cambridge butter dish. Apparently Moonlight Blue Cambridge glass is from the Depression era and is a bit harder to get a hold of. I didn't know that and had bought two of these butter dishes off of eBay last year with an idea of making a panel. I just never realized what pattern until a couple of weeks ago. I had been thinking of what to do with them, but I am not really creative. I follow patterns, and if there aren't patterns then I don't really know where to start. I laughed when I read Korryn's post the other day about the pink walls. Korryn described herself as not creative or crafty. That is also the way I feel about myself. As long as someone else has designed it, I am great at copying, but to create something myself.....yeah, that doesn't work so well.

So (Kara's favorite word), when I got the plates last year, I knew I wanted to use the crystals. I had taken down a chandelier from the dining room a couple of years ago and saved the crystals for a later stained glass use. Other than that, I had no idea. Then I was sitting waiting for a meeting at church and the idea hit me for the border. It's variations of blue getting darker from until it gets to the purple and red. It was fun to build as well as frustrating. I didn't really do a good job building it. I did it backwards. I knew what the middle should look like, and so I didn't make a pattern for the glass. This was the stupid part. When I tried to cut the clear glass to fit around it, there were several times I had to walk away or I was going to throw the glass across the room. I wasn't getting the curves right or the angles. It would have helped if I had, had made a pattern. Patterns are much easier to follow than winging it.

Anyway, I think it turned out nice.

Co-Workers 40th!!

So a couple of weeks ago my co-worker turned 40. He had the unfortunate luck to have a brother that also worked for the company, however, the brother lives in Washington. The brother was "nice" enough to let Lorin, my boss, know that Lynn was turning 40. Lorin asked if we wanted to do something to Lynn for his 40th. Lynn is a good sport and is a bit of a jokester, so he was the perfect "victim."

I enlisted help from almost everyone in the office. We were all to wear black shirts on that Friday. One of the girls made extra large business cards, another made an instruction book for living past 40. This included coupons for denture cleaners and where to buy a scooter.

After Lynn left work on Thursday, I had a co-worker bring in some dirt. This may not have been the smartest idea. It sounded good. We put a tarp down on the carpet and we were going to mound the dirt to and put a Halloween tombstone on it. One thing I forgot was that the dirt here isn't really dirt as much as it is powder. So once I dumped a 50 lb box, it just poofed up and I was chewing dirt. Since I was a bit committed at this point, I dumped another box. That is when the bugs started to come out. Yuck!!! Well, he just got an extra special treat. Then I told one of the guys that we were going to need to fumigate the office that weekend.

Just then, a couple of guys looked into the office and said something about a reference to the show The Office and something about Dwight's furniture moved. Then they had an idea to move Lynn's office to the men's restroom. That was a bit funny.


Once the furniture was moved I blew up about 300 balloons. The idea was to fill his office up with balloons. However, I didn't realize how many balloons would be needed to fill up the office. Anyway, there were no more black or white balloons left in Wasco and I was tired, so I left it at that.

I also made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing of a graveyard. And for all of those who can't tell, those are palm trees. :-)

He was a good sport and thought it was funny. Now I guess I am just waiting for the "what-goes-around-comes-around."

By the way, this was only a few days before Tami's 40th, and so I was really doing it for her. Happy Birthday Tami.

You can see how much fun we have at work. He is trying to catch butterflies in the office. :-)

Happy Easter!!

New Years Goals

So I should probably come up with a few goals for this coming year. I read somewhere that I should also write them down. This way I commit to them and have a better chance of completing them.

First, I should read the Ensign cover to cover when it comes in. Sometimes they pile up and I don't take the time to read them cover to cover. I really like the stories in the back.

Second, I have decided that I should put together two stained glass panels with the plates that I have already purchased. Now, I just have to decide which two to work with, then create the pattern for the window.

Third, perhaps be a bit more diligent about writing in the blogs. :-)

Fourth, dust more frequently. It seems that the Bakersfield air has so much dirt in it. When I dust a couple of times a month, I end up having to use several paper towels because the dust is so thick. Great, now everyone knows what type of housekeeper I am.

Fifth, I really should water my grass. This way it would be green and actually grow when it is 100 degrees outside.

Sixth, recaulk the bathtub, then paint one of the kitchen cabinets and around a electric box in the hallway.

Six goals are good for now. Maybe a seventh goal would be to think about more goals. :-)

I am alive!

Contrary to popular belief, I wasn't writing because I am boring, not because I have a secret fling going on. :-)

Not that I wouldn't mind a winter fling to happen, but sorry nothing of note on that. I do have a "special" guy at church who is interested. He was just made my home teacher and during our first visit he found I was about his age. The next thing I knew he was emailing me and sitting by me at church and hunting me down to ask me things. I am not interested and am having to figure out how to nicely say no.

During that same home teaching visit, I found myself trying not to laugh. The other home teacher proceeded to tell me why he couldn't date the girl he was just talking to in the hallway. Also, he then told me that he thought the branch presidency was trying to put us together. Then he proceeded to tell me that he liked older women, but also gave me reasons why he wouldn't date me. Whatever! In my mind, I was thinking that even if he asked, I don't think I would make it through the evening with him. I would probably end up clobbering him over the head. Maybe I am a bit difficult. :-o

Happy New Year!!!

So this past week was a bit busy. That's a good thing. I had a wedding to go to on Friday, so I had to come up with a present. I decided that I would make a stained glass pansy. This took all evening on Wednesday as well as part of an early morning on Thursday.

I then took the project to work and showed it to everyone. I meant to take pictures of it when there was enough sunlight streaming through the windows, but completely forgot. So when I gave it away on Friday, it wasn't until I had wrapped it all up and was driving there that I remembered that I hadn't taken a picture. Oh well. It was really pretty. It was a 3-d pansy and was really heavy because it was made with the lead came instead of just the Tiffany copper foil method. I plan on making at least one more, so when I finish that, I will have to take its picture.

On Thursday evening, I went to a Pampered Chef party. It's really hard to call those things parties. Especially when there are only 6-8 people attending one. Anyway, I needed to get a new spatula. I had bought my last one about 8 years ago. I remember that it wasn't supposed to crack or to stain. However, mine finally cracked in a few different places this year. Plus, I got it to stain two weeks ago when I was trying to make some black icing.

I am a bit impressed because it has gone through the dishwasher twice since then and the stains are starting to disappear, so perhaps a few more times in the dishwasher, and there will be no stain.

Nevertheless, I decided that I needed a new one since this one is cracked in a few placed.

The wedding I went to on Friday was nice. It was a sunset wedding on the golf course. The bride was really pretty and her kids were just beautiful. Her oldest daughter gave a small speech/toast to her new stepfather as well as to her mother, and it was really nice. I only knew two other people in the room, and there was probably 100 people there. I really wasn't comfortable, and accidentally choose the table next to the bar. That was an experience.

I did see something that was a cute idea for any occasion. You know those hurricane vases, or something similar to those things? There was candy layered in them. There was probably a half dozen vases with candy. One had Reese's Pieces PB cups, another had mini Hershey bars assortment. There was another that was layered with white chocolate covered peanuts and layers of chocolate covered raisins. One had a layer of the dinner mints and jelly bellies. Another had sugar orange slices, a layer of gumdrops, and then a layer of the nice Ghirardelli chocolates. It was a cute idea.

What I have been up to....

Here is the pumpkin that I made on Tuesday night. This one was fun to make. I really like the color of the glass. This is a piece of glass that I have had for a while and I had bought it off of eBay. I had gone to the glass store again this past Saturday to pick up more glass, and I specifically looked for some orange glass. I didn't have much luck. I found some stuff that was almost orange. So I decided I would just have to have a lone pumpkin, and not a pumpkin patch. :-)

Also, here is a bat that I made. This one was a bit more difficult to make. I used a different method on this one than on the pumpkin, and I ended up cutting myself a couple of times and burning my knuckle on the soldering iron. I really have to remember to be a bit more careful. ;-)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!