Tulip Windows

When I went home for Christmas, I brought a whole bunch of glass with me so I could put together some things to put in Mom and Dad's store. I wanted to see if they would actually sell. Well, so far nothing has sold.
I had cut out 10 tulip windows to do. I had also brought parts of the ladybugs to put together. I think I had 6 of those. I also made a couple of beach boxes for them while I was there. I have to say that I grossly underestimated the time it takes to solder glass together. I guess I am just not quick enough. So in the end, I brought back three tulip panels to complete once I got back home. My favorite is the pink one.

Cool Piece of Glass

So I went to the glass store to pick up clear textures. I needed some of the taffeta glass below. Plus I really like using this in my tulip panels. She didn't have any on the shelves, but had a giant sheet below that I had her cut up and I took half, which is about 3.5 square feet of glass. I really like the swirls in the glass. I think it is more elegant to use than just plain glue chip which looks like snow crystals on the glass.


Anyway, since I was there for a while looking for the perfect piece of glass, I also found Krinkle and Crinkle glass. I really didn't see much of a difference and so I wanted to take them home and look at them a bit more. As I checked out, she told me that the Crinkle had more harsh lines, while the Krinkle was more circle lines. I can almost see now.


Then I spotted the clear with leaves imprinted (left) and clear with squiggles. I am not sure what I am going to so with all this clear, but I thought they looked pretty.

After I bought all the glass and told the owner I needed to leave before I bought all of the glass. She told me that she had a specials piece I might like. In the back of my mind I was groaning a bit. I didn't need anymore glass. However, she told me she would give me a special deal on this piece of glass. So I went over to look at it. It had a rose imprint all over the frosted glass. She said that since she could tell I liked clear textures she thought I might like this piece. I smiled. I was a bit worried. The glass was huge. It was about 7.5 square feet and hadn't been cut yet. Plus she was pulling it out of the place where I bought my most expensive piece of glass a couple of months ago.

Then she told me it was free to a good home. Heck, I was like, my home is good. I'll take it. now I have a huge piece of glass I am not sure what to do with. But then again, I have a lot of glass that do not have projects lined up.

Now some of you know of the big dresser that Mom has full of fabric. That fabric moved around with us every time we moved. However, the fabric didn't seem to get used. Mom has now said that she has gone through it and donated some of the fabric and that some of the fabric was no longer usable. I am now like mom. I have a huge cabinet with glass in it. Glass that doesn't have specific projects in mind. I can't help myself. I go to the glass store looking for a particular color or texture and see a piece I can't leave behind. I must have it. Now I have a lot of glass and need to line up projects for them. However, the catch 22 is that once I have a project in mind, there will be one color I don't have, so I will need to back to the store.....and so my collection grows. :-)

Here is fat Sam next to the free piece of glass I got.

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!!!