Thank You For Sharing

Recently, I received a delightful email showing me a stained glass panel I made last summer in the client's window at home. I love it! It is so fun to see where it ends up.

From Etsy, one customer said the stained glass panel she was giving as a Christmas present was the nicest gift she's every gotten anyone. Wow, how cool is that!?

Along the same lines a woman at a craft fair in December a woman bought a red, white, and blue bi-plane panel for her husband. The men in my life who like planes was always at the back of my mind as I was designing that piece.

As everyone in our house is finally healing from colds, stomach flus, and infections, and the house is after-Christmas cleaned, it is now time to get the juices going and start creating again. Hurray! Thank you everyone for sharing pictures and comments of how you plan to use the stained glass in your homes, work places, or in giving. It's an inspiration for me.

Sharing Our Bananas

Mother Teresa once said that in India starving people would generally share their last banana, but in America we have a big bunch and we won't share even one. The image this bring to mind still haunts me.

Luckily, in the age of the internet we can make a difference around the world with a click of a button. We can share our bananas, so to speak. Have you ever been to globalgiving.org? If not, I recommend browsing their site. You can pick causes to support based on region of the globe or target group you want to help.

My favorite Christmas shopping this year was done on globalgiving. Do yourself a favor and experience the joy of giving $10 to a cause you didn't even know about this morning. It feels good.

Chives on a Sandwich

Have you ever had cream cheese and chives on your sandwich? It's surprisingly good. I mean almost divine. Last week we accidentally bought cream cheese with chives in it, and I discovered:

Cream cheese and chives on a sandwich - makes it taste like a sandwich you would pay good $ for in an upscale sandwich shoppe. Full disclosure: I did add some light mayo, too. I made this sandwich everyday until we ran out of turkey.

Cream cheese with chives tastes real good in a baked potato - makes it taste like a twice baked potato, especially with cheese sprinkled on top.

Now I can't wait for my chives to pop up in the garden...I'm going to be adding fresh chives to all kinds of new things. In fact, I'm making tuna noodle casserole for dinner and my husband likes chives in it, maybe I'll need to go out in the backyard and see if we have any chives.

Stained Glass Displays

Recently, my creativity has centered on devising a display for my stained glass at an upcoming Holiday Craft Fair. After much research, I decided PVC pipes give me the clean lines, open look, and versatility I want. I'm a little nervous, because I haven't seen this used the way I imagine it, but sometimes that's what it takes for innovation.

Next discovery: 1/2 PVC pipes make excellent forts, spears, and many other delightful ideas. The boys keep taking the pipes and fittings. And that's not all - these white plastic pipes also make a great photography box for taking photos of my stained glass. The secret to this versatility is making consistent sizes so I/we can interchange them into different configurations.

Last thought, my art has always made big messes. Homeschooling makes big messes. Put the two together and...run for the hills. My husband I like a clean home, a never ending matter. Anyway, I'll show the finished display stands in a few weeks.

Vinegar Cleaning

For the thrifty or natural types out there: there is nothing cheaper or better at cleaning than vinegar! My son loved cleaning this copper plate with vinegar and oil. He was fascinated as layer after layer of dark wiped away, and the copper color came out.

Our family cleans everything in sight with vinegar and warm water (windows - wipe down with newspaper), or vinegar, dish soap, and water (tables, counters walls, doors, etc). Because vinegar is cheap, non harmful if swallowed, etc. we've been using it since the boys were babies. I'd give the little one a rag to clean the back door window while the rest of us cleaned our assigned areas. Just buy a big bottle of brand name vinegar which smells better than off brand, and a big bundle of cheap wash clothes and you are good to go. If you really want to get into natural cleaning: baking soda, lemon juice, salt etc really does clean just about everything.

Last week I cleaned my mom's pellet stove out with vinegar, dish soap, and water. It looked great! A few years ago , there was a "clean this mess" type show set in England, one of the women cleaning was a scientist and she would show what germs people left around the house - and she said vinegar was anti- bacterial. Which confirmed what I knew all along - it cleans everything and harms nothing EXCEPT an occasional open wound on the hand. Hold the rag with the other hand if the cut starts burning and bothers you. This does happen to me occasionally since I'm a stained glass artist.

If the smell of vinegar bothers you - well you get used to it. Besides, it's a heck of a lot better than some of the toxic cleaning products you may be using. There are ways to infuse essential oils into the vinegar, but I like to keep things simple.

Homemade Castles

We saw a picture of a cardboard castle in a library book, and my youngest son immediately wanted to make a castle just like it. I've been collecting juice, oatmeal boxes, and toilet paper rolls for years so here was the chance to finally use them! We had been to Aldi the day before providing a stack of boxes to build on.

Day 1: We cut, taped, and glued it together.

Day 2: We were going to paint it. Before I was even out of bed the castle was up out of the school room and stuffed animals were all over the castle "playing". It still hasn't been painted, they are enjoying it so much just the way it is.

So here's to make believe, playing, and creativity at it's best.

Halloween

Here are the boys on Halloween night. We just trick or treated on our street. I was going to take them up to the city to see their grandparents, but I was too pooped. I worked too hard in the art studio that day and ran myself ragged. Oops.

The pumpkins they each carved the night before at their Grammy B's, my youngest sometimes calls her Mama B. It was a cold windy night and they would go outside and tell ghost stories, coming in giggling. They bobbed for apples, and they went in a dark room to put their hand in a bowl with cow brains, which was really spaghetti noodles. Gross, I know.