I had an item mis-listed. In other words I sold it at a show and somehow managed to reactivate it in my shop without having it in my hand!!! I am sooo much more detail oriented than that. Of course I didn't discover my mistake until someone purchased it. I was completely mortified and offered to make her a similar one. She said it didn't have to be the same color as the orignal so I asked her preference and made some beads for her to choose from in the colors she listed. The beads on this leather bracelet are the ones she liked. My favorites out of the bunch~ I am happy to have had the opportunity to create a custom bracelet for her. I hope she loves it!
The snow threats have started already. We were supposed to get some last wednsday night but nada. The local weather service is talking about two consecutive storms headed are way. A cold snow that won't last long followed by wind and temps in the 50's.
Oh Mom I bet you wish you were in Arizona now :)

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Originally uploaded by mattskiss99

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!
Getting to spend Thanksgiving with my mom and stepdad Milo was a rare treat, they are usually already in the warmer climes by this time of year. Milo is fighting a winning battle with prostate cancer. Due to his extended medical treatment they are still in the area for Thanksgiving and mom's Birthday! Although they are both anxious to be "outta here" and headed for Sunny Arizona and their cozy little spot. I am glad they are in the Pacific Northwest with us a bit longer this year :) so Happy Birthday Mom! You guys look lovely together~
Kris

Here it is~ The hollow puffy Lentil I was talking (gushing:) about last week Another View~
The sunrise was cold and beautiful this morning
I forgot about how hard those hollow beads are to clean!!!! Long ago I read about using a waterpick to clean out the last of the bead release but I never had to resort to that until now lol... Luckily I have one and I have to say it worked like a tiny bead pressure washer! Dreamy~
The sunrise was a bonus. The whole sky was lit up like a coral flame. I drank a couple of cups of coffee to get myself good and warm for the torch time I needed to put in today. It gets sooo cold in my studio in the winter sometimes. We haven't set the heater up yet this winter so I bundle up and take something hot to drink with me.
Well now it is time to get busy and get some Turkey soup on.
Warm and full of veggies yum :)

I have something in my kiln that I can't wait to see!!! It is a largish round hollow that I flattened a bit. It looks like a puffy lentil. I have wanted to make a bead like this for some time. In fact it was the inspiration for the hollow cubes I made a while back. I adore the way the light shines through them. Trying to keep the corners square and crisp was another thing entirely. Molten glass behaves much like slow moving water. It wants to be round and will continually try to become round until it cools enough to stay in the shape you like.

I will post pictures soon~

Oysters on the half shell? Not what I intended but a nice effect just the same.
Glass reacts to glass because of the different chemical properties of each color (I hope I am saying that right) Different things happen between different glasses. That is probably the thing that keeps me interested the most. I can try to duplicate an effect but it usually doesn't happen the same way.
Then there are glasses that are reactive all by themselves like Terra, R-108, Z-99 and a host of others.
Then to really spice things up you can also add metal leaf and foils in copper, silver, gold and palladium oh and wire too~ Burn them off in the flame or not :)

A little Terranova show and tell!
Some Silver Plum in all its wonder!
A little more Terranova. I really enjoy the subtle hues in this glass. Greens and purpley burgundies into gorgeous blues mmm nice...
Monday night I was surprised by my old friend migraine. I was busy doing some work on the computer and I realized part of the screen was missing. I was seeing "the hole" Part of my vision just fills in with a blank for lack of a better description. I used to have migraines often in my mid-twenties and I could always tell one was coming on for sure by running and looking at myself in a mirror. Part of my face would be gone from my field of vision. The next thing to come would be "lights" out of the corner of my eye, kind of like looking at a lightbulb and then away. From there it just gets more fun, numbness in various body parts and sometimes words don't make any sense. I usually just shut up and lie down.
So Monday night I squinted one eye printed what I needed and went to bed at about 6:00 pm. I dozed and awakened feeling better at about 8:45 pm I was surprised that I felt better so I got up had a light snack and then it started again!!! First the hole then the lights. Never have I had two in a row like that I still feel a little out of it and It is Thursday two days later.
I have things to do I don't have time for migraine prison right now dammit!!!

Have you checked out our Holiday Gift guide yet? Lis our fearless leader, neverending source of ideas, wonder girl came up with this. It is a lovely collection of easy (uncrowded) holiday shopping if you ask me :) Don't hesitate everything is handmade high quality artisan glass!

I'd much rather have a stack of beads than a stack of pancakes :) This shape has been my favorite lately and I have seriously drifted away from my usual petite bead sets. I have become a focal makin' fool. I used to test combos on small round beads but lately these have become my "test beads" The shape is superslim and they feel so cool in my hands. Like a worrystone, they are soothing and beautiful to look at too.

She's a doll isn't she?
Matt and sam and I took Alena down to his grandparents for the annual apple harvest. They pick all of the apples at the end of the season just shake them out of the trees,
pick them up from the ground and box them up. Then they took them around to the front where the cider press is located.
Grandpa seemed to be having a great time :) He was probably just happy to get the apples picked so the bear quits coming around at night! Yes they have had a bear prowling for apples in the last few weeks so it's a good thing they made them into cider.
Matt and Dave are getting the cider press ready to rock and roll~
Miss Alena having a bit of quality time with her great grandma.
Does making cider and spending the day with beloved family members count as a day off? Well for me it does all I really did was wander around with a baby on my hip and a camera in my free hand. I don't know how I ever got anything done while my babies were little!!! I stand amazed that some of the people I know can accomplish so much with children underfoot :) I know I got things done when the kids were little. I guess I have forgotten how lol...

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Originally uploaded by mattskiss99

Something sweet and tranquil to look at until I have more time for a real post~

Amazing... simply amazing the tricks I was shown today~ Finally there is hope for my pictures of red things...
just a ray of hope...
I still have to figure out how to implement some of the wonder picture tricks I learned today. I am so on it!! Marlo was a great teacher and my classmates were a lot of fun as well. I am still in disbelief that I actually went so far out of my "safe bubble" lol. I live in suburbia and it is comfortable for me. I would be most at ease with directions that end in "turn left at the really big stump" Of course the directions would have to first come with a great reason for me to go there in the first place. So driving all by my shy self into the middle of a majorly huge city like Seattle lol... I want great pictures what can I say? I got lost after I got into Seattle but I realized it fairly quickly and didn't waste much time calling for help. Marlo, my fabulous teacher got me there in one piece and after class I followed another southbound student to I-5.
All in all it was a terrific day and I hope I can do my teacher justice :)

Taking a good picture of items you are selling online is soooo important. I still don't quite have it down. Even though I love trying :) Sometimes my backgrounds turn colors other than what they are. A lovely shade of yellow ivory is my least favorite~ blech... So this Sunday I am taking a class in Seattle and hopefully it will make all the difference in the world. I am excited to be included as the class size is very small. I can't wait to see what I can learn!
On making wine stoppers I wish I was more prolific but they take a lot out of me when I make them. After I complete one my left hand will sometimes shake like I have the tremors!!! Not good for making the small detailed beads that I prefer. I have decided that I need to get an armrest of some sort so that I have good support while I am waving that big blob of glass in the flame.
And then there is always the desire for more glass. I have discovered glass that I had previously ignored because I didn't want to have yet another type of glass *rolls eyes* Well it turns out that I really love this glass a LOT. It isn't listed on my suppliers website... I hope they still have some. I am going to have a busy weekend I can tell :)

I promised myself I wouldn't watch because I don't want to cry today. Somehow I find myself in spite of myself watching Oprah with her terminal guests today and among them is Kris Carr http://www.crazysexycancer.com/
What an incredible outlook she has.
Wow we could all learn a lot from her.
I was having such a crappy day and it looks so much better now.

Well I told you I would come back and let you know what happened with the storm. My son now has a rather large hole in his roof and is in the process of moving to a different apartment. Part of a tree snapped off and dropped through his roof right over the babies room!!! Thankfully none of them were home when it happened so nobody was injured. He is lucky to have so many family members close by to help him move. Matt went over and helped on saturday and T.J.' s dad is helping them finish up today. What surprises me about the whole thing is there is a gaping hole in the roof, the rain has been pouring in and the apartment owner/manager hasn't even tarped the hole???!!!
The temperature really dropped after the winds moved through and we had thunder and lightning friday night. Cold temps and thunder always seem wrong to me. Anyway I have a lot of things to get caught up on so this is just a quick update so you guys know we didn't blow off the edge of the earth :)

Catching up... Does that ever really happen? I have a lot to do on my days "off" this week. Bottlestoppers and beads. A windstorm is coming in from the Pacific even as I type this. I am hoping the power stays on!!! Wish me luck with that the trees are still heavy with unfallen leaves~ I will let you all know what happens:)
Have a great day!

A view of the gloriously warm Atlantic ocean from our condo. Sue and I were raised around the Pacific Ocean which is icy cold in comparison. The first time I dipped my toes into the Atlantic I couldn't believe how warm it was. Look what I found in the parking garage! At first I thought it was dead but then the little guy moved and boy did I jump back hehehe... :)
A sea of Silk Road Collars! http://www.silkroadcollars.com/ I was over at The Sand Palace shoved back in a room in dark corner under the stairs!!! Needless to say the set up came down Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday morning. Greyhounds "cockroach" when they are relaxed. This girl does it on command to get her pretty pink tummy rubbed :)
Ahh home at last~ The sunrise from my first morning back was absolutely stunning!! I am glad I am an early riser and I was up to see it. Even where we live, surrounded by other homes, early morning is an amazing peaceful time. I love to go outside and take a few deep breaths of the crisp cool morning air. Yay Home!!!!

You would think going to Dewey would be a little vacation-like. It is but it is also very exhausting and I usually take about a week or so just readjusting to the time difference. I am a fairly quiet introverted kinda gal and Dewey just wipes me out!!! This year the heat and humidity were crazy but oh so nice compared to the wild nor 'easter we had last year. I will have some pix and stories for you all later this week when I start to feel human and get a little caught up at work. Bleh :P sometimes it almost isn't worth the vacation with all the trying to get caught up when I get back :)

Here we go again!!! Off to Dewey Beach to play with the Greyhounds~ The standing Greyhound is my newly designed image~
Of course One of them is my favorite :)
A sampling of some of the dichroic Greyhound beads I have made for Dewey. Sue has been turning them into beautiful wearable items. Creating the dichro images is something I really enjoy. This year I created a standing greyhound. Creating an image involves first drawing the picture. Then it is scanned into my computer and e-mailed to my wonderful dichro guy. He then does whatever it is he does (magic?) that puts the image onto glass so I can melt it onto my beads. Each piece is meticulously and carefully formed to the bead it is on. I have to be very attentive during this process or I end up with a distorted image.
*** Greyhounds Reach the Beach 2007 is the event Sue and I will be attending **
It is our 10th year at this event !!
Sue creates beautiful collars for greyhounds as Silk Road Collars http://www.silkroadcollars.com/
** Stop by and say hello:) We will be located at:
The Sand Palace, Room 108
1710 HWY One, Dewey Beach DE 19771
Sand Palace Hours - Friday through Sunday
Friday - 9am to 4pm
Saturday - 8am to 4pm
Sunday - 8am to 12pm
Also The Best Western Gold Leaf
1400 Hwy 1 Dewey Beach DE 19971
Best Western Hours - Wednsday through Sunday
Wednsday 10am to 5pm
Thursday 10am to 6pm
Friday 8am to 7pm
Saturday 8am to 7pm
Sunday 9am to 4pm
See you There!!!

A flame pendant~ These are kind of fun to make but I don't make them very often though :) Custom beads for one of my best customers~
Some more custom beads for a friend :)
Earrings to match a pendant that Sue and I made~
And now for my next trick! I will continue to be super busy as we leave for Delaware (Yay Dewey!) at the end of the month. My new dichroic images came this week so now I need to get busy and melt them onto some beads and stoppers. I'll show you if I have any free time.
Free time? What is that... lol

A few beads in a pile for lack of a picture of my big goofy Lab/Dane cross!! Right now he is playing scaredy dog~ all 90 pounds of him!! He is rumbling deep and low in his throat of course that culminates in a piercing girly bark that is quite shrill. He has developed a fear of the string trimmer. Yes the Weedeater!!! We are inside and the crew is out doing the lawn like they do every week. Claude has never been hurt by the trimmer or even outside while they are using it so I don't understand why he has developed this fear and the urgent need to "tell" me about it. Ah well maybe the thing is making some noise only he can hear? Maybe he thinks he hears a hive of bees coming, who knows? I love him anyway silly dog~
I was working away at glass this morning and actually almost finished with my pre-lunch goal when I realized my propane was running low. Aack!!! I have a lot to make now is not a good time to run out!!! But it is also a good excuse to get caught up on a few other things I have been putting off. So back to that I go :)