Things are moving much more slowly than I expected. I thought we would have the house ready to sell by now :) Between working and taking care of the regular stuff there just isn't enough time and energy to go around. Patience ... I miss my glass :(

Alive and well!!! I have been sooo busy. Matt and I have decided to sell the house and move.We have so many things to go through and pack that it has overwhelmed both of us. I am still making beads just not as often. It is hard to find the time and energy right now. There is so much involved in staging a home. Ugh!!! I did list some orphans and will probably have more in the days to come. Keep an eye out!

Maxi pads
Actual letter to Maxi-Pad Proctor & Gamble - This is priceless!
Dear Mr.Thatcher,
I have been a loyal user of your Always maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core(tm) or Dri-Weave(tm) absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants. Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from "the curse"? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my "time of the month" is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call "an inbred hillbilly with knife skills." Isn't the human body amazing? As Brand Manager in the Feminine-hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers' monthly visits from "Aunt Flo". Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: "Have a Happy Period" Are you kidding me? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, there will never be anything "happy" about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory. For the love of God, pull your head out,man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like "Put Down the Hammer" or "Vehicular Manslaughter Is Wrong", or are you just picking on us?

Thanks for the laugh mom!!!!

I am still here. I haven't made beads in a while though. I have been having some health problems of the female sort oh lucky me~ And other junk blah blah blah. I will be going in for a minor surgery on the 6th of February and hopefully things will right themselves soon after that and I will be my perky self again :)

Hugs!

Kris

Partially hollow transparent. I have some incompatible Lauscha the finest clear in glassland and I can't use it with anything because they all crack!!!

This Christmas season I participated in my first ever online "Secret Santa" game. I was assigned someone that had given no extra information. So I turned into "Stalker Santa" and looked her up online. I googled her name and came up with an interview she had given and finally some extra information so I could make something just for her. So I designed a bead to match her love for Stephen Kings' Dark Tower series and I also sent along some really incredible catnip for her two cats, Roland and Cuthbert, named after two of the characters in the books.

About that catnip... It was sitting in a sealed container, in a bag on top of the television, about 5' off of the floor. Our cat walked into the room an started sniffing the air. She then proceeded to jump up onto the narrow ledge beside the television and climbed up next to the bag with the yummy smell.

I put her back on the floor and gave her a little pinch from her own container :)

Happy Holidays!

In our neighborhood Santa comes to visit with a fire truck. The first year we lived here we came home to the fire truck and a bunch of guys all scattered up and down the side walk. My heart fell as I tried to figure out who was on fire. Of course there wasn't a fire just Santa :)
When Sparky naps he means it. I took about three pictures of him like this before the red light from my camera got to be too much. he snorted and moved to another spot. I felt sooo guilty~
Claude just opened his eyes and gave me a tired dog look lol... poor baby.
Gloria (glo is what we call her around here :) she is a french kiss snatcher pro. Bend down to tie a shoe and you better watch out because she'll give you a fast and sloppy kiss right on the lips.
I couldn't get a picture of Reba. She is camera shy and vacuum shy and stranger shy and just because you have been five hundred times doesn't mean you know her shy!! lol... seriously Sometimes I wonder what happened to her before we got her. She was just a puppy and we have only shown her love and kindness. She fears things and I have no explanation I am just glad she is in our house and not a less understanding and loving one. She is my "other girl" :)
Speaking of girls we have an unwelcome visit from the flu and my real girl is sick and sleeping on the couch. Poor sweetie, she is such a trooper. I hope she feels better in the morning. She hates missing school.

Big olive shaped hollows~ It has been sooo cold everywhere lately. Matt set up the heater in my shop last week so I can at least keep my buns warm while I work :) I have one more custom order to finish up this week and then I can relax a bit and just be creative for a couple of weeks.
I purchased the cutest snowpeople here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8435259 Glasscat is a fellow member of the EGA and I can vouch for her well made adorable and quickly shipped items. I just hope the recipient loves them as much as I do!!
Ready for Christmas? Matt and I are going to finish up this weekend I think (hope)
I seriously can't stand the mall and the crowds umm... ever not just at Christmas time.
i am an early up get in get out kind of shopper~
Have a Great Day!!!

A couple more of our spoon bracelets. This one is stamped "eternally yours" inside. I am sure that is the name of the pattern~ How romantic is that?And of course I saved the best for last but that is only my opinion. I will always have a "thing" for seaweed sparkle glass and its tiny bits of inner sparkle~ and the spoons on this one ahh... :)
Things only my camera can see!!! phhh See the bits of hemp fuzz on this bead? I have great vision and didn't notice them with my eyes until after I had taken the picture and loaded it for resizing etc...
The bead is lovely and I am really pleased with how it turned out. The other five pictures I took of it have no fuzz in them :)
Snow, no snow, then some more snow. We went for a walk this morning because it was snowing. I dropped everything, had my girl bundle up quickly and we walked in the falling snow. I try to make the most out of it because you never know how long it will last here. Usually it melts off fairly quickly in a day or two at most. I am not a fan of driving in it and usually just won't period. This morning I drove to the Post Office in a rush and left a package that has to be in the mail in the morning and that was it. Now looking out at the solid colored clouds I wonder if we will have more tonight. It sure looks like it. Another walk is in the making I think :)

New spoon bracelets are in stock now. I have been busy adding them to my shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=51507Tangerine~
Lilac and Teal~
Silver veined organic~Probably my fave :) Next to the green one I'll show later, oh and the one at the top!
I love these and should make myself a whole wardrobe of them :) they are one of the most comfortable and unobtrusive pieces of jewelry I have ever had the pleasure to wear.
More to see in the coming days!

More greyhounds~ I am working on adding these to Etsy so everyone can get their Christmas shopping done in a timely manner :)
The colors really pop in this glass when it is sculpted in the flame.

and I really love the green one! How come I am not out in the shop yet this morning? Wind and rain with potential power outtages. I don't want a kiln full of beads if the power goes out. So I am waiting a bit today before I go out and get started. I guess I can get caught up with the laundry while I am waiting. phhh... Where is the laundry fairy when I need one?

Have a great day and stay warm and dry wherever you are!

"Warning Battery Exhausted" Flashed up on the screen right before I was finished taking photos this morning. I have a lot to do and my battery is pretty exhausted lately as well. The weather has been blech!!! I still haven't asked Matt to set the heater up in my studio again so I have to bundle up when it is cold brrr... I went to see the Doc on Wednsday and she is testing my thyroid etc... because well my body and mind (eek!) have been doing some odd things for about the last six months and it was time for a check-up anyway. I am exhausted a lot of the time among other things and it sucks because I am usually busy with something or other...

Off to get motivated~ hmmm Coffee is my friend :)

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.