Father's Day Surprise

Kraig is such a hard guy to get presents for, since he's a man of few wants and doesn't have any expensive hobbies you can add shtuff to each year (hobby goodies seem to be my speciality! LOL) And a book or a tie just doesn't have the same magic any more (well, at least I don't think so!). In years past, I've tried to wow him with gift offers for neat things like flight lessons, but he never gets around to redeeming them, so this year I was bound and determined to get him something for Father's Day that would blow his socks off, right here and now! ;-D

So while I was desperately racking my brain, it just so happened that I spotted a small ad in our newspaper about a historical plane exhibit coming to Seattle over Father's Day weekend. Now, Kraig really loves anything historical, especially relating to military stuff—I swear, I think he's watched Saving Private Ryan at least 20 times. I start to think...hmmm...this would be great to take him to see these—and then I got really excited when I read further down and realized that they would be giving a limited amount of rides on the actual planes at the end of each day! What made it even cooler was that one of the planes was the type his Dad flew in WWII as a B-24 bomber pilot—so you have to agree—isn't this the "perfect" gift for Father's Day?!? (I would have loved to have had Ray, his dad, come and fly with him too, but his hearing and health prevents him from ever flying again.)

So, I grabbed the credit card and made a reservation as fast as I could. And boy, was he surprised when we got there and I told him he was getting to actually fly inside one of his favorite planes! The look on his face was priceless—it really made me happy to see him so touched and excited about his unexpected adventure. To say he loved it would be an understatement—I think he was still floating on Cloud 9 when we went to visit his dad the next day to tell him all about how he got to explore every inch of the plane and feel what it was like to fly in it. Ray was thrilled for him as well, and shared some neat stories with us about his days as a pilot—it's amazing what those crews had to work with back "in the day!"

Here's some pics Kraig took while enjoying his unique flight experience. He said some spaces were so tight, he could barely squeeze through them, and there were places where only a scrap of fabric kept you from falling out of the plane. (eek!)

Can you imagine cramming into this tiny gunner's turret, dangling below in the belly of the plane, with just a tiny safety clip keeping you in place!??
I learned that this plane is the last of it's kind still flying, so I'm so glad the girls and I were able to give Kraig a gift that was as unique and special as he is to us. Boy, it's gonna be hard to top this one next year though! LOL

Playtime in Portland

Recently, I got a chance to take a workshop in the Portland, OR studio of one of my favorite artists, Sally Jean Alexander. It's one of her most popular classes called "Soldering for Virgins" and although I already know how to solder, I loved having the chance to refine my skills and learn from a pro like Sally. She shared some wonderful tricks and tips, and I can't wait to start putting them to good use—maybe on some goodies I'll have for sale at the upcoming Farmers Market I'll be participating in? ;-D While I played all day on Saturday, Kraig and the girls had fun at the local zoo, then we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and explored the humongous Powell's bookstore (which must be one of the largest bookstores in existence?!).

Sally has an amazing studio and everywhere you looked, there were nooks and crannies filled to the brim with her lovely vintage supplies, finished projects, and other creative inspiration. Here's some pics of Sally's space for you to drool over…

One wall was covered with this huge block of cubbyholes, each one filled with a different vignette like these…Here's the start of my charms, all taped up and ready to solder…The girls having a good time at The Old Spaghetti Factory—they were dying to have the balloon man make them these silly hats all through dinner! LOLWe also checked out the famous Voodoo Donuts (Kraig tried out their Bacon Maple Bar and liked it!) and some local antique stores before heading home on Sunday. It was a great weekend getaway for all of us and I hope we can do it again soon!

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (and Flowers are Nice Too!)

Last month, I got to try out the Zoozii Chunky Crystal Duo press and boy, is it a cool tool! I didn't have as much time to work with it as I had hoped, but when I did, I discovered how addicting it was to create these beautiful crystal shaped beads out of silver and transparent glass. I loved this shape so much, I also got a smaller Crystal Trio version. It's a little hard to tell from the photos, but the white ones have a really pretty cloudy, almost opal-like character, and the rest of them have a gorgeous mother-of-pearl or golden shimmer in the core. Don't you think they sparkle just like diamonds? ;-D How cool would these look featured in a chunky bracelet or pendant?!

I might even get up enough courage to list some of these on Etsy, but first I have to decide which ones I want to keep for myself! LOL This is also the first time I've concentrated on making bead sets, and my incentive is that my friend Lara Lutrick and I signed up to sell our handmade things three Saturdays this summer at a new Farmer's Market that is starting up in our town. In addition to glass beads and jewelry, I'm going to offer an eclectic mix of things such as mixed media jewelry and cards. I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of response we get!

Of course, this means I need to work hard on stocking an inventory of goodies before our first day there in July (eek!). Here's what came out of my kiln this morning—a fun new lentil design that I'm really having fun making in various colors. There's just something about chocolate brown and rich pastels that makes me happy! I'll post some pics of them made into jewelry when I finish them, k?

Memorial Day Memories

Memorial Day always brings me strong feelings of pride and sadness, as I reflect back on my Dad's life and how much the military played in his life. This is a favorite photo of me with him, taken almost exactly 9 years ago on Father's Day, and only about three months before he passed away from cancer.

My dad joined the Marine Corps when he was only 17 years old (yikes, that's only one year older than my Katie is now?!) and served proudly for the next 25 years, including tours in Korea, Guam and Vietnam. He retired when I was in the 6th grade, and before that we never lived in one place more than 2 years at a time. But we also got to experience living in beautiful and exotic places like Hawaii and Thailand. During the rare instances when he spoke of his military experiences, we were able to catch tiny glimpses into what that life was like and how hard it must have been to lose so many of his friends. And every Memorial Day weekend, I remember that he would solemnly raise a flag in memory of those he had lost and fought with.

Like so many of his generation, my dad was a handsome, proud and private man—who also surprised us with unexpected joking and singing—and had a sort of John Wayne quality to him. He was "bigger than life" to me and I always felt so protected and loved while I was growing up, knowing he was around. He faced every crisis with quiet courage, including his long fight with cancer. Even though he's gone, I still get that feeling whenever I think of him and I know that I am who I am today in large part because of the strong values he instilled in us. And I'm extremely thankful and honored for what he and others like him have done for our country over the years—risking their lives so that their families, friends, and even total strangers can feel protected too.

Semper Fi and may God bless all of you!

Please Vote!

Whoohoooo! I just found out that I'm a finalist in the Bead Star contest (click on this link to see the entries)!! So if you're not already voting for someone else, I'd really appreciate your vote! ;-D This is my submitted design (a better pic than the one I sent in) and I think it's #16 in the Glass catagory:


For some reason, the photo looks a little washed out here—the colors are actually more saturated in pretty shades of pea green, periwinkle, sky blue and amethyst. It's a cluster of individual "flowers" that I've been wanting to create ever since I first saw artist Dale Chihuly's giant glass flower sculptures bursting out of the Bellagio hotel's lobby ceiling in Las Vegas in 2006. It's kinda hard to tell from the photo below, but these flowers are HUGE—about 2 to 3 ft. across, at least! I was totally inspired by his work and knew I'd love to try and recreate that feeling in a smaller form, but at the time I wasn't into lampworking and had planned on doing something in a medium like clay or resin. But ever since I started making glass beads, I knew I wanted to do these flowers—I just had to wait until I had the skills to make the visions in my head come to life. ;-D I have some other variations I've been working on, and I'll try and share them soon in another post, k?


Voting ends Saturday, May 30th, so make sure to get your vote in soon! There are 179 other awesome designs to look at while you're there, and hopefully, you'll get a giant boost of inspiration of your own!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend with your families! We were supposed to go to Kraig's parent's home to celebrate with his mom, but he felt like he was coming down with something, so we decided not to risk spreading any sickie germs to her and stayed home. But we will try to go up there to visit and make up for it next weekend. I had a nice time here at home with my two girls—Kraig gave me a bouquet of flowers and Ashley went on one of her famous cleaning binges to make the house look extra nice for me. ;-D They both made me something with their own hands, which I especially loved! Nothing makes me feel more special than homemade gifts and these definitely did the job—Ashley's message under her drawing even made me cry a little, since she's not normally so sentimental. Katie made me a beautiful card and is still finishing up a drawing for me too, so I'm really looking forward to it!



Another thing I look forward to around each Mother's Day is to plant some flowers with them, so I'm making plans to pick up some pretty pink ones to finish off our border along the front entryway. In the meantime, I did manage to capture some great pics of some of the ones already in our yard. I love getting inspiration from flowers and am already planning several different bead designs to try soon!

Tag, I'm It!

My friend Lara tagged me the other day, so I guess I gotta join in the fun! ;-D And I swiped this cute tag graphic from Kandice over at Coloraddiction (with her permission, of course!) I've never been tagged before, so this is a first for me too. The game is to answer the questions and then tag other blogs to do the same. Don't forget to let the other blogs know you tagged them, and to link to whomever tagged you! Here are the questions…

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Losing at least 10 pounds
2. Visiting Kraig's mom on Mother's Day
3. Having my girls treat me especially nice on Mother's Day (;-D)
4. Having a contractor come in and finally finish our kitchen trimwork
5. Seeing the new Transformers movie
6. Learning how to work silver glass and make it *sing*!
7. Decorating and decluttering my studio
8. Taking two of Sally Jean Alexander's workshops in June

8 Things I did Yesterday:

1. Worked on making silver glass beads
2. Cleaned glass beads from the day before
3. Cleaned the kitchen
4. Did laundry
5. Picked up Ashley from track practice
6. Read some more from the book, "Color: A Natural History of the Palette," by Victoria Finlay
7. Caught up on all my favorite blogs
8. Visited Serenity Equine Rescue with Ashley (we want to volunteer—technically, we visited them on Sunday, but I wanted to give them a plug! ;-D)

8 Things I Wish I Could Do
1. Lose at least 20 pounds
2. Become a torch singer with a big band in a really nice club
3. Play piano more often
4. Own my own horse
5. Visit Italy again or Croatia within the next 2 years
6. Speak fluent Italian
7. Explore more local islands
8. Wave a magic wand and have my whole house decorated by Candice Olson

8 Things That or Shows I have Watched

1. Amazing Race
2. Castle
3. Heroes
4. American Idol
5. House
6. Bones
7. Masterpiece Theater
8. Anything on HGTV

Now, to tag 8 people and their blogs!

1. Sande Krieger, fellow scrapbooker and awesome photographer
2. Chris Hansen, a new lampworking friend
3. Kathy Lowe, another lampworking pal
4. Karen Burniston, wise-cracking inventor of amazing pop-up gizmos
5. Vintaj Natural Brass Co., beautiful filigree findings and jewelry
6. Tonya Davison, metal clay guru
7. Sally Jean Alexander, amazing collage and jewelry artist
8. Ruby's Shoes, she makes the cutest beads