Crazy Pipe Cleaner Lady

And no, I’m not talking about myself…

Yesterday, my friend posted a link on Facebook to a pipe cleaner flower ring on Martha Stewart’s website.  Well, since it’s MS, I had to click!

Best decision I made all day!

This crazy Pipe Cleaner Lady, Wendy Baner, makes everything out of pipe cleaners.  I think she even throws pipe cleaner parties!  Well, on the Martha Stewart Show, she shows Martha how to make rose pipe cleaner rings.  Since there wasn’t any good pictures of them, and I had pipe cleaners laying around, I made one!  It was super, super easy, took me about three minutes and comes out beautifully!  Don’t think, just follow the links and make one for yourself!

Handmade Glass Ornaments

The snow swirls outside and the stereo practically blasts Christmas music.  'Tis finally the season!  And I finally got around/was in the mood to "hang" my handmade blown glass ornaments!  They're not exactly hanging on our tree, but up high on one of our antique light fixtures so that cats won't find them...

My husband and I spent some chummy time together and took a hand blown glass ornament class through the community education program in our area.  (Did you read about the other glass ornaments I made??)  With torches and hot glass involved, I knew we were in for a good time!

The whole process was intimidating at first, but turned out to be very simple:

 

 We started with pre-fabricated glass tubes and added glass frit to them.

 

Using a torch, we heated the glass until the frit stuck to the edges and the glass glowed warm orange.

 When the glass tube was toasty warm, we blew into them and our little ornaments took shape!

 

It was so much fun, and they're really quick to make!  You just have to be patient while they cool. Now we have twenty unique glass ornaments to deck our halls with! 

December Snow!

We're getting our first taste of December snow today!  It's starting the next months of winter weather off with a little more of magic than misery and is definetly more welcome than rain.  Luckily, I have nothing more to do than stay inside, warm and cozy, and day dream out the window at the falling puffs of white.

The snow makes me anxious to crawl into the attic for the Christmas decorations, but we have a couple home improvement projects to clean up first.  So for now, I'm going to focus my excitement on the glass fusion Christmas ornaments I finally got back from the kiln!

I love the way they came out and am excited to get them on the tree!

Here's a before and after of the one I made of Zorro, my cat!  (I couldn't decide what to do, so someone suggested a pet.)

Before:

After:

Fun with Shards of Glass

Last night, I entered a room I never thought I would lay eyes on again...the high school chemistry classroom!  However, this time, I was not afraid of being surrounded by the night before's chemistry homework that I refused to do.  (Looking back, I'm proud of myself for never actually doing my homework and copying the answers off the board the next day.  Sure I didn't learn chemistry (not a missed opportunity), but how else would I have the accomplishment of seeing every episode of Saved By the Bell if I had actually spent that time doing homework?)  I freely entered the high school chemistry classroom to attend a fused glass class provided by my local community education program!

I never took any art classes in grade school (I was and still am a band geek,) but I'm certainly making up for it now!   I signed up for the fused glass class only because it sounded like fun, and glass is not a medium I've had an opportunity to dabble in yet.  I went into the class having not a clue what "fused glass" entailed, but after a quick 5 minute explanation, I was off to create two fused glass ornaments.

I was given two clear, about 2.5" diameter glass circles that would be the bases for my glass ornaments.  Then, with the choices of a whole spectrum of colored glass, glass stringers, and glass frit, I was left to compose designs and glue them into place with small dabs of white craft glue.   Armed with a  loaner glass scoring tool and pliers for breaking on the score, I found that breaking glass on a small scale was actually a little difficult...

I think the next glass class I take (in three weeks!), I'll do a little research, so I at least have a clue of what I want to design.  After much contemplation and a couple hours, I finished my two little ornaments.  The instructor now has them and is taking them to add another piece of glass to the bottom and a wire hook for hanging, then fusing them in a kiln.

Of course, I'm excited about picking them up in two weeks and can't wait to share the finished pieces!  Here's a sneak peak at one of my ornaments:

Okay, something actually sewing related:  I just saw this in an email, and it couldn't go un-noted!  This monkey pattern is too cute!