2016

Posted on January 3, 2017January 3, 2017 by Christina — Leave a comment

Christmas Vacation, Part 2

I need to show you the rest of our Christmas Vacation pics with our Son and Daughter-in-Love. On Mon, the 26th we ventured out from Cedar Key to Manatee Spring, Florida. What a beautiful place.
Scuba divers were in the springs, the water was crystal clear!

Trees all around the water, and the water was like glass.

Hubby, Rick, enjoying the walk along the river.

Map of where the springs are located.

So beautiful.

As we walked along the river walk it just got prettier

Here is where the spring flows into the Swanee River. We have decided we have to go back with our kayaks.Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a hope 2017 is a fantastic year for all.

#christmas #christmasvacation #pickoftheday #instalike #instagood #cedarkeyflorida #manateespringflorida

Posted on December 23, 2016December 23, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

The Next Installment, New Art Studio Progress

Wow, I have not posted in a few weeks. Time to catch you up on my progress report. As you all know it is a very busy time of year. In between painting in the Studio, working in the Law Office, holiday events, we got to take a week’s vacation (pics later in the post about that).

My Grandson, Matthew, came over several times and assisted in the painting. In this pic he is putting primer on the walls. We had fun painting together. He is a very talented, award winning, artist in his own right and he is excited about coming to play with his Nana in the New Art Studio when it is done. We always have fun being creative together.

I got part of the floor painted and the large kilns moved into their new spot where they will live.

We got two coats of primer finished around the window and a/c.

My hubby built my second counter top under the south side cabinets. The clamps on the edges and weights on the top are to hold it all together until the glue dries.

Here is the Counter top without the weights and clamps. I think I am going to tile it, as my two small table top 110 kilns will live on it.

Here you can see all the rest of the wood getting two coats of primer around the cased opening.

And finally started the primer around the last bit of raw wood around the smaller window and door on the north side!!!

The tediousness of taping off around the window so I can paint around it.

Now more about our Vacation. We were blessed, so very blessed!!! We were given one week’s free stay in a timeshare near Disney. Yes I said free!!! A very dear friend, Chris, so totally blessed us!!! We lounged at the pool, the hot tub and the Lazy River, which floats around part of the resort. We sleep in, we did nothing but rest and relax for a week!!! It was so wonderful and such a blessing!!

More pics of the Lazy River. Sorry about the sun glare on this one.

The waterfall at the Lazy River.

A pic of the resort, Holiday Inn Resort, Orange Lake, such a wonderful place.

A shot of the Christmas Tree. Gotta love living in paradise. Only in Florida can you go swimming in December!!! I just love the shadow over the Christmas Tree, look closely, it is in the shadow of a palm tree, with another palm tree behind it!

The vacation was truly wonderful!!! The rest and relaxation we much needed!!!
And now you know why I have not posted in a while.
I am back at my painting and caulking in the new art studio, so more pics to come in the next post.

#newartstudio #artstudio #vacation #picoftheday #christmastree #instalike #instagood #dreamcometrue #painting #resort #Christmas #holidays

Posted on December 3, 2016December 3, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

First Artwork Done in New Art Studio

I took a break from all the painting of walls and floors to do a little creating. I needed a birthday gift for a friend, so decided to fuse some glass.

Covered my table with butcher paper and set up all my tools, molds and glass.

Set up my glass band saw and glass grinder and filled them with water. They have diamond bits and so I have to water cool the bits.

Laid out the glass and the mold and drew up the pattern on the glass

Shinning the light through the stained glass so you can see how pretty it is.

Cutting the first glass heart.

Cutting the second glass heart.

Laying out the stained glass and the dichroic glass I plan to fuse onto the heart-shaped bowls, and preparing the molds for fusing.

Fiber paper placed between the molds and the glass so the glass will not stick to the molds as it slumps down into the molds. Molds in the kiln, and ready to fire.

Kiln door closed and started on high. I set my desktop 110 kiln on top of the large kiln temporarily so I could fire it, as the counter top has not been build yet where it will repose permanently.

50 minutes of firing in the kiln, then cool down. Once the kiln is shut off I cannot look in it until the glass is completely cooled for risk of it cracking. That is always the hardest part, waiting to see the finished pieces! The next morning I opened the kiln and, yay! Good firing!!!

Glass removed from the molds and cleaned, signed and dated on the back. The finished fused glass heart-shaped bowls!

Linda loved her birthday gift. These small fused glass heart-shaped bowls are great for putting rings and earrings in on top of your dresser at night. They are one of my popular sellers. I can create them in any color under the rainbow.

And there you have the very first artwork created in my new art studio. It was so nice having all that room to spread out, work and create, and so much fun creating after the long break of building the studio. Even though the studio is not done yet, I improvised.

#newartstudio #artstudio, #instalike #instagood #picoftheday #dreamcometrue #fusedglass #creative

Posted on November 26, 2016November 26, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

More Pics of the New Art Studio Progress

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did!! We spent it with wonderful friends and stuffed ourselves!! What a spread of food! As you can see little Joey was in his place and ready to eat first!

I know your anxious to see the next group of pics of the New Art Studio, so here they are:

We started getting 2 coats of primer and the top coat of paint on all the walls and ceilings. My Grandson, Matthew, who is 20 years old, came over and helped me paint a couple of times last weekend. We got a lot accomplished. And we also got all the leftover construction materials moved out of the new studio, out of my way, as you can see it is making painting easier.

We got lots of primer and paint put on the walls and ceilings on the south side (above) and, (below) you can see how much we got accomplished. Painting together with my grandson was fun, we had a great time. He is quite a talented, award winning artist and he is anxious to come play in my New Art Studio with me.

We brought my glass storage cabinet down from the old art studio upstairs in the house out to the New Art Studio, and brought another set of wire shelves from storage. Now I have to put the shelves back in the cabinet and assemble the wire shelves, then I can bring all my stained glass out and put back in it the cabinet.

We brought my old Paragon Kiln down from upstairs in the old art studio in the house out to the New Art Studio. I bought it in the 1980s for $50, back then it would have cost $400 or $500 new, now days it would be about $2000 new. It has seen lots of firings of glass and pottery over the years. It is Old Faithful for sure, and it just keeps on ticking. We acquired the assistance of several strong young men to help carry the heavy stuff down and out!!

I put the freshly painted cabinet doors and the door pulls back on the south side cabinets.

I started painting the floor in that south side back section. Now my hubby can build my second counter top. This south side will be the hot side where my 4 kilns will live.

Yes, we made major accomplishments last weekend and this past week. Now off to paint some more walls and floors. Hope the rest of your Thanksgiving break goes wonderful.

#newartstudio #artstudio #picoftheday #instalike #instagood #dreamcometrue #happythanksgiving

Posted on November 17, 2016November 17, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

The Next Group of New Art Studio Pics

The interior of the New Art Studio has taken me a lot longer than I thought, but working full-time with my Hubby the Attorney (running a full-time law practice) keeps me busy almost 24/7. I try to fit a couple of hours out in the New Studio almost every evening, but it doesn’t always happen.

Here are the newest pics:

Coat #2 going in the cabinet doors for the south side, those are now done.

The contractor finished closing in the opening between the north and south sides, all boxed in nice and neat. Sorry the overhead lights caused a glare in this pic. Now lots more wood to paint!

Another pic of the cased opening

Was able to sell that extra bat of insulation, yay! got it out of my way.

I got the final coat on the south side back section of the walls. Once the cabinets and floor are done in this back section, my Hubby can build my counter top which will be under the cabinets for my two table top 110 kilns.

Got two coats of primer on the cabinet facing, the underside of the cabinet and right side of it, and then started the purple paint last night on the south side cabinets.

Spent lots and lots of time this week caulking the corners and seams between boards, very tedious, but it has to get done.

#new art studio #artstudio #picoftheday #instagood #instalike #dreamcometrue

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

More Pics of the Interior of the New Art Studio

Time for another update on my progress on the new art studio:

My wonderful Hubby got my counter top built with the wonderful piece of Corian we scored at Habitat for Humanity for $15. I have to paint the wood. It is so nice, and my Sterlite drawers will fit under it perfectly.

I have steadily been bringing in art supplies from out of the old studio in the house into the new studio out back. Just stacking stuff for now, will organize it all later.

Two coats of primer on the walls around the cabinets on the south side. Ready for the final coat of paint.

Started the primer coats on the cabinet doors for the south side.

Working on the south side cabinets so I can bring in more art supplies and put them in those cabinets, and so my hubby can build me a counter top under the cabinets. I am making good progress. More pics to come.

#newartstudio #picoftheday #instalike #instagood #artstudio #dreamcometrue

Posted on November 2, 2016November 2, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

New Art Studio, Latest Pics

Time for a new update. Like I said after vacation we hit the ground running. Still hold my full time job working for my husband as his paralegal in our law practice. Catch up there took president over the art studio. The electrician got all the lights, outlets and ceiling fans working. Yeah, no more electric cord from my hubby’s wood shop!!! You can see the lights and fan working.

My pics are mostly taken at night, because that is when I get out back to work on the studio.

Below you can see, I got most of the floor painted on the north side of the Studio.

I mentioned before that I have been cleaning out the old art studio upstairs in the house and moving an armload of art supplies at a time down the stairs and piling it to go out. Figured there had to be a better way to get it all out there besides one armload at a time, so I borrowed my hubby’s new wheel barrow. Brought it to the front door, loaded it full and rolled it out back and unloaded. Great mode of transportation for moving art supplies out of the house. LOL

Took the doors off the cabinets on the south side and prepared to start painting the south back corner.

First coat of primer going on the walls on the south side. These cabinets are smaller than the ones on the north side.

As soon as I get the walls and cabinets painted on this side my hubby will build my counter top. This is going to be the hot side. My 4 kilns will go on this side. 2 small table top 110 kilns and 2 large 220 glass fusing and ceramic kilns.

#newartstudio #artstudio #instalike #instagood #picoftheday #dreamcometrue

Posted on October 28, 2016October 28, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

Time off for Vacation

I have not posted in a couple of weeks. We took time off for Vacation. We went to South Carolina to see our Children. We had a very fun visit with our Son, Daughter in law, Daughter, Son in law and two of our grandsons. It was a nice relaxing week. Attended Fall for Greenville the Saturday before last, the annual Greenville food fest. Had a wonderful time.

Ate lots of wonderful cuisine, and walked and walked and walked through downtown Greenville. It is such a pretty city, so clean and neat, we just love it there.

Then on Sunday we drove to North Carolina and drove the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the Fall Foliage. It was so beautiful. I have always wanted to see it.

Check out these pics below:

Looking Glass Water Fall:

All good things must come to an end. We so enjoyed the rest and relaxation and the visit!!

Came back home and hit the ground running, playing catch up with work now and back to finishing up the new art studio. More pics to come on the studio.

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

New Art Studio, Update

Here is the next set of pics of the new Art Studio:

Exterior wall and window are in on the right side unit, or the south side. So studio is completely closed up now.

Photo of the window and wall from the inside looking out. Forgive the yard and the construction zone.

Started painting the floor on the left side or north side. I am really happy with the way the floor is coming out. The north half of the studio is almost done!!

Started painting the ceiling and walls of in the south side of the studio with the primer.

I really make a mess when I paint….lol. Been scraping paint off my hands, face and glasses for days. Ceilings really splatter when you paint them.

The electrician was working today on the lights, ceiling fans and outlets, this is the north side. Yeah!! Getting so excited!! I should have electricity connected soon!!!

And lights and fan on the south side. I just put a final coat of paint up where the lights and fan were going and will come back and finish the rest when all the primer is done.

I have been cleaning up the old studio up stairs, sorting stuff and getting preparing to move the work table and glass storage cabinet out to the new studio. Started taking small stuff out every trip outside, and putting it in the purple cabinets, such as beads and glass rods for bead making. I am moving out my glass band saw, glass grinder and two small table top 110 kilns. I have to clean off the work table and empty out the glass storage cabinet so I can move them out. Tons of work painting, and painting, and painting, and moving stuff, but will be so worth it when I get it done!!! The old studio upstairs inside the house will be turned into my fiber arts studio for sewing, yarn, spinning and weaving. All the glass work, fusing, bead making, torches, jewelry design will all be done outside in the new studio. I will also have room to teach classes again!!! Yeah!!!

#newartstudio #artstudio #picoftheday #instagood #instalike

Posted on September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 by Christina — 4 Comments

The Big Reveal! Art Studio Cabinet Paint Color.

Tada!!!

Those who know me know I love purple!!!
With all the white walls and ceiling, I needed a bold splash of color in the new Art Studio. I love lots of light when I work, so I wanted white walls and ceilings, but it is an art studio after all, so it does need some bright colors in it. I just got the doors hung up and snapped the pic. I still have to do some adjustments on the doors. This pic was taken about 9 pm with just a work light going, sorry it is a bit dark and shadowy.

Below I will back up a bit and show the painting progress.

After the two primer coats, I started painting the purple on the doors.

Then the purple went on the cabinet facings.

And finally I started reinstalling the doors. You can also see from these two pics that the walls have also received their final coats of paint. This back half of the left hand side of the studio is ready for Hubby to install my sink and my counter top.

And below is the wonderful Corian counter top I scored at Habitat For Humanity for $15. Yes, I said $15!! It was truly was a blessing from the Lord to find this beautiful counter top for this price!! My glass grinder and glass band saw will repose on this counter top beside the sink.

Posted on September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

New Art Studio Interior Is Coming Along

It’s time for another update on the progress of the interior of the new Art Studio. I have continued painting walls in between the contractor working.

The 4×4 frame work has been put up to case the 11 foot opening we cut between the two modular units.

The exterior wall frame work was built to frame up the window opening on the right side unit, which will close up the end wall.

And on the left side unit the exterior wall framing was built to hold the door and a window.

I am still painting walls, adding the finishing coats.

Yay!!! The door, a window and an A/C unit are in on the left side!!! It is now much cooler in there
doing my painting, even though I am still running an electric cord from Rick’s wood shop for power.

Here is a view of the door and window from the inside, still need the insulation and interior wall board hung, but it is progressing so nicely!!! It is all so very exciting!!

Posted on September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

New Art Studio, Interior Painting

Hi everyone. Hope you are having a great week. Thought you would like an update on the interior painting progress of my new Art Studio from last weekend. Hurricane Hermine set us back a bit. Several days of torrential rains prevented me from being able to get out into the back yard and get into the Studio. The backyard became a swamp of water. Thank the Lord we had nothing severe here, just tons and tons of rain and we were already waterlogged from a very wet summer. On Saturday I had to make myself a walkway to the Studio with some paver bricks so that I could get out there to paint without getting my feet wet. You can see in the pic the water is about ankle deep here near the Studio door, almost to the top of the bricks. Out towards the center of the back yard, to the right of the pic, it was almost a foot deep.

The back yard still has some standing water in it days later and is slowly drying out. We are one house off the river so we had to literally watch the creek behind the house and make sure it did not rise too high. Hubby put plastic and sand bags along the front edge of the house just in case. The Counties north of us got hit really hard. Lots of damage from high winds, trees falling on homes and cars, and lots and lots of flooded homes. So we are definitely counting our blessings.

I decided that painting the cabinets would be easier to do if I did them before Rick installs the sink and the counter top under them for me. I cleaned the cabinets and got the cabinet doors taken off them. These are the ones on the left hand side of the studio.

Doors set up and ready to paint the primer.

Two coats of primer painted on the doors. There are 5 cabinet doors on this side of the Studio.

I started putting the primer on the cabinet facings. I am leaving the insides of the cabinets white, so not putting any paint on them. Just painting everything that was pale pink previously.

Two coats of primer on all the facings.

And two coats of primer under the cabinet. They are ready for the new paint.

I am not going to tell you what color I am painting the cabinets, not just yet. You will have to wait for the big reveal!! LOL. Stay tuned for more updates to come.

#artstudio #interiorpainting #newartstudio #love #instagood #follow #followme #like #pickoftheday #instalike

Posted on September 4, 2016September 8, 2016 by Christina — 9 Comments

New Art Studio, Building the Interior

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, been quite busy building my new Art Studio. Getting so excited!!! It is getting near being finished!!! Cannot wait to actually start creating in it!! Here are some chronological pics of the past 3 months:

In May we began framing up the interior walls (above). Then came the insulation (below).

My hubby found some great bargains, he trolls all the Swap shops and CraigsList when we need something. We scored a brand new exterior door in the frame with the locks for $100 (you can see the door in the pic below sitting in the background). I needed two windows, one for each of the two front walls, found them, brand new never installed $50 each, another great score (sorry no pics of the windows yet).

By July we were putting up the interior wall boards. Joey and Bethany did the framing, the insulation, and the wall boards and ceiling in the back half of the two sections. It is an art studio, so not getting fancy. I thought about sheet rock, then I thought about all the tapeing, bedding, sanding, floating, and all the sheet rock dust, (been there, done that, with the house remodel) and I decided wall board would be much, much easier, and not as messy!! Install it, caulk the corners and seams, and paint it!!

After the wall boards went up, we brought my cabinets out of storage. My daughter-in-law’s brother, Randy, scored me these nice cabinets from a dentist office remodel, at the best price of all, they were free. I have had them in storage waiting for this studio build for about a year and a half now! By the way, hanging the ceiling boards was quite a bit of work, but we got them up. Had some great help from one of the youth from church, Thomas, and also from my grandson, Matthew and his girlfriend Em, and his best friend, Joseph. All of us hung the wall and ceiling boards in the front end of the studio.

Here is what the two halves of the studio looked like in July. The left side will have a sink and counter top under the cabinets. The right side will be for my kilns. I will have a wet side, on the left, and a hot side, on the right. My glass band saw and glass grinder have diamond bits and are water cooled to keep the diamond bits cutting efficiently. Having them near the sink will be fantastic, and will make it so much easier to fill them when needed.

In the above pic, on the right side, you can also see my brand new glass fusing kiln. We brought it out of storage too. We scored that about a year and a half ago also. It has been patiently waiting in storage for it’s new home. $3000 kiln, brand new, never fired, stole it for $1000. The gentleman bought it for his wife and she got sick and never used it. We drove to Atlanta to pick it up, but it was so worth it. The small table top kilns will be on a counter top under the cabinets.

Below you can see by August I started painting the wall boards. Here is the first coat of paint going on the walls, and the ceiling. (You can see my new sink in this pic.) Had some great help painting from Thomas, and from my granddaughter, Sarah.

More to come in the next post!!! Just wanted to share the studio progress with you so you would know what I have been up to, and why I haven’t posted much in a while.

#artstudio #interiorpainting #newartstudio #love #instagood #follow #followme #like #pickoftheday #instalike

Posted on May 24, 2016May 24, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

Black & Dichroic Fused Glass Shawl Pin

Here is a beautiful fused glass shawl pin I created in 2011. It has black background glass and beautiful pieces of dichroic glass fused to the black glass. I would love to make you a special shawl pin just for you in any color you desire. #fusedglass

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Christina — Leave a comment

Amber Small Bead Necklace With Swarovski Crystals

I thought would share with you a pretty little necklace I made in 2009. It has 4 very small amber handmade (lampwork) beads which I made under my torch. I strung my handmade beads with Swarovski crystals, sterling silver beads, and seed beads.

Closeup of my handmade beads and the Swarovski and silver beads.

I would love to design a one-of-a-kind special necklace for you. Please contact me.

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