{PIN}spiration: Stained Glass Bicycle Wheel

When I saw this bicycle wheel over on Pinterest, I about flipped out with excitement!  It is seriously one of the coolest things I have seen in a while.  I had to recreate it in my own way. 

I didn't do an exact recreation, I typically don't.  I use it as inspiration.  I decided to do various geometrical shapes.  The great part was, I angled enough in the same direction that if the wind catches it, it will spin.

I have my friend Bobbi to thank for the wheels.  I was over at her house one night and told her about it.  She is as crazy and creative as I am, so the very next morning, I found bicycle wheels on my front porch.  How awesome is that?!?!?

So, this particular stained glass bicycle wheel is adorning Bobbi's front yard as a thank you for all the wheels she gave me over the next few days.  Now I need to make one for my yard. 

My Birthday Wish List

I promised my husband that I would give him a wish list for my birthday.  I figured since most of it will be geared towards my artsy/crafty side, that I should share it here too.

This has to be the coolest pencil sharpener I have seen.  Since I have a hard time finding the little itty bitty ones that I get with pencil kits, this would be a great item to have on my art desk.

Kikkerland Camera Pencil Sharpener

I am a visual person and since I love to take things apart, fix them, assemble stuff, this would be a great look book for myself.

Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual For Modern Living

Since I am on books right now, this one has caught my eye.  I am trying to get better at hand lettering and what better inspiration than a peek into the sketchbooks of people who are far better at it than I.

Typography Sketchbooks

 

I have been doing a bit of watercolor again.  It really is one of my favorite mediums to work with.  I discovered these great self-watering brushes (load water into the handle and squeeze for a few drops of water) from another artist and they are great!  There are some knock offs that aren't as good as the Koi brand ones.  I have the medium one and it's not quite large enough, so I wouldn't mind having a larger one.

Koi Watercolor Brush, Large

And the last thing that is artsy/crafty that I can think of is a variable temperature control for my soldering iron.  It's a 100 watt soldering iron which is far too hot.  It makes me have to work very quickly and that sometimes causes for a very sloppy look.  This would eliminate that and also allow me to work with a variety of solders, since some are designed for a low temperature.  

Inland MiniPhaser Temperature Control

And last, but definitely not least, I have seen some ideas on making your own washi tape, so I would love some white artist tape that is acid free that I can decorate myself with either pen and ink or watercolor. 

White Artist Tape

Is there anything you think I should add to my birthday wish list?  Anything I missed?  Any new products that I need to try?

Source for all photos: Amazon

More Gifts: Round 2

Not only did I make gifts for Colton's teachers, but I decided to make gifts for the Director and Assistant Director at the preschool.  Since it's a Christian preschool, I decided to make them each a stained glass cross that is approximately 6 inches tall.

Both of the crosses were cut from the same piece of glass.  I loved the swirls in the glass and strategically placed them so that it would look like rays of light when the sun shines through it.

Both ladies absolutely loved them.  What I didn't know is that they both collect crosses! 

Teacher Gifts: Round 1

Tuesday was the last day of preschool for Colton.  He was adorable in his end of the year program and actually participated on stage without picking his nose!  I call that a big win!

Colton was on the opposite side of the stage from where I sat.  No way to predict in what order they will stand on stage.  I was able to get a couple decent photos, that also showed off the awesome shirt that the teachers Made for each kid.  Hand print suns with everyone's names on their hand print.  Too cute!  The best photo came from the last song where the entire preschool was singing.  Thankfully that was right in front of where I was sitting.   Here is my cutie hamming it up!

As far as gifts go, Colton's lead teacher received this stained glass frog.

I chose a frog for her due to her entire classroom being decked out in frogs and the only thing she had hanging in her window throughout the year was children's artwork on occasion.  She loves it!

The assistant teacher had hinted a few times this year how much she loved the other teacher's pen.  (I made her one back when she taught Maben in art).  I had to make one just for her.

Her favorite color is purple, so it was easy to choose purple heart as the wooden portion and I paired it with a pen with some bling.  She loves it!

My heart couldn't be happier than to give two very unique gifts to two very deserving teachers and have them both be thrilled to receive them.  What a wonderful day.  So thankful that they provided a very wonderful first year of preschool for Colton.

The Gift of Glass

Each year, I like to make gifts for teachers, close friends and family.  This year I mass produced stained glass Christmas lightbulb ornaments that were given to teachers and my close friends.

I think they turned out great.  I used one of my Cricut Christmas cartridges to make the template.  I made 10 and gave away all but one.

I had to keep one to put on my tree.  I kept one of the aqua colored one and it looked amazing.  I love how textured glass catches the light.  On the left, no light bouncing off the front, on the right, how it looks when the light catches it.

I also tried making a paperweight for my mother-in-law.  For my first attempt, I was very proud of it.

The seashells and sand came from the beach that is a favorite of us both: Ridgevale Beach, Chatham, MA.  I used four different kinds of glass.  Clear with ripple, white and milk swirl, aqua with ripple and dark blue.  I cut enough glass to finish one for myself and plan on doing that soon.

SYTYC: Let's Hear It For The Boys and A Reveal

I survived another week, thanks to all your voting!  I have my husband to thank for the suggestion of doing a sunset out of stained glass.  I actually went through a couple ideas, trying to come up with one that I determined to be good enough.  I will show off the other finished piece that I did later this week.

This piece is really hanging up in the window of my art/craft room.  I love it and it makes me smile every time I walk in there.  I wish that I could have showed off the look of the green glass a little better, it had an amazing white/light green swirl at different opacity levels.  It really makes it look like you are gazing upon a mountain.

This week's theme is, "Let's Hear It For The Boys."  It looks like some tough competition this week.  I would love it if you hopped on over to So You Think You're Crafty and voted.

Last Day of School and Teacher Gifts

Yesterday was Maben's last day of preschool (he went to two separate preschools).  He loved the preschool through the school system that he was a part of.  He really loved his teachers there and is a little sad he can't go all summer long.  Here is Maben giving me his best pose before we walk to school.

We took in his teacher's gifts today too.  They turned out so great!  We put together gardening baskets for his teacher and the two para professionals in his class. 

Each basket was contained inside a watering can.  It included flowers that Maben picked out from Lowe's, gardening gloves, a spade, a mini pinwheel, stained glass dragonfly made by yours truly :) and a handwritten thank you note.  On the outside of the note it said, "Thank you for helping Maben bloom and grow."

The dragonflies were a lot of fun to make and an original idea to put them on an eye bolt.  Now I need to make a few up for my garden!  Doesn't it look great hanging out amongst my chenille? 

25 Photos of Christmas: Day 2

I told you all how my husband took a stained glass class with me.  Well, this is the ornament that my  husband made.  Isn't it pretty?

The stars at night are big and bright...

Deep in the Heart of Texas

What I didn't tell you...after the New Year I get to take 8 more stained glass classes.  I can't wait!  Thanks hunny!

Stained Glass: Class #2

Saturday night was the second class learning how to do stained glass.  I was able to create an awesome sunset/sunrise piece.

Even though I am new to this, I definitely caught on very quickly and all my experiences from art school helped in turning me into Speedy Gonzales.  Our instructor told the class he expected us to only get as far as cutting our glass and grinding it.  Well...I blew that expectation out of the water and not only cut the glass, but grinded it, tacked it and soldered it.  The only thing I have left to do is to create the loops to hang it.

Yay!  I am so excited and can't wait to go back next Saturday for my last class.  I will get to finish up this piece and make another ornament sized piece because I will have plenty of time to do it.  Stay tuned next week so I can show off not only all of my projects, but my husband's projects too!

Learning Stained Glass

My husband and I have both been wanting to learn how to make stained glass.  We have grand aspirations of replacing the window above our front door with some beautiful stained glass that we make ourselves.  Now, that dream is a lofty one...maybe we will do it, maybe not.  But, when a Groupon came out to learn how to do stained glass, we jumped on buying it.  MONTHS later, we finally signed up for our class to learn and it was a blast.  We will do three Saturday classes, our first was yesterday. 

I really enjoyed being able to take the class with my husband. We like to poke fun at each other, which always provides a lot of entertainment for anyone else who is around us.  We are both very goofy and had so much fun with our first class.

My goofy husband, Matt

We even completed a project with our first class.  It was just a small ornament or window hanging (I guess which ever you want it to be).  The choices we had were a butterfly, star or cross.  Hubby took the star and I took the butterfly.  I really love the way that mine turned out.  I did a really good job for my first try.

I don't think I would have done anything different.  As you can probably tell, I love butterflies.  Now, I just need to figure out where I want to hang it.

I am eagerly awaiting our next class.  Our instructor Renee was great and if you are interested in learning stained glass from him and live in the Houston area...go check out his website.  (not receiving any kick backs for that statement)