Creating Glass Art!

Yesterday my dear sister-in-law Justine treated me to a glass art experience where I got to make a piece of glass art with the help and guidance of an experienced glass artist.  What a wonderful experience and I have this beautiful piece of art glass to show for it.  Here are some pix  of the process:

 Here I'm selecting the color chips that will give my glass piece color and design

 The tray with the order of colors.  The darkest color shown here is a translucent amber when it's in the glass.

 This is my instructor, guide and glass blowing guru Billy showing me the first step with the molten glass which includes constant turning.

 Billy is guiding me here in picking up the colors on the tray and attaching to the glass.  This will occur several times between the glass going in the "glory hole" and picking up more molten glass.

 Here the glass is being rolled in a wooden form

 I'm blowing in the glass as Billy turns it

 Here's the finished design coming out of the "glory hole"



Here's the glass before it's removed from the stick and a "foot" is placed on the bottem and placed in the oven for the cooling down process.

24 hours later my finished piece!



Getting My Game On!

It's the 15th of the month and time for another duel with the Dueling Darling Divas and The Dueling Darling Dazzlers.  I'm on team Divas and our intrepid and spirited leader Kelly sent the Divas this awesome kit with the theme "Are You Game?!" in celebration of National Scrabble Week.  Well, the challenge was to try something new and the theme didn't have to be about Scrabble just any kind of game using the elements in the kit.  Here's a rundown of the kit:
Designer Papers
1.  Kraft/black playing card DSP: Graphic 45 "All Decked Out" and "Bits and Pieces"
2.  2 sided Yellow polka dot DSP:  Bo Bunny Vintage Buttercup
3.  Red Chevron DSP:  Glitz in Town "Yours Truly Chevron"
4.  The other yellow DSP:  My Mind's Eye "Nostalgia"
5.  Red and white lace DSP:  Jenni Bowlin "Lacy Border"
6.  Black and white DSP:  Jenni Bowlin "Deco Chain"

Embellishments
Kaisercraft Flourishes die cut wood pieces "Playing Cards" (mine was a spade)
Buttons from Basic Grey and American Crafts
Prima Flowers
Martha Stewart Glitter backless brads, Kaiser bling
Ribbons: black/white diamond check "Celebrate It", Yellow by PTI, Red and black from Offray

We were challenged too use at least two of the DSP, at least one ribbon, your wooden charm, one bling and one button.  Here's the card I made in answer to the challenge:

I love to play card games, board games and just about any kind of game so this was a fun challenge.
I used both pieces of the Graphic 45 DSP.  I cut out the "playing cards" from one and arranged in a fan shape like a playing hand.  My wood "spade" die cut was arranged over one of the spades on the "card" front while I placed a black bling on top of the other spade.  The "heart" and "diamond" on the other two "cards" were enhanced with a red bling.  This darling image called "Pair of Aces" is from Whipper Snapper.  I colored with Copic Markers to coordinate with the Graphic 45 DSP, added a ribbon bow to the bow on the lady's bow alond with the Martha Stewart glitter backless brad on her heart.  The ace of spades received a clear button with a twine bow over the largest spade. The image was layered over the playing cards with dimensionals. I decided to stick with the neutral theme of the Graphic 45 papers and add just a pop of color with the red ribbon, bling and a red cardstock panel. I think I managed to meet all the requirements of the challenge.  What do you think?

Please check out the other Divas starting with our leader Kelly here:
http://www.sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/
Barb: http://inkingintoretirement.blogspot.com/
Carol:  http://lostinmycraftroom.blogspot.com/
Jamie: http://butterflystamper71.blogspot.com/
LJ: http://buckygirl.blogspot.com/
Tami: http://blueinksdesign.blogspot.com/

Then check out the Dazzlers starting with their leader Jeanette here:
http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!