Ok so there's this great art studio here in Charlottesville called the Glass Palette where you can go in and make beautiful glass art yourself! You basically just cut glass and arrange it however you want to to make coasters, jewelry, plates, bowls, frames and lots of other things. It's a great place to go when you are feeling creative. Here are some earrings I made there for my mom for Christmas. It is my design but they put it in the kiln for me to melt and fuse it together to get that final look.

They can also melt liquor and wine bottles for you. We got two melted, one for James's mom to use as a candle holder and one for his grandmother to use as a cheese platter.

Here is the glass palette's website:

http://www.theglasspalette.net/

The mother and daughter who own it are very nice people. Anyway can't wait for Christmas so I can give everyone their gifts!

feelin' crafty

Ok so I decided I really wanted to make something this year for coworkers, friends and family. Luckily I came across a really cute idea to make handsewn birds. The website originally intended them to be for a mobile but I thought they'd make great ornaments. I have made four so far, here are some pictures:

Cute right? Thanks to spoolsewing for the pattern:

http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/2008/05/16/bird-mobile/

Also thanks to www.casasugar.com where I first saw the idea. By the way that's a great website about decorating and DIY stuff.

Ok 4 down...10 more to go....

Our Christmas tree!! Just wanted to post it because it's so beautiful! :)

two cross stitch project plus a rose

This is a current cross stitch I am doing that is meant for my grandmother...it is taking forever, mostly because of the border. The border still needs to be done and I need to add backstitching to the flowers. There is gold thread in the background but I feel like you can't tell with this picture.

This is the other project I am working on...it was meant as a wedding gift for my boyfriend's brother but it was larger than I was expecting so it never got finished in time...I'll get back to it as soon as I finish the rose project.

An unfinished rose in colored pencil...I get bored sometimes with projects which is why this isn't finished....ok so that's another thing I need to work on....finishing things. Not finishing this though, I like it how it is.

about this blog

My first post :) ....ok so this blog is intended as a outlet for myself where I can post my art, cross stitch projects, and whatever else I create. My art was somewhat put on hold since I started college and since I started working full time. I hope that by having this blog and a place to show my art I will be inspired to do more....
I have a couple of projects I am currently working on but due to work, school, and being in the process of applying to nursing school I don't have much to post yet.
Although it is not quite New Year's yet, I have made a resolution to spend more time practicing art. I get easily frustrated with myself since my skills are rusty since I left high school and I pretty much stopped drawing. Stay tuned.....