About Me

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Houston, Texas, United States
Welcome to my Blog Site :) I am so happy you stopped in. I am a part time worker, wife, mom and artist/crafter. I became a grandmother for the first time about a year ago. My passions are Stained Glass and Mixed Media Art. I am a Texas girl living in a house that my father and grandfather built in 1945. I have a loving husband and two teenage boys. My boys are talented musicians who make my life complete. I hope you enjoy reading my posts about music, my boys and grandson and just about life in general. So grab your favorite choice of drink, sit back, relax and happy blogging.

Friday, July 26, 2013

2013 Photo Scavenger Hunt



1.   Open Air Market
Hubby buying fresh vegetables.

2.   Theater for Performing Arts
Theater in the Heights at Lambert Hall

Set of Your A Good Man Charlie Brown
view from Balcony.  My boys played in the band (right)






















3.   City Hall, Capitol or Civic Building
   
Sugar Land is a small city outside of Houston.  We went to hear a friend's band.






















4.   Airplane
That is not smoke coming from bottom of airplane,  it is a cloud .

5.   A Sunset



7.   A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny


 8.  A Tower
Flag at Half Staff for Firemen who died in a Hotel Fire in Houston.
Firemen use the stair tower to exercise for staying fit.


 9.  Something that is clearly out of Place.


10.  An outside bench
Its very peaceful to sit at the family bench at Brookeside Cemetery.  


13. A Fence


15.  A Fire Truck or Police Car

A view from the driver window as you can see it is a tight squeeze for an officer.

A view from the back seat.  Bullet proof glass between front and back seat.  Window on passenger side can be rolled down so that the arrested suspect can get cool air during the hot Houston weather.  


The back seat of Police Car is made of hard plastic and not very comfortable.  

14.   Stained Glass/Mosaic Object

This is the first large window I made by myself.  It is in my son's bedroom. The beveled Lone Star came in a kit, the diamond and square bevels were bought.  All the other glass was hand cut

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Paper Box Dominos

When a teacher asked her students for help with an idea to decorate a small white jewelry box, one of our students came up with this simple yet cute idea.  The teacher provided boxes and several colors of  construction paper and glue sticks.  The student glued black construction paper all around the box.  She cut circles using a hole punch and white strips out of copy paper than glued on the box top to create the look of a Domino.

How cute are these boxes?  They would make nice packages for a man's gift. Or a lady's gift, for example a  necklace made from a domino that are so popular these days.  Oh - how about a gift card?  Hummm....  I think I've got a great idea for Christmas gifts for the nieces and nephews this year.  It would be a simple and quick project and easy to transport the gifts.   What would you put in these small packages?

 

Monday, July 22, 2013

Window Project Update

 Here is the third window "I Wish I Could Fly".  I used flat globs for the flowers, the flowers in the middle remind me of Bluebonnets.  There are several intended and unexpected things happening in this window.  For instance,  how the bottom left panel looks darker.  I did use a few darker pieces of stained glass to the bottom of the tree yet the whole panel looks darker as if there is shade under the tree.  I also like how there are three leaves falling under the three birds as if the bird tore the leaves off while sitting on the tree limb. 
This window was inspired by a bath towel I bought at Target that had birds on tree branches with one bird flying away.

The window is not completely finished, I still need to add a beak on the yellow bird, add a hole to the front of the bird house, add eyes and whiskers to the little kitty cat and add o-rings to the window frame for hanging.  It will be hanging in the store by this weekend at 238 W. 19th St., Houston, Texas in the Heights area. 







My husband very seldom calls me on my cell while he is at work, so when he calls I know something is up.

While riding through the neighborhood he noticed a house being torn down and saw old window frames thrown to the curb.  He stopped and talked to the contractor who said the window frames were trash and that we could have them.  So he called me to go by and look at them and see if I wanted some for my stained glass.

I went and loaded up my van with all the window frames that had been thrown out.  Even the broken wood frames and the frames with broken glass.  I figured I can always take the glass out of the broken wooden frames to replace the glass in the good frames.

When hubby came home he asked me if I picked up any of the windows.  I said yes.  He asked how many, I said I don't know, I did not count.  So we went to the back yard to look and count.  I had a total of seventeen window frames.

Seventeen Old Window Frames in need of some TLC.


That same evening I washed and cleaned two window frames.  The next couple of days was spent scraping old paint off and repainted with a coat of Gesso and paint.

 It took me two weeks working early morning until early the next day to mosaic the first window frame.  I named this one "Sunflowers".



Window is layed flat until white grout dries.



The second window frame took three weeks to complete.  I named this one "The Aquarium"  Notice each panel has a boarder of small tile pieces that frames each panel. 

Used black grout, sea shells and small tile and rocks.  Placed on window ledge to take picture.















Here in these pictures you can see where they are both hanging on conceinment at a shop in the Heights Neighborhood in Houston, TX.





I am almost finished with the third window frame.  Some panels still need grouting.  This one is titled "I Wish I Could Fly".  There is so much going on in my household that I am going on four weeks to finish this window.  I will post a picture once it is completed.

This Window Project will take some time to complete and even though there is no time frame, I am not in any rush to complete it.  Yet, I am curious to see where my artistic imagination will take me.  Plus with so many windows, I will have to find other stores willing to display and sale them for me.   Any suggestions or comments on how and where to sale them will be appreciated.

I will keep updating my progress as I finish each window.

The Duke

The AMC Channel had a John Wayne Marathon this weekend.  I love John Wayne and so I want to tell you a story about how he scared me.  This just happened two weeks ago.

To paint my wash room we first cleared out the room, including the Coors Light Advertisement I had of a life size cardboard poster of John Wayne.  He was temporarily placed in the living room.

That  night while everyone was asleep I got up to get a drink of water in the kitchen.  As I turned, I saw the figure of a person by the front door watching me.  I didn't know whether to scream and yell  for help or run back to the bedroom and wake up my husband.  I couldn't move, I froze there for awhile, I noticed the figure did not move either, we just stood there staring each other down.  I think I startled him just as he startled me.  That's when I realized it was "The Duke".  After I said a few cuss words  I had to laugh because I was the one who told my son to put the life size cardboard there in the first place.




After  the paint dried that morning,  The Duke was placed back in the wash room.  I don't mind doing the wash as long as I have The Duke there for company. 

How I love those old classic westerns especially the ones starring John Wayne.

See you later Pilgrim.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

2013 Photo Scavenger Hunt



Summer is the start of my Cousin "Rinda's" 2013 Photo Scavenger Hunt.  You can read about it here:  /www.gallorganico.blogspot.com/

It is a fun summer photo hunt she started about three years ago.  Participation in this summer hunt increases each year.  If you would like to participate,  go to her link above.  You do not have to be a professional photographer to participate.  I have played along the last couple of years and have asked family and friends for help in finding some items.  It is certainly a dinner conversation in our household.  Won't you play along with us?   Go to her website above, let her know you are playing and view the list of 21 items.  It is FUN! FUN! FUN!

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