One World One Heart 2011

Hi, Welcome to my blog.  I am a stained glass, mixed media artist and blogger from the Lone Star State.  I was born and raised in the heart of Texas.  When people think of Texas, they think of cowboys.  When I think of Texas, I think of home.  As a matter of fact we have people from all over the world who call Houston home.   I invite you to visit my blog to see a little part of my corner of this blogger world. You will see my first love (family and life) and my passion for art.  Stained glass remains my hobby of choice with a little rubberstamping and mixed media art thrown in.  So pour your favorite drink, sit down make yourself comfortable and have fun blogging.

Leave me a comment for a chance to win my door prize.  This stained glass heart suncatcher is made with a pink irredized glass.  By the way, don't forget to leave your contact info for the drawing which will take place February 17th. I'll also visit your blog and leave my comments.

Great Men

I am very fortunate to have two men in my life. They both are very well respected in their careers and loved by many family and friends.   So today, I wish to share my father and husband with you all. 

The first man who loved me and was a great father, provider, friend, and police officer was my dad.  Even though he is not alive, his love of faith and family has influenced me to this day. If you knew him, you know that he was a tall, heavy set man who wore the badge with pride.  What you probably don't know is the story of how he came to be one of Houston's Finest.  As a young man he followed the footsteps of his older brothers and registered for the Armed Forces.  He was rejected due to a small disability with his fingers and hands.  They thought he would have trouble firing a weapon. So he was left behind and his parents had high hopes of him attending college to become a doctor.   Of course, those were his parents dreams  - not his.  A friend tells him that the city is hiring.  The City of Houston is booming and has lost many men who have gone to war.   Somehow my dad hides his disability or the city is in need of officers that they overlook the disability and hire him.  In any case, he is capable of shooting a hand gun and is sworn in as the second Mexican American Police Officer for the City of Houston.  At the time of his retirement, my dad had thirty-three years of service to the citizens of Houston. In all those years he helped many people who found themselves in trouble with the law.  After his death, I learned that what he gained was the respect of many and am proud to say that he never had to shoot his gun.

The second man in my life is my husband, Juan.  He is also a police officer for the City of Houston who wears the badge with pride.  Juan has served the citizens for twenty years and has earned the respect of many citizens as well as officers.  We were teenagers when we met and were friends for many years before we married.  We were such good friends that I let him use my car five days a week to make the twenty plus miles to the police academy because it was more dependable than his older car.  Juan has told me that this is his dream and that he loves going to work everyday.  I don't know what made Juan decide to join the police force.  I do know that he is good at his job and that several officers respectfully call him the Ward Lord or Ward Dog.  You see in all the years of service, he has patrolled in the same beat.  The Fifth Ward beat is one of the most busiest in the City of Houston.  For this reason many rookies are trained in this beat but transfer out as soon as they can.  They say it takes a Real Police Officer to patrol Fifth Ward.  I am proud to say that I am married to a Real Police Officer.  It takes a lot to be considered one of Houston's Finest and earn the respect of many. There are many things like training, education, respect and common sense that keep Juan safe.  I believe the most important is our Faith and trust in God.   Faith follows Juan everywhere he goes and will see him enter the front door to our home where I will be waiting. 

I don't need one day designated as Father's Day to honor the two men in my life.  For this reason I am sharing two great men with you today.  I love them both.

Saint Michael

I won this charcoal drawing of Saint Michael in a silent auction at Our Lady of Guadalupe School.  The young artist is my nephew Lalo who was in 2nd grade at the time of the drawing. I had the drawing framed because the charcoal would rub off onto your fingers, clothes and everything else. Can you make out the artist writting at the bottom of the picture?  It hangs in the hallway where everyone can see it when they enter our home.   

Christmas Card

Every year Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School in Houston, Texas sends out Christmas Cards made by one of their students.  This past year (2010) my niece was the lucky artist chosen to showcase her drawing on the annual Christmas Card.  The young artist is only thirteen years old and is in the eighth grade. The young beautiful artist is also one of my many favorite nieces. 

On the front of the card is a bright star shining upon Our Mother Mary holding Baby Jesus.  The artist also wrote Peace down the left side of the card with her name underneath.  The inside of the card reads:  May the joy and wonder of the Christ Child fill your hearts this Christmas.  And may the New Year be filled with blessings.  Merry Christmas! 
I have to say that this is my favorite card I have ever received.  I love it so much that I decided to frame and display it year round.  I have not told her what I have done with the card.  It will be a surprise next time she visits.  I plan on inviting her over this weekend because I can't wait to see her reaction. 

blue ornaments

These are some examples of blue ornaments on my Blue Chrismas Tree.

Blue Christmas Tree

 For twenty years I have decorated a Blue Christmas tree for my husband in honor of all law enforcement.  It started the first year we were married.  At first it was just a small tabletop tree.  I have accumulated so many ornaments that I went to a larger table tree.  This year I have gone to a tall thin potted tree I found on clearance the year before.  I love this tree.  It is easy to set-up and the branches fold up for easy storage. This year my boys found one more ornament to add to the tree. In addition, I found a blue star for the top of the tree, round glass ornaments in silver and blue and added a string of blue lights.  I will show pics of some of the ornaments on this blue tree in another post.

Paper stockings

These year I made several paper stockings.  My intentions were to place a photo of the Teen Life Band in the stocking as a gift to the band members for Christmas.  They came out so cute that I decided to fill the stockings with candy and sell at the various craft shows I am participating in this Holiday Season.  Several customers have bought them as teacher and grand kids gifts.  They plan on adding money to the stockings and placing the stockings on their Christmas Tree as an ornament.  How ever you use these stockings their multi-colored Christmas theme paper brings lots of cheer to any boy or girl of any age. 

Stained Glass Christmas Stockings

These stained glass stockings make great ornaments, sun catchers, or gift tags.  They come in a variety of colors.  Call me to place an order for a particular color. 

Mosaic Road . . . Silva's blog: Candles, stained glass mosaic wall hanging

Mosaic Road . . . Silva's blog: Candles, stained glass mosaic wall hanging

1st Show of 2010

Back of booth wall.

Had my first craft show of 2010 at John Knox Presbyterian Church on Gessner St.  I met a wonderful lady named Joyce who is a former ballerina and an acrylic painter. I sold alot of smaller items but my best customer was a lady who bought two panels for her bathroom window.  Since I was busy with another customer, Joyce helped make the big sale. We are considering sharing a booth in the Heights. The show is alot closer to where I live and is an established show with other artists, but it is an outside show. 
See list of shows through the Holiday Season.  I have nice and unusual things that will make great gifts for family, friends or teachers and still busy making more items.   Hope to see you at one of my shows. 

Battle on Wylie St.

Texans banner at Roy's house.

Juan & John hanging Cowboys banner.

Every year this time the state of Texas is divided between two football teams.  Wylie Street is also divided this time of year.  There is a battle between Texans and Cowboys fans.  My husband (Juan) is a big Dallas Fan while my brother (Roy) is a big Texans Fan.  Each household proudly displays their teams banner.  Wylie Street will stay divided for the remaining of football season.  However, our family is thicker than water and no team, win or loose, will ever seperate the family.  We hang our flags, cheer for our team, and win or loose we are a family united by the spirit of the game.  As for me, I root for both teams, after all they are both from the great State of Texas.  Good luck to both teams this year.  ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

The Happy Chair

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Back of Happy Chair

This summer my neighbor had her granddaughter (Becka) over for about a week.  To keep her busy, Grandma asked Becka to paint a small bird house she had in the garden. I liked it so much that I asked Becka to paint an old chair that belonged to my grandmother that I had on my porch.  I told her to go wild with the colors.  There was only one request, that it be colorful.  The result is the "Happy Chair", I just love it.  All the colors of the rainbow are in this chair and it does make me happy everytime I see it.

Patriotic Bird

When I saw this acrilic painting of this little patriotic bird I knew I just had to have it.  I had gone into a frame store off Harwin Drive pricing frames, when I saw it on the floor.  I picked it up and new exactly where I would hang it.  It is hanging in my bathroom where I can see it while sitting on my throne.  The background colors are muted pale colors which makes the bird stand out painted in darker colors.  The little fellow looks lovely sitting on a small tree limb and even though he is alone, he looks very proud of his colorful feathers.  The picture fits perfect in my bathroom as the bird looks feminine yet the frame is very masculine. 

Little Mexicans

Hola:  I saw a picture of a little mexican taking a siesta and was inspired to make it out of stained glass.  I love the way the moon's glass shows movement in the clouds.  These suncatchers have a 3D effect as the moon is soldered behind the cactus and the cactus is soldered behind the little mexican guy. The angle the picture was taken makes the suncatchers look larger to small, but they are actually the same size. Adios.

Busy Bee

I've been a busy bee for a couple of days.  Finally completed a stained glass window panel I have wanted to make for several years.  As a matter of fact there are several pictures I have collected throughtout the years that I would like to make in stained glass.  I keep these pictures in a box.  I get these pictures from several places.  Some pictures are from stained glass books, magazines, coloring books, personal photographs and even from the internet.  Sometimes I come up with an idea for a stained glass piece and make a rough draft drawing on a piece of paper. I have been known to draw on a napkin while eating in a fast food restaurant. There are several napkins in my collective box of ideas. 

It is the end of July and I am beginning to think of Fall and Christmas Art & Crafts Shows.  I have been filling out applications to several shows this season and awaiting a response.  As soon as I am accepted into the shows, I will post them on my blog site.  I try to enter several shows through out Houston and the surrounding areas to make it easy for you to come and see my art work and hopefully find something you like to buy.

The panel I finished Thursday night could be considered a Christmas panel as it has candles and red ribbon, but I believe it could also be used year round.  For the next couple of weeks, I will be working on several textured glass light boxes.  These boxes will fill any room with a golden glow that will warm your holiday season.  Until next time, Peace & Love

Purple Cat

This stepping stone is the first mosaic I made.  No, your eyes are not deceiving you, and Yes, that is a purple cat.   Everyone laughed at me for using purple stained glass, even I was laughing, but when we saw the final project I knew I had picked the right color of glass.  This purple cat greets me everytime I walk up my front steps.  It brings life to my dead flower bed.  

Table/Chair

On the left is an old chair that belonged to my grandmother.  I painted it purple and mosaiced the moon and sun on the wooden seat.  Even though it is stained glass on the seat, it actually is comfortable to sit on.  To the right is an old metal table that started to rust.  After sanding, applied rustoleum and painted blue; I mosaiced a duck in water on the table using stain glass.  I love the way these two pieces came out and have them displayed on my front porch where they are often used. 

Snow Divas

These snow divas are made of stain glass, their faces and bikini's are heat set painted.  They can be used as christmas ornaments or used year round as suncatchers.  What a cute gift tag they would make on any gift. 

Angel Plates

These cute little angels are made out of small saucer plates and candy dishes with stained glass wings.  I used different textured glass for each angel.  Some angels stand alone by their wings, others are meant to be hung on a window or wall.  These angels will spread their wings and brighten any home with peace and love.

Stained Glass Cross

This stained glass cross takes on a different look when hung on different colored walls.  The blue outline and rose are made with stained glass pieces placed on a glass picture frame. I used clear textured glass for the interior of the cross.