After Hours Art Glass by Shannon Westmeyer

Special Note

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Hello everyone - it's almost time for the NEW WEBSITE to launch! I have been so incredibly busy getting everything ready, making new beads AND jewelry to share with you all, keeping "bored to death" children occupied on snow days, and designing a new studio in my down time.
So much to share with you all but I simply have not had enough time to get everything finished ~ story of my life huh?

I wanted to share a picture with you that I took of this mysterious snowman that showed up on my kitchen windowsill one day. I had a feeling I was being watched and when I saw the snowman OUTSIDE on the windowsill, I jumped, startled by thought of WHO put it there. Isn't he cute? He kept me company for at lest 3 weeks and made me smile every time I looked outside. That snowman was compliments of my dad, complete with twig arms and coke cap hat - oh dad- you always make me smile with your silliness.

So, I hope to be making all of you smile when the new site goes up and there's all sorts of fun things going on! I'll keep you posted - my Newsletter customers get a special preview of the site - 1 1/2 years in the making if you can believe that!

Still here......

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:46:00 +0000

I'm still here working behind the scenes, getting the new website ready and making new beads!

We're undergoing big changes, it's been a lot of work, but it's almost finished!

Thanks for your patience!

Santa's Helper

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:30:00 +0000

We've been busy helping Santa this past week, getting orders filled and squeezing in a little time to do some baking with my family. It was the perfect day, snow on the ground, Christmas music, and laughter.

A yearly tradition.....building and decorating a Ginger Bread House. This takes great concentration as you can tell! Her big brother has been asking when he gets to finally eat it!

Busy hands, lots of color, and lots of cookies!

I'm so happy for Christmas to be right around the corner! Our house is full of Christmas spirit, largely due to our daughter, Hallie Jo, who is the epitome of Christmas. She is constantly singing Christmas carols and drawing pictures. Life is good.

Count down to Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:23:00 +0000

Thanksgiving 2010

Todd, Uncle Cam & Matt

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent it in Chillicothe this year, my cousin Todd was in from California, a very rare thing since tickets are so expensive around the holidays. My parents came over to our house the night before so Mom and I could "make & bake" together, something we haven't done in a very long time. I miss those traditions, you know, the ones we had years ago when everyone was still alive. That sounds funny but it's true, things change so quickly and I'm grateful that I still have both of my parents to share it with. I have fond memories of my Grandparents and the holiday meals we'd share in their dining room. I'm especially happy to return to my Aunt & Uncles house on any holiday I can, they now live in my Grandma and Grandpa's old house and gathering there as an adult with my own children in the house that I grew up in (and my mom grew up in!) is total bliss for me. Throw in a turkey and my mom's Mushroom Dressing and I'm in heaven!

Mom

My Aunt Cheri roasted a brined turkey, Mom made her traditional Scalloped Oysters, something I remember Grandma Shipley making when I was little. I guess I'll make them one day even though no one in this family likes them except me :-) I put together a little photo montage of the day, I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would...too busy chatting and eating! What's your "Traditional" dish for Thanksgiving? I guess mine would be the Veggie Casserole I make every year. I did roast a turkey this weekend and we had leftovers, then I made Turkey Hash and we had that on top of left over stuffing.....needless to say we won't be having turkey for a while!

I'm always happy to host a Black Friday Sale the day after Thanksgiving, this year I gave everyone on my Newsletter list first dibs on all the goodies. There was confusion over the time 12:00am, which I found out the hard way meant something different for everyone including me! Next year will be completely different I promise! With so many orders, so many sets of beads and everyone checking out at the same time, there were duplicate orders that needed to be worked out, but I'm grateful that everyone was understanding, for the most part, over something that I had no control over.

Thanksgiving Day for the squirrel

My new shopping cart will not allow another person to check out with your beads if they are already in YOUR cart, something for the life of me I can not understand! It was like "old days" when I first started selling beads on the website and would list everything at noon sharp for FRIDAY SPECIALS, there would always w/o fail be duplicate and triplicate orders. It was the reason I started taking orders for beads and doing remakes, but either way I'll be glad to leave this shopping cart behind!

It's hard to believe that December is coming this week! We had Brownies tonight and we let the girls decide the what, where and when of their Christmas Party. They decided, are you ready for this?, to have a Hot Chocolate/Cookie party in their PJ's WITH their favorite doll or stuffed animal in attendance AND a gift exchange! Sure, I'll get right on the plans for that lol! The fun part is that they each have a responsibility for bringing the party together...invitations, decorations, hostess, supplies, and clean-up. We'll see how this goes ;-)

YOUR Holiday Open House & Black Friday Sets

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:50:00 +0000

The Open House I had this weekend was a big success! I was so relieved! I worked hard all week to get things together and my fear was that no one would show up. I didn't invite a ton of people, I could have, but I just invited people that I thought would come and would be interested in buying something, now I'm guessing I should have invited everyone! I have always been "shy" about what I do, but I'm lucky, soooo lucky to have friends that totally support me, encourage me and tell everyone they know about what I do. Their support, and yours, pushes me forward into unfamiliar territory and new things, you all are such a part of my creative process you have no idea how much!

Every year I host a BLACK FRIDAY sale on the website, I put together groups of beads that have been hanging around waiting for something to happen, and pass them along to you at a discounted price. I'll be doing that again this year for you. Last year I got up in the wee hours of the morning and made my Black Friday sale "live", tyring to trick you all with a crazy time, but I was surprised when they were all gobbled up in record time....I didn't trick anyone!

In addition to the Black Friday Sale this week I'll also be hosting my first Holiday Open House on the website, also this Friday the 26th! I am happy to share lots of goodies with you, great gifts for friends, family and teachers. I'll also be sharing a small group of new silver designs that will be on my new website (coming very soon!), necklaces that were a huge hit this weekend, each piece is one-of-a-kind and made to order.

For the lovely ladies at the bead store, a bounty of beads is coming your way! I have 2 trays of Holiday goodies that will be there in time for your weekend beading! These are new beads too, beautiful organics that make the most gorgeous bracelets, earrings and necklaces!

So, off to work I go, hi ho, hi ho!

A Night in Napa Valley

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:08:00 +0000

Supper Club ~ A Night in Napa

I'm sharing some pictures of our trip to Napa Valley this past weekend for dinner! No, not really, it sounded exciting though huh? We had Supper Club on Saturday and the theme was "Napa Valley"! It was one of my favorites, the weather was Spring like, the wine was delicious and the company was awesome as always. I feel blessed to have such good friends to share these things with and Supper Club is a great way to get together and enjoy all them at once!

Friends of ours, Heather & Matt, make a trip to Napa Valley every year, this year they shared their stash of wine they returned home with. Dinner stated off with a wine tasting of 6 different varieties, my favorite one was a rich red followed by a piece of dark chocolate, followed by more wine. The chocolate brought all the flavors in the wine out...but doesn't chocolate do that for everything?!

Dinner was 6 courses:

Course 1 -Parmesan-Regiano Cheese Crisps with Goat Cheese Mousse and Shrimp with Avocado Salsa
Course 2 -Shrimp over Napa Cabbage w/ Celery Root Remoulade and Gazpacho side shot
Course 3 -Shrimp and Crab Bisque with chives
Course 4-Lemon Sorbet w/Thyme - this was so yummy!
Course 5- Spinach and Boursin Cheese stuffed Chicken Breast with Herb Roasted Potatoes
Course 6- Chocolate Mouse Cake

We had the appetizer this time (Course 1) so I went all out and made a couple of dishes from THE FRENCH LAUNDRY cookbook, a famed restaurant in Napa Valley. It took me all day to make just 2 dishes, I didn't think it would take that long,

Shrimp Base

trust me, I didn't know what I had gotten myself into until it was too late! The Key West shrimp were cooked in a vegetable bouillon that had carrots, onions, fennel, leeks, pepper corns, white wine, vinegar and an herb pack that was made by placing parsley, thyme and bay leaves in the stalks of the leeks then wrapping them up with string. I have to say the shrimp were the best I'd ever had, full of flavor! I made a salsa of cucumbers, red onions and avocado that was paced behind the shrimp on the fork.....like I said...lots of work but worth it! Everything was delicious!

So it's Wednesday, I've been preparing for my first OPEN HOUSE all week. I've never had one, people have always asked and I've always been reluctant - it's alot of work right before the Holiday Season but this year I caved to the pressure. I hope it all turns out and people are happy with the selection I have. I'm letting them pick beads from my stash to make into bracelets or order from a selection of pre-made goodies, I thought that would be the easiest. I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks for your feedback on lighting! I really appreciate your insight! I went back to Sams Club last night to purchase another rolling storage unit. I'm in love with these things, they are so practical and hold just about anything. I'll keep you posted, I'm hoping to be able to spend more time on it next week and get my Dad up here to cut wood for my new workbench. I'll share it when it's all finished :-)

New storage ideas for beaders and crafters

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:54:00 +0000

Bead Party Mix

New Storage

Thank goodness it's Friday! It just puts us that much closer to Thanksgiving which is hard to believe. Ed had a day off yesterday and worked on putting my shelving together for me, he has 2 more units to put together but I really like the look and functionality of it. That mini drawer system in the picture is awesome, if you're a beader you must get one! The drawers are nice and big, it's very sturdy and well constructed, it's going to serve as my metal clay system to keep everything nice and organized. It's also on rollers which makes it nice and easy to move to around. I'm thinking this kind of storage unit will also be nice to hold all of the extra lampwork beads I have by category and style, instead of their current home on my dining room table. If your a serious beader and do art shows this unit would be perfect to sort all of your findings and beads. I'll get it all together and show you when it's set up, I'm really excited about it though!

One of my dear customers, Jody, sent me a couple of links I thought I'd share with you too. The first is called a BEAD PARTY JAR from Michael's, she uses a smaller version of this jar to sort all or her beads in by color. I'm thinking a Bead Party Mix would make a great gift for a beader, put in various beads and findings, a gift certificate to your favorite bead artist, tie a bow around it and you have a stocking stuffer for your beader friend or wannabe. I think I'm onto something there, maybe I should do something about this!

Goody Beads has various display and storage units for beads. If you're a lampworker these would be great to use at shows.

Lampwork Bead Displays is the company I used to build my bead wall at the bead store I consign at. These are great little systems and can be easily converted into a wall display unit. The only downside, for me anyway, is that the beads easily fall off the mandrel for unsuspecting customers picking them up to view them. This can be easily solved by using the little rubber backs for earrings as stoppers on the mandrels.

Shipping Organizer

In my quest for the perfect storage system I cam across Chandler Creations with units that are intended for scrapbookers and beaders. They are handmade and functional AND a major investment, but for some of you they may be an option. They do have 1 piece that I purchased for my new shipping area, it's called a Scrapbook Desktop Organizer. I use it to house all the ribbon I string my beads on, pens, scissors, stickers, tape and cards. Pretty functional for $16.00.

My next big question is lighting. I have a downstairs office and workshop, the workshop has a window and the office doesn't. For me lighting is crucial when I'm designing something, I've found that when I make something in fluorescent lighting and take it upstairs to see it in daylight, it's completely different! That's why I had everything in the upstairs office spread out all over the floor. In my quest to try and centralize everything downstairs, I need to find good lighting.

I'd love to hear what you use and how you like it!

Bead Colors ~ Vera Bradley Glass Bead Series

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:47:00 +0000

Good morning everyone!

First, I'm listing new beads today! I have some very pretty sets that were inspired by Vera Bradley prints, ahhh.... I love their vibrant color combination's, a trip to the store is visual eye candy so it's no wonder that they can easily translate into a bead. The hard part is deciding which colors to select from the print! Next is selecting a "just right" glass to use that will best represent the color~that's the tricky part.

Here's what I've decided to do~I'm going to bead my way through the entire Vera Bradley Collection~ sounds crazy huh? No! Wait till you see the new beads I've made! I'm going to work on a couple of prints each week and see how it goes, my goal will be to capture and recreate the patterns and prints into a bead set.

Here's a little color teaser of the beads I'll have up today~


Baroque Glass Bead Colors

Translated from this Vera Bradley Pattern:


Barouqe


Night and Day Glass Bead Colors

Translated from this Vera Bradley Pattern:


Night and Day


Berry Paisley Bead Colors

Adapted from this Vera Bradley Print:


Berry Paisley

Caffee Latte

Caffee Latte Bead Colors

I hope you like what I'll have up today, Caffee Latte is my favorite and I'm tempted to convert a Starbucks Pumpkin Latte into a bead design...hey, it can be done right? I'll have new beads up later on and will send a note to my Newsletter Customers so your not hanging around waiting on me all day!

See you soon!

PS. I'll be sharing some of your Bead Storage ideas tomorrow and the start of my studio re-vamping!!

Go Me!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:29:00 +0000

Twilight Theme Bracelet....the bracelet that started it all!

Messy Office I

I'm sharing a big 'ol dose of reality with you all today, nothing bad, but I have to change it before I can move on.

Lets start with last week. I've been busy with orders for quite some time. I get to the top of a pile and poof! another big order. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - not. one. bit. But I've fallen way behind in other areas, which I'm about to share with you. It happened last week, I was making a Twilight bracelet for a very, I mean

Beads, Beads, Beads!

very patient customer. What should have taken me an hour to do took me 4 hours since I'm scattered all over the house. Upstairs, downstairs, and everywhere in between, I have beads and silver all over the house. I had made 3-4 of the charms that come with the Bella Twilight bead set, where they were I had no idea, but I spent an hour looking for them and still haven't been able to locate them. So I ended up making a new one....go figure!

After my mini geek attack, I made a desperate phone call to friend that's a personal organizer. She came this morning and talked me down off the ledge lol! I'm taking pictures to share with all of you, I know there are other ladies that have this problem with their hobbies taking over their houses, but it's gotten to the point where I need help.....professional help. So all is good today, I'm starting Phase I of this reorganization in my basement office. Phase 2 will be the upstairs office and dinning room

Messy Office II

table. Everything is going to be streamlined with the help of Ikea, Sams Club and Lowes. I have a new workbench for my studio coming sometime this week, I'll finally have a place to do enameling and pounding without worry. It's all ok right?!

My point is it's hard to work in clutter/chaos like this, it actually stiffles my creativity and makes me less creative. It's also costing me money since I'm ordering things I didn't know I already had or

couldn't find! I've also been wanting to hire a PT person to help me out a couple of days a week, cleaning beads and shipping (which takes a hugh chunk of time) and find it impossible to bring someone into this "mess". I'll share my progerss with you and bead/glass/silver storage ideas I come up with, and if you have any ideas please share them! I'd love to know what other designers do with their work space.

I will be releasing new beads on Wednesday of this week! Thank you so much for your patience!!

Happy Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:19:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Just dropping in to say "Hi" and give you a bead update. I've had sick kiddo at home all week with the flu, he finally went to school today, but I'm running a little behind as a result! I'll send out a note to my Mailing List when I have everything up and ready to go, it will be this weekend sometime.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Hugs,
Shannon

New Beads this week!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:06:00 +0000

I'll have new beads this week for you! Orders are almost finished so I feel safe releasing new things. I've been working with metallic glasses the last couple of weeks and have some really pretty organic beads and Vera Bradley inspired color combos.

It's finally cold here this morning, frost on the ground and piles of colorful leaves under our trees. Fall has always been an inspiring season for me with it's rich and warm colors. It's just hard to believe it's November 1st! Hallie picked the last of our tomatoes and our herb garden is growing out of control this time of year so I picked a big "bunch" and stuffed them into my Longaberger pitcher to smell the kitchen up. Then I put a big pot of yummy Chicken Tortilla soup. The perfect day right?

I went out for a Pumpkin Latte with friends yesterday and THE topic of

conversation was Christmas. Christmas! Can we just get through Thanksgiving first? Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'll be hosting my Black Friday Sale again this year and have started to put sets together for you, the good news is....it will be on the NEW WEBSITE! I have to tell you I've been working like crazy to get it finished. We are on the final Front Page revisions right now so it will happen soon and I'll have so much MORE time to "create" and "make" when it's finished. I've been making bracelets with some of the sets I make, I think it helps to "see" them actually designed into something. I also have new Wax Seal designs that I'll be launching with the new website!

I'll let you all know what day I'm going to post new things this week!!

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:37:00 +0000

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween to you all! We had Trick-or-Treat last night so I'm sharing some pictures with you and a yummy recipe that I'm taking to a party tonight.

The kids wore their costumes from last year, they were down and out last year with the flu and could only watch everyone come to our

Tinkerbell

door...total bummer. Hallie was Sharpay from High School Musical, minus the ratty wig that went with the costume! Jesse, wanted to be a skeleton, why I don't know, just as long as he was scary is all he wanted. They both had fun even though it was freezing cold and came home with an insane amount of candy.

I took a picture of the table in my foyer, it's decorated for Halloween, but the plate on the right is a Halloween countdown plate that I wanted to share with you. I made it during "Craft Night" at a friends house that sells Uppercase Living....it's too cute and they had lots of cute things for Christmas!

I'm helping out at both of their school parties today and still have apples to cut before I head out this morning, but I wanted to share a recipe with you that's perfect for a Fall/Halloween party. It's really simple and doesnt' require much work either!

CARAMEL BRIE AND APPLES

Place a round of Brie cheese on an ovenproof platter. Heat in a 350 degree oven about 15 minutes or until warm and soft but not runny.

Drizzle with warm caramel ice-cream topping, sprinkle with chopped toasted pecans, and serve with
apple slices.

I was going to have SPECIALS today but will run out of time with all that I have going on with the kids today. They are jaw-droppers too! I'll send you a note when I have them up!

I hope you all have a safe and spooky weekend!

Football, Family & Friends!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:38:00 +0000

See the scoreboard? Down to the last second!!

The EAGLES 2010 Champions!

Wow! Hello everyone! I disappeared the last week to make Breast Cancer sets and Fall beads. "Save the Ta Ta's" has been a smash hit and as a result we're at $244.00 in proceeds for the Susan G Komen for a Cure fund! Yeah!! Thank you for your support! I've made 3 more sets and have them in stock today, I'll continue to donate 50% of your orders for these sets until the end of the month.

Big news......Jesse's team won the championship football game this past Saturday! It was absolutely the best game of the season, down to the last 9 seconds when we had to hold the other team off on the 5 yard line for 4 attempts at a touchdown. Everyone was jumping up and down and cheering, what a game!!!!! I'm sharing some pictures with you today, Jesse is #99, the biggest kid on the team. He really had fun this season so he wants to play again next year!

Ms. Hallie Jo had her cast removed last Friday! Her wrist is really stiff but she was so happy to have that stinky thing off. She accidentally submerged it in the bathtub 4 days before it was supposed to come off. So the last 4 days were hard, it itched really bad and stunk like a dirty sock! She'll be able to start her art class tomorrow at least :-)

Are you ready for Halloween? We have Trick-or-Treat on Thursday and a neighborhood Halloween party on Saturday. Hallie and I decorated the front of the house with spider webs and big spiders! The kids are so looking forward to it, last year we were on lock down here with H1N1 and the kids missed Trick-or-Treat night. I think Hallie is going as her brother this year, a football player that is! Jesse is going as some scary thing of course!

I have new beads in the works! I hope to be sharing everything this week sometime!!

Hugs,
Shannon

A few new things today.....

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 01:12:00 +0000

In honor of my dear friend Stacy

Wow! What a l o n g day! I had every intention of posting things earlier today, but picking up our new car took a lot longer then I thought it would. The kids were off today too, so everything is a little behind when they're home.

I wanted to share a personal story with you today, one of friendship, love and courage. I have a dear friend, a best friend that's a breast cancer survivor. She has been a part of my life for over 20 years....that's a long time. We've shared many things together, from going out when we were "legal" to all the hot night clubs, to failed relationships and marriages, babies..you name it! We didn't see each other regularly but we always kept in touch. Her life was quite different then mine, she married early had a baby girl, that's now in college, and then twin boys that just turned 18, so yes, our lives were very different. She was having babies while I was loving being single!

I hadn't seen her in a while when she called one day out of the blue to tell me she needed to "talk" to me. I remember thinking "Uh-oh". When she told me she had breast cancer and what her prognosis was I just started to cry, and true to "Stacy" form she got upset with ME! She didn't want me to feel sorry for her, she had a battle ahead of her and couldn't deal with me being upset. All I could do was be there for her when she needed me. She decided to have a double mastectomy, something that takes great strength and courage. She has been through total hell and has emerged a strong and confident women, not to mention she has beautiful ta ta's now! She didn't let it get her down even though she had her 'down" days she was always "Stacy". She's a beautiful person inside and out :-)

I made a bracelet for a breast cancer charity that her mom is working on. It's bright and colorful, full of personality just like my sweet Stacy! Life wouldn't be the same without her :-)

I made 2 Breast Cancer sets and will be donating half of the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure fund in honor of my dear friend. I also have a sweet little Wax Seal necklace that pays homage to the spirit of women with Breast Cancer...WHILE I LIVE I'LL CROW!

Hugs to all the women in my life :-)

Breast Cancer Awareness Sets

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:50:00 +0000

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so I'll be offering a couple of "pink" sets this Friday. I'm amazed at how far technology has come in the treatment of BC, even more amazed that the entire NFL wears pink for the month of October, that's totally cool....grown men in pink to bring awareness to breast cancer!

We went new car shopping on Monday, (groan). I hate the fact that we are about to have a car payment again...(groan again). It's inevitable though. We've been looking for a while and have driven everything, so we pick up our new Acadia on Friday. We brought it home on Monday night so the kids could check out the entertainment system, sit in the seats and drive it around for a day before we committed on paper. I love my "old" Expedition too, I hate to trade it in, not just for the fact that it's paid for, but for the "history" we've had in it. Hallie came home from the hospital in that car, Jesse's grown up in it, not literally of course, but he's spent most of his life with me driving him around in it! I'm sentimental about these things, it's the same sentiment that keeps me from having a Garage Sale or getting rid of their old toys. So we pick up our new car on Friday...just in time for the weekend!

Football is winding down, thank goodness! There were 2 injuries on the field last week, both needed an ambulance. The team we were versing had a couple of "bullies" on it, they would tackle our players but then rough them up when they were on the ground. I've never seen anything like it and why the ref's didn't kick these players out of the game is beyond me. How will I ever make it through his High School years lol?!

I'll be back on Friday with my Breast Cancer Awareness sets!

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:16:00 +0000

Good morning everyone! Sorry to be MIA for the last week, been very busy with orders and Breast Cancer set requests. I'm working on putting something special together for a friend of mine who's a breast cancer survivor. I'll have a couple of special sets to offer you to, I'll be finishing them up this weekend!

I wanted to thank you all for your patience while I work through so many orders! Sometimes it's impossible to stay on schedule with work when so much is going on with my kids. It seems as though someone always needs a "piece" of me and friends forget that while yes, I technically stay at home, I also work at home! Anyway, I appreciate your patience with me...your all the best!!!

This past weekend was fantastic, Jesse had Saturday night football games, they won both of them, in the cold rain too! Yeah! We had neighbors over with their football players for Spagehtti Chili and Potato Corn Chowder, it hit the spot on such a cold rainy night and everyone had fun :-) The weekend always go by too quickly! Two more weeks of football left, thank goodness, as much I love watching Jesse play I'm always anxious about him getting hurt.

Back to work! Just wanted to let you know I'm still here!!!

Olive Boyd Award

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Me & Mom

Good morning!! How was your weekend? It was a perfect Fall weekend here. I made Potato Corn Chowder yesterday and we took the kids to see "Legend of the Guardians", it was a great movie, a couple of scary parts for Hallie but Jesse loved it. I went with my girlfriends last night to see "You Again" with Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White, we LOVED IT! It was too funny! It's definitely a chic flick.

Jesse's football team lost their first football game on Saturday, their quarterback was sick and they were short 2 kids that play the line with Jesse so it was a tough loss. Especially since we crushed the team in a scrimmage game. Jess was wiped out, he played the entire B and A games. I had my Art Show that night so I left from the football field to get there for the reception and awards ceremony, but, I was late. I didn't expect to win
anything, the competition was tough, but I was surprised when they presented me

Jesse

with the Olive Boyd Award. Speechless is a better word. It was the first competition I had entered. My parents finally arrived and when I told my mom, she cried, when Evelyn, the Gallery owner, praised my work and talent, she cried again. I took a picture of us to share with you. I donated my $100 cash prize back to the Gallery, Studio 14, I didn't even have to think about it. Evelyn is a wonderful woman and phenomenal artist herself, she has worked to bring local artists to the Gallery which is hard to do in a down turned economy.
So we celebrated and went out for a late dinner with my mom and dad! It was a long night!

I will be finishing up all of my orders this week and am hoping that I can release part II of the Fall collection by the end of this week or early part of next week. We'll have to see how things go this week! No more broken bones lol!!!

Have a great Monday!!

More broken bones!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:05:00 +0000

Hallie's PURPLE cast!

Can you believe it? Hallie has broken her wrist! What is it with this family?! Remember, Jesse broke his wrist last Summer, right before school started. Ed broke his foot this Summer and now my sweet little 7 year old daughter has broken her wrist! I really hope I'm not next!

It actually happened at recess. Another kid was running after a ball and ran smack into her, she fell and landed on top of her wrist. She went to the school nurse who put ice on it and sent her on her way. She had gym later that day, not knowing she had a broken a wrist she volunteered to do a demo with the gym teacher. She told me she actually heard her wrist snap....ouch! Back to the nurse, more and ice and finally the phone call at 3:30 that they were sending her home on the bus but that she had injured her wrist in gym.

Seriously though, I felt bad because Hallie is usually the drama in this house, she was freaked out about getting her flu shot yesterday after school so of course I thought she was going to milk the wrist injury to get out of the flu shot....that's just how she rolls. It was a good thing we were at the doctor's office though. I told the nurse, who promptly took her temperature...100....not good. Then we felt her wrist, it was super warm to touch....not good. Then an x-ray confirmed that she had completely fractured the bone below her wrist. Hallie had to sit down, she started hyperventilating and telling everyone she was going to pass out! It was funny, she was actually proud that she had a broken wrist and immediately made plans to call everyone when we got back home!

The good news is she's fine, the break on her wrist was nothing like what her big brother had done last year. The doctor called it a green stick break, so her cast, her bright PURPLE cast will be on for 4 weeks. Our soccer star is side-lined :-( So yes it's true, there is never a dull moment here!

The Windy City

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 09:40:00 +0000

Chicago Skyline

I hope you all had a great weekend! I love Fall weather :-)

We spent the weekend in Chicago with 5 other couples catching up, sight seeing and eating some serious food! I love Chicago, I'm so glad it's only 5 hours away! We had a sweet little "vintage" apartment with a kitchen & living room, complete with crazy old elevator that was the size of my half bath and would only fit 3 people at a time!

We went on the architectural riverboat cruise Saturday. I would do it again, the history of the city and it's buildings is fascinating. I took so many pictures, but my all time favorite was the building with the undulating balconies that made it look as if it was in motion. My second favorite was the one that looked like a Champagne bottle.

It was a great weekend! As luck would have it, Jesse scored his first touch down while we were out of town! He has his own play that the coaches made for him, it's called the "Jesse Special" and I guess it worked! The poor kid was tired, he played his entire game and the second "A" game too. We are so proud of him and glad that his grandparents were there to witness it all!

When I called Jesse to ask what he wanted me to bring him home you wouldn't believe what my 10 year old wanted!? He wanted a pizza. I asked him, "A pizza? Really?" and he replied "Yeah, mom, you know, a Chicago pizza?", we watch the Food Network together can you tell? Lol! So we had Chicago stuffed pizza for dinner later that night.....from Girodano's.....the best stuffed pizza in Chicago!

A few of your creations!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:45:00 +0000

I love when my customers send pictures of their creations! It's always been inspiring to me :-) You are all so talented!

Here a just a few of the recent photo's I've received.

The first is from jewelry designer Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio. Her work is just beautiful! I love what she's done with the design! The "Walk on the Beach" series has been my all time most popular set, I continue to take orders and requests for it! Thank you Cindy for inspiring me and sharing your wonderful work! Be sure to check out Cindy's blog too!

Cindy Wimmer's photo of Sweet Bead Studio

This creation is by Donna of Designs by Donna! This bracelet is made using the same set the Cindy used but with a completely different style. Don't you love it?

Donna's photo of Designs by Donna

Thank you so much ladies for sharing your work! I continue to be inspired by you all!

Art Key Necklace

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:51:00 +0000

Grandpa Shipley

I finished this necklace yesterday just in time for the exhibition! I took some hurried pictures, which unfortunately didn't turn out very well, but I thought I'd share them anyway. Everything in this necklace is/was inspired by my Grandpa Shipley, it will be my Mom's birthday present when the exhibition is over. The key was one of Grandpa's, I wrapped it with a sea inspired bead, added a hollow bauble and sand dollar. I also stamped a tag with my vintage number stamps "477", that was my Grandparent's street address in Chillicothe, lots of good memories happened there and my sweet Aunt Cheri & Uncle Cam live there now. I enameled the tag in shades of copper green, it turned out completely uunexpected...that's why I love enameling so much... you never know whats going to happen! I attached a little brass star to the tag, just because my Grandpa was always a "star" to me, as was my Grandma, being the

only Granddaughter I was spoiled rotten and then some :-) I put a picture of my Grandpa in the shadow box along with the necklace and a short description. My piece was the only dimensional piece submitted so we'll see what happens, I had fun making it and I know mom will love it.

I am getting lots of orders out tomorrow, I pint ed shipping labels anticipating that I would have many of them finished today but I forgot about the juried show deadline. I'll send you each a note when they're on the way. I've had lots of special requests and have tried to get back to everyone but it's been impossible with my current workload to get it all finished. I appreciate your patience, being busy is a good thing and a curse at the same time.

I'm taking time out tomorrow to make lunch for my girlfriends, I've been pretty absent all Summer and really bad at keeping in touch with everyone. So often we get busy with our families and work that we forget about the friendships in our lives, so I'm making something special and treating everyone to the Sorbeto/Gelato that I purchased at a recent charity event.

I want to share some of your creations tomorrow, I'm always so thrilled when I get pictures from you sharing what you've made!

Juried Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:34:00 +0000

Last week I having lunch with friends at one of my favorite places, Coldwater Cafe in Tipp City Ohio. It's a popular restaurant in an old building that used to be a bank, so taking the kids here is always a treat since they like to sit in the vault. Our topic of conversation is always about our children, but last week it was about our friendships, how women come and go out of our lives and why. We had all had recent experiences that we shared, it was enlightening for me, just what I needed as I sat there with 2 of my favorite people. I felt blessed to have "real" friends in a community where we'd only lived for 4 short years. Making friends and being new is always hard, Jesse, my son still struggles with being homesick and missing his old friends in Indiana, he says they were "nicer" and "real". That's pretty deep coming from a 10 year old, but then he's always been my "old wise child" and voice of reason when I didn't have a voice. Anyway, it was a perfect Fall day to spend with friends.

Across the street is the art gallery Studio 14 where I have things on display. I decided to stop by and check everything out, there's an Antique gallery on the bottom floor and I always find something I love there. This week it was an antique gaming table with one side that lifted up to store cards and game pieces. Evelyn was there painting with her friends so we chatted for a long time. I was telling her about the recent classes I had taken in enameling and Mr. Carpenter at Thompson Enamels, she too had taken classes from him years ago and shared some of her stories with me. I told her about Neptunes Key and how I had taken something of my Grandfathers and turned it into a peice of art with a bead wrapped around it. Evelyn thought it was the perfect concept for a juried exhibition they have coming up.....today. So here I am, about to leave for Chicago, tons of orders to fill, and now a juried exhibition that I felt I couldn't pass up. It's called "It's My Life" and is inspired by Carin Hebenstreit's work. After the days events and sharing the story of my Grandpa, a man that continues to inspire me everyday, I felt like it was destiny :-) So, here I am, putting together an art key necklace with things from his old tool chest, it still has to be framed and wired but I think I can meet the 3:00 deadline.

I'll be sure to take some pictures before I head out!

Inspiration from Grandpa Shipley...Key beads

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:45:00 +0000

Organic Key Focal

Neptunes Key

Wrapped Key Focal

Hello everyone! First, thank you for all of the great feedback on the new Fall beads! I have more goodies in store too!

I wanted to share with you my inspiration for the Key beads....my Grandpa Shipley. As you all know, I love things that tell a story, things with a history and significant past. On a trip to Chillicothe over a year ago, my Uncle Cam approached me a cup of keys, "Here, take these, they're yours", all I could think was "jackpot"!! I'm inspired by these old things, seriously, I can spend h o u r s in an antique mall looking at other peoples "things", but these were my Grandpa's "things". I took them home and left them on my desk for a while, and there they would sit until I purchased a special mandrel from Jeveleh that would help me make them into works of art. I had made them in the past, and at great cost since there was not a mandrel on the market yet. They had to be made with hemostats...ug. No fun at all and I quickly lost interest when I dropped the hot key onto my pants. But this new mandrel is like "butta", I love it!

I offered 3 key beads in the Fall Collection last week, and subsequently took orders for them too. I'll be offering more on the new website along with coordinating bead sets. I plan on making a few necklaces myself and have some great antique chains to put them on....just need to find the time to put it all together!

I wanted to share that with you all, designing things from the heart with feeling and inspiration is what it's all about for me. It's the same thing with my beads, each one is inspired by "something", a picture, a fashion trend, a beautiful Fall sweater or that trip to the pumpkin patch...each one has meaning for me :-).

Have a great day!

Fall Collection 2010

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:29:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Today is the day! Finally! I have a few pictures to take before I turn everything "ON".

I'll be sending out an email when it's all up and ready to go. I'll be back to talk about and share my inspiration for some of the sets I'm sharing with you today! Happy Friday!

It never fails!

noreply@blogger.com (After Hours Art Glass) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:45:00 +0000

Good morning! How was your weekend? Ours was hot! I'm trying to savor this warm weather before Fall sets in, but I've been too busy to even step foot outside. This week has taken a turn, Hallie is sick this morning with a temp and tummy ache. It never fails, she's only had 3 days of school and is already sick. I hope it's a 24 hour thing. I hate for her to miss school so early on and hope it's not a sign of what's in store for her this year.

I have several very important deadlines this week, first and foremost beads! Wednesday is the deadline for my "content" pages to be complete, actually it was yesterday but Wednesday is the phone conference to go over everything and the design of my front page. Friday, another phone conference to go over another aspect of my new shopping cart and functionality. I need to have all of my products loaded for the meeting(s) to happen. This week in a nut shell....s.t.r.e.s.s. As much as I want to list everything today I can't, I'll be swamped with orders, at least I hope I'll be swamped with orders right?! and I won't be prepaired for the meetings I have which will put my website launch back another week. I know, I know, just throw me a pity party!

Anyway, I will list everything this week, I'm just thinking that I need to get that Wednesday meeting behind me before I do. I will send out my Newsletter when everything is "live", oh, I forgot to mention that my Newsletter service has changed! I'm using Mail Chimp because it syncs with my new shopping cart and website, although I tried to transfer everyone over to Mail Chimp, some of my older records didn't make it, so you may have to sign up again. There's a box to the right of my blog here where you can sign up to.

I'll see you all soon!