FREE for Black Friday!!!!!

Hello, Happy Black Friday!

I'm thrilled to post my Black friday Sale HERE. Right now in my shop, everything is 15% - no exceptions, Yay! In adddition to my storewide sale, I'm offering a FREE gift to all Facebook fans, twitter followers and Blog friends. Just write "friend" in the "notes to seller section" so I know it's you.

When you purchase any item im my store, I'll send a free pair of resin and sterling silver earrings. The choices are pictured here, if you like, let me know which ones you would like with your order, if I don't see a note, I'll surprise you:)

Thanks so much and have a wonderful shopping day, Penny.

Penny Glass Girl gets to visit!

I have been so busy since my last community show, that I haven't have the chance to post here! Shame on me, i'll get better, I promise. For now, I'm just popping in to include a photo of my booth set up for the show, I had a few questions from others as to how I would display my stuff, so here it is:

My set up certainly isn't perfect yet, especially since at this particular show, the set up time is pretty short, but I have been working on building the right display for my work and I think I'm finally on my way. This past show was a community event at my sons' school, it was so well attended by old friends and new, I had a blast. Today, we are getting ready to celebrate American Thanksgiving (even though we are Canadian) and it's busy, busy in these parts. I hope you're having a great day too:) Penny

Howard Arts and Crafts Tomorrow

Hi Toronto Friends! Tomorrow, November 17th, I will be at the Howard Arts and Crafts Showcase and Sale, I would LOVE it if you could stop by for a visit. This really is a unique craft fair and the talented vendors that make it such a success every year are truly exceptional. Happy Shopping!

New In The Shop.

I have been working away in the studio this week getting ready for the hollidays. I could use a little cheering up these days, so I focused on creating a new line of cuddly creadture pendants in really bright translucent glass. So fun!

Come by and take a look, if you like, enter BLOGVISIT in the coupon code section at checkout and get FREE Shipping. Penny

Beating the Blahs.

I love fall, I really do. It's my favourtie time of the year.

I love pulling out my wool sweaters, wearing socks for the first few days of Autumn chill, watching the leaves float by my studio window and feeling warm and cosy plugging away doing what i love.

But (there's always a but) when the thrill of the new season starts to wear off, I feel the need to combat the blahs. You know, the feeling you get when you realize that winter will soon settle in.

My work lately has been a reflection of these feelings. The result? Fun, colourful colours are making their way into my work. Even I can't feel blah when I shift through candy coloured hues to find the right shade of pink or chartruese to perk me up.Here's a peek at my new goodies:

Please come by and visit all the new candy coloured goodness at Penny Glass Girl as well :)

New!

Penny Glass Girl has been working up a stom this week in preperation for the busy holiday season. New work is being posted all the time, including the return of my One of a Kind Millefiori (meaning, a thousand flowers) Glass Pendants. I love making these and can't imagine why I stopped for awhile. The process of layering the glass and fusing them to 1500 degrees means that I never quite know what the end result will look like until the kiln has finally cooled and I can peek inside - very exciting!

The Title of these pendant, "Earth and Flowers" was inspired by one of my favourite quotes, "Earth laughs in flowers." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson. The mix of the millefiori glass centres, made in Murano, and bright hued glass makes me think of cheerful days in the garden. You can find the pendants here:)

New Bracelets at Penny Glass Girl

I'm so excited to have been able to re-open Penny Glass Girl with all new items for fall. Today, I have also added fused glass and leather wristbands to the shop.

I have been perfecting these for awhile, working on the perfect mix of though and shiny:) Drop by and see the first samples in the shop right HERE

I Wish You A Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be Thankful for this year! Especiallly for the love and support of so many in the last few months as I have been dealing with so many personal issues.

I wanted to take this opprotunity to say thanks for the support and to say that Penny Glass Girl will be re-opening tomorrow!

I wish you all a happy holiday season with the people you love.

Penny

Closing Up Shop For Awhile

I'll be taking some family time over the next few months and will be closing my etsy shop until at least June. Until I close (sometime in the next week) EVERYTHING IN MY SHOP has been discounted by 50%.

Stop by to find some incredible deals.

Cheers,
Penny

Soup Club - On The Mend

Leek and Legume Chicken Soup

Today I have my youngest boy and my husband home with the stomach flu. I'm going to go out on a limb and state that I'm not going to get any work done today.

Instead of trying to fight it, I'm going with the flow and making my boys a little soup to make them feel better. This recipe is one I created for my Soup Club friends and it is simple, but oh so tasty.

First, I sweated three leeks (white and lightest green parts only) in some butter in a large soup pot. I then added a cup of white wine - I used an unoaked chardonay from Wayne Gretzkey which I LOVE at the moment - to deglaze the lovely brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

After the deglazing, I added 6 cups of organic chicken stock (you can use veggie to keep it vegetarian if you like) and 2 cups of dried legumes. I use my own mix of dried legumes because I find the mixes that are prepackaged to have added salt and this soup has enough flavour, just be sure to rinse and drain them thoroughly.

If you want to keep this soup vegetarian, just stop here and simmer for 2 hours, or if you want, add some precooked chicken (I added 1.5 cups of left over roasted chicken today) for the last few minutes to heat it through.

To serve, I added a tbsp of shredded arugula for a peppery-fresh finnish.

This recipe makes a full large pot of soup (enough to share with my soup club), but if you like, you can cut the recipe down by one thrid for 2-4 servings.


A perfect Feel Better Soup

Finally Spring

I came across this pilliow from syko which makes me REALLY happy because it reminds me that spring will indeed appear and this very long winter will be over soon. The whole shop is full of lovely spring themed items to get my spirits up.

It is finally good weather here (as a Canadian I am hesitant to say that spring has actually arrived lest we get one more dumping of snow - eek!).

For now, I will luxuriate in this great day and enjoy the coming of spring.

Happy Weekend

In The Studio : Back to work, well, paper work:(

I made it back from vacation refreshed and totally inspired to create some new goods. I really don't regret taking a break at the worst of my madness, not at all. Of course, I'll have to come up with some way to pay for it, and getting caught up with everything at home is stressful, but here's what my "office" looked like for 7 wonderful days:


yep, totally worth it.

But it seems like even though I ran away for a short break, my paper work, books and tax receipts didn't. Time to pay the piper and get caught up on all the yucky part of owing my own business. Here's my office before I got started (I couldn't bear to show you what it looks like now that I'm 1/4 done!)


It's not exactly the view I had on vacation, but I am glad to be home and lucky enough to have a great place to work on my ideas and inspirations.

Now if only I could get through all my government forms and back to the spot I really love - my studio table, beckoning me to come back soon:

Time for a break.

Kisses From The Beach by zuppaartista

I am usually the heartiest of Canadian Girls, but apparently, even I have my limits and I have reached them.

The truth is I've been in need of a break for some time. I have been really, really down and this cold winter hasn't helped one bit.

I tried creating my way out of my blues. I have made so much progress when it comes to work lately, but I can't seem to see the upside of it lately.

I took a break from some of my work and social commitments, book club can get by without me I'm sure, the dinner party we've been planning can be postponed and my custom clients have been very understanding when I push back deadlines. But still I'm feeling the weight of it all.

Last Tuesday, with husband away and work piling up, I felt that I was just tyring to get by with the kids when it occurred to me: I need to get away, we all do. Of course financially the timing couldn't be worse, and in terms of schedulling, deciding on a last minute beach vacation during March break is kinda nuts, but it's time - it's really time for a break.

I will be taking a short, but much needed break as we take our kiddies to the beach. I know that it won't fix everything, but I am hoping to come back a little rested and alot reengerized.

In the meantime, the shop will be closed tomorrow, March 14th until MARCH 26th. I promise to be just a little cheerier upon my return!

Cheers,
Penny

New For Spring

Some New Pendants are starting to find their way into the shop. I'm very happy to be turning to some bright, lively colours in hopes that spring will find it's way here after many, many, many months of winter (is it just me or has this been the longest ever).

To celebrate the coming of spring, enter coupon code 03000 and get 15% off your purchase for thwe next 7 days.

Sneak Peek - In the studio

It has been a very busy week in my studio. In fact, I realize I haven't been out of my space for awhile, and I'mnot unhappy about it. I love when I actually have time to focus all my energy on a work project.

Lately, I have been re-visiting the size of my current pendants. While I do like the bolddness that my current line reflects in size, I do get many requests for smaller or larger pendants which I create on a purely custom basis.

I decided to re-focus my current spring line on making new designs in three different sizes. My hope was to create options, while still mainting the bright, airy feeling I wanted.

Here are a just a few designs in progress. More work is needed to perfect and finnish the pieces, but they'll be available in the shop soon:





While I have been toiling away, I haven't been completely alone. Max, my large, furry companion, has been making sure he maintains his real estate in the most inconvienent of places, right on my work table. Hopefully, he'll decide to move on soon so i can get these pieces finnished:)

What a difference a day (ok, 2) Makes

I snapped the first pic below of my back yard view from my studio window on Friday because I wanted to brag to a friend about the lovely little thaw we have been experiencing the last week or so in Toronto.



If you can ignore the ugly plastic kid toys, you can see that we actually had a patch of grass! After this killer winter, I have to admit that I was giddy with the prospect that it might actually be over soon.

Of course, it didn't last. This is my yard as I found it this am:




I really hate to be so sterotypically Canadaian (we do love to live here AND complain about the weather) but I AM SO DONE with winter.

Just when I was really getting down and grumpy about the snow, my biggest little one (my 9 year old) offfered to go shovel. I quickly accepted his offer, as long as he took his little brother out too.

When my 5 year went out to shovel the back yard pathway to the garage, he kept falling over because the shovel was too big for him. It was too good an opprotunity to pass up, so I grabbed my camera. Just as I was about to shoot, he looked around and, confident that no one was looking, he decided not to shovel after all. What this snow needed, was a little snow angel action:



With moments like this, I can ALMOST bear the idea of winter for a tiny bit longer. ALMOST. But spring better be coming soon, I have a garden to plan!

NEW For Spring

It's been a hectic week around here, kids and choas abound, but I managed to make it through this week AND list some brand new items in my shop, yay. I'm going for celebrating the small accomplishements in times like these.

Stop by the shop to see all the new things which I will be listing throughout the weekend. Use the COUPON CODE 022011 at checkout and receive 10% off everything. Here are just a few new pendants this week:)

Turning to Other Comforts - Soup Club

I have been having one of THOSE weeks in the studio.

My sketch book is full of great ideas - check! My studio is fully stocked with new glass and fun, shiny supplies - check! I have had soem time to myself, without children - check!

Just when everything is alined and should fall nicely into place, I can't seem to make anything work out the way I want it to. Every piece of glass I touch breaks. Every firing schedule I try seems off. Every design I draw looks like my 5 y/o did it (no ofense to him, he really is quite good for a 5 y/o).

In times like these, I am VERY grateful that I work from home and can find other comforts to distrat me. Today, I turn to making soup for my SOUP CLUB.

This week, in the dead of a winter I swear will never end, I wanted to choose a hearty soup that used up as many of the organic root veggies that I have with a Winter Veggie Soup. I also wanted to add a little spice to my usual comfort food because I need an extra kick this week.

I roasted these heritage gold and candy striped beets and potatoes with olive oil as the base with 2tsp of cayan pepper for that spicy kick I was after:




Then, I roasted a pan of red peppers, squash, carrots, parnsnips and onions. I added some veggie stock (I always make my stocks in large batches and then freeze them ahead to make everything easier during my busy weeks).

All I do to finnish the soup off is to puree it all together in the food processor. You can use a hand held blender, but I find that I need the food processor with larger amounts like this for soup club (which is a triple batch).

Now all I have to do is deliver this soup so my friends can share and HOPEFULLY things will get back to normal in my studio after my little break.

In The Studio - Finding Inspiration in Experimentation and Making Mistakes

I have an Inspiration Board in my studio that most often looks just like I imagine the inside of the artsy side of my brain - choatic, colourful and fun.



To tack up all my little snipets of inspiration, I have taken to using discarded pieces of glass which I turn into magnets. These pieces are often the ones which never made it into production becasue they didn't turn out how I expected, or have tiny flaws that just don't pass my quality standards.



It's funny, but for little misteps and mistakes, I find it interesting that they seem to be the pieces everyone gravitates toward when they visit. I've come to realize that they each have little stories of their own to tell. Like the time I learned that trying to get a little more kiln time and speeding up some firing cycles means that you can essentially throw away $50 in glass (patience, patience) or the time I realized that pink flowers on a cobalt background makes lovely peonies look like dread grey, lifelless ghost plants (not the cheerful spring look I was going for).

I have tried selling magents from time to time and it never seems to work out the way I planned, but for now I realize that these little pieces of failled experiments help me connect to people who take an interest in my work. I often send them away with friends and customers, and it's nice to know that they want to share part of my process and love that buying from me means buying from a real person who experiments and sometimes fails.

In The Studio Today

I'm back in my studio today making merry and getting back to what I love - making tiny pieces of glass with colourful-goodness.

I have been attempting to make my work life a little more focused in order to get more out of my very limited work-time buget. In order to make sure I get the most out of my studio time, I have been religious about planning my work, sourcing all my materials ahead of time and DOCUMENTING everything.

I thought I might share a little bit of my process lately, some inside the scenes pics of my notebooks.



I have been using penceil and paper sketches mostly to plan out my layout an get a basic colour story going before I cut glass. It doesn't always stay true to the story when I start working with the glass, but I find it best to have a solid starting point to avoid total disasters.



Here, I keep fighting with finding the "right" green (which always seems to be a difficult colour for me) I'm still tweaking it.



A successful colour test. Although the colours between the paper and glass don't always translate, sometimes the final result is fairly close to the original idea.

I promise I'll be back to this space soon to update you on my progress. For now, it's back to the studio for me:)