Fused Glass @ Aquila

Today Mom and I took a fused glass class at Aquila, compliments of a Groupon.

Instruction was straight and to the point, I liked the varied of projects they included to give you a feel for what you might enjoy. I would have to say my one qualm was that the glass selection felt very limited for our projects. 

Here is what mine looked like pre-kiln:















Curious to see the final result.

Getting near to the bottom of my craft list as I have been trying to clear our my queue before the babies arrive.

Painting Mt Saint Helens (Acrylic @ Vine Gogh)

Today Mom and I took at class at Vine Gogh in Sellwood another Groupon find.

I was really looking forward to this class, because I felt they had a wide variety of different styles (particularly with a more muted palette and replicas of asian style paintings)  and well it is super close to home (which allows for even a quick week night jaunt).

Our experience started off poorly. It turned into one heck of an ordeal trying to get them to accept my Groupon. I started truing to book in January and it seemed every class was booked that we tried to get into (and I tried about 5 getting put on wait lists). Finally I called in early/mid-February to be told all classes were full and there were over 300 people who bought the deal who waited to the last minute "like me." Too bad I would just have to redeem the face value at the next available class. When I went to use it just to get something booked out (so I could use the voucher before my babies get here), my voucher did not work on the website. Again I called back and got the lady at the front told me it was not her problem and I needed to get in contact with their webmaster. That was when I got pissed - what awful service! She was not only rude on each attempted contact, but accusing that I was slacking, and telling me to fix the problems of her site.

That is when I reached out to Groupon as I felt something was not right. I was trying actively trying to to book and after many rounds with the battle ram at the front desk I pulled Groupon into the whole ordeal who said I was right that I had the right to book a class at full value and if none were available as long as I booked before the expiration date they should make others available.  I forwarded the email to the store who forwarded it to the owner (Jenny) who took quick action to intervene and resolve the situation. Now she was very professional and resolved it with a kind manner with real customer service. Just a shame that it took the whole time to get to her! I was seriously ready to walk away from this place and she made me reconsider.

March's selection was disappointing to the previous months selections I had seen advertised, but was so glad to finally get enrolled that we picked one I thought the content was decent, but could play with the palette and darken it a bit to fit more the style I enjoy.

We got Paul for our instructor and he made the class very enjoyable. The teaching style was laid back and very free-flow. Less "teachy" then some other classes I have been to. Audience seemed to be a co-workers getting tipsy and going artsy vibe.

All-in-all mom and I were able to sit in our own space uninterrupted and do our own thing which made the night pass quickly and we both agreed we would go back and try again on a night the painting subject matter inspired us a bit more.

My work in progress -

The final result - 

 Mom putting the final touches on her painting -

Playing with Photo Print Options (Picaboo)

As an avid fan of social coupons to support my artistic passion I purchased a LivingSocial Deal for Picaboo some months back. My grand vision was to create a photo book from my adventures in Belize (from October of last year). Unfortunately, time has been passing in a frantic manner with twins on the way, work super busy, and our home re-model (which my husband is working on like a maniac). And for anyone who has designed a photo book - it is a fairly time intensive and cumbersome process if you are a perfectionist (such as myself).

So instead of using this coupon for a full photo book, I found a project more suitable to my time line and ended up exploring some of the other options Picaboo has to offer. I ended up doing two posters for Mom and I (my Belieze companion) to add some color to our cubes.

Voila... (very similar layouts but the one for me is on the left, and the one for mom is on the right)


With the remaining value, I explored their panel prints getting two for Mom (as an early Birthday present to go with her trip), one for our home, one for my desk, and one for Greg's desk. I liked the prints though one thing I would have to say is the color was a little washed on some of them and did not come out as vibrant as I anticipated. Here are the ones I chose to print:

Mom climbing a Mayan temple (one of my favorites of her on our Belize trip) -

Mom on top of the Caracul temple -

A photo of Crater Lake taken on our road trip (with Dave, Steph, and Liam) this summer - 

 A photo for my desk at work of Greg at Ruby Beach during our Olympic Peninsula trip -

 A desktop photo for Greg (for his future desk) one of my favorites from our Honeymoon in Hawaii -

Mission accomplished, I really liked the results!

Though the Belize book is still on the list...for another day.