Kay Lodahl Glass Art and Watercolor Painting

It was worth all the work. I luv the warm, cozy atmosphere the new paint has provided. As you can see, for those that don't know us well, we are into the western theme. And wood.. Probably has a lot to do with the previous home we had a couple of years ago. I miss the logs and the warm atmosphere they provided.. this is a picture of the old house. This rug is a saddle blanket I picked up at a 4H Tack Sale that was held in Spokane last weekend. It had my name all over it!! Front entry door... we bought a new one with bevels and brass. Beautiful rainbows in the morning. This is an overall shot looking from the northend of the living room toward the dining and TV room. Typical clutter on the dining table. I never eat there.... too crowded. From the dining room to the north end of the living room. I am loving the ambiance the evening lighting provides. Very warm and snuggy. That old stove really works except we don't have it hooked up. We have the wood stove in the TV room t

I know you are just sitting on pins and needles waiting for me to post pictures of the results of all the painting I have done. I will. But you know how it goes... I have to clean off the counters first and put away all my art work (or bead junk but "art work" sounds so much better) But in the meantime... a good friend introducted (:-)) me to wine making. How much fun it will be now to have friends over, torch, and drink homebrewed wine and homemade saurerkraut. Unbeknown to me, until now, they make kits to do wine that is just about foolproof. My friend, Peggy, brought some to a get together awhile back and we had wine coolers with Peggy's brew. I picture friends, sitting by the Lake, enjoying wine coolers with the home brew.. oh boy. And the batch makes SIX gallons. Whoopee!!! After a trip to the brewery store called Jim's Homebrew Supply Store , here in Spokane, and a big chunk of $ laid out for the initial supplies and a kit, I'm off to a good start. Between

Actually painting life into my house. Now that the new floor is in, I was inspired to get all the painting done that I have wanted to do for two years now. Everything was white... so institutional... It is warming up now. I will post some pics when I am done. Only have a couple of walls left. In spite of all the painting, I have managed to relax at the torch a couple of times during the evening.. Here is some beads and a couple of pendants And one of my favorite kitty pictures....

My grandmother's rocking chair. Yup. A real treasure for sure and goes quite well with the antique wood cooking stove behind it . I was shooting for color here.. the walls are a sage green with a terra cotta background in the arch. but hitting the sepia color button gave me this image that compliments the furnishings.... This is all part of the mess right now but it is coming together. I will paint the trim boards today so Mike can install them as I paint each wall.. Check out the grain on the floor. It is really a little more subtle than the picture. Doing all this by yourself takes time. Even Mike suddenly develops cramps in his hands if I even mention the word "paint". So he realizes it takes more time. He is good at bringing in the ladder.. and he is my best critique. (Interesting that he never says anything bad. Maybe because I have been known to throw down the brush and storm out to my shop? ) One of my friends will drop in and pick up a brush from time to time. No

Craigslist!! Gotta love it! Found a great deal on a Hot Shot (or is it Start) kiln on CL and the same person also has a Skutt ceramic kiln for $150. Great deal. So we made a two hour trip to St. Marie's, Idaho yesterday, in the snow and got out just in time as the roads were really getting treacherous. But the trip made us realize that going there in the nice weather is a must. It looks beautiful. A small logging town that looks like it has a lot of history. And to top all this, we made new friends. These people are soo talented. Debbie is an artist and actually does artwork on walls (and canvas) for other people. In one of the little restaurants in town, she did a mural on the wall. Check it out if you ever get there. But he is a contractor and they build homes for spec and take their time doing the work while he works on other homes. I laughed as Debbie also has a room such as mine... totally dedicated to crafting supplies. She wouldn't allow me to even see the room but if

Among all the chaos of redoing the floor and painting the rooms, today was a nice reprieve. Several of my girl friends got together and we watched Mama Mia and Sex in the City. Had lots of homemade wine by Peggy and great pizza. Plus homemade shortbread which was awesome with the cup of coffee I had. Snowed here today.. Was hoping we were done with that but sounds like it snowed just about everywhere in the State today. I will post a picture of the new floor soon. It turned out really nice. Mike has to put in the moldings after I get them all painted. In the meantime, here is a picture to ponder...

Okay, it has started. We are pulling out all the carpeting in the dining, living and TV room so we can have wood floors installed.. He's smiling now but just wait..... Do I pull out this linoleum ...or put the pad and wood on top? Hmmm We had to completely relocate all the furniture, knick knacks and books. You should see the two spare rooms we have. There is no longer any spare room!! We will have contractors do the actual installation. It is just too easy to to mess up when you aren't quite sure of what you are doing?

Taking a snooze. They do that a lot during the day as they get most of their work done during the night. This guy is probably 375 years old. I'd nap, too, if I was that old!!

Having been born in New Orleans, one of our friends decided it would be fun to have a "Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras" party. Denny smoked several pork roasts and we had hand pulled BBQ pork sandwiches of which I have never had any better. There were a lot of cajun dishes that Kathy made ... shrimp creole, sausage gumbo, and a lot of dishes, of which I have no name, that were brought by the guests. And for dessert, sweet potato pie and bread pudding with whiskey sauce. That's why they call it "Fat Tuesday"!!! These pictures are of the brave souls (some of the guys even!)having fun. Check out these masks.. these are from Kathy's collection over the years and I think one of the other gals contributed also. The whole place was decked out Mardi Gras style and, of course, we all had beads.

Check my site to take advantage of my BOGO sale. Really good deals. Sorry but my optic molds and tutorials will not be included in this sale. Pay for the highest price item and you still get to save on shipping, also.. Hurray. There are some real bargains!! I need to clean house so I can do more..... Just a couple of samples...

I miss the camaraderie of all the lampworkers on the West side of Washington where we used to live. It was just a heartbeat and skip away from our house in one direction or another.. But we had a great get together in North Spokane yesterday that provided new connections among the East side of the State yesterday. Hurray.. Here is a group shot of the local members of our lampworking crowd that managed to show up. I am sure we will be doing this again and it won't be soon enough Do you recognize anyone??? And then there is my little garden buddy here..