The finished product...

Here is the finished product of our glass blowing adventure. The red didn't show up very well in Bryan's ornament, but overall they are beautiful! The kids are going back today with Grandma & Grandpa to make more. Can't wait to see how theirs turn out!

Bryan's ornament

My ornament

Blowing Glass

Saturday we went and made our own blown glass ornaments, which was a blast! The hardest part I think was picking from the hundreds of color choices! It was hard to narrow it down, but we did. Bryan picked a red, green and white mixture and the kids and I picked a turquoise, lime green and pink mix for the 2nd one. I got to make one of the ornaments while Gabi took pictures, and Nick did the other one.

The temperature in the fire where the melted glass is was somewhere around 12oo degrees I think he said.

Here he is showing me how to mix the colors into the hot glass.

Then you stick it back into the fire to melt the glass pieces together into the base.

After the colors are mixed in you blow gently to make the ball. You blow really really lightly, like blowing out a candle. I thought you would have had to blow harder, but nope. Barely at all.

Here is the finished product when he puts the curly top on it to hang it from. It's still extremely hot so you can't see the final colors much at all. I'll post the finished products once we get them home.

Then it was Nick's turn.

Spinning, spinning, spinning

Adding some color

Mixing the colors together

And blowing to make it round.

I saw a blurb about making these on the news one morning, and called that day to make an appointment. The guy told us that was the first time they had ever opened it up to the public before, and the received 300 calls the first day! It was crowded there, but not too much. The wait wasn't too bad and once you were making your ornaments it seemed to go really fast. It was really a great experience and we've already decided we want to go back next year and do it again!

Before and the beautiful after

Well the living room is finally officially done! And it looks amazing! Still have some decorating to do, but the final piece - the new couch was put in place last night. So in honor of the beautiful new room here are some before, during, and after pictures to document a job well done!

The before - with the ugly carpet & dirty fireplace

The boring stark white walls, lack of proper lighting and popcorn ceilings. Ugh.

Freshly scraped ceiling, new lighting installed and nicely primed walls

Oooohhh beautiful paint!

The floors are going in. I am so in love with my new floors!

Our beautiful and VERY BRIGHT new entry way chandelier, & the newly tiled railing

The finished hallway. Just need doorknobs & paint on the air return vent

The fireplace ready for Christmas. Just need to hang the stockings!

The finished room, complete with Christmas tree, couch & sleepy boy!

The view from the hallway - with a very cute Muscles I might add!