Glass Blowing!

It's our 15th anniversary this week.  My folks were gracious enough to keep the kids while we went away and celebrated for the weekend.  I found the coolest thing in Atlanta, a glass studio, Siyeh Studios, that offers a "date night"!  For two hours (we were having so much fun, though, that we stayed an extra hour), you get to learn some basics of glass blowing, some snacks, and you get to bring home some (hopefully) beautiful projects. 

We started with a simple flower. You can see above and below Derek's flower. He and the instructor made it look simple.

As you can see from mine, it was not that simple for me.  At least we had a good laugh at my "flower".

 Derek thinks it looks more like a boot, so I guess that's how I'll display it on the mantle.

 Then we moved on to a paperweight.  This one was more fun and, I think, I clearly excelled in paperweight making.  Which one do you think is prettier?  Oh?  The one on the right?  That's mine! 

Last, we had a choice between a drinking glass or a vase.  I decided I wanted a vase that I could put our glass flowers in.  Mine was starting out great, then I made some wrong move, and the whole thing went lopsided.  I also kept getting it wider and wider, so the darn thing is too short for my flowers. 

I think it makes a better crumpled top hat than a vase, so that will go will go good with my boot.

Maybe I should have gone with the drinking glass.

Derek decided to go all fancy and make a candy dish with red and white striped like a candy cane.  Well, I must admit, it was a beautiful red polka dotted bowl, but it broke.  He can't wait to go and try again soon.