Crochet- African Flower Hexegon

 I have been super duper busy lately, running around with the family, cleaning and organizing my house (yay!) and yes, doing some crafting.

Now that I have a little more structure in my days (thanks to my routines, babysteps and of course, the FLYlady) I have more time to actually do the things I want to do. I'll have to snap a couple of pics of some of the things I've made in the past week or so, but the little beauty here to the left is something I am super excited about.

I was looking for something to do with all of the left over bits of yarn that I have taking up my yarn "bin" (I put this in quotations because its actually an old laundry basket). I just cant justify getting more yarn if I haven't used up what I have, I'm just weird like that.

So I googled "crochet hexagons" because I'm not particularly fond of granny squares. Now before I start getting nasty emails from crochet chicks touting the joys of granny squares, let me just say that I am just not fond of the way they look when I do them. I may be doing it wrong, using the wrong gauge hook, etc, but I just don't like them.

After looking at a few hex's that were... well... a bit boring, I stumbled on this pattern called the "African Flower Hexagon" and absolutely fell in love. It was on a blog called Heidi Bears and the tutorial was super easy to understand, included pics (which is a HUGE help for me!) and bilingual (if you don't get what I'm talking about, go take a look at it :D ). Of course, I snatched up a hook and got to work. The little beauty above is made from bright pink, variegated blue and purple, and plain purple yarns. You cant really see the plain purple in this pic, but its on the edge just before the pink.

I did the above hex in about 15 minutes because I had to keep stopping to look at the pattern and instructions.


I had also made a few more and omitted the last round to make them a little less "hexagon" and a little more "flower". I think (as with many things I make) I'm going to make them into hair clips :D














I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend!


~~Love~~
~~GG~~


P.S.- This month is National Crochet Month! Post a comment with what you're crocheting this month!

Happy Birthday Chuck Norris!

I know most of you have heard of Chuck Norris. If you haven't you've probably been living under a rock for the past 20 years. He is pretty much awesome personified. Well, the man himself is turning 71 today, so in honor of his birthday, I've decided to post my top 16 favorite Chuck Norris Facts (why 16 you ask? because Chuck Norris is too awesome to be contained in only 15):

1. Chuck Norris doesn’t wash his clothes, he disembowels them.
2. Chuck Norris is ten feet tall, weighs two-tons, breathes fire, could eat a hammer and take a shotgun blast standing.
3. Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, Chuck roundhouse-kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month.
4. Chuck Norris has two speeds: Walk and Kill.
5. When Chuck Norris falls in water, Chuck Norris doesn't get wet. Water gets Chuck Norris. 
6. Chuck Norris grinds his coffee with his teeth and boils the water with his own rage.
7. There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist.
8. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.
9. If paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beats paper, what beats all 3 at the same time? Answer: Chuck Norris.
10. Helen Keller’s favorite color is Chuck Norris 
11. Chuck Norris invented black. In fact, he invented the entire spectrum of visible light. Except pink. Tom Cruise invented pink.
12. Chuck norris does not sleep. he waits
13. Chuck Norris once visited the Virgin Islands. They are now The Islands.
14. Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.
15. The quickest way to a man's heart is with Chuck Norris's fist.
16. On his birthday, Chuck Norris randomly selects one lucky child to be thrown into the sun

Happy Birthday Chuck!

Valentines day recap and Love song playlist!

I dont know about you, but I had a WONDERFUL Valentines day, even though we didnt do anything super out of the ordinary. My darling Mike surprised me at work with a bouquet of purple and yellow daisies, with a little love note. It made me all tear-y eyed :D



My Lovely Flowers and Card

One of the flowers broke off, so it found a new home in my little fish bowl (sans fish)



I also got in all of my Valentines from the Swap, but i'll post some pics of those later.

Gloomy days and Valentines

I took this at 8:30 this morning. Its certainly gloomy here.

 It has been a gloomy day here in Florida. It started out warm, but windy, and now its raining on and off and getting chilly ( I know, here I am complaining about a little rain when the rest of the country is covered with snow. I am so spoiled by our "tropical" weather!). Now I'm a little mad at myself for not grabbing a jacket this morning because it "felt warm" outside. I swear I'll never learn.

What stinks the most is that I had planned to take some neat pictures of my Valentines that I've made for the Swap, but thanks to the windy-rainy-ness I can. So you may have to settle for some slightly mediocre "I-took-these-at-my-desk-at-work" pics. We'll see if it clears up a little later.

Im actually super happy with how they've turned out. I've never really done much with paper crafts or scrapbooking, but I think these have ended up pretty darn cute, and they reflect a lot of my personality. I cant wait to get the ones from the other girls as well!!

My agenda for today is to finish up some curtains I hemmed for my niece whos coming to live here in the FL, and to finish up some hair clippy products that I had put on hold to work on the Valentines.

Also, some Flylady related news! I am still shining my sink, most of my floors have been vacuumed (no easy task in our huge, carpeted house), I am reclaiming my laundry room, and have been decluttering like a fiend. It is so funny how much of a difference just a few little changes make! If you havent looked at her site, go do it now (unless you are someone who is Born Organized, you probably need the help like I do!)

I hope you all have a wonderful day and stay warm!!

~~Love~~
~~GG~~

One a day challange: Not so much



I love my little owl, and this is my
new blue striped shirt and vest

 I know this is starting to sound like a familar tune, but the last couple of days i've totally been a slacker when it comes to my crafting. Last week, i did do a little heart based off the pattern for this awesome Heart Garland I saw over at Oh So Lovely, but I havent taken a pic of it yet. I know, bad me...

On a side note, check out my little zipper owl! I got him at forever 21 last year around my birthday (in august), and he is probably one of my favorite accessories. I think he is what started my newfound obsession with owls.

I paired him up with my new blue and white stripped top and blue vest that I got from Kohls the other day (on sale for $14!).

I've also been finishing up my Valentines for the Altered Art Junkies Swap. I'll post pics of those as soon as their done too.

So right now, I have plenty of stuff in the works, but not much finished yet... lol!! Stay Tuned!!

Today I love: Super Shiny Sparkles!

I dont know a girl who doesnt absolutly love anything sparkly or glittery. I am no different, so when one of my girlfriends from work came in with fabulously sparkly nails, I knew the next time I got my nails done (yes, thats pretty much the only really "girly" thing I do. I love getting my nails done!) I would be getting some sparkle too!



Image Via This is what I have on my nails right now

I decided on the OPI brand Sparkle-icious nailpolish. I loved the blue, purple and gold mixed in, and it matches with just about everything I have (not that I've ever been super concerened with matching)

So in honor of my new sparkley nails, i've decided to share the sparkly love (have i said sparkly enough yet in this post?!)



Via Isewcute

Super sparkly acrylic ring? yes please!

So Fab. Via

Not just for St Patricks day anymore!

Via

 Not only is this an awesome pic, but glittery gloves? Heck yeah!

Via

I've always loved to use glitter in my makeup... it gives you that "Im a fairy princess!" feeling.

What kind of sparkly things really give you that feeling of Fab?!

Stay tuned for some "One a Day Challange" soon!

~~Love~~

~~GG~~

Random Ramblings and a trip to Seaworld!



I decided to ROCK some fuchsia
tights and sweater Monday.
I think I blinded some
of my Co-workers

 Here i go, a-rambling again! 

I know its Tuesday and I've been a bit absent, but I spent the end part of last week actually planning out the things i wanted to make this week (I know, I know, Me? PLAN?! heaven forbid!)

I've got a couple of ideas for some projects, and I'm still working on my Valentines for the AAJ Swap, so I've still been a busy little bee even though I havent been posting much.
Keep your eyes open this week for some new little creations coming from the GG household.




On a side note (since these are my random ramblings), we took a trip to Seaworld over the weekend, and had an absolute blast! It was Edwards first time, and he had soooo much fun seeing all the animals! Here are a couple of the pics:




What is Florida known for?

Flamingos

Edward was much more interested in the roller coaster.

Manatees

This little guy was sleeping. Too Cute!

And Gators!

We got to pet the (de-stingered) Stingrays

Saw some HUGE catfish 

Saw the sea lion and otter show (these guys we're just enjoying the Florida sun)

Seahorse-y

This was the door to the restaurant where we had lunch. I thought it was a neat way to display spices

Eddie on the sea creature carousel

Zach playing in the sand

My 3 guys being silly with a polar bear

The beautiful coral reef in the Manta aquarium

Eddie with the coral

Eddie about had a heart attack when he saw the octopus

This was a neat little tube the kids could get into to see what it was like inside of the tank

Zach had to get into it too

The sting ray tank. there must've been 50 of them in there!

My boys, tired after a long day!

I hope you all had a Wonderful weekend!!

~~Love~~

~~GG~~

P.S.- Like my writing? Want to see something else? Want a tutorial? Please feel free to send me an email, comment on my most recent post, or follow me on Facebook!

Swap! Altered Art Junkies Valentines swap

I've joined another swap! I had so much fun doing the "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" Swap sponsored by Much love, Illy and Sandyalamode that I just had to find another one!

Enter SwapDex!

Its a little spot for crafters looking to do swaps! such a great idea!

So after a bit of searching, i stumbled upon the Altered Art Junkies Valentines Swap.

I am super excited to make some awesome valentines! its not really something i've done before, so it'll be neat to think outside of the box a bit.

I dont have to mail them out till the 10th, so i'll update a bit once i'm closer to the deadline :D


What are you doing for Valentines day this year?

~~Love~~
~~GG~~

One A Day: 1/25/11 Little Felt Owl

Because of my new-found love of all things Owl (and especially retro-looking owls), I decided last night to make myself a little felt-y owl to use as an accessory.

Heres the little guy!

I used some left over felt for the body, eyes and beak, and an old pair of pants that I didnt wear to make the wings. Isnt he CUTE?!

Hes about 2 inches wide, perfect size for a hair clip!

I have a feeling i'll be making more of these little guys in different colors....

I am really happy with how he turned out, and it only took me about 20 min to cut and stitch him together (I was pausing every now and again to do some homework too).

How are you doing with your "One a Day"?

~~Love~~

~~GG~~

P.S.- If you see anything (origional) that I've made, and are interested in a tutorial or purchasing an already made product, send me an email, comment on my most recent post, or post a message to my Facebook!

One a Day Challange: 1/24/11 Crochet Chrysanthemum!

I just wanted to do a little quick something last night since I also had some homework to finish up, and some laundry to do... blah... So i decided to give this little pattern a try while I was watching American Pickers.

I wanted a mustard yellow flower to wear as a clippy (you know, a hair clip-thing...I'm not sure what they're really called. I call them Clippys), and I had seen this pattern before on Monster Crochet, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Here's my flower!

Its about 3 1/2 inches in diameter approx. I used a G gauge hook.

I really loved the way it turned out! I'll probably make another one with a lighter weight yarn (to make it a bit smaller). I think its going to make a FAB conversation starter :D

I am trying to decide if I should add a little something to it though.... maybe a little bling? I'm not sure yet. I'll keep you posted!

On a side note, Check out my new FACEBOOK PAGE!! I'll be updating with blog info, and perhaps putting a contest or two up for my "like"-ers.....


~~Love~~
~~GG~~

Random Ramblings

I know, Ive been way too absent for far too long, and i apologize!

Frankly, I've been feeling a little random lately, and haven't really been able to string two words together, much less come up with a cohesive, well written blog post.

so, in the spirit of all of the randomness going on in my brain, i decided to make a pretty random post!

Here are some of the goings on in my brain and life lately:

• I've been devoting a lot of my time and energy to decluttering our house, and following the FLYlady's instructions for a clean home. I've had a shiny sink now for over a week! and we have a garage i can actually park in!

Those two little blurs? yeah, those are the kids.

I actually believe Mike thinks I've completely lost my mind. I've been tossing all kinds of things!

• I've also been reading "4 hour workweek" (visit Timothy Ferriss' blog here), and got all kinds of interesting ideas.
• I've been doing a lot of school work with this round of classes (I take 2 classes at a time, for 9 weeks), so that's been taking up a lot of time, but I'm still getting A's!
• My Brother is here visiting from China! We haven't seen him in about 2 years, so its really nice to have him home for a bit.
• I've also been trying to get ideas on what I can make for my little shop that I'm planning on opening via Etsy. The problem is, you have to have a product before you can open a shop, and I just cant decide what to make. I don't want to do everything and end up with a weird jumbled mess. I'm looking for some kind of consistency.
• Along the same lines, I also need to get back into the swing of the "One a day challenge". Lately my nights have been filled with homework and decluttering, so I haven't been creating as much as I should. And now I am totally embarrassed because Mike is doing the same on his blog and is totally kicking my butt with it!
• Something that has been bugging me for some reason: the negative image that crafters and handmade gifts have gotten in the media. Now, this isn't something that I've seen recently (on TV anyways), but I've noticed that people tend to look at me like I've said i could sprout wings and fly away when i tell them that i craft and sew. IDK, it just irks me.

Is this what the word "crafter" makes you think of?! Image via
• and last but not least, my lovely Geisha tattoo is FINALLY FINISHED! Mikes dad is a tattoo artist here in Orlando, so he does all my work, but I try to leave him time for his non-related customers lol!

Here's my beautiful lady. Shes on my upper thigh on my left leg. Doesn't she look just like the little ceramic Geisha I found a week or two ago?!

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week! Keep up your "365 pics" and your "One a days"!

~~Love~~

~~GG~~

P.S.- anything you want me to review? do a tutorial on? ramble about at length?! email me or comment on my most recent post! I'll have my elves pass along the message...

Tutorial: Crochet Vintage Cascade Cowl

Hello all!

I have gotten some emails and requests for a little tutorial on how to make my lovely vintage-y style cowl. Again, this is a LionBrand pattern that I followed, but I'll show how to do the basic stitches.

As I said in my other post, if you can double crochet (treble for the UK ladies) then you can handle this pattern.

I'm assuming that most are at least slightly experienced in crochet, so I'm not going to do a beginning-to-end step-by-step tutorial. This is just to show the two basic stitches that make up this pattern, the double crochet (dc), and double crocheting two stitches together (dc2tog).

Tutorial: A Helmet for Logan

My best friend of 22 years (or my "bestest of all best friends" as we call each other) has a beautiful little boy who turned 1 last week. I knew that I wanted to make him a little something special (to go along with the mountains of toys I knew he was going to get!).

His father is from Iceland, and we joke about him being a Viking, so I decided that I was going to make little Logan a Viking helmet, right down to the horns!

I decided to make it out of felt, because its not only very soft, but holds its shape well and is pretty easy to sew. I started with a sheet of steel gray, a sheet of white, and a sheet of a mottled brown that looked a little like wood.

I rounded the edges of the gray, making the straight edge approx. 10 inches wide (which makes a total of 20" for the hat. I measured this on my 2 yr olds head, so its a bit big, but he'll grow into it).

My week/weekend of adventures!

Wow, what a first week to 2011!

I've taken on several new challanges, including my own "One a Day Challange", the "365 pictures for 365 days" that everyone seems to be doing, and becoming a "FLYbaby". I've also celebrated the first birthday of my best friend of 22 years' son, Logan! I made him a very special gift that I'll share a tutorial on soon.

1/6/10- my first picture. My odd child playing with his scarf

I've been working my little tail off to do my best with 2 of those challanges (taking a picture a day isnt too super hard :D) and have gotten pretty good results so far.

I have been doing my one thing a day (with the exception of last wednesday. The lazies got hold of me that day and i ended up doing nothing and going to bed early). and will be posting pictures and tutorials later in the week.

1/7/10- Day 2. Found this little lady at GoodWill. I loved how much she looks like my Geisha Tattoo!

I've also started 2 new classes this week (I am currently pursuing my AA in finance, and going to univeristy of phoenix online. You do 2 classes at a time for 9 weeks) which is why i've been a little absent.

1/8/11- Day 3: Beautiful Birthday Boy Logan, enjoying a frozen banana dipped in chocolate!

I've also started out with my baby steps on FLYlady. I have a shiny sink!! And I've been able to maintain it now for 4 days, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I'm really trying to stick to my new years resolutions, and i've been doing ok so far. I still need to work on drinking less soda, and im going to be trying a zumba class today to start my exercising, so I am SUPER exicted.  

1/09/2011: Day 4- My little feetsies an the end of our bed

This is just a quick little update post. I'll have some goodies coming up later in the week, so stay tuned!!

~~Love~~

~~GG~~

Crochet Cowl

I hope you had a wonderful and safe new year! I know we did :D

We decided to spend New Years at Mikes parents house because we had the kids and didnt really want to go out. I decided to make use of my sitting around and do some crocheting. What I ended up with was this lovely cowl based on a pattern from Lion Brand called Vintage Cascade Cowl. I used Vannas choice yarn (not because its a lionbrand patter, but because it was on sale at Joanns :D) in Eggplant, purple print, charcoal grey and silver grey.

 The pattern actually calls for 5 different colors of yarn, but its a total of 16 rows, so 4 ended up working better for my sense of aesthetics because it divides evenly (yeah, im OCD like that).