When I realize I'm doing something wrong...

Well, not like I'm doing something illegal, like when I'm doing something incorrectly. 

I have a lot of "slapping the forehead" moments.

Take yesterday for example. 

I was mild mannered-ly working on my project for "cold hands, warm heart"

I pulled out a new skein of yarn,

but instead of pulling the end on the outside of the skein like I normally do,

 I pull the one sticking out of the center on the end.

 and now, it works fabulously, and I dont have to fiddle with the yarn flipping around while Im working 

(just FYI in case Lacretia is reading this, this is NOT the yarn that I'm using for your gift,

 this is just an example :D)

I've also learned how to "follow" blogs via google. 

I know, for seasoned bloggers, this is probably a pretty "duh" sort of thing,

but apparently I was doing it wrong, and didnt realize it till my Honey mentioned 

that I was not following his blog. 

"yes I am" I retorted. 

"no, youre not" he said. 

So I checked, and low and behold, I wasnt. 

Again, another slap-the-forehead, duh moment. 

It may sound silly, but I actually kind of like it when stuff like that happens. 

Its not only nice because I've learned something new (yay!)

but it also makes me feel a little more human and fallible. 

What has given you a "duh" moment lately?

Still Learning,

GG

Finding myself....

Hello all! 

I've decided to rename my series. Instead of "Finding myself on a friday", its just "finding myself"

Unfortunately, fridays are apparently rough days for me to post on.

I've had all kinds of craziness going on.

Between Thanksgiving, crafting, and my possible new business venture, I've been running around like crazy.

I've also been working on my gift for the "Cold hands, Warm Heart" swap!

Im super excited about it, and I hope Lacretia from over at Readyheart will like what I'm whipping up!

Not too much else to update for today, but stay tuned! I've got good things coming up!

Much love!!

GG

This Thursday...

Its Turkey Day!!

Time to eat ourselves stupid, and give thanks for all of the wonderful friends and family we have.

Via

I know for us, Thanksgiving is a very busy holiday. 

We have 3 families to visit (and eat with), so we have to plan our day out well in advance.

Via

This year, its early lunch with my dad, early dinner with my mom, and late dinner/dessert with Mikes parents.

So with all of the Thanksgiving-y goodness going on, I
 thought I'd set the mood with some lovely handmade turkeys!

Via
This one reflects my love of yarn

Via

And last but not least, a little craft the boys and I did based on a post over at Easie Peasie

Zach's is on the left, Edward's on the right


This is just regular, washable paint on poster board.

 I cut them out and put yarn through them so we can use them as decorations.

We made 3 of each, so that way we have one for each grandma, and one for me :D

And of course the boys insisted I do one as well. They love to see mommy get messy.

I hope you all have a wonderful, fun and love filled Thanksgiving

I am thankful for YOU!!

GG

Spinning a Yarn

I love yarn. 

Via

Seriously, its a sick obsession, and I should probably get some help.

but i wont :D

Via

Finding myself on a Friday (monday edition)

Hello all!

Sorry I missed my Finding myself on a Friday post,

(how sad is that? its my second post in a series and I'm late for it!)

but Friday evening was full of wonderful gifted goodness, and this weekend was SUPER busy!

A quick update on how my first goal is going:

I've been trying really hard to spend a least one full, uninterrupted
(i.e. TV,Computer, Video game free time)
hour to devote to the kids.

Bestest buds
So far, we've done a couple of crafts (which I'll post pics of later)
and had a couple of serious heart-to-heart discussions

I'm really hoping that spending more "totally devoted" time with the boys will help with their behavior.
(I know. Some of you moms out there are going "uh, duh!",
but hey, I'm still learning how to do this whole "mom" thing, and frankly, I'm a little slow lol!)

Safe!

On a side note, I brought some of my little crochet and fabric flower clips to a local children's-only hair salon, and the wonderful owner said she'd sell them for me!

she has a board for local moms (right now there are only 3 others besides me), and she only takes 15% to cover the taxes, so I may actually be able to make an ok profit!

I'm super excited, and I'm hoping that everything starts selling well.

Who knows, maybe I'll even open my own Etsy shop!

Well darlings, that's it for now for my Monday/ Friday update! Stay tuned for more!!

GG

P.S.- any tips for selling your handmade products that would be helpful?
Leave me a comment to help me out!

This mom rocks!!

This is a lovely little post thats been going around the inter-nets lately ( I read about it when one of my Punky Moms posted it on Facebook), and I just had to weigh in.

Nerdyapplebottom

The post is entitled "My son is gay"

And then it shows an adorable photo of a little boy dressed up as Daphne from Scooby Doo.

She was also on the Today show a few days ago.

Frankly, I think this is FANTASTIC!

Cudos to you mom, because you have the strength to support your little boy no matter what he decideds to do! I only hope that I could do the same for my little guys.

What do you think? Would you let your little boy dress as a girl or vice versa?

GG

Its a Beautiful Day!

Quick recap of the weekend:

Got some cleaning done, Yay!!

Via

All 3 boys (mike and the kids) got their hair cut, which may lead into a new business venture for me... but I'll post more about that later.

Via

Made out like a BANDIT at a local multi-family yard sale. I got 2 wooden knick-knack shelves and a whole bag of clothes that I'm going to use as fabric for $4!!

Via

Almost fell down the stairs. That sucked. Luckily for me I only ended up slipping down 2 or 3 stairs before I caught myself, but I did twist my ankle a bit.

Got some more work done on my Geisha tattoo! I'll make sure to post pics when its totally done :D

Finding Myself on a Friday

Hello all!

I wanted to take the opportunity to talk to everyone about something that is very important to me.

Me.

No, seriously. This isnt going to be some rant on how awesome and fab I am. Frankly, its the opposite.

I've been working really hard on several aspects of my life, and havent really gotten very far with it,

so i've decided to start this new series of posts entitiled

"Finding myself on a Friday" to be able to be held more accountable. 

Now, I know you're probably thinking, this blog is mainly about crafty and DIY stuff,

why the sudden need to share?

Because, its my blog and I can.

LOL! Just kidding!

Its because I want a way to vent, rant, and update on my progress with the things that are important and necessary for me to do, and this is the best way I have.

Plus, it gives you, as my reader, a chance to get to know me a little better!

Win/Win, am I right?!

Whooooo loves retro owls?! I DO!

I had shown a pic in my last post of a little pumpkin owl that i'd made for halloween.

For some reason lately, I have had a certain affinity for little retro looking owls, and I found this pic and just had to try my hand at it!

Via

and here was my result!

Granted, I used a much smaller pumpkin, and I went for a more "horned owl" look,

but I thought he turned out Adorable!!

Frankly, all I did was cut circles for the eyes, a triangle for the nose, and hot glued the pumpkin seeds on (after i'd dried them and gave them a little dusting with some black spraypaint)

So in honor of my little pumpkin experiment, I thought i'd share some more photos of fun retro owls!

Halloween!!

As I've said before, I LOVE Halloween!

So, of course, when it came to costumes, we went all out this year.

House decorations, not so much, but we ended up not being home anyway, so it wasnt that big of a deal.

We ended up taking the kids over to Mikes parents house again (they always have a TON of kids, and a lot of the houses participate, which I think is way more fun)

Here are some pics of the costume-y fun!!

Ed-Luigi and Zach the Koopa Troopa.

Happy Halloween!! 80s and pumpkins!

I LOVE Halloween! I've spent most of the week this week doing things to get ready for it (which is why i've fallen behind in my blogging.... sorry!)

(also this week, we've had a field trip, a concert, and parent teacher conferrance!
we were busy bees this week)

We've had costumes to finish, pumpkins to carve, and plans to ready for the big night. So far we have 3 houses to visit (family and friends) before we meet up at my fiances parents to actually start the candy-fest!

This year at work, they decided to do a 70s and 80s themed party, telling everyone to wear their best 70s and 80s costume, or just a regular halloween costume.

I was channeling Cyndi this morning

I didnt wear my regular costume because my sewing machine decided to crap out on me
before I was able to finish it :(

DIY: Refurbished table

Well, I was planning on posting this yesterday, but blogger was being lame and wouldnt let me upload the pics, so here goes!

I've had a little side table floating around the house for a few years now (well,at least one year was spent in storage). My mom brought it home from my step-dads fathers house. 

It was wobbly, the top layer of wood was coming apart, and it was just generally ugly.

 I'd been meaning to do something with it, but I've just never had the time. Finally, this past weekend we found some time! The boys were with their paternal grandmother, so we took advantage of some "no helper" time to do some big projects.

I have been a naughty blogger.....

I know I've been absent, and
"I promise to make more frequent updates to this site"

Unfortunately for me, life has gotten in the way of my blogging-ly pursuits, and I havent been able to update as often as I like.

But Im going to do my best to change that!

A sucessful blog is a frequently updated blog from what I've learned, and I know for me personally, I get bored checking back on a blog when it hasnt been updated in a week (or a month, or longer sometimes).

So I am now bound and determind to update more frequently, and hopfully post more crafty-type stuff in the process. I've got a lot of super cool ideas going right now, and will be making most of them a reality (or at least a proto-type) within the near future.

So STAY TUNED!

Heres a virtual High Five.... for moral.

GG

How do your loved ones live with your hobby?

So yesterday, after we get home from doing a Joanns run, my fiance starts to tell me about this blog that he follows.

 Granted, hes a nerd, and he typically follows nerd blogs about his "little man" game (i.e. Warhammer*), but this was a post by one of the nerd bloggers Wives. He said she does it from time to time, and he thinks its cute and nice to get her perspective.

Heres her post

So how do you balance your family and your hobby/business? Do you have specific "work time" and "family time"? Or like this family, do you have a specific place and time for your hobby, and the rest of the week is devoted to spending time with the ones you love?

I've been finding this is a difficult balance to strike.

I really cant get much sewing done while the kids are up and around (they are such good helpers), and frankly, with all of the housework, schoolwork, and general exhaustion, its hard to get anything done at all!

The only thing that seems to work for me is the hour right after the kids go to bed is reserved for my wandering attentions.

Sometimes I crochet

Sometimes I sew

Sometimes I just sit and play on Facebook (yes, its a sad addiction)

But its just a little time for me to do the stuff that helps keep me going.

To create, and relax. And luckily for me, while im doing my thing, my honey is painting his little men :D

*For those who dont know, the "little men" game, called Warhammer, or sometimes 40k (its a sub-type of the game), is kind of like Risk with figurines

Organizing.... or "stuff i dont do"

Let me start off by making a little admission. Ive never been organized. Never. Ever. I've always had some amount of disorganized clutter just hanging around in the corners of my room and under the bed, hiding in the dark and making little clutter babies... 

via

Ok, so maybe its not THAT bad, but it's always there, nagging at me in the back of my mind. Like and itch you cant scratch.

Unfortunately for me though, having 2 little guys and a very busy lifestyle makes being unorganized not an option. That leads to leaving the house without the kid essentials (which I've done, numerous times), forgetting important dates and appointments, and running out of clean underwear.

Tutorial: Crochet Baby Blanket

Finally!! i've been working on this blanket literally for months, but i've finally finished it up and delivered it!

Lovely little baby blanket in white and "Her blue jeans" bernat verrigated

This was made for alittle lady named Anna Victoria, so I stitched her initials in the corner. This was my first real time trying to stitch on crochet, and while i think it could look a little better,

I think it turned out pretty well, and her mommy LOVED it!!

It was a really easy pattern that I pretty much just made up lol!

For my crochet ladies who might be interested:

sc 150 chains, chain 3 to turn

hdc 150 back down the row, 3 sc to turn, change colors

dc 150 down the row, 3 sc to turn, change colors

and thats it! just keep changing colors and stitches as you go until its the size you want.

~~Love~~

~~GG~~

My (Belated) Birthday post: Leu Gardens

With things being as crazy as they've been 'round our lovely little home the past few weeks, I have very severely been neglecting my blogging-ly duties, so first, let me apologize....IM SORRY!!

But Im back now and I plan on being a little better about posting. 

Just a quick little post (but slightly picture heavy) about my birthday :D The day before I had a lovely party with my family, where I got lots of fab things (my mom bought me the entire "twilight" series, and my uncle got me an Alton Brown cookbook :D)

Heres my little guy with my Grandma. She looks pretty good for 80, huh?!

The super fab chocolate chip cheesecake my mom made me in lieu of a cake

I had taken the day of my birthday (monday) off, so I dropped the boys off at daycare, and took myself on a much needed walk through Leu gardens, a lovely little garden hideaway in between Winter Park and Orlando. 

Potholders!!

Sorry ive been so absent lately! with myself and my oldest starting school on monday, and me being sick for the past 2 days, i havent had much time or energy to do much of anything, and my blogging has fallen by the wayside. Thankfully, ive had a new little project to keep me busy. Another of my grandma (and my lovely 89yr old Aunt Betty's) special crochet patterns......

A quick update and some fun pictures!

Hello all! Just thought I'd give a quick update on how things are going in my little world.

 First, I have an admission to make..... I LOVE BLOGGING! Ive not only had so much fun writing my own blog, but I have found so many interesting and inspiring blogs to follow!

Placed on the edge of one of my co-workers desks :D

 So many in fact, that I had to move them from the main screen of my blog to its own little separate link. Check out the blogs I follow here.

Other then that, life has been pretty normal here in FL.

Coral Creations

For some reason the past couple of weeks, I've been totally in love with coral and teal. Separate or together, these two colors have just been screaming summer to me (probably because every beach-side city here in Florida uses those colors as their primary color schemes lol). Because of my adoration for the lovely pinky-orange that is coral, I thought I'd share the love with you!

Amazing coral fringed bag.

 Via

I really dig this huge (dare I say gaudy?) coral and teal ring. I would totally rock that lol 

Via