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).

Work Weight Loss Challange

I had gone out to lunch with a few of the girls that I work with the other day, and we got to talking about losing weight and our resolutions for the new year. I had mentioned to them that I was going to try to lessen and then give up soda as one of my resolutions, and that I wanted to start walking on my lunch breaks (its honestly not safe for me to walk by myself before or after work, and I'm not really able to take the kiddos with me on a power walk, so my lunch breaks are my best option).

So we got to talking and decided to start a weight loss challenge for all the girls in my office who were interested. It would be a period of 3 months ( so January 3rd till the end of March), and everyone would chip in a dollar a week (a total of $12 by the end). We could decide how we want to lose the weight (i.e. we can set our own programs to whatever suits us the best), and at the end of 3 months, we'd all weigh in again and whoever lost the largest percentage of weight wins the money pot!

I'm super excited about it, because this way we can all motivate each other, and we're all working towards a common goal. Even if I don't win, I'll still win because I've lost weight!

I didn't do my walk today because Mike came to have lunch with me (today is his last vacation day off, so we took advantage of him being close :D), but I start tomorrow, and will be doing some stretching and exercising tonight to get ready.

And who knows, maybe I'll make myself a pair of legwarmers :D

~~Love~~
~~GG~~

One a day challange

You may remember from my "New year, New blog, New me!" post that I had challanged myself to make one thing a day starting January 1st. This includes my crochet, embroidery (which im still learning), knitting, sewing, etc. Im also including making it to a milestone on a larger project (of course, I set my own milestones. Everyone knows what they consider an accomplishment).

I know I personally have a lot of projects that are only about halfway done (thanks to my ADD crafting!) and plenty of things in mind that I WANT to do, so this was the perfect motivation to get things done and challange myself as well.


And then I got to thinking.... if Im working on a challange, why wouldnt my readers want to as well?!

So heres my challange to you!

Make one thing, every day.

Thats it. It doesnt have to be anything specific, or anything huge. Just create. If you do paper, graphic design, crochet, knit, quilt, photography, embroidery, needlepoint, ANYTHING, just make one thing. Super simple and everyone can participate!

You dont have to start jan 1st with me, but if you do decide to take this challange, please email me or comment on my most recent post so that I can make a list of people who are participating (and I'll include a link to your blog/site as well).

I'll be updating once a week so you can see what I've been up to, and also so I'm held accountable for sticking to the challange, and I encourage you to do so as well (again, email me or comment, or send me a link to your online updates).

Im also going to add a button on my sidebar so that you can show that you're participating and link back here.

I am SUPER excited about this, and I hope that I have some people wanting to maximize their creativity with me!!

Go get Creative!!

~~Love~~
~~GG~~

Christmas at our house...

I don't know about any of you, but our Christmas' are normally pretty busy. There is a lot of wrapping presents, baking cookies, tree decorating, and all kinds of other ins and outs. We also have 3 families we have to visit (my mom, my dad and Mikes parents).

Sometimes it seems like we get so caught up in the running around that we sort of forget what this season is all about. It doesn't matter if you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus, the thought behind the holiday is the same. Love each other, be there for one another, and do everything you can for your fellow man. 


Im not going to go into a long post about the true meaning of Christmas tonight, just a quick reminder to everyone that no matter what you get, its the love of your family and friends thats important. 


I wish I could have found a better version of this, but I think this song says it all... and its my FAVORITE Christmas movie!





Have a beautiful holiday, Count your blessings, and I'll see you in the new year!

~~Love~~
~~GG~~

New Year, New Blog, New me!

Another year is gone, a new one on the way. Whenever Christmas and New years roll around, I tend to find myself not only reflecting on things that have happened in the past year (good and bad), but thinking of ways I can improve for the next. I don't really think of them as resolutions (to me, resolutions always seem so inflexible), but as goals and ideas to improve myself, my life and my family over the next year.

 

I've had plenty of setbacks and unfinished projects this year, and a bunch of things that were never even started. I've not taken care of myself the way that I should, and I've been lazy with housework and with my kids.

I've also had plenty of wonderful things happen as well! We got our first house, I started this blog, I've really dived head first into my crafting and sewing, and have found products that I enjoy making and can sell. I've learned some new tips and tricks, and some new skills that I'm super excited about and cant wait to start some new projects!

So in the vein of starting fresh and trying to improve my life, I'll be making some changes to the blog. Don't worry, all good things!! First, if you haven't already noticed, I've decided to add advertisements to my blog. I'll be doing some things to try and monetize a little bit more, and I'm even considering adding a donations button (seriously though, I'm still debating this one. Its really just to make everything a bit easier on me and make it easier for me to do everything that I do and still support my family).It was a hard decision to make, but my ultimate goal is to be able to blog and craft full time, so I don't have to work a day job and can be home with my kids, so this is my first step in that direction. Please keep in mind though, do NOT click on ads multiple times just to click them (this is a BIG no-no and the people at Google wont let me advertise anymore).

I'm also going to be changing up my writing style a bit, and doing more tutorials and talking about stuff that I know (which is pretty much crafting and finance lol). I want my blog to not just be about me and what I'm doing day to day (which is in fact pretty darn boring), but something that people will actually want to read and will hopefully help them in the long run. If there is anything that you are particularly interested in, or a question you have for me, please feel free to email me or post a comment with it and I'll work something up!

I'll probably also be experimenting with the layout and colors to see what I can come up with, so don't be afraid if you look in and see that the background is neon green!

There are plenty of other things I'm going to be working on in my personal life too. I'm going to post a little list here so not only will I be kept accountable, but so I can update with my accomplishments and hopefully encourage other people in their resolutions!

So here's my list:

1.  To get back into shape. This goal is difficult, so I've made some little mini goals for it too
     a) Stop drinking so much soda. right now, i drink several sodas a day. i want to get down to little or none a day
     b) Start eating better. Less red meat and "white" things (rice, bread, pasta, etc). Things I should be doing because of not having a gallbladder anyways.
     c) Start Exercising. Now, I don't just mean running on a treadmill or hardcore aerobics. I'd really like to get into yoga and some meditative type stuffs too. And maybe Zumba, I've heard that's a BLAST!
     d)Get more sleep. This one is better said then done. I need to sleep more. I'm one of those people who needs more like 10 hours instead of 8. We'll see how well that one goes.

2. Organize my craft supplies. My stuff is in messy piles all over our office. I know it drives my fiance nuts, and Its hard for me to get anything done like this, so organization here I come!

3. Create one thing a day. I've already started working on this one a bit (see that pic of the little tree above? I made that out of some $.25 foam coasters I bought from Ikea). That way I can not only keep up with my craftiness, but I can start working on products for the shop (see #4). A little caveat to that though. If I'm working on some sort of a large project, I want to achieve at least one milestone for the project a day (i.e. get to the next section or part of the project).

4. Start my own Etsy shop. I'd really like to get this started by March if possible. It'll probably be full of crochet stuff, and my hair clips, but I'm working on learning some other things too, like knitting and embroidery. I like to expand my repertoire of old lady hobbies :D

5. Save up an emergency fund by mid year. This is a big one, and partially where the blog and the shop come into play. Its something that is SO important. Everyone should have some kind of emergency fund set aside, in case something unexpected happens (which it always does). Its the #1 thing to do in every finance book, seminar, and class, and its where I need to start.

That's all I'm going to list for now. I'll adjust it as the year goes on and I achieve some goals and adjust others.

Please keep checking back for new tutorials, fun stuff, and stuff you may want to know!
  
Much love, and Happy Holidays!!!

~~Love~~
~~GG~~

Comment, tweet, share and spread the word!

I'll be blogging for Christmas... if only in my dreams...

I know, I've been surprisingly absent the last week or so, and for that, I am very sorry. 

I should be able to catch up on my posting this week, because until friday, 

I really dont have much planned lol

During my absence, I've at least been busy. 

and to be honest, I wouldn't have traded the fun that I've had for anything in the world!

My Uncle (my dads youngest brother) just got back from his last tour in Afghanistan in November, so we decided it was time for us to have a get-together. 

I haven't seen some of my family in over 10 years, and some of my cousins had never met each other!

We all met up in Savannah, GA (which i'd never been, so it was also cool to go some place new)

We drove up with my dad and all the kiddos in tow, 

and stopped at St Augustine on the way there to visit the fort.

Dad and Edward, checking out the view

One of the old mortars. I really loved the face where the fuse goes.