Been sick again!

So I thought I was doing well and was going to end the year not getting sick...but to my surprise I was woken in the middle of the night last Friday feeling really bad and ended up going to the hospital to find out I was passing a kidney stone. That is a terrible pain that I do not wish on anyone. Spent several days in the bed and now am trying to get caught up!

If I didn't wait till the last minute to do my shopping or my decorating, my cooking, my crafting, my anything...I wouldn't need to catch up! Unfortunately I do not think ahead really well so I am always scrambling at the end. Of course I did not expect to get sick so now I am really scrambling!

To top it off Miranda will be having surgery tomorrow so I have been running around today getting everything ready...well as ready as I can. Went to the grocery store and stocked up on soups and Popsicles. She is having her tonsils removed, not a bad surgery but recovery is not fun. It will be a long 2 weeks here!

I have been able to keep up with my little etsy business and that has been a good distraction...I wish I had more time for scrapbooking, but right now it is just not in the cards. Maybe in a few weeks when things settle down I can get back to that!

I have managed to make a few of my gifts this year...here

are photos of a few.

This is a felt magnet set that I have made for years. I think I can remember making these as a teenager and giving them to my friends back than...if not then it was the early years of being married. They are super easy to make and really inexpensive and just such a cute addition to any fridge or metal door.

The countdown to Christmas is a gift for a very good scrapbook friend. I know she will love it. I scored this magnet board on clearance a few months ago and had no idea what I was going to do with it, then while searching online I saw several different ideas for a countdown and knew this board would be perfect. I embellished it with a few holiday papers, cut the tags from my cricut along with the letters, stamped the numbers on, flocked and glittered the letters, added some jingle bells and a bow. TA DA! Hope she likes it as much as I do...glad that I bought another board so that I can make one for me too!!!

Keeping Busy

I have been keeping myself very busy for the last several days, or maybe even weeks. First and foremost I have been working on all my items for my etsy shop. I am thrilled that I have been getting several orders. Now though I am switching gears and trying to get some Christmas gifts made. I have several groups that I am involved with and need to make or buy a gift for our exchange. This is just one of the many items that I have made.

Here is a close up of the flowers. I took the concept from the felt flowers that I make as brooches or hair clips. Instead of putting a clip and pin back on them I just glued them to the wreath.

I cut out some green holly leaves and added them to the wreath as well as jingle bells and fabric strips. I think this wreath will make a great addition to anyone's home for the holidays! Don't worry I have more...will be back in a day or so to show you more!

Monthly Card Swap Group

It has been a long time since I posted about my monthly card swap group. We are still together and starting our 2nd year of the group...should be fun! It has really helped me grow in my card making skills. Actually I didn't really make cards before I joined the group and now I really find it a great, quick crafty thing to do.

Of course lately I have been focused on getting items for my etsy shop made, but now that I almost have all the items photographed and ready to be uploaded I can focus on other things too.

I wanted to share the November cards for the group, I think by far it was my most favorite theme. Although it did not start out that way, I was moaning and groaning about doing the card and really waited until the last couple of days to get mine started. Our theme was a non traditional shape, so anything other than a rectangle. I had in my mind that I would do an ornament, but when it came down to it I just didn't really like the look of the ornament card, so I searched around and realized that my cricut can do amazing things. I did have to dust off my design studio and get it working!!! Think I have had that for 2 years and only used it a couple of times. I love it and decided I really need to use it more often.

So here are the 2 cards I made. One of them I made for my friend that is in the group. She is buys with school and just could not get to a card

this month so I made them for her. We have 10 in our group so we are making 10 of each card...so not bad once you get going. The first one is the one I used my cricut design studio for. I took the santa face from the doodlecharms cartridge and on design studio I copied and pasted a second face, then flipped the image and welded a part at the top of the card together. Then cut it out and added all the fun details, like an embossing folder for the beard and mustache, then stickled all the raised parts. Then my friend came over and did help make the little pom poms for the hat. I think this is one of my all time favorite cards. It turned out so cute!

The next one I can not take full credit for as I copied this from another person's blog. She did a great tutorial on this card. Here is the link if you would like to make one too. I made mine in holiday colors to go with the Santa card. I looked everywhere for a green plaid paper, can't believe sometimes how hard it is to find the perfect papers.

Back to reality, I have got a million things to do for this month and have not started one of them! I always wait till after December 15th to do my Christmas shopping because honestly I don't really have anywhere to store all the gifts and my kids are peekers! I don't know why but every year I feel bad that I wait so long, but it is just what works for me! Of course I do have a few parties early in the month so I have been working on a few gifts for those. I am doing a lot of making of the gifts this year...it costs a little less and I feel is so much more meaningful. Hope everyone I give them to feels the same way!

Visit my Etsy Shop

I did it! I finally decided that in order to grow my little craft business I must get on etsy and try it. I have been working for about a week to get things up and going on my etsy site...it is slow going but I am doing it all myself. I have included just some of the items that I would like to sell. I will be adding stuff daily. So go take a peek. www.mghairgirl.etsy.com

I am really excited about this new journey that I am taking, it is always what I have wanted to do and finally I am taking the giant leap! Of course it is keeping me super busy trying to juggle work and then coming home and getting crafty, taking photos of my items, then posting them to the site. So instead of filling my time with volunteer work, I will fill my time with crafty fun!

Here is a photo from our yearly family photo shoot...think this might be the one for the annual card. Just wait and see!

A new venture!

I am starting my bad habit again of neglecting my poor little blog! Sorry, just don't find or make the time to type a post everyday. I just think I get so wrapped up in everything else in my life that I forget to take a moment out and just type something...someone might be interested!

Anyway the last couple of weeks have been super busy for me. I think it started the week before Halloween, with costumes to make and parties to attend! Also I have started crocheting necklaces...thought I would be making a few for me and some gifts and it has turned into a new venture. I have been selling them. Actually I can't crochet them fast enough! Pictured below is an example of one.

I sell them for $8 a nceklace and they come in a multitude of colors. They have a bead on the necklace so they are able to extend from 24 inches to 34 inches. Free shipping(on US orders only) on the first necklace order, add .50 cents for every necklace after the first one ordered. Email me if at monica@thegoswicks.com if you would like to purchase one of these necklaces. Orders can be paid through paypal. Please allow 7 days to complete order.

These are the available colors:

Turquoise

Spring Bouquet

Pink/Grey

Black/Grey

Rainbow-jewel tones

Brown/Camel

Purple Haze

Saddle Brown/Blue

Rainbow-pastel tones

Red

Green

Silver

Pink

Fall Harvest

Blue Diamonds

So that is what I have been busy doing! I never expected to get this much response from the necklaces, but am so thankful I have!

Our costumes

Here we are all dressed up and ready for the Halloween Celebration! We went to a friends house for dinner and trick or treating! (thanks Julia) It was a blast, the only thing is Devon's loot bag was a little disappointing, but that was ok by me as he does not really need all that candy anyway! I did promise him that I would go out and buy him his own bag of his favorite candy, just call me a sucker!!!

Today we are off from school and really need a much needed relaxing day at home, no plans to get dressed, just need to take the Halloween decor down and get all those turkeys up! Maybe I will do a little laundry too, but no crafting time for me. I am going away this weekend to a scrapbook retreat, should be fun. So this week is all about getting my house back in order after several crazy days!

Here are some more photos from Halloween!

Happy Halloween 2010

My favorite holiday of the year! I am not sure if I like scary, but I sure think it is fun to dress up and be someone else for a day! I also love the weather and the relaxing feeling of this time of year. Just makes me smile! I made costumes for the family this year, was fun to get it all done a little early. Except for my hubby, as we are getting his done today before we head out to a friends(shout out to Julia) for a Halloween celebration!!! So here is a sneak peek of my costume and some photos of my son's too.

This is a photo of Bender, a work in progress. We were still adding the final touches to the costume but I wanted to make sure to get some photographs of it while we were making it. Now I just wish I would have taken more as the costume evolved. I don't have the photos we took of the finished costume on my camera, because we took some with my hubby's iphone and he has not uploaded them to me yet. Will post more when I get them!

I gotta get myself motivated, cause I gotta leave in the next 2 1/2 hours and I am not even dressed yet! Spent too much time this morning surfing the net!

Filling my time with Jewelry

So this will be another quick post from me, but it will be photo heavy. I have been trying my hand at bottle cap necklaces and are loving the results. Some are better than others but I just wanted to try it out and get an idea of how to make them then I will start getting more detailed. I found that using glossy accents is great to seal the image but sometimes it leaves air bubbles, so another product that was sitting in my scrap closet is 3d crystal lacquer. I must have got it from a stamp show in the area and never used it. Well it works perfectly, no air bubbles, dries quickly, crystal clear. Think I will use this from this point forward when making the necklaces. I also am experimenting with photoshop elements to make images...I thought about purchasing them but realized I could easily make my own and set forth doing that. Unfortunately I don't all that much time to play around so the only images I have created are the ones for my daughters matching sorority necklaces, seen the first image below. The others are a combination of scrapbook paper, rubons, or stickers.

Gotta go, this post ended up longer than I thought it would be!

I have no time for blogging!

Apparently I have been so busy that I have neglected my little blog for a month...sorry but October has been busy with so much going on, activitities, parties, etc. I will get back to a regular schedule soon...I promise! Here is a little photo of the card I made for October's monthly card swap. Below the card is a photo of some really cool flowers I made...the month's theme was to make handmade flowers. Both of these are from Marion Smith. She has youtube videos showing how to do the techniques. They were both fun to do , but the glitter ones were super messy! Be back soon!

My first baby themed card!

So excited about this card! I made this card for my monthly card swap group. It is baby themed this month, in honor of one of the ladies that is expecting. We were throwing a surprise shower for her this month and wanted all the cards to go along with the theme. Of course the shower is no longer a surprise because she wanted to dropout due to it being so close to her due date and we had to convince her to stay another month! Anyway my card was an inspiration from one of Julia's cards, she made a card with 6 squares of book paper that she chalked. When I saw her card I immediately thought quilt, so using that idea I made smaller squares of pattern paper, used my sewing machine to stitch around the squares, added the lace and the little animal button (all cards have different animals). Using my cricut I cut the squares, the ovals, and the title. I just loved the oh baby! My card is a little larger than an A2 size so I decided to make the envelope to match, took me watching a few videos on youtube to figure out the envelope I liked the best. In the end the envelope is really easy to make and made me decide that in the future I will probably make envelopes to match my cards. Just adds that something extra!

I am on vacation this week with no big plans, kind of nice having a break! I of course will be planning some crafty time, look for some blog updates! I hope to get a few posts in this week, since I have been a slacker for a while!

I got my crafty on!

So I have been busy doing crafts the past few weeks and really have not even thought about posting to my blog, sorry that I neglect it so much...just not really as committed to it as I thought I would be. I am finding that I have so much more free time now that my daughter is away at college. It is amazing how just one kid leaving the house frees up so much time. Of course since she is only about 40 minutes away she visits often, I think I have seen her at least 1 day out of the weekend the last 3 weeks. One time she didn't come home but I had a hair show about 10 minutes from her dorm so I went to visit. Another time she came home to go to a high school football game, she quickly realized that it was different going to a game after you graduate. Maybe she will finally get that high school is really overrated!!!! Once you have been there and done that there is no sense in going back!

Here is a project that I made for my daughter for her dorm room. I really enjoyed cutting all the ribbon and flowers out and then layering them on this wreath.

I bought a wire wreath from Hobby Lobby in the floral department, measuring 12 inches. I used my cricut to cut the flowers, cutting several different layers and using different pattern papers. The ribbons were cut at 7 inches and tied them around the outside and inside wire rings, leaving the center 2 empty so that I could layer the flowers on. After assembling the layers of flowers I went through my brad and button stash and found some matching ones to add more depth to the flowers. Glued it all on, added a ribbon to hang it, called it done. Really am pleased with how it turned out. The finished piece measures about 17 inches. The best part was my daughters reaction to it when I brought it to her. She was so excited...I have been planning to make small gifts for her on occasion this school year. I know she will like them and it is a great and easy way to decorate her dorm room.

She is off to College!

It is official! Our daughter left on Friday for college. It was move in day, we spent 17 hours carrying boxes, unpacking, organizing, shopping, and decorating her dorm room. It was so much fun to watch her get all excited about all the stuff. I know she is going to be so happy there. We did go back on Sunday to take another load of things she forgot, but that was to be expected! I also decided I would make some cute little signs for her and her suite mates. So here are the pictures of them. The first 2 photos are of the same sign. I made it for their bathroom door so that if someone is in there you won't have to knock to find out, just look at the sign! They now want a Welcome sign for their front door. It is never ending!

So it is going to be a little strange at my house with only one child home, but I know that in a few weeks we will be use to it. My hubby is missing her just a bit, I thought I would be the one that missed her. Don't get me wrong, I do miss her but more than anything I am so excited for her...it is a new adventure, one that I didn't get to continue so I am sure that is why I am more excited. It is funny to watch my hubby, he is kind of like a lost puppy dog and he is spending more time with me. Miranda was always his movie buddy, now Devon will have to become that!

Today I am meeting a friend to scrapbook! I am so happy, I need to take more days to do this because it is such a relaxing hobby for me! Unfortunately I don't have time every day to do it, plus since I don't have a designated craft room it makes it hard to get all of it out and then at the end of the day clean it all up. Maybe now that Miranda is gone I might think about making her room into a craft space!!! No can't do that, she will come home for visits!!! We just gotta move to a bigger house!! That won't be happening anytime soon!

Hopefully now that school is in for my son and my daughter is off to college things will settle down in my life. I already feel like the craziness is coming to an end. Hoping for good days ahead! I certainly need them!

Can't believe it has been a month!

Wow time sure does fly! I can't believe I have not been blogging for an entire month. It was not for lack of wanting to but as always life gets in the way. Since being sick and trying to recuperate I just didn't have the time to sit down and type all about my recovery and getting back to my normal routine. Of course that is exactly what happened. Just been working and getting the kids ready for school. You know having a college student to get ready to move is like moving yourself, so much stuff to go through, pack up, more stuff to buy. It is insane! Miranda will officially move in on Friday. I am so excited for her and she can't be more thrilled. I know that we will miss her, but more than anything this is such an exciting time in her life, a new chapter. The one thing that still shocks me is how fast the time has gone by, just yesterday she was a baby and now she is an adult! I am not that old!!!

Even though I have not been blogging I have managed to be creative, actually I took a trip to the mountains while I was on bed rest, I figured I could do bed rest there just as well. So while there I got to scrapbook just a few pages. I am making progress on a book for Miranda, it is memories of her high school years. I have 2 years almost completed and 2 more to go...this is going to end up being a 4 book album, because there are just too many pages in the books to do just 1. So far I am up to 32 pages and still have about 6 more to go for the first 2 years. I put the pages in a book this morning and it was busting at the seams, guess I need to pick up a few more books...wish I would have done that earlier in the year because what I used was on clearance and I can't get the same albums anymore...maybe I will just use some I have laying around even if they don't match. Something to think about for another day!

I will leave you with a few of the pages that I have done over the last month. Also I promise that I will be a better blogger this month!

I have more to share but I will save those for another day!