Here come the Holidaysl....Secret Santa

Okay I've been away....No not really .....just way over whelmed...I can and will go on and on....but first I have to post this,,,cuz Imma gonna do a Secret Santa...say it with me now....YAY!!!!! Okay so here are the questions: What are your hobbies? By Hobbies you mean on your spare time...lol, I do it for a living and I love it.....Crafting is my life What are your favorite colors? Well I'm a PINK Gal...Yes that whole Pink is my Signature color...but I love it paired with black Checks and Lime Green....Lime Green and Red during Christmas is always cute too Do you collect anything? Really.....I'm a Hoarder...lol, so yes I collect Spode dishes, and tons of crazy things...I'm happy with pretties Are you allergic to any fibers or animals?...No I have 6 dogs...ha ha Do you have any pets? ha ha there you go, yup 6 Coffee, Tea, or Chocolate?ooooohhhhhh Coffee, I'm a Starbucks Gal What do you like to read?...I don't get to read to much other than blogs,,,but I do love crafting books Do you prefer Cookies or Candies as a sweet? ALL THE ABOVE What is your favorite holiday treat? I'm happy with all goodies Describe your favorite holiday tradition....We make tamales here in SA, all good Did you believe in Santa as a child? Heck yes When do you open presents? Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas day with inlaws and Christmas Morning for my kids Do you put up a tree and when? If not, how do you celebrate? Started decorating already Does your tree have a theme? I collect tons of Christmas things, I love it so much What has been your favorite gift to give? to receive? I love to give more than received... Okay so here is my listy list for my Secret Santa,,,,I can't wait to get started... I'll be back sweetness... big besos

Halloween Oh and Recycling

Can I tell you how much I love the Holidays, I love them so much that I love the whole package of it all. Does that make sense, I love to decorate, I love to give gifts (yes even Halloween) the WHOLE THING I LOVE IT!!!!
Okay so this is just one project that I worked on and didn't realize that I was recycling yet again, yes I love the combo.
So while dropping my daughter off at school I glanced over at the recycling bin, ya that huge one that has magazines, newspaper and shredded paper. I said to Maddie run and grab me a bag of that shredded paper, with out a flinch she said "okay". So to be honest I really wasn't too sure what I would do but it looked cool just in that clear bag it was in. So off I went to creat something with it. Can I just tell you that I didn't even make a dent in the bag with these projects, about three hand fulls made three wreaths.
****Warning*** this project is a bit messy, BUT so much FUN!!!!

~So this is the shredded paper, looks cool to me just like this~


~So I tried different ways to glue it down, I think the glue gun was best (I won't go into the details of the other messy things I tried)



~So once you glue it down, press down so that it grips onto the wreath itself~



~Once it was glued down I spray painted it, my pic is hard to see that I gave it several coats, oh and you will have to give it a trim, just cut around and cut off those crazy ends.


~I wanted a shimmer so you can't forget the glitter any one color will do but I loved the way the irridecent worked.


~So here a few that I made, so much fun.


~Do you love my "Diva A La Gaga" laughed a bit while making her.~




~I love to load my wreaths up so this added texture and just made me smile,I'm crazy for the over the top stuff.~

So please tell me what you think. This again was fun and I have more ideas in mind for the Holidays coming so I will post once those are all done.

Besos,
Maggie

Creativety Meets OVER the top

Okay I've told you before that I'm a bit on the creative side, well my kids like to challenge me from time to time. I take that back "I" challenge myself. They are always happy with what ever I come up with. So being all that said, my daughter Maddie asked me if I could once again make her a Halloween costume. She asked to be...wait for it..."Cotton Candy". Simple right, buy some cotton paint it pink roll her in one big ball (like they did Violet on Willy Wonka...lol). Believe me she would have been happy with that...REALLY. But would "I"...okay NO I wouldn't so there I went NOT only making her Cotton Candy, but the Queen of Cotton Candy....okay just read below and you will see what I'm talking about: okay so first finding the outfit, I guess I could have made it but why when you can get more creative with something that has already been made..like something from the past. In this case I found an old 80's prom dress atleast that is what I thought it was when I saw it, or maybe it was a bride's maids dress, dunno but I saw a Cotton Candy Queen in the rough..lol. So I bought it for a mere 5.00 at Goodwill, the whole time Maddie asking me "Uh, Mom really are you sure...it's kinda OLD". I said "Yup, that is why I love it". So off I went , creating this master piece well that is what I like to think of it as..lol. So I hope my steps here will be able to guide you. I hope I did this right, I need to take a few classes on how to do most of this stuff. After begging and bothering friend I finally got some help and my sweet friend Bill was able to help me get the slide show together with music and all. Turned out Great!!!


I hope you have enjoyed the video, please tell me your thoughts. I will be working on 2011 but as of today she still doesn't know what she would like to be dressed as.
Enjoy Creating !!!!

besos XoXo

Maddie's Pay It Forward Project

Well it is back to school for most of us, and while I'm dreading it, I am also loving it at the same time. With so many mixed emotions, I do love the routine; and even though I always say I can't handle routine, I need it. The kids will be back and I will at least be on some sort of schedule. My oldest will be a senior (my how time flies!), my second will be a junior, and my youngest is still in middle school. The boys now are driving. (Did someone say this is suppose to be BETTER for us? lol. It is just the worrying is all....let's us not talk about gas though.)

So as we have been getting ready for all this back to school stuff, I wanted to share with you what our little "Maddie's Pay it Forward Project" is. I first have to tell you how this really all got started. As a mother of three, a wife and a business owner, I run like a mad woman most days. I was running late to pick up my daughter from school one day one day. As is normal, we are rushing to get her something to eat before we had to rush to dance class. All this running around can get very hectic, and as Maddie enter the car, I notice that she wasn't wearing her "Signature Bow" as I like to call it. In my rush to judgment, and again very stressed (let me add), I raised my voice and said "Where is YOUR bow?" I assumed she was just careless and dropped it somewhere and did not really care. But Maddie replied, "Mom I gave it to a girl, she really liked it and well, she kinda doesn't have much". At that moment I felt deep in my heart that I needed to be thankful for all the wonderful things in this world and that Maddie just opened my eyes to just how blessed we are.

I was so touched by her "giving ways" that we talked about this as a "Back to School Project" that we both wanted to do. You see, we always see the Back to School drives, uniforms and school supplies, etc. These are very important, but feeling good is too. Let's remember the simple things we take for granted, like brushes, toothpastes, even make-up. Maddie and I like to think that a simple bow can make any girl feel like a princess, AND EVERY GIRL SHOULD FEEL LIKE A PRINCESS. When I say this, I don't mean it in that 'Paris Hilton-way', really; I mean this in the confident to be who you are kind of way. (Believe me, I am not a fan of the girl who thinks she is owed everything). I teach my kids that you must work hard for everything in this world. I just like to look good and be confident when I work hard -- this is my motto.

Being raised by a single mom for the first eight years of my life, I totally relate to my motto on so many levels. We may not have had much but my Mom always had us dressed, combed and looking so cute...the one hard thing for her was that I was just such a rough little girl. I was into everything, messy and well, I should save that for another blog...lol. When we look back at pictures, I always ask why do I look so "mechuda". (Mechuda, I found out is really slang in Spanish for messy hair.) My mother, bless her heart, really tried with me. She always tried to make sure I was dressed and combed. My sister, on the other hand, had matching ribbons for every outfit. (Remember those ribbons that were really yarn-like shoes strings? Well she had every color to match every outfit. Always well-dressed and combed, and ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL. She still is.) This is how my daughter is, with my help as well. Its really hard to see that I was not a girly-girl when I am so girly-girl today. The girly really kicked in when during my preteen years.

So I put out a little request on my Facebook fan page and got such wonderful responses to our little drive here at Maddie Mac Boutique. So I want to thank everyone. It is a blessing to have such wonderful friends and customers! It amazes me that I can put out a little request and get such wonderful feedback and help with this. I would love to continue to carry this on to Christmas and Back-to-School again!

Back-to-School Besos!

This Ones for the Girls

So the room awaits YOU. A room where you can walk in, grab a cocktail, grab a tray full of beads and get-a-workin'. You can call it therapy, you can call it a gathering...YOU can call it your mini-getaway. What am I talking about? I'm talking about fun for the ladies!

Over the years I have been asked if I give classes. Typically during summer I host a girls camp. But this year the question of a 'ladies' camp came up again. I thought what a wonderful idea - a forum to share my talents with wonderful women who want to learn. Throw in a cocktail and some appetizers...and voila, we have a winner!

During a conversation with one of my best friends she brought up the comment, 'when we get away do they (meaning our kids, husbands or any others that we share our lives with) understand how time with friends actually revitalizes us?' We are better women for it. I remember this conversation so well. I often think about where I would be if it were not for my best friends, with whom I have shared so many conversations about motherhood, wife-hood (LOL), and all the other roles we take on as women.

I often reflect on my childhood, seeing my Abuelita watering her plants as I would watch her. She would be deep in thought, I would run and ask her Wella dejame hacerlo, which means let me do it. Her response was always a resounding NO. In hindsight, I now understand why - she was in HER zone, she was experiencing HER getaway. She would be deep in thought for an hour or so. I realize now that this was very therapeutic for her. WE ALL NEED A GETAWAY, even if it is for just a few hours. I say take those few hours, take the time to get away, get a little more dressed up and have a cocktail with the gals - just for conversation and a little therapy.

This is what I was so honored to do at my shop recently. For a small fee we gathered together, grabbed a cocktail and started working on a fun craft. Some of the ladies were so happy as they said they would never do something like this at home or any other place. (It's funny that something so natural for me is so foreign to some of them!) The ladies were thrilled! As they completed just one charm they would say "Oh, it is done!", all while talking about what they did for a living, while others enjoyed "catch-up" conversations with old friends. I had several tell me "thank you for doing this, you just don't know how much I needed this".

It was an awesome experience and the vibe in the room was so wonderful! I want to do it over and over again. I hope to host many more of these "therapy sessions" and share my talent with others while we all talk away our daily stresses. My heart is filled once again with amor for what I do - and I love finding ways to share these gifts.

So I say to you, call it therapy, call it a getaway, call it what ever you want - just make sure to call your gals and GETAWAY - you will be better for it!

Besos

Repurpose, Reuse, Get Creative

So every Summer I have a "Girls Camp" that I host in my shop. Can I first tell you that I say it is for girls who want to make creative things, enjoy fellowship with other girls their own age or so. THEY enjoy it so much....truth is "I" get more enjoyment out of it. I love to teach them NEW things, I love to see the way they light up when they get their hands right into the project it's that whole creative thing in a hole different way. Showing them how to Re Purpose items that were once considered TRASH. Or show them that crocheting isn't for Grannies. Making fun jewelry that "they" made so that they can have such pride as they say that their fingers made it. Even working with cement (which is only consider to be a boy/man thing) to make beautiful stepping stones. I always start of the camp with a "What you learn this week just might stay with you for the rest of your life".

You see, I remember being a younger girl and my Abuelita(grandmother)as we called her "Wella"(which I realized later that she was my great grandmother)would teach me small things about gardening, sewing and crocheting. So let me be real, can I be REAL here she didn't "Teach" in the Martha Stewart way showing you step, by steps and leaning over ever so gently above over my shoulder. No she was a bit brass with somethings, but to be honest I laugh at it all now and I believe it has created such patience in my world. We grow, we learn and we improve that is how I see things. I loved that things were never wasted, re purpose was a way of LIFE NOT a so call craft or something that was created to not fill up our landfill. The very same way we have evolved to better life like bottle water and throw away plastic anything, is the very same way we will drown ourselves in our own waste. So bringing my old and my new I try my very best to again get Recycle,Re Purpose, Get Creative motto that I have for some of my creations.
So we are a family of 5 (I believe two boys should count as two each, if only "they" counted them like that..lol as they eat so much) so lets think about this a family of 5 well I'm no whiz at this stuff but we have tons of waste. We go through gallons of milk, juice and so on. So Minute Maid (my kids love this) has a cute pink jug that has the fruit punch that we buy and my brain was at it again. As I drove from my drive way looking at the recycling bin I went back to pull them out, yes you read right "I pulled out of my own trash" now that's crazy...lol. So off I went creative several things out of these jugs. Here is one creation:
Again let me tell you I'm very new to this whole thing so on the right you have some pics as I will explain how I came up with it all.
1. The jug had two very nice circles near the base so I followed the guide that was already in place (simple scissors did the trick).
2.I then took a wire and punched holes very small ones to around the brim of the outer circle just far enough apart so that weaving a wire would do just fine.
3. I then weaved the wire to start my process of adding each bead then weave to each hole, in a whip stitch type pattern. Any bead works great just make sure the hole is large enough to fit your wire. 19 gauge is what I used for this project. Repeat on each side.
4. Make a handle for the top and for it's hanging purpose, get creative with this one, do keep the cap as you don't want your bird food to get wet.
I love how they came out as they would also make cute table center piece if you wished, so many possibilities. I also made a butterfly out of the same jug style that is adorable. I think the girls are going to have fun making this one.
I hope to blog more about many more ideas, if I can just get to figure it all out more.
I hope you enjoyed this one, tell me what you think.

Never Really Prepared

Well here it is, "My Blog," although it is not exactly how I pictured it. You know I wanted that pretty (customized) wall paper that everyone has and I wanted neat music too. The truth is I started this blog back in February 2010. I would do a little something here, then a little something there...

Oh and that whole "About Me"...forget it. That took at least two months and to be honest, I continue to add or change a few things. But as I would continue to think about it more and more while laying in my bed late at night, I thought "you know, what if something happened to me and I never really got to start that blog?"; (okay, there were many other things on my mind, but the blog was in there, along with and countless other projects that are started and not ever really finished). Then I got that email -- you know the one -- the one that catches you off guard. You're fine, it's early and you read that email. It starts off with an interesting title like "I'll dance" or "If only"; you know, the one that reminds you that we are NOT promised tomorrow. Here is one of those emails that made me say "Maggie, just do it!":

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND

"Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming, or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday. I had a late breakfast. It looks like rain.' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because People cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!"

This email is what prompted me to at least get things started. As I mentioned before it may not have it ALL, but IT IS HERE!!! Another thing, I might get a bit excited when posting. I can't help it, so again, just have a little patience. It is like hearing your favorite song, but your not allowed to dance at that particular moment even though the beat is so neat...you know the feeling. Your shoulders start to feel it, then your hands start feeling it too...then forget it -- your whole body wants to dance. NOW YOU'RE IN FULL MODE...LOL. That is how I get when I'm creating, then posting it for YOU!!!!

So I ask you to bear with me as I learn all that needs to be done with creating this blog. Hold on as I take you on many a journey throughout my crazy world of creating, mothering, and being an all-around crazy, creative person. Thank you for taking a minute to read this. I promise you will love the neat things I have to share.


BESOS