gush4plush

Yo

2011-08-24T20:20:00.007-06:00

Funny how time flies! It has been almost a year since I logged into my blog and poured out my thoughts, likes, dislikes and pics onto the web. Life has just been trucking along, things are just kind of the same old, same old. Wow, my life sounds boring hey! Whatever!

Hmm, now what to talk about? How about some things from the pass year. My son excelled in soccer this year and his team won silver. We all got a year older. :P

We've had a short summer full of mosquitoes. Gave up on the fight of lawn weeds. My poor apple tree again decided not to produce apples. :(

I finally got to see Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Did some ziplining (awesome, fun!). School starts next week. Everyone is still happy and healthy.

Once school starts I hope to get back to my many projects, blogging, Etsy and maybe finding a part time job...easier said than done.

Peace and love to all.

Sweet Autumn

2010-10-15T09:34:00.006-06:00

The beautiful autumn is here. Last weekend was Thanksgiving weekend and so we decorated the house for Halloween with my collection of soft stuffed rubber characters including witch who is sitting on a broom flying over our front door, a greeting ghoul, vampire pirate, cute skeleton, little bat, and a rat.

When the colder tempertures move in I like to have cinnamon scents around the house but I ran out of my favorite cinnamon oil and the store had sold out as well. So I went onto Etsy and Ebay looking for some good quality stuff and found a listing of Bath Body Works warmer oils. So I looked into it further and found their website and was so happy to discover that there is a store in the local mall that is only ten minutes away from me. Oh! It was awesome! We spent 45 minutes smelling all the candles and I ended up getting 5 different oils to burn on my warmers. I highly recommend the scent Autumn, reminds me of a small town gift shop like the one in Canmore, Alberta called The Willow Shop.

A plushie update, I have 3 gray cats, 3 black cats and 2 skeletons which I should have done this weekend. The skeletons have a new body shape and are different from the ones I used to make.

I wanted to mention that I have been having a problem with people looking for free plushies for blog reviews, donations, and charity events. It became so bad that I was getting these requests about 3 times a day. Come on people! If I handed a free plushie out everytime I was asked I wouldn't have a shop. I guess some craft people are goulible enough to give free things out that this has become a job for people, a new way to get things for nothing, easier than entering a contest...? Who knows? But please don't ask me anymore, its not gonna happen.

I would add some photos to this post but I have a new laptop, our first and I don't know how to use it yet. My ten year old has been showing me some stuff on it. LoL

Does anyone know how to put your cat on a successful diet? Mine has been on diet food for months and we are not see any results. The first diet food we tried, he gained weight so we took that food back and got another kind which has kept him at the same weight now. We wish there was a treadmill for cats. He gained weight once we brought the puppy home. He stopped running around playing with his little mice and just sat around keeping an eye on the dog. He is 3 1/2 years old.

I should get off of here and finish up those plushies for you and do a little xmas shopping. I have to run to ToysRUs and get the 3rd Brickober minifig for my son. He is so Lego crazy, he is loving the new online game Lego Universe that just came out last friday for some users but doesn't really launch for everyone until October 26.

I'm so sorry for the blah blah blahs...it is really quiet around here these days... :)))

Today...

2010-09-08T16:00:00.005-06:00

Brrr! The cold came early this year. I've got my ducky slippers on, 3 shirts and a hoodie. Every year I don't turn our furnace on until Oct.1 or later, but I don't think I can wait. I think I'll make some frozen pizza's for dinner to help warm up the house, before snuggling down with my hubby and watch Big Brother tonight. Yes, I enjoy watching the mind games people play in the house.

I've gotten so cold today that I stopped working on 22 plushies that I started. Some owls, baby owls, creepies, sasquatches and poop plushies. I hope to add more plush kitties once I find the pattern....yes, Miss Clean and Organized lost her pattern. There will be black and grey kitties arriving soon.

Keep your eye out for them at the gush4plush Etsy shop.

I'm giving you some Sugar...I mean, here is a new photo of Sugar our little sweet dog. Aww, I love her name! Give me some Sugar, Sugar Booger, Sweet Sugar and she is the color of white sugar and brown sugar. Totally Sweet!

Enjoy the fall colors outside, home cooked hearty meals and maybe a slice of apple pie or two. ♥

Raining Buckets

2010-07-13T22:54:00.009-06:00

It's been raining buckets the last couple of days, off and on with thunder and lightening. So with the bad weather my son stayed indoors for most of the day yesturday, took a break from video games and made some homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies. This was the first time that he really got it all together with very little supervision and oh my, they were good....now there's only 4 cookies left. Yup, I'm feeling a little fat today.

I thought with my blog post I should splash some cuteness around and so here's a few pictures I snapped today, our little Sugar who was settling down for some shut eye.

Next is our cat in one of his favorite spots, the basket by the door that is up on a table where Sugar can't bug him.

He was trying to sleep too, he didn't like the camera in his face.

Here is a sneak peek of what I'm working on...orange plush kitties. They still need the ears sewn and stuffed. I wanted to make black, grey and brown kitties too but to my surprise I've ran out of those colors.

I'll have these kitties available in my shop gush4plush sometime this week.

It is getting close to midnight and I'm starting to yawn...so I bid you goodnight! ♥

Sharing...♥

2010-06-28T21:00:00.017-06:00

I've got some pics for you to enjoy and a little story with each one. First, tomorrow is the last day of school for my son and this is what he is giving to his teacher. The little Inspire dish is from an Etsy shop called Wise Impressions a great dish for paper clips, jewelry, push pins, etc and my son picked out this little cute Russ cat plushie. My son says his teacher has been the funniest one he has ever had. Best Teacher Ever!

A couple of weekends ago we went out into the country exploring the small nearby towns and we stumbled apon a garage sale. I found this tiny white baby deer figurine for only 25cents.

Today, I planted these yellow superbells and purple lobelias in some turquoise buckets I had. I hung them on my son's clubhouse/shed. I did want window boxes made but to save money I used what I had and I think they turned out great. My son on the other hand gave me a look. He didn't want any flowers on his clubhouse. But it looks so happy!

Here are some pics of our pets that I took yesturday, they were kind of posing for me. :)

It almost looks like, the pup is hiding behind the cat, then switches sides getting ready to jump the cat. The cat gives her that look, I see you!

Be Happy Everyone! Enjoy the Little Things! ♥

A Seed in the Wind

2010-06-09T10:35:00.007-06:00

Time passes, like a seed in the wind.

Since my last post, we celebrated our puppy Sugar's first birthday on May 25th. I made her this birthday hat, it didn't stay on for long but long enough to snap a picture.

Happy Birthday Sugar!!!

The next day I got my first tattoo. I love it! Love it! Love it! Love it! I'm not sure about sharing it with you all due to possible unwanted negative comments about tattoos, etc. I've wanted it since I was 16-17 yrs old. I feel proud and complete with my tattoo, absolutely no regrets. My 10 yr old thinks its pretty cool and my hubby thinks its hot! ♥

Last week was very exciting for gush4plush, one of my plushies made it to Etsy's front page thanks to a red and turquoise Treasury made by Zhivana Designs. It was like my shop came out of the shadows for everyone to see. It has been over 2 years since I was on Etsy's front page and it was usually in the middle of the night.

I am currently working on more plush owls and I'm finishing up about 30 organic catnip fish cat toys for our feline friends out there. The catnip I use is organic and has some power to it! I opened the bag of catnip and set it down and my cat came from the other end of the house, walking with his head in the air "sniffing"away. He knew there was catnip somewhere... "Meow"

Lunchtime...gotta run, mawh!

♥

What's up!

2010-04-30T09:27:00.009-06:00

It was my birthday last week...and I guess you would call me pre-middle aged. ICK! I still look young-ish for my age I think...? LOL

Anyways, my husband got me a gift certificate to get my first tattoo!!! I am SO excited about it!!! I've wanted a tattoo for years but now I'm stuck on which tattoo to get. I really like Ambigrams of my husband and son's name, a bat or a tribal design....I'll update on what I decide.
My little sister who had good intentions sent me tiny small scraps of Japanese fabrics, thinking I could use them on my plushies. I personally love cute patterned fabrics and had no use for the ones she sent me. I felt bad that she spent so much on shipping them to me (Canada Post is ridiculously expensive) so I decided to make a mini quilt for her little brown Chihuahua that she just adopted and I will mail it back as a surprise. Here is the 20" X 20"inch quilt that I whipped up. I'm no quilt maker but this turned out surprising good and my pup gave it the puppy approval. She plopped down on it as I was finishing it with the yarn ties.

I was going to get started on some plushies today but first I need to clean up the army men my son has all over my work table. It is cute how kids organize and set up their toys sometimes...

Don't forget to check out what plushies are available in my shop , great for gift giving or just displaying to show your plushie love...

♥

Re-Vamping

2010-04-17T08:48:00.006-06:00

What a gorgeous weekend we are having, temperatures up to 24C. I've got to get some sun on my white chicken legs that have been hiding all winter.

What do I mean by re-vamping? Well, re-vamping my life I guess. I have been on this purging stuff and completing things that I wanted to get done for years. Such as tiling, interior painting, organizing, decorating, etc.

I did made time to make this bear plushie with the help of my son, who helped me design the bear. Cute hey!?

And this is my new version of a kitty cat plush. I'm SO happy with it!!!!!! I have 2 more I'll be adding today or tomorrow to my Etsy shop.

Going to pry my butt out of this chair and enjoy the fresh spring air. :)

It's all about Green

2010-03-17T09:30:00.005-06:00

It is the first gloomy rainy day this year and it is St. Patrick's Day. Our dog is unsure about the rain this morning, she is just standing around sniffing the air, getting wet and not doing her business.

The green grass is starting to appear. About 80% of the snow in the yard has melted away but unfortunately the weather forecast is saying snow for tomorrow...err!

For my son's St. Patrick's Day at school, he wore a huge 3 ft long green tie to school. It is so silly and SO him. :)

Yesturday my husband surprised me with a bunch of gorgeous red roses. He was so cute about it...♥

A Bunny Rescue

2010-03-09T08:30:00.006-07:00

Aww, she is SO cute!

Ta, Ta, Bad little pup! She found this tiny stuffed bunny which is usually on a shelf in my son's room but the shelf was taken down when we painted his room last weekend. The bunny came from the Easter Bunny last year. So I had to wait to rescue the bunny or our pup would have wanted to play tug of war with it. She eventually let go and left it at the back door.

I'm going to try a new creative idea with clay. A natural clay that does not need an oven or kiln to harden. We'll see if it works out...

Here is one of the Sasquatch Yeti plushies that have arrived in the shop...

Made in a rich soft chocolate color fleece. Visit gush4plush on Etsy to see more super cute plushies.

Sorry, I'm not the best blogger, not sure what else I could type or that sounds interesting...mmmm...I'll just ramble...I ripped out the flooring in one of our bathrooms to tile. I've got cupcakes and a birthday cake to make thursday and friday for my son's birthday. My son is home sick today...Rare! :(

♥

Painting and cleaning...

2010-03-02T09:13:00.007-07:00

What a weekend...I was constantly exhausted. I kept running out of steam...not sure why my energy was so low?? Maybe it has something to do with the painting or the 4 day weekend my son had...

My son got me started Wednesday night...we cleaned out his room to paint. His room was overdue for re-doing. We had just bought some cool Super Mario Bros. wall stickies but first we had to paint over the dark Oilers Hockey Team colors. Thursday we putty-ed and sanded the many holes, dents and scratches on the walls. Then we went out and got the light blue paint color for the background of the stickies. And put one coat of primer on.

Friday, second coat of primer went on to make sure the dark blue and red wall colors won't pop through. In the afternoon my son and I went thrift shopping to search for treasures, also to a cool comic book store and finished the day with a Booster Juice, Strawberry Sunshine with energy booster...yummy!!!!

Saturday we put the final paint up, one coat and it looks great! Clean, bright and refreshing. Now trying to get my son to wait for the walls to cure has been tough. He is so excited about it all and wants to get Super Mario Bros. up on his walls. But he has to wait...kids! LOL Sometimes NO patience! LOL I will post pics when its all done!

Sunday, he moved back into his room and to my surprise he started sorting his books and some of his toys to get rid of. Good boy! :)

I still want to talk about a book I ordered, pet beds I want to make and about a snowball my son caught in the face but I have to run out and get my chubby cat an auto food feeder that is on sale. I hope to cut his eating back and give me some peace from his whining for food at night and in the early morning hours.

I'm heading out into the sunlight....

Be Mine...♥

2010-02-13T10:33:00.010-07:00

I hope you all have someone to hold and love over this lovey-dovey weekend. Chocolate and flowers are standard for Valentine's Day but not needed. ♥ Celebrate your Valentine's with a special home cooked meal, dessert, candles and wine. Or another favorite, rent a romantic movie, share a big bowl of popcorn and cherry coke. ♥ Some of my favorite romantic movies are:♥
♥
Hope Floats ♥
♥ Sweet Home Alabama ♥
Moonstruck
♥ ♥
I'm going to make my first cherry black forest cake in my new heart shaped cake pan I got from a thrift store for a couple of bucks. ♥ My hubby and son would be surprised. Now if only I could get them out of the house to make it. ♥ This Sweet Owl is wearing his heart. Full of love and squishiness. Available in my shop gush4plush .

Love Ya ♥

Sweet Owls

2010-02-07T19:35:00.003-07:00

I've completed these 14 sweet owls in an array of happy colors. Now available in my shop, Gush4plush on Etsy.

These sweet owls love to watch over those who love them. These would look lovely on a little girl's bed. ♥

Birthday Planning

2010-01-31T20:10:00.002-07:00

We have decided on a Neon Bowling Pizza Birthday Party for my son who is turning 10 years old. To make it more of a blast, we found this awesome Super Mario Bros. theme party stuff. Now I need to figure out what kind of cake to make for his party...

Happy Bunnies and a Puppy.

2010-01-30T11:23:00.011-07:00

I've completed 12 plush bunnies for my shop, WooHoo!!!! Now available and great for Easter.
They are sure happy looking and soft. With the yellow bunny, I had major trouble trying to capture the real color of him. These photos are still done with my little Kodak camera. I still have not figured out how to crop pics done by my new Canon camera. :/

Here is a photo of our puppy who is now 8 months old, taken with the Canon.
She is such a good girl!

Time flies...

2010-01-28T11:04:00.006-07:00

How do people do it? My time seems to be melting away so fast these days. I've been reading some wonderful blogs lately and I wonder how they do it? Where do they find the time?

In the mornings, I find myself submerged in the blog world or Flickr land, admiring pics and works of some talented people out in our world, when I should be working on my 1 million of things to do list.

One of those things I have been working on, is planning my son's 10th birthday party in March. So far we have checked out a roller rink, decided nope. Next is a bowling alley, which I hope we go and check it out tonight. My boy is a "NO" for Chuck E Cheese of course and does not want a movie theatre party either. Too old for McDonald's and my old roommate suggested rock climbing (great idea) but is on the other side of the city about an 1hr away. I'll update you all on what we decide soon. Last year was a Star Wars party at the house.

I have to ask about this puppy figurine I bought at a thrift store about 7 years ago and I know nothing about it, but wanted it. Does it belong to a set? how old it is? It has no markings on the bottom, hollow, paint is crackled with age...has anyone ever seen something similar to this? I've seen this kind of paint work on planter pots and bowls but not on a figurine.

I'm going to finish up some plushies I've been working on and hopefully get their pictures done today, I'll be losing daylight soon.

The Scent of Love

2010-01-05T09:31:00.008-07:00

Valentine's Day is just around the corner...love is in the air. Love is always in the air around here. My hubby is still so gushy in love, even after 14+ years together. :) I guess I am too!!! ♥

My hubby actually got me a perfume for Christmas this year, I'm so picky about scent and told him not to bother. But he did really, really good and got me Chanel Chance. It has a subdue scent of clean and I love clean!!!! Not a strong choking scent of perfume.

I'm going to rent Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs today. We didn't get the chance to see it in theatre, it should be good.

Boxing Day sales....we usually avoid this day for shopping because you can usually get the same deals for the week after Christmas but this year we had to get a new camera. We saw this camera in the flyer on sale for one day and after some research, we got a Canon EOS Rebel XSi. A super place to do research on buying a camera is Flickr.com there is a Camera finder section under Explore that shows you camera ratings, pictures from the resulting cameras, etc...I love Flickr!

Oh, I'm in love with the camera too!!!!! You can not take a bad picture. I rarely ever take a photo of myself because they have always made me look funny but my hubby took some candid pics of me and they all turned out nice, I look like me in all of them. :)

I should go and dust off the sewing machine, make something pink. I've got a list and drawings of new plush ideas. I stopped sewing plushies in November to deal with the Christmas rush and so I didn't get stressed trying to please everyone. Just alot of running to the post office, like 3 times a day. Thank goodness I'm only 3 minutes away from the post office. :)

Love, love, love......

Bloggy, Blog

2009-12-20T19:56:00.004-07:00

Tonight, while my son is watching Home Alone and my hubby is asleep on the couch I decided I needed to attend to my blog.

I have gone through the list of blogs that I was featured in and ones that I had listed under Must See. Sadly, more than half of the blogs no longer exsist or have been neglected. I deleted most of the blogs and now I have a list of the blogs that I frequently love to look at and love to read.

On Friday I rented the movie Julie/Julia, it was a fabulous movie that sure made you hungry and love the characters in it. I recommend watching this movie.

I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season and staying warm. We had some frightfully cold -40C weather last week. It caused a flat tire (a valve failure) but the vehicles still started when we had to venture out. The cold weather sure made it difficult for our little puppy and thats a bit of a long story. If your wondering, no messes in the house! Good Puppy!

Our puppy Sugar got spayed (fixed) on Dec.11th, poor baby! I cleaned the floors, her bedding, toys, etc. to help prevent any possible infections and to keep my mind off of her being gone for the day. Her surgery went well! She is happy again, back to her normal cute self and the stitches come out on Dec.22nd. Sugar will be 7 months old Dec.25th Christmas Day.

In the plushie bubble, not much is happening on the productive side but the sales have been steady. I will be placing my shop on Vacation mode tomorrow to give me a break from running to the post office 3 times a day and my son is home on his holiday break from school for the next 2 weeks. I did start making some brooch pins out of felt for Christmas gifts and I think I'm going to continue making them for my shop. They are awfully cute! Stay tune for the pics!

Sending Loves ♥ Happy Holidays

A Contest

2009-11-16T12:48:00.006-07:00

I have entered a photo of our pup Sugar in a pet photo contest hosted by Furbabies - Pets Jubilee Pet Photo Contest . Please take a look at the cute pet photos and place your vote. Thanks

Everything Changes with the Leaves

2009-11-10T09:31:00.015-07:00

The leaves have been swirling around and keeping the snow away. The changes around here have been becoming a dog owner for the first time to a sweet little girl named Sugar, who is 5 1/2 months old, 5lbs and is starting to lose her baby teeth. We have found 3 baby teeth. She seems to chew them a bit then spits them out. I'm amazed that I found one tooth that was only 1-2mm big. With the teeth came some bad chewing, she has chewed 2 corners of the walls and baseboards. I've taped them up for now and it seems to have worked.

My son is now settled into routines again of school, homework and play.

We got a new vehicle last month. We had a 2001 Honda Civic that we bought new and after 8 years, it was starting to feel like we could not trust it over the this winter. Oh, I loved my Honda and it was hard to find a worthy replacement.

After a few weekends of test driving and dealing with some bad pushy salesmen, we found a rocking 2010 Kia Soul 4U at Sherwood Kia, the photo is missing the roof racks. There was no pressure and friendly service. I was so impressed with the price and all the extras that came with that low price such as, heated seats, sunroof, sirius radio, bluetooth, glowing speakers, loads of speakers, tons of airbags, a bit more roomy than my Honda was, built for your fun electronics, Ipod, 3 inputs, 6 cupholders(no joke!), 18" alloy wheels, Etc. Feels like an SUV, corners beautifully and is awesome in parking lots! I did want an SUV but the prices are just stupidly expensive! I recommend checking out a Kia Soul if your in the market, you will be surprised!

On a plushie side of things, I have lost my alot of my drive for making them. The feeling now comes at spurts and I have had to request no custom orders at this time. The custom orders seem to suck me dry of creativity. But I do have some new robot plushies for my shop soon. Things just haven't been the same since I can't make my monsters anymore. :(

Christmas is fast approaching and I have already started on my Christmas shopping. Legos! My boy still loves Legos and I do too. Here is a photo of the Christmas town we tried to build and my son has turned it into a pirate jail with bank robbers, an alien ship and Santa. Hehe!

We were at Toys R Us over the weekend and I was so happy to have found some Skelanimals. I didn't think I could get them here in Canada. They are skeletal plushies, weirdly but still cute! I bought this red one which is a puppy and a kitty keychain. I wish I could get car seat covers in Skelanimals and a window decal for my Kia Soul, but I don't want to chick out the vehicle too much since my manly hubby will drive it sometimes too.

Another change is my hair. I have took out the chunky highlights that I've had for the last couple of years and went with a dark chocolate brown/black with peek-a-boo blonde underneath. I like it different not frumpy.

Remember to wear your poppy proud this Remembrance Day! ♥

Puppy

2009-08-25T17:48:00.005-06:00

This little darling is our new puppy and our first ever. We had been looking for a puppy for our family for months, always ending up talking ourselves out of it over and over again. Then we saw this little cutie, a cross of a Shih-Tzu Chihuahua. It was a spur of the moment and we went for it. What a great choice! It now has been a month and she has fit right into our little family.

Its Been Awhile...

2009-07-21T22:28:00.004-06:00

Hi there, yes I'm still around. Just been busy with summer I guess.

The first week of July we built my son a clubhouse 6 ft tall with a high peek for a little second level. My son and his friends have been enjoying it. We still need to finish the 3 windows and door. The clubhouse is big enough to convert into a storage shed in the future. We painted it a shade lighter than our house and blends into the backyard beautifully. Pictures will soon follow.

The last 2 weeks my son was in swimming lessons and successfully past his Level 5. :)

We have not decided yet what we'll do for the rest of the summer but I'm sure we will do some camping soon.

On a sad note, today I was informed that my plushies are infringing on a large company who makes plushies. I'm very sad about this and had to remove all of my monsters from my shop. I have not been given a reason or what I'm infringing on. I have never copied and have always been careful that my plush doodle ideas are not the same as others. My monsters don't have fingers, have different size wonky eyes, hand stitched curved mouths, handstitched eyes, fabric patterned cotton hearts, stuffed with Ecofill and a body design that took me months to purfect that was not like any other plushie out there. If only I had my designs copyrighted I guess and I would have been safe from this happening. I'm just the little guy, a stay-at-home mom with a hobby that I love and which helped pull me out of a depression.

So whats going to happen to gush4plush you may ask...will...I will continue to make my owls, skeletons, birds, cats, dogs, poop and sasquatchs unless they end up as being a problem too. :(

All day I feel like I was kicked in the gut and I can't fight back or defend myself.

Anyways I will continue to love my craft and crafts. No one is going to stop me!

Slivers, Ants and Fish

2009-06-03T12:02:00.007-06:00

Sorry, its been a while since I blogged. The month of May is always a busy month for us to get things done that you can't get done in the winter. So we've have been working on our fence and have been digging out wood slivers from our dried up hands for the last 2 weeks. Now we can keep most of the neighbours loose garbage out of our yard, tree destroying wild jack rabbits and kids that don't belong to us, out! I really enjoyed building the fence and I love MY Black & Decker cordless drill!

Since we finished the fence, we are now searching for a puppy or dog for our family. So any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Little black ants!!! They are appearing to come through our bricked patio. I have ant traps out but I don't know if they actually work. Its our new garden battle for this year. Last year we had to get rid of bumble bees and mice that made a nests under our back steps in the dirt along the house foundation. Oh what fun! Not! Eek!

Next project is revitializing our fish tank stand. I have mentioned this probably a year ago and yup in never got done. Our 20 gallon fish tank has been housed in an old TV frame with 6 inch legs and is super sturdy. I love it! We just need to replace the top which opens and give it a fresh coat of paint (white).

The making of plushies has been on hold for the last couple of months with house painting, fence building and life... but I hope to get started on some new cuties in the next couple of weeks.

Over and Out! ♥

To Do Lists & More...

2009-05-13T09:38:00.006-06:00

Over the weekend I found a to do list from last year I wrote for my hubby and he did not believe me at first that it was from a year ago because the whole list is still relevent. We had quite the laugh Saturday morning about it.

He did get one thing crossed off this list this weekend, we painted most of the house except for the bedrooms. So that was my Mother's Day gift from him...I did do half the work though. For Mother's Day my son gave me this beautiful beaded necklace he made at school. It is the perfect size, heavy and has some gorgeous glass beads. See the picture below of the necklace and my new wall color. The color is called London Bridge, a soft grey with a hint of blue.

I rebel from the color beige, all the homes and new homes are beige galore. Once we rented a place that had beige everywhere, I ended up disliking it and feeling depressed with the color so much that we moved 3 months later. I never knew color could affect someone so much, maybe it was my subconscience feeling like the color is dirty? I'm such a clean freak... :P

So now lets talk plushies, hmmm...I don't know whats going on in the Etsy world since I've been so busy but it has been 24 days since I've had a sale. It is really strange? I've renewed more than I should, promoted, twittered, flickr'd, etc. I'm not sure what to do now and I'm feeling a bit of defeat. I have 30 plushies available and that is 10 more than I usually make available??? To view my plushies that are available please take a look, http://www.gush4plush.etsy.com/

Sadly, I've also had my first lost package. After over 150 packages mailed out, one has gotten lost or is taking an extended trip around the world, maybe even entertaining the US Customs officers and the funny thing is, it is a piece of Poop plushie. Wherever the Poop is I hope he has brought joy and smiles. :)

♥

Gnomes

2009-04-24T20:51:00.005-06:00

These two garden gnomes have watched over my rock garden for the last 5 years. They were badly weathered and had no color left on them so I decided to give them a paint job. I use acrylic paints and sealed them with Triple-Thick Cyrstal Clear Glaze.

I love my gnomes, they have something magical, whimsical about them and they give the little children something to "owww" and "ahhh" about when they walk by the house. Now I'm on the hunt for a 5-6 inch tall mushroom to add my rock garden this year and a fairy door.

♥

Pansies

2009-04-22T12:17:00.004-06:00

Yesturday my son found this little pansy viola flower growing in the grass in our front yard. The seed must have come from a pot of pansies I had near where the flower was found. This hardy little flower has sprouted quickly, just a 1 1/2 weeks ago we still had snow. My son placed this little pansy in a 1 inch tall mug with water for me, isn't it sweet?!!!
♥

100 Years Ago...

2009-04-20T10:51:00.006-06:00

100 years ago far, far away... my Grandmother was born, April 20, 1909. Born in Amsterdam, Holland she was the 7th child of ten children. Her father was a tram conductor that were pulled by horses, then later a ticket collector. Her mother was full of energy and good humour raising ten children, she was handy with tools and she learned to ride a bike in her fifties.

My Grandma was active in gymnastics, she lived through the war and as a single mother she immigrated with a daughter in 1949 to British Columbia, Canada along with a younger sister and her son. She remarried, owned an orchard in Keremeos, BC and had my mother and a son in her 40's. In the 70's after her husband passed and children moved on, she moved and lived in Penticton BC, always very close to her sister until she pass on in 2002 at the age of 93. She was very artistic, a neat freak and a worry wort. Unfortunately, there is not much history I have to pass on to my son and would have loved to know more about her life, the old country, war (I know she did not want to talk about that) but maybe I can track down old relatives for more info.

Left to right-me (I guess I was poutting or something), my little sister and my Grandmother at Fort Edmonton Park. When she would visit, we would take her to all the attractions in Edmonton.

I miss her!

She wanted to live to be 100 years old and in my heart she has done it!

Love S ♥

Giddy

2009-04-16T11:57:00.006-06:00

I feel giddy right now. I just got back from the post office and I mailed out my surprises. I hope the recipients are surprised and elated by this random act of giving. I recommend it to all Etsy sellers to once in a while send out a surprise, it makes you feel REALLY good!

♥

Chocolate, Games and Monsters

2009-04-14T10:22:00.019-06:00

It was a beautiful Easter weekend of great weather, chocolate and the snow had melted all away. I did my usual clean freaky thing and made 10 monsters over the weekend as the guys did yard work and played video games. They are currently working on Super Smash Bros. Brawlers for the Wii, unlocking certain characters and collecting trophies. I don't really know anything about it. :)

For Easter my son got this large solid chocolate and crispy Easter bunny. It had come from Walmart, made in Canada and I was impressed. It is made with real cocoa butter, no fatty oils, very few ingredients, the cost was cheap and very, very good!!! It beats the expensive chocolates that sometimes seem too simulated to be real chocolate and not very good. I hope everyone had a great Easter!

I have to say my blog seems really drab, hey? Just alot of blah blah blah. Sorry about that. I'm no writer that for sure but I'll try to add more monster roars and giggles for you all. :P

♥

"Giggle, Giggle"

Lost

2009-04-08T11:09:00.005-06:00

Lost, I'm not talking about the show, I've just been feeling a little lost lately. What to do, should I go out, what to clean, what to make, when to do this and that? When spring comes around, there seems to be so much to do. The thought is exhausting.

Today I have started on the front closet. Taking out the winter stuff, making piles of giveaways, laundry, throw out and keeps. Then going through the summer keeps or giveaways. I hope to see the back of the closet soon. :D

My new Teeny Tiny Plush Monsters are now available at gush4plush . Great for Blythe dolls, Barbie's, Legos, and even little green army men. The playing possibilities are endless with these teeny tiny plush monsters!

♥

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-23T12:10:00.006-06:00

This weekend was my son's birthday party here at the house. So we have been cleaning, spring cleaning the whole house, not for just the birthday but for ourselves, lights, vents, windows, walls, and every nook and cranny we could think of or notice. So after the party yesturday, I did not move, I didn't want to do anything. I wasn't sore or tired, just nothing! Watched some chick flicks that were on TV, such as Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Had some me time. :)

BUNNIES

The previous weekend was very productive with plushies, I had completed and listed 4 owls, 4 poops (oops, I still have 2 to list), and 6 pastel colored bunnies. Unfortunately, my views and statistics on my shop have dropped dramatically. I am wondering if it has something to do with the newly listed items that show up on Etsy's front page. They had changed it recently so that it moves/scrolls faster through and then no one really sees your new item? Hmm..?

Anyways, now that the house is spotless, no custom orders to be done, no appointments, no events, etc and now it is that time of year to do the taxes. I'm hoping I can get it all done today, I have everything ready, organized, and I just have to plug in the numbers. Now I have that Apprentice song in my head "money, money, monnhey! Monnhey!"

♥

Spring, where are you?

2009-03-16T08:57:00.006-06:00

We had a great weekend of warmer weather, melting snow and even erected a snow fort using a block maker. The snow was perfect, just the right stickiness and then the temperature dropped again and started snowing. Err! My husband now is itching to get back to making snow forts with our son since he got the hang of the block maker. Boys and their toys. LOL

This weekend in my Etsy shop I listed 4 sweet plush owls. There's an orange, pale yellow, light blue and my newest color a rich grey owl. I really like making these owls, they are the best birds in nature! Here's a pic of three of them and you can find them for sale at Gush4plush.

Lemony, Greystone, and Frosty the Owls

Please excuse the lighting of my pictures, we have been experiencing many cloudy days here and I try to get my plushie photos done in the best natural light possible.

Spring Break is just around the corner and we have already started on spring cleaning, outside and inside the house. It feels good to have things clean! Today I'm going to clean the walls but first I'm going for a cup of coffee to start my day. Cheers!

♥

Tree Hugger Plushies

2009-03-09T17:50:00.007-06:00

A wonderful person with a vision asked me if I could make certain plushies to go with a song.

Tree Hugger Plushies

I was really nervous and even scared to try to make a Turtle, I even declined to make it I think twice. But with her persistance, I caved in and somehow pulled it off. The set of plushies was not going to be complete without it. I even made 2 sets of wings for the Turtle until I was satisfied.

If your wondering about the Flower, he has a green afro. Please listen to the song...

These are plushies to go with a song called "Tree Hugger" by Kimya Dawson & Antsy Pants. You can listen to this cute song by clicking the link below...

http://www.playlist.com/searchbeta/tracks#tree%20hugger%20kimya%20DAWSON

Thank you R for putting up with me and letting me be apart of your vision.
♥

Surprise!!!

2009-03-02T09:36:00.007-07:00

I got a total surprise Saturday when I went to check my mailbox. I received this gorgeous cutie from Skunkboy Creatures.

When I saw the package and where it was from, I almost cried happy tears. I did get teary eyed here and there, I'm just floored that little me got something so sweet from someone I've never met, only through her blog. I totally never expected it. I'm always doing things for others and don't like getting things for myself, even getting birthday gifts I feel strange like I never deserve it. Okay, I'm weird, I know!

I LOVE Skunkboy Creatures blog and shop for her simplicity, style and her photos are fabulous, she is an inspiration of her hard work, detail and it certainly shows in each creature she makes. Oh, I have to mention the stitching on this owl is amazing!!!

The feelings I had received from receiving this surprise was just wonderful. So I have decided to start sending surprises as well. Because of Katie of Skunkboy Creatures, I too want to spread the joy, kindness, happy surprises to random people that read my blog. Look at the side of my blog for surprise instructions.

Please go take a look at Katie's shop Skunkboy Creatures you will fall in love with her creatures.

Eeekk! I just love this owl and now I need a name for it. If you have any names to suggest please leave me a comment.

♥ Spread the handmade love! ♥

Mini Monsters

2009-02-20T08:55:00.006-07:00

I'm feeling alot better today. My head is not hurting and no more aches and pains. Still have a stuffy nose and Sudafed should clear that up.

I've got the coffee brewing and I'm listing the last of the mini monsters that I made this morning and I'm going to get back to finishing some other plushies that I started. These mini monsters are awesome because you can clip them onto bags, purses, backpacks, rear view mirrors, etc., to show your love of aliens, monsters, plushies and cuteness. You can get yours for only $8USD!

TGIF! ♥

Head Cold

2009-02-19T09:12:00.005-07:00

It looks like I caught a head cold. My head hurts, runny nose, fever, achy and weak. Blah! I'm the only one in the house sick right now, I think I got it from my hubby. He was a little sick last week and that is very, very rare for him to get sick.

This cold has helped me get a push to make plushies. I get really out of it sometimes and just stare at my supplies, totally unmotivated. My husband says I'm not feeling rewarded enough, I'm not sure about that. I got a happy tear in my eye the other day when I got shop feedback from a customer that purchased plushies months ago. The amount of thank you's I get is phenomenal, I'm grateful for them and all the positive feedback, since I try so very hard when I'm packaging and making sure everything is perfect with their purchases.

Have you seen Gush4plush lately? There may be a gift in there for someone special and these plushies are guaranteed to get a smile.

Check this guy out, he is SO cute I'm surprise someone hasn't adopted him yet.

Magoopy the Dog

♥

So Sleepy

2009-02-10T11:53:00.003-07:00

I was waiting to pick up my son for lunch and I almost fell asleep. While I wait for him, I read or doodle plush ideas or make lists but right now I'm reading the Harry Potter series. I'm on the 3rd book now. I did not realize that I was that tired. I did have a rough weekend again with migraines, not as bad as the weekend before thank goodness!

I was able to accomplish adding a few plushies to my shop yesturday and this afternoon I'm going to make some more. I would love to nap, but I'm not the type. I only daytime napped when I was pregnant. I find I feel awful waking up from a daytime nap so its not worth it for me. I just need to get to bed earlier.

Here is a cutie I'm going to add today to my Gush4plush shop...

♥

Rosie's Munnys

2009-02-06T12:35:00.005-07:00

Ouch! $200 is too rich for me to buy one of Rosie O'Donnell Munnys right now. From her description I guess she was charging less money for them yesturday. Darnit!!! :(

I want to get a few of these now and try it for myself. They are cute even without any art on them. ♥

TGIF-FRIDAY!!!

2009-02-06T09:51:00.005-07:00

My husband could not get today off after all. :( So here I am talking to all of you again, the cyber world full of strangers. Its nice in its own way.

So today I'm keeping an eye on Rosie O'Donnell etsy shop which she is raising money for her Rosie's Broadway Kids Organization. I found her shop through the forums yesturday and she was sold out on these cute Munny guys and I guess later she list a whole bunch and they are all sold too. I don't know if I can afford it, but I'd love one. Rosie's designs on them are cool.

I'm going to get creative, start a load of laundry and pour myself a second cup of coffee.

♥

I did it!!!

2009-02-05T10:34:00.003-07:00

I did it, I took the plunge and opened a new shop on ArtFire. It didn't take me too long to figure out a name that works for everything that I want to make or sell. Gush4plush is too defined to plushies.

I will announce the name once I'm finished setting it up on Etsy as well. I've got to work on a Banner again....where did I put my notes on how to do that? I also need to figure out how ArtFire works too?

Dear Diary,

My husband is trying to get tomorrow off work to spend the day with me. I hope he can. ♥ We need to plan a birthday party for our son and it is not that easy for us. Our poor son has only been invited to 1 party in the last 4 years and last week his feelings were hurt when a boy started to handout invites and my son was not invited. He has even been playing with this boy and gets along with everyone but I think it is the parents. They have this idea that my son is bad because when he was younger, he was impulsive and would hurt classmates thinking he was being funny. Our son has gotten over that and has not been in trouble for about a year now but it has been a long road for him to gain the trust of his classmates again. "sniff" teary eyed. It is just not fair sometimes. Trying to protect your kids and desperately want them happy all the time is a ton of work, emotionally and physically. Like they say there is no kid manual when they are born.

I grow to dislike the other parents more and more each year when it comes to birthday parties. It would be alot better if school birthdays were banned. I just hope that some of you parents out there think about the kids you don't invite to your childs birthday party and how that makes them feel when they are taunted by the kids that are invited.

Well, enough of this CRAP!

It is lunchtime and I gotta run.

COffeE!!!

2009-02-04T09:17:00.006-07:00

Hey, I was just waiting for my coffee to be done brewing and I was thinking why is coffee so popular? I did not start drinking coffee until I was 27, when my husband swung into a Tim Horton's drive through on the way to work and got me a coffee. Over time I have figured out which is my favorite and that is a Extra Large Triple,Triple Tim Horton's coffee. That means 3 sugar, 3 creams. And yup I am paying for it with a little tiny tire roll around my waist. Not noticable, but I know its there. LOL I wonder what my cholesterol is like now. ?

I have tried Starbucks and I now stay away. It is too expensive here and I don't know what they do with their coffees but I end up with a headache everytime I've drank one. A grande caramel machiado with whip cream and caramel on top. It is really good but not worth it for me.

I think my coffee is done. I make coffee at home now to save money and I think I have prefected it to taste like a Timmy's coffee. We use traditional Nabob and I think the main trick is the cream, 18%. This week I was trying half and half cream and that is like water, just doesn't cut it, no creamy taste.

Today I'm working on a large order to go into a new shop opening up in Montana. I'm almost done, I've been working like a bee since order was kind of finalized. I'm quite happy about it because it got my adreline going and I am most happy when making things. I should get back to it now that I have some coffee running through my veins.

I also wanted to mention a wonderful feature of my Valentine Cat Toys on A Thyme To Bee Comforted's blog yesturday. It is full of great Valentine items, please go check it out and comment.

♥

Another Dark Winter Day

2009-02-02T13:40:00.002-07:00

I guess it is Groundhog Day today and I have not heard what his forecast is yet but it is sure dark outside, so I doubt he'd see his shadow today.

Do you ever have one of those days where you say to yourself "I gotta go do this and get this done and I want to get that done too"? But the gears in your body just won't move into that get going gear. I'm just having one of those days. Errr...

I do have to move my butt now and head to the post office, then off to an appointment. I feel like this week is going to be busy.

I gotta run. ♥

A New Month

2009-02-01T11:17:00.005-07:00

Hey readers! I'm writing to you after a rough day yesturday, I suffered for 10 hours a wicked migraine headache. Then I woke up at 5am this morning with another one on the other side of my head. What a waste to a weekend, but I'm good right now, just have to be careful with my brain. Unfortunately, no tylenol or acetamediphen works and the doctors here don't like to prescribe anything to something they can't see.

So what is going on with this CPSIA law? Now it seems to be prosponed for a year?

I have been looking into ArtFire, a new handmade site similar to Etsy, is it any good? I have been toying with the idea of a new shop and shop name. I just need to feel better and get supplies to start working on it. The whole idea of a new shop is as exciting as when I started Gush4plush.

Speaking of Gush4plush , I have been featured on a sweet blog of Lowell and Son and she did a wonderful job and kept it simple. I love simple!. Their Etsy shop Lowellandson.etsy.com is so sweet too, full of super cute kitties.

Snowy White Monster Kitty (aka Stella) - by LowellandSon

I hope you all check out her shop.

Much Loves ♥

Childhood Memories

2009-01-27T22:19:00.005-07:00

I am so happy now, today I bought the Disney movie Mary Poppins. I tried to rent it a couple of weeks ago but the case was empty when we got to the til and there wasn't another one o rent. Then I found out the 45th Anniversary Edition was going to be out today to purchase and I marked it on my calendar.

I grew up watching Disney every sunday night and I think once a year they use to air Mary Poppins. Oh I loved that movie when I was a little girl. Now I get to let my son experience the music and magic of Mary Poppins. I don't know if it would have the same effect since times have change with movie technology but whatever, I know I'll love it. So tomorrow night its pizza and Mary Poppins. :)

Today my Etsy shop Gush4plush has gotten more views, alot of emails, notice of some blog features and a possible large order. I have probably reached a email record today for my shop but no sales. I am trying to get a screen shot of a Etsy treasury I'm in but the Thumbalizer is not working for me right now but here is the link, just click Treasury. (Sorry, the Treasury page is now unavailable).

After a busy online day, I'm going for a hot shower, a bowl of hot oatmeal and I'm off to bed. G' night and sleep tight. ♥

PS. It's snowing.

Winter Darkness

2009-01-27T09:54:00.003-07:00

Winter darkness can totally get me down near the end of the season. I get a bit depressed here and there and today is one of those days of winter blues.

Yesturday I treated myself to a haircut, highlights and color. Now my hair is a funky dark chocolate with chunky blonde streaks and my hair is at armpit length. My husband did not notice right away but later he said I look younger and I think he's right. :)

Late afternoon my son had his first 2 fillings done on some baby teeth. We knew about the cavities months ago but we were hoping the baby teeth would fall out soon but nope. So it was time to fix them. Having your child go through something like that has always worried me. I have heard kids freak out, not open their mouth, tossing their head back and forth, like the dentist is the worst person in the world. But what a relief, my son was so calm and cool about it and did not want me to come in. I watched from the waiting room through the glass doors when it was time for the freezing and the dentist was giving me a thumbs up. My son was better at handling it than I was when I was his age and it was all done in about 1/2 hour. :B

I'm going to try and style my hair, then clean a bit before I get my son for lunch.

Cheerio!

A Feature

2009-01-25T09:14:00.006-07:00

Good morning everyone! I wanted to give you a link to a wonderful blog called New York Memos that is featuring Valentine fun items. I was contacted last night that my Little Lovestruck Monster was chosen to be featured amongst other great Valentine items, sometime next week. This is such a honor to be even considered, people who take the time to feature items and write a bit of an article on them are a blessing. I don't do features myself because I'm not a writer, have little time to blog or even make my creations sometimes. Life can get very busy.

Little Lovestruck Monster

If you wanted to purchase this cutie, you can find him in my Etsy shop, Gush4plush for only $12.

Has anyone discovered Art Fire ? A new Buy Handmade site, which I'm looking into today. I see many other Etsy sellers on there but no sales so far.
♥

The Washing Machine Update

2009-01-23T14:13:00.007-07:00

Ahhh...my idea worked. I just switched the hot and cold hoses around and now cold water is coming out to wash my clothes. It is a great temporary fix for now. Men can be so clueless, the housewife, stay-at-home mom to the rescue. LOL

With this CPSIA affecting my shop from selling to the US, I have decided to venture to the flea markets, farmers markets, and craft shows. But first, I'm going to see if I can get my soon to be sister-in-law is interested in joining me. My husband has not been to helpful in pushing me forward in this venture. Again, MEN?

♥

Handy

2009-01-23T10:02:00.005-07:00

Hey everyone, TGIF!!! I was about to start blogging until I was rudely interrupted by my new neighbours. They have been playing loud music before 11am all week for about 1-2 hrs a day. I like my piece and quiet. :/

Anyways, onto my topic my washing machine. Our machine is 5 years old now and before Christmas the water temperature switch decide to go. So when you want cold water, nothing happens. Switch it to warm and you get HOT water. So we picked up a book at the library and the switch is easy to replace, just need the part. Money is tight right now. Plus with the expense of washing everything in hot water is starting to show on the gas bill.

So last night I thought I'll try to switch the hoses around, why not? I think it would work. So I am going to try it with my new tool set called Home Repair Tool Set for Dummies. LOL I'm not a dummy but it is an awesome tool set for me and it is mine, not my husbands.

for DUMMIES

I should get to it and I'll update you about my temporary repair later. :)

Don't forget to check out my new Valentine's items in my Etsy shop, Gush4plush. ♥

Warm Homemade Apple Pie

2009-01-22T09:10:00.002-07:00

I made a Apple Pie last night, and oh was it GOOD!!! I should make them more often because a piece of good pie makes everything feel better.

Today the temperature has dropped again to -19C, the wind was blowing all night creating unwanted racket and a little unwanted snow.

Oh before I forget again, I wanted to let everyone know that 1 year ago yesturday I started setting up my shop on Etsy and yesturday I also hit 1200 hearts. Quite the milestone, I never imagine I'd make it this far. I should stop blogging and finish my Valentine's listings for all to see in my Gush4plush Etsy shop.

Much Loves ♥

Friendship

2009-01-21T09:23:00.003-07:00

Here is a link to CBS News about a story of Friendship. Must See!!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4696315n

When I first saw it I was moved and then I began to think about my friendships. My best friend is my husband. I don't really have any other friends, I have had girlfriends here and there but something happens that would desolve the friendships. It doesn't usually bother me, then there is less drama in my life. I like things calm and simple. In the last couple of years the most hurtful thing that happened to a good friendship is that my husband and I were lied to.

I would love to have new couple friends that have a child about the same age as my son, who like to have get togethers for dinner, movie and games, occasional drinking but not on every occasion and who don't do drugs. Is it too much to ask for? People are just to busy these days for friendships.

Many, many people have their mother as a best friend too, but I unfortunately do not. Due to mental illness my mother is not the mother I grew up with and lives far away. I try to visit once a year but it has become more stressful as the years go by. Sometimes I feel like an orphan.

I am going to stop blogging before my eyes become a waterfall of tears. Thanks for listening. :)

Trickling

2009-01-20T20:54:00.013-07:00

The snow is melting and the water is trickling all around. I can see green grass poking along the walkways but how long will this last before another pile of snow blows in?

I have been working on a couple of Lovestruck Monsters for Valentine's Day and some more awesome Valentine Catnip Cat Toys too. My kitty goes stupid when I crack the catnip bag open and I end up quickly making him a new toy to keep him away. LOL

I am really excited for my son, in a couple of weeks he starts a Children's Art Class that runs every Saturday for 2 months. He loves art and crafting in school or at Scouts, I just wish he loved to help make supper or bake something delicious too. :) The art class offers painting, printmaking, sculpture, drawing and clay. I wish I got to go too. LOL

Also, I have Poop for sale, Plush Poop. :P

See my Etsy shop http://www.gush4plush.etsy.com/ for poop, monsters and more.

Blogging

2009-01-09T09:45:00.007-07:00

Whoops! I did not realize it has been almost a month since I blogged. I'm terribly sorry for those who like to be updated about Gush4plush.

I hope everyone's Christmas was as relaxing and joyous as ours was. We vegged out, enjoyed movies, games, and stayed warm as much as possible. We are having quite the winter freeze up here in Canada, funny thing is I finally invested into my first pair of adult winter boots. Really!!! And I'm so happy that I did, I'm throwing fashion out the window and I'm keeping my tootsies warm.

Happy Monsters

I have started adding new happy monsters to my shop. They are so silly, happy looking and super duper soft and squishy.

I have also started making more Catnip toys from my fleece scraps. I hate to throw my scraps out and I needed to start making something with them. My cat loves his catnip toys that I have made him, he goes silly over them. I use Organic Catnip and I think my cat toys are way better than the ones in the pet stores because I don't get any reaction from my cat with store bought cat toys. I just love the colors.

Organic Catnip Cat Toys

My New Years resolutions:

-eat a little better

-don't be afraid

-get a job???

-get a tattoo, LOL

These are some of the things I can think of. I'm going to now list another plushie or catnip toy, then I'm off to start some laundry.

Have a great day and cozy warm. ♥

100 Sales

2008-12-17T10:11:00.004-07:00

Hello everyone! I have now achieved 100 sales in my Etsy shop Gush4plush on Monday. I was quite surprised how quickly it happened, I was estimating that I would break 100 sales in February 2009 but the last couple of weeks have been busy.

Unfortunately, the next day I received my first non-payer and had to cancel the sale. I also have 2 more sales that I may have to cancel as well. So sad. :( I wish people would really take the time the make a valid decision on purchasing before they clicky away, take the item out of the shop and into their virtual shopping cart than making more work for the seller who has to cancel the sale in Etsy and Paypal and relist the item. I really appreciate any honesty from buyers who can communicate with me that they made a purchase mistake.

Burr! it is cold up here in Canada, today in Edmonton it is a -17C, feels like -24C with the wind or in Fahrenheit its 1F, feels like -11F with the wind. When my son gets home from school today, he wants to start on a snow fort. I hope it warms up a little first to help the snow get more sticky. I guess I'll have to get my snow pants out to help. :) The school Christmas concert is tomorrow and after friday my son is on his Christmas Break. Woohoo, I'll get to sleep in on some weekdays. I really dislike mornings.

I'm going to turn up my heat, get another cup of coffee and finish up my last custom order for the year. I stopped accepting custom requests so I can spend time with my family over the Christmas Holidays and I also need time to re-stock my shop as it now only has 2 plushies (a cat and an owl) left in it.

PS. Maybe you can give them a new home. :D You can find them in my Etsy shop Gush4plush.

Bad news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-08T17:29:00.005-07:00

Today I found out that there is a law under CPSIA that has been passed in the states that all children products require testing of lead even on fabrics and need to be certified, anything that is possibly for a 12 years old or under children. This is all due to the lead found in products coming from China. See here:

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

There are a world wind of Etsy forums talking about this but nothing regarding Canadians. I wonder if I still can use Etsy to sell my plushies but ONLY to Canadians?

This is all effective starting Feb.9, 2009. Alot of shops, companies and small home-based businesses will have to go out of business. Apparently to have your wares tested it is starting at $350 per item. This is crazy!!!

I'm flabbergastted!!!!!

I do understand the importance in this new law which is to protect our children but I think it is going a little too far.

Holidays

2008-12-08T12:29:00.004-07:00

The Christmas season is fast approaching and we finally got some snow on December 1. There are more neighbours this year that have decorated their homes with Christmas lights and its beautiful. Usually it is just us on the one side of the street but now there are 4 homes that are in the spirit. I even bought some more lights that I need to put outside, Candy Cane lights.

It has been a while since I updated my blog because there really hasn't been anything interesting to write about. I've been a little sick with 2 colds, alot of running to the post office, some Christmas shopping and of course cleaning. I've also been daydreaming of re-vamping my Etsy shop a little with a new banner, avatar and some new plushies.

Happy Holidays!!

1000 Etsy Hearts ♥

2008-11-04T09:07:00.004-07:00

WooHoo!!! I have earned 1000 hearts on Etsy today. I started listing items on Etsy Feb.10/08 thats almost 8 months ago. I guess this shows that my little plush shop is worthy and accepted by the Etsy Community. Thank you! ♥

Halloween was great this year. We had no snow, no wind and we had over 100 trick or treaters at the door this year. We handed out Play-Doh and that seemed to be a hit for the kids.

Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year. I think it is the decorating, lights and food that does it for me but not the extra pounds. LOL

Halloween Weekend

2008-10-30T08:59:00.006-06:00

I'm having a little Halloween Party tomorrow night and I have been busy cleaning, getting the house ready for it. One crappy thing is my washing machine died and the repair guy I usually use is busy until next Wednesday, so I'm off to the laundry mat today.

I think I'm managing my time poorly because I've been too busy to make plushies for my Etsy shop, Gush4plush. I am behind in my Christmas shopping this year too. Hummm...

Here is a cleaning tip I saw on 'How Clean is Your House' with the two british ladies (Kim & Aggie) I found useful. If you have any glue residue left from tape, you can remove it with nail polish remover but do not use on wood, or on painted surfaces. I used this tip on glass and on my new microwave because the packaging it came in left 4 sticky tape marks on the front, I've had not been able to get it off for months. But now it is almost gone. :D

Tonight we are carving our pumpkins. I was thinking of drawing a pattern of a Lego Star Wars character for my son. He just loves the game and his legos.

I'm off to pour myself a cup of coffee. Have a great Halloween weekend. !!

Halloween Prep

2008-10-20T09:05:00.009-06:00

Yesturday we went to two Super Flea Markets. We had a good time, my husband got his ears candled for the first time because his ears have been bothering him. His ears feel alot better now. My son hunts for Garfield stuff and Hot Wheels cars, he got both. I love going for the pre-owned movies because they can be so cheap. I found Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and now I'm hunting for the Nightmare Before Christmas.

That reminds me, for Halloween I'm going to be a Bride of Darkness, I guess that is the same as a Corpse Bride. :D My son is going as Indiana Jones. I've been hunting for a small faux leather jacket from the thrift stores but no luck. I had found a leather one but they wanted $60 for it. Ouch! I coffee stained a white shirt for him and he has the hat, wip and fake gun. I am going to make the field bag for him and gun holster. For our cat we were thinking of a big black bow tie but he would look awesome as Puss in Boots. He has the big eyes like Puss. I know I'll never get that kind of costume on him but its a cool thought. lol

This morning this cat of ours is burning off some energy by meowing, galloping around, jumping from window to window and testing me by attemping to scratch up my carpet stairs. Eerrr! He knows better. But usually he is one big baby, a cuddle bug.

There is no snow in Edmonton, Alberta yet, we are all hoping the snow holds off until after Halloween. It has been cold and today is very windy, I have also come down with a cold and I feel like I should be in bed but I have some running around to do.

Motivation

2008-10-08T09:52:00.003-06:00

How does one stay motivated? After working on a few large orders last month I now feel tired of making plushies. What to do?

I had to remove my Gush4plush Facebook page and profile after some rude people left profanity and crude content all over my Facebook business page. I did not have time to work on it or update it and I also removed Gush4plush from MySpace. I had no time for MySpace too and I could never figure out how to personalize it. My favorite sites to use is my Blogger and Flickr. Very easy to use, simple and seems friendly.

An update on the donating, I donated winter coats, and clothing to the homeless and everything else went to Value Village a large thrift store. The money earned at Value Village goes to many community charities. I am still finding things to give away.

Have a good day. :D

Frost

2008-09-24T09:01:00.010-06:00

This chilly morning was the first morning I had to scrap frost off my car windows. Good thing I never put my window scrapers away. Burr!

I wanted to thank some people in the Etsy community for their suggestions, requests and communications about plushies. I don't get to collaborate with other creative people and this has helped get my creative juices swirling with some new ideas.

Thank you ♥

A neighbour friend had gotten a new iPhone and I got excited about making a holder/case for it to protect the screen from scratches. I've never made one before, this was like my prototype. I had trouble with the button hole and I pulled the stitches out about 5 times. LOL

A Monday

2008-09-15T09:35:00.006-06:00

Hello blog world! It is a quite day for me here in the web world, no emails, messages, comments, no Etsy sales, and no facebook updates to look at, it is nice to have that once and a while.

Today, I would like to finish a plush spotted kitty and an owl someone has requested for next month.

My other goal for the day is to gather some stuff from around the house to give away. I have tried selling some stuff on Kijiji.com but no takers and it is nice stuff! I want to also give away some clothes to the Womens Shelter and old winter coats, mittens and blankets to the Bissell Centre (a inner city shelter for the homeless). Yup that's what I'm going to do! I think it would be a good idea to have my son help me with this. I'll keep you updated!

♥

Birds Chirping

2008-09-10T09:42:00.006-06:00

Another beautiful crisp morning and the birds are chirping outside. The bright morning sun is shining through my windows to warm the house up. I have vowed not to turn my furnace on until October 1st to save a little money. We are supposed to have summer like temperatures by this weekend which is great then I can clean up the summer flowers that are starting to wilt and thin out and give the lawn a last mow before the snow comes.

I have just finished my first large order of plushies for a store in Pasadena, California USA. The store is called Jumping Jellyfish A Children's Boutique. How exciting, now people can go and check my plushies out in person if you live in the Pasadena area. Here is a photo of the plushies before they were boxed up for their trip.

It was fun and tough making a large quantity and have a deadline.

Now that I have finished this order, I have to now attend to my house today and CLEAN. I know my home is clean but just a little thing here and there can just BUG me. That's the clean freak in me talking. :D

I'm off to clean and organize my plushie supplies. Have a FABULOUS day!!

New School Year

2008-09-03T15:17:00.003-06:00

The new school year has started off smoothly for my son, he is very happy to be back at school with some of the same classmates for the last 3 years. It makes me happy that he is happy.

Busy, busy!!

September has just started and I have a slew of plushies I'm working on for an order. So far everything is going great, all stocked up on fleece, and the schedule in my head is working out perfectly. As some would say, "knock on wood".

Back to School

2008-09-01T12:38:00.005-06:00

Woo! It has been a month since I blog about anything.

The summer is now over once again and my son is going back to school tomorrow. I'm going to miss him terribly. Ever year I find I feel a little sad and lonely for a while but this year I think it will be different. I am preparing to make a whole whack of plushies and I'm looking forward to no interruptions. Unless the school principal starts calling. LOL lol.

Over the last month I've been able to get into reading again after many years of being mommy busy and too tired to read a novel.

Fall is approaching, my absolute favorite time of year. Leaves changing color, crisp fresh air, sweaters, mittens, hayrides, warmth, homemade apple pies, pumpkins, etc. ♥

New Creation!

2008-08-01T20:28:00.007-06:00

Rollie the Sasquatch Thing

Here is Rollie the Sasquatch Thing, available in my shop now at Gush4plush on Etsy.com. I hope you like him.

Today it is August 1 and it feels like fall is approaching. I love the fall season, the colours, the coziness, scarves, pumpkins and a good Tim Horton's coffee. Regarding the seasons, I have started noticing topics in the Etsy forums about when to start holiday inventory, prep for a possible busy season of gift giving. Hmmm...so it got me thinking that this is my first Christmas on Etsy. What to do? Where to start? I think first, is to get organized again. Streamline the packaging and mail outs and I guess it is time to figure out how to use Paypal's shipping option, to save time at the post office.

I think I'm off to make a list of things to do for my shop.

Be Handmade Happy Everyone!

Summer is Half Over

2008-07-28T12:23:00.004-06:00

The summer is almost half over. I hope I have made my son's summer memorable and I still have more plans for August.

This weekend was very craft productive. I got 15 plushies made and I now just need to stuff them. My husband kept my son busy for the weekend and my son knew I wanted to get some work done, that was great. :D

I even had time to read up on some wonderful Etsy blogs and discovered a new one by Blossom Hill Cottons. She has a beautiful home, family, place to create, and gorgeous photos. After reading her blog I'm now in the mood for shabby chic stuff and thrift shopping, something I love to do and wish I can do more of it.

Off to go thrift shopping.

Where is Gush?

2008-07-12T08:31:00.006-06:00

Hello everyone, on this beautiful day in July.

I have been SO busy for the last month with baseball games, practice and the ending of a successful school year for my son. My first ever garage is now completed. Yeah! :D In June we had to rip our back steps off due to bees and mice. The steps were kind of temporary anyways and knew we were going to eventually need to redo them. That is what we started this weekend, bought all of the supplies and re-leveling our brick patio too. I also got back from a week and a half of holidays through the beautiful Rocky Mountains and down to the Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada.

Here is a photo of a beautiful waterfall at Crazy Creek Suspension Bridge. The air was so fresh and what a beautiful sight to see.

Now that it is summer vacation time and my son is home full time, I'm having trouble scheduling time to create plushies. It may be a while until I can really get back into it. Don't be afraid to ask for custom plushies, I could always squeeze time in for that to make someone happy.

Business Cards

2008-06-10T14:53:00.003-06:00

I have just made these business cards myself. I see a few minor errors, which I'm going to correct. Not bad for my first time making them. It is way better than writing on cardboard or getting some company to make them for you at a large cost.

What do you think? Any suggestions would be great. I only printed 10 cards for now so I have no regrets. I'm thinking I better change my Etsy avatar and the main picture on the card, since 2 of the plushies featured have been sold.

Mommy duty calls, and I'm off....

100 Hearts in 2 Weeks

2008-06-04T11:06:00.005-06:00

Hey everyone, another mile stone. I have reached 700 Etsy hearts. Exactly 2 weeks ago I was writing here about reaching 600 hearts what a quick jump. I also have noticed that my blog view counter jumped drastically last week with approximately 150 views. I wonder if my blog was featured somewhere? I goggled myself and could not find anything relating to that. ?

I want to say a big "thank you" for the ♥'s everyone.

I gotta run now and pick up my boy for lunch.

Much loves. ☺

Sales

2008-06-02T12:01:00.003-06:00

What a surprising weekend I had. I had 7 sales in 3 days, all wonderful sweet and great customers. Trip the Monster finally has found a new home. He is located front and centre in my Etsy avatar. I guess it is time to make an appearance change to my avatar on Etsy. Hmmm...

It was another busy family weekend too. My son who is 8 years old, had his first baseball rally and won the Golden Glove Trophy for catching the ball after the batter hit it and he was out. His team tied for First Place overall.

School is starting to wind down and my son is bringing home handfuls of his art he has created over the year. I have started making scrapbooks for each grade as a neat keepsake. I started doing this because I had a bin and 1/2 full of Kindergarten stuff and it was a waste to have it hiding in a bin, so I weeded through the stuff, organized it, added the class photo, and other photos and now it is something he can look back on.

Cute and Clean

2008-05-25T21:32:00.006-06:00

Mudd the Cat

Mudd is one of the plushies I've been working on and is now available in my shop Gush4plush. I stayed up late to get them stuffed and went on a cleaning frenzy until 2am.

I feel good when everything is clean and tidy. It is stressful for me when it is not up to my standards and someone comes over. I sometimes clean around them until I'm satified. Yup, I'm a clean freak!

Hearts

2008-05-21T21:00:00.005-06:00

Today I have received 600 hearts from fellow Etsians since I opened my Etsy shop officially Feb. 10, 2008. I think that is a pretty good achievement. It is nice to see that so many people dig my plushies and maybe appreciate the cuteness I'm striving for. I was able to get a snap shot to show you all.

Happy Victoria Day!!

2008-05-18T23:02:00.004-06:00

It is the May long weekend here and I just helped shingle our new garage for the last 6 hours. I hammered my thumb 3 times, and got 2 hammer blisters. I'm hurting a little. I hope to get to my plushies soon, I worked on them a little yesturday before I helped put some tar paper up on the wall sheeting.

It is just past 11 pm and my 8 year old is entertaining the family with the Wii, Wii Play game. I married into a great family. They have been absolutely amazing in helping us with this garage this weekend. Sun burns, achy backs, and sore muscles and they still come back the next day to help.

Keep your eyes out for new plushies coming soon at Gush4plush.

One Thousand

2008-05-12T10:22:00.005-06:00

My blog has just recorded 1000 hits as per my view counter. Woohoo!! I'm WAVING at you all and thank you for coming to read my blog and witness my Etsy journey, the up and downs.

Today we have a garage package being delivered finally !! Now we can finish off the basement and finish my craft room. :D

With this garage package, I'm a prisoner for the week to keep an eye on it, so no one comes and swipes parts of our garage. It will be completed this May long weekend. Crossing my fingers !! I also hope the rain stays away for this project, so far the weather is looking great.

As for my plushies, they are still waiting to be sewn together, stuffed and be brought to life. I've just been so busy. The time I'm spending on here I probably could get one done. Hmmm...

Regarding the promoting, I've backed off quite a bit and it has been feeling good. I'm feeling more accomplished and satisfied with my Etsy shop these days. I now need to start looking for some fabric labels for my plushies and I need a permenant logo made up too. I need to also look into a copyright for my plushies before some nasty person swipes my designs, my style of plushie. That would just be terrible after all the hard work.

Have a wonderful day everyone, get out and enjoy the sun. :D

Sports Season

2008-05-08T09:07:00.005-06:00

Baseball is my son's choice this year. And what a schedule! My calendar for the month of May is packed with Baseball games, practices, big house projects, appointments, etc. I have 7 plushies waiting to get sewn together and this blog to update. There just is not enough time in the day to get everything done. I need that super human strength and energy to keep going.

I would like to share with you, one plushie that made his appearance in my shop and was quickly adopted and is happily heading to his new home. Isn't he cute!! Meatball was my favorite from the batch of cuties I had made that weekend. He's brother Bugsy is in my shop waiting for a new home now, go check him out at Gush4plush on Etsy.com

Meatball the Monster

Promoting

2008-04-30T10:55:00.002-06:00

This morning I decided to promote my shop in the forums for a couple hours featuring lower prices and buy before they disappear. No one was interested today.

So tomorrow is a new month and I will be deleting some items to have a consistant look in my shop. And I was hoping to start listing today but the dark weather here is horrible for pictures. We are under a very dark cloud, and its raining today.

On the right hand side of my blog, I have added a TizMe picture of myself. Now you can have a little idea of what I look like as a cartoon. LOL

I've got to go and fix lunch. Have a great creating day fellow Etsians!

My First Poll Results

2008-04-27T20:43:00.005-06:00

My poll "Which Gush4plush characters do you like the most?" The results were surprising to me, 64% voted for the monsters and 23% for owls. I find it surprising because only a couple of monsters have been adopted.

The month of May is going to be full of change, in my shop and around my home. The sports season is starting up once the snow has melted away again and it is going to be busy, busy until school is out for the summer.

Oh that reminds me, I need to plan out our summer. Anyone else got some great plans for summer break?

I look forward to sleeping in the most. LOL

All better!

2008-04-25T13:56:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone, thank you to those for the birthday wishes. ♥ I feel much better today.

Yesturday afternoon I went back to the dentist and I had to get numbed again. :( There was no infection but it was a piece of the wood wedge he had used when he did the filling on Tuesday. It had broke apart when it was removed and piece got left behind and stuck deep into my gums. I recommended he get plastic wedges that won't fall apart and have this happen again. I've never even heard of a wood wedge before, even with all the dental work I've have over the years.

Now on to Gush4plush business, I have lowered prices on my plushies to empty out my inventory for new plushies that are almost ready to list. They still have to go for a photo shoot and an interview for their descriptions in Etsy. :D

This is one of the new plushies sitting here on a shelf beside an owl I recently found at a thrift shop. I could not resist it. And yes those are fake flowers in the white pots. I kill all my indoor plants but I grow great tomatoes.

So check out my SALE at gush4plush on Etsy. Get them before their gone or before I delete their listings.

Oouch!

2008-04-24T10:26:00.002-06:00

I am hurting today and it's my birthday. My tooth may now be infected and I'm heading back to the dentist.

I did get some gush4plush work done and have cut some fleece for new plushies. I should get back to them and give them eyes now so they can see.

Hopefully, I'm in less pain later.

Yuck

2008-04-23T09:35:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone,

I'm feeling just blah, yuck today. I had to see the dentist yesturday, a tooth was fractured and missing a piece so I got that fixed. It is still a bit bothersome today. And tomorrow is my birthday. Maybe I'm feeling the number starting to flip to be another year older. ?

I started drawing up some new ideas for plushies last night, and I would like to get started on that today, but I think I need more coffee, caffeine first.

In my previous post I had mentioned about the weather. Today is going to be nice. The wind and snow has stopped and it is going to be a slush melting mess for the next couple of days. Hopefully it is really nice on May 3, as we have a wedding to attend.

I'm off for some more delicious coffee and I'm going to get my supplies out to create. :D

A Blizzard of Creativity

2008-04-21T13:51:00.008-06:00

Hehe, we are experiencing a snow blizzard for the last few days and it is still snowing. Last weekend it was nice enough to wear shorts and all the snow had melted away. This is depressing.

The snow kept me inside this weekend and I was able to complete a custom request plushie, an alligator.

Isn't this cute!! My son named him Spike and he loves ice cream.

So now what is next from gush4plush ? Hmmm... I'm not sure ? Any requests ? LOL

I've been watching the Alchemy to see what people are requesting, what do buyers want, what do they need....?

Today I went into Treasury West at the perfect time and got myself a treasury. I was NOT prepared for it and it took me an hour to complete. I called it Noodle because at the time I was making Lipton Noodles for my son for lunch and the yellow color helped start me off on my choices for this treasury.

Wednesday Hoot Day

2008-04-16T09:16:00.007-06:00

Wow, it has already been a week since I posted anything on my blog. I have been taking a break but joined in a few forums in Etsy though and looked at some other Etsy blogs. No need to worry, I have not given up on Etsy and this is what I started yesturday. A flock of owls.

You can see my buttons, I have them stored in a greenish old glass cookie jar made in Italy, has a cork top.

I think I'm going to add my first poll question to my blog. I'm curious on what do viewers like the most in my Etsy shop gush4plush, or what should I concentrate on making ? Please help, I need some advice. I don't want to waste my time on making items that people are really not interested in.

The Treasury That Made Front Page by Yaelfran

2008-04-10T22:31:00.004-06:00

The treasury that I was featured in had not expired yet. Here is a snap shot of the treasury west that made front page. What beautiful colors and what fun items. :D

Thank you Yaelfran, much loves!!

Almost the Weekend

2008-04-10T10:20:00.004-06:00

Woo, what a morning. I made it to front page on Etsy!!! But it looks like my item was not on there for long because my item sold. My shop views did not really change and I got one heart overnight. It is still really cool though, but I missed it and did not get a snap shot of the page. :(

This was the item that made front page.

Teal Cyclops Plush Mini

Anyone else tired?

2008-04-09T11:08:00.002-06:00

I think I'm going to take the rest of the week off from promoting and creating. I'm quite tired and need a break. Do some cleaning thats falling behind and more organizing of time. And catch up on sleep.

I love Etsy but the forums and promoting is so time consuming. And sitting at the computer for long periods of time hurts the butt. LOL

Don't worry I'll still be around, just not as much for the next few days. :D

A Request

2008-04-07T12:51:00.008-06:00

I had a request to create something I've never made before. I surprised myself beyond what I thought I could do with this request. It was to make a little backpack for one of the plushies to wear. I made it with soft purple fleece, and baby soft cotton, lined it and put a little label on the inside. The backpack is 4 by 4 1/2 inches.

Those who read the previous blog entry, I did get my sewing machine to work again. Just vacuumed it out and waa laa.

Getting Organized

2008-04-05T21:56:00.006-06:00

Spring is suppose to be here. The snow was almost completely gone and guess what, it snowed all night last night. Good thing the shovel was still by the door. The ground was warm enough that the roads and sidewalks melted away by late afternoon.

Spring means spring cleaning, for some people anyways. I started to organize my Etsy stuff, Etsy bills, supply receipts, listing info, etc. all into this gorgeous filing case. Today I picked up a huge pack of Sharpies at Costco for cheap. Eeee, I know many Etsians love Sharpies. :D

Also in the picture is my trusty hand held label maker. I'm not going to show you my knotted thread mess that I organized, wined it up on cardboard and most I just threw it out. Left a little thread for the cat.

My sewing machine got mad at me last night. It started clanking and the needle was hitting something hard on the inside. I took the cover off and there is a build up of fleece fuzz that I'm going to vacuum out tomorrow. Hopefully that will fix it. If not, I'll have to take it in to get fixed and then how long will that take?

Need Coffee!!

2008-04-03T08:40:00.007-06:00

What a morning, I woke up to the neighbours playing heavy metal music full of blast. It really sucked.

This morning I find myself bored. I was in the Etsy forums this morning and holy shomoly, alot of those games, BNR, last post prizes, etc. Just ridiculous. I suppose I could start my own thread but I never like to stay still for too long and with mommy commitments it can be impossible.

Today we are for sure going to the science centre, I am bringing the camera but I'm not sure if I will be able to take pictures on the inside of the building. These days there are so many restrictions about privacy, example: when my son was in swimming lessons it is a big no-no to get another child in the photo, so I stopped bringing my camera.

Last night I found some soft brown and a light yellow-brown color fleece. Eeeee!!! What to create now?

Ahhh, the coffee is done brewing. Gone to get a cup. Cherrio

Bones

2008-04-02T18:09:00.003-06:00

This is Bones the Skeleton, a creepy but cute little fellow plushie.

Etsy is down again, so far it has been about 3 hours. :/

Pumpkin

2008-04-01T12:41:00.007-06:00

This is Pumpkin the black cat, who is now available in my Etsy shop gush4plush. Pumpkin has a brother named Grim who will listed tomorrow along with another creepy looking guy. :D

Etsy's system is down again, that is 3 times this week. ? Not good for business.

In my comments about my cat, I was tagged. I guess it is a blog game. ? I'm sorry but I don't has time for that kind of stuff. I also dislike it when a friend emails jokes (garbage) to me, it is such a waste of time. I know their intentions are good, but do something more constructive with your time. Like play with your kids. Which that reminds me I gotta go and pick up the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks, which came out today. Tomorrow we are off to the Space Science Centre.

Our Pets

2008-03-28T09:53:00.008-06:00

Buddy

Buddy in an Apple Basket

This is Buddy, our pet cat. He is a 1 year old tabby with a white chin, bib, tummy and paws. He is such a BABY. He meows when he realizes he is home alone, or alone in a room or he meows and gives me crap when I take his friend (my son) to school. He likes to let me know he wants attention when I'm at the computer, he'll come touch my arm, jump up on my lap then gaze at me with his head back, like "pet me, you know you want to, I'm cute" look. LOL

We also have 4 fish, 1 of which is 5 years old, a fancy tail goldfish and another that is 3 years old. There is a 3 year old Calico fancy tail goldfish too and an Algae Eater. People always say goldfish are dirty and die, will I think I have proved to be a myth. We just have a 20 gallon tank which has been placed in an old TV. Wood TV box with 6 inch legs, we pulled the dead TV tube out, cut the top to make a lid to clean the tank, and I painted it. We now call it kitty TV. Buddy's favorite fish is the Algae Eater. :)

Introducing.....

2008-03-27T19:01:00.005-06:00

Smelly the One Eyed Cat!!

I have now added this cat to my gush4plush shop. Isn't he just a rocking cat!!

After making him I realized I should buy more fleece, different colors for my plushies. It is hard to do that when I'm not really making anything yet to cover my start up costs, which I've kept low. This Etsy venture may not pan out.? I wonder how many shops fail. When do you know when to call it quits? Is it better to have 2 shops? who knows!

I'm not looking to make a fortune, just enough to cover supplies, shipping and my time on each plush. And just to know a little kid is happy with one of my plushies, sleeping with it, carrying it everywhere, attached to a plushie is what these plushies need. LOVE!

Macaroni the Monster

2008-03-26T10:49:00.003-06:00

New in my shop!! And being ignored in the forums so I thought I'll post him here for all to see.

Macaroni the monster was found in a bowl of macaroni in a restaurant. He has a very long tongue and it is always hanging out because he loves to taste everything around him. It is funny when he is next to the dog and they are both licking at each other. Ewww...

BE CAREFUL, he likes to lick faces while being carried!!!

One Eyed Cat

2008-03-26T09:59:00.003-06:00

*sniff,sniff* My blog post disappeared when I was posting it and an error came up. Now I have to start all over again. I have made a One Eyed Cat plushie that will be soon available in my shop gush4plush. I'm not sure when to list it. I made the one eyed cat because I was reading some blogs and seen pictures of these pets with one eye. It is the best Cat I've made so far I think. So stay tuned into Gush4Plush.

I promoted or was involved in the forums all day yesturday. I really wasted my time and it made me just exhausted. The forums seemed full of sellers trying to sell, no buyers around. It is so hard to compete when there are almost 150000 sellers on Etsy now. It has grown very fast since I discovered Etsy back in November 2007. I'm a needle in a haystack.

Etsy really needs to start being more fair when it comes to the little items at the top of the home page. They have been the same items I've been seeing for months, totally not fair. Luck for those shops.

I'm pooped!!!

I should go take some item photos and get them ready for listing. And plan out Spring Break, what to do??? SLEEP IN!!

Plush Mini's Are Here!!!

2008-03-25T12:40:00.007-06:00

PLUSH MINI'S

Plush mini's, are a simple way to show your love of plushies. They can hang from your purse, bag, backpack, keychain, rear view mirror, cellphone, a drawer knob, etc. or just display it for all to see the cuteness.

For those who love getting attention, I'm sure these guys would help you out. They are a cute conversation piece.

They are half the price as a regular size plushie and are half the size measuring approx. 4 inches tall. You can get them at my shop gush4plush. I'm entering one each day or if you see something you want now, just convo me through my shop.

Have a great happy day. :D
♥

First Treasury That I Made

2008-03-22T08:41:00.005-06:00

After weeks of trying to snag a treasury, I finally did and here is my first treasury that I made, full of fun and cutiness. I was not prepared to make a treasury that morning and so I worked on it for hours and strained my neck. I won't do that again. LOL

Then 2 days later I was able to get in on a Treasury West. This one is totally different, and did not take as long. It contains one of my favorite color combinations.

To get these wonderful computer snap shots, go to http://www.thumbalizr.com/. It is so easy to use. Thanks to the forums this morning I know how to do it.

Fleece, Blood & Sweat

2008-03-21T22:33:00.003-06:00

I have been creating away all day and pushed out 14 new plushies for all to love. I'm pooped!!!!!
Yes, I did poke myself a few times with the sewing needle. Not to worry, no trips to emergency. LoL

My son helped out by digging through all the buttons for the eyes. And was placing scraps all over the bodies to make eyebrows, moustaches, beards, etc. LOL

So visit Gush4Plush soon, to see all the new cute plushies.

I'm off to bed. ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Caffeine

2008-03-17T09:49:00.005-06:00

Ah the joy of creamy, sugary coffee in the morning. I should really stop the addiction to coffee, it is replacing my breakfast in the morning. That can't be good.

This morning I'm waiting for the sun to take some pictures of some new plushies I've made. Only one picture turned out from yesturday and so I need to retake them today. Here is the one picture of Wally the Owl. A little tricky to make but he turned out perfect. Cute! He will be available in my Etsy shop shortly.

You may wonder, why did I do an owl? It is because there are so, so many owls on Etsy and I thought I might as will put out my version of an owl.

I see the sun, so I'm off to take pictures. Snap, snap :D

Going to the Movies

2008-03-15T09:52:00.009-06:00

Today I'm off to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who! with my son and his best friend for his birthday.

I'm almost done a project I started a couple days ago and I'm iching to get back to it. I also have a whole bunch of pics I want to add to my blog and to my Flickr. I have some non-etsy projects DIY before and after photos I think would be nice to share with you too. It is a great feeling to give new life to an object, sometimes by just painting it or sewing something new. And then it is a one-of-a-kind.

I hope I can get back to you, the web world and back to my sewing machine soon. :o)

Hi everyone!

2008-03-12T23:21:00.003-06:00

I'm sorry I have not been around to blog or create, but I'm gushing with more ideas :). I've been busy with my son's birthday, which was today. A big 8 years old! I made cupcakes for his class to celebrate his birthday with him. I got so many polite thank you's, it was sweet. I put butter icing on the top of golden yellow cake, they were melt in your mouth cupcakes. Yum!

We have been working on our basement, finishing it. It will include my craft room, my space. It has a window that lets the sun shine in all day, it won't be a dark basement room. Now how should I decorate my craft room???

I need to announce that Etsy has brought back Alchemy. It allows people to request a certain item from a seller, or place an ad of what they want and sellers then bid for the job,work,sale. I can see this helping alot of sellers out, even myself. If someone likes one of my monsters or animal plushies but want it in a different color, no buttons, or a different animal, then I could make it possible.

So if any of you out there have been looking at my shop and see something you like but it is not quite right, now you can request a change or personalize it to exactly what you want, what you would love to have. You can find me and other handmade Etsy sellers at www.etsy.com

Happy shopping!