A big HUGE Thank you and some randomness...

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's a cold gloomy day here in SoCal and definitely feels Christmassy. Today is Noah's Christmas program at school and we are so excited to go watch him and his little friends sing their hearts out :)

First, I wanted to give  a HUGE HUGE thank you to my sweet friend Cassie! Not only is she SUPER talented and stylish, but she has the hugest heart and is one of my favorite people on the planet! The other day in the mail I received the most awesome package ever! Cassie made me some holiday cheer for my house and I'm dying to share it! LOOK.....

 It's hard to tell in the picture, but it is the most ADORABLE Frosty the Snowman paper bunting made out of a vintage book. OMG! I died when I saw it.

Is this not the most adorable thing you've ever seen!!?? If frosty decor was appropriate year round, this bad boy would be hanging up forever!!!

AND, if that wasn't the coolest, check out this awesome snow globe to go with it!!!!

I have seen a lot of cute handmade snow globes out there in blogland, but this one takes the cake! SO adorable I almost can't stand it! THANK YOU sweet friend, you rocked my world :)

In other random news, check out where Mr.Elf is spending the day today (getting in touch with his feminine side, ha ha)

I'm also happy to report that I'm finally starting to receive Christmas cards :) I thought one of two things was happening. Either my mail man was stealing my cards to pretend he has as awesome friends as I do, or I was being socially ousted for sending my own cards out sort of late every year. Luckily, it was the third option....none of my people were crazy early this year! Welcome to my world friends!! Mid December should NOT be considered late! So there!

And last but not least, I finally started some of my wrapping. I must have known that I was going to go the "colorful vintage" route this year because take a look at the wrapping paper I bought last year at Target after Christmas....

Could this be any more vintagey and perfect!!?? Yay me!! Ha ha!!!
Ok, that's all. Have a great great day!  xo

Showering Lisa....part 1.

Whew!!!! I-am-tired!!! We survived my sweet sister's fabulous baby shower and we had a blast. It was a bit of a whirl wind filled with tons of happy people, yummy food, and FuN! I have been prepping for this shower for a few weeks and it feels so great that it exceeded our expectations in every way. Yay! Here are a few teaser pics of the decor & food. My sweet friend Kelly with Bubba-loo photography took a billion awesome pictures so as soon as I can get my hands on them I will share more :)

Mason jars and paper straws from Hey-YoYo!! {LOVE}.

Thirsty anyone??

Our sweet friend Kirstin provided the gorgeous flowers :)

Lemons!!!! Awesome!!

Healthy munchies...

The spread...

Happy pom pom sandwich picks for the build-your-own sandwich buffet....

Gourmet pasta salad made by my Mama....

Sweets..... (I baked!!! Can you believe it!? ha ha)

Mmmmmmmm.....

Pom pom photo garland....

Funky favors :)
"Ollie-pops" and Vintage style slide whistles so we can "whistle while we wait" for baby Oliver. Kind of silly, ha ha!

"Games." My sis isn't really into shower games so the few that we did were pretty easy going and fun (ie, guess how many lemonheads are in the jar.....and yes we chose to do this because the lemonheads went well with the color theme. ha ha).

And last but not least the loot!!!

This was only about half of the awesomenss that she got. Oliver is such a lucky baby!!!

Sorry for picture mania...ha ha, there are more to come in the future too!!
Thanks to all of my sweet friends that helped set up, contributed money and time, brought flowers, took pictures etc. You girls ROCK!!!!! Yay for baby showers!!!

Oh Christmas Tree.....

Hi everyone!!! I know I already posted today (technically it was late last night), but I wanted to pop back on to share my Christmas tree with you. I am SO happy with how it turned out and this is by far my favorite tree to date. Ready to see it???

I ended up making a tree topper out of glitter card stock and a pom pom. I just hot glued a clothespin on the back and clipped it to the top of the tree...

I think it has a vintage look to it which definitely "goes" with all of the pom poms. Granny chic?? Ha ha! I used the same technique as I did when I made the the wreath flowers here. It was super easy!

Want to see the big picture??

 If I could, I would add a video of me doing a {Happy dance}! I love it so much, it's so bright and happy!!! Do you like it, love it, hate it?? You can be honest, I can take it. I looooooooove it but am fully aware that my "style" is not for everyone.
Thanks for stopping by :)

Christmas Q & A

Happy Hump-day everyone!! I'm still working on my tree topper and crafts for the baby shower this Saturday. BUT, I saw this fun holiday questionnaire on Cassie's blog so I thought I'd give it a whirl :)


1. egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. Egg nog is YUCK!

2. does santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Usually wraps them, unless they are HUGE or really oddly shaped. I've been known to cover a big gift with a throw blanket a time or two. Ha ha!

3. colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights on the tree for me. I have a ton of colorful ornaments (& this year, pom poms) so the white lights let the ornaments shine. On our house, we have the large bulbs that are alternating red and white like a candy cane :)

4. do you hang mistletoe?  Sometimes. This year we have a kissing ball crystal thingy.

5. when do you put your decorations up? Usually on December 1st.

6. what is your favorite holiday dish? The homemade tamales that we make with my mom every year. She does most of the work and they are TO DIE FOR!

7. favorite holiday memory as a child? I would say my favorite holiday memories are when my sister, brother, and I would sleep in the den and my Nana's house on Christmas Eve. We would try SO hard to wait up for Santa but we never made it. We would hear my mom and my Nana in the kitchen until late at night wrapping gifts and chatting the night away. They were having so much fun in there, the thought of it makes me smile.

8. when and how did you learn the truth about santa? I honestly can not remember. I think over time I just sort of figured it out but in my family, it was important to keep believing for all of my younger cousins. Evenutally, as I got older, I ended up in the happy kitchen late at night with my mom and Nana, wrapping and chatting the night away.

9. do you open a gift on christmas eve? As a child I never did. Now that I am grown, we usually spend Christmas eve at my in-law's house where the kids get gifts and the adults draw names and have a gift exchange. Our personal family gifts and Santa gifts are opened on Christmas morning.

10. how do you decorate your christmas tree? White mini lights, gold balls, lots of small colorful meaningful ornaments, and this year, a bunch of brightly colored yarn pom poms :)

11. snow! love it or dread it? LOVE it!  I've never actually had a white Christmas before, but it sounds dreamy.

12. can you ice skate? I used to when I was a little girl, but it has been over a decade since I've done it. Noah is dying to go, so I may give it another try.

13. do you remember your favorite gift? Probably the Barbie Dream House or my Cabbage Patch Kid. Tough call!

14. what's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family and food! LOTS of food!

15. what is your favorite holiday dessert? Pan Dulce (aka Mexican sweet bread). We get it every year and it tastes perfect after the tamales. Mmmm.
.
16. what is your favorite holiday tradition? On Christmas morning when just the 4 of us wake up early and Josh and I drink coffee while watching the kids open their stockings. It's probably my favorite part of the whole day.

17. what tops your tree? Usually a sparkly star. This year I'm attempting to make my own funky tree topper with glittery card stock and yarn. We'll see how it goes.

18. which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I'm not going to lie, I definitely like both. But, I get giddy when I watch someone open something special that I bought or made for them.

19. candy canes: yuck or yum? Yum.

20. favorite christmas movie? A Christmas Story (& secretly, a Very Brady Christmas - ha ha, I know,  I know).

21. saddest christmas song? Nope. Can't think of any.

22. what is your favorite Christmas song? I've always really loved "O' Holy Night. I pretty much love all Christmas songs though :)


That was fun!!!
Your turn! Copy and paste it into your blog and spill your holiday beans :)

Oh yeah, and here are some tree decorating pics :)

Hayden did a great job "helping" me hang up the ornaments.....

Ha ha!! Yep, that's like a zillion ornaments all hanging off of one hook. Classic!
Happy holidays everyone!

Christmas Mantle - Sort of done :)

Happy Moan-day everyone!!! I hope you all had a great weekend. We had a great time getting our tree (the best one we've ever gotten if I do say so myself), and I'll be back soon to show you what she looks like all fancied up. I'm in the process of making a tree topper because I'm just not feeling my old one anymore. Stay tuned for that, fingers crossed that it turns out cool :)

I'm sort of done with my mantle so I thought I'd give you a peek. I'm struggling with filling the empty space in the middle and need to give it some more thought. Here are some pics :)

HAPPY pom pom mania!!! Ha ha! Pom poms are my "theme" this year. They're so bright and cheery and they make me smile. (just pretend Hayden's stocking isn't all sideways, k??)

Happy close-up :)

more.....

I had some strands of white beads that I got at Ikea a couple years ago. I just made a bunch of pom poms that matched my wreath, and tied them to the beads. Easy :)

I also got these little white metal pots and faux greenery at Ikea this year. I wanted some sort of "natural" element to tie it all in the with Christmas tree.

The middle of the mantle is what is tripping me up. I'm debating on just getting one more pot and plant and then evenly spacing all 5 of them out on the mantle. Would that look boring?? My Michael's doesn't have those cool paper mache letters otherwise I would spell a holiday word and wrap it in bright yarn. Hmmm. Thoughts??

Mr.Elf made himself at home in the wreath yesterday :)

Also, this is the week leading up to my sister's baby shower so I have been "ollie-crafting" my brains out (my new nephew will be named Oliver in case ollie-crafting had you confused). I will definitely have a zillion pictures to share after the shower but at the moment I am working on these.....

What are they?? Cupcake picks :)

And I also have a few pom pom garlands in the works...

I have SO much more to do and I am already getting a yarn callus. Ha ha!!!
Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow or Wednesday with the reveal of my pretty tree complete with handmade topper. We'll see how it goes :)
Have a GREAT week people!!

Friday's Etsy Faves...

Happy happy Friday everyone! It's pajama day at school today and Noah is thrilled! My house is 1/3 of the way decorated and I'm hoping we can get our tree on Sunday. The tree is really the BEST part!

Here are my Etsy fave's for this week......

First up today is this happy print from Studio Mela. We are doing a gift exchange with Josh's side of the family and I added this print to my wish list. It has such happy colors and I love the message :)

Next up on my lists of faves is this dainty personalized bracelet from Frosted Willow . I love the simple and classic look of it and it would go with everything! Love it!

Next, I am seriously loving these new baker's twine colors from Bella Creationz 4 u. It comes in SO many pretty colors, I want them all. In the past, I have purchased all of my baker's twine from this shop. Their prices are great and they have a great variety of colors. Oh yeah, and I am SO SO lucky because I just recently won a giveaway from the twinery of their 14 color sample pack of twine. Dying of excitement!!!!

Next on my list is this amazing chalkboard map from Dirtsa studio. Seriously! I'm in love!!!!! They have CA shaped ones too! Dying!

And last but not least, look at how cute this vintage paper bunting is from Retro Print. I mean come on, really!!?? If I had a super cute vintage play room, I would buy this in a heartbeat!

Seriously Etsy, you own my heart!!!! I could just browse on there for hours and hours!! I want it ALL!!!! Muahahahahhahahah (that's my evil shopping laugh!).

Happy Friday everyone :)

The Haps...

Or would it be "The Happs" or "The Hap's" You know, like "Happenings." Anyway, ha ha! Never mind!
Random post. Short and sweet.

First: "He's Baaaaaaaack!" Yay, we've missed this little guy :)

Second: THIS is happening today. Oh yeah baby! It's ON!!

Haulin' out the holly, decking the halls, Blingin' it out. Whatever you want to call it, I'm doing it today :)

And third: The kids are thrilled to start this...

Santa is #1 on our magnetic advent calendar. This set is from Hallmark a few years ago and isn't my fave really. It's cute, but the numbers are sewn in green, on the green house. Duh!

We may have to upgrade next year, but either way, my kiddos are excited! They want to add all of the days RIGHT NOW! Ha ha, silly kids, that's not how it works ;)

Hope you all are having a gReAt DaY :)