Holidays

Secret Santa and 12 Days of Christmas

December 27, 2012 4 Comments

I love blogger gift exchanges… It’s so fun to pick out something to send to a new blogger friend and then receive a little something from them in return. For just about any holiday you can find a blog gift exchange to join so of course, Christmas is no different!

This year I joined two, Secret Santa for Bloggers and the 12 Days of Christmas Blogger Exchange.

For the Secret Santa Exchange I received a gift from Miss Karen of Dinosaur Superhero Mommy.

My gift included a set of yummy smelling lotions, a foot spa kit and a delicious Frosted Cookies Glade candle!
Thank you so much Karen! I love it all!!!

She also sent a sweet Christmas card with pictures of her little man! Such a cutie!!!

For the 12 Days of Christmas Exchange I was partnered with Miss Alyssa of Sincerely Truly Scrumptious. This was a fun one because you got to choose TWELVE little gifts to send and then open on each of the 12 days before Christmas.
Once MY 12 gifts arrived from Alyssa they got a special place under my Christmas tree until they could be opened one at a time.

Alyssa did such a good job! Each of the 12 gifts she sent were so fun to open and receive!
They were all marked with a little tag to be opened on their designated day.

Day 1: CUTE To Do List Notepads
Day 2: ELF Eye Shadow
Day 3: Little apple and orange juice glasses
Day 4: Nail Polish

Day 5: Soft socks
Day 6: Funny mustache notepad
Day 7: Yummy smelling candle
Day 8: Snowman mug and hot chocolate

Day 9: Kiss and Make Up Bag (Fun, right?
Day 10: ELF lip gloss
Day 11: Candy ornament
Day 12: 2013 planner (perfect timing!!)

Thanks SO much Alyssa!!! I had such a fun time opening and using each of my gifts so far!
And peeps, if you’re looking for fun inexpensive gifts to give these were all great ideas!!!
Alyssa has a FUN fashion blog if you’re interested in checking it out. I’ve enjoyed seeing her fun outfits since becoming her 12 Days partner.

Thanks to Jessica and Britney for planning two fun blogger gift exchanges!

Filed Under: Gift Ideas, Holidays

My Home for the Holidays

December 11, 2012 14 Comments

The halls have been decked and the stockings are hung so here’s a look at what the inside of my home looks like this Christmas!
I’m linking up with Jen, Caroline and Natalie for their Home for the Holidays link up.
___________

If you were to walk in my front door the first thing you’d see would be the tree. It’s a fake, pre-lit Christmas tree that my parents gifted to me the first Christmas I had my own home. It’s just a little guy, but I love it.

The angel on the right was a gift from my aunt many years ago. My sister, Kayli, has a matching one.

The tree is decorated in red and silver balls. The gold star matches the gold and red tree skirt that belonged to my mother in law. There are also a few random ornaments the hubs and I have collected over the last couple of years. A couple of handmade beaded snowflakes from a past coworker friend, stockings I made for Penny and Pandy (our dogs) and my favorite, our wedding ornament. I received it as part of a review last year.

If you were to look to your left you’d see the other little Christmas tree. It was my very first tree when I went off to college. Back then I decorated it in pink ornaments, but now I have red ornaments and red chile peppers (nod to NM, where I’m from!) that my nana gave me to dress up my little tree.

To your right is my Christmas mantel. It includes my Santa count down to Christmas, the boot stockings I made for me and the hubs last year, a few little Christmas nick knacks like this snow globe and my Precious Moments nativity set. The candles were a craft from last year as well.

Did you know that I’m a Scentsy Consultant?! That might help explain the various Christmas themed Scentsy warmers you’ll find around my house. One in the living room and a couple in the kitchen. Those don’t include the ones that stay out year round…

You’ll find a few more nods to the Christmas holiday if you were to keep glancing about including on the coffee table, side table and TV.

Since you’re still standing in the front door…. my apologies, where are my manners!?! Won’t you sit down? But before you do, a quick turn back to the front door shows a fabric wreath that my mom made, a pink Santa hat and the Christmas card holder I made two years ago.

Shout out to my blog girl, Nicole! Thanks for the Christmas card two years running! Hoping to get a few more up there in the coming weeks.

Now if you’d like, you can take the Christmas tour from last year, but you’d have dejavu… They’re basically the same plus a fresh coat of paint on all the walls. Maybe it’s time for a few new Christmas crafts and decorations.

Do you stick to a single theme with your Christmas decorations? Do you have a favorite decoration???

Filed Under: Holidays, Home Decor Tagged With: Christmas

Holiday Gift Ideas and The Life of Pi

November 20, 2012 6 Comments

With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away we’re already in the full swing of this year’s holiday season!
The holidays are a very special time of year in my family. I have personally always loved seeing the decorations start to go up around town, to be able to decorate the inside of my own home and the holiday lights are a definite favorite!!!

Every single year the entire family gets together and exchanges gifts, enjoys a home cooked, extra special holiday meal and spends quality time together. And every single holiday season I promise myself that I won’t wait until the last minute to finish my holiday shopping…
Well, THIS year might finally be the one! I’ve been looking for a one stop shop to get the majority of my gifts, gifts that my loved ones will love and I’ve finally found it at World Market. Win-win, am I right!

I’ve even created an inspiration board of fun gifts that I know will be absolute crowd-pleasers at this year’s holiday celebrations!

World Market Gift Ideas by kassi-mortensen on Polyvore

Light Natural Cowhide Rug | World Market / Faux Cowhide Toss Pillow / Owl Cookie Jars, Set of 2 | World Market / Hammered Copper Tea Kettle | World Market / Multicolor Stacking Mugs or Espresso Cups Sets of 6 | World Market / candles holders | World Market / 6 Bud Vases with Wire Caddy | World Market / Nico Nesting Tables, Set of 3

World Market has unique rustic items like the cowhide accessories, cute items like the cookie jars, bright colors for the bold ones in my life, and fun decorations for the world travelers, like the NY word sign! A gift for everyone on my h0liday shopping list all at one location! I’m excited to get my holiday shopping finished early and then have time for other fun holiday activities! Like going to the movies for example…

I am right in the middle of reading the book, The Life of Pi. The story is about a young Indian boy named Pi, of course, who through some tragic events ends up stranded in the ocean all alone except for a Bengal tiger!! Pi’s story will debut on the big screen starting November 21st (TOMORROW!) and I can’t wait to see it!

Now, how does the Life of Pi coincide with World Market you ask? Well, on Black Friday (November 23) the first 100 customers to shop, in store at World Market, will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi ornament and a FREE Life of Pi movie ticket. The first 100 customers to shop in-store on Saturday, November 24 and Sunday, November 25 will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi Tote Bag and a movie ticket.

Holiday shopping done AND a FREE movie plus other fun goodies!?!? I’m sold!!!

They’re also hosting a HUGE Life of Pi Sweepstakes! Enter here on their sweepstakes site or here on their Facebook page.

Oh! And just a little heads up… If you share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via FB share or email) you can receive 5 additional bonus entries. You can also enter daily for more chances to win!!

And while you’re getting entered, stay up to date with all future World Market fun all across the web!!!
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Pinterest

Disclosure: This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all my opinions are my own.http://cmp.ly/3/KqtZiE.

Filed Under: Holidays, Sponsored Tagged With: gift ideas, Movies

Fall Ribbon Candles and a Discount Code

November 19, 2012 2 Comments

Thanksgiving is only a few days away!
Are you ready?? Do you have your centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table? A few cute decorations around the house?
Here’s a SUPER easy craft you can whip up in just a few minutes to add some fall fun to your celebration!

These fun candles only require a few materials:

Two (or more) pillar candles
Fall themed ribbon
Glue dots
Scissors

I used two plain brown pillar candles… Ones that were already a part of my living room decor actually. You might remember them from my living room makeover. That’s what makes the glue dots so useful… Once fall is over you can just remove the ribbon and keep on using the plain candles! Or even change out the ribbon for more winter themed colors if you’d like!

Step 1: Measure out lengths of ribbon to wrap around each candle. I chose yellow, brown, white and orange ribbon for fall.

Step 2: Wrap each ribbon around the candle securing both ends with a glue dot like so….

Step 3: Do the same with the other candle(s), until they’re all are wrapped with ribbon.

Step 4: Display as decorations on their own, or group together in the center of your Thanksgiving table for a unique centerpiece idea!

There you go lovelies! A quick easy way to add a pop of fall to your decor!
OH! And about that discount code I promised in the title… Since we’re sharing quick and easy as a sort of theme today… Go ahead and mark off another to do on your holiday list by quickly and easily creating then sending a personalized greeting card from Treat (a brand new Shutterfly greeting card brand) for FREE!!!!! That’s right, tell the neighbors Happy Holidays, wish a Happy Birthday to a friend, it’s up to you!!!
Use the code TREATBLOGR today and tomorrow!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Treat. As always opinions shared are 100% my own!

Wishing you and yours a Happy Fall and a Happy Thanksgiving from Truly Lovely!!!

Linking this here and here and to these.

P.S. Hope you enjoyed this post! If so, we’d love if you’d follow along!

Filed Under: Crafts, Holidays Tagged With: candles, Fall, Ribbon, Thanksgiving

Turkey Pillow Cover

November 13, 2012 16 Comments

Cute pillow covers for the holidays, and just in general, have kind of become my thing as of late… Making the pillow cover itself is super easy, especially if you use this Envelope Pillow Tutorial that I always use from Marissa at Rae Gun Ramblings. I made a western welcome pillow and a team roping pillow cover for everyday, then I made puffy paint Halloween covers for Halloween of course… Which brings me to the next holiday on my list, Thanksgiving.

I initially made this turkey pillow cover last November, but missed getting around to posting it before Thanksgiving 2011.
{Thus the horrible pictures for the tutorial steps… so please be forgiving of the blurriness.}

To make your own turkey pillow you’ll need:

Turkey body stencil
Turkey feather stencil
Fabric for your pillow cover (I use half a yard for a 16 inch pillow, following the tutorial mentioned above)
A few different fabrics for your feathers (I got a 1/4 yard of four prints that I thought looked fall-ish)
Fabric for your turkey body (I used brown)
Googly eyes
Glue Gun
Sewing machine

To make the cute turkey I designed the body on my Silhouette software using ovals welded together. Then I designed a turkey feather shape just modifying an oval to have sort of a feathery point. I cut those shapes out on vinyl to make my stencil.

I cut the turkey body out of the brown fabric.

And then the feathers from the varying fabrics prints. I just laid my feather stencil on the fabrics, traced a few feathers with a pencil and then cut them out. Sorry for the blurry photo, but you get the point, right?

I decided where I wanted my turkey to be (the center of my pillow cover), then pinned each of the feathers where I wanted them making sure the turkey body covered the points when laid on top. Then I sewed around the edge of each feather.

I pinned and sewed around my turkey body next adding a little orange triangle for the beak, a little red for the waddle, and hot glued on two beady eyes.

Now… that was where I stopped last year… but this year when I got it out to decorate I felt like it needed something more. An added touch of cuteness.
So I cut out a little orange bow to make it a cute ‘girl’ turkey and cut a strip of orange leaf fabric for her to ‘rest’ in. Again, I just used my sewing machine to sew around the edges.

With a good washing the cute feathers now have ‘feathery’ edges.

Tell me lovelies? Do you decorate for Thanksgiving?
I only have a few items…but I think it’s fun to decorate for every major holiday.

Linking this here and here and to these.

P.S. Hope you enjoyed this post! If so, we’d love if you’d follow along!

Filed Under: Crafts, Holidays, Home Decor, Tutorials Tagged With: Fabric, Fall, Sewing, Silhouette, Thanksgiving, Vinyl

Thank the Troops – Veteran’s Day

November 10, 2012 2 Comments

Monday is Veteran’s Day. A day to celebrate and thank those that defend and protect our country. Our freedom. America.

Let us take this opportunity to say thank you to our Veteran’s. We appreciate your sacrifice and support you!

Thank you Veteran’s!

Friends, did you know Shutterfly has a campaign right now to say thank you to our troops. Thank the Troops – Send a Card to Every Hero, it is so aptly named. There’s a Facebook app where you choose your card; there are four patriotic designs to choose from.

Then you can customize it with a personal message from you and even a photo if you’d like. Once you’re finished you can choose to share on your Facebook page and invite your friends and family to create and send their own Thank You to our troops!

I made a card and shared it with my friends and family… Won’t you join me today in saying thank you to those that give more than we could ever dream of so that we have the freedom to pursue our own dreams!

Thank the troops!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Shutterfly. As always opinions shared are 100% my own!

Filed Under: Holidays, Sponsored

Happy Halloween!!!

October 31, 2012 4 Comments

Happy Halloween lovelies!!!!
To celebrate one of my most favorite holidays, here’s a couple of the CUTE pumpkin photos I took of my friend, Meghan Jo’s baby boy!

He was an absolute sweetheart for these fun photos… Guess he felt really secure cradled in the pumpkin.

Such a sweet boy!

Have a SAFE and Happy Halloween friends!
Preferably with lots of candy!

Filed Under: Holidays Tagged With: Fall, Halloween, Kassi's Photography, Pumpkin

Halloween No Tricks Just Treats Jar

October 30, 2012 8 Comments

Happy Halloween Week lovelies!!!

Since Halloween is tomorrow, here’s a quick and easy craft you can whip up this evening!
A No Tricks, Just Treats Jar!
I made mine as a cute place to stash those candies that come unwrapped…
Things like candy corn. FYI – I love candy corn.

You only need a few materials for this cute craft!

Small jar with a lid (again, I chose one with a lid to store candies that aren’t wrapped)
Small sheet of black vinyl or stickers if you don’t have a craft cutter
Glow in the dark spider ring
Glue gun

I designed my vinyl using my Silhouette SD software. The font is Chiller, a fun font for Halloween projects!
The spiderweb was a free shape in the software.

I cut my design out using my Silhouette SD, then used transfer paper to apply the teeny tiny lettering and the spider web, an intricate design, to my jar. Sure, you could peel and stick, but with something as small as this, it’s just WAY easier to use transfer paper!
{See all those teeny tiny cutouts for the web!!!}

To add another touch of cuteness/fun I hot glued a spider to the lid of my jar, after applying the web.
I just cut the ring part off the spider then glued it down. {Like I did with these spiders…}

Next, fill your cute treat jar with cute treats!!!!

Happy Halloween friends!!!!

Linking this here and here and to these.

P.S. Hope you enjoyed this post! If so, we’d love if you’d follow along!

Filed Under: Crafts, Holidays, Tutorials Tagged With: Glue Gun, Halloween, Vinyl

Halloween Puffy Paint Pillow Covers

October 9, 2012 15 Comments

So the month of October is admittedly my favorite…
My birthday was last week, Pumpkin Spice lattes are back and Halloween is right around the corner!
Before October even rolled around I already had my Halloween stash out and scattered all over the house! Turns out though, I don’t really have all that much in the way of decorations… Needless to say I was pumped when I received a fun set of Glow in the Dark Puffy Paints via iLoveToCreate to try out!

I don’t know about you, but glow in the dark screams Halloween decorating to me!

Materials Needed for Halloween Puffy Paint Pillow Covers:

Glow Puffy Paints
1 yard of black fabric
Glow in the dark spider rings
Glue gun
Scissors
Sewing Machine

{If you don’t want to sew your pillow covers, you could easily purchase some pre-made from the craft or department store.}

I always use this tutorial when making simple envelope pillow covers. I made two 16′ pillow covers so I cut and measured my fabric accordingly and pinned the two sides and seems.
Then I sewed the top and bottom edges of my pillow face so I would know where to paint on my Halloween pictures.

For pillow cover #1 I decided on a spiderweb. I used the Gray Glow Puffy Paint to freehand my web. Drawing (in this case Puffy painting) a spider web is fairly easy. Start with several crisscrossing lines, like so…

Then ~~draw~~ paint curved lines between each of your crossed lines… Like so….

For pillow cover #2 I hand wrote the words Happy Halloween using the Orange Glow puffy Paint. Each of my pillow faces were left to dry overnight… The Puffy Paint dries in four hours according to the package, but I wanted to be on the safe side.

Each pillow received a couple of glow in the dark spiders… I just cut the ring part off each spider ring, then hot glued them where I wanted them.

The final step was sewing the sides of my pillow covers closed then flipping them inside out. I stuffed a 16′ pillow inside each one and viola!

Glow in the dark Halloween pillow covers! And more fun Halloween decorations for casa de Kassi!

You can find all kinds of fun craft supplies and ideas at iLoveToCreate!
Find them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well!

Disclosure: I received the product mentioned as part of a campaign via iLoveToCreate and The Blue Print Social. As always the opinions shared are 100% my own!

Check out some of the other fun ideas shared through this campaign below!

Filed Under: Holidays, Home Decor, Tutorials, Uncategorized Tagged With: Craft Paint, Halloween, Sewing

No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

September 24, 2012 11 Comments

Since we have officially declared this last week of September, the first week of Autumn… as…

Let’s get things rolling today with one of my favorite pumpkin recipes!
No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake!
(Get your very own Pumpkin Week Button here!)

The ingredients needed for Pumpkin Cheesecake are:

1 8 oz. package of softened cream cheese
1 cup of canned pumpkin (about half a 15 oz can)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 tub of whipped cream topping

Quick Tip: Make SURE your cream cheese is REALLY soft! If not, it will make for a very lumpy cheesecake!

Combine all ingredients, minus the whipped cream in a large bowl. I used my KitchenAid mixer.

Mix all ingredients together until fully combined. Now, fold in about half the tub of whipped cream topping. {Save the rest for cheesecake topping later on.}
Spread your cheesecake mix into the graham cracker pie crust.

At this point you can take cool cheesecake reflection pictures in your metal mixing bowl if your like me…
Or just refrigerate your pretty orange cheesecake for at LEAST 3 hours. Otherwise, it’s really hard to get out a decent slice…

Once you do cut a slice, top with a dollop of the left over whipped cream topping and enjoy!