garland, brooches and christmas decor

we had such a lovely, relaxing long weekend... i wish every weekend could be long :-)

i made a few things this weekend...

like these lovely finger garlands

tutorial found here

and these brooches... i wanted to spice up my outfit for my brothers b-day party so i made the smaller one super quick right before we had to leave and then i decided to make one for thanksgiving as well... but i didn't have time... so i made it in the car on our way to LA - easy peasy and cute!

i'll have to get some pics of them on a sweater

we decorated for Christmas yesterday. i feel like i'm living in a Christmas shop... it's a little much for our small house but the hus insisted that we use EVERYTHING and i have a lot... i'm just not crazy about all that i have anymore. i wanted to only put up my vintage decorations (my granny has given me some really pretty things!), my favorites and our homemade decorations... oh well, maybe i'll get my way next year. how many of you have decorated already? do you do a real tree or fake? what is your Christmas decorating style?

 oh, did i mention we have two trees this year... we usually put up our fake tree but the fam insisted (they do that a lot) that we get a real one... i wasn't too keen on the idea but i'm good with it now. i do like having two trees in my house!

xo,

kass

black friday

in lieu of black friday i thought i would do a little online window shopping.... since i'm doing the challenge of an utmost kind, i wont be buying any of these things... but lets hope the husband is reading this post anyway.... ;-) i am in dire need of a coat - i have not had one since 2000... how sad is that! i am hoping the hus... or dad... can find one from a vintage store and i also need new boots... which are hard to find at a thrift/vintage store, so i'm really hoping i get a pair as a gift... 

these first four are etsy finds...

i like the idea of this coat... found here

not the best picture, but i love this raincoat... found here

this shakespeares sister coat is so pretty

i also love this sally coat

on sale at anthro...ahhhh

this coat is an anthro sale as well... love it

another sale find at anthro... love it too

and the only other thing i need... boots.... found here

i've never actually shopped on a black friday... how many of you are doing it?

happy friday friends!

xo,

kass

happy thanksgiving and my creative space

happy thanksgiving friends! 

i am thankful for so much this year - i am thankful that God is merciful, i am thankful that my aunt is fighting breast cancer and winning, i am thankful that my mom didn't have breast cancer after all, i am so thankful for my family who encourages and supports me in all that i do, i am thankful for my health and the health of my kids, i am thankful that after dan's scare in march he didn't die and isn't dying, i am thankful that i can trust in God to heal dan completely... gosh, there is so much more... i am also so thankful that i have such nice readers and blog friends - thanks guys!

what are you guys thankful for this year?

we are off to the LA area to spend thanksgiving with dan's side of the family - good people and good food! i hope you all have a lovely and most thankful thanksgiving day!

here is my creative space for the day - making tags for the sunglass cases...

be sure to check out kirsty's creative space over at kootoyoo and to see all the other wonderful creative spaces

gobble gobble

xo,

kass

cases, birthday and thanks

over the last two weeks i've been working on making 10 sunglass cases for my aunt who is giving them to her friends for Christmas... i finished them last night. all i have left to do is make tags for them and ship them off. she needed them by the 13th of december so i'm really glad that i finished ahead of schedule.

i really hope that my aunt's friends like them!

we are off to rancho santa fe (san diego) for my brothers birthday tonight...

happy 34th birthday to my big brother! love you natey!

after the party i am coming home to make a banana cake with carmel frosting.... oh yeah! and then it's off to canyon country (inland LA) to celebrate Thanksgiving with daniel's side of the family.

what are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?

enjoy all the food and celebrating this time of Thanks...

xo,

kass

Two Things i Love... Around my Home

i love this dresser. it was given to us when dan and i got married by his parents next door neighbors. i haven't done anything to it... i love it just as it is

i love love my red captains chair. bought it "as is" a few years ago from my favorite antique store in carpinteria, ca... not only is it super cute... it's also super comfy!

what are the two things you are lovin and thankful for this tuesday?

i would love to hear...

xo,

kass

hot and healthy tuesdays

time just seams to be flying by. i can't believe it's already tuesday and almost thanksgiving... which means christmas is a month away... oh my.


i did okay with the working out this week. i clocked 360min of cardio... i had planned on doing more... obviously i didn't work out every day for two hours a day like i had hoped. i was just too darn busy. 


as you probably know, my sister keely and her friend mama m are the ones who came up with this challenge... here a few questions they asked us this week.


have you gotten into a good work out routine that you're able to stick to?
eh, sorta. i always do an hour at night after i put the girls to bed... but i had been trying to get up super early to get an hour in then as well... yeah, that only happened twice last week. i am just NOT a morning person


did you try the pilates exercises... please say you did... please!?!
sorry, no. i'm horrid at this challenge, i know.


did you get all your cardio in?
yep and plus some! 


did you have any fast food... if so, did mama m's awesome healthy tips post make you choose more carefully?
one thing about me... i don't eat red meat and i NEVER go to fast food restaurants... nope, not even taco bell. so to answer the question... no, i did not eat fast food. i did have a snickers last night though... dude, sweets are my downfall.


last but sooo not least... are you feeling hot and healthy?
sadly, no. i've actually gained two pounds since starting this challenge and i'm pretty bummed about that. i know that the goal of doing the challenge wasn't about weight but to just overcome all the temptations around us during the holidays and be sure to get our weekly work outs in... but it is pretty depressing when you step on the scale and it is two pounds higher than it was... i'm sure it's muscle, but still...


how did you girls do? i would love love to know!  feel free to leave a comment and if you want to link up then go to keely or mama m's page to do so.


have a lovely tuesday... i will be back later with Two Things i Love... Around my Home


xo,
kass

totally crustaceous

here are a few pictures from the volcom totally crustaceous tour

tyler paddling out in his first heat (he came in second)

he didn't advance after his second heat... but that's okay, he did great and i'm so so proud of him!

dan got first in his first heat and made it to the quarter finals... but didn't advance

i think he was a bit bummed... i've definitely seen him surf a lot better

it was a cold cold day at the beach in HB but tannyn insisted on wearing her bikini... crazy girl! at least tayli stayed bundled up!

overall, it was a good day. i was so proud of tyler. this was only his second contest and his main goal was to advance out of his first heat... which he did... and in second place no less!

the rest of our weekend was great. i got a surprise visit from my bestie, christina, and her gorgeous 18mo old daughter, juliete, last night. they were on their way home to santa barbara from san diego and stopped and stayed the night with us. it's always good to see christina and catch up on life. we talked a lot about crafting and sewing and our goals and dreams. so good to see her.

the kids are off all week... which is good and bad for me. i love having them home but i have SO much to do and have two days to do it.... plus i have to entertain three kids all day instead of just one. i have to finish up the sunglass cases that my aunt bought (i slacked and only got one made this weekend), make my cute as a button nephew, Navid, his b-day present, buy some materials for an order i just got for a pillow and make some pin cushions for another potential order. PLUS it's Thanksgiving week and we're going to be busy busy. i can't wait till this weekend when i'll (hopefully) have most of my stuff done and i can concentrate on making some fun things for Christmas - i can't wait to decorate!

sunglass case i finished this weekend

how was your weekend? hope it was lovely!

xo,

kass

dreaming

of making this... all night i couldn't get it out of my mind

go here for the how to

happy sunday.

xo,

kass

fun fun

i'm so happy it's friday. we have a fun weekend planned...

watching Up tonight with the kiddos

spending saturday at the volcom contest watching these two

 church sunday morning, maybe some thrifting after... then back to church for a thanksgiving feast

and of course, i'll be making a lot more sunglass cases this weekend 

what are you guys up to this weekend? any fun plans?

xo,

kass

my new pretties

last week, amy, over at nellie loves vintage had a "pretty girl" giveaway... and i won! i was so freakin excited and not just because i actually won something for the first time in my life... but that i won something i actually really really liked!

after a pretty blah morning and afternoon... i came home from picking up tannyn from school and saw the mailman walking to my door with a package. a package for me. a package from miss amy. my pretties! i unlocked the front door, shoved the girls inside and tore open my package... i was just way too excited. it was like Christmas for me. seriously. anyway, after tearing open the box i find a nice little note from miss amy, my vintage pretty girl cards (which i am going to frame and display) wrapped up beautifully with some pretty (i'm assuming) vintage fabric with a little vintage picture of a pretty vintage lady... and underneath all that loveliness was my pretty vintage ballerina girl. awwww.... i loved her right away. i had planned on putting the pretty ballerina girl in tannyn and tayli's room but kinda love her so much i want to put her in my living room, above my couch with my other pretties i have hung... we'll see what dan thinks of that... as if his opinion matters though... ;-)

thank you, amy. you absolutely turned my blah day into a fab one!

xo,
kass

ps. if you love vintage pretties as much as i do, make sure you check out amy's etsy store and you should really read her blog... she is one cool lady (and a pretty modern vintage girl herself)... with great ideas and beautiful taste.

pps. how many times can one gal say the word "vintage"... jeezo, i said it alot!

my creative space

sunglass cases that i have been working on this week... i have many more to make... busy busy

check out kootoyoo for more creative spaces

happy thursday friends

xo,

kass

happy birthday!

to these two lovlies...

my beautiful niece, Emersyn, who is 7 today

my cute as a button nephew, Navid, who is 3 today

i love these two so much! aunti kass wishes you two the best of birthdays!

xo,

kass

mid week spice... dance party style

what do we do on days that need a little spicing up...?

throw ladyhawke in the cd player and have a dance party!

mr. tyler the party pooper... but that's okay, he IS a tween after all... ;-)

yep, that's how we do it in the bacquet house...

so so busy this week with making sunglass cases... i really shouldn't be taking time out of my day to have a dance party with the kids... but sometimes it is just needed!

how do you spice up your days?

do tell...

please.

xo,

kass

ps. the girls are STILL rocking out to ladyhawke as i type this... they are the coolest five and two year olds EVER!