Merry Christmas!

I'm in full on cooking mode over here at Casa Fazio so I will take a few minutes to wish you and your friends and families an amazing holiday filled with fun, laughter and Crazy 8s. Most of all, may you have good health for the remainder of this year and next.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Be well friends.

A Mini Christmas Tour

It's looking a lot like Christmas in here! We didn't do a whole heck of a lot to be honest and there are still a couple things I want to do, but for the most part the decorating is done.

Outside we bought a couple baskets from the corner store and I made a little door hanger. It's basically the leftovers I had from the baskets I made last year that I bunched up and sprayed gold. I tied it up with denim and voila! Easy peasy.

Inside I tied a faux greenery garland around the posts of the banister and added some ribbon I found at Target. I used that same ribbon along with some little bells to showcase our Christmas cards.

Finally I made some new stockings. It's tough to see, but I made them using some denim I had along with some super cozy white sweatshirt fabric (I want to make a sweatshirt next - it's so soft!). I attached some of the same ribbon that I used on the garland and added some bells to finish it off.

That's it! It's simple, but warm.

Are you done decorating - only a few days left until the big day!

Make Christmas magic for the kids with a video from Santa

Every year we freak the kids out with a message from Santa from the North Pole via a video from Portable North Pole (PNP). I think it's an awesome opportunity to keep the spirit of Santa alive. Santa is there, on your screen with photos of your kids, and he's saying their names... ahhh! It's pretty magical for them if you ask me.

There are plenty of new ways to share in the magic for free and the elves have been busy working to make PNP easier to use and extra personalized. There’s a new mobile version (compatible with Apple and Android devices) so you can carry the magic of Santa in your pocket, creating personalized video messages and calls on the go. The Verdict Machine is now powered by a pedaling elf who will keep the kids entertained while they wait to learn if they're made the Naughty or Nice list this year, and the new Classic video includes funny footage of the elves as they get in trouble while doing their daily chores.

The video is free to use, but you can now upgrade to get more stories and behind the scenes footage for your kids to experience and in the true spirit of giving, the PNP team has pledged to donate 5% of all web sales to Children's Hospital foundations across the world. Pretty cool stuff.

PNP wants you to experience the magic with the upgraded video offerings and is giving my readers a discount! Just enter BLG20BKP when you're at the check-out you'll receive 20% off your purchase.

Enjoy!

*This post was sponsored by Portable North Pole, but I use this video every year anyway and wanted to share the love with you! Ho, Ho, Ho!*

Handmade Christmas Stockings

Modern Striped Color Block Stocking via Good Wishes Quilts

Burlap Christmas Stocking via Twenty Eight 12

Personalized Burlap Stocking via Auntie Said Sew

Upcycled Fairtrade Coffee Sack Stocking via Been and Done

For the past several years, I've used the same stockings that I made using leftover fabric from my stash. But this year I'm on the lookout for something new. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas, but I'm open to something a bit different this year. I love the burlap look above and I think the ombre-style of stockings in the first photo are super cute. 

Anyway I found a few styles on Etsy that I added to my Christmas Market. Have a peek to see if you find something you like too.

Etsy Christmas Market

Minimilist white pottery pitcher & sugar set

Foldover leather bottom every day bag

Doha metallic gunmetal & natural hand printed organic hemp pillow cover

At the moment, I'm listening to jazz on Jazz FM and thinking of Christmas. Jazz seems to always do it for me: the warm melodies remind me of sitting by a fire, covered in a blanket while it's snowing outside.

It's also nap time for the wee one so the house is quiet and I started thinking about what I wanted to do for Christmas. Like most days I thought of Etsy and what I could get for who for the holidays.

Then I thought: how about I create a Christmas market and share it with everyone!

So here we have my Etsy Christmas Market. I scoured the site looking for things I love and that I thought others would love and put them in a favourites list. I didn't separate it by gender or theme; it's just one big list of pretty things to browse through as though you were at a sweet little market in town.

Have a look and see if anything catches your eye. If you need to come back, I've put a button on the side for easy access.

Enjoy and Happy Christmas shopping!

Christmas Wish List: The Kids

Last, but certainly not least, I made a little Christmas wish list for the kidlets. My faves in this group are the headband (can I have one?) and the race car 'garage' which I think would be perfect for those long plane trips to Florida. Find these and more in my Christmas Wish List: Kids Etsy faves folder. 

Affiliate links are used in this post

Annual Christmas ornaments

Like many kids, when I was growing up my mom gave us an annual Christmas ornament with our name and the current year. I started doing this last year for my kids, picking up a couple from the One of a Kind Show. This year I was browsing around Etsy and saw these ornaments from Graphic Spaces and my jaw dropped. I fell in love with the owl instantly and got it for Mila and purchased the airplane for Leo. Aren't they so sweet? I can't wait to add them to the tree.

Do you have this tradition with your family?

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*Affiliate links are used in this post

quick gift tag diy

I was organizing my tea this morning and emptied out a Yogi tea box. Instead of throwing it out I decided to do something fun with it. Make a gift tag!

Have you ever noticed the inside of the box? It's so pretty! I was actually thinking of cutting out one of the squares to frame. But since Christmas is around the corner I opted to go the gift tag route.

Here's what you need:

• Empty Yogi tea box
• Exacto knife
• Ruler
• Cutting board
• Hole punch
• Ribbon

Directions: Cut into any shape you like, punch a hole and voila!

Pretty cute!

all set for christmas -- well kinda

So we have the tree up and most of the decorations up but the gifts? Ya we're still working on that. Mark and I don't really buy for each other -- we stick to stocking stuffers, but I have been doing a bit of online shopping for the other members of my family. The problem is that some of it still hasn't shown up! Hopefully everything gets here in time!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas - this year is extra special with our little Leo. Best wishes to you all!

getting started on the christmas decorations

Since there's no sign of my baby coming yet, I decided to get started on some Christmas shopping and decorating. Well I won't be technically decorating until December (even though there are lights and Christmas trees up on my street already!)... but I wanted to start thinking about it. I did some shopping on Etsy this morning (love online shopping!) and thought of an idea to make a star garland to go over the fireplace.


I just printed off some stars on some card stock and I think I'll go to Michaels to see what type of glittery things I can get to punch them up a bit. I'm super excited about the holidays this year because we're going to have our first Christmas at home... with a tree! I can't wait.

Merry Christmas!

I hope all of you have an amazing Christmas and Joyous New Year!

cutie cook off

I wanted to share a sweet little gift my friend Carol asked me to make for her daughter Rowan. Rowan is quite the sous-chef, dragging over a dining room chair (she's not even 2!) to watch her Mom prepare dinner every night. Carol thought it would be cute to give her a little apron to wear while she was 'helping.'


I used some Amy Butler fabrics I had in my stash and then took the pocket to a local shop to have Rowan's name embroidered. I think it's super sweet and might add these to my shop in the new year.

Happy cooking!

Christmas Wreath

In honour of the US Thanksgiving I thought I would post about my Christmas wreath ;). I made it from scratch! Ok I bought all the shiny "natural pieces" at the store in a package, but I actually made the vine wreath.

Mark and I were cleaning up the back yard, preparing it for winter a few weeks ago. We had vines all over our garage which were taking over the neighbourhood, so we decided to take them down to start fresh next year.

As I was cleaning up the vines, I began to feel them in my hands thinking they would be perfect for the wreath I wanted to make. So I ditched poor Mark in the cleaning process and began putting all of the vines together and molding them into a circle formation. I grabbed some of Mark's fishing line and tied it altogether. Et voila! It was a bit wonky on one side but nothing a bunch of sparkly balls can't hide!

I laid everything out on the dining room table the other night to get working on wreath part two. First I placed the ribbon where I wanted it to go and then I placed all of the sparkly pieces in place. Then I went to town with my glue gun taking care not to burn the eff outta my fingers. It was so much fun.




(those of you who have been to our place might notice we did a door reno -- more on that later!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends!
~lealou

a little holiday cheer

The dinner table at my Mom's -- I love her red wine glasses!

We're off to a friend's house tonight to celebrate the big '09 but I wanted to share a few pics of my handmade gifts. This year I made the same thing for everyone -- pillows! My little sister gave me the idea -- she's moving into a new apartment in a couple of days and wanted some new pillows for her new place. The pics I took of her pillows didn't turn out for some reason but you can kind of see what I made through the fuzz.


The second set is for my other sister -- I wanted to give her something fun to brighten up her living room.


And finally -- a set of pillows I made for my Mom. I think they look perfect with her couch!


That's it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year celebration. See you in 2009!

~lealou

a little obsession

Can I tell you how "busy" I've been in the past little while? I say "busy" because all of my "free" time has been used up with a little series of books written for teenagers... Ok I'll just come out and say it: I'm obsessed with the Twilight Series of books. There's something about a vampire love story that really makes my heart flutter. I told C not to give me the books -- it's just the worst time of the year to be head over heels with something other than sewing (don't the Cullens know I have Christmas presents to make???). Ok enough of that.


I have been sewing I guess. A week or so ago I did my first ever little craft event. I offered to set up a table to sell my stuff at the market bazaar at work to help raise money for United Way. Although there weren't a lot of people passing through, it was a really great experience because it got me out of the house and away from the computer. The best part was to see people I knew from the office "You made all this stuff?"


The Clara Clutch

I managed to sell a few things, but I still have lots left so I've put it all up in my shop. I can't really guarantee it'll get to you by Christmas, but if you're reading this from Ontario you'll get it for sure (some of you may even get personal delivery from moi!) And to keep with the theme of the original purpose for making these things, I will be donating 10% of all sales to United Way until after Christmas. How cool is that.


The Zoula Zip

View the rest of the items here

This week I'm dedicating my time to making the rest of my gifts for my friends and family. There isn't A LOT to do (who am I kidding) but it is still stressful (really, I love the pressure). I'm not sure if I'll get back on here before the holidays so if I don't -- Happy Holidays! I can't believe it is here already to be honest with you -- it really crept up this year.

later gaters
~lealou

slacker

ok so I've been a bit of a slacker these days with blogging and sewing. My goal this year is to make all my gifts or, at least buy handmade. I sent an email to my family with a link to etsy asking them to please buy handmade as well. My sister is really good at this - she makes something every year - so that's my goal.

better get to work! man christmas creeps up on my every year!

christmas cards??

for some reason I woke up at 3am this morning with an idea for a christmas card -- what the heck??? Here is a hint to what I want to do... hopefully M will agree to do this with me :)