Day 10: A Look At My Christmas Tree 2016

First off, I want to apologize for not posting a new blogmas post for 2 days! After I even stated in my blogmas day 4 post that I was really surprised to see me post 4 days straight without forgetting a day, I missed the falling days! I think that was me jinxing myself. But to make it up, I am either going tot post 2 extra blog posts at the end of the 24 days OR maybe do a CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY! What do you think? Anyways on with the post! This year I had the pleasure of decorating our new tree! Let's just say I now have a tiny fear of heights after trying to arrange ornaments at the top. I become super OCD when I was decorating the tree. I had to have each ornament fit the theme of the tree, which was red, white, silver, and gold, and if it didn't go I couldn't put it on! Also, when I was arranging them, I couldn't have a silver red striped ball-ball next to another silver ball-ball. It just can't be done! In the end I was really reluctant for help. While I was decorating my brother was preparing his train. Yes. My 18 year old brother was playing with his Christmas train. But to be far, he loves doing it every year so I could totally see it coming. Our Christmas train has our family name's on them. I just actually found out about it today while taking the photos. 

Our tree has assortments of ornaments from very special to just plain old funny! I took a picture of the ball-balls I love including a brand new one of my dog. No, he isn't my real dog but a close replica of him. Jack died this year in July and it has been super weird not having him around with us. This will be our first Christmas without him and I really wanted something to remind me of him. We found his ornament at Michaels a couple of days ago and I instantly know we needed to get him. Another special ornament is my hand paint ornament back in 2006. I think I was in kindergarten by then. When i found this I was super shocked. My hand actually grew in size! My family always jokes with me saying I haven't grown or whatever but this is a clear example of it. Haha! That was 10 years ago! Crazy thinking about it now. 

Well, I really hope you enjoyed a closer look at my Christmas tree. I was wondering if you do a theme or just put on whatever you have? Also, tweet or post a picture of your tree and tag me @itsliddy! I would love to see your tree this year. Love you!  

St. Nicholas Came

 

Day 6: St. Nicholas Presents

Every year on December 6th, St Nicholas comes and drops off special presents to all the boys and girls around the world! He is like Santa's brother who comes early! This tradition started when Nicholas helped a poor family by throwing bags of gold in the window. December 6th is a day in which we celebrate St. Nicholas goodness and kind heart! If you want to learn more about this important figure, click on this link to go to a website. 

Here is what St. Nick brought me this year!

First up I have gloves and a heat bodysuit. I think St. Nick knew I was going to DC in a few weeks! I definitely don't want to freeze up there. He also put in a tub of creme de Pirouline. These are sticks made with pastry dough and a creme filling in the middle to give it a sweet taste. These have been one of my favorite Christmas treats. I remember eating them at my grandma's house while she wasn't looking. Sorry grands, at least now you know where they all went! Along with the sweets category, he added some Necco candy wafers. These small candies are decribed as simple, sweet, and worth savoring! This company has been in business for 169 years being able to share its great wafers with the world. Next up I have a King Leo Giant Peppermint Stick and a Harry London dark chocolate baton. Both I am super excited to try. Lastly, I have Ghitatdelli Chocolate Squares. These weren't pictured above because I forgot about them when I took this picture. But anyways, these squares are sea salt chocolate favored. I absolutely love these chocolates! In the end, I am so thankful for all of these gifts from St. Nick! 

Christmas Party Music

Day 5: Christmas Music Playlist

Music is great way to make an average party become a great one! I have pieced together my all time favorite Christmas songs on a Spotify playlist. On my playlist, I have artists like, Pentatonix, Micheal Buble, and Lady Antebellum. This is a great playlist to play at your holiday party!
If you listen to the playlist, tell me which song is your favorite and is there any songs you would add? I would obviously want to know! ;) Love you!

Click Here to go to the playlist!!

Teen Gift Guide

Hooray, I have posted 4 times without missing a day! Go Liddy *self-pat on the back* Hopefully, I am able to keep it up until the 24th! It's getting to the time in which friends and family start to look for things to buy for Christmas. I believe one of the hardest people to buy for are teen girls! We are always looking for something unique and special. I have put together 17 gifts to help you out. When I was looking through the stuff I wanted to make sure it was different and not an everyday type of gift. Personally, I would love any of these gifts this year and hopefully, they do too! 

Day 4: Teen Gift Guide

1. Advent Calendar- Anthropologie $18 

2.  Sunflower Dad Hat- In bloom $30 

3. Typewriter pin- Ann Shen shop $12

4. Rose gold earbuds- Happy Plugs $35

5. Live What You Love- Mantra Band $25

6. Owen' Pointy Toe Ghillie Flat- Nordstrom $54

7. Reversible Scarf- Nordstrom $26

8. Bath and Body Works Christmas- B&BW $15-40 

9. Caramello liquid lipstick- Stila $24 

10. I Am Very Busy Planner- ASOS $46

11. Pug Santa Socks- ASOS $9.50 

12. Grey Puffball Keychain- Nora Janine SOLD OUT

13. Cactus Jewelry Dish- Desert Domicile DIY  

14. Glass Terrarium- DIY or Buy it  

15. Mermaid Tail Blanket- OccasionGirl $39

16. Van Folk Art Mug- Natural Life $17 

17. Santa Fun- Lush $8 

Which gift is your favorite? If you guys have any other ideas add them to the comments! Love you! 

Favorite Childhood Christmas Books

Today we are throwing it back! I will be showing you my favorite holiday children books. Enjoy! 

Day 3: Childhood Christmas Books

1. Charles M. Schutz, "I want a Dog for Christmas,Charlie Brown!

Remember when I told you about how I love Charlie Brown, well this is just one example. This book always made me smile. I enjoyed when Snoopy dressed up as Santa. Silly dog! 

2. J. Otto Seibold, "Olive, the other Reindeer! 

This book was the reference I made in my first blogmas post! This is Oliver a regular dog who thinks that she hears her name on the radio. She takes an adventure to the North Pole and ends up being a reindeer for Santa! 

3. Chris Van Allsburg, "The Magic Journey"!

This book is just a childhood classic. If you haven't seen the movie or read the book you probably need to add it to your Christmas bucket list! I remember watching the movie and singing along to all the songs. What was your favorite scene? 

4. Charles M.Schutz, "A Charlie Brown Christmas"!

This is the second book to Charlie Schutz book series. This is the book based off of the classic movie. My friends like the characters, Peg Pen, Linus and Snoopy! 

I hope you are enjoying Blogmas! I will be posting a DIY ugly sweater very soon. But tomorrow is going to be a Teen Gift Guide. Love you! 

DIY Holiday Card and Envelope

Hey guys! Blogmas Day 2 is a DIY card and envelope. This was inspired by 2 Pinterest pins here and here!
Both of these are super easy and affordable. Most of the supplies you probably already own if you like to craft. The only thing people might have on hand is the washi tape. But if you go to your local craft store they most likely have them there. I get my tape from Michael's and they always have a coupon to use.

Day 2: DIY Christmas Card and Envelope 

Fingerprint Reindeer Card

Supplies Needed:

• Paper (Ex: Card stock, printer paper, scrapbook paper)
• Thin Sharpies in the colors Red, Black, and Green 
• Brown washable markers (You can also use a brown stamp pad but a marker can do the job) 
• A finger (Any finger will do) 
• Optional: Stickers, washi tape or any other craft item 

Note: make sure the marker or the ink pad is washable. You don't want the ink to stain your finger! 

Directions:

Step 1) Fold your paper of your choice into a card form (Hot dog style)

Step 2) Take your washable marker or washable stamp pad and add ink to your finger

Step 3) Apply the ink to the card by pressing your finger from one end and roll your finger to the other side

Step 4) Repeat this as many times as you want (These will be the heads of the reindeer) 

Step 5) Use your red sharpie and add noses to the reindeer 

Step 6) Use the black sharpie and add the eyes

Step 7) Decorate your reindeer as you please. I used the green sharpie and added hats, bows, and snow 

Step 8) Optional: if you choose to use extra craft supplies like washi tape, apply it where you like now

Step 9) Now your DONE

Washi Tape Tree Envelope

Supplies Needed: 

• Blank envelopes
• Different green colored washi tape 
• Sharpies in the color yellow or black 
• Brown marker or color pencil 
• Optional: Red Washi tape

Direction:

Step 1) Take 1 of your washi tapes and start at the top of the envelope. Rip off or cut off a strip that is about 1 inch and place it at the top.
I chose to rip the tape to make it look less neat
Step 2) Repeat step 1 as many times as you want. Each tape you will make a little bigger than the last to make it look like stairs. You can refer to the picture to see what I am saying.  You want to remember to save space at the bottom to draw your stump.
Step 3) Once your done with the tree leaves take a brown marker or color pencil and draw a stump. I went with a simple style one.
Step 4) Add any other items to your tree (Ex: lights, presents, a star) 
Step 5) Optional: using your red washi tape flip the envelope over and add a strip to the back. This will be a closer for the envelop.

Crafting tip: I would also seal the card normally too, so if the washi tape comes of in the mail you don't lose anything important! 

TA-DA! You have now completed your very own DIY card and envelope. Hopefully, if you create one you are able to send it to a person! Also, if you recreate one tag me on Instagram (@itsliddy) and on Twitter (@itsliddy)! I would love to see them. You can really get creative with these. Make sure to use Pinterest to get help with inspiration!

Make sure to come back for Blogmas Day 3! Love you! 

The Holly Jolly Christmas Tag

Day 1: The Holly Jolly Christmas Tag 

1. Favorite Christmas Movie?

My favorite Christmas movie is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"! This movie is a classic to watch. Most likely planning on watching it again this Christmas. Another great Christmas movie classic is "A Charlie Brown Christmas"! Oh man, I like LOVE this movie! Anything Charlie Brown, in general, is just amazing. Books, shows, movies. Agh! I am so excited for Christmas this year. 

2. Are you on the Naughty list or the Nice list? Hehe! Well...now I feel like (and this is the full truth) I am on the Nice list. Now you are probably like, of course, she would write this. I mean you are not wrong but... ;)

3. Show us an embarrassing Christmas photo! Here. You. Go...

4. Have you ever had a White Christmas? Yes, I have apparently. I had to verify with my mom before posting this. Living in a warmer place now, it will 99.9% never happen again. So at least it happened once in my life!

5. Do you start your Christmas shopping on Black Friday or wait until the last minute? I don't shop on Black Friday (I have seen enough of what happens during this crazy event!) but I also don't wait last minute. I like having a plan. Also, I love creating my gifts. I am a very DIY type of person.

6. If you could be in any Christmas movie what would it be? If I could be in any movie I would be in Elf! Most likely I would be one of the elves or... the WHALE!! Ohhh! I love him so much. *Mentally thinks "Bye Buddie!"*

8. Name all of Santa’s reindeer.

Okay! Ready...Set...Go! Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Blitzen, Donner, Rudolph and don't forget Olive! (If you know this reference then you are an amazing person!) Comment if you know what I am talking about!

9. When does your family put up your Christmas tree and who decorates it? Most of the time I am the one who decorates it. My brother is the one whole puts it up with the help of my dad. The amazing news is we just got a tree after 2 years without one. It's a 9 1/2 foot tree! 

10. Is your Christmas tree real or fake? Ours is fake. The reason for is my mom and brother are allergic to them. Personally, I am totally fine with it because I really don't want to have to pick up the mess after parts fall off. We did get these ornaments that are used to make your tree mess like a real one. 

12. Peeking at gifts or be surprised? Surprised. This is mostly because my mom can hide presents really well and when I feel curious and start to look I can never find anything. Thanks, mom! ;) 

13. Show us your ugly Christmas sweater if you have one. Sadly, I don't have one. My plan this year is to DIY one or buy one. Either way, I am going to be doing a blog post on how to style it. 

Update: Just got one. I will be doing a whole other blog post this month coming up! 

14. If you could be under the mistletoe with anyone who would it be? Can't answer that!! ;)

15. Does your family have a special holiday recipe you like to help make? Cheesecake! My dad makes the best cheesecake EVER! It's so good and fluffy. Yum! Every time I eat it, I am in heaven. 

16. Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably? I think I am in the middle. I can wrap some presents like it's no one's business but then other things I can't do. Maybe this year will be different! 

17. Have you ever gone Christmas caroling? No, but my friends and I were joking around and saying we should go out this year. We were also thinking about going Halloween caroling! But I think it's too late for that now!

18. What tops your tree?

It was an angle when we had our other tree, but I think now we use a metal star to top it off. 

19. Do you make New Years Resolutions? Do you stick to them?

Yes, I do make resolutions! Most of the time I try really hard to stick to then but most of the time it takes about 1 month to break every single one. Maybe next year will be different! 

20. You have been granted one Christmas wish…what will it be?

My one Christmas wish would be to be able to go and visit where I used to live and see all of my friends and family. Also, I would want to see snow again.

Thank you, Kat Bouska for supplying the questions I used! Click HERE to be sent to the original questions!

Love you all! Have a great holiday! Don't forget to come back for Blogmas Day 2!

My September Favorites

Even though September is now officially over and the leaves are starting to change, I thought I should write about my favorites for the month. You also may have noticed that I haven't published anything since August 28! That's more than a month ago! The reason for my absent is school. Oh, school why do you take up so much of my time. But for real, I have been so busy with school work and after school activities that I have pushed this little blog to the side. I hope to find a time to sit down and write a couple of different blog posts for you. My plan is to write a new blog post every 5 or so days so I can get back in the habit of writing these. But anywho, let's get on with my September favorites.

The first thing I am going to start off with is my (very snazzy) school pencils! I love stationary, personally because for one they have the cutest designs and it keeps me very organized in a way. I found these pencils at Target and picked them up for only a dollar. I loved them so much that I picked up a couple of other packs too. I absolutely adore them. They are super cute and have a nice theme of colors. They went perfectly with my whole theme for my school supplies. The only thing with these pencils is I don't like sharing these them with people because they have a tensing to take them and never give them back. I have already had this happen to me and I don't want my own money being wasted.

Next up is something beauty-ish related. I have been loving this Lush shower gel called Twilight. Now, to be completely honest with you, I really didn't know what a shower gel was so I had to look it up cause I didn't want to use it wrong and then have it ruin anything. But anyway, I got this in a gift set on my birthday by my good friend Lizzie. The box came with this shower gel, a bath bomb, and body creme. All of it is lavender scented and is supposed to make you feel relaxed. This shower gel is purple and had little silver shimmery sparkles at the bottom that you can shake in and it makes the body wash really sparkly and pretty. Side note, I might be doing a review on the whole package so if you are interested, make sure to tell me in the comments.

My next favorite is my school planner. I have already done a whole blog post on this so go check it out here to have a better look at it and see what I have inside.

My fourth September favorite is my pottery jar I painted with Katie. We went to a local pottery painting shop for a little get together one afternoon. I found my inspiration on Pinterest by this pin that was a plant starter jar with a really cute face on it and I knew I wanted to recreate it myself. I am very pleased with how it turned out. My favorite part is the petite looking face. I was super afraid when I was painting it because I really didn't want to mess up. I remember practicing for a long time so I could get it right. The only thing now is I don't know what to store in it. I can't put a real plant because it doesn't have the holes on the bottom so the roots and water can escape. I think my plan is to just put in a fake succulent in it. What do you think?

Next up is my Philosophy perfume! My mom found this at Marshalls for $26 and told me that it was actually a very good deal for 4 of the small bottle perfumes. The funny thing is the lady who was checking us out told us that this was a huge sellout and you're lucky to find it in the stores. The box came with 4 small perfumes in "Inner Grace", "Love Sweet Love", "Unconditional Love" and "Giving Grace". Personally, my favorite is "Love Sweet Love". I enjoy sweet smells and this one is definitely one of those. Another thing that I love about these is the little quotes on the boxes of each perfume. The quote on "Inner Grace" is Philosophy: quiet your mind and open your heart.

My next favorite is a book called "Red Queen" by Victoria Aveyard. I have been dying to read this book ever since it came out in 2015. It's been on my reading bucket list and I haven't gotten to it until now. My friend brought me a gift card to Barnes and Nobles for my birthday so I decided to use the money on this book. But sadly, now that I have this book I have not picked it up to start reading it. I feel like I haven't been in the biggest reading mood lately so when the feeling comes back this book will be my first reading choice.

My very last thing on my September favorite list is a little mason jar that my friend Katie made me for my
birthday. It's a jar that she decorated with stickers and fabric washi tape that is intended to put our little memories we shared together. Right now I have notes, polaroid pictures of us and just other fun stuff we can came and look back on. I can't wait to fill it up with more memories with her.


If you have any September favorites that you have been liking comment them down below. I would love to read them! Also, I want to start writing some Fall/Halloween blog posts so if you have any suggestions please put them in the comment and maybe I will write about your topic! ;) I am open to ALL suggestions so don't be afraid to comment.
 Love you all!