Merry Christmas!!

I just want to wish you all the most wonderful holiday and I hope that you’re all surrounded with lots of love, friends, and family today!  I am so lucky to get to be spending Christmas with my family and have already started enjoying the seasonal traditions…a viewing of Home Alone with my brother, check!

I wore my velvet and plaid dress…

Holiday Dress! (Post-crazy showers)

…which you’ll get the full rundown on later today.

I’m sending little (electronic) balls of joys, smiles, and goodness your way – the happiest of holidays to you all today!  Lots of love, Marisa

Back in the Saddle!!

I’m finally on the mend, y’all!!  Thank you SO much for all your cold remedies.  They were fully incorporated into my daily schedule of couching and nose blowing.  The steam, the whiskey (!!), the salt water gargling, and the other tricks were so helpful and I can’t wait to have them on my go-to list next time I feel a bug coming on.

On the mend!!!

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Ashley’s Holiday NDAD Creation

Today’s creation comes from Ashley, who happens to be a super awesome pal of mine!  This is her first foray into vintage repurposing, however you’ll be seeing more of her here in the new year.  Let’s just say that her mom has a stash of vintage pieces and heirlooms just asking to be made over, and Miss Ash will be working her lovely hands on those pieces in 2013.  Let’s hear the background on today’s piece…

I have a vintage quilt that was hand sewn by three of my great-aunts and I wanted to turn it into an heirloom tree skirt for my family.  A number of the patches on the quilt were pretty tattered, and it was not backed or finished along the hem – I actually had it thrown over the back of our couch for awhile to try to showcase its awesomeness, but it didn’t prove very baby/toddler proof.

“My wacky youngest daughter poised in front of it with a fellow baby-in crime!”

A girlfriend of mine offered to host a Sunday sewing party at her house, so I jumped at the opportunity!  It seemed like the perfect time to finally make a proper tree skirt for our Christmas tree, instead of a red fleece blanket that had been used in past years.

Ash’s Handmade Quilt – Before

I started cutting the quilt into a proper square by removing one strip of quilted squares and then cut a matching piece of black cotton fabric to serve as the backing for the quilt…

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DIY Upcycled Ornament

Tis the season!!  Who’s still shopping for gifts?  On the present front, you have to check out Shoestring Magazine’s “Shop Local” map of handmade goodies under $50 made in each of the 50 states.  It’s amazing, and yours truly is mentioned in CA!  (PS, for those gifting a copy of NDAD for the holidays, click here and fill out your info to get my sewing playlist and be entered in a fab raffle of craft goodness!)

Who’s still decorating?  On the decor front, I’ve got you covered.  I’m going to show you the amazing upcycled ornament that was made at my fun craft night/book signing at Kettle Coffee & Tea in San Diego with these lovely ladies below…

My SD Gals!

The amazing Tricia owns Kettle and was gracious enough to host the night at her shop with delish sips and treats (which you’ll see down below) along with Katie of Latte Love Blog and Rebekah of Twinkle and Twine who really spearheaded the craft!  (You can see R’s full tutorial here.)

Basically we started with swatches of fabric that came from thrifted dresses (we went with a 2″ size and 75 of them, however I used about 60 for mine), a styrofoam ball (we used a 2″), straight pins, and a little bit of glue!

Ornament Supplies!

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