Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas y'all!

The time has come. Christmas Eve is here!

I wish you the happiest holidays! May you all be blessed with love, peace and joy this time of year, and always.

:D

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(Gorgeous Scandinavean design via bo bedre)

The Party is Here!

Welcome to our first linty party at Casa Haus.

Today it's all about sharing our Christmas home, crafts, diy's, you name it! If it's christmassy, it works!

In my case, I've been working lately on this project I'm sharing with you. I'm so excited. I hope you like it and find it inspiring for your own home.

As you recall, last year I made a pine cone wreath, and eventhough I loved it, this year I'm going for something new. Still pinecones, but with a twist. I got it finished just in time to participate in the party! Yay!

 

I used some magnolia leaves (from mom's garden), last year's pine cones, and some berries from the craft store.

Magnolia leaves are excellent for crafts. They are absolutely gorgeous. After drying them, I used acrylic paint to keep the silver theme going.

 

And I hot glued them to a wreath I bought at the craft store.

 

It's actually pretty simple, you just need to figure out the place for each leaf and pine cone. ;)

Ain't it lovely? There I am with my new wreath... and my bff, my camera. :P

and now, let's start the party!

Hop over to Casa Haus Spanish and link up!

 

Let's Part-ay!

Howdy!

Our fellow blog, Casa Haus Spanish is on party!

We're celebrating that we've broken the 100 barrier:

 

We've got more than 100 followers

and over 100,000 visitors
over there. And since we're sister blogs,
Casa Haus English is celebrating as well!
Yay!

So thank you!
None of this would be possible without all of you.

So, because we're celebrating and because Christmas is just around the corner,
Casa Haus Spanish is hosting our
first linky party!

What's this all about?

I want to see your home for Christmas! 

Show me your tree.

Your decor.

Your crafts.

Anything you're doing for the holidays.

What if you don't have that kind of post?

Well, we all have a special way of celebrating our holidays.

So your post can be anything Christmas-related.

(gift wrapping, dinners, parties, anything!)

So, write a Holiday post on your blog.

:)

And come December 14 to Casa Haus

and share some joy!

Feel free to take any of the buttons I've made for the party,

so that your friends can come too!

 ;)

We want a big party!

{see ya Dec 14 }

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In other issues, the other day I had coffee with

some fellow bloggers:

 Ana from Coffee Break

and Ytzia from Crea lo inimaginable

This gals are lovely and really fun.
We had a great time!

Lovely Pine Cone Wreath

Christmas is just around de corner

 and I've got a trendy and easy diy wreath for your front door!

A year ago, I made this lovely pine cone wreath, and enjoyed it so much! So, while I'm in the First Communion up and downs, I thought I'd share with you a post I wrote last year with full instructions. How's that sound to you? 

{My inspiration for this project was Eddie Ross' ornament wreath (if you haven't checked it out, I strongly recommend you to; it's beautiful and easy). }

Supplies:

50 small sized pine cones.

Craft paint (your choice of color).

Wire rings (available at craft supply stores).

A hanger.

A paintbrush.

Hot glue gun.

Ribbons.

How to:

Paint your pine cones (you can go natural too if you wish).

I chose a silver tone for my decorations, so that's what I used to paint them.

I only painted the tips. (I spent a wonderful afternoon with my mom and daughter doing this ;)

{They're lovely just like this.}

Hot glue the wire rings to the top of the pine cone.

Bend the hanger into a circle.

Untwist the end of the hanger and string one pine cone at a time.

Twist the hanger again to close the circle.

Hot glue a ribbon to cover the hook end of the hanger.

Make a simple bow out of color coordinating ribbons.

Hot glue it to the wreath.

Enjoy!

I'm liking this so much, I'm thinking about making a few to give as presents to my family and friends. I seriously can't stop staring at it: my first Xmas wreath!

Best of all: easy on my pocket, easy on the environment. Cool!

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Last night was the Twelfth Night of Christmas (remember the 12 Days of Christmas?).

Adoration of the Magi, by Jan de Bray

This was a very special night. Children around here go early to bed, for the Three Wise Men visit their homes and leave them presents. So today was an exciting morning for most kids!!!!

The Christmas Season around here isn't over until the day after the 12th Day of Christmas. That is January 6th. In most Latin countries, this day is called the Day of the Three Wise Men, and it's a big holiday. In some places, Santa doesn't leave presents, it's these three men who do so. That's how important it is.

In my hometown, children do get their presents on Christmas Day. However, my family is quite fortunate, because our children receive presents on both days. Oooooh, very special.

Baby Jesus brings toys on Christmas and the Three Wise Men bring clothes today. That's why Chrismas isn't really over until today. We can't get the tree down earlier. Where would the Magi leave the stuff?

My girl was very excited.

The celebrations continue until later at night, for we celebrate with a bread ring, the famous Wise Men Ring (or Rosca de Reyes), and hot chocolate. And this is a tradition all Mexican families celebrate.

Yum!

The whole tradition is this:

Families and friends gather together to "cut the ring". Each person takes turns cutting their own piece of ring, for there's a surprise hidden in it.

A tiny plastic or china doll is hidden in the bread!!!

The person who gets the doll, gives everyone tamales a month later, on February 2nd, Groundhog Day.

Tsk. Look at my brother almost eating the doll! :D

So today was a very fun day. We started early with my daughter opening up her presents, and then it was "ring cutting" all day long. This tradition is fun, because some rings have many dolls, others have only one or two. Some people make a twist out of the tradition, and give something to the person who gets the doll. The best thing is, you can do several "ring cuttings"; bakers start making the ring a couple of days early, so there are cuttings at work, with friends, with families. Very delicious. And very joyful.

Now off to get the Christmas decorations down- like most of you have by now.

Did you have fun over the holidays?

Best of 2009

Happy New Year, friends!!!

I'm so excited to be starting off a new year. 2010.

Amazing, huh?

I hope y'all had a wonderful time last night, and wish you the best in 2010.

I'm starting this new year by doing a tiny little recap on last year, for those new to Casa Haus or those who would like to walk with me down Memory Lane.

2009 was an excellent year for us. We had just gotten married in August 2008, so 2009 meant settling down and arranging our little house to make it feel like home. As I started looking through the internet for inspiration, I bumped into the bloggosphere, and man, did that change me (for good, I hope). I suddenly realized I wasn't the only crazy woman thinking about her home and her decoration 24/7. That felt amazing!!!! I actually got to know more people like me, and so I let my obsession loose. House-aholic. Design-aholic. Yay!

However, that wasn't enough, so in early November I decided to start my own blog, the good ol' little Casa Haus. A place meant for you to find good design, inspiration, home decor, and a journal for my adventures making our house our home while doing everything else (you know, work, exercise, housekeeping, kid, you name it). I couln't have started off in a busier time of year, so blogging, my friends, has become one truly wonderful journey.

So, best of 2009.

Since I started blogging in November, my projects so far have revolved around the holidays. I begun by introducing you to our Halloween home.

Those decorations were so fun and easy to make. We loved them!

I showed you the beautiful twirly scarves I had made for the chilly weather. And of course, I posted on the lovely heart too.

Then Christmas time came fast.

I made a pine cone wreath, and got really excited when Centsational Girl featured it.

I made easy snowflake ornaments for our tree.

And a bunch of other last minute decorations.

In the end, our Christmas House looked cute!

And of course, there was time for easy and yummy recipes, too.

The tasty hot punch (in a cappuccino cup).

And the refreshing red wine punch.

And of course, there was time to feature some great interior design inspirations and eye candy.

What an excellent year!

What were your best experiences 2009 left you? What are your expectations for 2010?

Do share!

sharing with Melissa for Best of 2009
and Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.

International Gift Exchange

A while ago, back in November, I read about an amazing idea: an International Gift Exchange at Craftaholics Anonymous. I couldn't believe it. Wouldn't it be fun to receive a gift in the mail? A handmade gift? Things couldn't get any better.

In spite of the crazyness that December brought to my life (due to an awful amount of work at the office and Christmas celebrations), the effort was worth it. I sent my gift all the way to Switzerland on time.

Well, a few days ago, I received my gifts (yay!). I couldn't blog about it at the time, but I'm ready to share with you my wonderful surprise. Look what the mail got me!!!!

A beautiful set of holiday handprinted cards and envelopes. Lovely ribbon, huh?

Look at these cuties!

And there's more, jewelry! Gorgeous necklace and earrings in my favorite color!

Let me remind you, everything is handmade.

The talented young lady behind this lovely Christmas gift is Elizabeth Bodin (thank you, girl!).

You can check her blog love me for me here for more of her amazing creations.

So tell me, did you participate in any gift exchange? Were you nice enough to get presents for Christmas? Do share!

P.S. By the way, I'm linking this to Craftaholics Anonymous International Gift Exchange Linky Party, in case you're curious enough to check out more gifts.

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!

Courtesy of Southern Living

From our home to yours, may you have the most wonderful Christmas Eve ever!!

Remember:

enjoy

laugh

hug

hold hands

love

most of all, remember

Jesus is the gift.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Ideas for Your Christmas Table

With one day left for Christmas Eve, I thought I'd share with you some last minute ideas for setting your Christmas table and place cards. I hope you find some useful ideas for your own Christmas dinner.

courtesy of Southern Living

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Courtesy of Southern Living

Courtesy of House to Home

This las picture isn't a table image, but I loved this cute and simple idea for a last minute decoration. So easy to do this in your own home!

Courtesy of Southern Living

Last but not least, remember what Christmas is really about. You don't need a magazine home, nor a perfect Christmas dinner. The perfect Christmas is about enjoying your time with your loved ones.

Happy holidays from Casa Haus!!!!