By Lisa Gutierrez on 11/30/2012 
Or advent calendar. Whatever you want to call it, it’s hanging on my foyer wall.
I spent the past week browsing Pinterest and just becoming so overwhelmed with advent calendar ideas. I kept complaining, “we neeeeed a calendar. we neeeeed a countdown. blah, blah, blaaaaaaah.” Finally, yesterday, I stopped complaining and went to Hobby Lobby for supplies. While taking Andrew to the bathroom (OF COURSE), I noticed the shelf with wood sheets and my mind flashed to the few scrap wood trees I’d seen in my Pinterest perusing. Bingo!
I loved the look of the scrap trees, but I wanted something really quick and easy. You can see the exact materials I used, below:
I stamped the numbers using a set my MIL gave me a few years ago. Everything is hot glued together and it hangs with a small piece of yarn. I’m going to fill the tiny envelopes with activity prompts and/or chocolates (I’m thinking Andes!) for both boys. I’m glad I got it done on time. They are super excited for tomorrow! I’m just a little terrified that 2012 is already so close to being over. How’d it go by so quickly?!
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By Lisa Gutierrez on 12/28/2011 
I never really want it to be over until it’s 8pm and we’ve been going-going-going for 2 days straight and I finally feel like I’ll explode with sugar and happiness. It sounds like it’d be sweet, but…no. If I exploded, it’d be horrible. And so we shuttle home and transfer children from car to bed and then collapse on the couch. I sleep for 12 hours and the next day, we do NOTHING. No cleaning, no sorting, no nothing. And then I REALLY want it to be over.
Yesterday, my mom took my boys for a few hours and I was able to take down the tree and pull down some decorations. They’re all sitting in a box on my living room floor. I want so desperately to be able to do things completely, but I struggle with it. I get distracted easily. I used to have discipline, but it lost its way. Maybe it doesn’t really matter, but sometimes I think it would be nice.
taken with my new camera!
It’s over. I’ll miss the ornaments and glitter, but I am really glad things can go back to normal.
How are you? Did Christmas wipe you out? Have you recovered?
By Lisa Gutierrez on 12/19/2011 
Because I have been filling custom orders (THANK YOU!), I haven’t really had all that much time to devote to Christmas crafting. I found some time between orders to create for my loved ones and I have a pretty decent pile I’ll be distributing this weekend. It’s impressive when you realize I’ve made these during the past 2-3 weeks. Needless to say, my hands have been busy.
In the photo you see:
1 Willow
1 Dory
2 Turn a Square hats
1 Last Minute Open Rib hat
“Last Minute Open Rib,” you ask? Why, yes. I knit this hat quite a bit, last year, and finally got around to composing a proper pattern for it. I can knit one up in an evening (late night watching old episodes of Sons of Anarchy)!
If you feel so inclined to make one yourself, please do check out the pattern page, HERE. Happy knitting!
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Did you make any sweet gifts for your loved ones for Christmas? Please share!
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Shop note: I’ll be closing up shop tomorrow morning for a week. I still have a few ready-to-ship hats, shawlettes, and one doily blanket. Everything except Lace Love ships Priority Mail in the U.S. All orders placed tonight will ship tomorrow! They aren’t guaranteed to arrive by Christmas, but they’ll be sent. I’ll open back up on the 27th. Thank you so much for all of your support!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 12/19/2011 
I’m here with my favorite, tried and true, thumbprint cookie recipe. Above is a dark chocolate ganache thumbprint cookie that totally hit the spot when I was craving some chocolatey cookie goodness. For Christmas, however, I usually make them with raspberry jam. There’s something especially delicious about raspberry and almond together.
Ingredients:
1 cup of butter (2 sticks, softened)
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups of flour
filling of your choice (raspberry jam is good, as is chocolate ganache)
Pre-heat your oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
one: cream the butter & sugar together.
two: add in the almond extract.
three: add in the flour.
four: mix until it comes together into a dough.
Use a cookie scoop for consistent cookie sizes. Drop a scoopful on your lined cookie sheet. Using your thumb, make a small indentation in the center for your filling. Fill with a small amount of jam or chocolate.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges turn a light golden brown. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 12/16/2011 
Sunday morning, my mother-in-law emailed me to let us know Santa would be at R.E.I. that day taking FREE photos with kiddos. She suggested we stop by on our way to her house and get a shot of the kids with him. I went through their closet looking for the perfect little combinations and finally settled on a red gingham shirt for Andrew and a green gingham shirt for Nathan. FESTIVE!!
All was wonderful up until Andrew standing next to Santa and the photographer slowly walking to his camera… “NOOO!” He ran away. He actually told Santa what he wanted, but then got creeped out by the guy taking the picture. No offense to the photographer, he was nice enough. My little one is just at the age where #1 DON’T tell him what to do, and #2 Who are you? GET AWAY! Basically, only mommy can take his picture.
Oh well. Nathan looked pretty adorable–
Andrew is wearing: thrifted shirt & blazer, boots from The Children’s Place, pants from Target, pin from Mod Cloth.
Nathan is wearing: shirt & hat from Target, Levi’s pants, thrifted blazer.
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