Holiday Gift Guide

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This is coming a little late, but I thought I would share some products that I have owned and loved for those of you who are still shopping. From left to right, the first is a flower crown from Emily Elisabeths this is a maker from England so be aware of that if you plan to order this for a gift. You may need to purchase a crown from someone local. I really love this flower crown it is silk so it will never wither away. I think it is really pretty especially for someone with blonde or brightly colored hair. I wore mine for our 3rd Wedding Anniversary Shoot.

Party proof! This stuff is amazing I love it so much... it stays on really well and comes off fairly easy. I have the lighter shades but plan on purchasing the brighter colors soon from Birchbox.

Alright Molton Brown is a wonderful smelling, great conditioning hair product! I love it, and that's why it is on here. I accidentally found this on a trip to Seabrook when we stayed at one of the coastal homes and it really made a difference in my hair. I have damaged hair that I am working on repairing and growing out from being bleached blonde and this product works wonders. Oh and the shower and bath products smell amazing too!

Annie Sloan Paint... If you want to buy the artist or antique enthusiast in your family something, this is it! This is such a great paint you seriously do not have to prep anything and only need one coat. The finish is smooth a brilliant they will love it. Hint, Hint you can only purchase this paint from small businesses who carry it (yay support small businesses) you can find vendors on the Annie Sloan website.

The last is a crystal necklace I purchased from Bumhemian. This artist has a wide variety of inexpensive mineral jewlery and ships her products promptly.

Ok thats it for today I hope you see something you or a friend would like! Happy Holidays!

Pumpkin you can be proud of...

We've all seen it... the diagram that breaks down how terrible and bad bad bad Pumpkin Spice Lattés are because of whats in them chemicals, dyes, this, that, and the other thing. Well, I am not claiming that this latté is much better since I personally don't know the exact source of every ingredient, but in this recipe you have control over what you add to your coffee. It claims to be a "skinner" version of this not so skinny drink. So if you would like to attempt your own pumpkin spice latté with your home brewed coffee check out this recipe adapted from The Bold Abode. 

A Wintergreen Wardrobe

Modcloth Style Gallery - Click to Shop!

coat | Oldnavy

dress | Free People

shoes | Target

leggings | Oldnavy

mittens | Marshalls

C                                                                                                                                                    hristmas is upon us, and for this reason I wanted to throw a Christmas-y outfit together, so I went with mittens, a warm green coat and red lipstick. My lace dress is white and for some reason that really feels festive to me, "snow" white maybe... I have always loved fashion and using my fine arts skills to create themes in my wardrobe, the theme for these photos is "Wintergreen". These photos were taken at a park near our apartment... I was actually surprised to find a little stretch of beach off the little forest trail. 

Christmas Ship Festival, Tacoma - Gig Harbor

Paul and I got to go on the Christmas Ship Festival Parade boat last night! It was so much fun. We ended up departing from the Glass Museum in Tacoma, which I am embarrassed to say I have still not been inside. It was really fun spending time together and taking in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest sights. The weather was cold and clear perfect for looking at the Christmas lights that people decorated their boats with. The parade started at the Tacoma Marina and went all the way to Gig Harbor and back. The main boat had a youth choir aboard who sang Christmas Carols that were loudly played so even people on shore could hear them. It was so festive and pretty and I would totally recommend Argosy Cruises! This is the second one we have been on and both times have been really fun and well put together. 

Salt Dough Gift Tags

T his week has been pretty great! Without jinxing it, things are starting to look up... for real this time. I think 2015 is going to be a really great year. That being said here is day 5 of my "Twelves Days of Christmas Posts." I decided to make salt dough gift tags. These are really easy to do all you need is: 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1.5 cups of warm water. I don't have a lot of Christmas stamps so I pulled a fir branch from my Christmas Tree and used it to dip in black ink and then press into the dough. I also used stamps of postage stamps from around the world for a fun touch. I think these turned out pretty great and they can also be used for Christmas ornaments. Ok this is the last post for this week, taking the weekend off to come up with some more great Christmas posts. See you on Monday. 

Ombré Star Sugar Cookies

I have never been super talented at baking sugar cookies I'm just not a very patient person. I always end up rushing things along and either burning them or melting the frosting. So this time I took some basic tips to heart and I think the results are much better. Here are some steps you shouldn't skip when baking your Christmas cookies this year. Oh and side note I finally splurged and had my blogger title professionally designed by the Sunday Studio, and I think she did an amazing job! Scroll up and take a peek.

Sugar Cookie Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

• Use a basic cookie cutter with no small edges or thin pieces
• Refridgerate your cookie dough overnight
• Don't leave cookies in the oven too long (no brainer but seriously take them out early)
• Use a mixer instead of hand stirring 

DIY drift wood ornaments

Paul and I spent Thanksgiving on the Washington Coast at Seabrook. It was so much fun, and I am so grateful to my parents who rented a huge house with an ocean view. Everyone (my two brothers, their girlfriend and fiancee and my nephew) basically got their own wing of the home so it was a really relaxing getaway. While we were there I decided to try to make drift wood ornaments for our Christmas tree, this year I really wanted to do a beach inspired tree. My Mom and Paul helped me collect small pieces of drift wood from the beach and lucky for us there was a really big storm that blew all sorts of debris onto the beach, there was no shortage of branches, sticks, and driftwood. Then I washed and dried them by the fire, my original idea was to hot glue these together which sort of worked but then Paul being Mr. amazing started to twine them together with string which worked even better. And there you have it pretty drift wood star ornaments. We even used one for our tree topper.