It’s Christmas Card Time!!!

One of my favorite holiday traditions is making and sending Christmas cards to my family and friends. I love to receive them too… The ones with photos or a little recap of the year are definitely my favorite. Then I display them on the cute Christmas card display I crafted a few years ago as part of our annual holiday decorations.

The last few years I have had my cards printed at Shutterfly. Every year I choose some of my favorite family photos, upload them on the site, choose a fun holiday layout and my Christmas card shopping is complete.

I would love to have the time and patience to craft a unique holiday card for everyone on my list but I just don’t. That’s why I’m loving the ease of Shutterfly’s holiday cards. This year the layout I chose is called Scrap Happy. You’re able to choose the number of photos you want on the card, personalize everything with your names of course and really make it your own! You can even choose to have them addressed by Shutterfly and MAILED if you want!! Hallelujah can you say time saver?!?!

ScrapHappyI’m not including an actual photo of our cards yet because I haven’t sent them out… It is still a little early I guess since we haven’t even passed Thanksgiving… 😉 But it’s the PERFECT time to get YOUR cards ordered for this year!

Right now Shutterfly is offering free shipping on orders of $39 or more (just use the code SHIP39) and a whole slew of other special offers.

Do you send out holiday cards? Are you a craft your own or order online kind of person??

Disclosure: I received my holiday cards in exchange for sharing my honest opinion. As always the opinions I share here are 100% my own. If I didn’t really love it I wouldn’t share it with you. 😉

My Girl’s First Christmas and a Giveaway!

Disclosure: “This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Dreft. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.”

 
This year was my daughter’s very first Christmas! It amazing how having a child can make the holidays instantly more fun and exciting. Every holiday is suddenly more amazing! Let’s be honest, every single day is suddenly more amazing!

Klara and Santa

For Christmas this year Klara got a ton of cute new clothes and toys of course, but the clothes is the focus of this post. 😉 Each of those cute little outfits needed to be washed, so I whipped out my go to baby laundry detergent, Dreft. Not only is Dreft the #1 laundry soap choice for pediatricians, it’s also launching a brand new app, Amazing Baby Days for your mobile devices.

Amazing Baby Days App

The Dreft Amazing Baby Days App can be downloaded for free from the App store on Apple® iTunes®. It gives you the opportunity to load photos from your phone into the app, caption those photos, write little notes to your kiddo, and basically just record all of those Amazing Days during baby’s first year. Once you’re finished you can then publish those moments into a book to share with your loved ones.

Dreft Amazing Days App

To celebrate the launch of the new Dreft Amazing Baby Days App, Dreft is partnering with Kevin and Danielle Jonas (of the Jonas Brothers) as they prepare for the upcoming arrival of their first child.

In the coming weeks you can follow along with the couple via the Dreft Facebook page and Twitter. Then on Tuesday, January 7th, they will be hosting “Dreft’s Amazing Baby Days” Twitter Party from 9pm-9:30pm EST with special guest DANIELLE JONAS!

# DreftAmazingBabyDays Twitter Party Information:

The Twitter Party will take place on Tuesday, January 7th at 9pm EST.

RSVP to the Twitter Party here: http://twtvite.com/DreftAmazingBabyDays

Prizes include:

  • Bottles of Dreft

To participate, follow your hosts @DoubleDutyDivas, @BridgetteLA, @CeceliaMecca @AngieKcom @WhatMommiesNeed @RamblingChick, our sponsor @Dreft, and our special guest @daniellejonas.

Truly Lovely Dreft Giveaway

 
Also in celebration of the Dreft Amazing Baby Days launch, they have given one lucky Truly Lovely winner the chance to win TWO Bottle of Dreft Baby Laundry Detergent!!! To enter the giveaway use the Raffelcopter form below. The giveaway will close one week from today at midnight on Sunday, January 12th. The winner will be announced on Monday the 13th.

Danielle and Kevin Jonas

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Holidays from the Mortensens!!

Only 5 shopping days left until Christmas now!!! Is it just me or has December flown by for anyone else?? Goodness. I barely got my Christmas cards in the mail day before yesterday… But while we’re talking Christmas cards, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from my family to yours!!!

ChristmasCards2013

I am SO pleased with the way our Christmas cards turned out this year!! I took the photo of my girl myself and ordered the cards from Tiny Prints. They seriously have SO many options to choose from. I made up at least three different cards with the same photo before being able to choose my favorite!

I love that you can choose to have rounded corners, plain square corners, or even choose another fun trim option. They have both folded cards and flat cards. This year I went with a flat card. They are perfect for sticking in an addressed envelope and calling it done! Saves tons of time in my opinion!

ChristmasCards

Plus the flat cards are easy to display on a hanging card display, fridge, etc. You know for those people like myself that display all the cards I receive at least until New Years! 😉

Granted, Christmas is only a few days away now, but you can definitely still send a card out for the New Year! I love to receive them even after Christmas. Always fun to find out what your friends and loved ones are up to and see a pretty face you recognize!

Your turn: Do you prefer a flat or folded card? Do you send holiday cards annually??

Disclosure: I received a set of Christmas cards from Tiny Prints in exchange for my honest review and promotion of their site. As always opinions shared here are 100% my own!

 

Unique Stocking Stuffer Ideas

Happy Monday friends!!! Only 9 shopping days left until Christmas!!! If you’re looking for a last minute gift idea or stocking stuffer, I have a few ideas for you… I spent this last month testing and trying a few fun products. You might have seen my thoughts on a few items through Instagram, Twitter or Facebook already, but here is my overall review of the #RoseVoxBox from Influenster. Each of these goodies would be fun for stuffing those stockings this year!

First up, the contents! Here’s the Instagram unboxing video I shared when I received the Rose Vox Box.

 

AS you can see, lots of fun goodies!!! The first thing I tested was the Kiss Nail Art Gradation kit. In my initial review I loved it. There’s three polishes included thus three steps to the process. It was so easy to apply but ended up looking like a professional manicure. The only downside to this polish is that it doesn’t last long. If you have a party to attend or fun event to go to, I’d do the manicure the day of and all will be well. But after only a day or two my manicure started chipping. It might work better if you apply some kind of top coat over it… Just a thought.

KissNailArt

I LOVED the Lindt Lindor Truffle! If any of my very own Santa’s helpers are out there reading right now, I would be very happy if a few of these showed up in my stocking. 😉 So yummy!!!!

Lindor Truffle Review

Next up, I tried out the Dr. Scholl’s Cozy Cushions. The following is my thoughts on those…

The belVita breakfast biscuits were decent. Not my favorite item in the Rose Vox Box, but it was interesting to try something new. The blueberry flavor was yummy actually and I enjoyed the taste, BUT to me, that doesn’t feel like a breakfast item. Maybe a quick snack to hold you over before or after breakfast, but not filling enough to make it very long.

belVita review

And finally I really enjoyed testing the Rimmel London Scandaleyes Mascara. It made my lashes look long and full without the clumps. The unique shape of the brush seems to help with getting your lashes mascara clad without gunking everything up! I found if I curled my lashes with an eyelash curler than applied the Scandaleyes they REALLY helped my eyes pop! Thumbs up for Scandaleyes.

Scandaleyes

So there you go. A few ideas on goodies to get for this year’s stockings! Have you tried any of the products mentioned above? Your thoughts? Any other ideas for fun stocking stuffers???

Disclosure: I received the items mentioned above as part of the Rose Vox Box from Influenster. As always opinions shared here and through all my social media channels are my own.

A Sweet Gift for a New Mommy and Baby

Hey there!! Long time no talk!!! Thank goodness for Fancy This Fridays or you wouldn’t have heard anything from me in weeks!! We’re finally past #weddingbonanza2013 and I’m starting to feel caught back up with everything!!!

So today I’m back on the bloggy-blog to share one of the sweetest gift ideas… Klara recently received her very first Christmas ornament from my friend, Jerri.

baby first christmas ornament

Jerri is also a blogger, she blogs at Simply Sweet Home, and she is the owner/creator behind the Etsy shop . When she offered to create an ornament for miss Klara I was absolutely delighted! I mean who wouldn’t want a keepsake ornament to commemorate their child’s first Christmas?!?! AWESOME Gift Idea Alert!!!

I was able to choose whether I wanted just her first name or also her middle name, the color of the ribbon and the cute little charm! Don’t you think the rocking horse is so fitting?!?! The other charms include a Christmas tree, baby bottle, baby feet, pacifier, high chair, or a ducky.

charms

The ornament itself is made of two hand stamped aluminum disks that will not rust and thus hang beautifully on your holiday tree for many years!! I really, really believe this would make a beautiful gift for your new mommy friend, a baby shower gift, Christmas gift for your own new little one… As a new mommy myself I was touched by the simplicity but lasting quality of our ornament.

IMG_6271

Plus it makes a darling photo prop!! 😉

You can get your own from Jerri’s shop at that link. She also creates hand stamped necklaces and key chains as well as other lovely handmade jewelry.

Your turn: My family has always had the tradition of a new Christmas ornament every year for each of the kids. I plan to carry on that tradition with Klara. Do you have any ornament or other special Christmas traditions?

My Home for the Holidays

The halls have been decked and the stockings are hung so here’s a look at what the inside of my home looks like this Christmas!
I’m linking up with Jen, Caroline and Natalie for their Home for the Holidays link up.
___________

If you were to walk in my front door the first thing you’d see would be the tree. It’s a fake, pre-lit Christmas tree that my parents gifted to me the first Christmas I had my own home. It’s just a little guy, but I love it.

The angel on the right was a gift from my aunt many years ago. My sister, Kayli, has a matching one.

The tree is decorated in red and silver balls. The gold star matches the gold and red tree skirt that belonged to my mother in law. There are also a few random ornaments the hubs and I have collected over the last couple of years. A couple of handmade beaded snowflakes from a past coworker friend, stockings I made for Penny and Pandy (our dogs) and my favorite, our wedding ornament. I received it as .

If you were to look to your left you’d see the other little Christmas tree. It was my very first tree when I went off to college. Back then I decorated it in pink ornaments, but now I have red ornaments and red chile peppers (nod to NM, where I’m from!) that my nana gave me to dress up my little tree.

chile pepper Christmas tree

To your right is my Christmas mantel. It includes my Santa count down to Christmas, the , a few little Christmas nick knacks like this and my Precious Moments nativity set. The as well.

Did you know that I’m a Scentsy Consultant?! That might help explain the various Christmas themed Scentsy warmers you’ll find around my house. One in the living room and a couple in the kitchen. Those don’t include the ones that stay out year round…

You’ll find a few more nods to the Christmas holiday if you were to keep glancing about including on the coffee table, side table and TV.

Since you’re still standing in the front door…. my apologies, where are my manners!?! Won’t you sit down? 😉 But before you do, a quick turn back to the front door shows a fabric wreath that my mom made, a pink Santa hat and the I made two years ago.

Shout out to my blog girl, Nicole! Thanks for the Christmas card two years running! 😉 Hoping to get a few more up there in the coming weeks.

Now if you’d like, you can take the Christmas tour from last year, but you’d have dejavu… They’re basically the same plus a fresh coat of paint on all the walls. 😉 Maybe it’s time for a few new Christmas crafts and decorations.

Do you stick to a single theme with your Christmas decorations? Do you have a favorite decoration???

Holiday Cards from Shutterfly and a Giveaway!

I love sending and receiving mail!!!
It’s another of those traits my sweet Granny instilled in me…
Sending and receiving holiday cards especially is at the top of my snail mail list!

You might be thinking it’s a little early to be talking holiday cards, but if you’re going to take a family photo, order and have them printed, stuff, address, and mail them… Now is the time to get started!!!

I think Photo Christmas Cards are definitely my favorite. I love to choose my favorite photos from the last year and send them along with a holiday message to our nearest and dearest! Last year it was wedding photos… the year before, engagement photos… this year might be tougher to choose because we’ve done so many fun things!

Every year I order our holiday cards through Shutterfly! I love the fun themes they have that can easily be customized with your own photos.

A few of my favorites for this year are…


Surrounded with Love


Sparkling Snowflakes


Bright Merry Wishes

I can’t wait to get our 2012 Holiday cards ordered and sent to friends!!!

Shutterfly has a special offers page you should definitely check out! It has deals on cards and other stationary items, but also discounts for fun photo gifts for the holiday season!

AND they’re giving one lucky Truly Lovely winner $50 off your total Shutterfly order!
{Does not include shipping and cannot be combined with any other promos.}
Enter using the Rafflectoper form below. Entries will be verified and a winner chosen on October 29, 2012!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for entering lovelies and good luck!!!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Shutterfly. As always opinions shared are 100% my own!

Our first family Christmas party

A few days before Christmas last week we had our local family members over for a Christmas party of sorts. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but my husband’s older brother and his wife bought a home directly behind, catty corner to ours. 
They just moved in over this last month. 
This was our first real, of many I’m sure, get together as neighbors!! 

We had ham and mashed potatoes that my SIL Brianne made and brought over.
I whipped up my friend Meg’s recipe for a yummy chile/corn side dish, and we had for dessert! 
We actually took these post opening presents, thus the reason the presents are shown in the pictures haha.
Guess you know you did well when they don’t want to put them down… 😉
While we were getting dinner finished up the kiddos, (Corryn and Chancey) made some ice cream cone Christmas trees. They decorated their trees with M&Ms after their momma iced them. 

Chancey and his tree. 
Corryn and her tree. 
Once we’d finished eating it was time to open presents!
Chancey got some little trucks and Corryn, a Barbie doll and doll clothes. 

Brianne, Chancey, Corryn (Hubs and BIL in the background)

My FIL and his wife, Tammy. 

Like Uncle like Nephew… 😉

Opening their bigger presents. 
A game for Chancey. 

And a Piggy Scentsy Buddy for Corryn. 

It was really fun to have our first Christmas get together with our nearest family. 
I’m sure they’ll grow through the years, but as our first married Christmas, it was nice to have a small get together and enjoy the ones we love in our new home. 

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my parents and family in my hometown. 
For one reason or another I didn’t take any pictures! BAH!!  :) I still have a few things I’ll share about that later as well as how AWESOME the hubs did for his first Christmas as a married man. 😉 

We hope your Christmas was MERRY and BRIGHT and spent with the ones YOU love. 

P.S. We’re looking to schedule some FUN NEW Bloggie Besties!!! Interested??
Leave a comment with your email address or email us at trulylovely.laney @ gmail.com (no spaces). 

Christmas at Kassi’s

So I had mentioned awhile back that I had a post planned to show you the Christmas decor at my house… Let’s just say it’s been tough getting things I HAD to have done, done… much less take good pictures of the decor and what not… haha. It’s just that time of the year!! :)

But here’s a few pictures I did get before the craziness set in…

Our little Christmas tree.
It’s a pre-lit tree with colored lights. My parents got it for me several Christmases ago. 
I love it!
The star was also a gift from my mom. I got the gold tinsel string on sale a few post-Christmases ago for $0.50! 
Thought I needed some gold to match the star. 
The red tree skirt belonged to my mother-in-law. 
It was a perfect addition with its gold glitter!

The angel in the gold dress (on the right) has a twin that belongs to Kayli. :)

The top left ornament is for our first married Christmas (). 
The top right is two little stockings I made for our doggies a few years ago. Just wrote their names in puff paint. 
And the bottom pic is a hand beaded ornament from a sweet lady at work. She has given me one or two every year so far. 

Funny story…. Our four year old nephew found a Cars gift bag and filled it with odds and ends for his “girlfriend’s” Christmas present, then put it under the tree. 
It has a plant holder, some rolley wheels, a State Farm stuffed dog, some fake flowers and a plant food stake in it. 
Hubs said at least he did good with the stuffed dog and fake flowers. 😉

This little tree was my very first Christmas tree when I went off to college.
I had a teeny tiny apartment and it was all I could fit (and afford). I have a set of pink ornaments for it too, but sometimes I interchange the red and chile pepper ornaments (a gift from my Nana) for a different look.  
It even has it’s own string of clear lights. 

The snow globe came from ! :)

You saw the mantel in the post where I shared our , but here it is again. I fancied up those
The little wooden Santa is an advent that you slide the beads from one side to the other to countdown the days until Christmas. I’ve had that since I was a kiddo.
The nativity is a Precious Moments set that I’ve had since I was little as well. 
LOVE IT!!!
FYI – I collect Precious Moments pretties. 😉
The card display that is overflowing with cards! We’ve received several from friends over the last few weeks! I LOVE getting them in the mail and hanging them on our card holder. 

(Don’t mind the filled in nail holes… We have yet to paint in the living room….)
Kayli and our brother’s (Brent’s) girlfriend, Jessie helped me hang multi-colored icicle lights around the top edge of our house outside a few weekends ago. 
Luckily the people that had lived there before had hung lights at some point so there were already nails… We just had to climb the ladder and hang the lights. 😉
There you can also see the I made last year hanging for the first time on our very own front door! :)
Well, that’s pretty much it! 
Thanks for stopping by Kassi’s at Christmas! 😉
We wish you the most AMAZING of holiday seasons! 
And TODAY a Happy Hanukkah!!!

By the way, there won’t be a Fancy This Fridays link up this week, but be sure to come back  next week! 
We’re taking a little holiday vacation through Monday! 
We will be responding to emails and you might see an occasional Facebook/Twitter update… but other than that it’s FAMILY FOCUS time!

I will, however, be back tomorrow to show you our Christmas cards! :) 
Until then have a lovely day dolls!!!


Lovely Christmas Cards from Shutterfly

OK… So I know we’re not even quite past Halloween yet… 
And I LOVE Halloween, I do. 
But we are less than TWO months away from Christmas!
Holy, reality check.
That means there’s lots to do, lots to buy, lots to bake… 
All before Christmas rolls around! 

Our 2010 Christmas Card
On that note… I am SUPER excited about Christmas cards this year!
We ordered our greeting cards from Shutterfly last year, and I LOVED them. 
I used some of our engagement pictures and sent them out to a few family and friends. But this year… It’ll be the first time we can send out cards from The M’s. My new last name!

So naturally, we’ll be ordering our cards from Shutterfly again and there are a few of their Christmas photo cards in particular that are calling my name!

Wouldn’t this one be fun to highlight the name change! 


Or this one would look really nice with a certain wedding picture I have in mind… 


This one would look lovely with a wedding picture and our M inside the wreath!


Oooh! Or this one!!! 


There are so many different holiday cards to choose from at Shutterfly! 
You’re sure to find one that fits your tastes and highlights your reason for the season! :)

And while you’re there check out their fun selection of personalized photo gifts!! 
I just might get some of these lovely initial notepads to send notes to friends and family for the rest of the year!


So what about you?? Are you sending Christmas cards this year?
Or maybe a Christmas newsletter??


P.S. Fancy This Fridays is . 
Or just scroll down to link up your lovelies!!

*I was not monetarily compensated for this post. I did receive a promotional code from Shutterfly for 25 free cards, but all opinions shared here are my own!