house 36 has moved…

from now on you can find me here: www.house36ny.com

That may explain why I didn’t post at all last week, after I promise some Christmas projects. Well, I’ve been having problems with WordPress (uploading pictures, dashboard, and some other things) for some time now. I’m not a techy person, so it was getting harder and harder to post in this blog, not to mention taking more time that it should.

I started mamemima, my kids blog, on blogger some months ago and so far I have no complaints. I know some people may not agree, but I find blogger more user-friendly and easier to deal with. After a lot of thinking, and more thinking, I decided to move House 36 to blogger. It was not an easy decision, because this little blog have accumulated a small, but still, valuable group of followers that I really appreciate and that I’d like to keep. But at the end, even if it meant I could lose some people who have subscribed, it was for the best. Also, I finally got my own domain. So moving the blog and setting up everything took me more time than I expected.

Besides, the kids were sick last week so I devoted most of my time to take care of them, and then Friday 12.14.12 happened and I just didn’t feel like doing or posting anything.

The blog it’s not completely moved, yet. I still have to update some of my pages, which for some reason I lost during the process, and have to update pictures and links. I’m not going to delete this blog. I’m going to leave it on the web since it’s been link from other blogs, but from now on, I’ll be posting in www.house36ny.com.

I hope you update your google reader and subscriptions and follow me over there. Thanks for your support!

my own christmas countdown

Creating a Christmas countdown Activity list for my kids was a lot of fun. I really want them to enjoy this season. And although G doesn’t understand yet and L doesn’t show the excitement and enthusiasm I’d like sometimes, I think it’s a great way to create some anticipation to that special day. I won’t get tired of saying it, I love Christmas!

I love it so much that I’m enjoying my own Christmas countdown. I had so much fun decorating for Halloween, that I wanted to do it all over again for Christmas. I made a list of Christmas crafts and ideas that I’m working on. Some are done, some are still waiting. And like my Halloween projects, these crafts are very easy {some extremely easy} and very budget friendly. Of course, I scoured the web for some inspiration.

- Christmas pillow covers. How cute is this one? {at least one}.

{image via etsy}

- Christmas artwork. Glitter = festive in my book.

{image via shakentogetherlife}

- Christmas napkin rings and table cards. It can’t get better than stripes {ok, maybe chevron}. Simple and cute.

{image via prudentbaby}

- Christmas table runner. How lovely is this table runner? So delicate.

{image via prettymyparty}

I have a couple more projects and I’ll be sharing them next week. So stay tuned.

Happy Saturday and happy crafting!

holiday decor

Last year I wanted to decorate our tree all gold for Christmas. But since we were going to Perú for the holidays there was really no point in decorating. We put a little Christmas tree to keep the holiday spirit and left it there.

This year is different. We’ll be hosting our first Christmas. And although I like the gold look for Christmas, after seeing this images, I think I’ll stick to the classic, red and white.

{image via here}

{image via here}

{image via here}

{image via here}

{image via here}

{image via here}

Our tree is up but needs more ornaments. This year we went Christmas tree cutting {as part of our Christmas countdown activities} and when choosing our tree under the sky, I guess we didn’t realize how big it was. The ornaments we had are not enough to fill it, so we’ll need to get {or make} some more. We put up some lights and some decorations here and there, but I still have some projects in my list, like making Christmas stockings and sewing some Christmas pillow covers. All that on top of our family Christmas countdown activities list. Oh boy, it’s going to be a busy, but happy, happy, month!

december is here!

It’s been a while, isn’t it? The end of the year is getting busy as usual. We celebrated L’s birthday before Thanksgiving and just had his birthday party with school friends on the weekend, we went to Boston for Thanksgiving and we just started getting ready for Christmas.

I was a little sad because we were not going to be all together for Christmas this year. I have spent a couple of Christmas away from my family since I moved to the States, and really, it was fine. But now that I have kids it’s different. I want them to share this special holiday with my family. I want them to grow up having nice memories of Holidays spent and shared with grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins. Because those are the memories I have. But then my sister and brother-in-law somehow made it work and are coming, too! We’re going to have a full house and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been looking into ideas about how to decorate the house, how to set our Christmas table and I’ve planned a full itinerary of Holiday activities. And I put together our Countdown to Christmas. A tradition I started last year and that hopefully I’ll keep up for years to come.

{images via smashing magazine}

It’s going to be a hectic, chaotic, maybe a little stressful, month, but it’s going to be fun and joyful. A great way to end the year, with all the people I love. Here, together. All I want for Christmas is that!

give thanks

It’s been a while, isn’t it? The end of the year is getting busy, and hectic, as usual. We just celebrated L’s birthday and still have his birthday party with school friends coming in a couple of weeks {we had to change it to a later day because of Sandy}. The madness of the Holidays is almost here, but we wanted to take some days to relax. We are in Boston, spending time with some great friends.

image via pinterest

Today, more than ever, I’m grateful for my kind husband, my beautiful boys, my amazing family and my great friends. I’ve been blessed with so many great things happening in my life and even though I shouldn’t take anything for granted, I confess sometimes I do. So here I’m, making a conscious effort to give thanks, not just today, but every day, for ALL I have in my life.

Wishing everyone had a happy, healthy, joy-filled Thanksgiving 2012!

november after sandy

I completely lost track of time while dealing with the lack of power at home. I finally realized it was November when ConEd gave us an estimated power restoration time as Nov, 4th. Of course that didn’t happen and we’re still without power. It’s been a week now. A new date was said to be tomorrow by 11 pm. However, rumors are the real date is Nov 9th. At this point we don’t want to keep our hopes up. We’re just trying to make the best out of this situation and focus on keeping the kids nice and warm. After all, losing power is nothing compared to losing your possessions, or even worse losing a loved one. Without power and all, we are the lucky ones. And we’re thankful for that.

The house is a mess but I’m trying to get ready for some upcoming events. L’s birthday party, which I think we’ll change for a later day, a trip to Boston for Thanksgiving, and the Holidays. I can’t believe it’s almost December again! It’s going to be a bittersweet Holiday season, though. My family is coming to spend the Holidays with us, but my sister and brother-in-law, due to work schedules, won’t be able to make it this time.  It’s sucks we won’t be able to be all together, especially for Christmas. But we’ll try to handle it as best we can and I’m sure we’ll have a great time.

images via smashing magazine

All media has covered all the devastation Sandy has caused here in the East Coast. But let’s not forget that before Sandy hit the States, it slammed the Caribbean, causing lots of destruction there, too. There are many organizations trying to bring some relief to the affected areas, International Medical Corps, Direct Relief, Red Cross, among others. Please, consider a donation.

Hope you all are safe and warm.

halloween party!

Head over to mamemima to check out our halloween party decor and details!

oh! sandy…& happy halloween!

Sandy made her presence in the Tri-State area. And she was not nice. She left many parts of NYC under water and in the dark. Lots of people have been left without a home and without heat just now when the weather is starting to get really cold. The situation in the suburbs is not any better. Streets are filled with fallen trees, electrical wires and lots of towns still have no power. It definitely sucks but considering the size of this hurricane, things could have been worse. We’re lucky and thankful no serious damage has occurred.

I haven’t been able to post anything since we don’t have electricity since Monday. Right now I’m using one of our iPhones to get wi-fi access {thanks to my techie husband}.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who voted for us in the Apartment Therapy Room for Color contest. We didn’t win on our division, but we came in the Top 5, which is awesome considering we entered the contest just a few days before the first round ended. You still have some minutes to vote for your favorite. Go here and see the finalists {contest ends today at 15:00 EST}.

We had our Halloween Party last Friday and we also attended the town Halloween Parade on Saturday. Last year we didn’t get to do any Halloween activities before the 31st so I’m glad we had some fun before Sandy visited us. Trick-or-treating and other Halloween events has been postponed until Friday. I know Halloween is over now, but I still have a couple more DIY projects to share and of course our Halloween party details. Stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

apartment therapy room for color 2012 contest

I interrupt my Halloween decor {on a budget} series to ask for your help. Yesterday we entered Apartment Therapy Room for Color 2012 contest and have rapidly escalated to the top 10 rooms in the “Light” division {the leading rooms have been in the contest for weeks!}.

Please help us with your vote to get to the second round. This initial round ends October 29th, at noon. You can only vote once so if you could spread the word around I’d truly appreciate it.

Please vote for us. Go here to vote. Thanks so much!

I’ll be back with more Halloween decor ideas.

halloween decor {on a budget} – spider web art

Remember my Halloween wreath? Well, in all my excitement for finishing my first Halloween project I didn’t consider how it would hold up on our front door. We don’t have a covered porch, just an overhang. Silly me, I thought that’d be enough to protect it from the rain. Well, it wasn’t. Next day it was hung I looked at it and it was already a little wet. And it didn’t even rain that night!

Obviously it was not going to resist real rain. So I brought it inside the house and I was left with an empty front door again. I thought about making another wreath, this time of fabric, but wasn’t very convinced so I put aside the idea while I worked on L’s Halloween costume. I have to sew pants for his costume and I needed a tutorial. I’ve never sewn pants before {or any piece of clothing for that matter. Do bow ties count?} so I headed to Made, one of my favorite blogs to find sewing tutorials. While browsing I saw this spider web art project. I happened to have an empty frame that I already painted all white for another project. So this was perfect!

I didn’t have any yarn around so I used some white crochet thread  that my mom left last year {she knitted some really cute sweaters for G}. I really should have used orange twine for a little bit of color though.

I really took me about 20 minutes to make the web. I added the rest of the glitter spiders I used for the wreath. After seeing the finished product I wanted to paint the frame orange since I think the contrast would have looked nicer but never got to it. To hang the frame I added a piece of grey ribbon I had but, now looking at the pictures I don’t like it much. Maybe some orange ribbon?

This was another easy, simple and very budget-friendly Halloween craft. I still have a couple more DIY Halloween projects to share so come back soon.

Linking up with: eighteen25, somewhat simple, skip to my lou and momnivores dilema.