In the Meadow We Can Build a Snowman!

I looove Snow globes,

I have a cupboard

full of them, sadly they didn't

get put out this year.

But,

there's always next year!

...and I also looove

this song!

Winter Wonderland

Sleigh bells ring

are you listening

in the lane

snow is glistening

A beautiful sight

we're happy tonight

walking in a winter wonderland

In the meadow we can build a snowman

Then pretend that he is Parson Brown

He'll say: Are you married?

we'll say: No man

But you can do the job

when you're in town...

anyhoo,

Here's my Snow globe Snowman!

I bought the wonderful hat from

and estate sale years ago (it's from the 30's)

I use it to decorate with every year at

Christmas!

~top snow globe~

I think he needs a black felt or paper top hat...

Don't you agree?

I think I'll make one!

~middle snow globe

Vintage cottages and pine cone people

from my little village collection!

~Bottom snow globe~

Oops, my little bottle brush tree is leaning!

I've collected the little fish bowls from

my local thrift stores, they're perfect

for these little snow globe vignettes!

I'm linking to Faded Charm's blog for

White Wednesday!

Please go visit as many of the participants

that you can, they're a wonderfully

talented group!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog,

I read & enjoy

each and every comment

and would looove it,

if you'd FOLLOW ME!

Always, Debbie~

Twas The Night Before Christmas!

Where has the time gone?

Our home has been full of the

pitter patter of small dancing feet.

Much Merriment!

and 

CRAZY FUN! 

I can't believe how busy I've

been preparing for

Christmas Eve!

Cleaning, baking,

shopping, cleaning,

and
shopping some more!

We had a wonderful dinner of

lasagna, Caesar salad & garlic bread!

Then the festivities began!

The gift giving and receiving

was just as you would

imagine, especially with two

four year olds and a five year old!

Not to mention, all the adult kiddos!!!

It was loud, full of laughter
and lots of 

oohs & awhhhs!

I'm pretty sure a good time

was had by all!

And then,
just as the adults were done

 playing

their silly gift game.

Who should walk in...

BUT,

OLE ST. NICK

HIMSELF!!!

Here are some pictures of
OUR

Night before Christmas!

And
All through OUR house...

~living room, the tree is to the left~

~dining room table~

~cedar boughs on chandelier~

~vintage St. Nick Stocking~

bathroom

~a little greenery & glitter~

~bathroom~

boughs & bulbs

~I have a collection of these wee little

pine cone folks along with their village~

~living room~

large wreath with vintage ornaments

~Oh Christmas Tree~

~sweet little vintage angel~

~Lulu with Santa~

~Trevor with Santa & Mrs. Claus

getting a moose with his jamies~

~Audrey hugging Santa Claus~

A special thank YOU

to

 Santa & Mrs. Claus

for stopping by our party on their way

back to the North Pole!

I hope your Christmas Holiday was

a Happy fun filled time

with loved ones,

and

friends alike!~

Merry Everything

&

Happy

NEW YEAR!!!

Please don't forget to leave a comment!

I read each and everyone, and

would looove it, if you'd FOLLOW ME!

Keeping the Sugar Plum Fairy Happy!

Has the sugar plum Fairy been

dancing around in your head yet?

I've had a couple of parties that I wanted to take

a plate of goodies too!

 Let me show you what I came up with!

~little candy cane hearts~

These are so easy, and really adorable on

the holiday cookie plate!

Candy Cane Hearts

1. mini candy canes

2.........almond bark

3...............sprinkles

Melt your almond bark,

and spoon it into your little

candy cane frames and

sprinkle!!!

Then chocolate

...and

 lots of it!

~Hershey's chocolate~

(Sorry about this picture being blurry).

This is the start of my Almond Roca!

~chopped almonds and adding Hershey bars~

After covering the rest of the almonds,

Cook a pound of butter with one pound

of brown sugar on medium heat

(stirring constantly) until

the mixture goes up to 295 on a

candy thermometer.

Pour quickly but very

carefully onto your 

chocolate bars, this mixture

is very very hot, 

please be careful!

Cool overnight!

This is sooo yummy!

~enjoy~

~I've just poured the mixture over the candy bars~

I almost always, make the same

candies and cookies

every Christmas!

I'm kind of boring that way...

I might try something new like the

mini candy cane hearts,

(and I've already decided,

they're going to be a keeper),

but if I make something,

and it just doesn't 

seem to be a winner, then 

it's out and I'm on 

to something new! 

Here's another one of my

Christmas regulars.

~mounds bars~

I use to make almond joys too,

but everyone preferred the

plain mounds, soooo

out with the almonds!

'Mounds'

Lrg. bag of Chocolate Chips

1/2 cake paraffin

Melt Choc. chips & paraffin

(I always use a double boiler for this)

.................................................................

1 can Eagle Bran Condensed Milk

1 cup of Butter

2 lbs. of powdered sugar

16 oz. coconut (flaked)

almonds (if wanted)

Mix the condensed milk, butter, sugar and

coconut together.

I put it in the freezer for awhile to set up a little.

Then I mold several on a cookie tray.

Put them back into the freezer for

a few minutes, (they work better

when you dip them, if they're

real cold)!

~enjoy~

Lastly, whenever I have my

double boiler full of chocolate

I

 ALWAYS

use up the rest of my

chocolate by dipping

pretzels! They're very

much a crowd pleaser

and a quick way to

fill in your cookie tray!

I haven't made my cookies

yet, but they too are

always the same...

Pizzelle's

for the Italian side

of the family!

...and

Sugar Cookies,

for the kid in me!

~there ya go, a yummy chocolate fix~

Let me know if the sugar plum Fairy has

visited YOU too!

Thanks so much for visiting,

don't forget to leave a comment!

Be Merry,

Debbie~

A Castle for One of 'Our Little Princesses'

One of our Granddaughters is having a birthday

(December 11th.) I told her Mom I'd make her

birthday cake! I've made a couple of doll cakes

and since she'd chosen 'The Little Mermaid'

for her birthday theme, I thought how fun to make

a Little Mermaid cake.

Then her Mom told me that aprox. 16 children

were invited and because it was going to be at

Alfy's Pizza, their folks would be staying too! I

had to come up with a far bigger cake than just

a doll cake.

Finally, I decided to make her a

Little Mermaid Castle!

I looked online and found gorgeous cakes!

So between three of my favorites and a couple

of wonderful crafty people on Etsy,

(for their lovely die-cuts)

 I made one!

I'm not a cake decorator for sure, it wasn't easy and

I had a complete miss on my first attempt at baking a

turret!

Cake mix #1

I was thinking castle...BIG right?

WRONG!

I used

a LARGE chicken broth can...

and it was too BIG!

Tossed it!

Cake mix #2 (white cake)

I used a small sized

chicken broth can.

made two turrets

and one 6inch layer.

...and they were just right!

Cake mix #3 (chocolate)

9x13 for the bottom layer!

Cake mix #4 (strawberry)

for the middle layers 8in.pan!

Cake mix #5 (white)

I made the last two turrets

and the second top 6 inch layer

and had enough to make another

6 inch layer...however I didn't

use the last 6in. layer or the

4th turret!

I was really happy with the placement of the turrets

and how it all was coming together at this point...

Notice the top turret is on the back of

the cake?!!!

Do you notice the middle blue layer

leaning?!!!

Which meant the top layer was too

and sadly the top turrit was

really truly ready to

take a dive!!!

Now notice the placement of the top

turret!!! Still leaning...UGH!

Yep, I moved it towards the front

and caused it to list sideways

towards the front now....

Ignorance is BLISS! I threw myself into

this project without the slightest

knowledge of how to build a

sturdy TALL cake!

Sooo, I did the next best thing!!!

I speared it!!!

I sure did, I used skewers from the top,

through the sides...anyway I could!!!

It had to make it to Lulu's

party!!!

I even tried fondant, I had a ball,

and even though I didn't know

what the heck I was doing, it

was a kick!!!

AND

Lulu loved it!!!

~ceramic shell corner pieces~

~the cutest Little Mermaid die-cuts~

and more fondant....

~almost done~

~I'm not even sure if anyone noticed the listing~

I learned a lot with this cake and I know

I have a long way to go...

I truly encourage you all to try a

cake that you've wanted, but

were afraid to tackle...

If I can do it, so can

YOU!!!

Please visit as many participants of

these parties, you'll love

how CrEaTiVe they are!

I looove 'ALL' your

comments and I

would be

truly honored

if you'd

follow

me!

Always, Debbie~

            

Our Snow Bunnies!

~An angel in the making~

~heart & soul~

~Audrey's snow angel~

~winter delights~

~our snow bunnies~

Audrey, Trevor & Lulu

Their beautiful snow people

were tattered with the leftovers

of a winter storm we'd just had...

However, I doubt they even

noticed their snow wasn't

pristine...

To these snow bunnies

it was

PERFECT!

These were taken on Thanksgiving day,

all the kiddos had a GREAT time...

Even their Dads!

Always, Debbie~

I have so much to be thankful for!

My son was driving home from

work at the U of W Monday night.
Like thousands of other folks, he was
caught in the terrible ice conditions,
made worse by rush hour traffic
in the greater Seattle area!

During his long slow treacherous

drive home, he lost control
in ice and hit a guard rail,
which spun him 360  and shot him
across the lanes before he came to a stop.
Thankfully, he was going slow and there
were no other cars involved, 
he wasn't hurt,
(Thank YOU God)!
 he wired his headlights back on and
was able to make it home...

...and today,
it's
COLD, COLD, COLD

School was cancelled today, because of the 6-7inches

of snow we got yesterday, causing the roads to be too dangerous...
 I'm so grateful, because I would've

been petrified to drive to work this morning!
The temperature has

dropped down into the mid teens,
Brrr!

Our roads are still covered

in snow and very icy! The sun came out today and melted just enough

to make them as slick as a skating rink!

Enough about our weather...

My kitchen was nice and toasty warm
after baking an apple pie this evening!

Here's a picture of it just before I
popped it in the oven!

~Give Thanks~

I've always written on my pies.
Sometimes I may just have
turkey tracks going across
them with a plain
Gobble!

I've delighted friends
on their B'days
or
anniversary's
with
a little pie art!

Try it!

This pie is A SUGAR FREE!
(DIABETICS LOVE IT)

~SUGAR FREE APPLE PIE~

1 12OZ. FROZEN CONCENTRATE APPLE JUICE
3 TBL. CORNSTARCH
1 TBL. LEMON JUICE
1 TSP. CINNAMON
(USE WHATEVER KIND OF APPLES
YOU LIKE BEST, THE ORIGINAL
RECIPE CALLED FOR GOLDEN
DELICIOUS)!

I PEEL ENOUGH APPLES TO FILL
MY PIE PLATE (W/UNCOOKED PIE CRUST)

ON MEDIUM HEAT, STIR APPLE JUICE WITH
CORNSTARCH, LEMON JUICE & CINNAMON...
KEEP STIRRING UNTIL IT BECOMES THICK.
I ADD THE APPLES TO THIS MIXTURE AND
THEN POUR IT ONTO MY PIE CRUST...

(I ADD A FEW PATS OF BUTTER ON
TOP OF THE APPLES, THEN TOP
WITH THE TOP CRUST)!

EASY, EASY, EASY!

BAKE AT 450 FOR 10 MINUTES,
AND CONTINUE AT 350
FOR 30 MINUTES OR UNTIL
CRUST IS NICELY BRONZED! :)

~just out of the oven~

~one down, 3-4 more to go~

Here's my NO FAIL pie crust:

3 CUPS FLOUR
1 1/2 CUP SHORTENING
1 EGG
3 TBL. ICE WATER
PINCH OF SALT
2 TBL. VINEGAR OR LEMON JUICE

MIX TOGETHER, BLEND WELL WITH PASTRY KNIFE.
IT WORKS EVERY TIME!!!


...AND
this is what my friend
Pattie told me about
yesterday morning
and guess what?!?

I tried it!!!

~it was sooo easy, less mess, I loved it~

I'll let you know how flaky and yummy it really is!

My computer is acting very suspicious...

This is my second day trying to

get this post here, and so

far so good!

Wish me luck, if I

can't get on tomorrow,

Know that From My Family

to Yours,

I'm wishing YOU ALL,

A WONDERFUL

AND

BLESSED

THANKSGIVING!!!

With Love,

Debbie~

                      

This Little Cottage Has the Holiday Bug!

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving!

Pulling out a

few turkey items has been like 

running into an old friend!

Warm, cozy & familiar...(better than putting on an

old comfy shoe you'd forgotten about)!

~a Thanksgiving table vignette~

~this guy will hold cranberry relish~

Yum!

~lucky find...bakelite napkin holders on ebay~ 

The feast is in the planning stage, grocery lists

are being double checked...

We can almost smell the

turkey roasting!!!

What dishes should we use?

~EASY~

We've chosen the new (to us) vintage thrift find...

and why not?

They're

GORGEOUS!!!

The set has a GIANT platter for the bird,

 a beautiful gravy boat,and assorted little dishes

for anything we may want to add! 

~remember these~

~Hand painted Sampy~

~pattern: Les Fleurs~

Our plans are simple, it's all about FAMILY!

Our kids will be joining us with their

kiddos!

Our little cottage will be filled with lots

 of wonderful sights,

sounds

 and smells!

We have so much to be THANKFUL for!

What are YOUR plans?

Blessings, Debbie~