Tuesday, December 28, 2010

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

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!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

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~



Tuesday, December 7, 2010

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~





            

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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~




Wednesday, November 24, 2010

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~



                      



Saturday, November 20, 2010

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~