While doing some after-Christmas shopping with Precious Daughter, I found these pretty salad plates on sale at William Sonoma.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Merry Christmas!
From our home to your's ...
We're wishing you a very blessed and happy Christmas season!
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Mom's Pressed Cookies
One of our family's special Christmas traditions was enjoying Mom's Pressed Cookies. She used her own spritz cookie recipe and an old Mirro Cookie Press. After 60+ years of making these delicious treats, her press wore out. We bought several newer models trying to find one that worked as well but none made them just the way she liked. She passed away after the Christmas of 2010.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Silver Forest
Kathleen, of Cuisine Kathleen, has given us another tablescaping challenge just in time for Christmas. This time we are to create a table that was inspired by one we saw on Pinterest. My inspiration is from Susan at
When I saw her table using these lovely trees, I knew I'd found my inspiration!
Susan said she got several of these trees at Pottery Barn but I found mine recently at Sam's Club.
Monday, December 1, 2014
A Wreath for Favorite Son
Our son and his friends enjoy skeet shooting. Last Christmas, I saw a shotgun shell wreath at a local craft fair and thought Favorite Son would like having this at his apartment for the holidays.
This was an easy and quick project! All it took was a $2.49 wreath from Wal-Mart, some burlap ribbon from my stash and some spent shotgun shells. I had the guys pick some up after one of their get togethers. (well, they're supposed to pick them ALL up when they're done!)
After fluffing the wreath a little, I tied five pieces of burlap around the wreath.
Since this is a "Guy's Wreath," I didn't want to overdo the decorations. The red shells were the perfect pop of color! lol
I hotglued the shells in bunches around the wreath ...
and then added a dark red burlap bow. That's it!
The perfect décor item for a college farm boy!!
Thanks for stopping by!
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
Counting Down to Christmas
Whew! They're done!!! I can't decide if I had trouble finding inspiration, if I'm a procrastinator or a little of both but I finished them with a few days to spare!
All year, I've wanted to make an Advent Calendar for each family of our young relatives. Our own kids enjoyed the Hallmark calendar we've had for years and knew these children would too. It would also be a fun keepsake for these little ones from our family.
After looking all over the internet for something I thought I could handle, I happened upon this pattern from Homemade By Jill from 2011.
Back then, she had a "Sew Along" encouraging others to make their own versions of an Advent Calendar and post their photos each week in November. Another blogger, Brooke Reynolds (who previously worked for Martha Stewart Living and MS Kids!) also posted in 2009 about making her family's calendar on her blog, Inchmark.
Sooooo, Halloween evening, I got started on my project!
It's been fun deciding which ornament designs to use and how to decorate them. The only real problem I had was there were EIGHT (yes, that's 8) calendars I needed to make! Between Wonderful Hubby's family and mine, we have eight families with little people so everything I made had to be multiplied!
They were all over the house!
I decided to make some with a white background and some with red.
I'm not sure which I like better.
I'm not sure which I like better.
After figuring out the size I wanted the finished product to be, I had to determine the size of each pocket and ornament. Fortunately, Brooke, from Inchmark, included some templates in her post. They were great inspiration. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.
Yes, I cheated on a few and bought a couple of ornaments, but only four!
I did personalized an ornament for each of our nieces, nephews and cousins.
Precious Daughter helped by stamping the numbers. I'd never be able to stitch all of those numbers by hand.
We hope our little relatives have many happy memories of our
2014 Christmas gifts! This year, they're getting their presents at Thanksgiving so they are ready for December 1st!
Linking to these great parties:
Amaze Me Monday
Metamorphosis Monday
The Scoop
Tuesdays at Our Home
Inspire Me Tuesday
Share your Cup Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday
Home Sweet Home
Fridays Unfolded
Simple and Sweet Fridays
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Placemat Pillow
This is such a quick and easy idea, I just had to share it!
Last fall, I read about making pillows out of placemats on several DIY blogs. I've made several since then, including these two.
I purchased these tapestry placemats from
Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree and used drop cloth for the backing.
Simply cut the drop cloth just a little wider than your placemat. With right sides facing each other, stitch the two fabrics together. Leave an opening for stuffing. Add your stuffing to the desired plumpness and whip closed.
That's it!
You have a gorgeous seasonal pillow for your home.
They also make lovely hostess gifts!
...all for about two to three dollars!
Thanks for stopping by!
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Cranberry Coffee Cake
The November Challenge from Kathleen is to feature our Bundt pans in our posts. For me, that means coffee cake and since it's November, I'm making my cousin's delicious Cranberry Coffee Cake.
We first experienced this delicious moist cake at one of our Apple Butter making weekends. My cousin brought this to share for Saturday breakfast. She graciously shared the recipe and I'm including it below.
I think we received this Bundt pan at our wedding shower over 26 years ago. It gets used infrequently but I do make this recipe every fall.
I actually turned the coffee cake out on a pretty cake stand to get a photo before cutting. Wonderful Hubby wanted to take a (rather large) slice of it to work before I had a chance to get the picture. It still looks pretty tasty, though!
Diane's Cranberry Coffee Cake
Mix together and set aside:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup sour cream
1 8 oz. can whole cranberry sauce
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream. Add almond extract. Put 1/2 batter into greased and floured round Bundt pan. Spoon1/2 of the cranberry sauce. Repeat with remaining batter and cranberry sauce. Swirl. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes. When cool, drizzle with the following topping.
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 Tblsp. water
*This cake freezes well.
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