One More Little Treat for Me!

In case you haven't noticed....I love Santa! I got busy on this darling little Mr. & Mrs. Claus last week at my ceramics class....and finished them just in time as a special treat to me :) I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!!

A Peek at Some New Things I Have For the Holidays This Year.....

It seems like I've been getting ready for Christmas for months...and I guess in a way, I'm getting ready all year long!! I've really gotten into ceramics this year.....and several of the projects I've worked on have been Christmasy things just for me :) 

My favorite movie of all time is It's a Wonderful Life...This summer I won the lighted village of  Bedford Falls on Ebay.  It makes me so happy to see it glowing by my tree.

I have added some trees and people from the Dollar Tree to make it even better!

My mom had a tree like this when we were growing up....I called to ask her about it last year to see if she still had it, but she got rid of it when she moved to Florida....And this is how my ceramics passion started, I needed to make one for me. 

A few Santas....

t

And a pretty candle centerpiece for my table....

Of course a couple of new ornaments too....Here is one that will always be special.

I love the original Grinch, and watch it every year.....with, or without kids. I got this Grinchy green glitter frame at Michaels and made cute little sign for myself. 

I hope you've had some crafting fun this holiday season too :)

Soul Sisters Annual Ornament Exchange.....2013 edition

Hello! Happy December!! Happy almost Christmas! Trust me....I have had the best intentions of posting some wonderful things on this blog for weeks now....but as you can see, the days have been flying by and I'm only just now showing you our annual Soul Sisters ornament exchange. I was really looking forward to spending the evening with my sisters....We met at the restaurant where we celebrate every year and got a private room!! It was soooooooo nice! We were all tucked in for the night and didn't even realize we shut the place down :) Well.....on to the the super cute ornaments we created for each other this year....I am really still amazed at our talents! They all look soooo special on my Soul Sister tree.

Marzipanmom created this little, delicate tree from wire and beads. Very lovely!

 

Jennifer Juniper got the inspiration for this melted snowman from a cookie she saw on Pinterest. You can check out her really famous blog Hopestudios for step by step instructions. Love him. I can't wait to make a bunch for my nieces and nephews next year.

I handpainted these adorable Mr. and Mrs. Claus ornaments at the ceramics class I've been going to almost weekly. And I love it that I actually painted them back in January so I wouldn't have to stress about doing them in these crazy weeks before Christmas :)

And look how I wrapped them up....In these cookie jars from Hallmark from the Goodwill that I collected randomly throughout the year. Crazy! 

Megan collected these exquisite feathers from her hens all summer and placed them in a clear ball. I didn't realize how beautiful hen feathers could be???

And Joy used real tools and lots of hot glue to make us these fantastic stars. She was inspired by a page from a design magazine. That girl is so inspirational!

We had a lot of laughs and the evening flew by waaaay to fast! I'm looking forward to January so we can get together again! 

I Spray Painted Bunk Beds!

Cubby has been wanting bunk beds FOR.EVER. He sleeps with about a zillion stuffed animals in his twin bed every night....there is hardly any room for him at all. He has said bunk beds wold solve the problem. I have been kind of been looking around on Craigslist but didn't want to spend a lot because I figured the novelty would wear off  soon and I didn't want to invest a lot.

Well, my friend was getting rid of this set of  bunk beds and gave them to us for free. Cub was THRILLLED! They were very sturdy and in pretty good shape....just needed a little bit of TLC. 

And I wasn't too thrilled with the oak color.....Cub has cherry dressers....I thought black would look better. So like every good girl I started looking around Pinterest to see how to spray paint furniture!

I was nervous to get started....but the more I read, the technique seemed pretty easy. And when I went to Walmart to check out their selection of spray paint there was a girl there who doing the same thing and had already painted a bunch of stuff. I picked her brain with a few questions I had and thought I can really do this. I settled on the Krylon brand of spray paint called Fusion in a satin black finish. It says on the can it adheres to plastic, wood, metal and wicker. It also said I didn't need to sand or prime. Well, almost everywhere I read suggested to lightly sand.....so I did. It only took about a half hour. I did skip the priming part. And I don't think it made a difference.

It was super windy the day I wanted to get started....so I laid plastic drop cloths in my garage and got started. I couldn't believe how fast it went!!!! I love the satin finish too. You need to work quickly and evenly. It didn't take me long to get the hang of it.

Look!!!!!!! They turned out GREAT!!! Cubby loves them and so do all of his stuffed friends. The first night he slept on the top bunk with all of them.....he said it was like a kingdom of fluffiness :)  The project used a lot less cans than I thought.....only 7. I was planning on 10 or 12. A suggestion I would make would be not to bring them inside for 5-7 days until they are REALLY dry. They will feel dry enough in a day....but we had a few scratches that I had to touch up because I was impatient (and Cub was hounding me) to get them set up. They aren't going to be family heirlooms....but for the $40 I spent they will keep Cub happy for a long time. 

Tomato Corn Soup

This is so super easy you're not even going to believe it! I kind of invented it myself so I don't have real measurements....but you can't mess it up.

Saute chopped garlic and onion in olive oil in a saucepan. Add 2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes and 1 15oz can chicken stock.  Add the kernels of 5-6 ears of corn and several sprigs of chopped basil, salt & pepper to taste. You could add shredded chicken, italian sausage, bow tie pasta....use your imagination :)

Pam's Jam

It was a busy weekend...but I found some time to make jam. Blueberry and peach....something about making jam just feels good. And the taste is soooooo yummy! Aren't they pretty???? On to making pies this week.

A Plain Wooden Bowl Makes Me Happy Everyday

Hi there. It's been a while. I'm sorry. So much happening and going on. But I wanted to share one of my favorite things with you. Didn't I used to have a weekly Favorite Friday post 400 years ago???? I should really start that back up :)   Well....guess where I found this amazing bowl? Yup. My Goodwill!!!!! $1.99. It was kinda dingy looking....but I could see the potential. I brought it home and gave it some TLC and it perfect to hold my little skeins of sock yarn. I keep it on the end table next to my chair and smile everyday. It doesn't take much to make the Treatgirl happy.

A Trip to Florida

Greetings from sunny Florida!!!! Cubby and I planned a little getaway with my cousin's family from Buffalo. We went to Orlando, but for some reason I call the whole Orlando area "Disney" ... we really didn't even go to the Magic Kingdom this trip. We were so lucky to be able to stay at my aunt's timeshare again. It was perfect!!! Here, let me show you all the fun we had.........

One day we took a road trip to visit my mom in Delray Beach. It was the best day!! We had a lovely lunch at her beach club, went to the beach, and swam in the pool.

Here are the little ones carrying their boards over to the beach.

The pool was fun too!! We had rain almost every day.....but it didn't put a damper on much. Where we stay has fun activities for the kiddos all day long. They played games, tie-dyed tshirts, did crafts, there was an animal show and Cub got to hold an alligator. Of course it's the one picture of the week I missed :(  We all loved the hot tub too.

We went to Universal and Isands of Adventure. It was our big park day....The Treatgirl isn't much of a daredevil....so she didn't do many rides (actually just two). It worked out great that my cousin, her husband and little girl took Cub on all the rides while I sat with our bags and cameras. I did love the Shrek 4-D and Twister attractions though :)

The Harry Potter area was Cub's big thing.....Just recently he started watching all of the movies. They looooooooved the ride in Hogwarts and he spent all of his cash on a wand. He's been practicing his spells on me :)

Ok. Here is the one of the rides I did go on....The Carousel in the Dr. Seuss area :)

Another day we went to Wonderworks. The kiddos loved it. It is filled with lots of hands on experiments...A bed of nails you can lie on, a room that simulates a hurricane, a bubble lab, and an XD theater where you wear 3D glasses to feel like you're riding a rollar coaster. On the top floor you can walk along all kinds of tight ropes and wooden bridges high above the floor. Another thing the Treatgirl didn't feel daring enough to try.

Oh...here's a picture of Wonderworks before we went in....

A couple rounds of putt putt.

And a visit to Downtown Disney on our last night. It went by soooooo fast. The two teenagers and Hubs stayed home and had a week without any rules....now it's back to reality. But we have a ton of wonderful memories!!!

Turkey ala King

ic

Happy Spring! I know for most of us it doesn't really seem like it yet.....So let's make some warm, cozy, comfort food. Recently I got together with the Soul Sisters for our first meal swap. Jennifer Juniper got the ball rolling....We all made a dinner that we could freeze....Got together at Joy's house for a wonderful lunch and a craft ...and brought along our dinners. I didn't take any pictures....so click HERE to see all the fun over at Hope Studios....Jennifer did a great job at putting it together for us! I made a turkey dinner casserole for everyone and with the turkey I had left over I made Turkey ala King. My mom used to make it when I was a little girl and I swear I haven't had it since then.....so I googled a yummy recipe and got busy.

It turned out sooooooooooooooooo good. Even better than I remember my mom's being. And it was soooooo super easy! I remember her putting it over those little puffed pastry boats from Pepperidge Farms....I didn't even know if they still made them???? But there they were in the freezer section.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try them.....I'm thinking next time I will just use a roaster chicken...because it's not every day I do a turkey and have leftovers to make this :)

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter
4-5 fresh mushrooms- sliced
1 Tbsp. flour
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup chopped, cooked turkey (or chicken)
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large skilllet over medium heat, cook butter until golden brown. Saute mushrooms until tender. Stir in flour until smooth. Slowly whisk in chicken broth, and cook until slightly thickened. Stir in cream, turkey and peas. Reduce heat to low and cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. 4 servings.

Done. That is so easy!

I actually doubled this recipe and it was perfect for our family of 5.

Island in the Sun

It was a trip of a lifetime!!!!!! Chip and I celebrated our 20th anniversary in Barbados! We had an A.MAZ.ING time! The highlight of our trip was finding this desserted beach. I have been to Barbados many times when I was younger with my family and we came here. It was on my wishlist that I could find it and bring Chip. I asked a bunch of Bajans (the locals) and no one had heard of it. Well...that didn't deter me....we rented a car one day ( and I have to say Chip did a GREAT job of driving on the opposite side of the road on the crazy, skinny roads!) and I got us right to it. It was literally the prettiest place on earth with THE BLUEST water.

This picture was taken from the top of the cliff looking down.....absolutely no one or nothing there.

There is a very narrow staircase cut out of the coral cliff that takes you down to the beach and this is a view of the burned out old sugar cane plantation house up above overlooking the beach.

I will always treasure this in my heart.

We stopped at one of the 1,200 rum shoppes on the tiny island to have a rest  :)   ....and then continued on to Bathsheba....a breaktaking beach further up the coast.

We took a tour of the Mt. Gay rum factory on it's actual 310th birthday! They have been producing rum on the island since 1703.

Here's a view of the beach from our resort. I could never get tired of it.

We enjoyed dinners out, the steel drum bands, limbo and even karaoke one night! I got him a backgammon game for Christmas to bring along and we played everyday. We didn't have our cell phones or watch t.v. once.

And how about this sunset from our balcony every night?

It was just the most perfect week....The hardest decisions every day were which bathing suit to wear? Beach or pool? Rum punch or rum runner?????? I'm already dreaming of going back.......ahhhhhhh.

Coffee Mug Cozy

Who wouldn't love to have a cozy for their coffee mug?? I finally whipped one up for myself....I made these as a little treat for my Soul Sisters for Christmas this past year. They take next to no yarn....perfect to use up some extras in your stash. I had seen several different ones on Pinterest....But I ended up combining a few of them and making my own pattern.

If you'd like to make one yourself keep reading:

materials:

a little bit of worsted yarn

size 6 needles

cable hook

2 buttons

Cast on 56 stitches with size 6 needles. Knit 2, then purl two at the beginning of every row. Work a 4 stitch cable, then knit 2 until there are 4 stitches left in the row. Purl 2, then knit 2. On the wrong side you knit the first and last 4 stitches of every row. Continue for 16 rows then bind off. Work a buttonhole on row 4 and row 14. Sew the buttons on the opposite end. You're done. These literally take just a few hours. Get knitting :)

More Jars

I love my jars. You can click HERE to see another little post I did on other jars I love......Here are a few I keep out all winter. My dad's girlfriend gave me the snowman one on the left. It makes me happy. And the one on the right I got the day after Christmas a few years ago. They are both from the Hallmark store. And how perfect is that snowflake votive holder I got at RiteAid drugstore? ahhhhhh.....snowflakes. Don't get me started. I love them too!

Well look what I scored on at my Goodwill last week. Another Hallmark jar. With snowflakes AND mittens. MITTENS. LOVE THEM TOO. You can't really see it....but the knob on top is in the shape of a little jingle bell....

The same day I got the mitten jar, I got this merry days jar. From the Hallmark! And today I scored on ANOTHER one. I couldn't just leave it there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup. You guessed it.  Another jar from Hallmark. And mind you almost all of them still had the Hallmark sticker tags on the bottom. But I only paid .99 cents for him and $1.99 for the the other ones. I know I can't keep all of them.....So some of them may turn up as a treat for someone special next year :)