:::CHRISTMAS HOME TOUR:::

Welcome to our home..

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  Our family finds great joy in giving at this time of year.  So, it's not uncommon for us to totally spoil someone or some family with things they "need" and they never know where it came from. 

I love the homes with all the glitter glamour and sparkle.  Everything looks so pretty and shiny.  For our family though, I like to keep things simple.  I like to decorate with things that are meaningful to us as a family as well as the reason for the season.  We have lived many places and it wasn't until about a little over ten years ago that we had a fireplace that I could actually decorate.  Front and center always is our nativity scene.  I bought this  nativity 23 years ago before my husband and I got married.  I love bringing it out every Christmas.  It reminds me of our very first Christmas together when we only had about fifteen ornaments on the tree and our little nativity.

About five years ago I started collecting snowmen.  I just love them.  They make me smile.  This year I thought it would be fun to have them all together in one area.  I chose the kitchen.  Welcome to Frosty's Snowflake cafe!  Grab a cuppa hot chocolate or cider and a cookie and stay a while.

One tradition that we have is buying a CD or two each year to add to our Christmas music collection.  As you can see here we tend to like the oldies, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Brenda Lee.

OOh, see those recipes to the left there?? Another one of our favorite traditions is baking cookies and fudge.  Mexican Wedding cookies, which look like little snowballs are my absolute favorite and a must each Christmas.  This year we will also be making some fudge.  My mother-in-law makes the best fudge. It really is truly delicious.  Shhhh, don't tell, but I am going to share the recipe with you.....

Grandmas Christmas Fudge

2 pkgs. semi sweet bakers chocolate

1 can (14oz.) sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2C. chopped walnuts

Microwave chocolate and milk in large microwaveable bowl on high 2 to 3 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted.  Be sure to stir  half way through heating time.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted.  Then, stir in vanilla and walnuts.  Spread in a foil lined 8 in. square pan.  Refrigerate for two hours or until firm.

That's it, it's that easy and oh so yummy!

Moving on to our dining room .  We gave our dining room table and chairs away last year.  We bought this table over the summer, but have yet to purchase chairs.

From all of us

to all of you

we wish you a blessed Christmas and a joyous New Year! 

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:::HANDMADE CHRISTMAS AND A HOLIDAY HOME TOUR:::

I have been busy "elfing" as I like to call it.  I am making some handmade things for my family this year that is requiring a lot of time at the sewing machine.  Here is a little sneaky peak  of a quilt I am making.

I was ready to bind this one yesterday when I realized I ran out of thread.  I still have another one to quilt and bind and yet another to piece, quilt and bind.  Wish me luck.  I will be cutting it close trying to get them all done before the holidays.

I am also participating in Jen's 12 days of Christmas.  It starts tomorrow, November 30th.  You don't want to miss it because Jen, myself and several other sweet ladies  will be sharing how we decorate for the holidays, our traditions, some projects and of course some recipes.

Well, I am off to "elfing" again.  Lots to do, lots to do!

Have a great day!
CherylPin It Now!

:::FALL MANTEL AND ENTRYWAY:::

I hope you had a good weekend.  We did.  Beautiful weather and football!  ROLL TIDE!!!  go RAVENS!
Yeah, I know, it's all so wrong.  We live in Louisiana and I don't root for the home team, but hey, I didn't go to LSU so no love loss there.  Heck, I didn't go to Alabama either, but I love their team.  ; )   Now we are from Maryland, so I have to root for the Ravens whenever they play.

Moving on to the fall mantel.  I was finally able to finish my fall canvas.  I am really pleased with how it came out and I love the pop of color the mantel brings to our family  room.

I bought the orange foliage,  pip berries , white pumpkins , wheat  and the moss balls from Hobby Lobby when all their fall stuff was on sale.  The wood tray that the pumpkins are sitting in I already had.  I bought it at a yard sale for a $1.00 years ago.  I already had the blue mason jars and the white pitcher.  I absolutely fell head over heals for the white pumpkins this year.   I love the neutral fall look, but wanted a pop of color. So I set out to make this quote canvas.  It took a while to finish up because I did it all old school.  I actually picked all the fonts and then traced them right from my computer to paper and then used carbon paper to trace the words onto the canvas.  Once that was all done I outlined all the words in white paint and then filled them in.

Next I added a touch of fall to our entryway.  I purchased three bags of acorns from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale and filled up some glass jars I already had..  Placed some candles on top and called it done.

Our orange trees are finally ready to pick.  Can't wait to eat them. I have shared before that we have  a Satsuma orange tree and a Meyer lemon tree.  I will share the harvest tomorrow.

Have a great day in your little corner of the world.

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::SEWING FOR BABY::

A few months ago a friend in our Sunday school class found out her son and daughter-in-law would not be able to have children.  Her son and his wife have been married for seven years and had had their ups and downs with trying to get pregnant to no avail.

Not too long after hearing this news they decided to go the adoption route.  They knew it might be a while before they would actually be able to adopt.  To their surprise, things moved faster than they thought and by the end of the summer they were new parents to a bouncing baby boy that they adopted.

I wasn't able to attend the shower that was given for them, but I was able to make a gift for them that I hope would mean a lot to them.

I am a big fan of  Dee over  at  http://www.redletterwords.com/    While I didn't have the cash to purchase a canvas for this sweet new family; I did have a blank canvas, some paint and paint brushes.  I decided to make my own with scripture on it.  I also made a receiving blanket with a crochet edge.  Giving homemade gives me great joy.
                                Here is the canvas that I painted with 1 Samuel 1:20 scripture on it.

 I really lucked out finding this fabric at JoAnn's.   Love the faith, hope and love circles in different colors on the fabric and the crocheted edge just completes the whole blanket with a little pop of color.

What have you made lately?

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::FALL DECOR SNEAKY PEAK::

Here is a sneaky peek of my fall decor.  I am almost done fluffing up the nest for fall.  I wanted to have the fall decor up for a while so that we can enjoy it because I am already thinking about Christmas.  What can I say, Christmas is my favorite time of year to celebrate.  

Here is a  sneaky peak of the buffet in the entry

and a couple of  sneaky peaks of the buffet in the kitchen dining nook.

I have one piece that I am working on for the mantel and then I will give you full pictures of each area. 

I love all the colors of fall.  They oranges and the reds and even some yellows just get me to feeling all cozy.  It makes me want to  to curl up in a blanket with some hot chocolate.  Which by the way,  I have already done.  What is your favorite thing about fall?


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::HAPPY FALL and where I have been::

Hey all!

I know , it's been a month since I have posted.  I had been  busy filling in for a gal at work that was on maternity leave.  Long days made for a tired me during the week and on the weekends I usually spent half the morning cleaning and too tired to do projects to post.  On top of that, I got bronchitis and have been having a hard time getting rid of it with allergies to boot.  So, just trying to rest and get back to 100%.

Since I last posted fall has finally arrived.   While the trees don't change colors here in Louisiana until late December I have enjoyed the fall like weather we have been having.  So much so that it inspired me to fluff the nest with some "fall touches."  I finally changed up my  mantle that still had 4th of July stuff on it!  Yeah, I know, that is so sad that I still had July stuff up.  Cool thing is  that when I decided to fluff the nest for fall Hobby Lobby was having a 40% off  sale going on .  I ended up lucking out on getting a few things at a pretty good price.

I will be back later today with a sneak peak post of the "fall fluffing" around the house and a recipe that we have come to enjoy on a weekly basis that is perfect for a fall weeknight dinner.  It's a fast meal and tasty to boot!

Enjoy your day in your little part of the world!

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:::SIMPLE SUMMER FARE, THE DESSERT EDITION:::

Yeah, it's no secret I love dessert and if its mini, I love it even more.  I like to think that means I can eat just a little bit more of it.  (smile)

My birthday was back in July.  I have found the older I get the less I want an actual cake for my birthday.  You know how it is, a week later there is still half eaten stale cake sitting around in the fridge.  No thank you. Hubby was out of town and my son had to work.  It was just little ole me on my birthday.  So, I whipped out my Ina Garten recipe and commenced to baking chocolate ganache  mini cupcakes.  Surprisingly, they are so very easy to make.  I saw the word "ganache" and thought I would have to slave over these cupcakes to get them to be tasty, but that wasn't the case at all.  Want to see some of my birthday sweetness??? Yeah, I thought you would.  Because really who doesn't like dessert when it involves chocolate and it's mini to boot??

I am linking the recipe here as it is not my own,but Ina Garten's.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chocolate-ganache-cupcakes-recipe2/index.html

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:: SIMPLE SUMMER FARE...THE BREAKFAST EDITION::

Hey all!
Hope everyone is doing well in their little corner of the world.

Life has been full around here.  I went back to work before the end of Augsut and am working full time.  This old gal is getting old. Working eight hour days were kicking my butt, but  now I am in the swing of things.

So, I can still call it summer right?  It's still summer until September 21st, right?  Good.  : )
I wanted to share a simple, healthy breakfast that I have been eating over this summer.  A little bit of sweet and a little bit of crunch and a lot of color make this mouthwatering bowl the breakfast of champions.  Chopped golden delicious apple with mandarin oranges, craisins and walnuts for crunch.  Believe it or not this little bowl of fruit with a yogurt cup filled me up.

Tomorrow I will share simple summer dessert fare and it is YUMMY! So stop by to check it out and I will also share the recipe.

Have a blessed day!Pin It Now!

::WE SURVIVED ISAAC::

I am happy to say we have survived  Isaac.  We were on the western side of the hurricane/storm and got mostly lots of rain and wind.  We had a few brownouts but never lost power.

Ufortunately, others weren't as fortunate.  Many lost their homes to flooding and still many are without power. 

Continue to keep those that are still in shelters, still without power and those that lost their homes in prayer.  While the hurricane/storm has passed they will be dealing with the after effects for quite some time.Pin It Now!

::BATTENING DOWN THE HATCHES FOR ISAAC::

Hi All!
We have been busy gathering necessities in prepartion for Isaac.  Keep us all in your prayers as well as the many others in FL and other states as well.

If I don't post for a while it's because we don't have power.
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The winner of Christmas in July giveaway #2 is 

Gail!

Congratulations Gail!

I will be sending you an email so I can get this cookie cookbook out to you.

and now on to todays giveaway.

If you like to quilt and you like to help others, than this book is for you.

With a husband who served in the armed forces it would be an honor to be able to  make a sawtooth quilt like the one below for a local wounded soldier.

or what about this one....

Having had two preemies it would be  oh so special to be able to make these for my local hospitals NICU unit.  This easy preemie pinwheel quilt is just precious.

source: all photographs by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

The book is well done, and beautifully put together.  They give you directions to make the quilts pictured; as well as organizations to be able to donate your quilts to.

To enter this giveaway please comment and tell me if you are a quilter and what organization you would like to help out if you could and why.

I will close the giveaway on Sunday at midnight central time.  I will announce the winner on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

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::CHRISTMAS IN JULY GIVEAWAY #2::

It's not too early to start thinking about Christmas.  This year I am thinking about it early and hope to get shopping, sewing and quilting done way ahead of time.

Sometimes though you just want to give a little something to a neighbor or friend around Christmas time.  That's a great time to give a foodie gift.

The giveaway for today  is a cookbook for cookies.  Cookies that can be made not just at Christmas, but any time of year.  It's the Great Cookie Book put out by the creators of the original Bundt Pan...NordicWare.

As you can see from my last giveaway, I don't believe in making you jump through all kinds of hoops to win something.  All you have to do is leave me a comment with your favorite cookie that you like to bake and why it's your favorite.  That's it!

I will leave the giveaway open until Thursday midnight central time.  After that the giveaway is closed.  I will post on Friday who won.

In addition to posting the winner on Friday morning, I will be posting yet another book giveaway.  It won't be a cookbook.  I will leave you with a hint....quilting! 

Have a great day!

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::GIVEAWAY WINNER!::

Thank you ladies for participating in my cookbook giveaway.  Since there was only three of you I put your names in a hat and picked the lucky winner.  The winner of The Pioneer Woman Cooks new cookbook is......

Suburban Prep

Congratulations!

I will be emailing you to get your info. 

Don't fret if you didn't win because tomorrow I will be giving away another cookbook.  So check back.

Have a great day1

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::CHRISTMAS IN JULY GIVEAWAY!!!!:::

Hey everyone!

GIVEAWAY DAY is finally here!!

I am feeling mighty generous..as if it were Christmas.  : )

Do you like food?  Do you like to cook or bake?  Do you like to "put up?" (that's canning for folks that have never heard that) I love to do all the above too.  Have y'all ever heard of Pdub?  If you haven't you have been missing out.  She is a writer, blogger, wife and mom and this year she will be starting season three of her cooking show on the Food Network.

 She has her new cookbook out and it is fabulous!  If you love her blog and how she shares recipes there then you will love this cookbook.  She shows you step-by-step with beautiful pictures how to do each recipe.   And they are in color y'all.  Lotsa of them. Theres also pics of her lovely family in there and even their dog Charlie. 

All you have to do is leave a comment below and tell me one of her recipes you would like to make.  If you haven't seen her show or been to her blog than share a favorite recipe you like to make.  Now I don't mean type out the recipe.  Just tell me something your family likes to eat that you cook or bake.  That's it!

Now go tell all your bloggy friends because if you generate enough folks to come on over and enter the giveaway I can use that "number generator thingie."  That would be lotsa fun to do.

Sunday night at midnight central time will be the last time you will be able to enter.  Monday morning I will post the winner!

Have a great weekend everyone!Pin It Now!

::ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND BACK ...THE CONCLUSION::

Hey all!

My apologies for not posting about the book giveaway this week yet.  I got whisked away to the Emerald Coast.  The weather has been lovely here all week with the exception of one storm that passed through. 

I was loving the sand and sun so much that I totally forgot to post the final installment of our trip across the country.

One of the must haves to see when in Washington state is Cour D'Alene.  Not sure on that spelling.  It has a charming downtown with lots of shops.  The particular day we went there was a farmers market.  My daughter was so excited.  She bought a lavender plant.  She can't wait for it to flower so she can dry them out and decorate with them or make sachets.  Before we headed out to Cour D'Alene though we stopped off at the Buck Knife factory.  If you have following this blog for any length of time you know we used to homeschool and I am a sucker for  a "field trip."  The family indulged me on this one even though we don't homeschool anymore.  The tour is free.  It was interesting to see the process on how the knives are made.  They are quality knives.  Quality means expensive..and rightfully so.  Handcrafted won't come cheap.  Our tour guide suggested that a great way to purchase a Buck Knife is to buy the off cuts.  Basically, there is nothing wrong with the knife, but to Buck Knives if there is a discoloring or some of that nature it doesn't make it to the sales bin.  If you have ever seen there knives they are flawless and they don't sell anything less than that.

Here is a pic of the downtown.

They have a wonderful Brazilian steakhouse to eat at if you ever get the chance to visit there.    I think it's called Ipenema's.  If you have perused my pinterest board you will see a Brazilian lemonade recipe pinned.  I had to find the recipe of that drink we had there.  It is fabulous and non-alcoholic.  We loved them.  Hoping to make some of that beverage when we get back home.

We also took a drive around while visiting in Cour D'Alene.  Check out the scenery.  It's breathtakingly beautiful.  I don't think I did it justice with my photos.

Check out the rock face going around the moutain below.

Then the long awaited day came y'all! 

I was beyond excited I tell you.  I had my daughter there with me and it was a beautiful day.  The folks shopping at the Farm Chicks were the nicest people.  There were so many vendors and so many things to see and be bought.  My daughter and I found the textile table right off and spent way too much time there.  Had we not pulled away and looked at other things I do believe I would of spent all my money at that table.  They had vintage table cloths, chenille, vintage quilt tops and quilts.  Oh my, daughter and I love textiles, so it was hard to walk away from that table.  I did however purchase two things and will post those when we get back home.  I don't have pics of them in my camera yet.

Heather from http://postroadvintage.com/blog said she would have a booth there and invited folks to stop by and say "hello" if they would be at the Farm Chicks.  I did make a point to find her booth and say "hello", but their booth was bustling with folks and I didn't want to tie up her time chatting with her when she could be talking to potential buyers.    Hopefully I didn't freak her out.  I did ask if she was Heather  when we got there and she seemed quite surprised that I knew her name.   Sorry if I freaked you out Heather.  She was just as sweet as she could be though.  If you have a chance, stop by her blog and check it out.  Here are some pics of their booth

The highlight of the day at the Farm Chicks was being able to meet Heather Bullard and Serena.  Serena was gracious enough to autograph my Farm Chicks cookbook and Heather autographed a Country Living magazine for me.  Serena was so excited that her folks were there with her for the first time at one of her shows.  She even introduced us to them.  They were both so down to earth and were happy to take pictueres with anyone that asked.  Thank you both for being so sweet.

That's the end of our tour out west for now.  I have tons more pictures we took on our way back home traveling through South Dakota, but I don't want to bore y'all.

Friday morning I will posting the cookbook  giveaway.  It's a good one to y'all, so don't miss it.
Have a great day!
CherylPin It Now!

::ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND BACK, PART 2

I am back with the second installment of our trip across the country. Tomorrow I will be wrapping up our trip.  I have lots other posts lined up already that I am waiting to share with you.  Until then, grab a cuppa sweet tea and enjoy.

We went through parts of Wyoming and Colorado and the landscape was just beautiful.  The rock formations were everywhere.  So beautiful

We stopped at a rest stop and right near the rest top must of been the edge of someones ranch because I was able to get a pretty close picture of this horse.

Then we came upon this state.....

It was a beautiful state to drive through, but it was BIG!  I thought we would never get out of Montana.  We did eventutally.   We stayed the night in Billings and woke up to snow!  Can you believe that?  Yep, there it was May 26th and it was snowing.  So part of our trip was in snowy weather.  Loved it!  It was cold though.  I had only brought a zippered hoodie as any kind of jacket to wear.  The further west we got, the cooler it got.  Meanwhile, back home in LA we hear it's 95 degrees.

If it seems that some pics may be a little out of focus its because I took most of the pictures in the car while in the backseat while my hubby was going 75 mph.  So bare with me.

Believe it or not we finally made it out of Montana.  Beautiful country, but a BIG state!  I can't tell you how happy I was to see Idaho. We finally made it to Washington and met up with my sweet daughter  and her sweet friend.

Remember our one big reason for heading to Washington was to attend the Farm Chicks show, but first we decided to head to downtown  Spokane and check out the sites.

Right through the middle of downtown Spokane has falls that go through it.  What is really amazing is that during the fall and winter months there is no water rushing through, but once the spring thaw hits, this is what happens.....

Water rushing down and lots of it.  

Here is something I don't normally do; mainly because I am the one behind the camera.  Here is me and my husband on a bridge over the falls.  I wasn't too crazy about walking out on this bridge to take this picture.  It kinda freaked me out, but I did it.

And then I saw this sign and I said to everyone, "Okay, that is my cue to get outta here.  Let's look at something else."  I didn't want any slipsy oopsies.  So we moved on.

I think at some point the Worlds Fair was held here and so there is a lot of fun stuff for kids to ride and climb,etc.

We thought this sculpture was the funniest thing in the park.  So we decided to be a little silly and pose with it.

This radio flyer wagon was my most favorite thing to see.  It's huge as you can see.  What looks like the handle to the far right is also ...........

 a slide!

We had great fun in the park! 

Come back tomorrow for the third and final installment of our cross country adventure.

Be sure to stop back on Monday.  I will be doing book giveaways and sharing some projects with you.

Enjoy your day!

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::ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND BACK::

May was a pretty big month for us. Our son graduated! The weeks leading up to graduation were jam packed with all sorts of things. Sports dinners, senior dinners, blah,blah. You know how it is if you have children in college. Anyhow, graduation night finally came and we were so proud of son. Here is a pic that Mr. Quiltingmemories took after the ceremony.

Two days after graduation we packed up the car and headed west.  Washington state to be exact.  We would meet up with our daughter there as well as head to the Farm Chicks show.

It took us four days to head out there.  We went through fourteens states all in all.  We started out going through Louisiana and then Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas.  I tried to take pictures of each  welcome to this state sign, but I wasn't always successful.  The first one I took was Kansas.  So, here you go.

We saw lots of these.  Not sure what they are.  If anyone knows what they are, we would sure love to know.  We didn't just see these in Texas and Kansas; we saw them all over. Even up in Montana.

We saw lots of cows as you can imagine there was lots of open land along the way.  There is a funny story behind the photo below.  Mr. Quiltingmemories actually pulled over so I could take this picture.  They cows were not cooperating with me for the photo and Mr. Quiltingmemories started to moo!  Yes, he actually mooed at the cows.  Surprisingly they finally turned in our direction and I got this shot.  It reminds me a little of the laughing  cows commercial.

This week I will do a three part series on the rest of our cross country adventure.  

Next week I hope to have a new face for the blog.  I will be updating it and trying to make it easier to navigate past posts as well as current ones. I  will also being putting up a new header as well.  Be on the look out for a new series in the side bar that I will be running.  I am calling it "Simple Summer Fare."  There will be  breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert editions. I will be adding links so you can follow on Pinterest as well.

Until then, have a great evening and a blessed week.

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