Merry Christmas

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year!

We wish you a Meowy Christmas!

Hey, isn't there anything in here for me??

Rudolph out front leading the pack!

Santa, his sleigh and the reindeer on the mantle.........

Last weekend we went to a Dickens Festival in McKinney, TX.  They do it every year, but this is the first year we have been able to go.  Many of the shops around the square were open and had beautiful Christmas decorations.  Townspeople dressed in Victorian clothing walked around the square and there were activities for the kids and lots of goodies to eat!  Here are a few of the beautiful decorations we saw!

This guy was super cute sitting on a shelf!

We saw lots of cute snowmen!

This one is a particular favorite!

We also saw these beautiful rose brooches, some inspiration to make something similar perhaps!

And these beautiful paper roses are to die for!  Have to figure these out!

Lots of Christmas inspiration for shabby chic decorations!

The tongue!

Ever since Cheeto was a kitten, he has always stuck his tongue out when he makes "biscuits" and purrs.  I took this picture of him during one of his biscuit making sessions.

so imagine our surprise during our New York trip, when we saw this:

Here was this cow sticking her tongue out at us!  It just made us laugh and I grabbed the camera to take a shot!

Spooky Halloween Fare

Many years ago when my three nephews were young I happened to be keeping them over Halloween.  For dinner I decided to be a bit creative. I didn't tell them in advance what I was going to serve. On the menu was:

Spider Dip
Individual Meatloaf Rats
Ghost Mashed Potatoes
Eyeballs and Green Beans
Mummy Rolls
Graveyard Pudding

The youngest happened to come in the house while the meatloafs were cooking and asked what was for dinner? I casually replied meatloaf rats.  NO WAY he replied and went to the oven to look. OH GROSS!!!! Aunt Sue, are those really rats? Needless to say, dinner was a real hit with the three boys and I had three of the neighborhood mothers call and ask what had I served them. Word had spread through the neighborhood!

Since that dinner, I have served this menu to guests and family on Halloween and it is always a big hit.
I have pictures so Enjoy.  May you be inspired to have a creative meal this Halloween.

On Wings of Angels

One of our clients asked us to design angel themed place cards for her son's christening party.  We embossed the wings and hand glittered them with irridescent glitter.  Next we glued a white feather on the back to make it "fluffy"!  Hope she likes them!  These would be great for a baby shower or an angel themed Christmas party.

Apple Bread Recipe

As promised here is the apple bread recipe.  It was so good, we ate it all before we realized we hadn't taken a picture of it for the blog.  So you'll just have to take our word for it.....

3 eggs slightly beaten
2 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
1 TB vanilla
3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
4 c peeled, chopped apples (3-4 apples)
1 c chopped pecans
Topping:  2 TB sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1).  Heat oven, grease and flour loaf pans
2.) Stir eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla until well mixed in a large mixing bowl.
3.) Combine flour, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Stir dry ingredients into liquid ingredients until evenly mixed.  Add chopped apples.
4.) Prepare topping-combine sugar and cinnamon.  Batter is thick, spoon into prepared loaf pans. 
5.) Sprinkle topping on top of loaves.
6.) Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
7.) Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then run a thin knife around edges of pans to remove loaves.  Cool on wire racks.  Wrap tightly and store at room temperature.  Breads are better the second day.
Makes 2 regular loaves or 4 mini loaves.
Enjoy!

Happy Fall Y'all!

This week my mom and I went to upstate New York to visit family.  Fall has exploded in beautiful technicolor there.  It's such a nice change of pace from Texas to see rolling hills, farms and the trees in reds and golds.  The shops and houses are all decorated with pumpkins and scarecrows for fall.  It's so festive! We went to the apple farm and bought apple butter, hard apple cider and yummy apple cider doughnuts for a treat!  You can pick your own apples there, but we didn't this time.  We do intend to make apple bread in the near future, stay tuned for the recipe. 

Back to my teenage days.....

Ok, so it's not crafting related but I just had to share. My husband and stepkids and I went to the Nightranger, Foreigner and Journey concert last night. It sure does take you back to hear all the old songs! I have to say, some of the old guys still got it! Foreigner sounded great, just like on their records. Journey was awesome, it's amazing how much the new lead singer sounds like Steve Perry. We had a great time, here's a picture from the concert! Who was your favorite singer or group in your teenage years?

Elissa

Wedding Shower shoes

We just finished a custom order for 50 wedding shower shoe favor boxes. It's so fun to make each one unique.

You have to start somewhere!

So we have decided to enter the world of blogging. Come along with us as we learn to overcome our technoligy phobias. We hope you will enjoy what we have to share cooking, gardening, travels and our creative projects.