I heart breakfast

It's that time of year again! Love and all things hearts.

I am digging this heart shaped breakfast Christina made for her kids.

Egg in a heart shaped nest of toast and the middle toasted up with butter and cinnamon sugar.

My Sweet Girl loves things special things like this too!

Do you have any fun breakfast ideas for Valentine's Day?

~Victoria~

Turkey Handprint Shirt

Reposted from 11-2009

A few days ago I went to Made with Love and Glue and pulled up Rachel's archives from 2008. I remembered that she made 4 of her 5 kids Turkey Hand Print shirts last year (see picture below) and wanted to make my Sweet Girl one this year. (Picture courtesy of Rachel at Made with Love and Glue)

Aren't these adorable??? Love the little one below...

I followed the link she provided to One More Moore and followed the tutorial she listed. I also googled reverse applique and came across this blog and tutorial that was very easy for me to follow.

First I turned the tshirt inside out. Then I pinned the right side of the fabric scrap to the shirt

I turned the shirt right side out, traced Sweet Girl's hand on paper, cut it out and pinned it to the front of her shirt.


I sewed around the outline of her hand print.




Yes, my turkey legs are a bit small compared to the body. :)


Being very careful, cut a slit in the t-shirt...then cut out the design.
Sew a button on...


and voila (well 30 min later) you have a Turkey Handprint Shirt!



The sick girl modeling her shirt...

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Victoria~

I ♥ Mantel

Sweet Girl and I shopped the house at the end of January to come up with our mantel for the month full of pink and ♥'s.

Apothecary Jar filled with old lace and pink yarn in front of one of my chippy old mirrors. I ♥ chippy old mirrors. ;)
Apothecary jar filled with pink and silver ornaments (Sweet Girl ♥'s pink.)
Pictures by my favorite photographer (Christina) clipped to a piece of string inside a frame.
Oh and see "valentine" spelled out with scrabble tiles? We did several of those throughout the house. Gave Sweet Girl something fun to do while Mom was doing the heavy lifting. ;)

Happy Valentine's to you and yours today!

~Victoria~

Tis the Season...

for colorful gingerbread houses....

fun snowman's for the Sweet Girl...


all things glittery....


whites and greens...

and most importantly to celebrate the birth of our Lord...

Merry Christmas!


~Victoria~

A Touch of Fall

A few bits and pieces of fall decor are making their way into the house.



Chloe and I made this banner a few days ago. This was suppose to be my "under $10 under an hour" project for Melissa's party last week, but it didn't happen. There are lots of great ideas over there, so make sure you stop by.



We used bamboo from a bundle of ten bought a few years ago for $9.99 at Michael's. I don't want them for a vase arrangement anymore, so I'm finding uses for them individually. Burlap, which is actually buckram, bought at Hancock Fabrics. It has a plastic backing and is a little stiffer than just burlap would be. I believe it was $2.99 a yard, and this project only took a small amount. Muslin, from an unknown origin, was found in the craft bag and torn into strips. Stamp it, glue it, hang it. Done.

Mr. Crow has seen better days, but is still hanging around. His bill is about to fall off and he is missing some tail feathers, but hey, he can't resist a vase full of acorns.



Alongside is a Kabocha squash, that was bought to eat, but acts as decor until it makes it to the oven.


Christina

Happy Valentine's Day!

As you can tell, Christina and I have been extremely busy over the past month and a half! Because of this, I thought I would share a couple Valentine highlights from last year.

(Christina's heart from the Target dollar spot in 2009)

Mmmmm look at this heart shaped breakfast she served at her house. Egg in a heart shaped nest of toast and the middle toasted up with butter and cinnamon sugar.

A little "love" sign Sweet Girl and I made

Heart ice cubes made out of raspberry lemonade..,4 year olds LOVE little things like this!

Corner cabinet decorations.

All decorated for Sweet Girl's Valentine's Party

Looking for some homemade Valentine ideas? For little girls and guys there is this darling little Puppy Dog that my 5 year old nephew made last year.

Or this kitty valentine that Sweet Girl and I put together last year...

If you have older kids these Valentine cupcakes that Chloe and Christina made are darling!

Hope that you and your loved ones will find simple ways to celebrate Valentine's Day this year!

~Victoria~

A Delightfully Different Cookie

Darlene over at Our Creative Life is having a Cookie Recipe Party. Make sure to go over and check out all of the goodies and join in with your favorite recipe. I would love to see what all of you guys make during the holidays.



My recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine in 2001. Something different for sure and just delightful. This has become my husband's favorite cookie and is the perfect addition to a Christmas cookie platter or with a cup of hot tea on a cold afternoon.




Berry Sage Thumbprints

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow corn meal
1 1/2 tsp. dried sage, crushed (mine is a powder)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup blackberry preserves (I use b. berry jelly because I don't like the seeds)

preheat oven to 350 degrees

combine flour, cornmeal, sage and baking powder. Set aside.

Beat butter for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat until combined, scraping sides occasionally. Beat in egg yolks, lemon peel, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour.

Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Lightly press the tip of your thumb into the center of each ball. Fill the centers with about 1/4 tsp. of the blackberry preserves. bake about 10 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool completely. Makes about 60.
From Better Homes and Garden's December 2001

Oh, so yummy!

I hope you enjoyed your virtual taste. Try it, you might like it.

{Christina}

Halloween decor tid bits

Do you recognize this glass??? Remember the glassware makeover I talked about? This was phase 1.

Here is it before....Isn't it beautiful in black? Take an ordinary Goodwill glass and give it a coat of black spray paint. You know, this would work in ANY color....yellow and pink in the springtime, red for summer...hmmmm...now my wheels are turning...

Can you find this jewel ...

in the picture below?

Yep, that's it on the right painted black.

In my living room I kept most of my decorating neutral, like these pumpkins in my Apothecary Jar and the mini-pumpkins above.

My dining area I decked out in black.

BOO letters are just cut out paper taped on the plates.
Brass owl painted black...
Vintage fork holding an owl I printed out last year...
Last year he was in a frame...

55 cent frame and picture I spray painted black (um you'd think I would have thought to say "Eeek" or something BESIDES "BOO"!).

Have to throw in some cute stuff for my Sweet Girl!



Want to see more? Check out Christina's and my decor from last year here.

~Victoria~