My Top Five of 2010

*knock, knock*

Is this thing working?

Yep? Okay.

I know, I know I haven't been around. I think this has been the longest break I've taken since I started blogging a few months ago. Between putting away the Christmas things, visitors to my house, the snow, and just plain cabin fever from being in the house for so long --remember here in the South, if it snows, everything shuts down-- that I

After Christmas Snow

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! I don't know about you, but after blogging about crafts and my decorations for a month, I feel like I've run out of things to talk about until all the decorations get packed away and "real life" starts again. Once Christmas is over, I'm always itching to take the decorations down, but my family leaves them up until New Year's Day most of the time. Although I

Christmas Greetings

For those of us celebrating this special day, please remember the reason for the season.....



Wishing everyone a happy, safe and very Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

I hope that everyone is (or will be) enjoying Christmas Eve today. Mr. Weatherman has said it might snow, but if the weather is okay, I'll be visiting my Grandmother sometime today. Plus, my immediately family will open some gifts. Like many of you, I'll also be busy preparing for the big Christmas meal tomorrow. We didn't really plan out a menu this year, nor went grocery shopping especially for

All Lit Up

Not a lot of words since I'm busy preparing for Christmas, but here are some of my holiday decorations I didn't have time to share this season....... 

I've always had trouble decorating my mantel, but this is the first year I felt it looked good. Thanks to everyone who showed their mantels this year because I got inspired by you to make mine look better.



You've probably seen the Santa truck

Felt Cat and Scotty Dog Ornament Tutorial

A few weeks ago, I shared the handmade ornaments on my tree and said I'd try to make a tutorial for the felt pet ornaments. Several people wanted to know how to make them, so I finally found time to write the pattern up. I made these a few years ago, so I don't have any step by step pictures, but if you can hand sew, I'm sure you can figure out from the instructions how to make them.



You

Shabby Chic Christmas Decorating

Today, I thought I'd share my cottage tv room during Christmas. This room is really small, so the good part is, I didn't have to decorate a lot. The bad part is because the room is small, I had to take out some stuff to be able to decorate for the holiday. At least this gives me a change so I won't get bored with all my stuff!

I cleared the long table in the room for my Christmas tree. The only

A Festive Living Room

I meant to do a few more tutorials this week including the pet ornaments a few of you asked about. However, I've been a bit under the weather and haven't felt like writing that up. Even though it will be too late to make them for this year, I will try to get that up next week. At least then you'll have a whole year to make them for next Christmas.

Today, I thought I'd share some pictures of my

How To Make a Bird Seed Jar

For those of you who are looking for last minute gift ideas, here is a very fast and cute gift for anyone you know who loves birds or nature. Or make one for yourself as I did. This is a much better alternative than leaving the bag of seeds on the porch like I used to do. As you can imagine, I started having some squirrel visitors on the porch!

I lucked out and found these great nests that

Make Your Own Christmas Cottage

My Pink Christmas Cottage

A while back, I saw a pink snow house while looking around the web.  Immediately, I fell in love with it and knew one would be perfect for my cottage tv room. Then, I remembered seeing some paper mache houses the last time I was at Hobby Lobby and decided to  make one myself.  Although mine isn't exactly the same as the one I saw, it turned out very similar, so I

Handmade Christmas ornaments

Since I already showed you the hand painted ornaments on my family's "main tree", I thought you'd like to see some of the other handmade ornaments on it.

Do you have any of those old thread balls that are looking shabby? Here is how we redid ours. Wrap a piece of fabric around it and cover the top with some lace to hide the raw edges. Finish off with a pretty bow. You could purchase Styrofoam

Edible Candy Wreath Tutorial

Many years ago, a family friend of mine was gifted with a peppermint candy wreath. She loved it so much that she removed the scissors, therefore no one has ever eaten the candy from it. Since I've always loved it, I decided to get adventurous and make myself one this year.

Perfect for decorating or gift giving, plus you can easily customize the colors to your decor by the colors of hard candy

Santa Comes In A What?

I'm sure you've figured out by now that my mom and I like to do crafty things. I think it stems from us wanting to have unusual things for our home instead of always buying something from the store that everyone else has.

Today I thought I'd share one of our favorite Christmas decorations that we put together by mixing store bought things with craft things that we like to do.

It all started

I Had a Busy Weekend!

Whew! I got back on Sunday night after a 24 hour whirlwind of decorating my brother's entire house inside and out. Now I am officially sick of Christmas decorating and have barely started on my own home. Once I got back, I was beyond exhausted and feel like a cold or the flu is coming on, so I didn't get a chance to pop in yesterday.

Thought you all would like to see a few pictures of how I

Making Home Decor Festive For The Holidays

For those of you in the U.S. like me, I hope you've had a very wonderful Thanksgiving. I was unsure what my schedule for the weekend but my brother asked me to visit him this weekend to help with his Christmas decorating. Therefore, this is a scheduled post that is short and sweet. I will be visiting every one's Pink Saturday posts when I return either on Sunday night or Monday morning.

Today I

Handmade Painted Christmas Ornaments

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who like me celebrated today! How many of you will be starting your Christmas decorating tomorrow? Actually, we started putting out our Christmas stuff a week or so ago so my brother who has his own home can enjoy our decorations longer.

Although by the end of the season, there will be several trees displayed in our home with themes, our "main tree" in the

....And The Winner Is.....

I know everyone is sick of me talking about my apron and cookbook giveaway, but I wanted to thank all of you who took the time to enter. Thanks to everyone who became new followers, tweeted about my contest, or added me to their sidebar. And thanks to those of you who have been long term followers who signed up too. When I first thought about doing my first giveaway, I was worried that no one

Not To Proud To Beg

Hi  people, it's Mommy's dog Holly again. Remember I shared my Halloween costume picture last month?


Mommy thought I was so cute that she entered me in the Better Homes and Garden photo contest for Halloween Pet Pictures.

I'm now in the running to win, so can you please for for me at : http://photos.bhg.com/category/vote/photo/598101

I know that you are probably really busy this week with

Crochet Wreath Ornament Pattern

It seems a bit strange showing off Christmas things before Thanksgiving. In the past, we never put our tree up before Thanksgiving, but my brother is rarely home in December anymore. Therefore, we try to have at least parts of the house decorated at Thanksgiving, so he can enjoy it longer.

Later in the week, I will be showing off some other handmade ornaments I've made, but today I thought I'd

Giveaway Deadline Is Almost Here: Enter Today!

Just a reminder that if you haven't entered my Apron and Cookbook Giveaway, you need to enter today. The last entry will be taken tonight (Monday morning) at midnight EST. 

Do not enter on this post. You must go here for your entry to be counted.

As I am writing, there are around 30 entries, so you still have a good chance to win!

On Monday, I will weed out the comments on the giveaway 

Granny's Pink Things

On Thursday, I shared some new to me things given to me by my grandmother and mentioned she gave me a picture and a plate that I'd share another day. Since both had pink in them, I thought I'd share those for Pink Saturday.

My grandmother is a lover of beautiful things and has curio cabinets filled with her collections all over her house. One cabinet in her bedroom had this plate in it......


I

Some New (To Me) Things

I had planned to show some more Thanksgiving decorations today, but I was too busy to take pictures of that this week.

However, I was at my grandmother's house the other day. She's a woman who loves beautiful things, but sadly her eyesight is failing, so she can no longer enjoy them. Therefore, she told me to take whatever I wanted from her house. I didn't take much because it felt wrong to

Recipe: Spinach, Mushroom, and Tomato Quiche (includes Gluten Free Version)

I love quiche. Granted, sometimes making quiche can be a lot of work, but I love the fact that you can have this for any meal and really change it up by adding whatever you have on hand.  The trick to this recipe is to keep the milk/egg/sour cream ratio the same, and you can come up with your own version of this quiche each time you make it by using any filling ingredients you like.

In fact, I

I Made This: Pink Capelet and Hat

I always have loved capelets. I'm not really sure why I liked them as a child, but I guess because I had a few I wore, plus I remember a couple of them my mom had when I was young. Now that I'm older, I crochet one every now and then for myself. Not only are they pretty, but I don't always like wearing a jacket, so it's easy to throw on when you need a little warmth on a cool day.

If you'd

Technical Difficulties.....

Hi everyone. Just a heads up that I'm aware my blog looks weird right now. It was fine when I posted this afternoon, so I have no idea what is going on. However, I'll be trying to fix it shortly, so please overlook anything odd that you see here.

Edited to add:

Seems the problem was only on my end. Everyone else I had look told me everything looked fine. If this ever happens to you, clear your

Thanksgiving Decorating (Part 1)

Is it just me or has November just flown by already? I didn't really get in the mood to decorate for fall much in October because the weather was so warm that the autumn season didn't feel like it was here. Lately it's been so chilly it almost feels like it's time for winter. However, I have tried to stick to the calendar schedule and am doing a bit of Thanksgiving decorating.

Since I don't

Shells and Surprises

There are a few things that say "cottage" to me, and shells are one of them. I remember as a child taking a vacation up and down the East coast and collecting shells at the beaches we visited or buying a few painted shells at the touristy type places. Once again, I've been collecting shells, but since I sadly don't live near a beach, my current shells have been picked up at the craft store.

Smothered Chicken Recipe (Gluten Free)

During the low carb craze, someone gave this recipe to me, so I have no idea where it came from or if she made it up. Yet, it's a dish I've made for a few years now, and everyone who's tasted it likes it. Even if you aren't watching carbs, it's still an easy recipe with ingredients many of us already have. Since I'm asked to share this recipe all the time, here it is.

For the gluten free

Apron and Cookbook Giveaway **CLOSED**

I wanted to do something special to thank all the readers who have found my blog over the past few months and finally decided the best way to show my appreciation at the time of giving was to give you something I made along with something that would help you bring joy to others.

Therefore, I am having a cookie baking giveaway in time for Christmas!



Winner's Apron and Cookbook!



Apron has

Holly's Favorite Pinks

Hi again gang! It's Mommy's dog Holly. Boy, I bet you are surprised to see me again so soon. However Mommy was busy yesterday....


That's me last spring.
....playing. Well really shopping, but she says most of you human girls think that's fun.

 By the time she came home she was tired, and it was too dark to take pictures. She fretted over what to do.....


Me sleeping with my bunny. I have to

My Cottage Garden Guest Room (Part 1)

I've mentioned working on my guest room a few times, and although I have a few minor projects I want to complete, today is the big reveal.

Needing a guest room and a craft room, and only having one actual room to work with, I had to get a bit creative on how to make this work. After all, I needed a place for guests to sleep. However, I didn't want to have a craft room with a bed stuck in the

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf Recipe (includes Gluten Free variation)

I know when you saw the title of this post, you are probably wondering why on earth am I posting a recipe for meatloaf. After all, most meatloaf I've had in my lifetime is not really that good. Many times, its either dry or flavorless, or worst yet, it's my aunt's gross version cooked in the microwave. If you've never had microwave meatloaf, take my word that you are better off naive!

The only

Mommy Made My Halloween Costume

 Ruff! Ruff!

Hello humans! It's Holly checking in again. Thanks for well wishes about my health last week. Overall, I am doing better, and I'm sure I'll continue to recover more in the next few days.

A few months ago, Mommy saw a cat dressed up as Raggedy Ann and decided I would be cute dressed up like this for Halloween. When I was sick, I was hoping she would forget all about that, and she

Happy (early) Halloween

Happy Early Halloween everyone! Normally I show something pink on Saturday, but it just wouldn't be right to not showcase the colors of the season on a fall holiday. It wouldn't fell like fall to me without seeing all the oranges, yellows, reds, and browns of this season.

Normally, my mom or myself make the wreaths for everyone in our family, but a few weeks ago we were busy and relied on a

Cottage Curio Delights: Mixing Old and New Decor


I meant to show the Halloween costume I made for my chihuahua tonight, but she has been pretty ill the last few days, and most of my time has been spent dealing with her this week. The costume is a work in progress, which I hope at least she will feel up to modeling it for you by Halloween. I'll try to have a picture by Monday!

The only pictures I had on my camera were some things in the curio

Recipe: Orzo Salad with Lemon and Tomato

For a few years, my mother and I have enjoyed buying a deli sandwich and a container of orzo salad for lunch at a gourmet store nearby. Finally, we got the bright idea to look at the ingredients listed on the attached tag and realized it would be really simple to recreate this for a lot less money at home.

This recipe is very quick to cook and assemble and can be served warm or cold. It's so

Tuscan Theme Dining Room

Happy Monday everyone! At least let's  pretend there is something happy about Monday morning! I had a busy weekend away, so I didn't have time to do any home type projects in the last few days. However, my brother allowed me show you his dining room, which I helped decorate.  Since this was the first home he's had with a formal dining space, we started from scratch with an empty room and very few

Special Pink Plates

Happy Saturday everyone. I have been working on finishing up the redecorating of my guest room and hopefully will be sharing some pictures of that room soon. In the meantime, I thought you might like a sneak peek at a sweet little plate rack in this room.


Would you like a closer inspection? I thought you would. Sorry about the glare in the pictures. I had another post planned, but found out

I'm Still in the Fall Decorating Mood

Last week I shared some fall decorating ideas from my home, so today I thought I'd share a few more ideas for those of you who haven't decorated for the season yet.


Bring your outdoor garden statues indoors. If it has a tray or a basket, fill it with real gourds purchased at the grocery store. Then tuck in some artificial fall flowers, leaves, and berries for a rustic garden feel.




Same mums

Large Birdcage Transformation: Big and Subtle Changes

Have you ever seen something you wanted, waited to get it, then couldn't find it?

That's how today's transformation came to be. I've been wanting a birdcage forever, and in the spring I kept seeing them all over. White, blue, red, normal green shades, black, and even gold. All colors people would actually use. However, since I didn't know my decorating plans, I didn't want to buy one just in

Baked Squash Recipe

Every year, I look forward to fall just to make these baked squash. Of course, you can find some kinds of squash year round, but I especially love the winter varieties only found this season. My favorite squash for this recipe with is "Sweet Dumpling" squash. It looks like a little pumpkin that has white and green stripes. However, I have used acorn squash, golden acorn squash, and buttercup

Pink Candle Holders

You've probably figured out by now that I rarely leave anything as I buy it from the store. Years ago I bought these candle holders at Marshall's, but have never found a place to use them. A couple of times my mom and I have discussed selling them in a yard sale. However, since I like them so much, I've always kept them in hopes I could find a place to use them.



Before
Finally, I

Fall Decorating Ideas

The temperature is finally cooling and the calendar says it's October, so I knew if I was going to decorate for fall, I better get started. Since I'm in the middle of a full house redecorating process, I won't do very much this year, so I worked with things I already had. Here are a few ideas that may get your creative juices going to come up with new ideas for things you probably already own too

Cool Doggie!

Hi everybody! It's Mommy's dog Holly checking in again. Thanks for the many kind comments about my last post and especially to those of you who requested I come back! I'm a very happy doggie to know I'm so loved. It's hard to find time on the computer because I have to wait for Mommy not to be around, but I'll always come back.



Friends, why does Mommy keep humiliating me this way?
 Yes,

Pink Cottage Pretties

It's Saturday again, so time for some pretty pinks. Since we all know I love cottage style, today I'll show the newest pinks in my home.
Don't you love when you don't plan on it, yet find the perfect thing for your home? As you know, I've been decorating my cottage tv room. I've really wanted a battenburg lace pillow for my chair but have been unsuccessful in finding one. However, last week I

Decorate with Cherubs

When I was decorating my cottage tv room, I was aiming for a soft yet "old" look in the room. I never planned on having a cherub theme, because normally I don't like them. However, after seeing some white washed cherubs in a magazine, I decided to buy one. You know how all the sudden you find things and before you know it, you have a collection? That's what happened in this room.

Look for

Almost Homemade Chocolate Cake

Yum! I love cake, especially chocolate cake. For time and convenience, many times I buy a box of cake mix and add things to the recipe to make them taste more like a homemade cake.

Almost Homemade Chocolate Cake
-Chocolate Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines, but use a gluten free cake mix to make this gluten free)
-all ingredients on the back of the cake mix box
-1/2 cup ricotta cheese
-3

What is Rub 'n Buff?

In my last post, I showed you the lamps I redid using Rub 'N Buff. Since a few people were inspired to do this to their lamps and someone didn't know what the product was, I thought I'd talk about it today.

Rub 'n Buff is a metallic pigmented wax that you can use to highlight or paint just about anything. I've used it on metal and wood, but I've seen it used on handmade embossed cards as well.

Pretty Lamp Makeover

How come stores don't have pretty lamps anymore? I've been looking for months for lamps for my bedroom, but mostly what I have seen are contemporary style black or chrome lamps. Every now and then, I do find some crystal ones, but most of those come with a lampshade I don't like.

Finally I gave in and bought 2 lamps and shades to match. I thought the scrolled designs on these lamps looked kind

Roasted Vegetables

I always have trouble coming up with side dishes that everyone in the family will eat. One thing that all of us likes that is always a big hit is roasted vegetables. They are quick to cook, and you can use whatever vegetables in any quantity you have on hand. Usually, I'll make 2 cookie sheets of vegetables to have leftovers for the next day.
The veggies I used in the picture are zucchini,

Pray for Joni

Photo belongs to JoniandFriends.org
I'm sure that most of you have heard of Joni Eareckson Tada. For those of you who haven't, she's been a quadriplegic for over 40 years due to a diving accident and is now a Christian advocate for those with disabilities. She's also an author, wife, painter, but most recently she became a breast cancer victim.

I've been lucky to have never dealt with breast

Pink Doll Collection

First off, for those of you who looked and commented on my first Pink Saturday last week, thank you!

Since it's Saturday again, time to show off some more pinks. Today, I decided to show off a few dolls from my collection. Ever since I was a little girl, I've always loved dolls, In fact, at that time, I was the little girl you saw who carried a doll everywhere. Then soon after I entered

More Cottage TV Room Pictures

Last week, I showed off some pictures of my cottage tv room and promised I would show off some more pictures. Well, I decided to do that now.......
First I'll show off the chair that matches my couch, Last week a few people mentioned liking the couch and said they couldn't find floral couches where they lived. This one is made by Craftmaster Furniture, and I believe is part of their Caroline's

Blog Award

I'm happy to show off the blog award  Silent Chatter  gave me!



These awards are a great way to show others that you are interested in what they have to contribute to the blogosphere, and showcase some of the people you follow.

The rules for winning this award are as follows:
* Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.* Share 7 things about yourself.* Pass the award along to 15

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

I love watching Barefoot Contessa's show. Seriously, if the Food Network ran her show 24/7, I doubt I would ever change the channel. A few times I've seen her make variations of tomato salads and have always wanted to make one. A while back, I was at the grocery store and kind of threw together what I thought I remembered she did.
Since I didn't have her recipe with me, I kind of made of my

Meet Holly

Yes, I know I'm cute!
 
Ruff! Ruff!

Hi gang. This is one of Mommy's dogs checking in here. My name is Holly. There are 2 dachshunds who live with me, but they are camera shy and probably won't be checking in very often. Everyone thinks I have an unusual look and always want to know what breed I am. Most people think I'm a papillon, some think I'm some sort of weird mixed breed, then there

My Garden Girl

Wow, I never knew the garden girl in my last post would be so popular. I wish I could point you all to a place to buy one for yourself. However, I know very little about it. That statue is quite heavy and I believe it's concrete tinted to look like terracotta. It's aged over a few years in my garden so it's got more of that green moss growing all over it, which I love.

I found her at a nursery

My Pink Garden

This summer was so hot, I rarely went outside to even enjoy my garden. Now that the temperature is getting more tolerable, I finally ventured out in the yard  yesterday. I thought I better capture the bit of color that was still left in the yard while it is still here. Since most of my flowers were pink, I decided to join Pink Saturday hosted by How Sweet The Sound.

This is one of my crepe

My Cottage TV Room

I just started redecorating my home, so I thought I'd show you the first room I did. Originally, this room was a TV room, then I turned it into a craft room about 2 years ago, but I recently switched things around and turned it back into a little TV room again. Although the room is very tiny, it's the perfect little cozy room for one or two people to relax and watch TV, read, or crochet like I

Join me in a new adventure!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my new blog. In time, I'll be talking about my love of home decorating, cooking, and crafting in ways that make my home feel cozy and inviting. I hope you'll join me because I'm sure there will be something that will interest you!
Below are a few examples of things you'll be seeing soon...........decorating

......pet stories
......and recipes!Hope you'll be joining me in

Testing 1,2,3

Blog Under Construction.....Please come back later.