Path of the tornado...and the aftermath!

Oh Slanket!

Just wanted to share a picture of Auggie enjoying the sleeve of Rob's slanket after being out in the snow. it took us about 20 minutes to defrost the snow off his tummy and paws last night after he went out to pee. Poor puppy!


Dh has talked me into opening his Slanket, (He didn't think he was getting one cause every time they came on QVC I said, I should just make you one after xmas LOL) his Sansa Fuze MP3 player, and a nutcracker just in the last 24 hours!! (If you were thinking of ordering a Slanket, GET ONE! they are so nice!! thick and over-sized so you really have enough blanket for a large man.)

He does this every year! ...and he makes me open stuff too LOL! oh wait there was another ornament he opened as well. Plus he's a peeker and package squeezer! I'm sure he's already figured out half his gifts! The dog is no better. He's already found his giant stuffed monkey. apparently all stuffed animals under the tree give off an "odor" that alerts dogs to their presence! and presents! ;) He's not getting it yet! "grandma" sent him a stuff Santa though that he already got to open. My husband is rubbing off on the dog!

Tim Tag {day 1}

lots of substitutions on this one! :P I need some of the bells Tim used. I have about 5 different sizes of jingle bells but none like this!

Tim's tag

Tag {day} 7

those garland beads were silver, I colored them with alcohol inks as I suspect Tim did as well. ;) they look great. I also realized this must be the same product that is used to color mercury glass. so I went and fixed one of mine that had a bad chip out of the color, and sure enough not only did it fill it in it made the rest of the paint around it flow.

oh and that snow stuff is wonderfully messy! it did however take about 80% of the ink off my fingers LOL sort of a crafter's pumice if you will.

Can someone tell me the trick to getting nice big crackles like tim's has?? I'm using his crackle paint and applied it with the bottle's brush in a THICK coat. I keep getting fine cracks.

Tim's tag

Tim Tags!

Just starting my 12 tags of Christmas! let's see how far I can get before I have to get back to getting ready for Wednesday ;)

This is all product from last year. I just substituted what I had available. I probably had stuff that was even closer but didn't feel like looking farther than the "surface" clutter on my desk. LOL

ventured into my stamps and was surprised and the variety I have! I haven't dome much beyond DT stuff for a while. I've been sewing in my free time. I just finished my xmas PJ pants the other night.

FYI I am now covered in ink so any tips for getting this off, so I don't go to xmas eve looking like a mechanic, would be appreciated ;)

Tim's Tag day 5 (yeah I'm going out of order!)

Winter Wonderland!

DH and I went out to the park down the street to get some pics today of all the snow we've had. My PC says it's 10 degrees right now outside at 9pm!! Brrrrrrr!

Hit a local antique shop and picked up a few vintage Xmas goodies! I almost got two sets of these tulip Christmas lights but I had the clerk check them and only one lit :( I was glad to get even one though! I had forgotten about them until just a week ago when I was looking for tin light bulb reflectors.














Funny story about these reflector ornaments. I was over at my grandparent's house on Monday celebrating early because my grandma was scheduled for a quadruple bypass today (she's Ok though I just called the hospital to check on her!) Anyway I made a comment to my grandpa that his reflector ornaments look brand new! like they just came out of the box!! His reply!? "they did!" First I was shocked that he still had the boxes but I am not kidding these ornaments look like they have never seen the light of day. It's hard to tell in the pictures but trust me. they looked they they were just manufactured this year!

So while I was at the antique shop I found a few boxes of ornaments that still were wrapped in the factory tissue. they had NEVER been used. they looked about 20 years older than my grandpa's! I didn't get them but found some other reflectors for a steal! so pretty but someday I hope to get my grandpa's!
















a couple other cuties I brought home!

a few glittery cards...and some yummy soup!

Just a couple quick cards I made using Daisy Bucket stamps and their new die-cut cards. Finally sharing a recipe with my MIL who asked for this about 3 years ago when she came out to visit. since I never cook with recipes it's taken me a while to get them all written down. LOL

oooh and yes I got some 4x6 stacks of DCWV Sweets and the Christmas Glitter mat stack! loved these! there papers are so darn cute. you could just punch some circles out with a scalloped circle punch, punch a hole and use for gift tags!











When the grocery budget has been tight this is always a good hearty meal that stands alone. My Dh loves it, it's not a wimpy soup. most times the spoon will stand on end in the bowl! It's pretty fool proof. I've even substituted a can of evaporated milk with success instead of the heavy cream.

It's pretty darn cold all over the country and I can't think of a better time to eat some YUM!

Heidi's potato soup

4 slices smokey bacon chopped
1 medium onion diced
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3-4 medium Idaho potatoes, peeled & diced 1/2"

Sauté bacon until crispy. Add onion plus 1 tsp kosher salt and sauté until transparent and soft.
Add garlic and cook for a minute or two more.
Add diced potatoes and cream. Cover potatoes the rest of the way with water and
simmer until potatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

variations:

add 1 cup diced ham, kielbasa or other flavored sausage.
~or~ chopped fresh basil (*this is surprisingly good & my favorite addition.)
Tuscan:
Substitute 2 links Italian sausage, casings removed and crumble fried for the bacon. add a bit of red pepper flakes and a handful of chopped escarole if desired once the potatoes have cooked.
Corn Chowder:
add 1 cup frozen (or fresh!) kernel corn once potatoes are cooked through.


* Knorr makes a really good ham base for soups that I sometimes use to flavor my bacon/ham soups. if you can find some try adding it instead of the salt. it adds a lot of flavor when you can't find really well smoked bacon too.

Merry Wishes coming your way!

I posted a while back about the new Daisy Bucket line Merry Wishes and will be sharing some pics here as well as on the blog.

New Santa Ornament

Rob and I took this trip back during the Autumn leaf festival in Sept to Leavenworth, Wa. So pretty there, I didn't want to leave! I had not been since high school with my German club and there has been so much expansion since then. I think next year we will be staying for a few days. I'd love to go again at christmas time but the town in nestled in the Cascade mountains and is quite a drive in all that snow. Plus there is a section of that highway that nearly gave me a heart attack driving (you really feel like you are driving on the edge of a mountain, you can't see the bottom of the valley either) I remember going down the mountain at night in one of those big tour buses and sliding all over the road, and seeing cars all over in ditches or accidents. I was white knuckling it just driving in Sept on BARE roads! LOL

This town is highlighted in a Travel Channel special called The Most Christmasy Places in America So beautiful there at Christmas time, and so much to do and see. Lots of fun shops. We found Kris Kringl and had to pick up a Christopher Radko exclusive ornament. He looks so cute on our tree. I like getting a new but unique mercury glass Santa every year for our tree and the reflector belly on him sure fit the bill!








































These guys were just wandering around in at the edge of town. I'm taking these without zooming from the main highway (Steven's Pass) through town. They were munching away and I had to call to them and they'd raise their heads up and look around so I could take the pictures.

3 Christmas Mice

These little guys are this years ornaments. Hopefully none of my family looks here before Christmas! Just wanted to share these before I forgot tho. the little top hats I scored on clearance last year (they were ridiculously priced so I waited until they were 75% off!) they are Cannon Falls of Midwest products. (they already had the velvet holly, berries and Christmas tags on them!) All the little mice came out with different expressions/faces on them. these are just the three I picked to keep out of the ones I am giving away.