Holiday Fun

I have been busy this past week spending time with friends, making visits to my mall spaces and getting ready for the holidays.

Last Sunday was the Christmas Cookie Exchange Party at Laurie's house. This was my first year and let me tell you, these ladies were no amateur cookie makers.

Isabel made her yummy Palmiers with chocolate drizzle this time. Yum!























I made some Spicy Pumpkin Cookies. (Recipe at the end of the post)























Sweet Natalie made her awesome Coconut Lime Bars which won the Barn House Flea Market Cookie Competition last year, so it was no surprise that they won again as best, non-chocolate cookie.

Overall, it was a really fun time and I met some amazingly talented women including this gal. Have you checked out her blog yet? She is a fabulous photographer and such a fun person.

On Tuesday, I hooked up with some of my old friends from college. Paul, who I recently connected with through Facebook is currently "between jobs" and is housesitting at an incredible, almost 6 million dollar house directly on Lake Oswego. I was lucky enough to get the jaw dropping tour and fortunately it was still light enough to witness the fabulous view of Mt. Hood. Here is a link to the house if you are interested in checking it out. Paul assures me that if I help sell it, I will get a cut of the commission. ha ha

After the grand tour, Paul and I drove up to see Stephanie in Camas. She was recently married and it has been years since we last got together. I even got to meet her adorable 5 year old daughter, Sydney.

Here are Stephanie and Paul.

The three of us.

Sydney

It was hard to get a picture of Syndey as she got a little tired and grumpy as the evening wore on. But she did entertain us with her Hulk hands. We had a great dinner and visit and made tentative plans to have a pizza party with all of our families at "the mansion" in January.

On Wednesday I was lucky enough to be invited to the adorable Sheila's house to craft. Remember Sheila from this recent post? Isabel, Joy and another sweet lady named Jan also came to work on soldered houses.

Here's a picture of the one I made already hanging on my Christmas tree. It was fun to do both sides so I can turn it over if I want. Almost like having two ornaments in one.

I still have to finish up the tree/house decorating, but promise to share some pictures when I do. Hopefully by tomorrow, I'll be done. Until then have a great weekend and here's my recipe:

Spicy Pumpkin Cookies

1 c. shortening

1 c. flour

1 c. canned pumpkin

1 egg

2 c. all purpose flour

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1 recipe cookie glaze (below)

chopped nuts (optional)

In an extra large bowl, beat together shortening and sugar with electric mixer until fluffy. Add pumpkin and egg; beat until combined. In a medium bowl, combine flour, spice, baking powder and baking soda. Beat into pumpkin mixture until combined. Spoon by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Remove and cool on wire racks

Spread glaze over cookies and sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired. Makes 42-48 cookies.

Cookie glaze: In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 3 T. butter and 1 T. milk. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat and stir in 1 c. sifted powdered sugar and 1 t. vanilla. (If frosting becomes too thick, stir in a few drops of hot water)

Last Wednesday

I'm a little behind on my blogging. I apologize, but in my defense, I have been busy working on projects. This post is not about that though.

Last Wednesday, Mitzi and I hit the Goodwill bins. Didn't find much. At least not anything blogworthy. After that we went to another Goodwill. Found nothing there. We then headed over to Hippo Hardware for some electrical stuff and I spotted a cool vintage shopping cart which was holding a bunch of random stuff. I asked if it was for sale and the guy basically told me to name my price. I got a great deal on this sweet cart. Really I have no business buying any more as I have a ton of them (if you're new to my blog let me tell you that one of the many things I sell is vintage shopping carts with custom made fabric liners) and I have vowed that I wasn't going to buy any more. So much for that idea.

After going to HH we headed over to Stars Antique Mall where we met up with Karen, Paula and Laurie (Magpie Ethel). If you are not familiar with Laurie, go right now to her blog and say hi. She is the ultimate crafting queen in my book. After we all grabbed a bite to eat, she graciously invited us to have a tour of her home and studio.

Let me start off by saying that Laurie lives in a fabulous neighborhood full of awesome vintage homes and Laurie's home is no exception. Here we are posed in front of her house. (Karen is taking the picture.)
Laurie's home is jam packed full of incredible vintage finds and lovely hand crafted creations that are beautifully and artfully arranged. Her vintage home has so many wonderful nooks and crannies that are just perfect to house her many collections. I'm going to just shut up now and let my pictures do the talking. Hope you have your coffee as this is a long one.

Incredible, right? I just love everything about Laurie's home. I could move right in.

Thanks again, Laurie for inviting us into your Haven. It truly is so very charming and lovely.

On Thursday while running errands with my daughter, I stopped at an antique shop that I hadn't been to in a while. I was thrilled to find this adorable little doll dresser. It was a great price too. Now the dilemma. Do I keep or do I sell?

The projects I referred to at the beginning of this post are just some things I'm working on for Farm Chicks. It's still two months away, but feels like it is getting closer by the minute. By the time it gets here I'm sure you will be bored with me talking about it so much so I will try to limit my posts that have to do with FC. It will be hard as I am getting very excited about going and I have lots of great stuff that I will be taking with me.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday and a very Happy Easter with your friends and family!

A Little Road Trip

As I mentioned on my last post, we were going to take a little road trip last weekend. Long story short, what was going to be a road trip to Boise to see my brother and sister in-law, turned out to be a trip to the Oregon Coast.

If you have been reading my blog awhile, you know that I love the beach. The weather at the coast was quite rainy, but we were able to get out, stroll on the beach, go shopping, hiking, during a few breaks in the weather. The best part was just getting to spend time with my family. Family bonding, if you will.

We stayed two days in a little cottage in Waldport. Very funky and vintage, with a wood burning fireplace of which we took full advantage. I even had time to read a whole book. One of my favorite authors, Adrianna Tigianni just put out a new novel called "Very Valentine." Some of you may remember The Big Stone Gap series. I loved it. Anyway, it was a wonderful read.

Unfortunately,I didn't take any pictures during our trip. Camera battery died/too lazy. But, thanks to the internet, here a few shots for your viewing pleasure.

Cape Cod Cottages, Walport, Oregon

Path from cottage to beach, imagine a clowdy gray sky and a lot of wet. I think I like this image better.

My family was nice enough to indulge me by stopping at several antique stores/malls we happened to find. Unfortunately the getting wasn't great. I only managed to find a few items. Actually, it was a blessing as once again, I'm extremely low on funds. Here's the loot.

lampshade frame, rhinestone bracelet, lace and pair of rhinestone earrings
My hubby did get one sneak attack picture before my battery died. This is my darling daughter and in the background, just above the hood on her jacket, you can just barely catch a glimpse of my adorable son. This picture was taken on our hike around Cape Perpetua.

Cape Perpetua, photo courtesy of the Internet. (Thanks Al Gore for inventing the Internet!)

I need to get over to Monticello soon to clean up my space. The good news is that I have sold a few items that had been there awhile. Now I have room to bring in more stuff. Hopefully if I get my act together I can head over tomorrow with a few things. Maybe hit a few sales/thrift stores along the way? The weather is suppose to be improving a bit. I hope so.

Thanks to all of you who left comments on my last post about my collections. It's fun to know so many of you share many of the same collections as me. I also want to note that Mitzi is right. I did neglect to mention my most favorite collection of all. My wonderfully fabulous friends and family. All the rhinestone brooches in the world could not replace how much they mean to me. I hope you all have truly amazing weekend.