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!

Antiquing Weekend Update

I was up and out of the house early Friday to head over to the Portland Antique Expo where I met up with Isabel and Joy. They, along with lots of others were setting up for the big sale. I, was helping and shopping. I got there a little early so I could shop the tailgaters in the parking lot. I always find a few interesting things out there. After helping Isabel with setting up and pricing, which didn't take long as she was pretty organized, I was able to do a little shopping inside. Lots of vendors still had stuff in boxes, so I didn't get to see everything, but I did manage to find a few neat things.

Here is where I apologize for not taking any pictures at the show. I completely forgot. I was so focused on seeing as much as I could, in the time I had, that it just didn't cross my mind. So, so sorry. I know Isabel took some pics of her space so you will have to check out her blog to see what was going on.It was so fun seeing everyone there.

Krista and Julie had a really cute space. Cindy was there helping Joy with her space. Joe and Sue were shopping. Mary Ann got a double space this time and had lovely things for sale. Randy from Madison Park was there selling as well as Donna and Diana who now have a blog. Hooray! Too soon it was time to go home. I hate leaving a fun party early, don't you?

I spent the whole day Saturday cleaning and organizing the sewing/guest room as I was going to have a very special guest staying over. Since Joy was going back to do Expo on Sunday, I suggested she sleep over at my house. My guest room was a mess. Wish I had taken a before picture. Trust me, it was bad. The best part of getting it cleaned up was finding things to sell/get rid of. I love that.

On Sunday after Joy headed out to Expo. I decided to go back and get a better look at stuff that I didn't see on Friday. Here are some pictures of my weekend finds.

Two pieces of ticking fabric (one very big, one little), ring of skeleton keys, little spoons, various rhinestone pins and a cute rhinestone bracelet, adorable vintage doll skirt and some lovely vintage wallpaper (featuring roses, of course).

More rhinestone pins and earrings, lovely rose patterned butter pat (new collection?), lovely old lace, miscellaneous vintage knobs, rose doll dress.

I got this cute little cabinet from JoDee and Kat's booth. Together they are called Duchess and they have a blog too. They were super sweet and will be selling at Farm Chicks in June. I also got a cute flower pot from them that didn't make it into the picture.

And finally, two adorable crinolines. The gal I bought these from told me that she had sold several others earlier and I actually saw one of them. A lovely pink one I wish I had gotten to first. I guess I shouldn't be greedy. Joy and Isabel were calling me a "knob whore" and a "rhinestone whore." I didn't mind. They were right.

I also found a cute little cabinet that is still hanging out in my car. I need to do a little work on it, but will show you when I get done.

That's it for now. I hope you have a fun Monday. I have a busy week coming up. Monticello on Tuesday and on Wednesday I am going over to Stars with Mitzi where we will be meeting up with Laurie and Paula. Fun times! Sometime this week I'll have to fit a little work in with all of that playing.