A Pretty Little Christmas

Heather of Pretty Petals is hosting this blog party.

There I was busily coloring, cutting and putting up these little holly leaves in a sort of temporary decoupage yesterday while the whole party was going on! I also added some pointsetta petals to the light fixture.

I having some blog partying to catch up with.

A Pretty Little Christmas Blog Party

Oops I thought this blog party was today! And, I thought I was getting off to a rousing early start by doing my post very early.

Favorite Things

My favorite things at Christmas time are:

Christmas movies to set the mood. I only hope Santa got my letter asking for that Kit Kittredge Dvd. If so, this year's collection will be complete.



Handmade ornaments. I try to make something handmade each year. This year was easy as all I had to do was gold dust a dried pomegranate left over from my botched foray into daily pomegranate eating.



The best Holiday drink ever! I just take coffee add some egg nog, a bit of rum extract and a nutmeg topped whipped cream dollop. Love this, I drink this all day long now.



Cute Christmas Chis. Our littelest dogs in their Santa outfits. They just love to pose for the camera.


Ariel


Stuart Little

And speaking of cute dogs a fanatastic blog discovery:

I just recently discovered this.
The Christmas Corgi Blog
The name of this blog says it all.
Corgis and Christmas. A really fun blog to read.

Favorite Things Holiday Blog Party

hosted by Gypsy Mermaid Life,

Please stop back by later.

Holiday House Blog Party

Hi ladies! My name is Valerie and I have just been touring some of the homes with absolutely beautiful trees! I love doing these blog party tours and I try to leave a comment on all the blog homes I visit.

I am involved with three Holiday Blog parties (listed on sidebar) all within days of each other. Since they are all of a show and tell and decorative nature I will just do a series of pictures for each blog party rather than posting the same pictures three times.

The area I will post about today is the Christmas tree area. Little Stuart got in the picture when he was checking things out.



The mantle with the Vanessa Valencia tutorial stockings (check out previous post) I made. Some Christmas village homes and some Yankee Candles in Christmas Cookie scent.



Gingerbread cookies on the tree...



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Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday House Party

hosted by The Junk Drawer.

Candy Land Christmas Stockings

courtesy of Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist's free (we all can appreciate that these days) stocking tutorial. It was very easy to follow, I did not sew these at all which made it all the more fun to make. I stuck with her glue gun way of assembling these. Glittering and gluing down the candy on these means I will not eat the candy from the finished project as I am wont to do.

I have made gingerbread houses several times and I must say these truly have that wonderful magical gingerbread house quality to them. They really are beautiful.

Exciting eco note: these are felt squares bought at Wal Mart made by Eco-Fi and are made from recycled plastic bottles.

Here is one 'in action' hanging at the fireplace


Here they are all lined up


And a close up



Thank you Vanessa!

Holiday Beauty

Ladies,

Are you feeling worn and wan from all the holiday preparations?

Well, take a minute and relax with some amazing beauty tips that will leave you feeling ready to tackle the holiday season….

First off, take a bath to refresh and invigorate and go ahead and get in some caroling practice while you are at it.



Next, rejuvenate with a contour strap. Grab yourself some frownies if you have them to complete that Norma Desmond look.



Now, refreshed and rejuvenated you are ready for your make up.



And ladies, while attending all those holiday parties let’s not forget to sit in that energetic S curve formation. Absolutely stunning!


(It might appear they are holding hands but one lady is an instructor doing hands on teaching of poise at a charm school in New York City).

Cookie Swap

Scrappy Jessi, the hostess with the mostess fun is hosting a cookie blog party today. Yes, finally a reason to get out that older than retro cookbook and try something different. Shortbread. A simple short recipe that gives big results in cookie satisfaction. I think this is excellent as a replacement for some of those sugar cookie days during Christmas season. It is not too gloppy sweet. I also took some cream cheese frosting and thinned it out a lot and then crushed some Texas pecans into it - this was a sort of dip for the shortbread - Excellent.


SHORTBREAD

1/4 pound butter
7 Tablespoons shortening
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
Sugar (for light dusting)

Cream butter and shortening with sugar. Work in flour. Roll about 1/4 inch thick; cut into small shapes or sticks. Sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet in 350 degree oven until light brown. Makes app. 3 dozen.

Note: Sis (the one time cake pro) told me I made these way too big - they kept falling apart. Since I was going to allow myself one cookie I had gotten the largest round cookie cutter I could find. Make them into small shapes.

Now off to check out the other cookie party particpants...

My Swap Partner

Denise of Pinkpomegranate sent me all this great stuff. Lots of great vintage items and some ready right out of the box fantastic fudge. Thank you Denise!

Thanksgiving Swap Paper Doll & ATC

Here is the paper doll I made with the vintage doll picture that was generously provided by Hop Hop Jingle Boo - thanks Debra! I also made a 'corny' ATC.

Thanksgiving Swap Recipe

I needed a recipe for the Thanksgiving Swap and this is one highly recommended by Boodreaux the Cajun Cat. This is an old Southern recipe invented with the practical purpose of using day old bread. Mmmm what those cajuns can do with just bread. Boodreaux helped us prepare and test several batches of this. Here it is and it is totally Boodreaux approved!


Southern Style Bread Pudding

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

8 slices white bread cubed
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup raisins
1 can sliced peaches (drained, cut into smaller pieces)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons melted butter

Grease casserole dish with butter and put the cubed bread in it. Mix in mixing bowl the milk, eggs, sugar, raisins, peaches, vanilla extract, cinnamon and melted butter. Pour into a casserole dish over the cubed bread and let set for about 20 minutes.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until pudding is set.

Top with ice cream or whipped topping if desired.