Working Well Under Pressure

Part A:  Every day I get updated posts from different bloggers with pictures of their holiday decor and they all seem to really have it "together" for the holidays.  I am writing this post on December 21st just before I leave for work.  Would you believe I just started shopping on the 20th?  I hope to have time today to run into Macy's and grab a few more things, and hopefully I can complete my shopping by the 22nd.  My youngest daughter still lives at home and is bewildered by the lack of gifts for her under the tree.  I keep assuring her Santa has not forgotten, that sometimes we work under a little extra pressure. 

Part B:  So since I didn't publish the post because I was not done writing it, here is an update.  The streets are pure madness, the malls are crazy, but I must say I only encountered one rude person and one horn honker in the traffic today.  For the most part everyone was beyond patient and just went with the flow.  Although I am beat from my day of running store to store after working for a few hours this morning, I am pretty pleased at how calm my fellow shoppers were and surprised at my own serenity.  Never have I been this late with Christmas.  Maybe it's been the blog or the trip for Thanksgiving to visit my daughter and the whole day job thing, but it was all worth it.  Life is good and I have so much to be thankful for.

Soooo, if anyone out there is as behind as I am, take heart.  You are not alone.  In the end it all gets done, and I am just thankful we will all be together once again.

Christmas Get Together

We were invited to a Christmas get together on Sunday at a neighbor's home and it was a lot of fun.  I have used cranberries in arrangements before but not with floating flowers.  This was a beautiful easy centerpiece.  This magnificent rose came from her garden.

 These cookies looked so perfect like they were out of the pages of a cookbook.  Nancy's daughter was home for the holidays from Switzerland and she brought a special cheese home to share with us.  The name of the cheese is Raclette.  You place it underneath a Racletterie which broils the very top layer of the cheese and melts it.  You then tilt it up and slide the cheese onto a plate of boiled small potatoes and pickles.  Sort of like a hot potato salad.

 The end result was totally yummy.  Needless to say, it made quite the conversation piece.

Glitterfest Starfish

This could or could not be Christmas.  One of our dealers at Aubergine Emporium made up a few starfish with jewels and they were selling like hotcakes.  I asked her if she would make some for my blog but she encouraged me to do the project instead since she is out of stock.  I glittered mine and kept the color scheme simple, clear and aqua rhinestones.  On one of the starfish I experimented with just globs of glue and then I glittered that.   The pictures don't do them justice.  They would be beautiful in a Christmas tree or on a silver tray just like I did here.  They have a very beachy feel (dah! they are starfish), but none the less they are quite stunning.

At first I put Modge Podge on the starfish and sprinkled it with the shiny white glitter.  For the first couple I did, I mixed the two-part epoxy and used tweezers to hold the rhinestones.  This was doable but not very easy.  I finally got smart and put a dollop of the Martha Stewart craft glue on the starfish and used the tweezers to place the gems.  This was a lot easier.  Tacky Glue would probably work too.  I embellished the centers with stray earings and broken pins.

I am linking to the following link party.

Cherished Christmas Gift

This past Sunday I ventured out to my favorite flea market where I meet an old friend nearly every month.  Now if you browse around my blog, it won't take you long to realize I like to paint signs on just about any flat surface that I find, especially old cabinet doors. 

It was pretty cold on Sunday, and I hadn't taken much cash, and I just wanted to go home as I had been there since 5:30 in the morning and this was about 8:00, but my friend convinced me to make one more trip around the vendors to see if anyone new showed up.  We came upon this old box full of stencils.  There is no date on it, and the city and state on the box have no zip code and the only reference I found on the internet was 1947.  This box is a complete set of old stencils with many different fonts and sizes.  What a great find!  Neither one of us had seen anything like this and it was a complete set with an intact box that is beautiful in its own right.  I was so excited and to my even bigger surprise my friend insisted this was my Christmas gift from her.  I cannot wait to get all the stencils out to see exactly what is in there.

 This box is beautiful.  It is called a Showcarder.

 Each category has at least two to three stencils in it, plus it has the original instructions and font sample pamphlet.  Is this a cool gift or what?  Beautiful, practical and oh so special.

Farm Fresh Eggs

Here I am with my old cabinet doors again.  This particular door had flaking varnish and was in really rough shape.  I did not sand it down at all because I wanted a very primitive sign.  My husband made me some rooster shutters a few months back and I had two roosters left over so I decided to put one of them to good use.  These are wood cut outs that I purchased on Ebay.  I like that the relief of the rooster gives the sign a three dimensional quality.  To start out, I painted the sign with Colonial Red American Accents paint by Rustoleum.  This is an indoor outdoor paint that can be used on metal or wood.  Then I applied the rooster cut out with epoxy glue.  If you are going to put the sign outdoors, I suggest you tack it on to the board with a couple of tacks.  Once that was set securely on my door, I stenciled Farm Fresh Eggs across the whole sign.  My daughter didn't like that the rooster was white so I streaked some different browns on him.  I trimmed in the details with a little yellow and outlined my letters with black.  When that was all done, I hand sanded very hard and where the original varnish had been flaking, the red paint just chipped away leaving a wonderful naturally aged look.  There were some holes drilled in the cabinet door and I neglected to fill the holes with putty.  Not too worry.  I have a drawer full of rusty screws I scavenged from other projects and I screwed them into the holes.  Some of the streaking on the rooster wiped away when I washed down the board to get the sanding dust off, but that is okay.  This sign looks truly primitive and that is what I wanted it to look like.  When it was complete, I sealed it with Valspar satin clear spray that is suitable for indoors and outdoors.  That should set the paint and keep it from wearing off even more.  Wouldn't this be great on a chicken coop or in a country garden?

I am participating in the following link parties.  Thank you so much to Donna and Debbie for hosting these wonderful link parties every week.

Lucky Moon Graphic

This post probably would have been more appropriate for Halloween, but I just came across it in my archives.  It's been a long week so I will just leave you with this.  You computer techies might be able to do something with this image.  I think it is very cool.  I hope I remember this next fall when I need something with a fabulous moon.  Have a wonderful evening.

Peppermint Madness: Martinis, Peppermint Bark, Peppermint Cupcakes

My daughter Stephanie went a little crazy with her peppermint experiments this year, but all of us enjoyed her laboratory (kitchen) experiments and they were delicious.

To make the Peppermint Bark, use one package of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 12 oz.  One package of white chocolate chip morsels, 12 oz., and 12 candy canes.

Put aluminum foil on a baking sheet.  Heat chocolate semi-sweet morsels in microwave, then spread evenly on aluminum foil with a spatula.  Place in freezer.  While that layer is in the freezer, place your candy canes in a plastic bag and crush the candy canes with a rolling pin or object of your choice.  Make small, small pieces of the candy cane.  Once that is completed, heat your white chocolate chip morsels in the microwave.  Heat all chocolate a half a package at a time and check after a minute and a half.  Once the white chocolate is ready and melted, stir in peppermint crushed candy canes.  Take the frozen semi sweet chocolate out of the freezer ( make sure it's frozen) then spread the white with a spatula over the dark.  At this point Stephanie  says it looks kind of funky and you think it's not going to look good so place the whole thing in the oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes.  Let it cool at room temperature or put in freezer until firm and ready to break.  This is the best peppermint bark I have had so far and everyone asks for the recipe.

To make the Candy Cane Delight Martini, use 2 ounces Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur, 2 ounces Pinnacle Whipped Vodka to one ounce Peppermint Schnapps and about 2 ounces of heavy cream.  Use Grenadine for color if you would like to make it like a candy cane.  Stephanie bought the peppermint rimming sugar  and all other ingredients at Total Wine.  Rim your glass with the Peppermint rimming sugar.  Wet the rim of your glass and dip it in the sugar.  In a shaker mix the rest of the ingredients except the grenadine.  After the martini is made, pour it in the rimmed glass and do a splash of grenadine in a circular motion to make a swirl and garnish with a candy cane swirl.  Enjoy and please drink responsibly.

For Stephanie's cupcakes, she used regular cake mixes and used a cake decorator tip to swirl the frosting and then crushed the candy canes into pieces using a rolling pin or a mallet.  (a food processor works too.)  Sprinkle the crushed candy cane onto your cupcakes.  They look so festive and taste divine!  We consider ourselves cupcake connoisseurs since we live so close to Sprinkles and Crumbs cupcake shops.  I enjoyed hers just as much.  They were truly beautiful and were a fraction of the price.  Besides, cupcakes make the perfect serving size.  She served them on a pretty paper doily and then surrounded them with the peppermint bark and some holiday candy kisses.