Make a New Year's Eve Centerpiece

Well it's officially the last day of 2008...are you happy or sad. I'm always a bit sad to see the year end. Reminds me of everything I still didn't get finished in 2008. Oh and that it's almost time to start working on my taxes...yuck!! I think hubby and I will just be spending a quiet night at home alone. Need to go buy a bottle of champagne for us to toast with though. Our oldest daughter is going out with some friends and our youngest is going to church where they are going to be celebrating New Year's Eve by playing laser tag, guitar hero, etc..
If you are having a New Year's Eve Party or just a little get together...don't forget to make a special centerpiece. Here is a simple one I found using your apothecary jars!




Happy New Year!!

I got it! I got it!

Did you get everything you hoped you would get for Christmas?? If you've been reading my blog for sometime you know that I really wanted a Kitchenaid Artisian Stand Mixer in Gloss Cinnamon...well I got it!! Woo Hoo! Actually, I got it a few weeks before Christmas. I told hubby I needed it before Christmas so that I could do all my Christmas baking. I Love it! It is like an art piece in my kitchen! For Christmas I got some other things for my kitchen that I wanted...like a new stainless steel toaster, new stainless kitchen utensils, and a stainless crock pot. Now to get back to work on redoing our kitchen cabinets! Oh I sure hope to get it finished by spring!!

The very best gift I got didn't cost any money! Our 20 yr old daughter made a dvd of a bunch of photos & videos of us as a family with background music. It is so nice and she did it all on her computer. It brought tears to mine & hubby's eyes! At the end of the dvd it said thanks for all the memories we've shared! Awe! So sweet!

Oh and an update: my last post said we were off to look at a new (used) car for our daughter 3 hours away...well we didn't end up getting it. Hubby determined it wasn't kept up as well as the owner was telling us. So now unless we find a car this week we are off to Dallas next weekend to hopefully find her a Nissan Altima. Seem to be cheaper prices in Dallas. Wish us luck!

So tell me what you got for Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well we are off to go buy a new used car for our 20 year old daughter. Found a great deal about 3 hours away so we are making the drive to go see it & hopefully drive home with it. I probably will not be posting again until after Christmas so wanted to take this time to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas! I have really enjoyed blogging & meeting you all! You are all very special to me and I look forward to seeing all of your creative ideas & speaking with you all this coming year!

As our pastor said this past sunday...remember to give Jesus a gift this Christmas! Forgiveness is what would warm Jesus' heart. That would be a great gift to give him & for yourself!

Merry Christmas!!

You have to hear this!

Do you love acapella? I do! This is an amazing story of this college group of friends that are now famous due to You Tube. They are called, "Straight with No Chaser." Check them out!

Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange

For the past week I've been making a different Christmas cookie every evening. A few to enjoy now and the rest are put away in the freezer to bring out on Christmas. I'm running out of Christmas cookie recipes so thought I would host a "Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange" with all of you! I'll start by sharing a cookie that I LOVE...it's a MUST for any CHOCOHOLIC!!

Firecracker Fudge Cookies

2 cups (12oz pkg) of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tbls butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Microwave 1 cup chocolate chips in medium, uncovered, microwave safe bowl on HIGHT power for 1 minute; STIR. Chocolate Chips may retain some of their original shape. If neccessary, microwave an add'l 10-15 second intervals, stirring just until choc. chips are melted. Cool to room temperature.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Beat granulated sugar, butter and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Beat in melted chocolate. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in remaining choc. chips. Cover, refrigerate just until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls; roll in powdered sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until sides are set but centers are still slightly soft. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely.



** I found some Cappuchino Chocolate Chips at Big Lots last weekend and used 1/2 of choc. chips & 1/2 of cappuchino chips and they were amazing as well!!



Now please supply your link to your Christmas Cookie recipe! Thanks for participating!

Christmas Spirit Award & Cookie Recipe Exchange

I was honored by a "Christmas Spirit Award" given to me by Melissa of Melissa's Heart and Home. Thank you so much Melissa! Now the rule is that I have to list 5 things that I love about Christmas and then give the award to at least 5 other blog friends...so here it goes.

5 Things I Love about Christmas

1.) baking Christmas cookies
2.) Christmas music
3.) decorating for Christmas
4.) Christmas lights
5.) giving gifts
and one more...
6.) Jesus' birthday!

Now I give the Christmas Spirit Award to:

http://susieharris.blogspot.com/

http://gracioussouthernliving.blogspot.com/

http://restyledhome.blogspot.com/

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

http://inspiredkara.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow I will be hosting a Cookie Recipe Exchange with Mr. Linky...so get your favorite Christmas cookie recipe ready on your blog and then come leave a link tomorrow.

Happy Holidays!!

Come On In and See Our Candy Tree

Hello! Come on in! My daughter Callie is making a candy tree. She tried using Elmer's glue...but that didn't work. Hot Glue worked perfect though! It looks so cute, don't ya think?! I think next year we will do a larger candy tree and add to our candy tree collection every year. Do you think it needs to be sealed with a polyurethane?

A Gift With Meaning!

I like giving personalized gifts or gifts with meaning to my family so I came up with a set of kitchen towels to give my brother & sister in law. Okay, you say, "that's not special Darlene!" I know, Iknow, hang on... My sister in law is Italian (or mostly Italian) and my brother is Norwegian (ok, half norwegian) so I had a good friend of mine (Laura) embroider "Buon Natale" on one towel & "God Jul" on the other towel. Both of those sayings mean "Merry Christmas." Buon Natale is Italian & God Jul is Norwegian...so both heritages are covered. Laura added colorful trim to the towels that made them even more special! Hope they LOVE them! Oh and Joyce if your reading this...I guess you know now what your getting! Alright now if you want to buy a quality handmade, personalized gift HURRY over to Laura's etsy site

She does AMAZING work & is very reasonable!

Check out this rug we just made!

We had a customer online that asked if we could duplicate this rug design in an 8X10 using black, red, and hot pink. Ok, not crazy about the color combo, but hey, it's a cool design! Of course we told her, "Sure, we could do it!" This is not printed, it is all inlaid. It was done with frieze carpet. I think it came out awesome, if I do say so myself!




Have a great weekend! We will be making more rugs..trying to catch up on all the orders!

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Our Singing Snowman Greets Guests

Please meet my large singing snowman! I love him. He is motion activated so as soon as someone comes to the door...ups man, mailman, fedex...or an occasional guest...Mr. Snowman starts singing a Christmas song. So cute! My daugther hated it when she was a teenager and would come home after a date. She said it always startled her boyfriend when he would walk her to the door. LOL!

Our home last year with the icicle lights and moving lighted reindeer. This year we just don't have the time to put up the lights :(

More Christmas at my Home

I was able to do some more Christmas decorating yesterday. I have more ideas, but probably won't get around to doing them this year. Anyway, I jazzed up the garland on the mantle and the swag on the copper mirror with real christmas tree clippings. I went to Lowe's and saw all these great christmas tree branches/clippings and asked if they were for sale or if they were free and he said the magic word...FREE! So I grabbed about 3 big branches and brought them home to add to my decorations. If you use a fake tree...this is a great way to still get that great scent in your home of fresh Christmas tree smell!

I really don't like this gold bow, so next year will do something else and add some feathers to the wreath.


My kitchen is still being worked on, but had to add a touch of Christmas in there anyway.

My adorable snowman cookie jar! Wanna cookie, made some spritz cookies last night.
My pier one vase...I love this vase!! Added some christmas there too. This is my kitchen window. I think next year I will make a sign that says, "Let it Snow" or "Merry Christmas" and take down the Farmer's Market sign for the holiday.

A simple, classic tablescape. Would like to add some gold glittery snowflakes on the table and I want to find some white snowman dimensional face mugs to add on top of the plates (maybe even with the faux snow (Sno Wonder) like I showed you all in a previous post.

I reworked this floral arangement...it was looking pretty sad, but thanks to some ornaments & feathers...it's pretty again! Oh and added real christmas tree clippings to the swag for a fuller look!

I got these gold pinecone candle holders at the Salvation Army a couple years ago for $3!

Love my wood carved old world santa...bought it a few yrs ago from a master carver off of ebay. It was my $125 splurge..but I love it! Wish the tree next to it was carved!

Hope you enjoyed the Christmas tour of my home! I'll get some of my daughter's rooms soon.

HELP ME, Please! I need some advice

I need to buy a new digital camera and I have no clue which one to buy. Hope you all can give me some recommendations! This is what I need:

Viewfinder display
point and shoot
ability to turn flash off
great zoom capability
easy to operate
one that comes with rechargeable battery & battery charger

Need it for business to take great pics of our rugs, blog pics, as well as family pics.

Any suggestions??

Thanks!

Rugs, Rugs, and More Rugs!!

We have been so busy lately with custom rug orders coming in everyday! Just when we get caught up...more orders come in. Not complaining...just super busy! Hubby & I are each working about 70-80 hours a week! We so need a vacation after the holidays! Here are just some of the rugs we've been busy making. Oh and on monday I'll show you a fun abstract rug that we will be making this weekend for a client...it's black, hot pink, and red.

This was done for a baby nursery...lucky baby girl!

This is our zebra patchwork style rug...can be done in any of these colors: red, black, orange, yellow, purple, lime green, bright blue, aqua, navy blue, brown, light pink, or hot pink

A monogrammed runner we did for a client's kitchen

How about a movie border rug..perfect for a theatre room!

We also do this rug with a black border!

Another initial inlay border rug in lt pink & chocolate brown

Have a Super Weekend!!