Saturday Soup for Supper

Is there anything better on a cold day than soup and fresh bread for dinner? Tonight we will be having Creamy Chicken Noodle.

One chicken breast

mushrooms

celery

carrots

half of a sweet onion chopped up

pasta of your choice

chicken broth

cream of chicken soup

Chop up veggies and place in a pot with a hunk of butter. Cook until soft. Add chicken breast and cover with a couple cans of broth. Boil until chicken is cooked through. Stirring occasionally. Add more broth to make it soup consistency. Add in a couple of handfuls of noodles. Bring to a boil and cook until noodles are done. Add in one can of cream of chicken soup and 3/4 of a can of milk. Stir until cream of chicken is well incorporated. Garnish with cheese and serve.

The bread is a new recipe from the latest issue of Country Living. It's called Mini Country Loaves. I love this one because of the oats that incorporated. It gives it a hearty texture that goes nicely with this soup.

Wreath Kit Winner

Karla was randomly chosen (using random.org) as the winner of the wreath kit! Yay, Karla!

Remember to enter the giveaway for the elf heads. I will end that give away this weekend!

Elf Heads, Elf Heads, Roly Poly Elf Heads (and another giveaway!!!)

Inspired by the awesomely talented artist and writer, Theresa Smythe, I decided to make up these little elf head pencil toppers for Santa to stuff into stockings. Another simple craft, you only need a fabric scrap for the hat, tinsel-like pipe cleaners, the nobby pipe cleaners in white, craft paint, wooden balls (mine were pre-drilled,) pencils, and hot glue.

The Give Away!!!

Comment on this post for a chance to win a kit to make your own elf pencil toppers. Everything except the hot glue and craft paint will be included to make 2 pencils.

Don't forget to enter this give away too and watch for our upcoming downloadable freebies!

Holiday Crafting: Tulle Wreath & Giveaway!!!

Christmas is less than a month away, time to get crafting for the Holidays!

I saw one of these out on the web done in black tulle for Halloween. But by the time I got around to it, would you believe it? Black tulle was SOLD OUT at my local fabric stores... loads of halloween crafting going on in my town I suppose.

Instead I bought a yard of white tulle and set out to make a beautiful vintage inspired piece.

I used:

1 yard of tulle cut in half over and over again until you end up with 32 rectangles (First I cut up the original fold, folded in half lengthwise and cut again, width wise and cut, lengthwise, cut and width wise again and cut. The pieces are about 8 inches long by 6?
1 bangle bracelet, something small and not too colorful
1 yard of ribbon for hanging
embellishments, I used a vintage clip on earring and some Christmas picks

I can't explain how to do this step, but can you see how it's done? It's a matter of folding the strips in half one at a time, wrapping over the bangle and pulling the loose ends through the loop. Use up all the pieces.

The Giveaway!!!

Comment here for a chance to win a kit to make your own tulle wreath! The kit includes cut tulle, bangle, ribbon, sparkly leaves, and one pretty button (all out of vintage earrings sorry) Comment by Nov 17th!

Rules and Regulations

Rules and guidelines are what help to keep a family happy and your household in order. What better way to remind your family of these things than to have a pretty reminder staring them in the face daily? We were inspired by the example posted here to make some of our own.

Jessica's is huge, made on a 27x22 sized canvas. She used Amy Butler paper and tore it into 2" strips, Modge Podged them on, used a Cricut cutter to cut out all the words and modge podged them on. Finally she covered the whole thing in a super amazing triple coat high gloss varnish, because everything looks better when it's shiny!

Monique used a smaller 12x24 inch canvas. Using paper all from the same collection, she cut hers instead of tearing. After gluing them down, she hand lettered each rule using a paint pen. Lastly she Modge Podged the whole thing.

French Onion Soup

I threw this together last night.It was very good. A little sweet. Very comforting.

some key secret ingredients: apple cider and potatoes (my kids love potatoes.) I served it over seasoned crutons and sprinkled with fresh grated parmesan and shredded swiss. mmmm

Stock up

If you have a Trader Joes near you stock up on some of their great mixes and gourmet frozen meals for the upcoming busy days. If you have friends and loved ones who live in an unfortunate Trader Joe-less area, grab some for their Christmas presents this year!

Ahhh November, Thank Goodness You're Here

Jess and I are ready to get back to this blog! After a couple months of the new school years, sick kiddos, and crazy lives we miss our little blog. This month you can look forward to recipes, craft ideas and patterns, and entertaining for the holidays.

I volunteered to host Thanksgiving this year at my house. I am so excited but knew I didnt have enough dishes for the 24+ people that will be here. I had been watching my favorite thrift store and thought I might collect different pieces of stoneware plates to mix and match. One afternoon I snuck away to find some Halloween costume bits, and saw a huge stack of Corelle stashed behind the other plates. At the register the cashier insisted she had the right price 4 for $1.49. I did argue that they were 4 for 2.99 but she showed me the price list. The lady behind me advised "Just take it honey, it's a deal."

So this year my guests will find all these beautiful vintage Corelle plates to eat from... I am thinking chocolate brown table cloth... but am still looking for centerpiece ideas... Any suggestions?