Friday, February 19, 2010

'Surround yourself with beauty'

We've been in some of the homes of our neighbors lately and it's always fun to see how other people decorate. But mostly, it makes me want to do a little more in my own home! I can always find ways to improve and add beauty, can't you?

I want to share this beautiful bracelet and earrings that Diann from Diann's Art Spot sent me this week. We participated in the One World One Heart event that Lisa hosted at her blog A Whimsical Bohemian and I won her giveaway!

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She wrapped it in beautiful paper with a little hand made heart on top.

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Isn't it lovely....and perfect for me!

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Thank you so much Diann! I will treasure it!

And to make my home more beautiful, I made a little flower arrangement for my dresser.

I bought my vase, bird and roses at Michael's...all on sale!

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I had lots of pretty things on top

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but I felt like it needed some color!

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RED! (more than this little bit!)

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What do you think? Is it too small for 'center stage'? I could put it on my nightstand and make another larger arrangement!

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Enjoy your day and the beautiful things in your life! ♥

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

"Wednesday Wee Ones" Dolls and books

I love my beautiful dolls! These are both Lee Middleton dolls and they have a surprise!

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They have precious 'paper' dolls to show you.

They were part of my birthday gift this year from my friend, Pat! She knows exactly what I LOVE! She makes them out of lightweight wood. Thank you sweet friend! ♥

Aren't they wonderful ?

Molly has the new ones....

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her favorite...a kitten!

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And this little girl is holding the beautiful Betsy McCall doll

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and all of her cute clothes.

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We went to one of my favorite shops yesterday and I found 2 children's books to add to my collection.

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This one is a school book from 1954

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and has such sweet stories and illustrations...

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and this is the Five Little Peppers book.

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These are older books and the stories are a little before my time...really ancient! heehee!

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I was fortunate to find 2 Dream Pets at the thrift store last week.

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I would still LOVE to find a reindeer to go with my pixies but

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I am very happy to have these little guys...from the '50s...Made in Japan.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Do something FUN and always take time to PLAY! ♥

Anyone joining me in Wednesday Wee Ones this week, let me know! island

YAY! Here are some more fun Wednesday Wee Ones! ♥

Becky at Writing on Rose Petals

Monday, February 15, 2010

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone that participated in the One World, One Heart event this year! Special HUGS to Lisa for all she does to make the worldwide event successful. I have made many blogger friends over the past year and this year over 1000 bloggers took part! Visit Lisa  A Whimsical Bohemian !

And now....drum roll please.....

my OWOH winner is.....

Hege-Annie's Paper Heart

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you! I need your address to get this in the mail tomorrow!

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And now for a recipe 'winner'! I made a chocolate pie from scratch and added a few secret ingredients to put it over the top! It was so fabulous....you'll have to make it to believe how good it was!

Here's the recipe I started with! I googled chocolate pie and found it on this blog...Homesick Texan !

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Grandma's Chocolate Pie

Filling ingredients:
4 tablespoons of cocoa or 1 1/2 squares baking chocolate 
3/4 cups of sugar
5 tablespoons of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
3 egg yolks, beaten slightly
1 tablespoon of butter

Meringue ingredients:
3 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

Mix your sugar, flour, salt, cocoa, eggs and milk (all except vanilla and butter).
Cook while stirring on medium until it bubbles and thickens, about five to 10 minutes. If it becomes lumpy, just beat out the lumps.
Remove from heat and stir in your vanilla and butter.
Meanwhile, poke holes in your pie crust with a fork and bake it at 350 until it’s brown, about 20 minutes.
Beat your egg whites with salt and when they start to get fluffy add the sugar.
Pour the chocolate custard into the baked pie shell and top with the beaten egg whites.
Add 2 T of sugar for every egg white. Bake it until it the peaks on the meringue are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Grandma, “It’s real good hot, wonderful cold and you can even eat it frozen then it’s like a popsicle!”

Crust:
Ingredients:
For the crust (makes enough for two):
2 cups of flour
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1/2 cup oil (she used to use corn, but I believe she uses canola now)
1/4 cup milk (I used water)

Now for the changes I made. I used 3 eggs instead of the 2 in the original recipe. I used cocoa but after the chocolate pudding had thickened, I added a square of Ghirardelli dark chocolate that I chopped in small pieces. In the crust I substituted Crisco shortening and in the meringue I added a little cream of tarter while I was whipping it in my Kitchen Aid mixer.  My milk was 2 % milk, so I added some half and half to make it richer. WHEW! I think that's all.

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Adding the dark chocolate really gave it a deep dark chocolate taste. This is really a great recipe. Making pudding from scratch is a little tricky! Thanks Homesick Texan!

And here are the pinwheels my hubby made with the other pie crust. Roll out dough, cut into strips, cover with butter, cinnamon and sugar, roll up tight and bake for 10 or 12 minutes until brown. He LOVES these!

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I love him and I love to BLOG! I meet so many wonderful people and learn something new every day!

Happy Monday! HUGS to you ALL!!! ♥♥♥

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Follow me to a land far away....

WELCOME! Today is the last day to enter!

I'll be closing comments at 10 PM tonight, Feb 14th and announce my winner tomorrow morning, Feb 15th.

(I'm bringing this post back to the top!)

I hope all of my followers and guests from the OWOH event will enter!

Travel with me on a ‘Magic carpet ride’ to a land of mystery!

logo2010

It’s TIME!

The One World, One Heart giveaway is in FULL swing!

I am so happy to be participating again this year and would love to have you enter my giveaway for this beautiful heart necklace and earrings. (I wish the photo showed how beautiful they are!)

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Follow me to Lisa’s blog for a list of everyone on the magic carpet ride this year! ENJOY !

‘A Whimsical Bohemian’

We just got back from a vacation on Jekyll Island so I’ll be posting photos of our trip all week! I hope you’ll visit again SOON!

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Just comment on this post to enter! Enjoy this special event and a special thank you and HUGS to Lisa! heart

HAVE FUN!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Interesting things and maybe a few answers...

The duck.....

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I saw the duck on Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island, GA and couldn't wait to take the camera from my hubby to snap this photo. Doesn't it look just like a little duck on the beach?

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Driftwood Beach was very unique with whole trees twisted and washed on the shore.

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And the sand dollars that were alive? They were very dark red on top and underneath they were swirls of dark red and dark blue. And yes, they do have little legs (minute spines) all around the edges to help them move through the sand. Read about them in Wikipedia HERE  !

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We saw them in the water and burrowed all the way under the sand.

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This one was making a happy face!

Here's the painting that Jan thought would look perfect above my shells. Isn't it amazing!

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It's by the artist Jennifer Markes. Thanks for sending the photo, Jan....could you put the real thing in the mail tomorrow? heeheehee!

Did you ever see art that was what you see in your head? If I was a real artist....this is what my art would be! Visit Shirley's Illustrations HERE   and tell me what you think! I feel like I am in my favorite children's book when I spend time on her blog!

Have a wonderful week! It's cool here! How's the weather at your house?

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Decorating with Shells

It's fun to work a few vacation mementos into your home and it gets a little easier when you live in Florida.

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I LOVE the ocean...I am drawn to the sea and finding seashells is one of my favorite things.

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We had this piece of furniture in our guest room in NC and decided to bring it to Florida to place in our small foyer.

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I am still hoping to find the perfect painting or mirror to place over it but

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I like to take my time and find something perfect and

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maybe even unexpected.

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It has a little display area in the top so I filled it with shells!

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These are some of the shells we found on Jekyll Island. Can you find the duck in the photo?

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I was telling my son over the phone that there were not many shells on the beach and

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he started saying that was too bad....

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but I quickly said, There were not many shells but

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the ones that were there were amazing!

This is the first big conch shell I have ever found!

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And we saw at least a HUNDRED LIVE sand dollars on the beach!

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You should NOT pick those up and disturb them! But I found a few 'dead' ones! lol

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Enjoy your day!

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This is just a part of one but look at the detail!

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Decorate your home with things that you love! ♥