Happy Halloween Everyone!

I thought it would be fun to look back at some past Halloween costumes today.

This is my oldest son as William Wallace (Braveheart), one of his favorite characters.



A princess and a ninja.....

A couple of go-go girls

the adorable Woody...

Peter Pan....ahhhhh..

Tinkerbell...

Buzz Lightyear...

Snow White...

Jasmine

and last year....

and the cutest of the seven dwarfs....Dopey. My mother-in-law made this costume! Isn't it great?


Hope you are having a great day. We are off to a Halloween party tonight. Should be fun!

Paris Love

When I made my AUTUMN banner a few weeks ago, my daughter asked me if I would make one for her room that read "PARIS".


This is what I came up with. I made the same letter banners out of the off-white burlap. Then I took some cardboard and decoupaged some vintage dictionary pages to it. I aged the pages with a stamp pad a bit also. The I did the letters in an off-white acrylic. After that was dry I added the blue that matches her room perfectly.

Then I just felt it needed to be framed in glitter. What girl doesn't want a little glitter in her life? I accented with some more of my old buttons and also added a couple Paris images to the each end that were mounted on large scrabble pieces.

I think it turned out pretty cute. We hung it over her Eiffel Tower photograph in black and white. Seems to be that little "sumthin, sumthin" that wall needed.

Monday Morning Reflection

This is what the sky looked like facing the west Thursday night at our house.

I was anticipating the arrival of my son Logan later that evening. To me, these clouds were arrows pointing from South to North and telling me that my son would be here with me soon. Aren't they just incredible?

We had a wonderful long weekend together. My oldest son is becoming a young man that I am so proud of . He played video games with his little sister and brother, gave our puppy so much love and just "set a spell" with us this weekend. I truly believe some of the bet times spent with the people we love are just "doing nothing"--watching football, cooking a meal together, and "chillin" , as Logan would say.

My heart is filled with joy and love for this boy that I lovingly raised. He is a good man with a full life an I just know that happiness will always find him.

The arrows have pointed him safely home to San Jose, CA where he was reunited with his girlfriend and off to school this morning.

Now it's time to clean the house, listen to some good music and bask in the warmth I feel this morning.

I hope your week is starting off with a bit of joy and gratitude also.

New Coasters

My friend Diane is a very talented photographer.

She and her husband have spent the last four years travelling across the U.S. and Canada driving a big truck. She has captured some incredible images from the passenger seat.

The images used on these coasters I made are Diane's own original photos. I used a unique transfer process (not decoupage) to transfer these images onto t four inch travertine tiles. They are sealed for protection and feature a full cork-lined backing to protect any surface you place them on.

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These coasters are beautiful and would make a wonderful hostess or holiday gift.

I am listing them in my etsy shop today....click the "My Shop" button on the left to take a peek.

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon....I am : )

Witch Hat Centerpiece

Last Saturday we hosted my daughter's soccer team for the end of their season. I served a lunch buffet from my kitchne island. I wanted some kind of a centerpiece for the kitchen table and this is what I came up with.

Last year I got this hat to wear on Halloween (very inexpensive at WalMart). Turns out it made a perfect, quick and super easy centerpiece by adding a few baby white pumpkins and the fun tissue paper pumpkin lights.

Do you have a witch hat lying around somewhere? : )

Harvest Pizza...So Good!

My oldest son flies in tonight from San Francisco for a long weekend.

I am very excited to see him. We are just going to hang out and spend time together. AND, of course I will make some of his favorite meals. I have been making this pizza for four or five years now. It is basically a "Thanksgiving Dinner" on a pizza crust! It is very delicious.

Here's the recipe.

Harvest Pizza

For the dough:

1/4 cup water

2-1/2 tsp (1 package) dry active yeast

1-1/2 cups warm water

4 cups bread flour

1 TB kosher salt

2 TB olice oil

Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup water. Let sit for 10 minutes (it will appear bubbly). In a large bowl (or your stand mixer bowl fitted with the dough hook), combine all ingredients. Mix well for about 15 minutes. The dough will be on the wet side. Put into a large lightly oiled bowl and cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap. Let stand 2 -3 hours until dough doubles in size.

Punch out dough onto a floured surface. Knead for a few minutes and then cut into 6 equal pieces. Cover the six dough balls with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Roll out the crusts to aprox 12" rounds (personal pizza size). on a floued r surface (a Silpat works great) Put the crusts onto parchment paper. I pre-bake the crusts for about 6 or 7 minutes in a 450 degree oven before placing the toppings.

For The Topping:

3 TB butter

1 medium onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1/4 cup shopped fresh sage

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup cream

4 - 5 ounces fontina cheese (you can substitute with mozzarela if you can't find it)

Approximately 1 cup shredded turkey -This is key - take a burkey leg and season with salf and pepper. Roast it in a low 275 degree oven for 3 hours. The meat will just fall off the bone once cooled. The dark meat of the leg make this pizza more flavorful. YES, three hours! : )

1 can whole cranberry sauce

Saute the onion, celery, and sge in the butter until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the chicken broth and reduce heat until slightly syrupy. Now add the cream and cook over low heat until the sauce is thickened. This is your pizza sauce.

Spread the sauce over the jpre-baked pizza crusts. Sprinkle the cheese on the crusts, then the turkey and then spoon on the whole cranberries. You can add a little more cheese on top of it all and then bake in a 450 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes (cheese is nicely melted).

This will give you six nice size personal pizza. Serve with a fresh salad and dinner is ready!

Let me know if you try it and what you think.

The IrresistablePaperwhite

If you have never grown these beautiful flowers, do yourself a favor and try them!

Last year I experienced my first Northwest winter, complete with plenty of snow and a series of very grey days.

I filled containers with these bulbs and enjoyed the sight and scent of them well into March. You can literally plant them in anything! You don't even need dirt, just some type of rock will work

II love this sight and this is where I purchased my bulbs. Go to Easy To Grow Bulbs and you'll find several varieties with stage blooming times. Every single one of my bulbs bloomed last year--NO DUDS!

They even have an great little "how-to"video at this link. You just can't go wrong!

If you enjoy a neutral and natural holiday decor with lots of whites and reams, these are just so perfect for you! If you love the tradition reds and greens,these provide a perfect balance to all the color.

You won'te be disappointed ...

Have a wonderful evening!

My Autumn Porch

I finished my porch today. You know how it goes...I woke up full of energy today. I started cutting branches from the trees and decided I needed an "arch" over my front door.

I cut branches and laid them out on the lawn. Once I had them the way I wanted, I wired them together. I carried them over to the front door and hung my arch.

I stood back and admired the natural creation I had put together. I continued making the porch complete with natural elements.

The wreath is made from little dried corn husks from our garden and chestnuts my son found on the ground under a huge chestnut tree.

While out shopping with my friend Diane, she found this wonderful old garden wagon for me. As we walked into the antique shop, I said to her "I'm looking for an old wagon for my porth, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on it".

WELL....a few minutes later she spied this wonderful old wagon. I just LOVE it! It will be part of my porch for EVERY season. Diane brings me good luck, what can I say?

I printed the crows out on my computer and decopouged them to cardboard and cut them out.

How easy is that?

Thanks for letting me share my first autumn porch in the new house with you....

Although I love Halloween, I try to do my fall decor in a way that it can last unit the Christmas decorations come out...I think this will work!

A Few More Fun Things...

Here's an old child's chair I found at the antique fair also.

Turns out it's perfect for holding these two pumpkins that boast our street numbers now.

and these flower cans went from holding spring/summer flowers to the ned of our little corns stalks.

We didn't get a lot of corn this first year, but I sure have plenty of dry stalks to use for decorating!