Make Christmas Balls Stay in a Bell Jar...

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So I really like how this looks... all the balls piled up under the bell jar... but its hard to move around and keep all the balls inside... 

Then I got an idea... and with the help of some clear packing tape... and my scissors... 

...snip... snip... snip... just cut right along the edge of the outside of the bell jar...

Press down the tape so that its good and stuck down... then you can turn it over and the balls will stay in!..

We picked up a pile of Christmas balls this evening ... we didn't get to the Christmas tree lights tonight but I got all of my glass containers filled...  This hurricane container isn't totally full of balls though... it just looks like it is... the plastic cylindrical container that these mini Christmas balls came in is down inside!.. these little balls fit perfectly around the container... and there is a layer of balls on top!.. or another idea to save on using all of your tiny Christmas balls is to put a big Christmas ball down inside to take up the bulk of the space!..

I even filled my front room crown... and I left the nest that was in here underneath to take up the bulk of the space in the container!..

Ooo... and check out these two baskets that I found at Winners... on clearance!..

Love them!.. once we get the basement finished they're going to go down there with some nautical rope balls in them...

Finally all of my mantle glass containers are now filled with Christmas balls...

Onto the Christmas lights tomorrow evening!...

psssst... check out these link parties!..

The DIY Show Off Coastal Charm My Romantic Home Savvy Southern Style French Country Cottage The Shabby Chic Cottage The Shabby Nest

Let the Decorating Begin!..

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

So... Christmas parties equal a non productive next day!.. I did manage to get a bit of shopping and a little bit of cleaning done yesterday... and even a little bit of decorating... no where near what I would have liked to have gotten done... Oh!.. because we had to move the TV cabinet down to fit the tree into the living room we had to clean the cabinet out and we also cleaned up the tangle of cords that had gotten all snarled together!..  it'll all continue this evening... laundry... Christmas tree decorating... and I'll get a picture of my Christmas apron!.. I can't wait to show it off... its too cute!..

Here's a sneaky peak at my decor...  This year all of my glass containers will contain glass balls... and a few baskets too... the glass containers won't contain baskets... some baskets will contain glass balls!..

Here is one of the furbabies on the top piece of the Christmas tree... luckily while it was still in the box... lets hope this year they're not interested in climbing the tree... HA!..  and yes we have a fake tree... Furs and I both grew up with fake trees at Christmas...

Anywhoot... I'm looking forward to putting on a Christmas movie... maybe National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation... or perhaps some Christmas music and decorating the tree with Furs after supper tonight!.. 

Do you have any Christmas tree decorating traditions?..

Christmas Party Time...

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So I got my Christmas apron finished... pictures tomorrow... but for now we're headed to Chris's work Christmas party!.. check us out...

Happy Thanksgiving To My US Readers!..

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

I hope you all had a great Turkey Day!.. I love Thanksgiving... family... friends... and great food!.. what's not to love!?. 

I'm hoping to have another apron finished tonight to show you all... my Decmeber Christmas Apron... I think I need one for each month!..

In the mean time here is a recipe for you to add to your collection of Christmas baking recipes...

This recipe came from Fur's Mother... she makes them... and hundreds of other cookies every Christmas... these are Chris's favorite so now I make them every Christmas... They freeze really well... we eat them right out of the freezer sometimes... Mmm... they're YUM!  Anyway onto the recipe:

Ingredients

3 cups of flour

1 cup of corn starch

1 cup of icing sugar

3/4 lb real butter

Note: now back home in NL 3/4 lb is enough butter... but it is so dry in Calgary that I go ahead and throw in the whole pound of butter...

Directions

Mix together all of the dry ingredients

Add butter (after its been out of the fridge for a little while)

Cut butter into the dry mixture until it is nice and incorporated

Roll into balls

Place on ungreased cookie sheet

Press down with a fork to flatten

Add a cherry or whatever you want on top

Bake at 350 for 14-15 minutes

Just watch them as they near the 14 minute mark... don't let them get too golden

Note:  I don't press mine with a fork... I flatten them in my palms after I roll them in a ball...

Bake these now and toss them in the freezer until Christmas!.. I bet there won't be any left come Christmas time!..

Frilly Apron...

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So last night I cut out the fabric for the apron pattern that I picked up this past Fall... and I did a little sewing... I stopped sewing after putting on the edge binding because I had missed cutting out one of the pieces and it was getting late... so I cut out that missing piece when I got home from work today...  I've been working away all evening and here is the end result!..

Eeee!.. I love how it turned out... it was such an easy pattern and sewed up quickly!..  I'll have to do some baking this weekend to put it to use!..

Now to go put the heated blanket on the bed!.. it was -30 outside this morning!.. no joke!.. -30 degrees Celsius!..  Um... BRRR!.. 

Linking up to a few parties:

The Shabby Chic Cottage French Country Cottage The Shabby Nest

Mish Mashed Days...

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So this post is a mish mash of last Tuesday's VV finds... Last Night's Spruce Meadows Christmas Market and today's cooking!.. and a little progress shot of my Paper White bulbs...

I love going to Spruce Meadows Christmas Market once the sun has gone down... this is the road you drive down before turning into the parking lot!.. sooo Christmassy!..

Furs and I headed inside quickly... I was FROZEN!.. though I had a pile of layers on... could have used a scarf though!.. once we were inside the main building we strolled around... picked up four loaves of Onion Dill Bread from the bread lady... and then headed back to the corner to get a feed of Perogies!.. YUM!.. Then we headed to the other two buildings... We found a few treasures along the way...

Christmas decorations for the house!.. 

SPARKLES!.. This is my favorite find!..  and it was only $14.00... 

Here it is up on the mantle... haven't made the final decision where its going to end up once we break out all of the decorations... 

And these little metal stars... the backs pop out like the fronts but the backs are a rusty orange...  These are going to hang off of the stair rail indoors once the garland is up there...

Oooo... I almost forgot - on our way out of the Christmas Market we grabbed some greens and twigs and berry sticks...  then when we got home I started arranging... the first version of this was waaaay to wide... so I ripped it all apart... then Furs broke out the construction lights and lit up the front of the house and I got back to work and this was the end result... only got an iPhone snap of it so far...  

Now jumping back a couple days... here are some thrifty finds...

I'm staring to collect some white dish ware to make a couple Anthropologie inspired lamps...

This is kinda what I was thinking when I picked up these couple pieces... but the final look will depend on the few other pieces I find to add to this... gotta find a dainty white tea pot and a few more teacups...

Picked up this galvanized divided container... for something like 2 or 3 bucks...

When I saw this bottle's giant cork I just couldn't leave it behind!..

And giant jars for 29 cents... yeah... 29 cents!..  Ooo... see the silver platter behind those two jars?.. this summer I got a box of these silver platters for under 20 bucks!.. I haven't posted any shots of them yet!..

And then today... not much got accomplished... I got my hair done which took until lunchtime... then on the way home from that we stopped at the dealership where we got our SUV to talk to the guy about our options on trading it in early... by the time we got home it was 3!.. I started a bit of laundry... Furs started supper and then I started baking... only to find out that I was out of cornstarch... now what's a shortbread cookie without cornstarch?..  so a quick trip to the store and we were back at it!..

Here's a shot of the pork loin that Furs cooked for supper... YUM!.. it was excellent... we had it with potatoes and salad... 

While that cooked I got some baking done... I made shortbread cookies... and chocolate snowballs...

No pictures of the snowballs... they went right into the freezer... thats where these shortbreads are heading... I like getting some Christmas baking out of the way early to leave more time during the holidays to enjoy the holidays!.. These shortbreads freeze really well...

And finally a shot of my  Paper Whites... they've really taken root and have started to shoot up... I'm going to start watering them with some watered down liquor to stunt their height... apparently the flowers will still bloom as normal... the plants just won't be as tall as if they were just given water... just google it!..

Now for chippies and popcorn and movies with my honey on this cold cold night...

Link Party Time!..

Coastal Charm House of Grace French Country Cottage The Shabby Nest

What A Week...

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What a week!.. 'er two weeks... holy eff... the new job is keeping me busy!.. my days have just been flying by... and with all of the snow this past week we're not getting home from work until late leaving zero blog time... and now I start work earlier in the morning so no blog time in the am now...

This past Monday we did manage to get out to Hall's Auction for the first night of their semi annual auction... Oooo... there were some very nice things!.. but they were also oh so very expensive!..

I did some shooting from the hip and got a snap of this beauty... this wood filing cabinet was jut gorgeous!.. It went for just $2000.00... which is a lot of money... but not a lot of money at the same time... for such a beautiful piece of furniture!..

There were a few chandeliers around...

Even a few old vehicles...

Lots of beautiful furniture...

Quite a few taxidermy pieces...

Ooo... Ahh...

I did find a few treasures the next evening when a friend and I headed to VV to have a look around... for $20 I got quite a few treasures!..  Pictures to come of my finds tomorrow!..  Tonight Furs and I headed to Spruce Meadows Christmas Market... got four loaves of Onion Dill Bread... Mmm...  and a few other Christmas things... I'll post about those finds on Sunday!..

Plans for tomorrow?..  Getting my hair did in the morning... roots have way grown out... and bangs are muchos long!.. I've trimmed them twice but didn't do a very good job!..  I'm hoping that tomorrow afternoon I can sort out my sewing machine and get some sewing done... wanna get that Christmas apron done... before Christmas!.. haha!..  

Have a great night!..

Weekend Wrap Up...

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So I think I might have used all of my creative juice that I had for the weekend on Friday!.. I didn't do much else this weekend after Friday...  Yesterday I did do a little baking... my bread started out good... it rose nicely... after I shaped it, it looked great!.. then it rose again and doubled... I think I shoulda punched it down again... but I didn't and it baked pretty flat... shoulda used a bread pan!.. I know for next time...

It rose soo nicely...

It was really fun to punch it down!..

Here it is after I shaped it... but before it rose again... I didn't get any pictures after this point... it was just too ugly!..  Like I said next time I'll be using a loaf pan!..

I also got those Whoopies filled yesterday morning... and there are now only 3 left!.. hehehe... We didn't eat all of them... we shared with the neighbors!..

Last night I started to compile my Christmas music... gotta get my Christmas playlists together... thinking of having a Christmas party mid December... gotta get a few projects finished before I have a party though... the kitchen table chairs... and the wings on the second wingback chair... and both wingback seat cushions... Then I'm ready to have people in the house!..  We're planning on doing a good Christmas clean on the house too here in the next few weekends... before we take out all of the decorations!..

Today was a pretty mellow day too... the most we did was head out into the back yard and cover the plants with burlap... I think we're supposed to get snow this week... and then we did the regular weekend tidy in the house... and laundry...  Ooo... just made a super tasty lobster chowder for supper... it didn't last long enough to get a photo!..

Now for a mellow evening with Furs and the fur babies... I think we're going to head to an auction tomorrow evening with the neibs A&B!..  I expect that everything will be very expensive...  we'll just have to wait and see!..

Hope you had a great weekend!..

ps. check down below for a tute on how to make decorative dried apple slices!..   

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies...

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Just had to stop and post a shot of these delicious little treats!..  I just made the buttercream and assembled the Whoopie Pies... Mmmm...  they're YUM!..

Productive Friday!..

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

I had a super productive day today... Ooo.. And I just remembered that today was Friday!..   I had today off work and got a pile of work done at home... Furs worked today so when I woke up this morning I had a cuppa tea with my neib Amy... then after tidying the kitchen and vacuuming downstairs I got to work on finishing the kitchen table!.. 

Remember this kijiji find for $100!?.

Now the table looks like this!..  I stopped working on it mid afternoon... after I sprayed the base cream I gave it a few hours to dry well before distressing and waxing it...

The tables and stools are now both finished!.. and they look like they were meant to be together!.. The kitchen chairs are next on my project to do list!..

Mid afternoon my neib Amy and I walked her and B's doggies out to Sobey's and I picked up some baking supplies... Then we headed to Green Gate Garden Center to pick up some bulbs to force for the Christmas season...  I got 10 Narcissus Paper Whites... they were $1.49 a piece... and I had the perfect planter for them... and realized it after seeing this post at Life in the Fun Lane... the double lion head planter that I got from Pam's yardsale for $1 a few weeks back...

We also made a quick stop into ValueVils... and I found this silver holder that just happened to have the perfect sized glass bowl sitting in it... bowl and silver holder totaled $5!..  and turns out that 10 bulbs were too many for the lion head planter so 3 went into this...

I can't wait until these are blooming!..  Here are two above shots of the two planters filled with the Paper White bulbs...

I also snagged a wooden breakfast in bed tray for $4!...  score!.. plans for that are in the works!..

So... I planted the bulbs and headed back to the basement to sand and wax the kitchen table base... a few hours later I had it dragged upstairs and set up... the old kitchen table is currently sitting in the middle of the living room... gotta post that one on kijiji tomorrow!..  Then after some chatting with my neibs Amy and Brooke, and a quick shower, I baked some whoopies!.. from the book Whoopie Pies that I got on my birthday this past July... Buttercream icing to be made to complete these in the morning!.. 

Tomorrow I plan on working away at some baking... onion dill bread... and some sanding... those kitchen chairs... and maybe a little work on the second wing back chair that is almost complete... I have a pile of energy to get a pile of projects finished this weekend!.. 

What projects are you working on this weekend!?.


Linking up to:


The DIY Show Off Coastal Charm House of Grace Savvy Southern Style The Shabby Chic Cottage French Country Cottage My Romantic Home The Shabby Nest Mustard Seed Interiors