Before & After Home Tour (Part 4)

  It's been awhile since I've blogged about our house, so today I'm adding the newest addition to the Home Tour Series. Our master bedroom. I was a little tentative about posting this with the room the way it is. But let's be real... life isn't always perfect & neither are our houses. This is how the room looks right now. But there are still some changes to take place.

  When we bought the house, the master bedroom was done in a faux stainless steel look complete with a silver painted shade, upholstery tacks in the walls, & old shag carpet.

We painted, pulled out the carpet, put down laminate, put up new window coverings & things are looking much more welcoming.

Here's the part I wasn't crazy about revealing: The dresser in our room leaves something to be desired. Another word to describe it is B-O-R-I-N-G. I've got plans for it. It's on my to-do list. I promise once it gets finished, I'll post pics. Here's an idea for it:

Source

I love the stripes.

What's on your project list this week? Leave me a comment to tell me. I'm all about reader interaction. :)

Enjoy your day!

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Christmas Gift Tags

  Well, after a yummy week of cookie goodness, I'm taking a break from baking this week & am putting my creative focus on my paper crafts. I've been asked to do a booth at my church's fall festival at the end of this month, so I'm working like a crazy woman to get greeting cards, gift card holders, boxes, & gift tags made to sell at my booth. A friend of mine who is also a card maker is going to join me & sell her goodies as well. I'm excited & nervous at the same time.  I'm excited to have a venue to show / sell to people I know, but I also hope people like what I have to offer. In any case, it will be a fun time with yummy food & good friends.

  I'm also excited to see what my fellow crafters have whipped up. I'll be sure to take pics & post them.

  This past week, we had my mom-in-love, Ethel & my sister-in-love, Jodi staying with us. While they were here, they helped me create the gift tags I will be selling at the fall festival. We fired up my Cricut & started cutting! Ornaments, mittens, snowflakes, & stockings were all fashioned into cute little tags.

  So, without further ado, here's what I've been working on:

  What do you think? Can you see yourself adding these cute little tags to your Christmas gifts this year? Which are your favourites?


  MAYBE I'll make up some more & do a give away!! What do you think?

Enjoy Your Day!

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Cookie Week Finale / Peanut Butter Nummies

Cookie Week - Day 5

  Cookie week has been so great! I wish I could have had you all to my house for a cookie tasting party. 

  On a side note, I have been baking & photographing all these cookies for about a month. I've also been brushing up on my photography skills in the last month. If you look back over this week's posts, you'll probably be able to tell which photos were taken at the beginning of the cookie photo journey & which were taken towards the end. I'm happy to see improvement in my photography in the past month.

  I'm saving my absolute favourite cookie for last. My Peanut Butter Nummies are amazing, if I do say so myself. This is such a moist, chewy peanut butter cookie. No dry, crumbly business here.

Peanut Butter Nummies
makes 2 dozen

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
--
1-3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
--
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375º F.

Cream first 6 ingredients until smooth. Combine dry ingredients & add to peanut butter mixture. Blend. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

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Well, that wraps up my first cookie week! Perhaps I'll make it an annual affair?? What do you think? I'm definitely considering doing a Cookie Week: Christmas Edition come December. Then I can get out my fancier recipes. I'd better get baking so I'm ready in time! Thanks so much for joining me. I love my bloggy friends.

Enjoy your day!

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Cookie Week / Ginger Softies

Cookie Week - Day 4

  Ginger is one of my favourite flavours. Especially in tea & sweets. Do you agree? Good. We'll get along splendidly. 

  Enter: Ginger Softies. Lovely, subtle ginger taste. Soft, chewy cookie goodness. What's not to love?

Ginger Softies

makes 5 dozen small cookies

Before you start making these, just know that you have to refrigerate the dough for a few hours or overnight.

2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine

--

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

2 tsp. baking soda

2 Tbsp. vinegar

--

3-1/2 cup flour

2 tsp. ginger

Cream sugar & butter; then add eggs, molasses, baking soda, & vinegar. Add dry ingredients. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Roll into balls. Dip in sugar. Bake at 350º for 10 minutes. 

~~~~~

Do tell! What's been your favourite cookie of the week so far??

I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for the grand finale... Peanut Butter Nummies! Until then...

Enjoy your day!

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Cookie Week / Double Chocolate Cookies

Cookie Week - Day 3

  I'm loving cookie week! Thanks so much for joining me. 

  These cookies are really versatile. You can mix your chip flavours to vary the flavour of these cookies. Think: Chocolate chips, mint chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, etc. 

Double Chocolate Cookies

makes 2-1/2 dozen

2-1/4 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

--

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

2/3 packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

--

2 eggs

--

1-2/3 cups chocolate chips (or try a mixture of peanut butter chips & chocolate chips or mint chips & chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Combine dry ingredients. Set aside. 

In separate bowl, beat butter, sugars, & vanilla until creamy. 

Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. 

~~~~~

Come back tomorrow for Ginger Softies. I scream! You scream! We all scream for cook-ies! Um, ya. I never claimed to be a poet.

Enjoy your day, fellow bakers!

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