I've Just Received an Award!

Wow, I must say I didn't see that coming; I'm SOooo surprised and flattered!

Thank you Karen, for the compliment of being awarded the "Stylish Blogger Award". Visit Karen, the "Idea Girl" at Karen's Ideas Galore when you click here-- http://rko-ideas-galore.blogspot.com/ .

This is going to be a bit of a challenge.....I must share 7 things about myself? I was sure I'd already bored you all enough with my lengthy About Me profile.

1. Well..... I do have a tendency to procrastinate, so this may take a few days,.... HaHa.

2. I love fresh cut flowers and dream of having a beautiful blooming garden,......but, eventhough working in the garden is very enjoyable and thereapeutic...........

3. I've never really been a sunworshiper. When the heat and humidity of the mid-west soar and things get sticky and sweaty, I head for the AC.

4. I just can't imagine Christmas without a little snow, but there again, I'm just not into extreme temperatures and you won't find me out on the slopes or cruising along in a snowmobile. Building a snowman with my kids when they were young is more like it, then quickly back inside for some hot chocolate! Check out this Snow Horse we made one year.........

5. And water sports/boating.......now that really freaks me out!!! I never learned to swim and, although my mother has no recollection of it, I'm certain I almost drowned in the bathtub once when I was a child; maybe that explains my water phobia.

6. Since I've begun blogging it's not often that I'm without my camera, a gift from my family on my last birthday; my kids tell me I'm obsessed with taking photos.

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7. My husband and I both enjoy cooking. We're always trying to analyze foods we enjoy eating at restaurants and then experiment to see if we can make them at home. Practice makes perfect as they say. The Olive Garden's Chicken Vino Bianco was a family favorite. When the menu item was discontinued, my husband was able to master it and now we enjoy it at home whenever the mood strikes. My husband's favorite dessert at Olive Garden was the Lemon Creme Cake. This was our biggest challenge but after several attempts that were "good", but just not "It", I can now confidently say that I Have Perfected It! And in fact, my daughter visited Olive Garden one evening and called home to see if she should get a cake "to go" to bring home with her. Remembering the lone piece in the freezer at the time, I told her to get just 1 piece and we'd have a blind taste test. The votes revealed either no real difference or they liked mine slightly better! Yay!!

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So there you have it........a bit more trivia in the life of BettyJean.

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Now it's my pleasure to have chosen those listed below as the next recipients of the prestigous Stylish Blogger Award. Some are very new to blogging and some have been around a little while but are still relatively unknown as I have chosen to award those with fewer than 200 followers. Won't you please click to visit as many as possible and leave an encouraging comment before continuing on to the next blog.

AND THE.................

GOES TO...............

1. Hayley, a blogger located in the UK at Hayley Makes It. Check out her fab shoe designs http://hayleymakesit.blogspot.com/2011/02/small-selection-of-my-shoe-designs.html

2. Robin at Once Upon a Pink Moon http://onceuponapinkmoon.blogspot.com/ .

3. Vee at Thistle Creek Cottage http://thistlecreekcottage.blogspot.com/ at her lovely quilting/sewing related blog.

4. Cleo at Designs by Cleo http://designsbycleo.blogspot.com/ . See her sweet Easter Nut Cups.

5. Cierra at Cierras Tattered Elegance http://cierrastatteredelegance.blogspot.com/ shows us her shabby style.

6. Queenie's Vintage Finds and Treasures http://queeniesvintagefindsandtreasures.blogspot.com/

7. Patty at A Few Pennies http://pattyh09.blogspot.com/

8. Lynn at Antiques for Today's Lifestyle http://antiquesfortodayslifestyle.blogspot.com/ . See how she decorates with her vintage finds.

9. Suzan at A Mare of a Different Color http://amareofadifferentcolor.blogspot.com/ You won't want to miss her lovely glass charm necklaces!

10.Loree at Country Lane Cottage http://countrylanecottage.blogspot.com/

11. Connie at Cabin Fever Primitives http://cabinfeverprimitives.blogspot.com/

12. Pam at White Ironstone Cottage http://www.whiteironstonecottage.blogspot.com/ . Pam has a love of white ironstone. Join her in her travels to find more pieces for her collection or to sell in her soon to open store.

13. Sunny Simple Life--Take a tour of her 50s style kitchen with pretty red accents! http://sunnysimplelife.blogspot.com/2011/02/tour-of-my-fifties-kitchen.html

14. A Shabby Moment in Time http://ashabbymomentintime.blogspot.com/ . Mmmm I love shabby eye candy.

15. Shelly at Romantic Mossy Rose http://romanticmossyrose.blogspot.com/ . Shelly is a new blogger so won't you please stop by and welcome her to blogland!

Congratulations to you all and keep up the good work!

Rules for accepting the award are as follows:

1. Thank and link back to the person (or people) who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

Quick Valentine Gift and a Recipe

After reading an article in a newspaper insert, I photographed my wedding ring along with a verse from a card I gave to my husband on our last wedding anniversary...(our 26th).

See how the ring is positioned to stand in the fold of the card? You could also use a book with a favorite quote or poem.

I then positioned a flashlight behind, so that a shadow is cast in the shape of a Heart.

Photo can either be framed to hang, or set on the office desk. E-mail if you don't have time to frame, or if your Valentine is away.

To read the original article with directions click on Life&Style at http://www.usaweekend.com/.

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Wishing you and your Special Someone a great Valentine's Day!

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If you'd like to bake up some yummy valentine cookies like these,

 the recipe is as follows:

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Favorite Cut-Out Cookies--

Cream:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Add:
1 egg
1 teaspoon good mild vanilla

Stir In:
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Stir together or fold with stiff rubber scraper just until dough comes together, okay if sticky. Cover with plastic wrap or place in zipper bag.

Chill for at least 1 hour, or as long as overnight.

Dough will be stiff when cold, may wish to set out 10 minutes before rolling for better handling.

Knead with floured hands 'til dough is smooth.

Roll out, on very lightly floured surface, to 1/4" thickness and cut into shapes.

Excessive flour will make dough dry and crumbly making it difficult to roll.

Bake @ approx. 375 degrees on ungreased baking sheet 'til edges begin to turn slightly golden brown (depending on oven, approx. 8 minutes).

Immediately remove to cooling rack.

(For Chocolate Cookies... I don't have an exact measure, but I just substituted some Baker's unsweetened cocoa powder for some of the flour, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup cocoa and the rest flour to equal the 2 3/4 listed in the recipe above. )

Vanilla Cookie Frosting--

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 bag (32 oz.) confectioners sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon McCormick's Clear Imitation Vanilla

Beat with wooden spoon, wire whisk or electric hand mixer. Adjust by adding a dribble of milk or a couple tablespoons of confectioners sugar until you reach a good spreading consistency (like the texture of soft serve ice cream). Divide and add a drop or two of food coloring. Decorate with colored sugars, sprinkles, etc. Tastes even better the next day after flavors have developed, cookie is a little less crunchy as has softened slightly from frosting.

Enjoy!

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Get more great Valentine ideas at Lauries Valentine Party http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/

Living in a Winter Wonderland with 18" of Snow

We ended up with 18" of snow on the ground from a snowstorm that started Tuesday afternoon and lasted all night.

We are living in a winter "wonder"land with alot of people "wonder"ing...... "Wonder" how I'm going to dig out my car?..... "Wonder" what the road conditions are for driving?..... "Wonder" if I will be able to get home from work?

This was the scene from my front door Wednesday morning.

The snowblower was buried coming up the front walk.







A heavier duty snowblower was needed for the driveway.




I think I'll just stay put for awhile and visit my blogland friends!
Hope things are cozy in your neighborhood.

January is National Hot Tea Month and You Could Win....

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TEA FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR

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from Bigelow

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see details here..... http://www.bigelowteablog.com/2011/01/03/national-hot-tea-month-bigelow-tea-invites-enter-sweepstakesand-win-tea-entire-year/

Happy New Year !!!

Click to Enlarge

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Some recent foggy nights here have resulted in a thick covering of ice crystals over everything in the early morning hours; just until the sun warms things up enough to melt it all away. This is known as hoar (sometimes spelled whore) frost.

It is just so beautiful. I was driving through the country to my parents house a few days ago and wanted to stop at every turn to take pics but managed just to get these through the window while driving.

Click to Enlarge

Handmade Christmas Ornaments

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My daughter and I were admiring the Christmas displays in a department store last week when we saw this paper and tinsel bird ornament. This was our inspiration piece for some items we will donate to the Christmas Room at our Annual Church Bazaar which is held every November. Of course we will be baking cookies and maybe make some candy as well. This year is the 70th year for our Church Bazaar!

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I thought sheet music would be perfect for our bird, so off to the resale shop.

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And this is what we came up with.

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We decided to glam it up a bit, So we bought sparkly lacey ribbons, glittered holly berries and vintage styled buttons to decorate more birds.

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If you will notice, our inspiration bird was a cardinal with the little crest on its head.

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We added tinsel "feathers" to our bird's head to make a partridge as in "a partridge in a pear tree". We loved the look so much we made all the rest into partridges.

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We also made a star.......




And then more birds.......
















If you're interested in making some of these, 
I'd love to know about it,
please leave me a comment below.  
I'd like to feature you in an upcoming post!!

I drew this bird freehand, but I've found an 
online pattern you could use as a template here.

When at the resale shop I also found a book of Christmas music.
 The text was green and the lettering old world style. 
I thought it was so beautiful, I had to frame it. 
So I cut out a little piece of "Away in a Manger" 
and put it in this little 3" square frame 
that I think will look adorable on a tree.
 I decoupaged the song title onto the top of the frame.
 I would love it if I could find a teeny tiny little nativity scene 
to glue right onto the glass in the bottom righthand corner.

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I think the music looks so lovely I will use some larger frames and frame larger portions or whole pages of other Christmas songs to set on a table.


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My daughter and I had so much fun making these we don't want to stop.

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I'm joining the fun at http://www.justagirlblog.com/

Oops! I Did It Again..........

I have a weakness for vintage china with all its pretty floral decoration.

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I recently spied this set of vintage china in a resale shop and just HAD to buy it. I have pieces from four different sets of vintage china that I keep adding to all the time, as well as a few coffee/dessert sets.

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This set is marked Taylor Smith Taylor. The pieces are gold rimmed, and decorated with a pretty blue band with gold scrolls encircling clusters of little pink & blue flowers and yellow centered daisies connecting wispy garlands of greenery.

This set is incomplete as well.
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There are many dinner plates and saucers, a small oval serving dish with underplate or platter.
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Four little cereal or sauce bowls.



And just ONE cup.....what a shame, I simply MUST go hunting for more pieces. LOL



Oh, and there is a lovely covered two-handle casserole dish that will look nice along side my tureen collection!




Hmmm...........I wonder if there was a teapot made in this pattern?