Pinned It and Ate It

We had some friends over for dinner last evening...kind of an impromptu thing. I thought I would try some new recipes for our meal.
This was kind of the last Hurrah! for Valentine's Day before I pack up the decorations.

I decided on the menu and two dishes came from Pinterest.

For the main course I made

Meatball Stroganoff

from Julie May of Menu Musings of a Modern American Mom.

(She writes very detailed recipes...with lots of photos, so helpful!)

Because I was busy finishing up the dinner prep, I failed to take a photo so I'm borrowing Julie's.

This recipe was quick, easy and delicious! When I wrote to Julie to ask if I could use her
photo of the dish, she told me that she is coming out with a cookbook in May or there-abouts.
 I will want to check that out. I need to spend time perusing her blog. I saw a recipe for Puff Pastry Breakfast Pizzas that looked real good....and easy. OK, on with the meal...

I used two bags of Trader Joe's Turkey Meatballs..
You throw them into some hot oil  in the pan, still frozen, and they worked out great!
 She advises using the amount of herbs listed, even if they seem like a lot, and she's right, they give a fabulous flavor. 

The link for the recipe is right HERE.

I served the meatballs and noodles with

Steamed fresh green beans with butter and lemon

Spring mix salad with cranberries and pecans served with

homemade ranch dressing and blue cheese crumbles

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuits...I cheated and used the mix,

they were awesome!

The table was set...

The decorations were up...sad isn't it..I was so late this year!

(current and past Valentines)

Valentines from Betty, Sandy, Elizabeth, Linda, Michele, Barb and Catherine.

My cute black truck filled with Vintage Valentines

The cutest Valentine mailbox from Pottery Barn Kids

The Lennon Sisters created by Elizabeth of Creative Breathing

My button heart from my niece, Wendi, of Enchanted Forest Crafts.

My heart from Mary Lou

My heart from Laurie

When dinner was finished, we were ready for dessert and coffee.

Dessert was

"The Best Apple Crisp"

from Melissa Klinker of

Mama Miss

Another winning pin!

Find the recipe HERE.

The crumble part starts with a yellow cake mix

and she had me at "thick crumb layer"!

I made it yesterday morning and served it last night,

with Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream. Yum!

I can tell you that it is even better the second day.

(I only had a little smidge for testing purposes...Ha!)

Two new recipes for my "Pinned It and Ate It" board.

Do you try recipes from Pinterest?

Thank you Julie May and Melissa Klinker 

for making me look pretty good last night :D

XOXO

Joyce

Christmas at Home.....the Wrap Up

I marvel at the home decor bloggers.

By the weekend after Thanksgiving, their homes are completely decorated for the holidays and they have everything photographed and written about to post through early December.

They wrap their packages in unique and beautiful ways and often have 5 or 10 different kinds of cookies baked. Please don't hear this as whining, I truly do marvel at their level of organization and skill. We were pretty on top of things here at 9010 this year. With both of us working on it, we had all of the decorations up before the kids came on December 13. I don't know what happened after that except to say that we had a good many social commitments which we really enjoyed and there were Christmas movies, football and hockey games and concerts to watch on television or see live.

I guess what I am saying is this...we really had fun this year during the holidays!

Our Christmas decorations will not come down until after January 7th this year (which will actually be early for us!) We are having friends for lunch on the 7th and they have a little guy, so I wanted to have everything still intact when they come.

Last year, after Christmas, as I was packing things away, I pared down my decorations. I gave some of my Santas and Snowmen to friends in the interest of downsizing. I think I will do it again this year t keeping only those things that I can't bear to part with.

I usually decorate in the dining room with silver and white and I didn't even unpack that bin this year. I chose to stick to kind of a red and white scheme for all of the rooms....except the entryway.

On a small chest, I always display my lighted glitter house that I bought a bunch of years ago from Pottery barn after Christmas. The roof tarnishes more each year which adds to it's charm, I think.

The little boy and girl and Santa are new this year. Bethany Lowe figures I found at Marshalls.

Above the chest is a P. Buckley Moss poster that I've had for 30 years or longer.

A winter buggy ride in Amish country in Pennsylvania

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Also standing guard in the entryway is a vintage child's chair on which sits

Fern Woodsbeary, a Boyds Bear from my collection.See all of her woodland friends peeking out from pockets and sleeves?

On into the family room, you can see that the tree is decorated in a Swedish style...

Straw horses and stars, Santa and shiny apples, and of course the tomte. They are the Swedish elves who can be very mischievous. We don't have an elf on the shelf here but we do have one tomte who hides every day and you have to find him.

Charlie and Miles had a good time every morning hunting for the tomte! (You know I love Ikea!!)

The Santa collection was on the mantel and in the bookcases. No matter what I do, the lighting is never right for picture taking so bear with me here.

The Russian Santas

The Swedish display with Dalla horse and St. Lucia figure

The rest are either handmade or hand-painted or older ones in my collection

The checkerboard Santa is a gourd..

And of course, I am that crazy person who turns all of the books around to show only white pages (except for the Christmas books) during the holidays.

I wrote about why I do this in a post last year. you can see the before and after pictures HERE

There are really a lot fewer Santas and snowmen this year1

Of course, the most important part of our Christmas decor is the manger

with my dear, old Hummel figures...some glued together...all of them cherished.

The baby Jesus asleep in the hay of a barn made by my Father over 34 years ago.

.

This year, I found this wonderful "chalkboard look" plaque at Marshalls and it worked perfectly, hung above the display.

A gift from my sweet friend, Mary Ellen...a Patience Brewster angel.

You have seen all of our decorated rooms. I hope you have enjoyed the tour!

All is calm....

xoxo

Joyce

Spoolie Swap Finale and Around Here!

(super cute owl made for me by my dear Goddaughter, Wendi, of Enchanted Forest Crafts.  click on the shop name to go there)

I haven't had much time to post or visit these days. I'm getting ready for a big Craft Fair on November 1 and 2 and like all crafters....I'm working my fingers to the bone in a frenzy! I've completed a slew of Fall/Thanksgiving themed items and now it's on to Christmas! I like to add some new things every year so that folks don't get bored but the planning of new things is a trial and error process for me. I will be showing you some of what I've made in future posts.

For today, I want to share with you the wonderful gifts sent to me by Erica, of Golden Egg Vintage. She was my sweet partner in Deb and Sandy's Fall Spoolie Swap!

First, let me say that the spoolie is amazing!! Erica made it herself from paper clay...don't know how she did it but the detail is great...pictures do not do this piece justice!

I tried to capture the details in this piece for you to see. It's really nifty!

Erica also sent some Halloween scrapbook papers, Washi tape, chocolate and shortbread cookies (long gone!) and the most wonderful vintage Christmas scrap!!!

Love the Santas!! Erica, thank you for being a superb swap partner! Your talent is awesome and I am so lucky to have a piece of your art for my own! xoxo

You know how I agonize over my mantel decorating. It didn't used to be a problem for me (I think I was really bad at it but didn't know any better) but since the dawn of Pinterest, I suddenly want to be a Better Homes and Gardens quality stager...it's never going to happen! Last month I decided that I wanted to do the majority of my Fall decorating focusing on white pumpkins. I am smitten with the many and varied shades of white and cream. I threw some things on the mantel....way too spread out!

Following the trend-setters, I started to move everything inward. What a difference!

I will let the other pictures speak for themselves...

and the dining room...

(Wendi also made the felt leaves hanging on my twigs (the best $7.99 I ever spent at Whole Foods in the Spring) but she doesn't have any of these in her Etsy shop right now.)

(I had a gift card from Pottery Barn and I used it for the white pumpkins in this bowl...they are very realistic. Not available in the store, only online. The orange pumpkin was made by me last year from a spool of crochet cotton and a branch piece)

Do you remember my two-sided pumpkin I decorated several years ago? I was asked, by Deb Damboise, to be a guest designer for her company Say It With Letters. They cut really great shapes from MDF board to decorate as your heart desires. Her shop can be found here...and right now they are offering free shipping over $35 until December 31!! You can see my tutorial for the pumpkin here.

OK...I've gotten kind of caught up for now...

I'll be back soon with some Craft show Peeks!

xoxo

Joyce