Did We Skip Spring?

     I am sitting here fighting the urge to turn on the air-conditioner, it is too warm in my house...but, it is still technically winter! I love it! As we move from the high 70's into the 80's tomorrow, my husband plans to mow the grass tonight and I want to pull the patio furniture out of storage. Won't it be shocking if we get another big snow or ice storm.

     One thing the nice weather has done is to kick me into cleaning and organizing. What started as a simple jewelry box project, turned into cleaning out all of my jewelry, my dresser and my closet. It ended with a trip to Goodwill, it also took 4 days! Yesterday I moved to the kitchen and I think I'll just keep it up while I'm in the mood. I know this energy level won't last long, so I have to make the most of it. I will say that I've discovered Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day products and they make my house smell so good that I almost don't mind cleaning!

     We made a trip on Saturday to Arthur, IL in the heart of Amish country. We love to go to a little store there that carries Amish made food items of all kinds. They have the best supply of sanding sugar and decorations for very reasonable prices. When I got home, I decided they were just too pretty to put away. So, a quick trip to Dollar Tree for these cute little jars and I have a springy vignette on the kitchen counter.

     The "cupcake" was actually a placecard holder from one of the little shops. I pulled out the wire holder and I perched it on a small silver compote.

     I also wanted to share the vignette on the library table. I started with this beautiful print that was a gift from a wonderful blog friend, Kat @ Low Tide High Style. The lighting doesn't do it justice. If you haven't seen her artwork, make sure you visit her. She is a wonderful photographer. I have always loved this piece of hers and the soft seafoam color is perfect at my house. I had an orb the same color and it now sits under a cloche.

The coffee table has bits of spring and Easter.

 I think most things look better under glass, don't you?

The winner of my Vintage Giveaway was

Dorothy @ HENSRULE. 

Thank you to all who entered! 

I am joining Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for

her Spring Cloche Party which is part of

The Egg-xellant Spring Party

and

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style for

Wow Us Wednesdays

Please visit our hostesses!

Summer Cloche Party at Marty's!

It is that time again. Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life

 is hosting one of her famous cloche parties!

I love a good party and certainly didn't want to miss this one!

     My summer cloche collection is pretty simple right now. A tiny bird rests on some green glass "stones" in a vintage porridge bowl which I covered with a small glass dome.

Bird under glass.

A vintage paperweight to add a "pop" of color.

I gathered them as a trio on my favorite sterling tray.

Of course my jar of shells shows up often at the cloche parties.

 It seems to move from room to room around my home.

Welcome to Spring-Cloche Party

I'm joining Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for today's Cloche Party.

Please visit the other participants and be inspired!

Please Sign Up For My Giveaway!

Click Here!

Cloches, Cookies, Carols and a Code

     It is that time again...Marty is having a cloche party! Each time she has one, I seem to have added a cloche or two to my collection. I have been blogging 16 months and I didn't have any before I started blogging! The chippy one above has some "snow" and two tiny mercury glass trees along with a vintage ornament.

I love this tiny new one with its brush tree and church.

I haven't shown you my new favorite brush tree!

     I can finally show you the entire table. Don't look too closely or you will see I have a table runner thrown over the banister waiting to do a tablescape.

This isn't exactly a cloche...but it is glass and it holds things!

You saw my created cloches using my mom's silver on an earlier post.

The Santa ornament is very old and so fragile.

A jar full of ornaments sits on the table near the tree.

Finally, on my bedroom dresser...

a jar filled with some of my vintage ornaments.

You can see my son's picture in the mirror...

not sure he'd be thrilled about that!

     Now, for the cookie part of this post! I went to a cookie exchange this week and I knew that everyone else was bringing something made with chocolate, so I decided to do something simple and festive. This is a sugar cookie recipe that I've had for many years. It is different than most, it produces a slightly crisp cookie. What I love is that a batch makes 5 dozen cookies that look pretty without requiring rolling, cutting and frosting!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. cream of tarter

1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheets.

Cream together butter, oil, sugar and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and 2 eggs and mix well. Blend in flour, baking soda, cream of tarter and salt until well mixed dough is formed. Using a small ice cream type scoop (or a teaspoon) dip out dough and roll into balls. Roll into colored sugar (sanding sugar works best) place on greased cookie sheet and lightly press to slightly flatten. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cookies will be lightly brown on the bottom but still light colored on the top. Cool on racks. Makes 5 dozen.

I selected my sugar colors to match the cello bags I found at WalMart.

I also did a few in my favorite sugar blend.

     Now, for the carols! Every year I make a CD with my favorite songs of the season. I tend to like the ones that aren't traditional favorites. I couldn't find links to everything on my CD, but I thought I'd share the ones that I could find.

1. The Christmas Hope

2. Christmas Is

3. The Greatest Gift of All (Your Love)
4. It's Not Christmas Without You
5. The Christmas Blessing
6. Where Are You Christmas
7. Reason For The Season
8. The Gift
9. I Believe In Christmas
10. My Christmas Prayer
11. Christmas Offering
12. Ordinary Days
13. The Perfect Gift
14. Peace (Where the Heart Is)
15. Finally Christmas
16. Sometimes Christmas Makes Me Cry
17. Coming Home For Christmas
18. Instrument of Peace

Now the Code! April Cornell (aprilcornell.com) is offering my readers a discount code to use on their site. It is an Exclusive Tablescaper promotional code to use online. Please enter LINEN10OFF  at Checkout. They are currently offering a limited time promotion of 25% off current season product to which you can add your code for 10%. I didn't receive anything for sharing this information, but it is a good deal to pass along to all of you.

I am linking to the following parties in Blogland...please visit our hostesses!

Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for the Cloche Party

Michael @ Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday

 

Fall Cloche Party at Marty's!

     It is time for another cloche party with Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life. This is such a fun party. People come up with the most clever things to put under glass. When I started blogging a year ago, I didn't know what a cloche was. I certainly didn't own one. My first cloche party I used a covered cake plate as my cloche. I still don't have a collection like Marty's, but I have added a few. Make sure you stop by to say hello!

I found this old looking pumpkin on our trip to Alton.

 I thought he would look cute in my old looking cloche.

My jar that usually holds seashells, is now holding

vintage Halloween decorations. They are little puppets.

You push on the bottom and they move around.

The wooden candy corn I've had for many years.

My coffee table has my small cloche that I

made from a silver compote and a small glass dome.

I used leaves and a deep green mum,

 some berries and a wooden acorn in this one.

This one doesn't photograph well at all.

Please stop to see Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life