Christmas...

Merry Christmas to you and yours and may you have a blessed New Year!

North Carolina Vacation...Part 2

We continue this post with our trip to North Carolina. If you have never been to
The Arboretum of Hanover County you are missing a gem. This place is so gorgeous!

This is the Children's Garden.

I just adore this little house and fence.

This is the beautiful Rose Garden that is just loaded with different kinds of roses.

The building above houses the Gift Shop and restrooms. It was hot, hot, hot this day so we all
took advantage of the cool air inside.

Love the tables and chairs. Just perfect for a picnic.

They had bright painted objects throughout the garden. Usually I am not drawn to bright colors,
but they fit in just right here.

Entrance to the Rose Garden that our two granddaughters are walking through.

My hubby loved this dragon. I think he would have pulled it home if he could. lol
Notice the GREEN water. Seemed to be that way a lot of places. Not sure why.

Feeding the fish. These fish were HUGE and there were a lot of them!

Perfect walk for a Children's Garden.

I hope you enjoyed your tour though this amazing place. They also had a Japanese Garden, but
those photos didn't turn out too great. It was a very sunny and bright day. Just right for
wandering through unknown paths and enjoying all of God's beautiful creation!

Blessings~

Treats for Valentines Day

... and now abideth faith, hope and LOVE, but the greatest of these is

LOVE.

I Corinthians 13:13



Are you ready for Valentines Day?

I think I am.

This year I decided to make cupcakes for our neighbors.

I have never done this before {not for this many at once}  and I decided it was time to

spread the love!

There is so much heartache and brokenness in the world today that a little kindness

goes a long way.

 I have been making cupcakes for the last two days and enjoying every minute of it.

I packaged them up and delivered part of them last night and hubby delivered the rest today.

I always try to keep cupcake boxes on hand. The ones I purchase hold four cupcakes so it is a perfect
gift for two people. 

It is also nice to have these cupcake holders for a single person.

I don't have a specific "recipe" that I use. I just wing it.

SO...

Make your favorite chocolate cupcake and let them cool.

Then make your favorite butter-cream frosting and add in a couple tablespoons of
Smucker's Simply Fruit in seedless Red Raspberry flavor.

It makes it so yummy and  it also gives the frosting a pretty pink hue.

Next, take a chocolate candy bar and use your carrot peeler to make some
sprinkles or curls...Top with a fresh red raspberry and wa la...you are done
and you have a beautiful and delicious gift!

SO YUMMY!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Valentine Giveaway

I haven't done a GIVEAWAY in forever so I decided it is time for one!

You know...that holiday that is coming up soon?

I think it celebrates LOVE? 
...yep pretty sure.

Being a romantic at heart what better time to spread the love!

What is included in this giveaway you ask?

Well...

You will be getting a white cup with a pink cozy with extra strong black tea
and a tea strainer...

{I don't care for extra strong tea and really I only drink herbal tea, but it is
what came in the cup when I purchased it. lol. Pitch it if you want, but it does
 look cute in there for the photo..SMILE}

...along with a bag of Dove dark chocolates...

...and four hand/pocket warmers made by yours truly.

Now, please don't look these over too carefully because they certainly aren't perfect, but I had fun
 making them. They are filled with rice and I am told that if you nuke these for 30 seconds in the
 microwave and then put them in your pockets they will keep your hands warm...

OR...

you can always just use them for decor also. They are kinda cute, no?

Now for all the nitty gritty details:

For a chance to win just add a comment on this post.

For an additional chance share this on Facebook or Pinterest and let me know
that you did and you will get extra chances. That is all there is to it.

United States entrants only please. I would love to send overseas and feel bad
that I can't , but it is cost prohibitive, so for now I must keep it to US only.
Sorry.

I will draw a winner on February 10 so I have time to get it in the mail to the
winner before Valentines day.

Good luck to all who enter!

Blessings~

In between holidays

I haven't put away all my winter decor yet and here it is almost Valentines Day!


I have a red glitter LOVE banner {Wendy Addison} that looks exactly like
the one pictured on the card above, but I haven't dug it out yet.

I tend to forget where I put things and then it takes me awhile to find them.
Anyone else do that? I fear it is getting worse the older I get.

 I vow to be more organized someday.
 

I told you...mixing Christmas with Valentines. HA!

I really ought to take the greenery and pine-cones down today.
 I love the very old little glass bell that is on this piece of ironstone.

Did I ever tell you that I got this piece of ironstone on the RTE 127 sales last year for

ONE DOLLAR?

It was in a box along with other old bottles and it was the find of the day.

Dirty and sad looking, but I cleaned her up. No chips, but some crazing and a little
discoloring. Kinda like me..lol

This is a piece that I picked up at the Goodwill for another dollar.

I used to find a lot of goodies at that store, but now not so much.
 It is a GOOD DAY when I hit the jackpot though.

These little butter pats were also found on the RTE 127 sale for $1.00 each.

They had a huge bin of them. I have since thought that I should have bought more.

{Hmm... ONE DOLLAR seems to be the going rate on this post}

I found the four bowls underneath the one on top at the Goodwill and they are ironstone as well.

I think they were 50 cents each, but we will say 2/$1.00. *SMILE*

Another little piece of LOVE that I have added to my decor. 

I won't tell you what I paid for this pitcher, but it was the same price as other items
in this post...*wink*wink*

Well, this post started out about holidays and somehow it ended up telling you about all my
dollar treasures.  That is what happens to me a lot. I start one thing and find several other
along the way that get me sooo distracted. It is a fun distraction though so I will embrace it.

How about you? Do you decorate for Valentines Day? Have you started?

I would love to hear about it.

Blessings~