Year End Re-cap!

My goodness, I can't believe 2010 is almost over!

I thought it might be fun to re-cap some of the fun things I've done this past year..

SO HERE WE GO!

I totally re-did my horrible kitchen!

We bought our house repossessed and the kitchen was awful..

we spent MANY days re-doing the dark

dungeon of a kitchen into a bright, cozy cottage kitchen!

Before...

After...

You can see how I did it here.

Another big project I did this year was my son's room...

I built him an entire wall of built-in cabinetry.

Before....

After....

How to build these here.

I also re-did a laminate armoire...

YES, you can paint laminate!

This is what the laminate door looked like before I

re-did it..

Before...

After..

Full how-to post here!

Do you remember my $5.00

Chandelier?

Before.....

After...

Full tutorial here!

Tick Tock..

it's a clock, but see what I turned it into!

Before... (got this for a buck at a yard sale!)

After....

Tutorial here!

Goodwill light fixture re-do...

$3.00 bucks!

Before...

After.....

How to instructions here!

How to turn this...

Before...

Into this....

After..

Complete tutorial here!

To see even more of my projects from

the last year, go here!

Happy New Year...

we have so many projects to tackle!

:0)

Hugs!

Missy

A Reason to Celebrate!

Let's celebrate the true reason for the season!

It's not about the gifts, the tinsel, the food

and definitely not about Santa...

This season is about the birth of Jesus Christ!

He came to earth as a tiny babe,

to grow into a man that would lay down his life

for all of us, that if we believe in him and ask

him into our hearts, would give

us every lasting, eternal life in Heaven.

Let's take a moment to celebrate the real, true

meaning behind this Holiday!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Hugs

Missy

Hope you have a wonderful day with your family!

I'm taking this week off to be with mine.

Love you all!

Gingerbread House Tradition... Treasures and Trinkets Thursday!

Gingerbread and Treasures and Trinkets Thursday!

My little man and I have had a Christmas

tradition of making cookies

and building a gingerbread house for as far

back as I can remember.

It's so nice to have something

to look forward to each year.

Here is our 2010

Gingerbread House Tour!

:0)

This  is my little man's,

"mommy, are you seriously going to put this

picture in your blog" look.

(oh yes I am!)

Ain't he the sweetest?!~

Ok, Ok....I know you didn't come to see my little man,

so here is what we do!

Since we don't eat the gingerbread houses,

I generally buy a kit on clearance after

Christmas for the next year. I keep it in the garage and

so far we've been lucky...they've kept just fine.

(you could also pay full price too, but I'm cheap!)

LOL

This is Carson helping me cut up the little green

gum drops to add to our little wreath above

the door. This is the first year

we've ever thought of doing a wreath!

Didn't the wreath turn out cute!

Oh my, so adorable!

The bow is just a gum drop cut up too!

We did candles in the windows too.

Just icing and a teeny tiny slice of a gumdrop for the flame!

(that was my favorite feature this year!)

Up close shot of the wreath....

Major look of satisfaction going on in

this picture!

Yep, he's always so proud of his work!

What traditions do you have in your family?

I would love to hear about them!

Have a Very Merry CHRISTmas!!

Missy

Now Link up something for

Treasures & Trinkets Thursday!

Rules...

Link up something you love and

grab my button for your blog if you're

feeling generous!

:0)

I'm putting this out early, cause I'm taking the

rest of the week off for Christmas!

Hope you guys have a wonderful

CHRISTmas this year!

Melted Snowmen Cookies!

Thought you guys might enjoy making

some of these with your kids or grandkids...

..super easy and oh so cute!

Melted Snowmen Cookies!

The recipe was on allrecipes.com, but I just

used a roll of cookie dough instead of

making it.

First I sliced off some of the cookie dough and baked

like this.....

(and I cleaned my oven the next day after looking at this picture! Ack!)

Then I cheated some more with the canned icing...even though I despise the stuff,

I didn't have time to make the real thing and I did

this solely for my 9 year old and he could care less.

:0)

See his sweet little hands icing the cookies after they cooled...

Next you spray a microwaveable plate with

non-stick spray and microwave some large marshmallows

(ever how many cookies you have)

for about 15-20 seconds.

(they should just start to puff in the microwave, don't

let them go double in size or they'll just be a pile of goo...

I may or may not know this from experience)

:)

Then you just plop them down on

your cookie and decorate with

colored icing accordingly.

We also used some sprinkles we had left

from Halloween for the eyes, buttons and noses...so much easier!)

My son thought this picture was cute,

he said it looked like the snowman was screaming cause

he was eating him..

Just like a boy!

Speaking of boys...this is also what happens when

you have brown icing and a boy in the house...

yes..doggie doo.

He REALLY thought that was funny!

(me, not so much)

Looks like the pooch struck again!

I promise I'm raising my little guy right,

I just can't help that he's a boy!

LOL

(and NO, I did not eat those!)

So there it is...an easy cookie craft

for you and your kids..

this just may be a new tradition in

our house!

Speaking of traditions,

I'll be showing you one my son and I

do every year on my next post, so stay tuned!

Hope you enjoyed baking with me and my son!

Have a great day

and

Merry Christmas!

Missy



Christmas Decor around the House and Treasures and Trinkets Thursday!

Thought you guys might like to see some of my

~Christmas Decor~

Here's my staircase in the foyer...

I have this beaded fruit on the newel post....

I have these little bunches of poinsettias and ornaments

at each point where the swags connect

to the handrail....

Here it is all lit up!

I also have garland swagged above the opening to my

dining room....

Next to our Christmas tree I have my old dolls....

I keep them in the living room all year long though,

they're just so beautiful!

I love my little snowman...

I put him under my cloche in my dining room!

Aren't these the most precious little owls!!

I got these at our church ornament exchange party.

TOO CUTE!

This is the little greenhouse I found at

a yard sale this summer...

(you can see all my finds here)

and I just filled it with vintage ornaments

for my shelf in the foyer.

Found this Merry Christmas at Walmart this year

and the tree was from TJ Maxx last year..

I LOVE glitter!

(see that good lookin' kid in the picture...that's my sweet boy!)

Here's the apothocary jar I made from

Dollar Tree goodies filled with vintage

ornaments.

You can find out how I made it here.

I absolutely love the indented vintage ornaments!!

Aren't they lovely?!

Those are just a few areas around our house that are decorated....

I'll share more later, but now

it's time for Treasures and Trinkets Thursdays.

Rules are simple:

Link something you love

and if you're feeling generous

grab my button.

:0)

Hugs
Missy