Easter Mantel

Good Friday Morning!  It is finally warm here in SW Virginia and even though it is supposed to rain today and tomorrow, I am not complaining!  At least it's not that dreaded "S" word.

Last weekend I got busy and decorated my living room mantel for Easter.  I had lots of fun making this banner as a reminder of why we celebrate Easter!  He Is Risen Indeed!

I love these bunnies that look like real chocolate!

Both of these bunnies were bought at thrifts stores and were made my someone who does ceramics.  I think they are cute but just a little creepy.  Exactly what I like!

I added in some silk pansies and some glitter eggs with my bunnies.  I love my glitter.

I love those metal wreath holders that they sell at Tuesday Mornings.  They are perfect for hanging stockings by the fireplace.  Easter stockings?  Yep!  Do you see my creepy 7-Up elf photo bombing?

I made these girl and boy bunny pillows several years ago.

I love these old German blown glass Easter eggs.  These belonged to my grandmother.

 

Hoping to hit a couple of estate sales this weekend, even though neither sounds very promising, but you never know!

 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

 

Blessings

 

Linda

 

p.s.  I am linking up with Common Ground for Be Inspired Friday.

Rackin' Fracken' snow AGAIN!

 

This is what it looked like out of my office window yesterday.  Weatherman said we would get a "light dusting" of snow.  Does this look like a dusting to anyone???  I didn't think so!

 

28 degrees this morning, 20 degrees colder than normal.  Will it ever be normal again??

 

Spent 20 minutes de-icing the truck window this morning, then the truck's heater doesn't work and by the time I get to work I can't feel my hands or feet! 

 

I need to go back to bed and get back up on the right side!

 

Hope everyone else is having a better Wednesday than I am.

 

(Pity, party of one, your table is ready)

 

Linda



Where art thou, Spring?

Good Monday morning!  It's a balmy 29 degrees this morning in Southtown!  March came in like a lamb and it sure is going out like a lion.  Can you believe we are supposed to have snow/sleet tomorrow?  Then by Friday it's supposed to be in the 60's.  Crazy weather.

I have no idea what came over me this weekend but I cleaned from 7:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon on both days.  I didn't go to the grocery store or church, just cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.

Now that my house is sparkling, I set out all of my Easter decorations.  I know you are getting tired of seeing my buffet, but I love it so much.  It is my favorite piece of furniture in our house.  For this display I pulled out some of my pink depression glass.

This pink bowl belonged to my great grandmother.  It's the cabbage rose design.

I'm all about some glitter!  I saw these glittered eggs are Big Lots and they had to come home with me.  Both the pink bowl and pink platter belonged to my great grandmother.  I made those little pom-pom animals.

Another bowl turned upside down holding the cutest wooden bunny.

I love these little foil bunnies.  They look like real chocolate Easter bunnies from my childhood.  I loved the foil wrap so much when I was little that I would make little balls of it and save them.

See that purple bunny?  That is my favorite Easter decoration.

When Yngwie was in 1st grade the teacher had a game that taught the students how to count money and they could earn this money for being good, following directions, etc.. and she had a little store set up with things you could buy with your "cash".   Yngwie saved up all his "money" and bought me the purple bunny!  He could have bought any toy she had, but he said he knew how much I loved purple and Easter, so he got that for me.  He has always been such a sweetie. 

 

Hope everyone has a great Monday (is that an oxymoron, I think so).

 

Blessings

 

Linda

Tools of the Trade

Good Thursday Morning and Happy First Day of Spring!  Guess what I found?  When I say "I", I mean my dear son, Yngwie, found my camera in his boat where I had already looked.  I guess I am going blind in my old age.  I really like my 15 year old camera because it has a viewfinder, something a lot of the newer cameras don't have.  So now I can share my weekend pics!

Dear Husband and I spent several hours tilling the garden.  This shows how much he loves me because he hates to garden.

I raked the soil smooth and planted my radishes, lettuce, kale, spinach and onions. 

Then Yngwie called and wanted to know if we wanted to go for a boat ride while he had his bass boat out.  He had been fishing all morning.  Of course we wanted to go!

Doesn't the water look cold?  I love being out on the lake this time of year.  So quiet and peaceful.

He took me to one of my most favorite places on the lake.  I row over here in my kayak sometimes and just sit and listen to the water trickle down through the woods over the rocks and into the lake.  I love this little waterfall.

While we were sitting there Yngwie cast his fishing line and pulled in this bass!  He loves fishing more than anyone I know!

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful First Day of Spring! 

 

Blessings

 

Linda

Lost! One Camera!

 

 

 

Where of where can my old camera be

Oh where of where can it be??

 

I had it last in my son's fishing boat last Saturday, I think, but it's not there now.  It's not in the truck that pulled the boat, I remember taking photos of the garden but it's not in the greenhouse or any where around the garden.....

 

Still looking..

 

Have a great Hump Day!

 

Linda

Top O' The Mornin' to Ya!

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

It is sleeting, snowing and raining here is SW Virginia today!  YUCK! 

Saturday I was out in my garden planting my radishes, lettuce, spinach, kale and onions in short sleeves.

 

Virginia-the place where you can get a sunburn and frost bite within 48 hours!

 

Blessings

 

Linda

Tammy's Spring Formal

TGIF!  Sunny and bright today in SW Virginia!  So glad the weekend is almost here.  I am pulling out my Easter stuff and can't wait to get to Spring decorating.

Last weekend I decided that my Tammy doll needed a new dress so I searched through my patterns and found a Barbie pattern that I like and I just altered it to fit Tammy.

I really need to work on my picture taking. 

Is that DH photo bombing??  LOL! 

I love Tammy's sweet face

Floral bodice with a pink skirt and yellow ribbon tie.  She is ready for the Spring Formal.

I seem to be on a doll clothes sewing spree. I have an Easter dress cut out for Tammy and will be sewing that up this weekend.

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

 

Linda

Spring Cloche Swap

Good Morning everyone!  Bright and sunny again today!

 

Thought I would let you know about a great swap that is taking signup.

 

Sandy over at 521 Lake Street is having a Spring Cloche swap!

Head over and join the fun.

 

Blessings

 

Linda

Wearing of the Green

Good Monday Morning!  The sun is shining bright here is SW Virginia and it is supposed to get into the upper 60's!  Whoo Hoo! All that nasty white stuff is gone!   We had a lovely weekend and I got so much done.

All the seedlings were transplanted into their own little cells so they can stretch their feet and grow!  I have a panel that has broken in my greenhouse so I can't put them out there yet and they are in my laundry room which is small but we are fixing the greenhouse this week and they will be off to their new home.

 

Then I decided to "green up" my buffet.  I really don't have very many St. Patrick's Day decorations and I got to looking for a tablecloth with green so I could do a pretty table scape and I didn't have that either.  I am going to have to remedy those two problems.

 

So I got out my green depression glass and decorated my buffet.

I love this shamrock soup tureen from an estate sale a couple of years ago.

The handled green vase belonged to my grandmother,

 

I really love my Teaberry advertising pieces.

 

I also made some Lime Jello Cookies that were really delicious.  I will give you that recipe this week sometimes and I also made me a green and white skirt to wear next Monday.  Pics soon.

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

 

Linda



SERIOUSLY??????

Our back yard today!

Our front yard today!

Old Man Winter, I am done with you!!!

Cleaning the snow off the vehicles, yet again!

This is the south.  There is not supposed to be snow in March! 

Please go away!

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Linda

Not So Vintage Recipe Monday! Cherry Almond Cake

Monday. Ugh!  Guess what it's doing this morning?  SNOWING!  I do not like snow at any time and I loathe snow in March!    Expecting 3-6" before it ends.  Ugh!

This weekend was absolutely beautiful!  My Dear MIL had a very good weekend.  The medication for depression has made quite an improvement.  Usually she will call us around 20-30 times per day crying and asking why we were putting her in a nursing home, why are we moving, etc.. things that we aren't doing, she just imagines them and they are real to her.  This weekend she called us twice.  Once to tell us we left the light on in the barn and the second  to thank me for the cake I brought her.  We go over to her house 4-5 times per day to check on her and she was pulling out oil paints because she wants to paint again.  We love the days when she is happy and secure.

Speaking of cake, I made a wonderful cake this weekend.  Mine is not even close to being as beautiful as the one shown in the recipe, but my family liked it and thought it was pretty too.  I love the aqua and red combination.  I hate that it's sitting on a yellow Tupperware cake plate.  I guess this is considered vintage now because I got it at my wedding shower in 1980!  But I really like how fresh it keeps cakes, so I always use it.

The recipe that I used was from Pinterest and you can find the link to the blog called Sprinkle Bakes.  Heathers blog is beautiful and delicious!  I have definitely bookmarked her!

Her recipe is for a Cherry-Vanilla Layer Cake.

 

 

 

I didn't use her frosting recipe and used different pans , so I called mine the

 

Cherry-Almond Layer Cake.

 

Maraschino Cake:

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 cups All Purpose flour

1/4 tea. baking powder

1/4 c. whole milk (I used 2%)

1/2 c. maraschino cherry juice

2 tea. Almond extract

2 tbls. flour for sprinkling over the cherries

10 oz. bottle of maraschino cherries, finely chopped

4 egg whites, beaten stiff

 

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour two 8" layer cake pans.

2.  Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.  In a separate bowl. whisk together flour, salt and baking powder.  Combine the milk, cherry juice and almond extract, and add alternately to the butter and sugar with the flour mixture.

3.  In a small bowl, sprinkle the 2 tbls. of flour over the chopped cherries until the flour is completely absorbed.

4.  Stir cherries into batter.

5.  Fold beaten egg whites into batter.  Pour into prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake springs back when touched.  Remove from pans and allow to cool completely.

 

Now Heather used a delicious Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting, but I didn't have enough eggs handy to make it so I used:

 

Almond Buttercream Frosting:

 

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

4 cups confectioners sugar

2 tbls. milk

2 tea. almond extract.

Blue food coloring (opt.)

 

Mix all ingredients together and mix until you get a creamy, spreadable frosting.

 

Frost cake.

It's really easy and very tasty!

 

Hope you have a great Monday!