Merry Christmas!

Hoping everyone's Christmas was...

And...

Lucy Belle wishes you all...

DIY Christmas Cards

I've been creative with my Christmas cards this year.  Seeing so many handmade crafts and cards here and there, gave me the bug!  My love of trees gave me inspiration, as you can see below. With some crafts from Michael's and some already on hand, these are what I've come with!  Hope you like them.

My trees

 My mix 

My faves

Some I'll stamp, some I'll write a personal message

What do you think? 

What are your Christmas crafts, this year? 

Weekend In Photos

Happy Monday!

Is it really December 2nd?  Where does time go?  This year flew by for me, no doubt about it.  With Thanksgiving gone and Christmas soon to follow, it will be a New Year before we know it!  Wow.

Today I'm re-capping my holiday and weekend in photos.  It was a good weekend, so I'm sharing.
With my green smoothie down, making pumpkin pancakes for all, I got started on the meal of the day. 
Quick yummy turkey, for the meat-eaters. I cooked up the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and great-grandmothers pumpkin pie! This meal was for the left-overs idea.  We had the official dinner at my in-laws.

Although I do not eat the turkey anymore, I can make a mean one.  I saw this on the Today Show a few years ago, and perfected it. You cut the turkey in half, butter it on all sides, throw your fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, marjoram, etc., your personal choices), in the pan underneath the turkey and on top.  Throw a couple cloves of garlic in there also.  Cook at 375, skin side up, uncovered.  

My turkey was not quite 13-lbs and it cooked in an hour.  A heavier turkey up to 16-lbs would be approximately 1-1/2 hours cooking time. The pan should be on the lowest rack. I sautéed the giblets (that I don't eat) and rolled them around in some flower to add to the pan juices (rubbing the spices and garlic through a screen strainer) and vegetable broth. I removed the giblets in the end, only using them for flavor. Everyone makes gravy differently, so use your own version. (If you'd like a recipe, I'd be happy to share.) 

Some of us, at the in-laws.  

Three of my stepchildren, me and the hubster.

My step-beauty, with me.  Sweats and all, ha! 

I even tried to share her scarf to hide my frumpiness :) 

Didn't work. 

Sunday morning I got myself ready for the next few days, 

and also made some bags for the freezer.  Easy smoothie days. 

I'll just add my favorite frozen fruit, my flax/hemp/chia, and coconut water.

 We went to my favorite place of lights, Peddler's Village, in Lahaska PA. 

The tree above, was taken from a restaurant window, Earls.  So pretty.

If you've never been, and can get there, please do!  

There is also a house of gingerbread houses made by kids. 

AND, in my little shoppe-hopping evening, I found me a female version of…

So excited!  Now I just need to figure out who I can tease with her! 

Happy Cyber Monday!

Shop wise,

Thanksgiving

sky

cape may, nj

birds

ocean city, nj

clouds

west virginia

Weekend Wonderful!

It was a great weekend.  I had such a great time with my sister and her beautiful babies.  So I'm sharing in photos.  I did say I'd have them posted this weekend right, haha.  The weekend isn't over, yet! Enjoy our fun and beautiful foliage.

I was Bat Woman, sis was Harley Quinn, Cordelia was Cat Baby, and Deegan was The Joker!  

He was an awesome Joker, the only one in the hundreds of treaters in Lambertville.  So fun!

Deegan collected a good amount of candy.  My sister says most of it gets thrown away.  Imagine the money spent for all the candy and much of it goes uneaten.  They should charge less for candy.

How beautiful is this little cutie!  I can't believe she is 8-months old already.  

Visited Giggleberry Fair for some kid fun!

THIS, is beauty.  The love of a big brother, for his little sissy.  It's so cute how she giggles at her big brother.  Deegan will be 8-years old in two weeks.

Thanks for peeking in on me.  

Stayed tuned for my Blog Stalking Sundays series!!  

(Do you see what time it is?  It is now past midnight, the weekend is over.) 

BOOooOOOoooOOooo!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Since I've been preparing for my sister to visit with her beautiful babes, I haven't been at my computer much.  Plus you know, those 'other things' side-tracked me.  I just spent many hours today, washing new bed linens/comforters, cleaning up the spare room we had taken apart and bought new furniture for, putting things together and organizing.  I should have taken a before and after.  Still have to do DIY wall art/photos, so I will show a post of it.   Today, this evening we will be going to a cool place to trick-and-treat.  Lambertville. Can NOT wait!  So excited to see the little babes of mine hers, and dress up with them, taking them to the coolest place ever at Halloween! Be safe, have fun, and watch for our photos this weekend on my blog! We'll be dressing up as Batman characters.  Ex-cite-ting!! 

Watch out for the boogie-man around the corner! Don't look behind youuuuuu…..

Stop in for a spell!

Halloween is a real treat!  Get it? Okayyyyy.  Well, Halloween is a real treat in my house, because we buy treats that only we eat!  I don't really eat it much of it, anymore though. Who can resist at least one piece? We sadly have no trick-or-treaters. I guess that's what you get for living in the 'country' type areas.  Blah!  Or, BOOooOOOooOO! 

Yeah, okay...I decorate anyway!  I love to decorate on holidays. Plus this year is special, I have my nephew that comes each year, for the past 3 or 4, and his little sissy, and my sister!  I am so thrilled to have them coming for a fun night!  Bonus, they are sleeping over.  Yay!

So here are some things I worked on this year.  

It's a spider with jewels, (I didn't make this but it was too cute to not buy) sitting on a candy jar!
Too cute to spook!

The white pumpkin was an old orange one I've had.  I painted it white, added some bling and voila!  

The smaller pumpkins are real.  I painted a little on them and added bling as well.  

A table cloth of spider webbing, I made into a runner.  The green wasn't working it.

The small black pumpkin, I blinged out, of course. 

My front door is ready for my niece and nephew to arrive! 

Even the dog statue, which is always there, has a little bling on the a bow-tie!

I'll have more photos from Halloween, next week!  

Have a boooootiful Halloween! 

Labor Day Close Out!

Many of us have used Labor Day weekend as our last hurrah for summer, and I guess you can lump me into that statistic.  However, I continue to visit OCNJ often throughout the off-season. The past couple of weeks have been full of fun, family, and friends.  I'm showing off my fun in photos.

Enjoy my Bits of Summer!

We love riding and seeing the beauty of the island

Having Deegan around to create memories is so wonderful

Yeah.  We're cool like that.

One very fat seagull and two resting.  Maybe they ate too much McD.

The pooches always have to be in the pictures

No words, just breathtaking beauty

Strolling around town is always fun

Being goof-balls is fun

The largest cup of cappuccino ev-er

Uncle Hubster is a good sport 

Being lazy, or celebrating

Visiting friends and family in Avalon

Being townies & riding the rides

Awesome fun in the Haunted Mini Golf

We had fun this season.  Although the weather didn't cooperate as much as we all would have liked, we still created our moments and we can't wait to start all over again! 

I can't close out this post without showing the cutest pics of all!  Deeg with his little sissy, just can't get enough of either one of them.  Check out the Deegmeister with his new cool-dude had. (Don't you dare say he's cute, he's already grown out of that.) :)  He found a praying-mantus!  Little Sissy is the cutest, can't believe she will soon be 7-months! Time sure does fly. 

Enjoy your Tuesday!