DIY Cooking at Home

Hi there! What's your favorite color scheme for Christmas? Right now, I really love lime green, blue, and red. If you read this blog, you know I'm a blue person. Our whole house is mostly gray and blue, with some green thrown in. But try as I might, these colors just didn't move come Christmastime. But then I embraced red for the season, and I love how festive it feels! Here are the ways I decorated with blue, green and red in our living room and kitchen this Christmas. I used a couple of tricks to create this look on the cheap. For instance, I replaced the prints that are normally on the shelf above our couch with printable art from Live, Laugh, Rowe ; Craftberry Bush ; and Today's Creative Life . I used bulbs that wouldn't fit on our tree to fill glass hurricanes I bought on clearance from Marshall's. And I like to use vintage elements here and there, such as the hand-sewn vintage tree skirt made by my Grandma, and the "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa C...

Hi there! Are you one to do a lot of holiday baking? I completely love it. I make tried-and-true family-favorites first, then scour my magazines and pins for new recipes to try each year. Sometimes they're a flop; but other times, the new ones make "the rotation." These candy cane cookies, however, always make the cut. They've been a tradition between my mom and me since I was tiny, and now we make them with our girls. Every year, we always end up with more white than red (EVERY year, right mom?), so we make our initials with the extra white dough when we're done. Here ya go...from my family to yours. Candy Cane Cookies Preheat oven to 375 Mix together thoroughly: 1/2 c. soft butter 1/2 c. soft shortening (like Crisco, but not butter flavored) 1 c. sifted confectioner's sugar 1 egg 1 tsp. peppermint extract 1 tsp. vanilla Then, add 2 1/2 c. flour and 1 tsp. salt. Mix well. You can start out with a hand mixer, but may need to mix in the last of the fl...

Hey there, party people! How are you? I love a good IKEA hack, don't you? I've got to show you our Leksvik cabinet. We've had this thing forever. I have this to say about IKEA furniture: It lasts. A long time ago I painted our cabinet cream. It served many purposes...as a dining room hutch, as a place to store our printer when our home office was in the dining room, as a food pantry when our kitchen was being remodeled, and most recently, as a useless piece of furniture in our family room. Here it is, sad and pointless: But then we decided to get a TV for that room because we hated not being able to enjoy the fireplace and watch TV at the same time. So we took the doors off the top of our old IKEA Leksvik cabinet, and put the TV in it. Unfortunately, the TV stood out like a sore thumb and it looked like we took the doors off an old IKEA cabinet. And if there's anything you don't want, it's for people to know your secrets. So, I painted it black and w...

Hope you are taking the day off from blogging to spend time with your loved ones this Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy! You deserve it! What I'm thankful for: My husband, who can build stuff and looks great doing it, who is the best person in the world to enjoy happy hour with, and who is a world-class dad Our girls, who are just super-cool, funny and kind human beings and bring immeasureable joy to our lives Our house, which is warm most of the time, except when the furnace acts up Our businesses, which allow us to make enough money to pay for repairs to said furnace, feed our family, and even have a little fun now and then...and keep us excited to "go to work" each day Our health Our family and our motley crew of friends, who stick by us even though we're crazy-busy and sometimes a little flaky And the little things...like warm socks, dark chocolate, cups of coffee, a good book, a glass of wine, and chips and guac.  

Hey, hey, how are ya? It's gettin' to be about that time to deck the halls! We typically get our tree right after Thanksgiving, how about you? I want to share my round-up of the prettiest tree skirts I could find over on About.com. Check out these gorgeous and unusual tree skirts here, but if you can't find one you like, consider these ideas: Make a Tree Skirt from a Tablecloth Basket Christmas Tree Skirt Rustic Crate Tree Skirt Wrapped Gift Tree Skirt Galvanized Tree Collar Red Plastic Tote Tree Skirt Happy tree hunting and decorating! You May Also Like: Magnetic Advent Calendar Christmas Countdown Cake Stand for $2

Thanksgiving is a week away, can you believe it?! So do you, like the dad on A Christmas Story , love turkey? Or are you more of a side dish person? Me: When it comes to turkey, I'm like...meh. But the sides? Oh, the sides...I dream about the mashed potatoes and stuffing, mixed with gravy and cranberry relish. Not to mention all of my other favorites, which I've listed here for you. So if you haven't planned your menu yet, or if you offered to bring a side to your family's potluck but don't know what to make, here are my family's traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. Broccoli Casserole Baked Apples Baked Acorn Squash Roasted Brussel Sprouts (simply toss in olive oil and kosher salt and roast on a baking sheet until fork-tender...yummmmm.) Photo Credit: Dishmaps My mouth is watering now...I can't wait until next week!

Hi there, how was your weekend? Hope you had a great one! We enjoyed the beautiful weather a bit on Sunday with a 2-mile hike and lunch out with the kids. Unfortunately, we had planned on hiking some more after lunch, but our littlest got a tummy ache so we headed home. Anyway, I started feeling a bit overwhelmed about the impending holiday season last night, and spent some time mapping out how to get everything done. I thought maybe you might be feeling the same, so I gathered up my Thanksgiving ideas here in one spot for you to use as a Thanksgiving survival guide. Thanksgiving Photo Centerpiece No-Sew Burlap Table Runner Placecards to Buy or DIY Problem-Solving Thanksgiving Crafts Unique Thanksgiving Table Linens Set a Beautiful Thanksgiving Table by Mixing and Matching Tableware 14 Gorgeous Thanksgiving Tablescapes Decorations for the Kids' Table Table Setting with Indian Corn For more awesome ideas, follow my Thanksgiving Pinterest board!