I wanted wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and share a wonderful letter of encouragement that was written to a dear friend back in 1513.

Although it was written so long ago, the words still ring true for us today.

“I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep.

There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy!

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all!

And so I greet you, with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.”

“Fra Giovanni, 1513

I want to encourage you today….
Take Peace
Take Joy
and Take Heaven

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Thank you to all of those who gave… and to those who gave it all…
for our FREEDOM!

Thank you God for giving us this beautiful country to live in, and for
the peace that we enjoy.

** This week… a brand new special post about hillside terrace gardening!

I don’t know about you, but for me, there’s nothing like a pile of freshly boiled eggs and the smell of vinegar to bring back wonderful childhood memories of the day before Easter… around the table with my family!

And… because eggs are so inexpensive this time of year, you should take a few minutes around the kitchen table, to create some memories… and a masterpiece with your little ones!

The number of ways to decorate an egg are limitless, but I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you today.

Painted Eggs

To keep your eggs to use every year, blow the egg out, wash & dry, then paint with regular acrylic paints. You could paint them to say “spring” with birds, nests, trees, and flowers, so you could leave them up all season… not just for Easter. Look at these BEAUTIFUL examples!

I love how these painted eggs were hung on a “blooming” apple branch!

Stick Ons

Decorate with stickers, stamps, or scrapbook notions.

Natural Dye

This year, instead of purchasing a regular “same old, same old” egg dying kit, try using some of the food from your kitchen to color your eggs!

Spinach = Pale Green
Hibiscus tea = Green
Blackberries = Deep Purple
Red Cabbage = Robin’s egg Blue
Cranberries = Lavender
Beet Juice = Pale Pink
* The longer you leave the eggs in, the more the color changes

You can use a paper towel dampened with a bit of vegetable oil to rub the eggs & give them a slight shine, but I love the natural finish

Optional: If you would like patterns on your eggs… wet a leaf of your desired herb (or other pattern), apply to egg, carefully wrap egg in a piece of old pantyhose & secure with a twist tie before placing in the dye bath to keep your pattern secure. Then, carefully unwrap after you remove the egg (using the directions above), and remove the item used for your pattern to reveal your beautiful design.

These eggs were colored with purple cabbage.

Yellow Onion Skins

I love the natural red color that the onion skins give to these eggs!

Grandma’s Quilt Eggs

Cut tissue paper into small squares – make sure to use lots of different bright colors. Dip the boiled egg in water to make sure that it’s wet – apply the pieces of tissue paper – allow to dry – peel off paper to reveal that the dye was left on the egg for a beautiful patchwork quilt effect!

Kaleidoscope Eggs

Pick out some of your favorite colored crayons & sharpen them. Save the shavings & lay them out on a plate. Boil your eggs. While they’re still hot, take them out of the water, then roll them into the wax bits. The wax melts & sticks to the egg, giving it a special kaleidoscope effect.

Mosaic Art

Keep those beautiful colored egg shells that you worked so hard on! As you’re peeling your Easter eggs, be sure to keep the shells in a bowl. On a thicker piece of card stock paper, glue the colored pieces of egg shells into a pattern. The picture will turn out looking like a tile mosaic. Now you will be able to admire all of that time spent coloring your eggs for many years to come! * The kids love this project!

Also… you might like this article that I wrote called, how to boil the perfect egg.

I hope that today is filled with… family, friends, good food, and thankful hearts.

May you remember the true reason for this wonderful season, the ultimate gift, our Lord Jesus come to earth… God with us. And most importantly… may your heart receive His precious gift of life personally!

I thought I would share one of my favorite Christmas carols with you today, as it means so much to me personally.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King! Let every heart, prepare Him room…

Our family loves traditions! There are many things that we love to do every year, simply because we’ve always enjoyed doing them together. And yet, there are those few things that bring us enjoyment just because we like the surprise of not knowing what to expect… like our Christmas goodies!

Some years we will make sheets & sheets of different kinds of cookies (truth be told… my husband loves to do alot of this!), and some years we will simply make a special dessert.

I thought I would share a “sweet” idea that you may not have thought of for your Christmas gatherings… cupcakes!

This year, at my son’s graduation party, we decided it would be easier to have individual cupcakes – instead of one big cake that had to be cut & served. We were amazed at how well the cupcakes were received! As a matter of fact, by the time everything was said & done, there wasen’t one left!

Then, this fall we went to a friend’s wedding, where the mother of the bride made a beautiful multi-tiered cupcake tower. Not only did the cupcakes taste wonderful, but they were still being talked about weeks after the reception!

I must say… cupcakes are not your everyday – run of the mill little pieces of cake these days Instead, they are being looked at as very chic little pieces of art… that are also delicious to eat!

I wanted to spark your creative thinking, and thought these beautiful little cupcakes would give you some great ideas to start with.

Please click on each individual cupcake to learn more about it & it’s baker! Now these are my kind of artists

Check out these next 5 beautiful cupcakes from Bakerella
The fist picture is also from her collection.

Look at these sweet little ornaments that you can also eat

I love the colors & designs in these examples.

The simple design and pale colors make these very chic!

I love these Christmas tree cupcakes. The baker made the tops by baking the mix in waffle cones.

You can make beautiful “jackets” for your cupcakes using pretty paper, or paper lace.

Simply Beautiful!

Eggnog Cupcake with cinnamon stick!

And finally… who says Christmas art should only be shared on gingerbread?

Our Christmas Pictures From Last Year

How to Make Cinnamon & Applsauce Ornaments
This is a wonderful project that you can do for pennies!

How to Create a Window Display in 15 Minutes or Less

Christmas Tips and Ideas for Your Holiday

Christmas Tree Tips
Finding & caring for the perfect tree

Never forget…

To all of my friends… Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

Here is a great little project from Ewenique Treasures

I love how she made these yummy little prim ornaments using only a few supplies… that you may already have around the house!

Here’s how she made these beautiful little gumdrop Christmas ornaments:

As a matter of fact, I had such a great response to the painted pumpkin ideas article, that I wanted to share some of those responses with you.

A group of ladies (from a church in Elkton, MD) had a special gathering. As a part of the evening’s events, they wanted to prepare a decoration for their home. They used the ideas from the painted pumpkin article, and turned each of their pumpkins into little pieces of art.

I love their creative ideas!

Way to go ladies!

Picture by Joy – stop by her Flickr page!

Today I wanted to share some more ideas for using pumpkins to decorate your home & garden without having to carve them.

There are so many ways that you could choose to decorate your home for the season. For some reason, when it comes to fall decorating, many people think about the “dreaded” carving day, when they will have to display their talents (or possible lack thereof) for the whole neighborhood to see. Thankfully, there are many beautiful options available to you, where you will never even have to take out that knife

Look at the beautiful displays that some of my creative friends have put together!

From (Joy), the same gal who shared the above picture. I love how her friend has used so many different fall items such as; pumpkins, guards, bittersweet vine, colorful leaves and sunflowers, to fill this vintage baby carriage. This display is so “storybook dreamy”!

By pulling together some of your favorite bits of Autumn, you can make your home & garden the talk of the town! The best part? Most of these items can be found free by using things from your garden, and your decorating closet.

Here are some items that you could add to your fall display

rusty things (don’t you just love rusty things

A simple scattering of pumpkins & goards here and there makes everything feel so festive!

The newer white pumpkins that are showing up at farm stands around the countryside are simply stunning! They are great for decorating with, because the eggshell color goes with just about anything… even this cute little doggie

How about a pretty ribbon around the stem of the pumpkin to make is even more dazzling!

And… I think these girls are enjoying the newer white pumpkins as much as I am