Fabulous Finds in GA SC and NC

LOVE my big RED bowl!

And the terra cotta bunnies

Fabulous Pewter salt'n peppa's ;) . . .

NYR: a LATE 6 weeks check up

NYR - that's short for New Year's Resolutions... so I made some. Maybe I shouldn't have. I told BRAIN I wouldn't. Before I knew it, BRAIN did. In case you didn't read my list, here's the run down...

Tip Tuesday: Exfoliate with Epsom Salt, Conditioner and Shampoo

Does your hair get "tired" of a particular shampoo and / or conditioner?  Do you like the smell of it, but disappointed in how it makes your hair feel? Don't throw it out!  Mix it with a palm full of Epsom Salt and use as an exfoliant.  I have very dry hair and skin. So sometimes I use only the conditioner and ES, and other 

times I add in some shampoo for bubbles :) Don't "pre-mix" this, keep it stored separately, say, a beautiful old cookie jar! Just use a palm full of ES then add your desired amount of conditioner/shampoo. Your skin will love it ;)

Enjoy!

Huggins Haven Cookbook Sale and Clearance

Cookbook by Nancy Huggins
For Sale at Huggins Haven

Visit Nancy to place your order!

http://hugginshaven.blogspot.com/ 

And while you're there, check out her clearance items!

http://hugginshaven.blogspot.com/2011/12/updating.html

My Ridiculous Obsessions With...

Pewter Plates, Cups, Candlesticks...

Cross stitch samplers 

(sorry about the light glare:)

Solid White Stoneware

Pewter Salt'n Peppers

More solid white stoneware

Pewter Creamers and Sugars

Old Coffee Grinders

More Pewter Candlesticks

Antique Gingerbread Clocks

Yes, I know, too bad the sides are missing :(

ROOSTERS ;)

Hearts

Patchwork Quilts

Birdhouses... Apples... Antiques Spools

Pflatzgraff Folk Art Stoneware (original 1980s)

Yellow ware bowls with blue bands...

Antique Ginger Beer Bottles

And this is just the Dining Room :)

Hope Y'all are having a Great Sunday!

JoAnn!

Sunny Day in Georgia

Just a few pics of our beautiful sunny day in Georgia

Birdhouse from old wood and car tag

They're finally warming up to each other ;)

Wow, nearly 85 already, in February

Happy Friday, Y'all!

JoAnn

TUTORIAL Prim Penny Rug Style Draft Stopper with bonus Stuffing Tip

Prim Penny Rug Style Draft Stopper tutorial

Tip Tuesday: Recycle Gift Bag Tissue or Wrapping Paper for Pattern Tracing

Many times I have thrown away wrinkled gift bag tissue, and the grey wrapping paper from stores like Hobby Lobby, that they use to wrap your breakables... No More :)

Use them to trace your sewing patterns. Here, I've traced a pattern for a gift, 

marking the FOLD of the fabric and making side notes of how I made the sash.

Above the dark lines, in another color,  is the tracing of the pocket.

Now why didn't I think of this before??

Happy Pattern Tracing, Y'all! 

JoAnn

Cabbage Garlic Deer Wontons

I found a great recipe over at Margo's at Joyful Homemaking.

I used our deer burger instead of turkey.

These are so good! . . .

Brown 2lbs. meat before assembling the wontons.

One package of shredded cabbage with carrots

Garlic Salt 1/2 tsp

Pepper 1/2 tsp

Wontons

Egg for wontons

Canola oil or olive oil

Mix the cabbage, meat, garlic salt and pepper in a bowl.

Wipe wontons with egg; spoon mixture into middle;

top with another wonton; press edges to seal.

Brown on each side about 2-4 minutes.

Place on paper towel to drain.

These are great! 

Check out Margo's recipe section at 

Joyful Homemaking.

JoAnn

Linking Up With

Joy In The Jumble

Getting Ready for Gardening!

All Pictures from Google Images

Soooo... it's mid February and many of you are probably wwwwaaaayyyy ahead of me in preparing your spot
for gardening this summer.
This picture is my Dream Box Garden, complete with
above ground boxes, fence, paving stones, and 
weed barrier which of course means
NO GRASS OR WEEDS :)
(there's not a smiley face big enough on the Net to insert in this space :)

Some of our most favored garden foods are corn, tomatoes and squash.  Nothing like a fresh off the vine red tomato sandwich slathered with Blue Ribbon mayonnaise and salt'n pepper!

Or the smell of fresh yellow squash and onions simmering in a tad of olive oil.  Can you smell it yet?

But since we live in the middle of deer and rabbit heaven,

we cannot grow a single pea. They keep them "mowed down" at the first sign of a fresh sprout - now why can't we get them to eat the GRASS like that???  They'd save us a ton on buying lawn mowers and gas and blades and..

As an added bonus, we live on top of 'Sand Hill', and y'all know what lives down in the sand pits that's been dug out by the gopher turtles... yep, "Bell Tails," otherwise known as

U.S. Eastern Diamond Back Rattlesnakes!!!!!

This is why we have a BIG, wide yard that is kept mowed 

so we can see where we step, AND why we have bulldogs.

Our sweet bulldog, Sallie, now gone, literally saved Ted about 2 summers ago, when he went out walking in our pine

thicket. She saw, or smelled, the snake before IT got Ted.

Which brings me back to the garden situation...

I gotta have it where I can see my feet.

It just gets too "snake-y" around these parts.

In other words, TED does most all the garden work  

plowing, planting (well, I do help drop the seeds) and picking.

So this year, I PLAN to have a fenced in, above the ground,

high quality weed barrier-ed 'Box Garden'.

Something on the lines of this...

With a HIGH FENCE, kinda like this one...

I don't THINK a deer can jump quite this high(?)

With tall boxes PLUS the weed barrier,

kinda like this one, and the paving stones,

kinda like the ones in the top picture.

STAKES AND STRINGS, KINDA LIKE THESE,

 SO THE VINES WILL GROW UP

SOs I WON'T HAVE TO BEND DOWN TO 

PICK THEM PEAS!

Of course, I have to find someone to do all

that WORK... hmm, I wonder who? 

HAPPY GARDEN DREAMING, Y'ALL

JoAnn

Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe

This was our early Valentine gift on Feb. 2nd, 

while on a trip to Atlanta. We stopped at

The Whistle Stop Cafe in Juliette, Georgia.

They were delicious, just as I suspected.

We had been wanting to go for years. . .

We were nearly blasted out of our seats 

not once, but twice, 

by the train that runs right by the cafe.

So I got tickled and couldn't stop laughing.

A couple of souvenirs - some local honey 

and a birdhouse :)

I think I'll paint over these words and put in

"Whistle Stop" and "Ruth" on one side, 

and "Idgie" on the other :)

Can you believe it's been 20 years

since the movie came out?

I'm waiting til summer time for 

some of my own fresh off the vine tomatoes

before I try to cook some of these.

Y'all have a good day!

JoAnn

Happy Valentine's Day to My Sweetie!

Happy Valentine's Day to My Husband, Ted,

who cannot be with me today. 

But there will be a lot of "Kisses" 

and Doves Dark Chocolates to gobble down

when you get home!

The Love Nest!

Love Birds!

My Love Bunnies

Pink Acorn Wreath 

inspired by

See Kate Sew's

Blue Acorn Wreath

I Hope Everyone Has A 
Wonderful Day with Your Loved One!
JoAnn

New Blog "Country Is As Country Does"

Good morning fellow Bloggers, just wanted to let y'all know I've started a blog for my husband, Ted, 

Country Is As Country Does,

so he can share his love of country living and interests of various outdoor activities. Nothing fancy, just COUNTRY!  

I will be moving some of my posts that were geared towards this, like my post "Thank God We're Country Boys!" to help keep my SweetPepperRose, um, "GIRL-Y" !?! BAH!

Y'all check out Ted's Blog Country Is As Country Does.
If your husbands have a blog, send the link
Ted's way. He'd be interested to see what other 
country fellows are up to in their spare time,
or better yet, if they've made their hobby into a business!

Punched Tin Paneled Country Cabinet

What could possibly be more COUNTRY than a

Punched Tin Paneled Cabinet,

complete with hanging cast iron skillets

and topped with antique stoneware jugs, old 

Duraglas Pyrex, Knox and Ball canning jars?

Of course, my ever so crafty husband did all the carpentry

while I did all of the metal cutting and 

punching, punching, and more PUNCHING. 

Kidding aside, I really did enjoy doing this project, but

after about the third panel into it, with nine more to go,

 my ADD/ADHD / very little patience / ready to get it done /  boredom with the same project started to set in.

I love projects that produce quick results 

with little invested time (is there even such a thing?)

Not exactly what punching 12 panels gets you 

but neither does cross stitching, nor quilting,

nor many of the other crafts I love to do. 

It's been so long since we built this cabinet, I don't

remember the name of the design, Dresden, I think.

I was so exhausted from punching the top twelve,

and SO ready to be done with the project,

that I opted to skip punching the bottom doors and 

 got creative with leftover wallpaper and border.

The top set houses our food items and the bottom holds

my most used pots and pans, skillets and lids.

Not bad for a couple of DIY-ers!

**Added Note: I got the pattern from a 

picture in a magazine I fell in love with.

I had to use the zoom and brightness

buttons on the copier to get it

the needed size, then made 12 copies.

  

PLUS I do plan on punching the same design

for my pine hutch cabinet doors, that are 11x14.

The pine cabinet sits directly to the right of this cabinet.

One of it's glass inserts in one of the top 

doors broke, not long after we moved it into

this house. The tin panels that are in it now shows

too much of my "beginner" punching mess ups...

so, I won't be posting a pick of that ;/

Now, YOU go PUNCH something!